Before we jump into the message, let’s take a moment and ask the Lord to soften our hearts and to speak to us.
Lord Jesus, I do pray that you would soften our hearts. We harden our hearts to protect ourselves from the hurts of this world. We harden our hearts to handle the trials we are facing. We harden our hearts to bear our own burdens. We even harden our hearts to do the things that we know are right. But that’s not how you are and that’s not how you want us to be. Give us ears to hear. Transform us and make us more like you. Soften our hearts that we might love as you do. In your perfect name we pray, Amen.
Do you ever think about your heart? I’m talking about your physical heart, the one inside your chest. As a general rule, I don’t think about it at all. When I was a kid, I would put my hand on my chest and feel my heart beating. I wasn’t fascinated by it, but I do remember at least thinking about my heart and the fact that it was pump, pump, pumping. Nowadays, I hardly think about it at all. It does what it’s supposed to, and I don’t really consider it.
In spite of my lack of concern or attention, medically or physically speaking, your heart is pretty important. It’s either working and you’re fine, or it’s not working and you’re well, not fine. And, by not fine, I mean you’re dead or very close to it.
And so, doctors have all sorts of ways to check on your heart to make sure it’s doing what it’s supposed to do, right? All the way from the handy stethoscope through EKG’s and angioplasty. They want figure out what’s going on because the heart usually does its job pretty well, even up to the point of a catastrophic failure.
Can you remember the catch phrase that often accompanies heart disease? What do the public service announcements say? Heart disease, the what? The silent killer. It’s called the silent killer because people may not experience symptoms or they can discount the symptoms and wait too long before getting the necessary treatment. If you wait too long, and the old ticker suddenly gives up, you’ve only got minutes before there is no chance for survival.
What is heart disease anyway?
Heart disease can be a general term referring to any problem with the heart. But usually it is referring to coronary artery disease (CAD). This is the most common condition that affects people. Coronary artery disease is a chronic disease in which the coronary arteries gradually narrow and harden. Some people experience chest pain and fatigue, but as many as 50% do not have any symptoms.
Coronary heart disease is the single greatest cause of death for both men and women in the United States, eclipsing all other causes… each year more than a half of a million Americans die of coronary heart disease. (It works out to 1 in 4 deaths are due to heart disease.)
Isn’t it interesting that the number one cause of physical death is a hardened heart?
The Bible is pretty explicit about a spiritually hard heart being a bad thing. In Exodus, it says …
When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. Exodus 9:34
Hardening our hearts is sin. Whether you are hardening your heart toward God or toward your brother or sister, father or mother, friend or enemy, neighbor or foreigner, hardening your heart is sin. Ouch!
Hard heartedness is not restricted to malignant kings. When Jesus came to the disciples by walking on the water,
… he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood … their hearts were hardened. Mark 6:51-52
Any one of us can become hard hearted.
I have the tendency and even the propensity to harden my heart. Do you ever harden your heart? I mean consciously, volitionally, “Grrr, I’m just going to block out everything else and do what I want”. You can fill in the blank. Go to work, go to school, do the right thing, do the wrong thing.
I think that many times I harden my heart and I don’t even realize that I’m doing it. So, last Sunday, God gave me an SKG, a spiritual cardiogram. A heart check, if you will. It was an unscheduled procedure, at least on my side.
We’ve been having thunderstorms pretty often. We’ve seen hail three or four times at least. In our backyard, directly above the swing sets, is a very large oak tree. This tree had a very large limb growing just about horizontally over the swing sets. The limb was about 40 feet long.
During one of the thunderstorms, I was watching the trees whirling around, marveling at God’s ingenuity in designing trees that can withstand such force, swaying violently without breaking, that and pondering the possibility of a tornado. Then, my eyes came to rest on this long horizontal limb, and it’s dancing all over the place. Then, I see that the limb is diseased. So, I make a note to myself. The limb has got to go.
Last Saturday, I’ve got the time to undertake this limb removal. So, I get out my 20 foot pole saw, and realize that it’s too short. I can reach the limb, but my arms are so outstretched that I can’t really saw. So, I get a three step stepladder out.
It’s pretty slow going, but I finally get a cut started. After sawing for about 15 minutes, my arms are about to fall off, so I think there’s got to be a better way. Well, I’m smart enough to know not to climb the tree with a chainsaw. So, we’re not going there. However, I did have a nice pruning saw that was larger and much sharper than my pole saw. I do some re-engineering of the pole saw and I’m good to go with my enhanced 20 foot saw.
You may not remember, but last Saturday was kind of on and off storms. So I’m sawing pretty much all afternoon whenever it’s not storming. Finally, it’s like 7 or 8 o’clock, and I know that I’m getting close. I’ve been at it for hours. It’s overcast and cloudy and it’s getting pretty dark. I can just barely see what I’m doing, but I’m determined. I’ve got to finish because I’ve got an enormous limb that’s just waiting to fall. There’s no turning back. The job’s got to be finished.
Then, it starts storming again. It’s so dark that rain in my face makes it impossible to see. I pack it in and hope the limb may fall in the night. The limb doesn’t fall. I had actually cut down a diseased cedar tree on Saturday before tackling the big limb. By God’s grace, it fell just under the big limb. This acted as a kind of “security zone” Someone might be tempted to climb on a cut down tree, but no one is tempted to climb on a cut down cedar tree. They’re so scratchy and pokey, that I felt sure it would keep anyone out of the danger zone.
Sunday afternoon, we come back from the church picnic. I’ve got to get this tree limb down before the week starts. So there I am, back up on my step ladder, 20 foot pole saw in hand, arms aching from 9 games of volleyball, praying for the strength to get the job done.
I get to the point that the limb starts popping and cracking. I hop down from the step ladder and walk over to the far end of the branch. I use a long bamboo pole and start pushing and pulling hoping to get the limb to fall from a nice safe distance. The limb does not budge.
I return to the step ladder. But since the limb did not budge when I was yanking and pulling on it, something fundamentally changes in my mind. I come to the very incorrect conclusion that the tree limb is not going to break off at the tree. Instead, I think it will just fall and still be attached at the trunk.
After sawing for a few more minutes, the limb is popping and cracking again. I’m sure I don’t need to saw for the time being, so I hop down from the step ladder, but I’m standing about 10 feet away from the tree, pretty much in line with this branch. The limb starts slowly moving down. I’m looking at the far end of the limb, not the base of the limb at the trunk. Everything seems to be going fine. Then, there’s a loud pop. The limb does become unattached at the trunk, but I’m not even looking at it. The limb falls right next to me. It actually hits me on the way down.
Now I know that you’re thinking, how in the world could a 40 foot long 1000 pound limb hit you and you not look like you have a scratch on you. Well, the only thing that got hit was the fingernail on my right thumb. It was hard enough of a hit that it separated the corner of my thumbnail. Even that was by God’s grace. I may have had a heart attack if the limb hadn’t hit me. I was so shocked by the pain in my thumb that it took me a minute to process the fact that I ought to be dead. Here’s a picture of the aftermath. There’s the step ladder I was standing on about two minutes before the limb fell. There’s the pole saw that the limb ripped out of my hand while hurtling to the ground.
So, I had two observations. The first observation is that I was very stupid and careless about what that 1000 pound tree limb was going to do. The second observation is that I am here entirely by the grace of God. I’m here because he has permitted me to be here.
There’s something special about really grabbing onto the fact that we are all here entirely by the grace of God. My heart was softened by recognizing my real dependence on God for my very life. My spiritual cardiogram told me that I had hardening in my spiritual arteries. The encouraging thing is that hardening of the spiritual arteries is a treatable condition.
King David was a man after God’s own heart. His treatment for hard heartedness was …
My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore. Psalm 131:1-3
David intentionally sought to be humble. Also, he quieted his soul, again putting aside his own initiatives, his personal desires. In the place of his own desires, David encourages us to put our hope in the Lord.
I cut that tree limb with my own hand. If that limb had landed on me, I would have been dead by my own hand. Isn’t that so like our own spiritual condition? Our sin separates us from God. If we die in our sin-full condition, we will go to hell by our own hand, by our own will. When we place our trust in Jesus, he will save us from hell.
We do not know what our future holds. God has permitted us to be here at this time. If you have not trusted Jesus to save you, I invite you with the words of Hebrews …
Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” Hebrews 4:7
Do not harden your heart, but depend on, trust in, believe in Jesus.
We’re going to take the bread and the cup now. We remember again that Jesus took the punishment for our sins. We remember that his body was bruised and pierced for our sins. We remember that he was crucified, nailed to the cross for our sins. As we remember, I invite you to take a moment to safely make a heart check.
I want to encourage you to pray and ask God two questions. 1) Do I have a hardened heart? 2) If I my heart is hardened, what do I need to do about it? Confess sin, seek forgiveness, forgive someone else, or seek counsel. Ask the Lord what you should do.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, you have paid the price for all our sin, both past, present, and future sin. I thank you that when we call on the name of Jesus we are saved. Thank you for the bread and the cup. Thank you that you have given us these symbols to remind us of what you have done. You came to take our punishment in our place. You paid a debt you did not owe. Now we can rejoice forevermore. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
Lord Jesus, I do pray that you would soften our hearts. We harden our hearts to protect ourselves from the hurts of this world. We harden our hearts to handle the trials we are facing. We harden our hearts to bear our own burdens. We even harden our hearts to do the things that we know are right. But that’s not how you are and that’s not how you want us to be. Give us ears to hear. Transform us and make us more like you. Soften our hearts that we might love as you do. In your perfect name we pray, Amen.
Do you ever think about your heart? I’m talking about your physical heart, the one inside your chest. As a general rule, I don’t think about it at all. When I was a kid, I would put my hand on my chest and feel my heart beating. I wasn’t fascinated by it, but I do remember at least thinking about my heart and the fact that it was pump, pump, pumping. Nowadays, I hardly think about it at all. It does what it’s supposed to, and I don’t really consider it.
In spite of my lack of concern or attention, medically or physically speaking, your heart is pretty important. It’s either working and you’re fine, or it’s not working and you’re well, not fine. And, by not fine, I mean you’re dead or very close to it.
And so, doctors have all sorts of ways to check on your heart to make sure it’s doing what it’s supposed to do, right? All the way from the handy stethoscope through EKG’s and angioplasty. They want figure out what’s going on because the heart usually does its job pretty well, even up to the point of a catastrophic failure.
Can you remember the catch phrase that often accompanies heart disease? What do the public service announcements say? Heart disease, the what? The silent killer. It’s called the silent killer because people may not experience symptoms or they can discount the symptoms and wait too long before getting the necessary treatment. If you wait too long, and the old ticker suddenly gives up, you’ve only got minutes before there is no chance for survival.
What is heart disease anyway?
Heart disease can be a general term referring to any problem with the heart. But usually it is referring to coronary artery disease (CAD). This is the most common condition that affects people. Coronary artery disease is a chronic disease in which the coronary arteries gradually narrow and harden. Some people experience chest pain and fatigue, but as many as 50% do not have any symptoms.
Coronary heart disease is the single greatest cause of death for both men and women in the United States, eclipsing all other causes… each year more than a half of a million Americans die of coronary heart disease. (It works out to 1 in 4 deaths are due to heart disease.)
Isn’t it interesting that the number one cause of physical death is a hardened heart?
The Bible is pretty explicit about a spiritually hard heart being a bad thing. In Exodus, it says …
When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. Exodus 9:34
Hardening our hearts is sin. Whether you are hardening your heart toward God or toward your brother or sister, father or mother, friend or enemy, neighbor or foreigner, hardening your heart is sin. Ouch!
Hard heartedness is not restricted to malignant kings. When Jesus came to the disciples by walking on the water,
… he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood … their hearts were hardened. Mark 6:51-52
Any one of us can become hard hearted.
I have the tendency and even the propensity to harden my heart. Do you ever harden your heart? I mean consciously, volitionally, “Grrr, I’m just going to block out everything else and do what I want”. You can fill in the blank. Go to work, go to school, do the right thing, do the wrong thing.
I think that many times I harden my heart and I don’t even realize that I’m doing it. So, last Sunday, God gave me an SKG, a spiritual cardiogram. A heart check, if you will. It was an unscheduled procedure, at least on my side.
We’ve been having thunderstorms pretty often. We’ve seen hail three or four times at least. In our backyard, directly above the swing sets, is a very large oak tree. This tree had a very large limb growing just about horizontally over the swing sets. The limb was about 40 feet long.
During one of the thunderstorms, I was watching the trees whirling around, marveling at God’s ingenuity in designing trees that can withstand such force, swaying violently without breaking, that and pondering the possibility of a tornado. Then, my eyes came to rest on this long horizontal limb, and it’s dancing all over the place. Then, I see that the limb is diseased. So, I make a note to myself. The limb has got to go.
Last Saturday, I’ve got the time to undertake this limb removal. So, I get out my 20 foot pole saw, and realize that it’s too short. I can reach the limb, but my arms are so outstretched that I can’t really saw. So, I get a three step stepladder out.
It’s pretty slow going, but I finally get a cut started. After sawing for about 15 minutes, my arms are about to fall off, so I think there’s got to be a better way. Well, I’m smart enough to know not to climb the tree with a chainsaw. So, we’re not going there. However, I did have a nice pruning saw that was larger and much sharper than my pole saw. I do some re-engineering of the pole saw and I’m good to go with my enhanced 20 foot saw.
You may not remember, but last Saturday was kind of on and off storms. So I’m sawing pretty much all afternoon whenever it’s not storming. Finally, it’s like 7 or 8 o’clock, and I know that I’m getting close. I’ve been at it for hours. It’s overcast and cloudy and it’s getting pretty dark. I can just barely see what I’m doing, but I’m determined. I’ve got to finish because I’ve got an enormous limb that’s just waiting to fall. There’s no turning back. The job’s got to be finished.
Then, it starts storming again. It’s so dark that rain in my face makes it impossible to see. I pack it in and hope the limb may fall in the night. The limb doesn’t fall. I had actually cut down a diseased cedar tree on Saturday before tackling the big limb. By God’s grace, it fell just under the big limb. This acted as a kind of “security zone” Someone might be tempted to climb on a cut down tree, but no one is tempted to climb on a cut down cedar tree. They’re so scratchy and pokey, that I felt sure it would keep anyone out of the danger zone.
Sunday afternoon, we come back from the church picnic. I’ve got to get this tree limb down before the week starts. So there I am, back up on my step ladder, 20 foot pole saw in hand, arms aching from 9 games of volleyball, praying for the strength to get the job done.
I get to the point that the limb starts popping and cracking. I hop down from the step ladder and walk over to the far end of the branch. I use a long bamboo pole and start pushing and pulling hoping to get the limb to fall from a nice safe distance. The limb does not budge.
I return to the step ladder. But since the limb did not budge when I was yanking and pulling on it, something fundamentally changes in my mind. I come to the very incorrect conclusion that the tree limb is not going to break off at the tree. Instead, I think it will just fall and still be attached at the trunk.
After sawing for a few more minutes, the limb is popping and cracking again. I’m sure I don’t need to saw for the time being, so I hop down from the step ladder, but I’m standing about 10 feet away from the tree, pretty much in line with this branch. The limb starts slowly moving down. I’m looking at the far end of the limb, not the base of the limb at the trunk. Everything seems to be going fine. Then, there’s a loud pop. The limb does become unattached at the trunk, but I’m not even looking at it. The limb falls right next to me. It actually hits me on the way down.
Now I know that you’re thinking, how in the world could a 40 foot long 1000 pound limb hit you and you not look like you have a scratch on you. Well, the only thing that got hit was the fingernail on my right thumb. It was hard enough of a hit that it separated the corner of my thumbnail. Even that was by God’s grace. I may have had a heart attack if the limb hadn’t hit me. I was so shocked by the pain in my thumb that it took me a minute to process the fact that I ought to be dead. Here’s a picture of the aftermath. There’s the step ladder I was standing on about two minutes before the limb fell. There’s the pole saw that the limb ripped out of my hand while hurtling to the ground.
So, I had two observations. The first observation is that I was very stupid and careless about what that 1000 pound tree limb was going to do. The second observation is that I am here entirely by the grace of God. I’m here because he has permitted me to be here.
There’s something special about really grabbing onto the fact that we are all here entirely by the grace of God. My heart was softened by recognizing my real dependence on God for my very life. My spiritual cardiogram told me that I had hardening in my spiritual arteries. The encouraging thing is that hardening of the spiritual arteries is a treatable condition.
King David was a man after God’s own heart. His treatment for hard heartedness was …
My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore. Psalm 131:1-3
David intentionally sought to be humble. Also, he quieted his soul, again putting aside his own initiatives, his personal desires. In the place of his own desires, David encourages us to put our hope in the Lord.
I cut that tree limb with my own hand. If that limb had landed on me, I would have been dead by my own hand. Isn’t that so like our own spiritual condition? Our sin separates us from God. If we die in our sin-full condition, we will go to hell by our own hand, by our own will. When we place our trust in Jesus, he will save us from hell.
We do not know what our future holds. God has permitted us to be here at this time. If you have not trusted Jesus to save you, I invite you with the words of Hebrews …
Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” Hebrews 4:7
Do not harden your heart, but depend on, trust in, believe in Jesus.
We’re going to take the bread and the cup now. We remember again that Jesus took the punishment for our sins. We remember that his body was bruised and pierced for our sins. We remember that he was crucified, nailed to the cross for our sins. As we remember, I invite you to take a moment to safely make a heart check.
I want to encourage you to pray and ask God two questions. 1) Do I have a hardened heart? 2) If I my heart is hardened, what do I need to do about it? Confess sin, seek forgiveness, forgive someone else, or seek counsel. Ask the Lord what you should do.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, you have paid the price for all our sin, both past, present, and future sin. I thank you that when we call on the name of Jesus we are saved. Thank you for the bread and the cup. Thank you that you have given us these symbols to remind us of what you have done. You came to take our punishment in our place. You paid a debt you did not owe. Now we can rejoice forevermore. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
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