Gods Hit Parade 3

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God’s Hit Parade #3: Guard Your Heart Proverbs 4:20-27; Focus on v.23 New Horizon Community Church of God: Men’s Breakfast Feb. 2, 2002 Sometime ago I began asking myself if God has a favorite song. For those of you from Cascades Fellowship, you heard my answer to that question two years ago in a sermon titled “God’s Favorite Song.” For those of you who are part of New Horizon Community Church or are new to Cascades Fellowship– since I know all of you who were members of Cascades when I first preached on God’s favorite song remember every point about the sermon – the sermon was inspired by the song of that title performed by Phillips, Craig and Dean. Well, since that time I have continued to dwell on God’s favorite song and have expanded it somewhat. I began to think about what songs that we sing as the body of Christ would be included on God’s Hit Parade? You know, a top 40 for God. Obviously, no church would allow me to preach a forty part series, so I have narrowed the field a bit – something a little less ambitious, like God’s top 5. Well, if God did have a top five, one song I think would make it is called “Guard Your Heart.” Does anyone know who sings this song? (Allow for a response) Anyone? Steve Green recorded this song on his CD “The Mission.” The song has a very unique beginning, but we will discuss that a bit more later. For now, I want us to concentrate on our passage for this morning, Prov. 4:20-27. Before we get too far along, I have to mention that at Cascades Fellowship we have begun a preaching series on the Book of Proverbs and I want to clarify something. Men from Cascades

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Fellowship – don’t think that when we get to Proverbs 4 in our series that you can take that Sunday off! I will have a different sermon for that part of the series. Okay, in order for us to understand what’s happening in our passage I want to first get a quick overview of the preceding chapters, because the first three chapters and the first part of chapter four build up to vv. 20-27. Second, I would like us to dig a little deeper into v.23 of our text from which this sermon and the song that inspired it draw their titles. Finally, we will talk about what it means to guard your heart. When I started on this sermon – and coincidentally the current series on Proverbs – I began looking for sources to study and found to my chagrin that there is very little preaching done on the Book of Proverbs. SOOOOoooo, I began wondering why. One of the possible reasons for this is that there are some who say the Book of Proverbs is not arranged in any logical or discernible order – other than grouping according to who uttered or wrote them. The Book of Proverbs doesn’t fit easily into a systematic theology. Nor does it lend itself to those consumed by ferreting out obscure references to the end times and our Lord’s return – people often more interested in pinning a date for the return of the Lord of the Harvest than gathering the harvest from ripened fields. Its apparent haphazard arrangement provides only for general insights into life lived here on terra firma. It does not contain promises to be fulfilled, just common sense observations of sagely saints experienced in the warfare of everyday living on a creation groaning to be released from the bondage of decay. A creation looking for the consummation of God’s great plan of redemption.

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Now, for the most part, I find it to be true that Proverbs does not have an overarching theme – other than the life lived wisely or the righteous life over against the foolish or wicked life. Unfortunately, this theme does not offer any real structure in the book’s arrangement. One does get the sense that the pithy little sayings found in the Book of Proverbs were simply recorded as they were uttered and arrangement according to theme or central message be hanged – except for the first four chapters, possibly the first nine. The central theme of the first four chapters of Proverbs – indeed the first nine – is wisdom. What it is, how you get it, what it does for you, what happens if you neglect it. The first chapter defines wisdom as “beginning with the fear of the Lord.” In other words, wisdom entails heeding the instruction of the Lord, living by Torah. It means that being wise implies a moral life. This is made clear when the path of wisdom is compared to the path of sinners in chapter 1v.10. Strong warnings are levied against abandoning wisdom – abandoning the fear of the Lord to follow after the way of sinners. Now who would do that, really? Abandon the instruction of the Lord to follow after a bunch of guys who hate discipline and do not fear the Lord. Who would do such a thing? I would. You would to, if you stop seeking wisdom – that’s the observation the father is making to the son in this first chapter of Proverbs. If you cease in the pursuit of wisdom, if you no longer search out the instruction of the Lord, generally speaking, you will fall into folly, make bad choices and find yourself cruising down the path of sinners.

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Chapter two offers us insight into the benefits of wisdom. Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, which is also the beginning of knowing God. And it is God who is the fountainhead of wisdom and the giver of discernment. With wisdom one is saved from the ways of the wicked, preserved from the wiles of the adulteress, and establishes his way among the upright. Chapter three continues the insights into the benefit of wisdom and again connects wisdom – gaining it and living wisely – with ones relationship to God and his instruction. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, acknowledge him all your ways and he will make your paths straight. So as you can see, the first three chapters are spent setting up the value of wisdom – what is its source and content, its benefits and offerings, and the results for any who neglect it. In chapter four, the father teaching his son draws upon the time when his own father taught him the way of wisdom. He recalls that he was told that “wisdom is supreme,” to be sought above anything else in life. Which brings us to our text this morning, Prov. 4:20-27. At first glance (and probably at any following glances) vv.20-22 serve primarily as the attention-grabber for what comes in v.23. They, along with the preceding chapters extol the virtues of wisdom and warn of the consequences of the way of the wicked. And then, as if expressing the bottom line the father says "Guard your heart above all else, because it is the wellspring of life." The heart -- the fist-sized organ that pumps blood to the far reaches of the body. The Bible in Lev. 17:11 says “…the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given

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it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” The heart pumps life throughout the body. Physically, it is the wellspring of life. But is this proverb warning us to guard our physical hearts? Is it an exhortation to watch our cholesterol, cut back on fried foods and walk 2 miles a day? While adopting these habits for your lifestyle is healthy, this is not the biblical notion of the heart. The heart, in the biblical sense, is the seat of emotion and will. It is the center of the inner-life – the center and the operations of human life. The heart is the “home of the personal life,” and hence a man is designated, according to his heart, he is a wise man, a pure man, a foolish or wicked man, etc. – it all begins in the heart. In Matthew 15 Christ taught that it is out of the overflow of the heart that we speak and act. Essentially what all this means is that the contents of our heart determine our character. Pretty scary when you get right down to it, isn’t it? It is this idea of the heart that the father exhorts his son to guard. And not only guard, but guard with great care. Let me read for you an amplified version of v. 23. “Above everything else that you guard or keep diligent watch over, guard with fidelity your heart – because out of it comes the thunderous well-springs of life.” What you need to know here is that in Proverbs 4:13 the son is told that the father’s instruction – that is wisdom – is life. An OT professor of mine liked to say “Torah is life.” Perhaps today we understand it better by saying God’s instruction is life. God’s wisdom is life. Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the embodiment of the

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wisdom of God is life; his words are life. And it is in the heart that we hide the wisdom of God so that our wellsprings might become living water, welling up to eternal life. As those of you from Cascades know, I recently became a father for the first time. Wow, what a change. I find myself doing things now that before would never have dawned on me. While my wife, Rachel, and I were in Norfolk this summer awaiting the Lord’s direction on where he would have us to minister, we were at a church picnic where her dad is the pastor. Our daughter, Abby, was just a couple weeks old. During a time of prayer and praise at the picnic, I could not resist the compulsion to start picking up pieces of broken glass. Abby can’t even hold her head up yet, much less crawl along the ground, but there I was, picking up glass as we were singing songs and taking prayer requests out of this overwhelming need to make her world safe! I was guarding the precious gift God had given me. But gentlemen, this proverb is asking us to guard something infinitely more precious. It is nothing less than our life in Christ. It is nothing short of our life before the face of God. Think about it a moment. Think for a moment about how much energy you put into guarding your money, your home, your family. All of these things are worthy of your attention and are gifts God has given you in stewardship to be used or cared for wisely. But above all of these things, beyond any other consideration, you should be guarding your heart. Above everything else you guard – guard your heart. It is an essential part of obtaining wisdom or being wise.

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But how does one guard his heart? How does someone keep watch diligently over the source of the thunderous wellsprings of life? Well in v. 24 the father offers the son this sage advice: Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Beloved of God, it is no secret that the tongue often betrays that what we have hidden in our heart is filthy water. James, lamenting the tongue’s power for evil, says this in chapter 3: “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” Earlier James stated that a person who could not keep his tongue in check practices a worthless religion. Christ said it is out of the overflow of the heart that we speak. So if we are speaking garbage… well, you get the picture. The Bible has much to say about the tongue, both in metaphor and literal description. But this morning I will limit myself to one passage that I think captures the power of the tongue, Prov. 18:21. “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Our words, what we say and how we say it, has the power to heal or to wound the heart of others – to plunge a root of bitterness into the wellspring of those we wield our words against. Keeping a reign on our tongue is not only a wise action; it is a gracious one as well. Proverbs 17:28 says: Even fools who keep silent are considered wise; when they close their lips, they are deemed intelligent. We hear that proverb today in this form, “Better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” If

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you’re one who has trouble controlling your tongue – who has to have the last word – commit Proverbs 17:28 to memory.

It may spare you from planting a root of

bitterness in the heart of another and you from the regret that will become a root of bitterness in your own heart. By guarding your lips, you guard your heart. I said in the introduction that the song this sermon is titled after has a very unique beginning. It begins with a children’s song. “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see. Oh, be careful little eyes what you see. For the Father up above is looking down with love. Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.” This song that we classify as part of nursery or early elementary age musical fare is full of the same sage advice the father gives the son in v. 25. “Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.” This is the second way to guard your heart. Guys, we live in an age of enticement for the eyes – glitz and glitter everywhere and visions to satisfy every appetite. But all that glitters is not gold. Be careful little eyes what you see. How do we do that in a world where porn is the fastest growing online industry and everything is packaged to tempt the eye? I want to give you one principle this morning to take with you – one that can be practiced at all times and all places. This is not a revolutionary idea. Nor is it some new insight – it just one that we seem to ignore. Are you ready? Flee. That’s right, I said flee. This was Paul’s advice to the Corinthians and to Timothy and it is still great advice for you and me. Disappointed? Look, I know it’s not profound. And I know that this means that we may miss out on a few things. But remember what you are guarding. If your

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struggle is the lust of things, don’t go where your appetites are going to be excited. Read Luke 12:22-31 often. Surely you are more valuable than the flowers of the fields and the birds of the air. If the lust of the eyes causes you to stumble, then maybe you should ask Sports Illustrated not to send you the Swimsuit issue. Avoid the places where your eyes can get you into trouble. Don’t visit questionable web sites – and let me offer you a little tidbit – if a magazine or web site advertises itself as being “for men” then consider it questionable. Don’t go there unless you know the content is worthy of consideration. If the lust of the flesh is a particularly difficult temptation for you, then don’t watch sexually suggestive movies or television shows. If you are one of those who says looking at other women is like window shopping – you can look all you want, as long as you don’t buy – let me direct you to the words of Christ Matthew 5:27-30. He doesn’t seem to leave much room there for “window shopping.” Be careful little eyes what you see. Heed the words of Paul and keep your eyes on the goal set before you – the upward calling of Jesus Christ. The final way that the father advises the son on how to guard his heart is found in vv. 26-27. “Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.” One of my less endearing qualities is that I have the worst time keeping track of keys. When Rach and I lived in Grand Rapids, I constantly locked myself out the apartment, and on occasion, my truck. In fact the first time I went to meet Rachel’s grandparents in Wisconsin I locked my keys in the truck. Anyway, I am painfully

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aware of my predilection for forgetting keys so what I have learned to do is make several copies of any key I own and then spread those keys around to the people in my social circle. This way, before I ever lock myself out, I am prepared to deal with it. I am making level paths for my feet and taking ways that are firm. You see, the advice the father gives the son in this proverb is simply this: examine yourself. Know what your weaknesses are and know in advance how to deal with them. Remove any moral stumbling blocks in your path – the sin that so easily entangles – by preparing an answer before hand. Spend a little time going over in your mind how you will respond when that pet sin or temptation rears its ugly head. In doing so, you prepare the way your feet will walk to flee from that sin and having done so will not stray to the left or right from the path established before you. Steve Green, in his song titled “Guard Your Heart” says it only takes a moment, a glance to turn the wellspring of life into murky waters. In that instant we can be carried away by our lust and the seeds of sin be sown. For one moment’s pleasure, we abandon wisdom – we exchange life for death. That is the message the father gives to the son in the first chapters of Proverbs. A message he climaxes with this instruction, “Above everything else that you guard, guard your heart.” Sage advice. Men of God, guard your heart. It is not only a song on God’s hit parade, it’s the way we live before the face of God.