SPORTS CLIP
In most sporting events, there is
nothing more motivational than a team that plays with “heart.” Talent is fun to watch. Precision can be marveled at… but
nothing quite inspires like a player or team that guts it out. That puts their
emotions on the line and takes on a goliath. We love it as fans… the upset… the
rivalry… the little guy… we love it when “Heart” is personified in sports.
The reverse is also true… you can tell
it when a team’s “heart” has been removed. When they hang their heads in shame…
when they can’t get excited to go on… when the victory has been snatched before
the final whistle has been blown. They’ve either been beaten down by their
circumstances or bad coaching. One might say that they’ve lost their
identity as a team.
The heart in the Hebrew culture was the seat of emotion… it was the center of the
person. It was the most valuable part of the soul of the human being. It was
what you gave to your spouse on your wedding day… and what God demanded (Deut.
6) first from His people.
DILEMMA - The problem I think most of us have…
sometimes it’s hard to know what our emotions will do. One day we might be up
for anything… the next day…
·
the
temperature of our coffee might send us into a tailspin, LOL.
·
even
the day of the week can affect our emotions - Monday vs. Saturday?
·
How
many of us wake up different on Christmas day than we do on Tax Day?
Before we jump in, I want to make a few
things very clear today:
1. Emotions are a gift from
God.
a.
the
ability to be happy, to grieve, to have joy, and even to get frustrated
b.
God
wired us to be like Him
c.
and
our God has emotions.
2. Emotions get out of control
when our heart is not protected.
.
A
pursuit of happiness can become about selfishness
a.
Grieving
can become our eventual depression
b.
Joy
can become a false reality
c.
Frustration
can become rage
d.
When
our heart is not protected.
e.
God
has these emotions, but His heart is always protected.
REVIEW - We are discovering “Who Am I?” How has
God designed us? We’ve been exploring the idea there is a battle for our
identity & purpose taking place every day.
·
That
believing what God says about us matters
·
That
being grounded in God’s truth is important
·
Today,
we are going to talk about “Protecting your
Heart.”
If we are truly in a spiritual battle
for our emotions, then we need the right equipment for our everyday
lives.
Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having
put on the breastplate of righteousness,
This may seem like an odd thing to say.
What is a “breastplate of righteousness”?
The breastplate is the largest piece of
armor attached to the body. It’s immovable… always centered over your chest…
protecting your heart from swords, spears, arrows, etc… well how does
righteousness do that?!
If you don’t understand something, read
more of the Bible and see if you find something similar. The only other mention
of something similar comes from I Thessalonians 5 8 But since we belong to
the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate
of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
What I think Paul is trying to say is
that the only way to protect your innermost person is to Know your Righteousness. The only way
for your emotions to look like God designed is to Know your
Righteousness. The only way for you to win the battle for your heart is
to Know your Righteousness. The only way to know who you truly
are AND behave like you were meant to behave in the midst of an emotional
situation is to Know your Righteousness.
·
So,
what is righteousness? And, how can that actually help?
·
turtles from Finding Nemo
In the old testament, righteousness
would have equated to obeying the law. To be righteous, one would have to do
their best to obey not just the 10 commandments, but also the 100’s of other
laws that surrounded the core ten. So, is Paul saying that to protect
your heart you have to be perfect in your obedience of the law?
Because in week #1 we learned Ephesians 2:8 For
by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it
is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
What does Jesus say?
How can I know
my righteousness by obeying the law and doing good works? That doesn’t
seem to make sense. Surely Jesus’ words can work this out for us, right?
·
Matthew
5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds
that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Did Jesus say that we actually have to
obey better than the Pharisees? Those guys were amazing! They never messed up
the law. They actually believed that the better they obeyed the closer to God
they got. Confused yet?
Because, I know many who do get confused
at this point. Many people reject Christianity when they hear something like
this, because they know that perfection is unattainable… and
conversely many Christians get so wrapped up in being “perfect”
that they miss the true meaning of Jesus’ word on righteousness from
Matthew.
Let’s put Matthew 5:20 in context of the
rest of the sermon on the mount. Jesus is beginning to challenge his culture’s
concept of righteousness. Throughout this sermon he approaches it very
differently:
·
Matthew
5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…
·
Jesus
says Righteousness is something that you can crave and long for, not something
you can earn.
·
Matthew
5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness…
·
Jesus
says that Righteousness is something you can be chastised for because others
won’t understand it.
·
Matthew
6:1 Beware of practicing your righteousness before
other people in order to be seen by them
·
Jesus says Righteousness can be
practiced only in relationship with the Father… and not in relationship with
other people.
·
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you.
·
Jesus says that HIS Righteousness is something that we can
seek after because it can actually benefit our lives.
Confused yet?
So, what is this thing called
Righteousness? What is this thing that is so important that Paul says it
protects our heart AND Jesus weaves all through His most prominent teaching
(the sermon on the mount) in all of the gospels? And what in the world does
Knowing my Righteousness have to do with my identity, destiny, and purpose? How
will righteousness help me figure out who I am?
·
Our
worldly understanding is that righteousness is moral purity.
·
The
heavenly understanding is that righteousness is purity GIVEN to us.
·
That
we actually have “right standing” with God.
·
Illustration
- house is paid off
·
We
have righteousness because of what Jesus did.
·
Our
armor is given to us by God…
·
we
don’t fashion it ourselves… it’s the armor of God
·
Righteous is actually our new identity.
Imagine if we believed
something different?
·
Imagine
if we believed that we were actually righteous…
·
Imagine
if we believed in a great exchange that took place in Jesus’ death, burial and
resurrection…
·
Imagine
if we believed that when that took place, we actually became something
different… You can actually feel the difference in your life friends.
·
not
because of something we did, but because of what Jesus did… there is a key
difference between Striving (to be perfect) vs. (living in) Rest
·
not
just an idea, but an actual change took place in our very core, when we
believed?
·
We
are returning to a state of “created in His image and likeness” - its the
Father putting our identity back on us as was originally intended.
Listen to John
Wimber’s (pic) words in 1987:
“God forgives us in
Christ and declares us righteous. He adopts us as his sons and
daughters. He changes us into his likeness. So complete is our
death in Christ that we are now a new creation.
“I used to
tell people that ‘I was just a sinner saved by grace.’ True, I once was a
sinner who repented & believed & as a result was saved by grace. But
now I am a child of God, healed of my spiritual sickness, ‘set free from sin
and a slave to righteousness’ (Romans 6:18). That is to say, my fundamental
identity is that I am a child of God, a new creation.”
Wimber’s understanding of righteousness
is that it means we have become something that we could not have become on our
own. We’ve been given the very nature of Jesus.
Joseph Prince (pic) says it this way:
“We are not righteous
because we do right. We became righteous because of what Jesus
did for us at the cross. Righteousness, therefore, is not based on our right
doing. It is based entirely on Jesus’ right doing. Christianity
is not about doing right to become righteous. It is about believing right
in Jesus to become righteous.”
JP’s understanding of righteousness is
that it is something that you and I can rest in!
It’s something that we can take
confidence in. Essentially, if we are resting in
the right belief about what Jesus has given us… then our heart is protected! there
is a key difference between Striving (to be perfect) vs. (living in) Rest
The only way to protect your innermost
person is to Know your Righteousness.
The only way for your emotions to look
like God designed is to KYR.
The only way for you to win the battle
for your heart is to Know your Righteousness.
The only way to know who you truly are
AND behave like you were meant to behave in the midst of an emotional situation
is to Know your Righteousness.
Think about it, if you KNOW that God
sees you as righteous:
·
you
won’t be anxious about your sins and mistakes - God is not surprised NOR is he
judgmental when you mess up - He still loves you
·
then
you won’t be prone to pride - He did it and we humbly accept his sacrifice.
·
then
you won’t be prone to outbursts of anger - God is not surprised by our
circumstances - He is our protector and provider - truly I can only find my
value in Him so no one can take it from me!
·
Illustrate -
fired from a job?
·
We
can live a settled life.
·
Confident
that God sees us as He sees Jesus… loves us as He loves Jesus…
·
that
God cares about all of our worries, behaviors, relationships and more…
James 2:23 “Abraham believed God,
and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
Not an enemy of God… He’s not Santa
Claus… He’s not an uncaring, distant old man… He’s a loving Father who cares
about our every need… He’s a friend who has our back in every situation… and
He’s given us His very nature to help us live in that reality.
God is not surprised by our situations.
He is at rest, so we can be at rest. (2Corinth. 5:21) Jesus became our sin “so that in Jesus we
might become the righteousness of God.” We have taken on HIS nature… and He’s at rest!
·
So,
when you find your world turned upside down and backwards… when you find your
job, your spouse, your kids or your bank account are sending your emotions in a
spiral… you can rest and not become anxious or worried… you can seek the truth
of God’s righteousness given to you to protect your Heart.
·
When we Know our Righteousness, nothing can penetrate our
identity in Christ.
God has become for us the best coach…
think about it:
·
He’s
our biggest fan on our worst days.
·
He’s
always coaching up our HEART when the enemy tries to steal it.
·
He
wants us to HAVE and USE our emotions but not be destroyed by them.
·
He
wants us to be happy but never selfish… Just like Him
·
He
wants us to grieve but not get depressed… JLJ
·
He
wants us to have joy but not be fake… JLJ
·
He
wants our anger to move us to do great things, but never destroy relationships
through rage, abuse, or slandering one another… JLJ
·
Knowing
your righteous identity in Christ, frees you from the grip of attacks that come
on our emotions.
