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Searching the Heart pt.1: Woes
Psalm 1:4-6; Jeremiah 17:9-10; Luke 6:24-26
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“The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse— who can understand it? I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.” – Jeremiah 17:9-10
“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.” – Luke 6:24-26
This first part might hit hard, but I think we can take it. I think that we must.
Russ just sang a song called “Everything He Does Shall Prosper” by Shane Heilman. All of the lyrics are lifted right from Psalm 1. The first Psalm we read in our scripture which talks about two ways of living. Two paths we can follow:
The way of the wicked; or the way of the righteous.
And where, in the end, on the day of judgment, God will test our minds and search our hearts, such that the way of the wicked will perish; while those who chose righteousness will experience the Lord watching over them, blessed like trees planted by streams of water whose leaves never wither.
But that is at the end.
For in the here and now, it seems like the total opposite is playing out on Earth, doesn’t it? Where the way of the righteous is succumbing to the way of the wicked, whose deviousness shows no signs of slowing down nor perishing, nor filled with woe, condemnation, or judgment, but rather, apparently, affirmation and applause.
So… less like trees, today. And more like weeds.
Jesus says, woe to you who are laughing now; woe to you who are full now; woe to you who are rich. Or in other words, woe to you and woe to me.
Woe to all of us who are rich, but whose riches are never enough to satisfy. Nor good enough to bring us happiness. Woe to us then, Jesus says, who are full, who come from plenty, and yet who wish to take even more from the poor.
WWJD… remember that? Was it all a fad? Just some cute, colorful wristbands that we wore to signal our virtue? Or do we still believe it, and act like it? What would Jesus do? Are we doing as Jesus did, as Jesus would?
Woe to us then, my friends. Especially those of us who are laughing right now at the suffering of others. At their loss of rights. At their loss of aid. At the loss of institutional safety and assistance. Woe to us.
The Psalmist, in the very first verse, contrasts happiness with those who not only follow the advice of the wicked, but with those who “sit in the seat of scoffers…” which I think that says something powerful today. That the first listed sin of wickedness is not say, blasphemy, but the tearing down of those beneath us, from our seats up in the balcony. Suggesting that true evil is manifested not only when we ignore the pain of others, but when we dismiss and laugh it off, and call it hysteria.
The Psalmist warns us today that if we’re in that position, laughing and scoffing, we shouldn’t get too comfortable. That while it can all seem like fun and games now — “owning” the “opposition” and all – that sin won’t lead to happiness. But rather to deeper discontent. To an emptiness and a thirst that won’t be quenched.
For true happiness is not found in the isolating and desolate way of the wicked, by being an empty shrub — a naked juniper or emperor – but by coming together as trees in a line, standing strong by the water, such that all can drink equally and freely from the source of life, experiencing freedom, hope, and the breeze of possibility as one body unified in membership.
Our good friend and member, Jeff Hinks, once wrote to me shortly after I arrived here that, “there is no greater happiness found in the Church” – or elsewhere for that matter – “than in our unity.” Such that where unity is then threatened by division, by scoffing, by policy and sin, we are in disharmony with the Gospel, and at the mercy of unhappiness through our wickedness.
My friends, God searches the heart and knows it. God knows what’s really going on in there, and we can’t hide it. So even if you think you’re not included in this charge today, hiding somewhere in secret, perhaps you’d be wise to think again (me included). Remembering that “God will give to all according to our ways, according to the ripe or rotten fruit of our doings (Jer 17:10).”
We then who should know better, we who identify as followers of Jesus, should be most on guard from walking in the footsteps of his nemesis. In the footsteps of prejudice. In the footsteps of selfishness, greed, and unholiness.
And so, to those of us whose Chrisitan hearts have grown cold, whose palpitations have slowed, whose chambers have been hollowed out and hardened, and whose vital organs have turned upside down if not devious… woe to us, my friends.
For maybe not today, and perhaps not tomorrow, but one day, God is said to be liable to judge us as chaff – an insignificant husk to be discarded in the wind, perishing in the wilderness far away from His kingdom.
So let it be.
Amen.
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Searching the Heart pt.2: Blessings
Psalm 1:1-3; Jeremiah 17:7-8; Luke 6:20-22
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“But, blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.” – Jeremiah 17:7-8
“Then Jesus looked up at his disciples and said: Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.” – Luke 6:20-22
For all of our wickedness, both named today and realized, we are yet blessed and for many reasons at that. Foremost, perhaps, because Jesus came down from Heaven to our human level so to know us. To think as we think. To love as we love. To feel as we feel – even, my friends, to experience what it’s like to be scoffed at and scorned, hated and reviled, made fun of and critiqued, dismissed and laughed at. I mean, they put a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head and mockingly said, “here is your king…”
Yes, we often recite our doctrinal belief that Jesus willingly died for our sins, but honestly, that sort of Atonement-centric theology has never quite sat right with me. Because, in my eyes, Jesus also died because he stood up against what is powerful for what is right and righteous, for justice and goodness, for hope and peace. And yet for it, he was not only jeered by those in the balcony, from their seats of wickedness up high, but he was put on a cross so to be shut up and silenced.
But muzzled… nah, Jesus could never be! For he was and is alive and is speaking to us still! Praise forever be!
And so while we are indeed cautioned to get on the right path today, to move far away from the desolation of sin, we can yet trust that we are blessed to be in His exalted company. For we are not now, nor have ever been alone. For in Jesus we have God, and in Christ we have a friend, who knows what we know and who has felt what we have felt, and, who tasted both life and death so to lead us back to life again.
Such that even when we feel like we’ve been burned beyond repair, scorched as shrubs left to die in the wilderness, we can yet trust that we have roots underground in him. With Him! And so, we are indeed blessed today, for our wickedness can be forgotten, and in God’s mercy, forgiven.
And so thanking God for that blessing, we have a choice now before us… to follow Christ’s glorious way towards righteousness, or, to go the way of someone else towards wickedness. What then will we choose at this fork in the road? Will it be Life today, or will it be Death?
Will we get up from our seats, and walk down the stairs, to serve and love others, as did He? Or will we stay where we are comfortable and complacent, snickering and giggling, scoffing and living only to ourselves at the risk of God’s judgment?
Which way will we choose? Which way will it be?
…but, yes, I promised part 2 would be “Blessings” so let me close with a happy, more positive story, that can model before us an example.
About a local hero of yours who was just smiling at a large parade with a big trophy in hand. Let me tell you about my man, and your boy, number 11, Mr. Arthur Juan — AJ Brown.
Yes, the dude just won the Super Bowl (Fly, Eagles Fly!) putting him in a place, and an exalted air and seat that few have sat in before. And in that seat, he could have used his fame and fortune to have gone anywhere in the world. To keep riding that elevator all the way to the top.
And yet, like Christ, who vacated the top so to live amongst us… after the Eagles won, AJ Brown went down to the hospital. To CHOP. To honor a promise that he made not only to a child, but first and foremost to God.
Brown has been recently quoted as saying, “I am a Christian first, before anything else…”
I am a Christian first, before anything else!
And so, living into that calling, authentically and not hypocritically, AJ came down from his podium and entered the room of a little child. A child who was told that he might never walk again.
You see, little Andre Howard, 10-years old, was in a car with his father and siblings when a Learjet 55 crashed into northeast Philadelphia on January 31 this year. He was struck in the head by metal as he shielded his 4-year-old sister from the debris. This 10-year-old boy then, Andre, was transported to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and reportedly, praise be, began making “strides overnight.”
And after hearing this story, AJ Brown promised that he would visit him; that it would be the first thing he would do. And living up to his word, he did just that. You know why?
Because, WWJD! For no, it’s not just a fad, my friends, but a way of life.
To be like a tree planted by water with a heart that is beating, warm and tender, whose chambers are open, and whose strings can be pulled on, such that with Christ, even AJ Brown might fly higher than the mightiest of Eagles.
Hallelujah!
Amen.
