The Heart of the Matter
Luke 6:39-45
I don’t get to read nearly as much as I would like to. I know that I should be reading a couple of hours a day but the day needs a couple of more hours in it for me to accomplish that. Of course I can’t listen to anyone preach so the only real intellectual growth I get is by studying for my sermons each week. For the most part it is repetitious but once in a while I learn something that I can’t believe I missed in the past. This week was one of those weeks.
Isn’t it amazing how we can read the same verse over and over and then one day it just jumps off the page at us. It’s not like we were ignoring it before, it just didn’t seem relevant I suppose. Or maybe we just weren’t ready for it yet. One thing about God’s timing, it is always perfect.
How many times have you heard it said or perhaps you have said it yourself, that only God can know the heart of a person. I have said that very same thing myself many times and believed it 100%, until six days ago. What I learned this week is that we reveal a lot more about ourselves than we think we do and that our own tongues are what give us away.
Let’s continue our study in Luke looking at the “Sermon on the Plain” once again. If you want to follow along in your bible’s you can turn to Luke 6:39-45.
He also told them a parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. "For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
I am sure everyone recognizes this passage and its main teaching dealing with hypocrisy. It is a warning both to teachers of Gods word and listeners. To teachers, Jesus warns that they had better practice what they preach and that they had better teach His word faithfully. To the followers, He warns them that it is their responsibility to not to be lead astray. I love the way Bp. Ryle describes this teaching, “A teacher who does not know the way to heaven himself, is not likely to lead his hearers to heaven. The man who hears such a teacher runs a fearful risk himself of being lost eternally.” "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?”
This is a chilling statement if taken seriously. When Jesus asks the rhetorical question, “Will they not both fall into the pit?”, He is not talking about some ditch along a road, he is talking about hell. In the “Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus precedes this statement with the words, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:15
Case in point, last week Bp. Jack Spong wrote an open letter to Archbishop Rowan Williams. The letter was a poisonous personal attack on Bp. Williams because the Archbishop did not stand with him on homosexual issues. That in itself was bad enough but then Spong attacked God’s word and that is where I will pick things up;
“You continue to act as if quoting the Bible to undergird a dying prejudice is a legitimate tactic. It is in fact the last resort that religious people always use to validate “tradition” over change.
The Bible was quoted to support the “Divine Right of Kings in 1215, to oppose Galileo in the 17th century, to oppose Darwin in the 19th century, to support slavery in the 19th and 20th centuries, to keep women from being educated, voting and being ordained in the 20th and 21st century.
Today it is quoted to continue the oppression and rejection of homosexual people. The Bible has lost each of these battles. It will lose the present battle and you, my friend, will end up on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of morality and the wrong side of truth.”
While still functioning as Bishop, Spong rejected the atonement, the resurrection of Christ, miracles of our Lord, and by implication, Jesus’ deity and divinity. How many of his followers were lead down a path to eternal damnation? God only knows!
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
The question is, is it all Jacks fault if some, or possibly many, followed him over the cliff? Not according to Sts. Paul and John. In 1 Thess. 5:21 we are told to “test everything and hold fast to what is good.” And in 1 John 4:1 we are warned “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
We have been given Gods Holy Word and his Holy Spirit to help guide us into all truth. To quote Bp. Ryle once again, “The blindness of the ministers is no excuse for the darkness of the people…..If people will trust blind guides, they must not be surprised if they are lead into the pit.”
According to God’s word, many will perish because of the likes of Jack Spong and his teachings. How should we response to that, by thanking God that he has given us the discernment to know that His Word is true, and to trust Him for all our needs, especially our salvation.
Getting back to the lesson, we are told that only good trees bear good fruit, bad trees bear bad fruit, and that we know the tree by its fruit. I was originally going to call this sermon, “Fruit Salad”, but decided to go in a different direction. That was probably a wise decision. Anyway, what I want to concentrate on is the last verse so let me read it once more; “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
This is the verse that made me realize that we can know a persons heart, by what comes out of their mouths. It was always there, I just hadn’t noticed it before; “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
What someone says reveals who they are and what they really believe. They can tell you what they think they believe, but their heart will eventually show you what they really believe. Jesus warns us not to be hypocrites and that our hearts and tongues will find us out. I wonder if we can find any examples.
Let’s go with the person we started with today. Jack Spong and many others like him, call themselves Christian while at the same time denying virtually all the doctrines that have defined Christianity for almost 2000 years. Let me give you another example of hypocrisy from his letter to Archbishop Williams; “A leader gets only one chance to make a good impression and you totally failed that chance. Unity is surely a virtue, but it must be weighed against truth, the Church’s primary virtue.”
Do you hear the hiss of the snake?
Since when is unity a virtue when it is the Word of God that is being sacrificed for the advancement of sodomy? "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:34-39
Does that sound like unity to you? For the Christian, caving into unity is being conformed to this world. That is not what we are being called to do. For Jack Spong, truth is relative and the truth of God’s word is irrelative, that is what is in his heart.
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” John 8:44
Jesus was saying that to the Pharisees but the former Bishop should take heed, he may have those words spoken to him in person someday.
Let’s look at another example of blatant hypocrisy. In a resent news magazine, a front running presidential candidate, not mentioning any names(Hillary Clinton)who claims to be a Christian, said that abortion was a “tragedy” and that “she dreamed of the day when the procedure would never have to be performed,” Time 07/23/07 Now one would think that such strong words would have some Christian action to back them up. Sorry, this candidate has never once voted to protect the rights of an unborn child.
Christianity, what it teaches and what it stands for, means absolutely nothing to this woman, no matter what she says; that is what is in her heart.
I could spend the rest of the day pointing out hypocrites both in the church and out, and you could do the same, but that is not what this is all about. What this is about is that as Christians we are called to overcome the world, not succumb to the world. We are called to bear the fruit of righteousness, not the fruit of wickedness. We are called to glorify God in both word and deed, not dishonor Him by saying one thing and doing another.
Are those things easier said than done? Of course they are! That is because God has chosen to make us carry the mark of Adam with us as we follow Him. We are made in the image of God and even though Christ has redeemed us by his blood, we must still deal with our sin nature. Sometimes that nature gets the best of us and we fail. That is why we come together in fellowship each week. As we confess our failures to the triune God, He is faithful to forgive us of our failures and we must trust in that forgiveness.
When we come to His table to receive the body and blood of His Son we are showing Him that we trust Him. We are showing Him that we really believe that Jesus did everything to save us that we could not do ourselves. We are admitting that without Him, there is no hope, now or in the future.
Proverbs 27:19 reads, “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man.” We also know from our Lords teachings that the heart of man is not as hidden as we once thought. There is enough hypocrisy in this world; the church doesn’t have to add to it.
I will leave you with a challenge to examine your life and compare it to what God would have you do. What kind of fruit are you bearing before God and man? Does it glorify God? Does it build up the kingdom? Knowing that what we say reflects what is truly in our hearts; do your words reflect a love of God or a love of the world?
These are tough questions, especially when we are directing them at ourselves. But answering these questions is the only way we are going to get to the heart of the matter.
Amen……..