Badenoch Free Church

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morning 3rd June 2007
 
Intro:
What is your 1st priority in life…………
Goals……… aims……… etc
Proverbs a book of WISDOM and ADVICE.
Main priority:
“Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
 
Chapter 4 splits into 2parts:
V1-9 parental advice
V10-27 exhortation to stay on right path
V1-9 advice to children:
V1-2 listen
V3-4 picture father teaching boy.
V5-9 get wisdom. Wisdom its own reward.
Wisdom big theme of Proverbs. (wisdom literature)
Wisdom is personified “Proverbs 3:13 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour. 17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed”
Wisdom is: knowledge of how to live ….. Practical…… godly…..
Part 2 v10-27
V10 told to listen
V14 don’t stray
V18 path of righteousness is beautiful
V20-22 another call to listen
V23 - our text
V24 - guard your tongue
V25-27 - look straight ahead.
Text:“Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
Importance of physical heart: a muscle - pumps blood, brings oxygen - needed for life …… a serious matter!
 
But : Proverbs not a medical journal.
Not about Flora better than butter!!
What is it talking about: what is the heart?
““the human heart,………is the executive centre of the human life” DW Renov of Heart p36.
“The heart is the central organ of the body in the wisdom literature.
It is often paraphrased as “mind,” since it does have an intellectual component…… But it is also the basic orientation of a person, embracing desires, emotions, and attitude. The description of the deterioration of Solomon’s “heart” in 1 Kgs 11:3–4, 9 is more than a picture of mental lapse!
Murphy, Roland E., Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 22: Proverbs, (Dallas, Texas: Word Books, Publisher) 1998.” The heart is - the inner man, the mind, the soul.
 
Guard your soul! Inner man etc.
“Keep it with all diligence”
Why is it so important? Physical analogy - bad hearts = death!
From the text : “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” - the heart affects everything we do and say.
 
“….. [we] need to guard the heart, for it is the source of “the surges of life”…... The heart is imaged as a water source from which life erupts.”” Murphy, Roland E., WBC
Would never pollute a water source!
Heart condition impacts everything: home / work / relationships / church life…..
Jesus shows importance of heart: speaking to Pharisees
“Matthew 12:33-35 "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. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. ”
“Matthew 15:17-20 17 "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean‘. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean’." ”
Pharisees fault heresy : focus on outside rather than inside!
Lords logic : inside most important. What in will come out! Thus need to look after heart!
e.g the good tree produces good fruit & Vic versa.
e.g “Matthew 21:28-30 28 "What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ 29 "`I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 "Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, `I will, sir,' but he did not go.” Thus : what really matter is the heart! ……… thus “above all else…”
But how?
 
1. By listening : Proverbs 4:1 Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. Proverbs 4:10 10 Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. Proverbs 4:20 20 My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words.
Challenge : do you listen? What do you listen to?
2. Listen to wisdom:
Listen to God!
“Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Joshua 1:8 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ”
Everybody listens to something! Advertisements / TV / books / mags / gossips….
What about you?
Above all else guard you heart!
 
 
Evening 3rd June 2007
 
1 John 3:2-3
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
“Dear friends - beloved.” - this is how John addresses his brothers and sisters in Christ.
What love, do we feel that towards one another?
Family love should always be a committed love. We will not give up on our family.
Careful in the family not to let the devil get a foothold!
Yes we can fall out - yes we can argue but we are a family. Unity is the most important thing. Should be willing to let things pass for the sake of unity.
“above all, love each other deeply, for love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1Pet4v8.
“we are children of God” reminder of what he has just said.
We really are the children of God! We’ve been adopted into the divine family!
We are the children of God - we know that.
If we really know that nothing else will matter.
But there is something that we do not know!
We do not know what we will be! What does this mean?
How can it get any better than being the children of God?!
Whatever we will be, we will be like the Lord Jesus!
“But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”
- sinless perfection!
- supernatural abilities * indestructible physical bodies * resurrection bodies.
This becoming like the Lord, will happen in an instant!
When we see him, we will be changed -
“1 Corinthians 15:51: Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
We all, I’m sure, have much about us that we would like to see changed. At a physical level we would like change. And at the spiritual level we would love to see change. To be more compassionate, to be more pure, to be more holy to be less sinful!
The great fact is that as Christians we can all look forward to that happening.
Our sins have been forgiven - in heaven we will fully realise all the ramifications of that forgiveness in a perfect way.
Just now we only have a dim picture of what it all means - 1 Corinthians 13:12 “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
- in light of this how are we to live, v3:
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
We have a hope of something great. We live in hope. Hope is what drives us. We are hope filled. We know that we will be like Jesus.
Not a vain hope, but a sure hope.
The word is “ evlpi,j elpis Meaning: expectation, hope”
So we have this hope! This great expectation!
Where is our hope based?
“in him” our hope is in the Lord - it is all about him.
Our hope is not based on our effort. Our abilities. Our prayer life. Our church attendance etc
Our hope is in him! He will never let us down.
He has not failed us yet, he will not fail us ever.
He is our great Lord and Saviour - our hope is in him!!
So what do we do?
We purify ourselves. We get ourselves ready for the coming of the Lord.
Note the process involved:
V1 - we are children
V2 - we are children, we will be even more.
V3 - we live with our hope in Him
Thus : we purify ourselves!
The order is very important.
We purify ourselves because of who we are - children of God, and because of Who we hope in - the Lord.
We don’t purify ourselves in order to become children, or in order to hope in the Lord!
We are saved therefore we work out our salvation!
The process is vital to keep in mind.
What is it to purify ourselves?
The word refers to the Jewish ceremonial cleansing from uncleanness.
“John 11:55 And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.
Acts 21:26 The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.”
In Christian terms it has nothing to do with external religious activity but internal washing of our souls.
The very nature of the washing means that it is personal!
Thus the text “purifies himself.” This is something you must do for yourself!
- essentially it means that you deal with sin in your life!
See rest of chapter esp4-9.
Reflect on your life, reflect on your heart. Purify yourself and keep on purifying yourself.
Why purify yourself? “just as he is pure.” because we are aiming to be like Jesus!