“Making Jesus the Meditation of Our Heart”
The last segment of the sermon series “Living under the Lordship of Jesus.”
Introduction
Last week, we learned about making Jesus the center of our lives by looking at Matthew 22: 37-39 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” And at the same time, we understood that we cannot follow those two commandments on our own.
Because as it was written in John 14:15-17 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.”
This week’s message will be focused on identifying and using the spiritual weapons that are available to us in helping make Jesus the Meditation of our Heart.
Message
Read “Psalm 19:13-14“
13. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.
14. May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Question #1: What are the willful sins in your life that prevent you from making Jesus the meditation of your heart?
In other words, what does your mind dwell on that takes away from making Jesus the meditation of our heart?
(**OPEN UP FOR DISCUSSION 1-2 MINUTES)
As disciples of Jesus, we need to identify the spiritual weapons provided by the Holy Spirit and how to employ them. We need to understand that our warfare – our main source of conflict in life – is not with other people, but against spiritual forces of evil.
READ Psalm 19:13-14
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
For that reason, worldly weapons, such as human intervention, talents, wealth, organizational skills, military might, eloquence, charisma, and personality are inadequate to defeat our real enemy and to demolish Satan’s strongholds. Only the weapons that God provides are adequate to resist evil.
Question #2: What are the spiritual weapons God provides to us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to keep our thoughts God-centered and meditating on Jesus while demolishing Satan’s strongholds?
Paul lists the spiritual weapons at our disposal through the filling of the Holy Spirit.
READ EPHESIANS 6:14-17
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
As Christians, our spiritual warfare is often fought in the battleground of our hearts. Some thoughts originate from our own desires, imaginations, and fantasies which are contrary to God-centered thoughts. Others come from worldly influences or directly from evil forces trying to influence our thinking.
We do not have to be a slave to our thoughts. Keep in mind that it is not a sin to be tempted. Jesus Himself was tempted (Matthew 4:1-11)
To keep us from willful sin which ends up ruling our heart requires doing battle against our sinful nature as well as Satan’s spiritual forces. It literally means that when a thought or temptation comes into our mind that we immediately meditate on Jesus, our Lord, Rock, and Redeemer, by employing (not a partial armor) but the full armor of God.
READ EPHESIANS 6:13
“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
This means that we do not dwell on the thought and let it take hold in our minds. Instead, we take hold of the thought and turn it over to God, submitting to His examination and relying on His strength to resist temptation. It is as if we are saying, “God, here it is; take it. You already dealt this as You suffered for my sin. I need your help with this issue, and I submit my thoughts to You.”
Having submitted to God our thought and then understanding that it was ungodly, we must replace the bad with the good – with thoughts and desires that honor God. (Philippians 4:8) “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”
We need to focus our mind – thoughts – strategies on Jesus and eternal things rather than on earthly and temporary things (Philippians 3:19 and Colossians 3:2).
READ PHILIPPIANS 3:19
“Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.”
READ COLOSSIANS 3:2
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
We also need to be careful and be alert to what our eyes see and our ears hear. These are the doors through which thoughts enter the mind. Refuse to set any worthless or evil thing in front of our eyes, whether in movies, books, magazines, pictures, television programs, or in other areas of our daily lives.
READ EPHESIANS 6:18
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
CONCLUDING REMARKS AND APPLICATION
Like a Soldier, we need to constantly be on the offense and alert while training, employing, and improving our understanding of the full armor of God. This means Bible study, loving and serving others, and praying without ceasing.
(**OPEN UP FOR DISCUSSION UNTIL COMPLETE)