The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E79 - Prepare Your Heart

Episode Date: September 9, 2020

Hey, church family, if you've got your Bibles, and I hope you do. Go to Hebrews chapter 12. We're in a special series of devos, and they will be for the rest of this week every morning. And it's in line with our heart's preparation and what we're doing for saturated this week. You see, we do saturated every year so that we're saturated in the presence of God and the Word of God and the Spirit of God. But this year has a little bit of a different focus. You know that this entire year, we believe that every disciple is sent. And we are all wrestling with the question is, what does it look like in our own life to be sent?

And so, listen, as a person called into full-time vocational ministry, I remember when God called me into ministry. And I'm hoping and praying that God will call a whole bunch of 1122ers this week into full-time vocational ministry to take the gospel to the very ensie of the earth, here's what I know. I know he's going to call every single one of us to do the Great Commission. And so our missions team has put together some really good material to help us as a congregation be ready to navigate what God's call is in our life. And so the first step is that in order for us to hear the voice of God and what God wants us to do specifically. Now, God wants us to glorify Him by fulfilling the Great Commission generally, and that is true for every single believer. But for us to understand what God wants for us specifically,

it's really important for us to prepare our hearts to hear from the Lord. And so Hebrews chapter 12 says this. It says, therefore. Now we've got to stop and see what the therefore is therefore. And so Hebrews chapter 11 is what the therefore is therefore. And all of Hebrews chapter 11 is talking about our faith. Hebrews 11 starts with now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old receive their commendation by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God and that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. And then it goes through basically like an overview of all of the Old Testament. It talks about the faith of Abel and the faith of Noah and the faith of Abraham,

and it just, and the faith of a bunch of the judges, and over and over and over again, it says by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. And again, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, that without faith, it's impossible to please God. And then he wants you to know this, therefore, that there have been a whole bunch of men and women that have gone before us and by God's grace, they have demonstrated great faith in the face of great adversity. And therefore, because God has been faithful in the past, we can trust him going forward. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin, which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set

before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God right now. See, here's what he's saying. Therefore, since what God has called you to do may cause a little fear in you, pay attention because there have been countless men and women that have gone before us. therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. In other words, Church of 1122, what we're doing isn't new. It's just our turn. And when God has a call in your life, whether it's to take the gospel across the street and share it with your neighbor, or God wants you to quit your job, be theologically trained, and move to West Africa to take the gospel to an unreached people

group. Either way, it's not new. It's just your turn. And you and I are standing on the shoulder. of faithful men and women who have gone before us, and therefore since we are surrounded by these folks, I think the image that the writer of Hebrews is trying to cast here is all of the people mentioned they're all dead and gone, but they live eternally. And it's almost like, I don't think this is actually how it's happening, but the picture, I think that the writer of Hebrews is trying to give us is imagine Moses and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and and the Jeptha and Gideon and all the people that are mentioned here, imagine them like in these heavenly crowd cheering the current church on,

therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. And then the next thing he says is specific to heart preparation. This is what I want to challenge you with today as we get ready to hear from God tonight. He says, therefore let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely. So he says, let us lay aside there's weight and there's sin. In other words, sin is not the only thing that takes our eyes off of the Lord. Sin is not the only thing that shrinks our ears to hear God's voice.

And so he separates these things. Let's just start with sin because maybe we understand that one a little bit better. You see, sin is any time we put our will over his will. and sin separates us from God. Ultimately, in Christ Jesus, for everyone who is surrendered to Christ, that bridge has been built and can never be broken. All of our sin is paid for, so it's not like every time you sin, you can't talk to God again. However, the life of the Christian is that of daily repentance. And oftentimes, what sin can do in our life is it blurs our vision and it doles our hearing. So God has a word for you. God is leaning in, but he feels like he's a million miles away because we're all tangled up in sin. This is what it says. It says sin which clings so closely. The NIV says sin that entangles us.

And as we are trying to be followers of Jesus taking one step after another, after another, after another, what sin does, the picture here is that it's like clings around us and binds us up so that we cannot walk in the footsteps that Jesus is calling and commanding us to walk in. So just a very straightforward question is this. What do you need to repent of? Is there some sin that you're struggling with right now, and you've been trying to keep it from God? It's so silly, isn't it?

We all do this. Oftentimes, just like Adam and Eve, when we sin, we run and hide. Instead of running to the Father, which we have been invited to run to him through the cross, oftentimes we run and we hide, and we try to make our own coverings. We try to make sow fig leaves together and think, I got this. I'm not going to bring it to God.

I've got this. Well, when there's sin in our life, it's evidence that we don't got this, that we need a cross. So in order for you to hear from God, is there some sin in your life that you need to repent of? Well, Christ invites you to do that. And don't wait. Don't wait until you get to church. Do it now between you and Jesus right now. But then there's an and here.

So he says, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great clear, of witnesses, so we need to repent of sin, no doubt. But there's also let us lay aside every weight that there are some things in our lives that aren't necessarily sin. They're just slowing us down in what it means for us to walk obediently with Christ. There's things like comfort. You see, maybe God's been trying to get your attention because he has this thing that he wants to call you into. Maybe he wants to clarify what your role is in the Great Commission. And it could be something, again, like going into full-time vocational ministry, or it could be in ministering to the kids that you were raising. But you're having a hard time hearing it because right now, the weight

that you're carrying is this weight of comfort. And every little bit of extra money and every little bit of extra time, you are spending on your own comfort and it is doling your senses to what the king of the universe has commanded you to do. Sometimes the weight, sometimes the weight is just busyness. It's busyness. That there's no room in your day to hear from God because every single minute is filled with either appointments or this nonstop just entertaining yourself. That the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is you look at this thing and see what everybody else thinks about you and you don't carve out some time in the day to just be reminded of what Christ thinks about you.

You see, this is what I mean when I say, when he says, when the Bible says, let us lay aside every weight. So identify some, the sins in your life that you need to repent of. And then also, what are, are there some other things in your comforts? Maybe, again, maybe it's in your busy schedule.

Maybe sometimes it's just laziness. Man, we are medicated on screens these days. I mean, think about it. We sit at a stoplight and we can't even endure the silence for, I don't know how long the red light is red, a minute, a minute and a half. We immediately reach for our phones and check the news feed. You see, maybe what you need to do in this season right now is put this thing away and put away these things that aren't sin in and of themselves, but are weights that are weighing you down so that you're not free to be who God has called you to be. The Puritans called this mortification, that there should be some things in our life that we are putting to death because they are trying to kill us.

Identify those things. Sin is a serious deal. You cannot take sin lightly. The Bible says that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. If there was a lion literally in your neighborhood trying to eat you, you would do everything differently. You'd walk your car differently. You would instruct your children differently. and the reality is there is.

And you will either put those things to death or they will be the death of you. That's called mortification. Then the Puritans also use this word called vivification. It comes from the Latin word, life. So not only are there some things you need to cut out in your life, but there's some other things maybe that you need to add into your life

that stir your affections for the Lord. Here's the way the writer of Hebrews says it. And so since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside the weight and sin, which cling so closely. Let's put to death those things that are crushing our relationship with Jesus. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith.

In other words, we get our eyes off of our sin and when we get our eyes off of the things that are slowing us down, we minimize those things in our life. We repent from sin. We put off these weights that are holding us back, and we fix our eyes on Jesus. Now, you say, how in the world do I do that? Honestly, a lot of it has to do with how God created you.

For me, I've been telling you, this is what I've been doing lately, is I've got a playlist on my phone. I go sit on my back porch. I hit play on this album. I like to listen to my buddy Jeff Moore. He's got a couple songs that just stir me all up, and I sit, I sit on the couch and my back porch, and I've got bird feeders, and I've got

hibiscus blooming, and I watch them bloom, and I watch the birds eat. And all that is just environmental, and I read the word. And I mean, I read big chunks of the word. I'm not trying to write sermons out of it. I'm just reading big chunks of the word. For you, maybe, maybe, well, I would say this, the word needs to be involved. The word is, what turns our eyes towards Jesus and away from the things of this world. But maybe for you, I mean, how great is it that we have this gift of technology? Most every one of us have the Bible on our phone. Maybe for you, it's put in some earbuds and go on the beach and listen to the word as you walk on the beach.

Or maybe you go and you sit in a very quiet place early in the morning and you read some Bible and you sip some really good coffee and you just think God thoughts. That's what the Bible calls, meditate upon the word. But as we prepare our hearts to hear what God's specific call for us is in his body and in his kingdom, may you understand that this isn't new. It's just your turn. We have the privilege of standing on the shoulders of faithful men and women who have gone before us. And may you repent of sin.

As the Spirit convicts you of the things in your life, may you run to the cross. and repent, confess and repent. And as a believer, when you confess your sin, you're not just asking to be forgiven. You're confessing that you already have been forgiven when Jesus says it is finished at the cross. That's where the freedom is. And you lay aside the weights.

Your busy schedule, that entangling relationship, whatever it is that's not in and of itself's sin, but it is keeping you from hearing the voice of Jesus and then may you run with endurance the race that he's marked out for us by fixing your eyes on him. You figure out some ways in your life that you can do the kind of things that stir your affections for him. And this is how we prepare our heart to hear from our one true God.

Let me pray for us. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you because you love us first. And Lord, we confess that we take for granted that the sovereign king of the universe, moment my moment, day by day, morning and evening. evening invites us into his presence for a meeting. Lord, I pray that you would open our eyes. I pray that you would convict us of our sin, that we would turn to Jesus there. Lord, I pray that you would make us aware of the things that aren't necessarily sin in our lives, but they're weighing us down and keeping us from following after you. And God, I pray, I pray for every man, woman,

and student at our church that we would run the race that you have marked out for us and that we would fix our eyes on you so that our hearts would be ready to hear what you have to say to us. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.