(A)
“But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these defile you.” (Matt. 15:18 TNIV)
According to God’s view, we are good or bad according to our heart quality. What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart.
Further elaboration in the following:
“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad. For a tree is recognised by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Good people bring good things out of the good stored up in them, and evil people bring evil things out of the evil stored up in them.” (Matt. 12:33-35)
The Lord Jesus was in fact saying that a bad-hearted person is like a bad tree producing bad fruit.
In our contemporary society, when we speak of the heart in the metaphorical sense as an aspect of our selfhood. we are likely thinking of either a flood of emotional intensity (eg.’I love you with all my heart’) or a flow of enthusiasm like (‘his heart is in what he is doing’).
But the Bible tells us that the heart is nothing less than the taproot of the self, the deep source of our character and purposes, of our attitudes and responses, of our self-image and self-projection; – in short, of the total human being.
Today, we assess people from the outside in grading them mainly by their skills, and we label them good people, despite their moral lapses, as long as they use their skills to do what we recognise as a good job.
God, however, assesses everyone from the inside out, measuring us entirely by the state of our hearts. It is with God’s method of assessment, which digs so much deeper than ours, that we must all finally come to terms.
So now we can fully understand why the Bible exhorts us “to keep our hearts right with all diligence’. For when it comes to the final judgment, God never makes a mistake because He sees our motives, our inner desires, our true selves,- all ‘residing’ in our hearts.
In the same vein, we need not be disturbed by the evaluation of others of our lives when we know that they have failed to discern the true state of our hearts; for God sees and discerns all things, and in the final analysis, what God approves or disapproves is what truly matters.
Dear brethren, are our hearts right with Him??
(B)
In everyday communication, when we refer to pure hearts, we are likely to identify some people as not inclined, as others are, to sexual immoralities, or to the underhand exploitation of others for personal advancement, or to abuse of others for personal gain or gratification.
But what is the deep truth of the matter when we talk about purity of heart?
Jesus spelled out the truth when He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37). Heart, soul, and mind are words which overlap each other in meaning.
Jesus is in fact saying that we are to love our God with every-thing we have got – He is effectively defining for us the purity of heart of which He had said elsewhere: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt.5:8). Purity of heart is a matter of living every day of one’s life loving God
It is a matter of making knowing and loving and pleasing and praising God our main objective and task in life. Knowledge of God is as much communion with Him and obedience to Him – it is not just grasping facts about Him; it has to do with our devotion to Him (expressed in worship) as well as the moral transformation of our lives (expressed in holy living) as we relate with Him.
However, purity of heart, which focuses on the command and glory of God, is advanced by the experience of suffering. Increasingly, Christians grow to know, with increasing clarity, that a close walk with the Father and with the Son involves leaning on them and drawing strength from them through the Holy Spirit (notice the Trinity). Suffering causes us to lean harder on the Father and the Son and in our weakness, we are strengthened through the Spirit of God.
When the Holy Spirit changes and renews the heart by instilling in us a recognition of Christ’s reality and by uniting us to HIm in His risen life, our way of thinking is at once changed – instead of alienation from and defiance of God, what comes from our hearts is grateful love to God, and a desire to praise and please Him increasingly, leading to purification of our hearts.
We have noted earlier that the heart is the taproot of the self, the deep source of our character and purposes, of our attitudes and responses of our self-image and self-projection; we saw also how God purifies our hearts inside out through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and He assesses everyone also from the inside out, measuring us entirely by the state of our hearts.
In the parable of the Sower, the seed sown in the good soil represents “those who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience (Luke 8:15). Note the central role of the Word and the response of the heart for spiritual fruit.
Authentic spirituality, fruitfulness, and ministry therefore, bear an intimate relationship with the state of our hearts, principally with the purity of our hearts from which pure and good motives, and love, spring forth and give rise to fruit and life which last eternally.
Ignore the matter of the heart – the state, the purity and the direction – and we are heading for spiritual setbacks in our lives and ministry. Do not just measure on the basis of what can be seen and noted; learn to discern what truly matters to God and what really pleases Him.
(C) Three things which prevent the Word of God from purifying your heart
In the last sharing on the ‘The matter of the heart’, we noted from the parable of the Sower the importance of the sowing of God’s Word and the state of the hearts of those who receive the Word.
This is a very well known parable but lest we think we know all about the meaning of the communication of this parable, we need to pause and ask God to speak clearly to us from the teachings of the Lord Jesus Himself.
Another relevant point to take note of: The three ‘things’ or ‘areas’ highlighted by the Lord Jesus which can prevent the Word of God taking root in our hearts and bearing fruit in our lives are very much relevant in our context today as we live in the last days, and as the day of the Lord’s second coming draws much more nearer than before.
“This is the meaning of the parable: the seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they no not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (Luke 8:11-15 TNIV)
Firstly, it is the Lord Jesus who gives the meaning of the parable; we are in one sense standing on ‘holy ground’ – it is as if He is speaking to us believers in ‘direct speech’ although the communication was given years ago to those present then.
Take note also that the meaning has to do with the ‘sowing’ of God’s Word, the state of the heart of those listening, the responses accordingly, the presence and reality of an enemy (the devil), the quality of the responses over time and in the midst of testings (and sufferings), the nurturing of spiritual maturity, and the great need for perseverance and endurance until God fulfils all His promises.
The seed is the Word of God. To those whom Jesus spoke to then, they were very familiar with the concept of farming and seed. It was obvious to them that the seed once sown was meant to germinate and grow to be a ‘plant’ with ‘fruit’ over time. But the seed here is used by Jesus to refer to God’s Word; when does the sowing of God’s Word take place and in what context? And surely, God intends for HIs Word to take root in the hearts of the listeners and to subsequently bear a ‘crop’. When a sermon is preached, when the Bible is studied prayerfully in a group or individually, when there is communion with God in worship and prayer, when the gospel is preached – these are times when the ‘sowing’ of God’s Word takes place.
But how is the response of the heart; what is the reception like?
The Lord Jesus warned us that certain things may take place to prevent the Word of God from being received and taking root in our lives and hearts: The devil may take away the Word away from the hearts of those who hear. We have seen in the past how the devil can cast doubt on God’s word, distort it and even replace it with his own interpretation. The Bible also warns that we may hear and do not receive; we may listen but do not understand, because our hearts have become ‘hardened’. If we say we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, do we make great efforts consistently to hear with receptive hearts, to listen attentively with the desire to understand, and are our hearts ‘tender’ to hear and to do His Word? Do we make it ‘easy’ for the enemy to remove the Word from our hearts and lives because we fail to invest in what we believe is from God? Take note that Jesus linked hearing the Word with ‘believe’ and ‘being saved’. It is not just any other fruit – it is the fruit of faith and salvation for those who hear, believe and are saved! These are serious eternal issues with eternal consequences. If you refuse to hear, to listen and to do God’s Word, the consequence is disastrous eternally.
Then the Lord Jesus pointed out those who hear, initially with joy (emotionally), but with the arrival of ‘testings’ and sufferings, they fall away after a while. The main reason is that they have no ‘roots’. Imagine a plant with shallow roots – when the wind and storms come along, the lack of a deep root causes the plant to fall and be uprooted. The Bible in the Old Testament refers to ‘”taking roots downwards and bearing fruit upwards”: how appropriate is this in describing those who listen with joy but do not last in their faith when testings come along – there is no root because there is no assimilation of the Word, no meditations and imbibing the Word deeply into our hearts, no time given to think through and appreciate deeply what was ‘sown’ by God’s Spirit.
Does this not describe many today who sit in the pews every Sunday who appear to listen but they are really not receiving from God? It is a routine to come to worship service; the mind and heart are distracted by so many issues, even legitimate ones, even when the Word is preached or when the Word is studied in small groups. We find it a ‘hassle’ to proceed from ‘milk’ to ‘meat’ with regard to God’s Word and so there are no ‘deep roots’ appearing.
Jesus then turned to those who are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and subsequently the ‘plant dies’ and there is no maturity. When the Word is being sown, the heart and mind are preoccupied with so many of life’s worries, also even legitimate ones like concerns for our health, our families, our children – concerns also for our jobs, our income, inflation, mortgages, savings etc. Then the riches and pleasures – when can we upgrade to a bigger car, a bigger house, more luxuries of life, exotic vacations, ensuring the growth of our savings and income etc.?
The Lord Jesus was saying that these would choke us and prevent us from growing to maturity, and may even ‘kill our spiritual life’. Do we realise the urgency to break free from this ‘choking’ and truly grow, persevere, toward maturity and being conformed to the image of the Master?
We may sigh and say that we are ever so familiar with the parable of the Sower and its meaning – but are we, truly? This is the matter of ‘eternal life and death’; it is the matter of the heart; it is how much we truly value the Word of God that has been preserved for us by God, by the sacrifice and death of many who ensure that the Word reaches the masses (in the Reformation) and the intense effort of those who translated the Bible so that we can receive God’s revelation today.
In the light of all these, can we be excused if we refuse to hear, to listen, to study and to ensure that the Word takes root in our lives (individually and corporately) and bears fruit to maturity and eternal life??
(D) Are we listening with good and pure hearts?
We have looked at the meaning of the parable of the Sower and noted the ‘three things’ which can prevent the seed (God’s Word) from ‘germinating’ and growing to bear good fruit from a good tree.
“But the seed on good soil stand for those with a noble and good heart, which hear the Word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” (Luke8:15).
Are we listening with a noble and good heart?
“A voice came from the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him” (Luke 9:35a). This took place at the ‘mount of transfiguration’.
“Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Those who have will be given more; as for those who do not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them” (Luke 8:18) – these were the words of the Lord Jesus.
Firstly, when we listen to the Word of God, we are listening to the Triune God – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And we ought to listen with a good heart and a noble heart (good soil) – we can, by implication listen with a ‘bad’ heart and we will not produce good spiritual fruit – we can listen with an indifferent heart, not appreciating that the words are coming forth from the almighty Creator who is speaking to us, and they are not to be ignored.
The good soil speaks to us of those who listen, retain, and persevere and thus produce a good crop ( spiritual fruit); this is what it means to listen carefully. As we listen, retain, and assimilate, more will be given, for we are in a position to receive more -it is like graduating from ‘milk’ to ‘meat’ spiritually.
But if we listen poorly, what we think we have will be taken from them. These are those who do not receive, retain and apply God’s Word spoken to them.
Spiritual growth to maturity requires receiving God’s Word, retaining it, persevering in it despite storms of life, and maturing in Him, becoming like Him, and taking pains not to be choked by the affairs of this life and world. As written to Timothy, a good soldier does not get entangled with the affairs of this life. If we are easily incapacitated by the enemy who weighs us down with the affairs of this life, we then become ‘wounded soldiers of Christ’, who are no longer in the capacity to battle and to stand on the ground of victory secured for us by the Lord Jesus. Let us ensure that we shall stand at the very end of the ‘war’ and ‘battles’. Like the faithful pilgrim, we shall enter the ‘promised land’.