The Necessity of a Changed Heart i Introduction:
I was always taught that change does not come easily, and I believe it. You’ve heard old sayings like, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” I grew up in what people would label as a dysfunctional home. My parents were constantly fighting and my father is an alcoholic and abusive. My parents divorced in my early teenage years. I was told that because of that it was likely that I would also have a drinking problem and that I would get divorced. They were saying that no matter what I did I couldn’t change who I was or who I would become. I understand that statistically children who grow up in dysfunctional homes end up repeating their parent’s folly. I think it is sad that society as a whole does not call for individual responsibility. If I ever have problems in my life it would be perfectly acceptable for me to blame them on my upbringing and it would be accepted in our society as a valid excuse. I think that wrong is still wrong no matter what. You’ve heard people say regarding things like homosexuality and alcoholism that people were born that way. Society may say that children who grow up in a bad environment will produce a bad environment and repeat their parent’s mistakes or that people are born with certain genetic tendencies, but one thing they can never account for is a life change or a heart transformation. I was told what I would become, but no one took into account a conversion, of Christ changing me inside. However, I am a big believer in change. I believe change is necessary.
I have heard many people attempt to discern what the root problem is for issues in the church. People have sought to learn why church members are inactive in their attendance, unfaithful in their giving, absent in their serving and the fruit of the spirit and the mind of Christ nowhere to be found in their lives away from the church buildings. I myself have often wondered why it is that some that call themselves Christians can say and do and for that matter neglect to say and do the things they do. I have wondered why watching Christians handling their children, marriages, conflicts, finances, and difficulties in life in no way are different from watching their non-Christian counterparts. I have wondered endlessly why the only way I can tell some people are Christians is because I see them attending church services a few times a week. I think I have the answer. The answer is because Christ has not penetrated to some people’s hearts.
In many ways I believe this message this morning is the most important message I have preached to the church, and perhaps will be. The point I want everyone to grasp is that we need to move beyond head knowledge and let Christ reach our hearts. I am convinced that there are many in the church today that are deceived. There are many that are deceived into thinking that if they believe the right things then that makes them okay with God. Understand this, what we believe does matter, but if it never reaches our hearts than it is useless. Paul did tell Timothy to “watch his life and doctrine closely, for in doing so it will save both yourself and your hearers.” Why is that what we believe in our head matters? It is not to conform to a certain criteria or checklist of beliefs, it is because what we think influences how we act. There are many in the church that thinks they are in good standing with the Lord because they believe the right things. The problem Jesus had with the Pharisees was not their set of beliefs, they had head knowledge of God, they knew the Bible well, and they could quote Scripture better than many of their day, yet Jesus still had a problem with them. What more did he want from them?
Also there are many in the church that thinks that if they do certain things at certain times they will be in good standing with the Lord. There are many that assume that because they attend church, give tithes and offerings and read the Bible every now and then that they are saved. Let me tell you, doing the right things alone does not make us saved. I believe there are certain things which Christians should do, but I see that we do them more because we want to and less because we have to. We are not saved by any good deeds that we do, and even doing the right things and the right time we can be lost. Is that not what Jesus taught in Matthew 7, “many will say to me on the day Lord, Lord did we not prophecy in your name and in your name drive our Devils?” They thought they were saved because of the things that they did. Do you remember Jesus’ response? “Depart from me you evil doers I never knew you.” Why was he so harsh? Weren’t they doing good things? Yes, they were, but it wasn’t about just doing certain things. The Pharisees did a lot of good things. They prayed regularly, the fasted more than the Law required, they gave sacrificially, they attended worship services more than most do, they observed the right holy days and feast days, they brought the right sacrifices and yet Jesus still had a problem with them. What more did he want from them?
Moreover, there are those that believe that because they don’t do certain things they are saved. You may not believe me, but there are some today in the church that thinks they are saved and the evidence they will give you is because they don’t cuss, drink or smoke. We are not saved because we don’t smoke, cuss, chew or go with girls who do. I believe there are certain things Christians should avoid doing. I believe Christians should strive to avoid those things. The Pharisees avoided certain things didn’t they? They avoided the foods and other things that would make them unclean with a vigor, they strived to uphold the Law and would punish any gladly who broke the Law, such as the woman caught in adultery. From all outward appearances the Pharisees had it all together didn’t they? They were a righteous bunch, yet Jesus still had a problem with them. What more did he want from them?
I will tell you what Jesus wanted, He wanted their hearts. Though they had a head knowledge of God, though they honored God with their lips, their hearts were distant and far away from God. Yes, Jesus cared about what people believed, did and did not do, but more than that He cares about our hearts.
A businessman owned a warehouse that had sat empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and trash was everywhere inside the building. The businessman showed a prospective buyer the property and took great pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage and clean out all the garbage. “Forget about the repairs,” the buyer said. “When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different, something entirely new. I don’t want the building. I just want the site!” This is exactly what God wants from us. He wants our hearts. He wants the site to build something great upon. So often though we want to keep hold of some of the scraps, and now allow God a good place to build.
I am convinced that most of the problems in the church stem from the church containing countless unregenerate or unchanged people. We have some fine and good people, but fine and good is not what God wants alone, He wants our hearts.
You see, it is not enough for us to merely know some facts in our minds, but the Word must penetrate to our Hearts. God wants our whole heart, not just part of us. He doesn’t merely want outer actions, he wants our hearts. That is why the Scriptures teach that God desires mercy or covenant loyalty and not sacrifice. He was not pleased with the sacrifices of bulls and goats, He wanted Israel’s hearts. He doesn’t want our vain actions. He doesn’t want us to be just doers of good deeds and good people, He wants our hearts. Surely those things matter, but he wants our hearts above all and the good actions will stem from that as a natural response to a heart that loves God. Our love for God cannot be merely with words, but it must lie in our hearts, which will influence every aspect of our lives.
Matthew 22:36-37
I can preach against sin until I am blue in the face, and will preach against sin. I can yell about what people in the church should be doing, and perhaps some will listen and do certain things because they feel they need to, but the reason people sin continually and the reason some in the church don’t do what they should is because of a heart problem. Why doesn’t that type of preaching work often? It is because I cannot force someone to change or guilt someone into change. Those people need to learn to love God with their whole hearts and then they will naturally want to change what they are doing, they will naturally want to do more in the Kingdom.
Before we can really begin to discuss the importance of a changed heart, we have to understand some things first. Of course when we speak of the heart today, we are not referring to the organ inside your chest which pumps blood. The Bible often refers to the heart as the seat of intellect, the conscience, the emotions, and the will of the individual. We still use some of the terminology today referring to the heart. If someone hurts us deeply we say they, “broke our heart”. We do not literally mean they broke the organ inside our body, we mean they hurt our emotions. If we work hard at something we might say, “We put our whole heart into it.” We do not mean that we pulled out our heart, but we mean we gave it our whole will or effort. The Biblical heart is of utmost importance. Before we can ever change our heart we have to understand the value of a heart that has been changed.
1. The Heart Reflects the Man
You can tell a lot about a person if we were to look into their heart. The obvious problem is that we with the best of our attempts cannot see into another person’s heart. I cannot know what you are thinking, I cannot know what your motives are behind your actions, I cannot know those deep innermost feelings that you have, and I cannot know the wounds that run deep that very few may know about, they lie within your heart. What I know about most people here comes from what I can visibly see about them. Right or wrong I make certain judgments about people’s character and life based on what I see. I realize in that I can be wrong in my judgments. I realize that people can fool me. I realize that there may be some I see as people of great character and integrity, but they really may not be. However, if I was to have a glimpse into your heart it would reveal who you really are. The heart would tell no lies. The heart is a reflection of who you are.
Proverbs 27:19
Now, the things that we see do matter because they reveal to us glimpses of the heart. The things I hear you talk about and say, I have to assume that they are revealing of what is in your heart. I can sit and talk with someone and learn what issues are near and dear to their heart. I can learn that by what you say and what you talk about. The reality is we cannot let something out of our mouth that is not in our heart. The Proverbs say it this way, “As a man thinketh in his heart so he is.”
Matthew 12:33-37
This teaches us that our speech is very important, but why is our speech important? Why does it really matter that our speech be pure and not crude and vulgar? It matters because if our speech is crude, vile, and vulgar then our heart is cruel, vile and vulgar. Remember, the heart reflects who you really are.
2. The Heart Will Be Judged By God
Though I cannot see but glimpses of your heart, and even those who know you best can only slightly see into your heart, God see into that heart. It is that heart which God will judge. Yes, he is concerned with our actions. He is concerned with the thing we do and the things we neglect to do, but more than that He is concerned with the condition of our hearts.
I Corinthians 14:25
There is nothing hidden from God. Sometimes I think that people feel as if they can fool God. Perhaps in their head they realize they cannot, but the reality is God will judge the heart, every secret thing, every motive, every thought will be laid bare before the Lord. Today, you could have lived your whole life putting on a great show, and perhaps you have everyone fooled, maybe even yourself, but we cannot fool God because our hearts will be laid bare before Him one day. What is the condition of your heart this morning?
Let us not live to receive praise from man, but let us live to be pleasing to God, and that begins by having a changed heart. Having a heart that loves the Lord wholly and not just partially or in sectors of our lives. Has your heart been changed? Can you identify clear changes not just in what you do, but in your heart since your time of coming to Christ?
We have been changed. The Bible says that we are a new creation in Christ and we need to demonstrate that through a total and complete life change.
Text: Colossians 3:1-10
Did you notice the repeating idea that our lifestyle should be different since we have put off the old self?
I. Our Change Can Only Come From God
I have heard it said that the greatest defense of the Gospel is the changed life. I believe that, and in fact that is the same argument Paul used in Galatians to prove the truth and power of the Gospel.
Galatians 1:11-24
Paul’s life really is an amazing story of a transformation. He radically changed who he was. He went from persecuting the church to preaching the Gospel. The people were astonished at this change, and in fact nobody could deny the change that Paul underwent. The people that knew Paul knew that he was not who he used to be. The people that knew him would know that a change like he underwent does not just happen, even the most determined desire within a person to change does not occur like that. There had to be something that changed Paul’s life and I believe it was encountering Jesus.
One of the most notorious murderers who ever lived was Jeffery Dahmer. People will never forget some of the awful thing he did. Eventually he got caught and went to prison. I have heard from a reliable source that while he was in prison a Church of Christ preacher named Roy Ratcliff began having Bible studies with Dahmer and eventually immersed him into Christ for the forgiveness of his sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit eight months before his own death. People have said that he was radically different from that time onward until he was killed in prison. Now, naturally I cannot know whether Dahmer was sincere or not, but I do know a few things. I do know that God’s grace is big enough to cover over his sins no matter how atrocious we feel they are. I do not that even wicked people can be changed.
I believe the church is not a group of good people who have always been good, I believe the church has always been a group of people who were once evil, whose lives have been changed.
I Corinthians 6:9-11
I love that verse, the church had some people with some baggage, but they were changed. They did not remain the same.
I know that there are many support groups and counseling agencies in the world who seek to help people with their problems and their addictions. Perhaps sometimes at best those people can put a band aid on people’s problems and they can stop doing certain actions, but they cannot change the heart. They are just treating the symptoms of the disease and not the disease itself. The disease is a heart that need transformed. It is useless to try to treat someone’s addictions or problems in life without Christ, who is the only one who can change people’s lives. I know of non-Christian people who have changed habits and actions, I know of non-Christians who have grown into better people and more productive members of society, but they cannot change their hearts on their own. Please remember that a change of action alone does not equate a change of heart. The real problem everybody faces is a heart problem, and Christ alone can change hearts. I cannot change my heart and I cannot force anyone’s heart to be changed, all I can do is point people in the direction of the one who can do the changing. Yes, people can change their outer actions, but only Christ can change the heart of a person.
II. Our Change Should Be Total and Complete
Motor Homes have allowed us to put all the conveniences of a home on wheels. A camper no longer means sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a stream. Now people can park a fully equipped home on a cement slab in the midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer line and electricity. One motor home I saw recently had a satellite dish attached on top. That is not really what I’d call roughing it. No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more drudgery of walking to the stream. Now it is possible to go camping and never have to go outside. People buy a motor home with the hope of seeing new places, of getting out into the world. Yet they deck it out with the same furnishings as are in their living room. Thus nothing really changes. They may drive to a new place, set themselves in new surrounding, but the newness goes unnoticed, for we’ve only carried along our old setting. Those people want to experience the camping atmosphere without ever really leaving the comforts of their homes. To me taking a motor home with air conditioning and satellite television defeats the purpose of camping out. It certain is not roughin’ it.
I believe we have a lot of motor home Christians. We have people that want to carry all the baggage from the world and have the thought it their minds that they are Christians. They want the benefits that Jesus offers, but not the sacrifices requires. They want to stay in the comfort of the world, never really changing anything, but they like the safety in saying they are Christian.
In John chapter 9 we read a story of Jesus healing a blind man. After his sight was restored an argument broke out about who this guy was. Some argued that this was not the same guy that was born blind, but that this was just someone who looked like him. They thought it was just someone who looked like the man born blind. They knew there was something different about this guy. The difference was he could see. The Scriptures liken us become Christians to a blind person receiving their sight back. We once we blind and when we come to Christ we are able to see clearly. We too should be so different that people realize that we are not the same.
When I became a Christian it was nearly impossible for my family and friends to realize I was not the same Jason I used to be. I mean physically I was the same person, but inwardly I was changed. The were confused as to why I no longer talked the way that I did, I no longer laughed at their dirty jokes, I no longer saw fun in wrongdoing, I no longer treated people like I had, I no longer was filled with anger and hatred, and I no longer wanted to participate in the things I previously did. I had to tell them it is because I have been changed.
That change that takes place in our lives should be total and complete; it should change every aspect of our lives. When I became a Christian everything changed, it had to. I used to think it was acceptable to use dirty language and impure speech, but that had to change when I became a Christian because the Bible calls us to put away unwholesome talk from our lips. I used to view people as an inconvenience and my heart was full of anger and hatred for others, but that had to change because the Bible says to love one another as you love yourself. I used to dress in a way to draw attention from others onto myself, but that had to change because the Bible teaches that our lives should point to Christ and not ourselves. I used to think that value was found in what things I had and how much I owned, but that had to change because the Bible says where your treasure is there your heart is also. I used to think that if it feels good it must be right, but that had to change because the Bible says you are not your own, you are bought with a price. Christ has to make a total and a complete change in our lives.
II Corinthians 5:17
I have to tell you though, change does not come easily. Many people expect change to occur quickly and instantly. While some changes should occur immediately, we must realize that changing habits, mindsets, and lifestyle is a process that we are always undergoing.
A man from the back mountains of Tennessee found himself one day in a large city, for the first time standing outside an elevator. He watched as an old, haggard woman hobbled on, and the doors closed. A few minutes later the doors opened and a young, attractive woman came out of the elevator. The father quickly hollered to his youngest son, "Billy, go get mother."
We change does not occur quite like that, but we must admit change is necessary and it takes place over time. It takes place of time of consciously choosing to do the right things, to be in the Word of God daily, do be in constant communication with God, and to be is a steady fellowship of the saints.
III. Our Change Should Cause Us to Be Different
Survey polls in recent years have shown that those who call themselves Christians are just as likely to have been divorced, purchased lottery tickets, watch R, or X rated movies, become addicted to pornography, or use alcohol as much as their non-Christian counterparts.
I think it is sad, if not tragic that the world can barely see a difference in the actions of Christians and non-Christians. People should be able to tell that we are different, that we are set apart, people should be able to see a difference in the way that we talk, the way that we act, the things that we do, the things we chose not to do, and the way we treat others. I often wonder why anyone would want to be a Christian. Are we showing the world that we have a better life? Are we showing them we have something worthwhile to offer? To them they wonder, why would they want to become a Christian? What is the point? We need to show that we are different and that we have something better. The point is that if we are not changed by the Word we can never change the world. Maybe you have heard the saying that no one will ever be convinced of something you yourself are not convinced of. I am not convinced that everyone in the church is convinced of the Gospel, because if they are where is the change produced in people’s lives.
The problem is that in our lives we have to be convinced of something before we will ever change anything. For example, before a person will ever break a habit they have to be convinced of the need to change. Before a person will ever begin something such as exercising regularly they have to be convinced of a need to do so or be convinced that if they don’t it will have negative consequences upon them.
You," said the doctor to the patient, "are in terrible shape. You’ve got to do something about it. First, tell your wife to cook more nutritious meals. Stop working like a dog. Also, inform your wife you’re going to make a budget, and she has to stick to it. And have her keep the kids off your back so you can relax. Unless there are some changes like that in your life, you’ll probably be dead in a month." "Doc," the patient said, "this would sound more official coming from you. Could you please call my wife and give her those instructions?" When the fellow got home, his wife rushed to him. "I talked to your doctor," she wailed. "Poor man, you’ve only got thirty days to live."
What does it take for us to be convinced enough of the need to change to actually be changed. I am all for changing the world, I believe we have been given the charge by Jesus to change the world, but we must realize that changing the world, and fixing all the problems in the world begins with ourselves being changed first of all.
A few years ago the most popular show among young children was the “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.” This show was about a group of teenagers who would change into superheroes and fight evil. On any given day these kids were just normal teenagers, but when they morphed they could do extraordinary things.
I believe that when we are changed we will be able to do amazing things in the world. When we ourselves allow God to change our lives we will be able to make a great impact in the world, but that change has to begin somewhere with someone, why not me, why not you, why not now?
Romans 12:1-2
