My inaugural sermon: Jesus Looks At Your Heart
Tomorrow I have the privilege and opportunity to preach at the First United Methodist Church in San Marcos. This will be my first time to preach... ever. Pray for me!
Jesus Looks at the Heart
Story: Recently, I was talking to a student on campus who was telling me that they didn't have science when the Bible was written, and thus the Bible is outdated and not very useful. I replied, "while certainly science has taught us a lot, the Bible is not contrary to science. But it is not written primarily as a scientific textbook. However, the Bible is more concerned about the human condition and the heart, and it speaks very wells to this issue."
Theme throughout the Bible: We see this idea throughout the pages of Scripture!
“For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
“For the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought.” 1 Chr. 28:9
“Blessed are the pure in heart.” Matthew 5:8
In fact, when Jesus is talking with people and addressing their different issues, he is almost always addressing the deeper issues of our heart, and not simply external behavior. His constant rebuke against some of the established religious leaders of his time, the Pharisees, is the attitude of their hearts, not in how much they knew about the Bible.
So what is meant by the heart? In most cases in the Bible, it is not referring simply to the human organ, the heart. But to our inner self: our mind, emotions, and will.
(SLOW!!)
Introducing the Story:
1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat."
This is a good question! If you have or work with children, I think you would all agree that you probably can't wash your hands enough. Germs exist. So, is Jesus saying we shouldn't wash our hands? No.
And for the Pharisees it wasn't likely about germs (I don't know if they even knew about those yet), but it was one of their traditions that they had been following for so long that they probably didn't even know why they did it. And when they saw Jesus' disciples not following their tradition, they tried to challenge Jesus because that was just something they always did.
Are there things we do simply because we have always done them? Maybe Jesus is challenging us to return to the heart of why we do these things.
Continuing on we see Jesus speak about...
(SLOW!!)
Commandments and Traditions:
3 He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 6 So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.
We see that Jesus, as he often does, doesn't answer their question directly, but uses this as an opportunity to discuss a deeper and more important issue. The Pharisees had something close to 600 additional observances and traditions, on top of the numerous biblical commands.
It is important to note that Jesus does not condemn traditions, but does place them as secondary compared with God's commands. Right now we are in the lenten season. All denominations of churches have traditions they follow.
Story of Martin Luther and Protestant Reformation (which Methodists are a part of!) responding to the traditions of the established church and the practice of paying indulgences to buy salvation for themselves or relatives, despite this being contrary to the Word of God.
Our own John Wesley writes that there are four primary sources for coming to theological conclusions: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, & Experience - but emphasizes that Scripture is primary and the sole source for truth about God. Tradition, reason, and experience are guides to help us interpret the Scriptures.
(SLOW!!)
Where is our Heart?
8 "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'”
Part of my testimony of becoming a Christian relates well to this passage. I grew up going to the Methodist church in Wimberley, Texas where my parents still go to church to this day. It is a great church! I was there pretty much every Sunday morning, as well as Sunday and Wednesday evenings as I was always involved in the youth group. I participated in Bible Studies, Mission Trips, and even confirmation class. But my heart was far from God.
In High School my friends around me were getting swept up into heavy drinking, stealing, among other things, and I was getting pulled in with them. Through God's prevenient grace I separated myself from those friends. But I came to college with a lot of heart level issues: pride, bitterness, depression, anger, among others. Church and God had always been just an activity that I attended. I was following the steps, the traditions, but I lacked the sincere heart behind my actions.
Jesus Teaches: We all have heart level issues
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."
*The Bible clearly teaches the fallen condition of mankind, from the first book of the Bible onward. We clearly see it in the strife filled Old Testament with wars, adultery, murder, etc. We see it with the Pharisees and Jesus' own very imperfect disciples.
*We see it in our world.
* We see it in ourselves.
So the question I think Jesus would be asking, and IS asking, is WHERE IS OUR HEART? Where is MY heart? Where is YOUR heart?
If Jesus words are true, and as Christians we affirm that they are the very words of God, then we all have issues in our heart that ONLY God can fix.
(SLOW!!)
Gospel: But there is good news! The Greek word for gospel, evangelion, literally means GOOD NEWS.
We all have heart level issues... (pause) But Jesus is called the Great Physician and can heal our hearts. Accepting Jesus for who he said he is and following Him begins the process of changing and healing our hearts. It is the process that has been gradually changing my heart. The Bible calls this process sanctification.
(SLOW!!)
What specifically does Jesus do for our Hearts?:
The Bible writes that Jesus is the only person to live on earth without sin. In Hebrews 4:15 he was "in every respect tempted as we are, yet without sin". So while we all sin, accepting the sinless Jesus Christ begins the process of transforming us.
He urges us to be born again, and offers us the free GIFT of the Holy Spirit. And while we can't heal ourselves on our own, when we accept Jesus and his HOLY Spirit lives in us, he begins to change us from within.
Jesus urges us to pray to Him, release our thoughts to him and pray through struggles and temptations, ask for forgiveness when we make mistakes, and confess to God and godly friends.
(SLOW!!)
*When we worship, let us remember God is looking more at our HEARTS, than how we sound.
*When we take communion, God wants our hearts to be seeking Him.
*When we tithe God is examining our motives.
How does this message tie into Lent:
*Lent is a tradition. It is not mentioned in the Bible, but it is a great tradition!
*It is about remembering our Savior and what he has done for us. Some people choose to give something up, or some people choose to do something new (like our great Seeds of Hope program!). But the important thing is not simply in adding something into your life or taking something away, but the heart behind our actions. Let us today again remember what Christ has done for us in redeeming our hearts.
And AS we remember, let us GO TO Jesus with our heart issues because THAT is what God is concerned most about, the attitude of our hearts. Let us go to Him with our STRUGGLES because that is the Good News of Christ. He listens and He helps.
Let us love the Lord with all our HEART, all our soul, and all our mind. Our inner person. Amen.
Lets go with the strength of this blessing: God sent his one and only Son to redeem us. Let us turn to Him so he can begin the process of healing our hearts and transforming us into godly women and men. AMEN!
Jesus Looks at the Heart
Story: Recently, I was talking to a student on campus who was telling me that they didn't have science when the Bible was written, and thus the Bible is outdated and not very useful. I replied, "while certainly science has taught us a lot, the Bible is not contrary to science. But it is not written primarily as a scientific textbook. However, the Bible is more concerned about the human condition and the heart, and it speaks very wells to this issue."
Theme throughout the Bible: We see this idea throughout the pages of Scripture!
“For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
“For the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought.” 1 Chr. 28:9
“Blessed are the pure in heart.” Matthew 5:8
In fact, when Jesus is talking with people and addressing their different issues, he is almost always addressing the deeper issues of our heart, and not simply external behavior. His constant rebuke against some of the established religious leaders of his time, the Pharisees, is the attitude of their hearts, not in how much they knew about the Bible.
So what is meant by the heart? In most cases in the Bible, it is not referring simply to the human organ, the heart. But to our inner self: our mind, emotions, and will.
(SLOW!!)
Introducing the Story:
1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat."
This is a good question! If you have or work with children, I think you would all agree that you probably can't wash your hands enough. Germs exist. So, is Jesus saying we shouldn't wash our hands? No.
And for the Pharisees it wasn't likely about germs (I don't know if they even knew about those yet), but it was one of their traditions that they had been following for so long that they probably didn't even know why they did it. And when they saw Jesus' disciples not following their tradition, they tried to challenge Jesus because that was just something they always did.
Are there things we do simply because we have always done them? Maybe Jesus is challenging us to return to the heart of why we do these things.
Continuing on we see Jesus speak about...
(SLOW!!)
Commandments and Traditions:
3 He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 6 So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.
We see that Jesus, as he often does, doesn't answer their question directly, but uses this as an opportunity to discuss a deeper and more important issue. The Pharisees had something close to 600 additional observances and traditions, on top of the numerous biblical commands.
It is important to note that Jesus does not condemn traditions, but does place them as secondary compared with God's commands. Right now we are in the lenten season. All denominations of churches have traditions they follow.
Story of Martin Luther and Protestant Reformation (which Methodists are a part of!) responding to the traditions of the established church and the practice of paying indulgences to buy salvation for themselves or relatives, despite this being contrary to the Word of God.
Our own John Wesley writes that there are four primary sources for coming to theological conclusions: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, & Experience - but emphasizes that Scripture is primary and the sole source for truth about God. Tradition, reason, and experience are guides to help us interpret the Scriptures.
(SLOW!!)
Where is our Heart?
8 "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'”
Part of my testimony of becoming a Christian relates well to this passage. I grew up going to the Methodist church in Wimberley, Texas where my parents still go to church to this day. It is a great church! I was there pretty much every Sunday morning, as well as Sunday and Wednesday evenings as I was always involved in the youth group. I participated in Bible Studies, Mission Trips, and even confirmation class. But my heart was far from God.
In High School my friends around me were getting swept up into heavy drinking, stealing, among other things, and I was getting pulled in with them. Through God's prevenient grace I separated myself from those friends. But I came to college with a lot of heart level issues: pride, bitterness, depression, anger, among others. Church and God had always been just an activity that I attended. I was following the steps, the traditions, but I lacked the sincere heart behind my actions.
Jesus Teaches: We all have heart level issues
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."
*The Bible clearly teaches the fallen condition of mankind, from the first book of the Bible onward. We clearly see it in the strife filled Old Testament with wars, adultery, murder, etc. We see it with the Pharisees and Jesus' own very imperfect disciples.
*We see it in our world.
* We see it in ourselves.
So the question I think Jesus would be asking, and IS asking, is WHERE IS OUR HEART? Where is MY heart? Where is YOUR heart?
If Jesus words are true, and as Christians we affirm that they are the very words of God, then we all have issues in our heart that ONLY God can fix.
(SLOW!!)
Gospel: But there is good news! The Greek word for gospel, evangelion, literally means GOOD NEWS.
We all have heart level issues... (pause) But Jesus is called the Great Physician and can heal our hearts. Accepting Jesus for who he said he is and following Him begins the process of changing and healing our hearts. It is the process that has been gradually changing my heart. The Bible calls this process sanctification.
(SLOW!!)
What specifically does Jesus do for our Hearts?:
The Bible writes that Jesus is the only person to live on earth without sin. In Hebrews 4:15 he was "in every respect tempted as we are, yet without sin". So while we all sin, accepting the sinless Jesus Christ begins the process of transforming us.
He urges us to be born again, and offers us the free GIFT of the Holy Spirit. And while we can't heal ourselves on our own, when we accept Jesus and his HOLY Spirit lives in us, he begins to change us from within.
Jesus urges us to pray to Him, release our thoughts to him and pray through struggles and temptations, ask for forgiveness when we make mistakes, and confess to God and godly friends.
(SLOW!!)
*When we worship, let us remember God is looking more at our HEARTS, than how we sound.
*When we take communion, God wants our hearts to be seeking Him.
*When we tithe God is examining our motives.
How does this message tie into Lent:
*Lent is a tradition. It is not mentioned in the Bible, but it is a great tradition!
*It is about remembering our Savior and what he has done for us. Some people choose to give something up, or some people choose to do something new (like our great Seeds of Hope program!). But the important thing is not simply in adding something into your life or taking something away, but the heart behind our actions. Let us today again remember what Christ has done for us in redeeming our hearts.
And AS we remember, let us GO TO Jesus with our heart issues because THAT is what God is concerned most about, the attitude of our hearts. Let us go to Him with our STRUGGLES because that is the Good News of Christ. He listens and He helps.
Let us love the Lord with all our HEART, all our soul, and all our mind. Our inner person. Amen.
Lets go with the strength of this blessing: God sent his one and only Son to redeem us. Let us turn to Him so he can begin the process of healing our hearts and transforming us into godly women and men. AMEN!
