Totally Surrendered to Jesus……….. Part I

“Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,                                                                     but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night”.    Psalms 1:1-2  NIV

If we would be honest with our self, most of us would admit that we are far from experiencing the blessings that the Psalmist mentions here.

The blessings that come from a heart set on one thing: pleasing God.

We may look good on the outside.   We may look spiritual, or what may be called spiritual management, as opposed to genuine repentance.

But inside we are anxious and troubled.

If we could get personal for a moment and take a look inside, what would the answers be to these questions?

 What area is your heart divided in?

What areas do you still continue to sin in regularly, even though it doesn’t bring the same pleasure it used to bring?

What is the one area of your life that you are still not willing to give up to the Lord?

“Jesus looked at the man and loved him” (Mark 10:21).  

As with the precision of a surgeon’s trained eye and scalpel, He saw through to the man’s problem.

He saw the cause of his divided heart.  Then Jesus wrote a pretty stiff prescription.

In v.21 Jesus spoke to the young man saying; “One thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Now the problem was not that this man had riches.  The Bible never says that you must give up your personal wealth in order to be a follower of Jesus.

No, the problem was that his riches had him….

He could not fully surrender his heart to Jesus, because his possessions held first place.

….Half Hearted Christian…..

“Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him!  He said, "There's one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor.  All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth.  And come follow me."

The man's face clouded over.  This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart.  He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go”.   Mark 10:21-22  Message Bible

In Matthew 19:20 the young man asked Jesus, “……All these things I have kept from my youth.  What do I still lack?”

He’s restless.

He’s still missing something.

Perhaps the emptiness drove him to ask the question in the first place.

Jesus knows all about this man’s condition.   He knows why he is uneasy, feeling empty, restless and unhappy.

 Jesus responds in v.21, with what I think is one of the most amazing verses in the entire Bible: “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”

What does that mean?  I think it means that Jesus looked right through the outward financial and spiritual success of this man .…and He saw right through to the man’s unhappiness and lack of peace.

 Jesus makes His diagnosis: This man is suffering from a divided heart.

Part of this man wants a little bit of God.  A little bit of eternity.

But not so much that it would cause him to make a radical change.

Every now and again he gets to thinking about what will happen after death or why he’s feeling empty inside, and he recognizes his need to think about spiritual things.

But the other part of his heart wants to be a man of the world.  Free to chart his own course and satisfy his own desires and do the things that everyone else seems to be doing.

And this is what I consider the most common sin among Christians today.

MOST COMMON SIN: THE DIVIDED HEART

You see, those who waver back and forth between God and the world – who want to be religious and also a man or woman of the world – are destined to be unhappy.

Because that “little bit of God” is just enough to bother their conscience so that they can no longer sin with a whole heart.  For when they do, they’re hounded by the nagging question: “What does this look like in God’s eyes?”

But on the other hand, they cannot pray with a whole heart either.   They can never know the joy and peace of being one with God in close fellowship.

A little bit of God is a dangerous thing, because something begins to bore down inside of people and make them restless.  It was true for this man, and it’s true for you and me as well.

Having a divided heart makes you a half-hearted Christian. 

Holding on too tightly…..

“As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?"

Jesus said, "Why are you calling me good?  No one is good, only God.  You know the commandments: Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat, honor your father and mother."

He said, "Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!"

Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him!  He said, "There's one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor.  All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me."

The man's face clouded over.  This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart.  He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.

………Peter tried another angle: "We left everything and followed you."

Jesus said, "Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land—whatever—because of me and the Message will lose out.  They'll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—but also in troubles.  And then the bonus of eternal life!  This is once again the Great Reversal: Many who are first will end up last, and the last first."    Mark. 1:17-22, 28-30  Message Bible

This story is a great illustration of a divided heart.   No doubt the man loved Jesus and desired to follow Him but his heart was divided between the things of this world and total surrender to Jesus.

He wanted to hold on to the things and people in his life more than losing it all to follow Jesus.

We start out reading in Mark 10 that the man came up to Jesus and asked Him, “Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”   Verse 22 tells us that the man “had great wealth.”

So outwardly, he was very successful.

Spiritually this person seems to have it all together as well.   How do we know that?

Well, when he asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life,” Jesus answers him “You know the commandments…” and he responds by saying in v.20 “Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

Could you say that?   I sure couldn’t!   Evidently he gave everyone the impression that he was outwardly following God’s commandments.

In this passage we can see that he probably:

worshipped regularly

and tithed his money

honored his parents

didn’t work on the Sabbath

was faithful to his marriage vows    and

didn’t try to cheat anyone in his business dealings.

When he says, “All these commands I have kept since I was a boy,” does it mean he had never sinned?

I don’t think so!

But his track record was clean and admirable.  This man had led an exemplary life up to this point.     Who knows?

But something was missing.  Something inside this man was not right, even though outwardly he seemed to have it all together.  

Despite his confidence, there is an uneasiness to this man.

Jesus Is Concerned With Our Hearts

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”.   Matt. 5:8

The first thing we learn from this beatitude is that Jesus is concerned with our heart.  It is not enough to clean up our act on the outside.

“It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You clean the outside of the cup and plate, but leave the inside full of strong bad desires and are not able to keep from doing sinful things.  You blind proud religious law-keepers!  Clean the inside of the cup and plate, then the outside will be clean also” (Matt. 23:25-26 NLV).

The desire of Jesus Christ is not to reform the manners of society, but to change the hearts of sinners like you and me.

The heart is what you are, in the secrecy of your thoughts and feelings, when nobody knows but God.   What you are at the invisible root matters as much to God as what your are at the visible branch.   "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (1Samuel16:7).   From the heart are all the issues of life.

What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart . . . “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.  These are what defile a man.” (Matthew 15:18–19)

Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit . . . For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:33–34)

So the heart is utterly crucial to Jesus.  What we are in the deep, private recesses of our lives is what He cares about most.  Jesus did not come into the world simply because we have some bad habits that need to be broken.  He came into the world because we have such dirty hearts that need to be purified.

“Jesus said to him, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ (Matthew 22:37 NLV)

Not with part of your heart!

Not with a double or divided heart.  That would be impurity. 

Purity of heart is no deception, no double-mindedness, and no divided allegiance.

The will of God is that our hearts be purified before Him.  God is in the heart cleaning business.

What is a pure heart?    In Psalms 24:4 it states:

 “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.”

 A pure heart is a heart that speaks the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15); a pure heart is a heart that is not caught up in idolatry or alternatives to God, but a pure heart puts God first in all situations and all things.

A pure heart is singular and determined in devotion to God.

Determined Heart………

“I hate anyone whose loyalty is divided, but I love your Law.

You are my place of safety and my shield.

Your word is my only hope.

All of you worthless people, get away from me!

I am determined to obey the commands of my God.

Be true to your word, LORD.

Keep me alive and strong; don't let me be ashamed because of my hope.

Keep me safe and secure, so that I will always respect your laws.

You reject all deceitful liars because they refuse your teachings.

As far as you are concerned, all evil people are garbage, and so I follow your rules.

I tremble all over when I think of you and the way you judge.”  Psalms 119:113-120 CEV

We can compare the Christian life to a battle:

 The battle from within: The psalmist doesn't mince words in verse 113: "I hate double-minded men."   God, too, despises hypocrisy.

He has no tolerance for divided loyalties.  As believers, we should despise what God despises.

It's easy to point out the hypocrisy in others, but what about me?    I'm so ashamed and revolted by my own divided heart.

Give me an undivided heart, Lord!

The battle weapon in verse 114 is worth memorizing!  "You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word."  In this verse, the Word is described as a defensive weapon...a safe place to hide and a barrier to protect us from the arrows and bullets of the evil one.

Hebrews 4:12 describes the word as an offensive weapon. "For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

If God be God………….

“The people whose hearts are deceitful must now suffer for their sins.  God will break down their altars and destroy their sacred pillars”.  Hosea 10:2 GNT

This passage may be taken as referring to the people of Israel as a nation, and it is not less applicable to the Church today.  It is one grievous fault with the Church at the present day that it is not merely divided somewhat in its creed, and somewhat also in its practice of the ordinances, but it is also somewhat divided in heart.

But we must observe again of this divided heart, that it is a division in itself and that it is peculiarly loathsome.  Men who are possessed of it do not feel themselves to be unclean; in fact they will live in the sin of the world, they will venture into the church, they will receive communion, and they like to be numbered with other Christian members.  They will afterwards go and mingle with the world; and they do not feel that they have become dishonest.  They think themselves fit to mingle with the sins of the world and with sincere Christians too.

If you look at the man's heart, you will discern that it is loathsome, because Satan and sin reigns there.  Although the man goes about and has knowledge of what is right and what is wrong and should be uneasy in his sin, yet he has such an intense love of his sin that he allows Satan to come and dwell in his heart.

But his loathsomeness is worse than this because all the while that he is really living in sin he is a repulsive hypocrite, pretending that he is a child of God.  Of all the things in the world that stink in the nostrils of an honest man, hypocrisy is the worst.  

If you want to serve Satan, serve him.  If Baal be god, serve him, but mask not your service of self and sin by a pretended service of God.  Appear to be what you are, tear off the masks.  The Church was never meant to be a masquerade.

Stand out in your true colors.  If you prefer Satan's shrine say so, and let men know it, but if you want to serve God, then serve Him, and do it with all your heart, as knowing Him who is a jealous God and searches the heart.  It is a terribly and loathsome disease to have a divided heart.

“Daniel was DETERMINED not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king…”   Daniel 1:8 NLT

Daniel purposed in his heart; he laid it to heart; he made up his mind; he set his heart on the right course.  He determined that he would not defile himself but that he would keep himself pure for the Lord.

What determination have you made in your heart?

What course is your life set on?

“……we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments.  If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.   But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him.  That is how we know we are living in him.  Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did”.  I John 2:3-6 NLT

…Talks the Word but does not live the Word….. Part II

“Everything is clean to the clean-minded; nothing is clean to dirty-minded unbelievers.  They leave their dirty fingerprints on every thought and act. They say they know God, but their actions speak louder than their words…..” Titus 1:15-16 Message Bible

When a person lives in hypocrisy for a period of time hypocrisy can become so rooted in their hearts that the hypocrite rationalizes away their sin and becomes self-deceived.  You see, the hypocrite aims at making himself more than what he or she actually is.  Hypocrisy is an act rooted in pride.    Pride itself is self-deceiving.

 The apostle Paul was inspired to write in regard to hypocrisy:  Galatians 6:3; “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

Hypocrites are people pleasers.   They live for attention from others.  Jesus said the hypocrite does “their works . . . to be seen by men” (23:5; Matthew 6:2,5,16).  The Bible also tells us that we are NOT to be people pleasers but God pleasers.  We are to do all that we do to please the Lord (Colossians 3:17,21-23).

Satan is the author of hypocrisy.  Satan is a liar and the author of lies.  Hypocrisy is living a lie.  

 Satan’s primary strategy at undermining the gospel is to present himself and his agents as something they are not. Satan masks himself and his agents in a good and righteous package, but beneath the masks are ravenous wolves seeking to devour followers of God.

The apostle Paul was also inspired to write about Satan’s deceptive strategy when he taught in:

II Corinthians 11:13-15: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.  And no wonder!  For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”

Paul here speaks of Satan who presents himself as “an angel of light,” as something he is not.  That is hypocrisy.  Paul speaks of false apostles and deceitful workers who infiltrate the church by hypocritically presenting themselves as something they are not.  Satan is behind hypocrisy on the levels of false teaching as well as the temptation people experience to present themselves as something they are not.

 It starts with a desire to be accepted and continues with a bending of the truth to impress and gain acceptance.  This is purely a fleshly or self-serving act.  Hypocrisy, like all sin, does not remain small but always grows.  Little lies require bigger lies to cover the hypocritical and false presentations people make of themselves.  If Satan can get you to lie about yourself, he has his foot in the door of your life.  Once inside, he is a cancerous foe that will pick away at his victims so that they will remain in his control.

Hypocrisy is a not only a work of one’s flesh, it is a faithless step. 

The real deception of the hypocrite is that he or she sees themselves as something they are NOT.  The hypocrite does NOT wait on God in faith to fulfill His desire in and through them; instead they set up a premature and fake reality.

They are too impatient to wait on God.  The hypocrite arrives at a false and fake destination thinking they have need of nothing, when in fact they have nothing and need everything.

Even believers can have defiled hearts.  The Bible speaks of carnal or fleshly believers who have selfish motives or impure hearts (1 Corinthians 3:3).  When a heart is divided between commitment to God and commitment to self, it is confused and chaotic and cannot serve the Lord effectively.

 In Acts 16:8-9 Peter explains the works of God in terms of cleansing the hearts of people to serve Him:

 “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, “and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.”

God made our hearts and knows our hearts therefore only He can purify our heart.

Notice, this cleansing by God in us is by faith.  The one who desires to have a clean heart simply goes to God in faith requesting God cleanse their heart; it is by faith.  

Heart purity is a gift from God that is received by faith, not a work we do.   

All we need to do is draw near to God and He will cleanse our hearts (James 4:8).