Be Heart Smart

We can all tell stories about people we know that are not healthy.  Some health issues are not life threatening and others are.  Heart disease is a dangerous condition that we all want to avoid.  In Scripture God does not call for physical hearts that are cholesterol-free (although that’s not a bad idea) but hearts that are sin-free.  In Scripture God does not call for hearts that are pumping blood a 100% capacity, but hearts that are pumping out the right kind of attitude. The heart God is looking for comes from James 3 with this challenging question, “Who among you is wise and intelligent?”  God is not asking, “Who has an advanced degree?”  He’s not asking, “Who has the practical know-how to work on house repairs or program a computer?”  Rather, when God looks for wise and intelligent hearts he is looking for spiritual wisdom, he is looking for hearts filled with faith in the Savior’s selfless love and overflowing with a desire to be Followers of Christ as Humble Servants.  Therefore, the Holy Spirit places this question before us today: “Who among you is wise and intelligent? Let him by his good way of living show that he does things in wise humility.”  That is true spiritual wisdom so you can

Be Heart Smart

Avoiding the Rot

I wish I could hand out pencils and paper so I could teach you how to be Heart Smart and you could write it down.  But, while we can teach it, this Christian Attitude is a work of the Holy Spirit that is “caught” more than “taught.”  I would imagine that everyone here wants to be humble, gentle, with meekness-not weakness.  And how will you and everyone around you know that you have caught true Spiritual Wisdom?  We will see that your humble service for God and others bears witness that you have reached true spiritual wisdom.  This is what James said,

“Let him by his good way of living show that he does things in wise humility.” 

Physical heart disease is a tough nut to crack.  Medical technology has made great strides.  Miracles occur now and then.  But people still die from heart issues.  A friend of mine had heart disease and didn’t know it.  He felt fine and was active.  He had no reason to check.  He suddenly collapsed and died of a heart attack.  While this is tragic, Spiritual heart disease is worse.  You and I might be feeling fine.  We might be thinking, “My spiritual life is OK.”  But in this passage the apostle gets out God’s catheter and maneuvers it through our spiritual blood vessels right into our spiritual power center.  What shows on God’s camera about your spiritual heart is downright shocking and gross.  James exposes a problem we know is there, but did you really know how bad it was?  I dare you to be honest with yourself when God’s testing takes place in your rotten hearts.  Okay, here it goes: 

“¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast and lie, contrary to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but it is worldly, unspiritual, and demonic.” 

Get the crash cart!  James is talking about your heart!   What the apostle describes as “worldly” is a heart that powers a brain to think like “Joe.”  Joe blew it, but he considered himself wise because he used his “wisdom” to try to solicit support from others so that he wouldn’t look bad.  That only caused cracks and splits in his relationships with others, forcing people to take sides.  His worldly attitude was not Heart Smart.

What the apostle describes as “unspiritual” is a heart that powers a brain to think like Mike, who considered himself wise because he used his “wisdom” to make a buck and gloated to himself how well he did but never even considered using his blessing to support the proclamation of the Gospel.  He was “unspiritual.”  Or like Jill, who considered herself wise but used her wisdom to surround herself in creature comforts with no consideration for helping others.  Their unspiritual attitude was not heart-smart.

 What the apostle describes as “demonic” is a heart that powers a brain to think like Ryan who considered himself wise but used his wisdom to raise doubts in his own mind and in the mind of others about whether the Bible is true.  Did the creation of the world happen like it says in Genesis?  Is Marriage really between one man and done woman committed for life?  Does a person do enough good things to get them into heaven, or not?  Is a person really saved through faith in Jesus Christ alone?  His demonic attitude to doubt God’s Word was not heart-smart.  

These examples only scratch the surface of how seriously rotten people’s hearts are.  The list could go on and on including the rot that you know about in your heart that leads to the sins in your life.  All of these examples are summarized by James:

“¹⁶ In fact, where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and every bad practice. ” 

That’s not heart-smart.

Do you have that problem?  I do.  Let’s talk about communication for a minute.  Envy and selfish ambition creates disorder and bad practices in my communication.  Let’s say we have a guest that visits Divine Peace.  I am assuming that there is selfless eagerness to follow up with our guests in order to shower God’s Word on them.  But, I can have self-talk that says, “You’re so busy!  You have to get your desk work done.”  This envy and self ambition of wanting to complete less important work leads to disorder because my priorities are mixed up and in turn this leads to bad practices.   If I am honest with myself maybe my lack of communication with that guest is because of laziness or because of an unwillingness to rethink a schedule of mixed-up priorities or because of selfishness that caused me to fail to train others to help in this ministry.  That’s not heart-smart.  You also have your challenges in areas of communication, loving your neighbor, or showering someone you know with God’s Word.  What are we going to do about that?  Let’s turn to God’s Word in order to

Get a Clear Diagnosis

What a blessing it is to have a healthy physical life.  We all want our body and mind to be clear and productive.  But, because of the effects of sin in our life, we are all going to have health issues.  Brains get foggy, muscles deteriorate, disease invades our body and can create bone spurs, muscle tares, and organ defects such as heart disease. Likewise we all have a problem with our spiritual heart.  The Lord God goes to work to give us a Clear Diagnosis!  God says that I was born with spiritual heart disease.  I want to work hard to avoid this deadly disease for my faith and life.  I can work harder to follow God’s law, to do more good, and to create a situation to stand before God.  But, I can’t.  That’s my Diagnosis!  I cannot be perfect as God demands.

You and I can’t do anything about bad genetics that cause physical heart disease, nor can you or I do anything about the bad spiritual genetics that cause spiritual heart disease.  But God can.  The apostle says,

“¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from above is first pure, then also peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere.” 

This “wisdom that comes from above” is a miraculous heart transplant described by Ezekiel.  God spoke through that prophet and said,

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees”

Ezekiel 36:26-27

God, the expert surgeon, totally understands our horrible Diagnosis and went to work to correct our sinful, diseased heart with a new, healthy, spiritual heart – I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees.   What the apostle describes is a heart that powers a brain to create the Godly life God desires through faith in Jesus Christ.  And look what happens!

¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who practice peace. 

What the apostle describes is a heart that powers a brain to think like Bob who did not insist on his “rights,” like Billy who was willing to follow his parent’s guidance, like Bo whose heart went out to anyone in distress, like Brian who treated everyone at work fairly, like Ben who made a promise to support ministry with a special offering and kept his word.  That’s heart smart.

To maintain a healthy physical heart, it’s a good idea to cut back on bad cholesterol and trans-fats, to go in for regular check-ups, and to exercise.  To maintain a healthy spiritual heart, it’s a good idea to cut back on spiritual junk food, to come to worship for regular check-ups, and to exercise your faith with humble service to God and others.  All along the Holy Spirit is working on our hearts.  He tests our hearts.  He wants to revive our hearts.  He wants to empower our hearts.  And he does just that!  We experienced it today as God proclaimed our hearts whole and healthy through the announcement at the beginning of worship, “God, our heavenly Father, has been merciful to us and has forgiven all your sins.”  God has provided the Perfect Heart Smart solution by your baptism that is the Gospel connected to the water.  By providing the Lord’s Supper that is the Gospel connected to wafer and wine.  All of this connects us to Jesus who is our perfect Heart Healthy Savior!  What a perfect day to say, “Thank you, Lord, for counting Jesus’ life as mine and not counting the rot in my heart against me.  Thank you for working your spiritual surgery so that I have a new heart, a new attitude, and a desire to humbly serve you and my neighbor!”

We’ve all got our physical health issues and I would encourage you to use the means available to you to get physically healthy.  Today let us rejoice that God has taken care of our spiritual health by giving us the Gospel.  So, let’s all be Heart Smart.  Let’s Avoid the Rot from sinful actions, be reminded of God’s Clear Diagnosis.  Let’s Praise God as we Follow Christ as His Humble Servants so more people may be showered with God’s Word and join us to Be Heart Smart! Amen!