FIX THESE WORDS IN YOUR HEARTS!
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Epistle Lesson; Romans 3:21-25, 27-28
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 7:15-29
Sermon Text; Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28
I have a Bible passage that is stored away in my heart. It is in my heart like a little treasure in a treasure chest. It is a Bible passage taken from Psalm 119:11.
"Thy Word
have I hid in my heart
so that I may not sin against Thee."
That Word of God is hidden in my heart like a treasure. I can go and grab a hold of that treasure at any time.
Our scripture reading today says to every one of us, "Fix these words of mine in your hearts and in your minds." God's Word should be fixed in our hearts like a treasure in a treasure chest. And, not only that, but it says that we should teach these words to our children. It is the duty of every adult here to fix God's Word in our hearts. And then, it is our responsibility to take the treasure that is stored in our hearts and pass it on to the next generation, so that The Truth will be preserved from generation to generation, spreading God's Word from age to age, from generation to generation. That shall be our chief endeavor.
Think about how important it is to pass God’s Word along, as a congregation to our children. You all know what a stem cell is. A stem cell is a cell in a little infant that has not taken shape yet. It hasn’t become any particular part of the body. That stem cell could literally become any part of the body. If it were located where the brain would be, it would become a brain cell. If it is located where the heart will be, it will become a heart cell. If it is located where the hand will be, it will become a cell in the hand. Whatever surrounds that cell, determines ultimately what that stem cell will become.
It has been said that children are the stem cells of our culture. Our children have an infinite number of possibilities of what they can become some day. And, what they become will be determined by what surrounds them, right now. They are the stem cells of our culture.
We all know that there are many influences, striving very hard to shape our children. They are striving to shape them into what they will become, as they grow older. For example, the classroom shapes those stem cells of our culture, those young people. Abraham Lincoln understood this when he said, "Whatever the philosophy of the classroom is today, that will be the philosophy of the government in the next generation."
So, how is the world trying to shape those young people right now? We all know the influences that are out there in the entertainment industry, in the music industry and within education, that are trying to shape our children.
For example, some influences want children to believe that there is no such thing as absolute truth, that what you believe may be true for you, but you cannot say that you hold to the only absolute truth, even when it comes to God’s Word or anything else. Therefore, we should be tolerant of what anybody believes. They say it would be wrong for us to tell someone that their belief systems are wrong. For example, it would be wrong for us to say that homosexuality is a sin.
Certainly our culture is trying to shape these young stem cells, which is why our scripture reading today tells us that we should fix God’s Word in our hearts. And then it says that we should teach that Word to our children. The Bible says, "Teach these words to your children, when you sit at home, when you walk along the way, when you lie down and when you get up." In other words, we should surround those young stem cells with the Word of God, so that they are shaped for the future, by the Word of God.
Let me give you an example of just how important it is, to hide the Word of God in the hearts of our children. We have a congregation in our synod that has been blessed to have a Christian Day School, like we do. The pastor there is a good friend of mine and his name is Erv. A couple of years ago, they had a little first grade girl who went to their school. Her parents, however, were not members there at his church. They happen to be members at a church that had a much looser interpretation of scripture. Their little girl, however, went to school at our synod’s school. And, through some medical complications, very unexpectedly, that little first grader died.
You can imagine that her parents were extremely distraught. So, they came in and talked to Erv. He comforted them when he said, "You know that your little daughter was baptized. And when she was baptized, God, the Holy Spirit came into her heart, claimed her as His own and brought her to faith in Jesus, as her Savior. And, you know that here at our school, your daughter was taught that she is a sinner, that she has a savior, that Jesus forgives her sins, and that Heaven is hers, because of what Jesus did for her. You know that your little daughter believed that and you know that she is in Heaven, RIGHT NOW!"
The parents were very comforted by Erv’s words. When the mother asked Erv, "Is my pastor at the funeral going to talk about those things?" Erv said, "Well, I am sure that your pastor will talk about those things."
The day of funeral came and the staff from Erv’s congregation went to that other church, for the funeral. But, you know, that pastor didn’t talk about baptism. He didn’t talk about Christ. He didn’t talk about the forgiveness of sins, and he didn’t talk about Heaven. And, that was tragic.
However, toward the end of that funeral, the mother was invited to get up and talk to the congregation. Her words to the congregation saved the day, because they were filled with the saving gospel message. She walked up to the podium. In her hands she carried a stack of papers that the little girl had completed at school. The mom looked out over the congregation, held up the papers that were colored with her daughter’s beautiful little coloring. It was the little girl’s memory work from school. She looked out at the congregation and said, "I want you to hear what my little daughter had hidden away in her heart. I want you to hear what she had treasured up in her heart." Then she read
John 3:16
For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten son.
That whoever believes in Him
shall not perish but
have everlasting life."
And, she read the scripture reading that said,
"Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners."
And, she read the passage that says,
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
you
will be saved."
Erv leaned over to the principal of the school and said, "You see why we have our children do memory work?" You see why we have our children do memory work!
It is a great privilege of this congregation to train our young people in the Word of God. And, whether we do that in Sunday School, in confirmation class, here at church, in our youth groups, or in our Christian Day School, it is our goal and our duty to surround these young people with The Word of God. It is our goal and our duty to show them that it is God’s Word that needs to be treasured in their hearts, to get them through life.
Let me give you two examples from our Christian Day School. This is a year that no one in our school will forget for two reasons. Number one, I remember a day in early fall, it was a Tuesday morning. I was just about ready to go to our confirmation class, when someone came into the office and said, "Did you hear that an airplane just crashed into the World Trade Center?"
During that day here at school, those events unfolded. That is a day that none of us will ever forget. But you know what happened here at school? We took our children out to the flagpole, which is symbol of our nation. And there around that flagpole, we did something that cannot happen in some other places. We didn’t talk about math. We didn’t talk about how to diagram sentences. We didn’t talk about science. We talked about the Word of God. We read the passages that say that God guards us, protects us and watches over us. We read the passages that say that Christ rules over the nations, for the good of His Church. We read the passages that tell us to pray for our enemies. And, through The Word, we were able to do something that cannot be done in some other places. That is, we taught our children how to live life, how to get through life, with the Word of God.
Later on, in the fall, early winter, on December 6th (which happened to be a Thursday), we didn’t have school. However, all of our children were here anyway. And our church was packed to over flowing, because it was the day we had the funeral for one of our teachers, Mrs. Treder, who had gone to Heaven, by God’s grace. And, on that day we didn’t talk to our school students about math. We didn’t talk about how to diagram a sentence. We didn’t talk about science. We comforted them with the Word of God. We comforted them with the fact that Mrs. Treder knew the promises of God. She knew that she was a sinner, who was saved by Christ her savior. She trusted God’s promise and she is in Heaven. And, those students were comforted. We comforted them with The Word that teaches us that God watches over us in our grieving and He will see us through. And, they were comforted with The Word that teaches us that we will see our loved ones again someday in Heaven, by Christ’s almighty glory and power. And, they were comforted. We taught our children how to live life, by using the Word of God.
Scripture certainly tells us that we should teach our children God’s Word. We should surround them with the Word of God, when we sit at home, when we walk along the way, when we lie down and when get up. We should use every opportunity to surround them with the Word of God. I encourage all of our parents to make use of our church, our Sunday School, our confirmation classes, and our Christian Day School. This is where the church assists the parents in surrounding those stem cells of our culture, so that they are shaped to know and use the Word of God.
But ultimately that is not the duty of the church. The church is here only to assist parents in the teaching and training of God’s Word. It is ultimately the duty of the home, the parents, to train their children in the Word of God and to find opportunities to talk about God’s Word, when you sit at home, when you walk along the way, when you lie down and when you get up. For instance, when you are watching T.V. with your children and something about evolution comes up. What a wonderful chance to talk about God’s Word. You can say, "You know that is not something we believe. We believe that God created the world." That is an opportunity to share God’s Word.
In our home we try to have a little Bible Study, or devotions, every night before we go to bed. And, I’ll admit, that every once in awhile it gets very late, I am tired and I think that our boys should go to bed right away. My sinful nature tells me, "We don’t have time to read God’s Word." What a thrill it is to my heart when one of my boys says, "Dad. Aren’t we going to have a devotion?" You see those young hearts are being shaped to depend upon the Word of God. That is our goal and our duty.
Let me give you an example of how important this is in our lives. Do you remember about fourteen months ago, when a U.S. spy plane was forced to make an emergency landing in enemy territory, in China? The commander of that plane was a man by the name of Shane Osborne. He and his crew were taken captive, and they were scared. They were threatened and their families were threatened. They were afraid and they were worried.
Do you know what that crew wanted? They wanted the Word of God. So they asked their captors if they could have a Bible. However, their captors said no.
They were scared, they were worried and they wanted the Word of God, but they couldn’t have it. By God’s grace there were two young men in that crew, one by the name of Jeff and the other by the name of Pat. Someone had taken the time to shape those two, young men with the Word of God and to fix God’s Word in their hearts. Jeff and Pat knew a lot of Bible passages. They wrote them down and shared them with their fellow crew. Their fellow crew was comforted by the Word of God, which was fixed in the hearts of those two, young men.
They can burn all the books in the world. They can keep the Bible from you. But if it is fixed in your heart, if it is hidden in your heart, it is always there as your treasure.
If the Word of God is hidden in your heart and some sin you have committed troubles your conscious someday, and you don’t have a Bible, you can go to that treasure stored in your heart! You can open that treasure store and be comforted by the Word of God that is in there! You can be comforted by a passage, for example, that says,
"Christ Jesus
came into this world to save sinners,
of whom I am the chief."
There you can be comforted, because that means Christ came to save me!
You can be comforted by the passage that says,
"If we confess our sins,
God
is
faithful
and
just and
will forgive us and
will cleanse us from
all unrighteousness."
And there, you know that God is faithful to His promise. He does forgive me and He does cleanse me.
You can go to the Word of God that is stored up in your heart that says,
"This is how we set
our hearts
at rest
in His presence
when our hearts condemn us.
God is greater than our hearts!"
This passage reminds you that when my heart tells me I am guilty, God is greater than my heart. And, if God says that I am not guilty, for Christ’s sake, then I am not guilty!
You can use the Word of God, which is treasured up in your heart, when you are tempted. Maybe you are tempted to say something bad about somebody else. You can go to the eighth commandment and bring it out of the treasure chest in your heart.
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not lie about, betray or slander our neighbor, but excuse him, speak well of him and put the best construction on everything."
And so be defended by the Word of God.
When you are troubled by death and you don’t have the Bible with you, you can go in to the storeroom of your heart and pull out the passage from the 23rd Psalm.
"Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil
for thou art with me
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
When you are troubled by some difficulty that is happening in life, you can go to that treasure store in your heart and say,
"Surely it is God who saves me.
I will trust in Him and
not be afraid,
for the Lord is my stronghold and
my sure defense.
He will be my Savior."
Fix these words of mine
in your hearts and
teach them to your children.
Let me just close with this thought. God tells the Children of Israel, "I set before you today a blessing and a curse, a blessing to keep these words and a curse, if you don’t."
When the Children of Israel fixed God’s Word in their hearts and they taught The Word to their children, their children fixed it in their hearts and they were blessed. They lived in peace and safety. But when they didn’t fix the Word of God in their hearts and they didn’t teach it to their children, they were cursed and lived in unsafe times and trouble.
Jesus on the back of today’s bulletin says, "He who hears my word and puts it to practice, is like a man who built his house on the rock. And, when the winds blew and the storms came and beat upon that house that house stood firm because it was built on a rock." When the storms come into our lives (and they will come), what a curse it would be to go to that treasure chest and open it up, only to find it empty. No calm. No peace. No security.
But when those storms come and you can go to the treasure chest of your heart, open it up and find it filled with the riches of God’s Word…
what blessing,
what peace,
what security and
what safety!
"Thy words have I hid in my heart, so that I may not sin against thee."
Amen.
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