A Matter of the Heart

How was your Valentines’ Day? Do you remember your first valentine? The person, not the card. I know, we’re getting into personal territory here. But we can’t talk about matters of the heart without getting personal.

Regardless of whether your Valentine’s Day was a romantic fantasy come true or a disaster or you are beyond caring, your relationship with God is very much a matter of the heart. It is deeply personal. Your ability to navigate life’s challenges, your ability to give and receive genuine love, your ability to deal with change and even death depends on where your heart rests. Do you know where your heart rests?

In today’s reading from the gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus responding to people who felt a right relationship with God was a matter of etiquette. Their hearts found rest in their performance of the rules. The way Jesus responded to this idea would’ve been shocking, and it still is. He says here that a right relationship with God is a matter of the heart, and that your performance is the wrong thing to rest in. Actually, Jesus says more than that. He is demanding that you have a pure heart.

Here in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is confronting a culture that was built on the idea that you are right with God if you do the right things. And really, our culture is no different. The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day had constructed an elaborate list of do’s and don’ts, and following that list defined life with God for them.  But then Jesus comes along as says, ‘You are wasting your time with these do’s and don’ts if you don’t let God have your heart.’ Hear Him saying that to you today. If your life with God is just a bunch of joyless got to do’s and have to do’s and ought to do’s; if your heart is not overwhelmed by Jesus’ love, then this message today is for you. May the Holy Spirit open your heart to it.

Jesus drives home his point by walking through the commandments, and his point is that the heart is where the commandments are kept or broken. He starts with the 5^th Commandment. The Pharisees went for a strict and literal interpretation of “You shall not murder.” Don’t kill anyone and you’re good. But Jesus wants more than that. He wants to know what’s in your heart. Most of us haven’t picked up a gun or a knife to commit homicide, but how perfectly do you love? Who have you insulted lately, even if it’s just in your thoughts? Who have you actively worked to undermine? Are you carrying a grudge today? Do you hate another person? Jesus says these are just as sinful and rotten as taking a life with your own hands. It’s a matter of the heart.

Or if that doesn’t cut you enough, there’s the Sixth Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery.” The society of Jesus’ day was very lax on the sanctity of marriage. Sound familiar? But Jesus says that adultery from God’s perspective is not just a reference to extramarital unfaithfulness; it’s a matter of the heart. It’s not just affairs that happen outside of the bond of marriage, but affairs of the heart that are sin: wandering eyes, overactive imaginations, the use of pornography, an easy divorce mentality, all expressions of selfish sexuality; Jesus says these are just as sinful and rotten as open acts of adultery. Again, it’s a matter of the heart.

Then there’s the Eighth Commandment, the one about not bearing false witness against your neighbor. The Pharisees and rabbis had developed a code of conduct, which enabled them to say that some promises you really had to keep, while others you could let slide. By swearing an oath, you could look really serious, really dedicated, but you could be crossing your fingers while you said it, not meaning a word. But it’s the heart that Jesus cares about, not the code of conduct. The commandment is not about how much you can get away with; it’s about a basic truthfulness that God expects from us. Habitual lying destroys relationships, and it is just as sinful and rotten as slandering someone publicly. An inability to be truthful is definitely a matter of the heart.

Jesus has diagnosed a major human problem in this teaching. We are great at putting on a performance. We excel at creating a godly appearance. We can even believe that because we occasionally do good, then we’re good with God. But inside, in the heart, we’re a mess. We can keep from murdering people. We can keep from having affairs. But the heart always slips. Out pops a selfish thought. Out pops a heated temper and hateful words. Out pops resentment. Without even trying, out pops an image of lust. Out pops a flash of greed. Surely you can’t be responsible for that. But Jesus says you are. Jesus says I am. Even the smallest sin proves our hearts are not pure, and Jesus demands a pure heart. That’s the diagnosis. What’s the remedy?

The remedy is a transfusion. Our hearts need new fuel; they need to pump something that will always be cleansing us. Your heart needs something to flow through it that will make you pure. That something is the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood He shed on His cross. There are many fuels that motivate us to live for a time, but only one fuel is clean and will not lead to weariness and disappointment: the blood of Jesus, the visible proof of God’s love for you. The one thing that Satan does not want is that the sacred blood of Jesus and the knowledge that you are God’s own beloved child power the engine of your life and heart. So you see, the remedy is not to try harder to follow more rules so you look like a better person. The remedy is to drop the act and to receive this blood transfusion by faith. And when you receive that; when you rest your heart in what Jesus has done for you, here is the benefit:

You feel that the great business of life is a settled business, the great debt a paid debt, the great disease a healed disease, the great work a finished work, and all other business, diseases, debts and works are then, by comparison, small. You can be patient in trouble; calm under stress; not destroyed by sorrow; not afraid of bad news; in every condition content; for Jesus gives you a fixedness of heart. You are anchored in him. He sweetens your bitter cup, lessens the burden of your cross, smoothes the rough places you travel, and brightens the valley of the shadow of death. You always have something solid under your feet, a sure friend along the way, and a sure home at the end.

Don’t you want that kind of confidence to flood your life? It’s yours when you rest your heart in the person of Jesus and the actions he took on your behalf.