A Heart For God

Introduction

We haven’t sung that song too many times. We’ve got a little haggai too there in at the end. I love that song. That’s going to be one we need to learn. Well, I’m I’m looking you over. Trying to see who’s out there today. And I’m doing that intentionally because one of the things that I want to do as I preach is to gauge the audience reaction to some degree. And I’ll tell you what I’m looking for.

Are you engaged? You know, sometimes when I preach, people aren’t engaged. I see that. I see a lot of things. Somebody asked me if I see the kids. No, I tune what’s going on with the kids. I tune that out completely. I know, you know, at least three times somebody’s going to hit their head on the pew and squall’s going to go up. You know, I know that I try to when people are going in and out with kids, I try to tune that out. But I’m looking at the people who are sitting here and gauging how engaged they are. So you better work at it. And my equilibrium is just way off this morning. The Wiggingtons cannot sit over there. They’re supposed to be over there where Nick is.

Well, every now and then we’ll let you move around. And so I see things like people closing their eyes. I actually, this is a good one. I actually had someone tell me last week that he closes his eyes if there’s a lot of commotion going on so that he can concentrate on what’s being said. Now that’s a good one. That’s a good one. I believe that. I believe that some people actually do close their eyes so they can listen better, but I know what that’s a pretense for sometimes. But I won’t judge that just because you have your eyes closed. But if your head tilts over and lays on the person next to you, or I hear snoring, I’m not going to buy any of that.

Okay? I know what that is. So as I talk about your being engaged this morning. And hopefully you can stay with me for at least 20 to 25 more minutes. I want to start with the issue of why you’re here.

People come here for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes there’s more than one reason. Sometimes people come because, hopefully, they believe in God. And his word as the answers for their lives and for eternity. And that’s great. You should be here for that reason. That’s a smart reason, a wise reason to be here because he lives, as we often sing. And his word is true. But I still wonder that being so positive about the strength of those convictions. And one of the things about you being here is that we want to strengthen those convictions that you have or reaffirm those convictions. Sometimes people come here because maybe it’s more about, or at least it’s partly about the fact that this has been their tradition. I don’t know about you, I’ve been doing this my whole life.

I remember from my very first recollections. This is what we did on Sunday morning. And Sunday night and Winton, I’ve been doing this my whole life. My family. My parents, Sherry’s parents. I mean, we follow their example. This is what they’ve done. This is the tradition of my family. And furthermore, if I don’t do this, who’s going to be calling me up? You know, if I somehow stop coming. You know, my parents are going to be calling. What are you doing? Aren’t you a preacher? What are you doing? Because this is what we do. And so sometimes people come because they don’t want those phone calls. They’ve sort of fallen into the habit and rut of this is what my family does. But I want to tell you something about that is the faith of your parents that may indeed get them to heaven, it doesn’t just rub off on you.

You somehow get it by osmosis, or I’m sitting next to somebody who’s really godly, and so therefore it just sort of rubs off on me. That’s not the way it works. I’m not going to get to heaven on the coattails of someone else. So let’s move to higher motivations than that. And because we believe in God, we believe God’s word is true. I mean, obviously there’s some rules here. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Hebrews 10 and verse 25 is often quoted. But beyond that, there are the rules of the God expects our worship. We understand that. And if I don’t keep the rules, then I can get in trouble. The elders could call me, the preacher could call me. Worse, the elders calling me.

And they could discipline me, the threat of discipline. And then there’s this, and this is a good reason. I don’t want to go to hell. And I know if I do not do anything spiritually, if I don’t worship God, I could jeopardize my soul. But will that alone be sufficient motivation to be what God wants you to be? I would say to some degree, all of these motivations can play a part in our being here in a positive way. But wouldn’t it be better? Wouldn’t it be more satisfying if we really wanted to be here? If we strongly desired to participate, if we were thrilled by the exercise of worship. Is it the highlight of your week? Spending time and devotion to God and his son in this collective way.

And I want to say a word here to people in the audience like me. So we say, hey, nobody like you. What I mean is second generation Christians. That is, those of us who grew up with parents who serve the Lord and tradition, family, we’re following in their footsteps. I believe there are some peculiar pitfalls that happen to people like us. I think we find ourselves sometimes going through the routine and the habit because we’ve been doing it for so long. And that’s why when I see someone new in the faith, someone who has come alive by this discovery, like the pearl of great price, that Jesus tells that story, that parable of finding the kingdom is finding that pearl of great price. I’ve known this since I could teach somebody baptism for the remission of sins before I was a sinner.

That’s how long I’ve been doing this. And so when I see that discovery in someone, I’m always concerned about their perseverance in it. Where they’re going to be five years from now if the Lord hasn’t returned. Are they still going to be plugging away? Because so often we find ourselves just going through the motions. And I’m reminded of the elder brother. We’ve had all these stories on the prodigal son, and I’m reminded of the elder brother, who has lost perspective about what it means to be the son of his father. And he starts complaining about this son that’s where you’ve never killed me, the fatted calf. And he says, the father says to him, My child in verse 31 of chapter 15, my child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.

He’s totally lost perspective. And I think that can happen to us.

I said this might be a continuation this morning. How’s your heart doing? Could it be said of you that your heart was more engaged and more thrilled with the exercise of worship five years ago than it is now? Do you find yourself perhaps in a little bit of a rut? I’ll tell you what we need to do if that happens. We need to get a new preacher. That would solve all the problems. Well, it might solve a few, but would that really would that really fix the issue? Worship becoming old and stale. People over time find themselves to be bored. Done this over and over and over again. Bored, uninterested. Perhaps you’re in this audience this morning and you say, I wish I felt something. I wish I felt something even more than I did.

Now let me just say, if we keep singing how deep the Father’s love, and you don’t feel something, you need to speak to a brother and sister and get some help. That is an incredible song. But it’s not just about the producing of a feeling.

Those feelings come from what we’re aiming for, our hope. And there’s something wrong in the way we’re looking at things if we don’t realize the benefit of this. And the incredible nature of the things that we know and the hope that we’re looking forward to, if those things aren’t really alive in us, then we might struggle to feel something. But even at that, I must tell you that sometimes you just do things because they’re right. And you persevere in them. It’s because I told you so many times before, sometimes you don’t feel 100%. I feel a lot better this week than I did last week. I didn’t feel very good. And sometimes you just have to trudge through when that happens. The feelings will come later.

1. Identify the Problem: Defective Hearts

But it’s not about me somehow preaching in an effective way or saying something that finally creates some little spark in you. Perhaps that contributes to that. But this is something that goes well beyond what happens in the assembly. I want to talk to you for a few minutes this morning about having a heart for God. Isn’t that what we should have? Isn’t that what we should pursue? How am I going to have that? And let me just say first, let’s identify the problem. Why people don’t have a heart for God. I started thinking about this, and this really wasn’t on the radar last week when I was thinking about this sermon, but I said, I can’t talk about this without talking about the parable of the sower.

Because really, that says it. What the problem is. As the seed works in the soil, which is our hearts, what happens is the third soil, the thorny soil, it’s the cares and the worries and the riches of this life that choke the fruitfulness of the word, and thus we bear no fruit. Obviously, the final soil is what we need to produce, the good soil, the good and honest heart that produces the fruit of the kingdom. Let me tell you about defective hearts. That’s where we need to begin. As long as we are thrilled with all the wrong things, we will not have a heart for God. That’s where the problem lies. Things that are temporary, inferior, not contributing to the needs of your soul. This is one of my favorite times of year.

The weather’s better. But more than that, it’s football season. And that’s my favorite sport. I know that’s my favorite sport because I can watch just about anybody play football. I like the other sports, but it’s got to be my team. Or I’m not going to spend too much time doing that. I love football. But you know, football’s not going to get me to heaven. Football’s very temporary and often unsatisfying when the wrong teams win. And they so often do.

Sorry, Thad. But football’s not going to get me to heaven. And shopping isn’t going to get me to heaven. And I know sometimes that I might like, instead of putting on my Sunday vest and worshiping with the Lord’s people and all the effort that goes into that, and there is some effort that goes into that. Maybe it’d be better if I could just let my mind go to mush. And I like that sometimes. Let my mind go to mush, kick back in third gear in my recliner, and just do nothing. There’s a time for rest, but the Lord’s day is not that day. The Lord’s day is a time for worship. It is a time to be with the Lord’s people in the most important things that are.

We just get engaged in a lot of stuff that aren’t contributing to my soul. They’re not contributing to a spiritual focus and mind. A mind that is in the image of Christ, a mind that is devoted to going to heaven above everything else. Look, I’m not going to be able to say something magical this morning that somehow flips the switch in your heart, and you say, wow, I really love it here. I love being with these people and engaging in these acts of worship. I’m not going to be able to say anything that does that. You’re going to have to change your heart. And as long as it’s enthralled with the temporary trinkets of this world, if that’s foremost in your heart, you will not have a heart for God.

2. What He Made Us For

I want to tell you that’s that’s a pinnacle in our lives. Not just because of that one hymn, but because we’re doing with our minds and with our lips what God designed us to do. What he envisioned from all eternity. His creatures praising him and adoring him and humbly serving him. This one is what he made us for. It’s the highest form of activity. But you’re not going to appreciate that if you think it’s supposed to be like riding a roller coaster at some theme or amusement park or going to Disney World. Oh, the excitement of Disney World. I’m not just bashing Disney World. I mention it a lot, but it’s the most notable place, and some of our people just adore it. But it’s not like the thrill that comes with riding the rides and visiting the exhibits at a theme park or Disney World.

That’s not what this is like. It’s not like watching our favorite television programming or going, watching a movie, an IMAX movie, the new Star Wars movie. Gotta watch it in IMAX with that THX sound.

Don’t you love that? Isn’t that a cool sensation? I think that’s what we want this to be like. We want it to be. That’s not what this is. Those are carnal things, making a carnal appeal. This is about the focus of our spiritual minds, our souls, in devotion to our Creator. And it’s not about us, it’s foremost about him. So how am I going to develop this? Don’t you wish, hopefully you are, like David. When he said, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. It wasn’t a drudgery, oh, and I better go to keep people off my back to please my family. That’s the right thing to do. Don’t really want to. Wish I could stay in bed, sleep two hours longer.

But I’ll go. That’s all we see there. I was glad. When they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. And then this, when he says, as the deer pants for the water brooks, and I think deer’s like water. Deer like water. As a deer pants for the water brooks, so my until somebody shoots them, and that’s going on a lot right now. As a deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? I love these verses. David is saying, I thirst to do this. I thirst to worship. I thirst to serve my God. That’s a heart for God. Now I’ve already given you some of the key to this.

3. A Heart for God Reflects on Him

Where have I gone for these verses? To the very heart of the Old Testament. The Psalms, hymns of worship that Israel used in praise to God. That’s the heart of the Old Testament. And so I want to give you two things from two Psalms that are really the essence of the heart for God. Two Psalms. I want you to reflect. We don’t have time to go into these Psalms in detail. I want you to do that this week. The first is Psalm 19. Psalm 19. Not 119, that really long psalm, but that’s a good one. But Psalm 19, and I wanted to start here because of the very last verse. We’re going to read the last verse first. Psalm 19, verse 14. The confession of this Psalm of David is let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight.

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. These are the meditations of his heart. Here is a heart for God. And what does a heart for God do? This Psalm instructs us that a heart for God reflects on him and the things that he’s done. You’re not going to be able to walk out these doors and put God in a special little box that you forget about until the next time you assemble with the Lord’s people, and then you start thinking about God again.

That will not produce a heart for God. There must be constant meditation and reflection on God. And first the things that he did. We’ve got to expose our minds on a regular basis to the deeds of God. And that’s where he begins in Psalm 19 as he talks about the heavens are telling of the glory of God. You need to look around you at the world and say, God is my creator. God is the very sustainer of life. In him we live and move and have our very being, Acts 17. God has done amazing things. And we need to think about those. Creation, redemption. And not only must we think about that, we need to think about his words, his message. And notice the attitude of David.

The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. They’re sweeter than honey. To my taste. A heart for God reflects on him and his message. On a consistent basis. We’re not going to be able to just somehow walk into this building and turn it on. And if that’s the case, probably we’re going to engage in these acts of worship, finding ourselves going through the routine and finding out that we haven’t really thought about God even while we’re here. That our thoughts haven’t gotten out of the building. It’s what you’re doing here, getting out of the building to the very throne of God. He meditated on God’s acts, he meditated on God’s message.

And then he speaks. Well, let me just say this. I forgot about this. It’s not just meditating on God’s message, it’s being sufficiently impressed with the message. And what it accomplishes in my life, recognizing its incomparable benefits to everything else that is offered in its place by our world. And then he focuses on fellowship. Who can discern his errors, equip me of hidden faults, keep back thy servants from presumptuous sins, let them not rule over me, then I shall be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression. So may I suggest Psalm 19 as a model for developing a heart for God. Reflect on Him, the things that he’s done, His Acts, His message, and then think about your relationship with Him. Your fellowship with Him.

4. A Heart for God Is a Heart of Thanksgiving

Okay, that’s the quick version of Psalm 19. The other Psalm. It’s Psalm 65. Not one that I reference regularly. But just so happens this is Thanksgiving, right? This week. So we’ll be, it’s a time to be thankful. Should this week be any different than every other week for the Christian? We ought to be at a week of thanksgiving every week of our lives. In everything we are to give thanks, because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 18. But if there is one psalm of thanksgiving that I might recommend, it is Psalm 65. And I want you to notice these things as we go through just the first eight verses.

It’s not for a day, it’s not for a week, it’s for the rest of our lives. I’m going to be devoted to you, and he is worthy of such a vow. O thou who dost hear prayer, to thee all men come. Iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou dost forgive them. How blessed is the one whom thou dost choose and bring near to thee to dwell in your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house, thy holy temple. By awesome deeds, thou dost answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation. Thou art the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farther sea, who dost establish the mountains by his strength, being girded with might, who just still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples.

You know. That’s amazing. We get so focused on the tumult of the peoples. Like what’s going on with Isis or Al Qaeda, the tumult of the peoples. We ought to be more focused on the presence of our God and his power and his coming judgment and his mercy. And they who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of thy signs. Thou dost make the dawn and the sunset. Shout for joy.

A heart for God is a heart of thanksgiving. Tried to make this simple for you. What does the heart for God look like? It reflects on him and his doings. And it’s a thankful heart.

A lack of thankfulness. True, genuinely motivated. Because God has blessed us so. I think of David in 2 Samuel 7. I think he just, one of the reasons why he’s the sweet singer of Israel. He was overwhelmed by what God had done for him. And that’s never more evident than in 2 Samuel chapter 7, when he says, God, I want to build a house for you, and God says, No, you’re not going to do it. Your son’s going to do it. And then my favorite part of that is when God says, Hold, but let me show you what I’m going to do for you. I’m going to build you a house. How good is that? You want to build a house for God? He says, Nope, not going to let you do it.

Your son’s going to do it. But I’m going to build you a house. A perpetual house.

You remember David’s response to all that. What is what am I?

And my house that you have brought me thus far. You talk about the cry of the Christian. What am I in my house that you have brought me thus far? A heart of gratitude will compel heartfelt worship.

Conclusion

Well, I guess if I wear you out any longer, you might lose that passion for God. So I want to conclude.

From Acts chapter 2. Similar thoughts. I suggested that if we could just get people to where the people were on the day of Pentecost, when after hearing the message of salvation and being convicted, it says, They were pierced to their hearts, and they said, Men and brethren, what shall we do? You know, they’re not going to quibble at the instruction. Whatever the instructions are, we’re going to do it because we’re in need.

They were pierced. I forgot that slide. Let’s go on to the last one. They were pierced to the heart. That explains why.

What’s the condition of your heart? Are you ready to embrace all that God requires of you now? And to the end of your days. Because he’s worthy. Because he’s done incredible things for us. Things that I could never repay. I want to tell you. I could preach every day of the week for the rest of my life and kill myself in doing so. And if I think about that prospect, I think it would actually kill me. But if I preached a sermon every day for the rest of my life, it could never repay this debt. We can persevere in assemblies like this every Sunday for the rest of our lives, and we could never repay this debt. We could quote the scripture from one cover to the other and memorize every word, and we could never repay this debt.

But let us give our hearts to it. Because that’s what he wants. And that’s what he will reward. With pleasure beyond description. In his presence. If you’re in need of respond, if your heart is pierced with the message of salvation, come now as we stand and sing.