307: Matt Wigzell: Exhortation - Treasure in Earthen Vessels

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to Good Chris selfie and talks. I’m Levi and I’m Chris and I’m Brian. Thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. We post a new episode at the start of each week, with a short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you’re about to listen to.

2. 0:33

   And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk. This week’s talk is an agitation given by brother Matt Wigsell on June 23rd of this year. And it was fantastic. You’ll, I think you’ll really enjoy kind of the style. He has a really nice tone through this whole excitation and it’s very beautifully written.

3. 1:03

   This would be this would be a talk that I think you could transcribe directly into an article. There’s there’s a lot of beautiful poetry and the content really fits that kind of style. It’s a, it’s really a discussion and exploration on how we as believers deal with the reality of our imperfection, how we are earthen vessels and how we are to see ourselves as our heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus see us. So I, I really, really benefited from this. I think this is one that I’m actually going to listen to again.

4. 1:38

   So thank you to the brother who sent this in. Thank you to everyone who let us, you know, played along with us in July, posting our own talks. That was really fun for me, at least, I assume it was fun for all the hosts and it was fun too. It was definitely a different, you know, they’re just different. We always try to change it up in July with a guest host or some sort of theme.

5. 1:59

   So thank you for allowing us that. It was kind of, it was definitely a funny, you know, funny, silly exercise to try and find our own, our own best talk. So thank you for playing along and we hope it was still beneficial. So here is Brother Matt Wigzell, Treasure in earthen vessels. Well, good morning my dear brothers and sisters and young people.

6. 2:24

   It’s actually very nice singing, brothers and sisters. It was quite touching up here being sang that. So thank you a lot of what I have to share to you this morning is things I’ve been thinking about for a long, long time, but it’s funny the way God works and brings people into your life that actually provide the the crowning thing that binds it all together. And so I feel that I need to acknowledge since dad, brother Axel for actually giving me some thoughts and perspectives that actually allow me to tie a lot of loose ends together. So anyway, brothers and sisters, here we are before the total, the law.

7. 3:03

   But I want to ask the question, when you look in the mirror, as we generally do every day mean less these days? How do we perceive ourselves? Do you look and see a flawed individual with a heart that’s desperately wicked, whose righteousness is as filthy rags, whose sins are as common and many as the sparks to fly outputs?

8. 3:28

   Are we burdened with this nagging guilt that’s quick to bring to mind all our failings and weaknesses? And do we ever think that we’re not going to be good enough? We’re not going to be able to do enough? Anything we do, pals, into a significance when compared to the many things that we do that are not good.

9. 3:45

   It’s like this, in this debt we have to pay down. Or do we rather see ourselves as a man or woman, made in the image and likeness of God, with an intellectual and moral capacity that places us just a little lower than the angels who’ve been given power through Christ to be sons and daughters of the living God, heirs of the grace of life and a member of the family of heaven and earth? Do we feel that power?

10. 4:12

    Do we have that confidence? Could we say of ourselves that we, through confidence in the love of Christ, are not just conquerors, but we are more than conquerors? I think we can all relate to that first perspective. I know I certainly can. As someone who has spent the last 50 years in our community, this perception is very widespread. When I was a lot younger, I carried with me a a guilt complex because of my failings and sin, which I tried very hard to keep secret.

11. 4:46

    I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself, but I placed a lot of focus on external measures of wearing the right thing at the right time, things that I did, where I went, but most of all, how I compared to other people who also were trying to measure themselves according to the same measure.

12. 5:07

    And in many ways, I felt like the one talent man who was trying to serve this parole opposite God, who frankly didn’t like me very much. I felt expected too much of me and probably wasn’t going to give me eternal life anyway until shame otherwise was like the churches who blindly thought that everybody was saved. Now, Brother Darren de Poris, in the series that we had on the judgement seat, relates a similar example of brothers or sisters in nursing homes who at the end of their lives confessed that they were afraid of the judgement and scared to die. And it was interesting during that series that a brother said to me, you know, why is it that I’ve waited 50 years to hear such a reassuring message of hope about what God actually thinks of me?

13. 5:56

    My mother, before she died of cancer, would always dwell on her regrets and her failings and the things that she’s done wrong, but she’d also minimize the good that she did. It’s almost like whatever good she did could not be enjoyed because it was overpowered and, and simply down payment on this massive lifelong debt she’d accumulated.

14. 6:18

    And towards the end, I, I asked her, you know, do you ever look at your children? Because none of us are criminals and and take the credit for what would become as she said that she didn’t, she never did that because that would be prideful. So she essentially robbed herself of the joy of her inheritance because she was scared of pride.

15. 6:41

    And she’s not the only one with this mentality. I I know plenty of brothers and sisters who carry in their face and eyes the tension and anxiety of a guilt complex. Who clearly spend copious amounts of time worrying about failings and habits to the point that they robbed themselves of any satisfaction, pleasure or reward of a job well done.

16. 7:02

    Because such satisfied, joyous thoughts might lead to pride. So you probably should nip it in the bud the moment you, or your children for that matter, start to feel good about yourself. That would be a sin. A friend of mine who experienced a breakdown a few years ago also appeared to be somebody who exceeded every KPI Key Performance indicator.

17. 7:26

    Enthusiastic, involved, always on committees, always there. But talking through this epic breakdown with him, it became apparent that he’d set this unattainable bar for himself that despite his best efforts, he never achieved. He actually believed that God expected that of him and anything short of maximum productivity was a sin. And his feverish activity hid this self loathing as well as distracted him from the fact that he didn’t know how to think. He didn’t know how to examine, be introspective, and challenge his competitive driven spirit.

18. 8:01

    It’s kind of like he got all those fleshy things and simply spiritualized them. Now he would have considered a model brother, someone to look up to, an example for all to follow. His recovery took a very long time because when all the externals were stripped away, it became apparent that his entire self worth was not in characteristics by his ability to do and to achieve.

19. 8:27

    And when people would try to help him rebuild, to build on his talents and strengths and the good that he had done, he feebly recoiled away from such thoughts as prideful.

20. 8:40

    My son also commented on the same phenomena. He did a psychology research project and an arsenal number of children in heritage and they all said they struggle with anxiety, worried, overthinking things, depressive thoughts. Now, when he said, well, do you know how to reassure yourself, to remind yourself of the good that you’ve done, your strengths, and to praise yourself when you do right?

21. 9:03

    Again, they rejected these ideas as prideful. Incidentally, brothers and sisters, Lovejoy and Peace are mentioned in the Bible 1300 times. Pride and proud I mentioned 97 times. So we can see that the balance is really correct here. And this really hit me hard because these ideas are so ingrained, brothers and sisters, that they’re being passed on from generation to generation. And this at a time when the world has never, ever been worse.

22. 9:33

    Challenges to faith are mounting. Deceptions and strong delusions are everywhere. The days of lot knowing upon us, and now more than ever, we actually need to be confident soldiers of Christ who can resist evil, discern deception, and give an answer of our faith to be to be conquerors. Coming back to the mirror example, we considered two perceptions, didn’t we?

23. 10:01

    And the 2nd perception was essentially a whole lot of Bible verses strung together, made in the image and likeness of God, with an intellectual and moral capacity that places us a little lower than the angels who have been given power through Christ to be sons and daughters of the living God, heirs of the grace of life, and a member of the family of heaven and earth more than conquerors. But what does any of that actually mean, brothers and sisters, and how?

24. 10:29

    How does it relate to us? Do we need to overcome sin first, or can we, through God’s grace, still enjoy all of this even though we sin and fall short? And it is. So how do you do that? Where do you start? And how do we start changing our perceptions and our very habitual and ingrained thinking?

25. 10:52

    Well, let’s start by correcting this chronically negative perception that we generally have of ourselves starting in Genesis one, verse 26. As we know, God says let us make man in our image and our likeness right now. God says of the animals, let the earth bring forth, let living creatures according to their kind, livestock creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kind.

26. 11:26

    And it was so for brothers and sisters. Humans are different. Men and women are different. We are created in God’s image and likeness. Now we know what these ideas mean. We explain them in Sunday School. Image means we look like angels and by extension, God. The likeness means that God has created us with his likeness inside us. Humans, unlike animals, have the ability to conceptualize God. Humans have a similar intellectual and moral awareness of God.

27. 12:00

    Humans can create and destroy, explore, interact, sacrifice, serve, and love to name a few attributes that separate us from the animals. We don’t use the word likeness today in in modern English it would read Let us make man like us. Now Psalm 8 elaborates on this. If you’ll turn there with me. What does it mean to be made like God? Well, we’re giving more details in Psalm 8. Psalm 8, verse four.

28. 12:34

    What is man that you are mindful of them. The Son of man that you care for him. You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour. You’ve given him dominion, you’ve put all things under his feet, said the Simon. So not only are we are we created like God, with God’s likeness inside us, but we are only a little lower than the angels crowned with glory and honour. Now think about that.

29. 13:03

    Angels are God’s ministers, they serve him and do his will. They are intelligent, they are wise, dignified, honourable, mighty. And we humans are just a little lower and we are capable of exactly the same thing. Humans, actually all humans, aspire to these character traits. They value them, they teach them and respect those who display them, attending on the flags and the banners of countries, You know, honour, integrity.

30. 13:33

    Sure, not everybody tries. And most humans, well, a lot of humans fail miserably. But these attributes are part of the human experience and they are God’s character traits and how the image and likeness of God manifests in US. Come with me to Romans chapter 2. We get another dimension of what that these ideas mean, but it comes it takes us into the moral spectrum, brothers and sisters.

31. 14:01

    So Romans 2 verse 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they’re a law to themselves, even though they don’t have the law, what does this mean? Verse 15?

32. 14:22

    They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts and their conscience bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts will either excuse or accuse them. So being made in God’s likeness gives all human beings a basic moral conscience that operates independently of any external law. This conscience commends and condemns people when they do things such as lie, steal, slander, or commit violence. And we know this is the case, but not just in ourselves, but in those people that we interact with every single day. Everybody has an innate understanding of what is fair, what is reasonable, what is of what is honest and kind. In consumer law, the most of repeated phrase is fair and reasonable.

33. 15:16

    The highest court in the land, the Supreme Court, faces what is right and wrong in the hands of a jury of normal people who exercise their conscience to judge what is right and wrong. Sites like eBay would collapse if people didn’t tell the truth and if honesty wasn’t the exception, not the rule.

34. 15:38

    Charities, charities and volunteer organisations run on people’s desire to show compassion, to sacrifice, to serve, to love. And I find it tragic that there’s a number of people in our community that believes that the honesty and compassion of people in the world has nothing to do with God. That’s not God’s truth. That’s not God’s love. But it’s like a like a quasi animal selfish self-interest. I actually don’t know where such elitist ideas come from, brothers and sisters.

35. 16:10

    Certainly not the Bible, that’s for sure. Being like God means that when humans tell the truth and serve others and show love, they resonate with God and feel a sense of peace and contentment, even if they don’t know why. And by the same token, when humans lie and behave badly, God is created in such a way that we feel immediately stress and tension. This is the basis of a lie detector test, which measures spikes in blood pressure and heart rate when human beings tell lies.

36. 16:43

    And this applies to the very worst human beings. Brothers and sisters, look at Herod, a totally evil and corrupt man who locked up John the Baptist for making him and his wife look bad. But while John was in jail, Mark Six tells us that Herod was afraid to kill John because he knew he was a good and holy man, so he protected him and he liked listening to John, although what John said left him with so many questions. That’s from God’s Word.

37. 17:11

    So. So what drew a corrupt man like Herod down to John’s cell? Why did he like listening to him? What drew him to that damn dingy place to ask all those questions? The same reason Felix kept Paul in jail and kept visiting him and asking questions. The same reason why Pilot was fascinated with Jesus and wanted to free him.

38. 17:31

    The same reason Ahab turned to butter and felt bad at the word of Elijah. The same reason Manasseh repented of his evil and felt remorse. The same reason Nebuchadnezzar kept searching for something higher than himself. Being like God is not reserved for people of faith, or even good people for that matter. Even corrupt and wicked people feel the tension, stress and regret of how they live and what they do, which can they can only run away from for so long. And when a John or an Elijah or a poor present themselves, they will cling to these people because they know that these people can lead them to peace, a clear conscience, and a happier life.

39. 18:14

    It’s a much more positive basis of appeal, I feel. The closer humans conform to the likeness of God is directly proportionate to the peace and contentment that they will experience in life. The further humans move away from God’s character and lie and steal and behave selfishly is directly proportionate to the amount of stress, pain and disease that they will experience.

40. 18:42

    Solomon, the richest man in the world, conducted one of the greatest, most costly experiments of all time. And Ecclesiastes to prove to us, brothers and sisters, that those who live a simple life, who enjoy the simple things, are happier than all the billionaires that the world has produced, put together. So we need to think about these things, brothers and sisters, and absorb them and change the way we see ourselves and others. You know, we have Psalm 79 where Asaf is envious of the wicked because he’s looking at their confident smiles and their arrogant demeanours and the flaunting of their success and he thinks that that’s an accurate picture of what their lives are like.

41. 19:23

    But it wasn’t real. It’s an illusion, it’s a game face, it’s an act, it’s a lie. Moving along in John chapter one, we’ve covered that many times. John speaks of Lagos purpose, meaning and intent that is another aspect of the divine in US and how that everything God does has purpose, meaning and intent and how this is revealed in the human experiences enlightenment.

42. 19:49

    And so humans are gifted with logic, discernment and a desire for the freedom that enlightenment can bring. You know, I work in the disability sector and I always hear behavioural therapists and psychologists say that people need a sense of purpose. They need to contribute meaningfully. They need to find a reason to get out of bed. Why brothers and sisters?

43. 20:10

    Well, that’s the likeness of God in the form of Logos, creating in them a desire, an urge, a motivation to live a life that resonates with God, a life that has purpose and meaning. In Ecclesiastes 3, God says He put eternity in human hearts along with the desire for things that last forever, a desire to push boundaries, to seek eternal things, be it in a futile attempt to prolong youth, beauty and life, or the pursuit of eternal things, which is God. Romans 8 tells us that God made us subject to futility to cause us to feel bondage and dissatisfaction so that we desire the liberty that only eternal life can bring. Now we know this, don’t we?

44. 20:58

    We experience it. It’s why our children get bored with their toys while no one is satisfied. It’s how we can have more entertainment and knowledge than Solomon, yet still get bored, dissatisfied, and depressed. It’s it’s how we know that no amount of money and things will break this internal battle that humans have with eternity and futility. As Roman says, only freedom, freedom in Christ will break the chains of futility, and it’s the freedom God’s holding out to all his children.

45. 21:29

    Contentment, brothers and sisters, is a decision we make by accepting futility and refusing to fight it with material things. And moving along. Romans one God affirms, does he not, that he can hold the entire world accountable by the powerful witness of creation? Romans one verse 19 because that which may be no one of God is manifest in them in them, for God has shown unto them.

46. 22:00

    So what has God created inside all human beings? Well, it’s an awareness of him, isn’t it so so how’s that? How does that work? Well, it says verse 20 for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world, God is invisible are clearly seen how being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that all people are without an excuse. So brothers and sisters, there’s numerous quotes from atheists where they they cite the struggle they have with feeling awe and wonder and a desire to worship with their atheistic convictions.

47. 22:37

    And we get the same thing, brothers and sisters, where we see something beautiful, we hear uplifting music, we see something incredible and we know that with that feeling there is something spiritual going on. I saw it when I my wife dragged me up a hill and we saw all these mountains and the sun rose up and I, I hated the journey to get there.

48. 22:58

    But when the sun hit those snow capped mountains, you feel something spiritual and no one talks. This is God in US, and This Is Us resonating with God and what He’s done. This is what it means to be made like God. For all the urges and temptations that draw us away from God, there are as many, possibly more aspects of God that work together to pull us back to Him. And we know this not just because we have been taught it, because we’ve experienced it, we’ve tasted it and we’ve seen that God is good and that God is in US. Now, perhaps the greatest evidence of God in US is love and the fruits of Lovejoy and peace. And we’ve seen, haven’t we, that when humans emulate God’s character, they experience the absence of tension, tension and and a transcendent peace.

49. 23:56

    When we behave selfishly and we’re a patient and angry, we experience the absence of peace and tension rises up in our bodies. So the presence of or absence of peace is like a moral barometer. It’s like an umpire. It blows the whistle on us when we behave badly. And that’s what Colossians 3 verse 15 says.

50. 24:18

    It should be. Above all these things, says Paul, put on love, which is a bond of completeness, and let the peace of God be an umpire in your heart. Imagine if our sensitivity to God in us was so finely tuned that we modelled our behaviour not on rules but on the presence or absence of the peace of God in us.

51. 24:42

    Then the peace of God which passes understanding would keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, wouldn’t it? And wouldn’t that be called brothers and sisters? And when we know this is true, we know this is possible because we’ve all experienced it to a greater or lesser degree. The question is, are we prepared to renew our thinking, transform our thoughts, and change the way we approach ourselves and our brothers and sisters and everybody for that matter.

52. 25:13

    One of the of all the things we’ve considered the greatest proof of God in US is love. We know from first to John 4 verse 16, and we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him.

53. 25:33

    There’s so much that could be said about love as a proof for God in us, but let us first consider the words of atheists who thought so hard about love that they ended up finding God. Lovin Platinka I think God is the most natural explanation for the way things are. Love plays a big role in this understanding. Alastair Mcglire The love of God is not something that I sat down and tried to figure out intellectually. Instead, it’s something I’ve experienced in my own life before he converted.

54. 26:08

    Josh McDowell I’ve always said that there’s nothing greater in life than to love and to be loved. God offices that you know. There’s not a single part of our lives that love does not transform. Its effects are emotional, intellectual, physical, spiritual. Love heals, restores and rejuvenates and energizes more than any other medical procedure that we could ever have. Brothers and sisters, when was the last time you celebrated your loved ones?

55. 26:39

    When was the last time you sat down with your spouse and not only told them you loved them, but gave them all the reasons why? When was the last time your children went to bed basking in their parents praise? A 15 year study on 2000 marriages demonstrated that happy marriages conform to the five to one rule. 5 words of affirmation, praise, interest, affection to one word of criticism. 5050 demonstrated a very strained marriage, and marriages where there was more negative than positive were doomed to misery or divorce, and this was accurate to about 98%.

56. 27:19

    I’ve tried to live by this, not just for my children but everyone I know, and it’s actually really hard because you must learn an entirely new vocabulary. But it does work in my limited experience. And when you do need to sink the boot in, you can sink it in hard and your children will take it because you are primarily enabling their lives and not always raining on them.

57. 27:42

    It’s heartbreaking when you see people who are Satan’s to their children always opposing, correcting, criticizing and pouncing. They’ll make them take full responsibility for what they do wrong, but temper or deny them the love and praise for what they do right. Keep them humble I guess. So why are we so quick to self sabotage, brothers and sisters? Why are we so prone to latch on to the worst possible perspective?

58. 28:12

    Why do we turn our backs on the likeness of God in as yet amplify and fixate on the animal side of our nature? Something I used to hear a lot when I was young in Isaiah 57 verse 15. For thus saith the high and holy one that inhabits eternity. His name is holy.

59. 28:31

    I dwell in the high and holy place, but with Him also that is of a contrite, a broken and humble spirit. Why? To revive the spirit of the humble and to make alive the heart of the contrite one. We’re kind of not supposed to stay here, brothers and sisters. And Paul in Galatians 6 urges the same thing when he says, prove your own work, Then you can rejoice in yourself alone and not another. The Word rejoices to celebrate, to boast, to be exuberant. It sounds pretty prideful to me, I know. But I’ve shown this passage to many people and you’d be staggered at the amount of people who will refuse to entertain such biblical behaviour because they’ve confused joy with pride, wretchedness with righteousness, and humility with brokenness.

60. 29:23

    Now it’s inevitable, brothers and sisters, that if you develop your God-given talents to become very good at something, you will experience some form of pride. But if you’re honest and self aware and you take that thought and you remind yourself of all your failings that you need God’s grace to remove on a daily basis, and you remind yourself that to whom much is given, actually now much is expected. I’m judged at a different measure and God holds me to a higher standard.

61. 29:48

    Well, now suddenly we’re seeing things in perspective again. Now we could develop that process of accountability in ourselves, or we could break ourselves and break our children so that they never have to deal with the pride a healthy confidence can generate. It sounds silly, but there are people alive today who have convinced themselves that this is what religion looks like and will feebly and anxiously fight you off if you try to use the Bible to convince them otherwise. This mindset does not come from God or the Bible. It is not the life that Christ is calling us to. And it is a lesson to all of us, brothers and sisters, to not trust in authority figures who # rostrums and browbeat their listeners into brokenness.

62. 30:36

    It is a lesson for all of us to choose leaders who lead with service, humility as sacrifice. Being able to admit you’re wrong and apologizing is probably a pretty critical first step. God did not create us broken, wretched and evil continually. Yes, we have animal instincts. Yes, there are thoughts and behaviours in us that we need to continually put off.

63. 31:00

    But look at the wonderful things the likeness of God has given us to develop and cultivate in ourselves and in our children. The groundwork has already been laid. The treasure is already there. We just have to cultivate it, nurture it, water it, and God will provide the increase. We are made with the likeness of God, which means that we are little lower than the angels, capable of wisdom, dignity, service, integrity, aspiring to glory and honour.

64. 31:29

    Being made like God means that we have a basic conscience which, independent of the Bible, commends or condemns our words and actions. We experience peace and contempt when we tell the truth, sacrifice for others and show love. We experience tension and stress when we give in to our animal side. Having God’s likeness in US means we’re gifted with logic, common sense, discernment, a thirst for knowledge, exploration, the capacity to create and destroy.

65. 31:56

    Having God in US allows us to desire eternity, experience futility, search for freedom from bondage. And God has created in US an innate knowledge of Him, embedded in all that He has made in such a powerful way that even atheists do not have an excuse. And God has allowed us to experience the pleasure he feels with music, creativity, and beauty. Finally, the peace of God can guide us, assure us, and help us to transcend our traits.

66. 32:25

    And the love of God allows us to give light to those around us. So what do we see when we look in the mirror, brothers and sisters? Or more to the point, what does the Bible tell us we should see? God or animal, good or bad, evil or divine. And the answer is both.

67. 32:44

    We should see two entities, an old man and a new man, flesh and spirit, the likeness of God and the likeness of animals, good and bad, and in a man who delights in God’s ways, wrapped in a body of death. And when we’re raising our children, we should at the earliest possible age highlight the animal side of their behaviour and nature, but also illuminate and celebrate and cultivate all the aspects of God in them. Paul talks about this split thing when he says I delight Romans 7, verse 22.

68. 33:17

    I delight in the law of God in my inner being. A part of him loved God, loved hearing, loved getting inspired. But I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind, two entities making me captive to the law of sin that also dwells in my members. A wretched man that I am, He’ll deliver me from this body of death, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ. So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

69. 33:46

    I think we can relate to this, brothers and sisters I know we’re experiencing in our daily life. The question is, well, how does it all work? And, and where is the line between the divine characteristics and the fleshly ones? What, what part of us do we need to focus on and refine and develop to be more sensitive to God in US?

70. 34:06

    Well, again, the Bible provides the answer and I’m just going to list these quotes. You can write them down if you like. Luke 6 verse 45, The good person, how the good treasure is heart produces good. The evil person, how the evil treasure produces evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

71. 34:23

    Matthew 621 where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 12 verse 34, you brood of Vipers, how can you speak good way? You are evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So the heart is the place where flesh and spirit reside. The heart is the place where divine characteristics and fleshly characteristics leads live side by side. And the heart is where we need to focus our attention if we want to turn our lives into a temple where God and Jesus can dwell.

72. 34:57

    Now some may say, well, doesn’t the Bible say in Jeremiah that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked? Who can know it? And Matthew 15 Out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, and all the rest. But again, brothers and sisters, that’s only half the story. Here’s some more quotes. Luke 6, verse 45.

73. 35:17

    The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good. Matthew 2237 You will love the Lord of God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. Proverbs 4 verse 23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows springs of life. First to Timothy one verse five.

74. 35:36

    My goal in giving this to you is, is this order is to love for love to flow from a pure heart, a clear conscience and a sincere faith. John 738 Whoever believes in me, as the scripture says, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Ephesians 5 verse 19, addressing one another as psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.

75. 36:01

    Psalm 57 verse seven My heart is tuned, my heart is tuned, I will sing and touch the strings. First of Peter 3 verse three. Don’t let your dawning be external, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. Paul adds to this terms like inner being, inner man, inner self as a part of us that’s divine. And no, brothers and sisters, it’s all inner. So the heart is not just evil continually, it’s capable of good and bad, of godly words and thoughts and actions, and the worst evil.

76. 36:39

    In fact, brothers and sisters, of the 110 mentions of the word heart in the New Testament, ten are neutral. The heart of the sea, where your treasure is, there your heart is also. 67 talk about its potential for positive thoughts, emotions, and traits. Only 33 focus on the negative aspects, and this tells us where our focus must be.

77. 37:05

    Rather than fixating on the negative, we should be seeking to build and develop the divine. The heart is described as pure, sincere, tender, honest, having integrity, loving and good. But my favorite analogy is that provided by Jesus in the parable the sower when explaining the parable to his disciples in Luke 8. If you come there with me, look at carefully how he describes the heart.

78. 37:31

    Now the parable is this says Jesus, the seed is the word of God. Verse 12 the ones along the path of those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts. So the ground is the hearts that they may not believe and be saved Ones on the rock who those who receive it with joy. Again, there’s a part of us that love to hear something good. It resonates deep inside us, but the thorns come and choke. As for the good soil.

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    Verse 15 are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience. So according to Jesus, the heart is like soil. It can be hard and impenetrable, it can have rocks and thorns, but with ploughing, clearing, watering, cultivation, it could also receive the word and react with joy and bear fruit.

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    And Paul expands on these ideas when he says, you know, second of Corinthians 4 verse 6 for God. He said, let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But, says Paul, we have this treasure in earth and vessels to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. And that, brothers and sisters, is the correct balance. We cannot take credit for being made like God, but we can be grateful, we can be confident, and we can make the most of what God gives us.

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    Think of the parable, the talents. It was the master who gave the talents to his servants to use. And it’s our duty to cultivate, develop and maximize and celebrate the God-given abilities we have and to rejoice in the good that we are able to do. We have been made like God, which means God has embedded inside of us divine treasure in earthen vessels, glory, honour, eternity, logos, all wonder, a conscience, mercy, truth, Lovejoy, peace. We have a heart that is capable of resonating with God’s heart. That’s why devil was a man after God’s own heart. Providing we break up the soil, remove the rocks and pull up the weeds.

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    And this is the language God uses. Yes, we put to death, we put off the old man, but we bring to life the likeness of God, the new man. The Bible uses terms such as renew, transform, building up, planting, watering, assurance, comfort, exhort, mould, shape, fan, flame, exercise, grow. These are not self sabotaging terms brothers and sisters. They are words that require us to develop and nurture what God has already given us with patience, persistence and assurance.

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    And we do the same. To our children as well. And the amazing thing is that when we focus on these divine traits and water, develop, practice and exercise, they become stronger, more effective and more influential in our lives. And so our glory and honour is made to conform to Christ’s glory and honour.

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    He was also made a little of the angels. Our conscience grows from a basic awareness of right and wrong to the mind of Christ and the love of Christ. The Logos in US is developed into an awareness of Jesus, who was the Logos made flesh, and the desire of eternity becomes a vision of the Kingdom with Christ as King.

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    Our appreciation for music and beauty and creation becomes an expression of praise for all that he has done. And through this internal process of cultivating, exercising, moulding, shaping, encouraging and watering these divine traits that make up gods resemblance, God’s similarities, God’s likeness, these divine traits start to take on the form that was intended for them from the very beginning.

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    And this, brothers and sisters, is the mystery that Paul speaks of in Colossians chapter one, Colossians chapter one, verse 25, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known. The mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his Saints, to them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.

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    And in Luke 17 verse 21 Jesus says, neither shall they say, lo here lo, therefore behold, the Kingdom of God is in you, that the elements that you need to live a Kingdom life are in you. John 14 verse 23 If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him. Galatians 2 verse 20 I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, but not I.

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    But Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Yeah, I used to think, brothers and sisters, me bad, me really, really bad. Bible good, ecclesia good. The only hope for me is to read the Bible and engage in many external activities as I can to keep the flesh of Bay. What we’re seeing, brothers and sisters, is the process of conversion is all internal.

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    We are gardeners of the heart. We are treasure hunters looking inside ourselves for divine treasure in the field of our heart. We are grateful recipients of God’s Excellency and power, which can surge through these earthen vessels and can give us confidence, courage, strength and love. And now imagine the kind of things that a life empowered by Christ can inspire you to perform. Imagine the good you can achieve, the motivation you’ll have.

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    And if you get knocked down, even if it happened 7 times or 77 * 7 times, you keep getting back up because you know better than to let anyone get in the way of love, of the love of Christ that is inside you. And This is why Paul focuses on faith not works. Because when someone has that kind of faith, works are inevitable.

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    Kind of like a spring of living water that keeps on welling up. So the New Testament, in the New Testament, God in you, Christ in you, and related ideas are mentioned over 50 times. Brothers and sisters, this is how God’s Spirit works and guides our lives. If we are sensitive to it, if we’re listening to it, if we’re aware of it and cultivating it.

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    So hopefully, brothers and sisters, we have a better understanding of what it means to be made like God. The hope of glory, Christ in you, if we get there is entirely up to us, brothers and sisters. But just understand it’s neither to do with the mountain or the temple that we go to, but it’s a decision in our heart to seek God honestly, truthfully, and with mercy. I’d like to conclude with a prayer from our brother Paul in Ephesians chapter 3.

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    Ephesians 3 verse 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven on earth is named. That according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

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    That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God, filled now to Him that He’s able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. To Him be glory in the ecclesia and in Christ Jesus throughout all generation, forever and ever. Thank you for listening to the good Chris Adelphian Talks podcast.

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    God bless and talk to you next week.