Sunday Sermons
Guard Your Heart
Guard Your Heart
“Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life”
Proverbs 4:23
We live in a dangerous world
One might be tempted to tire of parental warnings, yet when we pick up the Scriptures we find that it is packed with warnings:
· Matthew 16:6 “Watch out and beware”
· Luke 12:15 “Beware, and be on your guard against”
· Mark 13:23 “But take heed”
· Mark 13:33 “Take heed, keep on the alert”
· Luke 21:34 “Be on your guard, so that your hearts will not be weighed down”
“Be Careful”
· Ephesians 5:15 “How you walk”
· Deuteronomy 6:3 To listen to and obey God’s commandments
· Deuteronomy 11:32 “To do all the statues and the judgments”
· Joshua 1:7-8 “To do according to all the law”
· Ezekiel 36:27 “To observe My ordinances”
· Titus 3:8 “To engage in good deeds”
“Watch Over”: Proverbs 4:23
The idea here is to exercise great care over something. “When you care deeply about something you exercise great care over it. When you care deeply about someone, you exercise great care over that person. Solomon says, ‘Listen up: You need to exercise that kind of care over your heart’. The specific term for guard used in this verse also has the meaning of ‘to guard your post’. Have you ever stood post? Perhaps you have, as you defended our great country in the military. Sometimes we’ve ‘stood guard’ with special vigilance over our home or over our family. If you neglect to exercise great care over your heart or to stand post over your heart, if you heart is not sufficiently guarded, it will be deceived, captured, and plundered” (Guard Your Heart, Dr. Gary Rosberg, pp. 49-50).
“Your heart”: Proverbs 4:23
“Our heart is the very core of who we are. The heart is everything. It’s the source of all life. This could include such forces as emotion, conscience, thought, and will. The heart is where our life meets our environment. It’s the gateway to our emotions and our relationships. The Hebrews understood that a clear heart would lead to a clear head. An uncluttered heart would lead to freedom in decision-making. And where the heart leads, the eyes, mouth, and feet will follow” (Rosberg pp. 50-51). Notice the verses that immediately follow this verse:
· Proverbs 4:24 “Put away from you a deceitful mouth”
· Proverbs 4:25 “Let your eyes look directly ahead”
· Proverbs 4:26 “Watch the path of your feet”
· Proverbs 4:27 “Turn your foot from evil”
“With all diligence”: Proverbs 4:23
It is so easy to become preoccupied with lesser and unimportant battles and goals. This is where the real battle is fought. The majority of our effort, watchfulness, energy, and diligence needs to be concentrated on making sure that we are continuing to believe the truth, love God with all our hearts, and remain pure in heart. Before we protect or guard anything else—let us make sure that we have guarded our hearts. “Keep thy heart more than any other keeping” (P.P. Comm. p. 91).
· Matthew 6:22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness”
· What Jesus is trying to make us see is that “perspective” (which is a heart thing) is everything. If our hearts remain pure, then every other aspect of our lives will fall into the proper place. Yet if our heart is not pure, then everything we do will be tainted and the battle will have been lost.
· Titus 1:15 “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled”
· In addition, before any real change can take place, the heart must be fixed first (Matthew 7:5 “First take the log out of your own eye”; Matthew 23:26 “First clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also”).
“From it flow the springs of life”: Proverbs 4:23
The term “spring” here refers to the source of our lives. “It’s the artesian source of our very selves” (Rosberg p. 51). Jesus taught the same truth in Mark 7:21, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed….”.
Applications
· Seeking to curtail a sinful practice is a waste of time if one is unwilling to change what is valued and cherished in the heart. “Out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within” (Mark 7:20-23). The real problem behind any sinful practice or habit is an attitude in the heart that is justifying, rationalizing and fueling that practice. The inner man must first renounce the practice and see it for what it is, sinful, selfish, manipulating, and dishonoring.
· This spring never stops flowing. The heart cannot be turned off, it can only be changed. What will come from the heart will be either a continuous and inexhaustible source of what is tainted or what is pure.
· The heart colors everything. Notice the absolute statements in Titus 1:15 “All things are pure”, “nothing is pure”. I believe that some people are operating under the mistaken notion that they can control a less than pure heart. Yet on this spring there is no hot or cold, but rather, it is a spring that simply continuous to flow. There is either a filter on this spring or there isn’t, there is no middle ground. This means that if I am not willing to be honest with God’s word, I cannot suddenly be 100% honest in all my other relationships. If I am selfish, I cannot say, “But in this area or with this person I will not be selfish”. “Defilement of the mind means that the thoughts, wishes, purposes are all defiled, corrupt. When the conscience is defiled the last safeguard of the soul is broken down” (Lipscomb pp. 269-270).
Deadly Elements
Pride: “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty” (Proverbs 18:12)
· “I have all the answers, I do not need any advice”
· “I don’t need to follow the directions”
· “I can do it all on my own”
· “I am so smart and talented that exceptions should be make for me”
· “The rules do not apply to me”
· “Asking for help is a sign of weakness”
· “My needs come before the needs of everyone else”
· “Getting something done is more important than abiding within the teachings of Christ”
· “The ideas of my generation take precedence over the ideas of all other generations”
Envy: “Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of your” (Proverbs 4:25). “Not on the other’s guy’s stuff, power, possessions. Those detours will lead us to sin” (Rosberg p. 180).
· “I deserve better”
· “The world owes me”
· “It’s not fair”
· “I cannot be happy because they have more than I do”
· “If I only had what they have, looked like they look, had a boy-friend or girl-friend like they have--- I would be happy”
Greed: “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed” (Luke 12:15). “As someone has said, our debt-ridden society is addicted to spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need to keep up with people we don’t know” (Rosberg p. 95). Money is a great servant, but the worst possible master.
· “I have to have that now”
· “I will sacrifice everything if I can only have…”
· “I must have instant gratification”
· “Things are more important than people”
· “Everyone else on this earth is here to serve me”
Power: “I became great and increased more than all who proceeded me in Jerusalem” (Ecclesiastes 2:9). Yet all this power did not make Solomon a strong man (2:11). Never lose sight of real power, “Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit” (Proverbs 25:28). “Impatience views restraint only as restriction; so the enemy arrives to find the walls down” (Kidner p. 161). “The one who cannot maintain such control will always be outmaneuvered by an adversary who keeps emotions in check” (Garrett p. 211). By contrast, Galatians 5:22-24 is a description of true power, wealth and accomplishment.
Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net/mdunagan@easystreet.com
