Sermon – September 1, 2024 – Mark 7:14-23
Kind and generous God, You are the giver of all blessings, You alone can offer wholeness for our broken world; You alone offer well-being to each and every person. May we receive what You offer in gratitude and awe. May we share what You so freely give, so others will know the truth of Your salvation. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
How’s your recovery coming? Recovery from your heart surgery?
We know that heart disease comes from a number of factors: heredity, stress, diet and a few other things. A person who continues to eat fat foods, and fails to exercise regularly, with a history of heart disease in their family is very likely to have heart problems later in life.
As technology and medicine continue to advance, we are blessed to have many new procedures to correct some of the problems that have plagued people for centuries. Heart transplants are an amazing work of God given blessing to humanity and the graciousness of heart donors.
When a person receives a new heart, they also take a medication to make sure that the body does not reject the new tissue. The medical team will advise the recipient to break their unhealthy habits. Basically they suggest a regiment of exercise, a well-balanced diet low in cholesterol, sodium and fats, and to balance work and rest in the person’s daily routine.
All of God’s children have had heart surgery. We have had spiritual heart surgery. Our Gospel lesson describes our hereditary condition. Out of the evil heart comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, profanity, envy, slander, arrogance, and wrongdoing. That’s the way we were. Thru Holy Baptism God has given us new hearts.
The Holy Spirit has come in and done a heart transplant, empowering us to believe and trust in God. He has created faith in us. He has taken out our old heart that is selfish by nature and replaced it with a new one that wants to love God and wants to love its neighbors.
How are we to take care of our new hearts that God has given to us? God has provided us with His Word to nourish us, which happens anytime we hear God’s word read and preached. It happens when we read our Bible like daily exercise for our new hearts. In addition, Jesus gives us His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper to provide sustenance for our faith.
So how is your recovery coming?
Are you sticking to your spiritual diet? Or are you sneaking junk food the world offers and the evil one encourages?
Are you getting your spiritual exercise?
How about the stress? Are you stressing about whether God will take care of all of your needs?
It’s really easy to fall into a Pharasitic syndrome and when we do our hearts suffer. When we make up our own rules about what was right and wrong, good or bad. very easy to point fingers at others, accusing them of being wrong, only to ignore or deny our own failing spiritual health.
That’s what the Gospel text says Pharisees do. Jesus quotes the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah, who said, “They have let go of the commands of God and are holding to the traditions of men.”
We have made up our own rules or removed God’s commandments because we think we know better than God. The evil one has really sold us a bill of goods.
Unfortunately, we aren’t very good at following even our own rules.
Many people see God’s laws as restrictions, preventing them from having fun. Nothing could be further from the truth. God loves us so much that He wants us to live life to its fullest. God’s commands are there to keep us from damaging our hearts. He wants us to follow them, not that we will earn His favor, not to keep Him from getting mad at us, but to keep us close to Him.
Here’s an example. I love my wife and show her love in very tangible ways, not to earn her approval or bribe her into doing something for me. I do it to deepen our relationship—that I might be close to her. It’s the same with Jesus. When we try to obey God’s laws, we have a deeper fellowship with Him and it is good for our heart health.
God’s laws are also like a spiritual angiogram. If you are not familiar with the medical procedure, it is a way for doctors to see the places where the arteries in your heart might be clogged. God’s laws show us when we fall short of where God would want us to be in our relationship with Him and with others. They tell us when we have hurt our relationship with Jesus and with those we love.
In spite of our heart-damaging behavior, God is at work for us. God’s heart was so filled with compassion, that He rescued us. God’s love comes shining into our hearts even when we were lost in sin and He knew we couldn’t get out of it. He sent His Son, Jesus to repair the problem for us. Jesus, the Great Physician, came down from heaven. He followed the spiritual diet and performed the spiritual exercise for us. He kept the Law perfectly in our stead. Then He was nailed to a cross and His heart that was filled with our sinful, spiritual cholesterol finally stopped beating. But on the third day, His heart started pounding once again. The heartbeat of His love could not be silenced by the grave. God has given you a new heart. It cost Jesus His very life to give it to you. What a precious gift that God has given to us, His children.
What does God think about the way we live our lives?
Are our lives in sync with God’s plan for our lives?
Christianity should shape our thoughts, words and deeds—our personality.
So how’s your recovery going? Are you using God’s word for heart health?
Are you getting plenty of rest as you spend time alone with God?
Are you exercising yourself spiritually as you share your faith with people who don’t know Jesus?
Those who feel God’s love have much to offer the hurting and disconnected in our world. May we all let Jesus’ love shine through our words and deeds, and bring light and life to those around us. Amen
