Today I received a package in the mail from a friend in Florida. It contained two books. After opening it I immediately started looking through each one and found this "thought' which I share with you today. It comes from a book entitled: "Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands." The author is Paul David Tripp, a lecturer at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA.
It has to do with how true change takes place in anyone's life, and how that change is really impossible apart from changing a person's heart. For true change, as he points out, is not simply a matter of behavior modification, but deep heart-transformation. Enjoy.
"No
good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
Each
tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick pigs from thorn-bushes or grapes from briers. The good man brings things out
of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things
out of evil stored up in his heart. For out of the abundance of
his heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:43-45
"If
you want to be a part of what God is doing in the lives of others, you need to
know how God designed human beings to function. Why do people do the things
they do? Why can your toddler be so contrary? Why did your friend
get so upset in the middle of the conversation? Why is your teenager so
angry? Why is Amy so swallowed up in depression and despair? Why
would a man risk his family for twenty minutes of sexual pleasure? Why do you
get angry in traffic? Why is that once-romantic couple now engaged in
guerrilla warfare? Why is Bill so driven in his career? Why is Sue so
critical and controlling? Why does George speak so bluntly and unkindly?
Why is your daughter afraid of what her friends will think? Why does Pete
refuse to talk? Why do people do the things they do? The simplest and
most biblical answer is the heart...
The
Bible uses the word "heart" to describe the inner person... or your
spiritual self (Ephesians 3:16).... [The heart] encompasses all the other terms
and functions used to describe the inner person -- spirit, soul, mind,
emotions, will, etc. These terms do not describe something different from
the heart, Rather, they are aspects of it... The heart is the real you.
It is the essential core of who you are. For example, when you say you
are getting to know someone, you are not saying that you have a deeper
knowledge of his ears or nose! You are talking about the inner person,
the heart. You know how the person thinks, what he wants, what makes him happy
or sad. You can predict what he is feeling at any given moment. Because the
Bible says your heart is the essential you, any ministry of change must target
the heart...
Sin,
for instance, has its roots in the evil stored up in the heart (Luke 6:43-45).
In Christ's example (in that passage) the roots of the tree equal the heart.
They are therefore underground and therefore not as easily seen or
understood. Jesus' point is that a tree has the kind of fruit it does
because of the kind of roots it has -- we speak and act the way we do because
of what is in our hearts... In many ways we deny this connection and blame
people and circumstances for our actions and words. Here Christ calls us
to accept responsibility for our behavior. He calls us to humbly admit that
relationships and circumstances are only the occasions in which our hearts reveal
themselves. If my heart is the source of my sin problem, then lasting change
must always travel through the pathway of my heart. It is not enough to alter
my behavior or change my circumstances. Christ transforms people by radically
changing their hearts. If the person's heart doesn't change, the person's words
and behavior may change temporarily because of an external pressure or
incentive. But then the pressure or incentive is removed, the changes will
disappear...This often happens in personal ministry. From a distance it looks
as if the person has really changed...But the changes don't last and in six
weeks or six months, the person is right back to where he started. Why?
Because the change did not penetrate the heart, so changes in behavior were
doomed to be temporary.
This
is what happens to the teenager who goes through the teen years fairly well
under the careful love, instruction and oversight of Christian parents, only to
go off to college and completely forsake his faith. I would suggest that
in most cases he has not forsaken his faith. In reality, his faith was the
faith of his parents; he simply lived within its limits while he was at home.
When he went away to school, and the restraints were removed, his true heart
was revealed. He had not internalized the faith. He has not entrusted himself
to Christ in a life-transforming way. He did the "Christian" things
he was required to do at home, but his actions did not flow from a heart of
worship. In the college culture, he had nothing to anchor him, and the
true thoughts and motives of his heart led him away from God. College was not
cause of his problem. It was simply the place where his true heart was
revealed. The real problem was that faith never took root in his heart.
As a result, his words, choices, and actions did not reveal a heart for
God. Good behavior lasted for a while, but it proved to be temporary
because it was not rooted in the heart.
Christ's
illustration in Luke 6:43-45 establishes three principles that guide our
efforts to serve as God's instruments of change in the lives of others:
1.)
There is an undeniable root and fruit connection between our heart and our
behavior. People and situations do not determine our behavior; they provide the
occasion where our behavior reveals of hearts.
2.)
Lasting change always takes place through the pathway of the heart. Fruit
change is the result of root change -- and the root is the heart... Any
agenda for change must focus of the thoughts and desires of the heart.
3.)
Therefore, the heart is our target in personal growth and ministry. Our prayer
is that God will work heart change in us and use us to produce heart change in
others that results in new words, choices, and actions."
If you would like to
know how that change takes place, tune in to next weeks' thought. Yes, that's
right -- this is my first "to be continued" thought for the
week! Until then you may want to consider if you are one of those people who appear
to change when things get more peaceful and situations are less tense,
but go right back to the old you when those things or situations become tense
again. If so, then chances are you are only engaging in behavior control or
behavior modification and not true heart change .... which we will look at next
week.
Yours in the bonds of
Christian fellowship, Pastor Jeff
