Choosing Heart Transformation Over Performance.

A little bit about me. I am from Ohio originally. I went to school at the University of Dayton. And it was right before college that I kind of started going to a youth group, reading my Bible for the first time and growing in relationship with Jesus. Then in college I went into Chi Alpha. It's a pretty well-known campus ministry around the country.

Throughout my time in Chi Alpha, I felt like the Lord really transformed my heart quite a bit. I was raised Catholic. I always believed in God, but didn't really have that intentional relationship, didn't really take that and apply that to my life. I didn't really know what I was going to be doing.

I always knew I wanted to do something helping people. I was like psychiatry, then I was like, no, I don't want to go to med school. Then I was like maybe a psych doctorate, a PhD. I was like, I don't really love research that much. Then I was like social work. Then I went to Africa on a missions trip and I felt like the Lord was calling me.

Every once in a while, like during worship and prayer nights the past two years, I'd come up with a word and I'd have my heart race and I'm like, okay, I have to go share it. That's scary. Is this anxiety or is this the Holy Spirit? I don't know. It's like my heart just is burning. He's just really been growing me and bringing me into this season of potentially teaching.

That is what I'm here for. I knew I would be doing this specifically about the passage in Matthew probably since February. Time came up quick and I was reflecting a lot on it this past week. I just want to start off by saying, like vulnerably, I am a human. The things I'm going to say today are things that I'm still working through. I am not a professional. I don't have all the answers, but this is just what the Lord's been speaking to me as we go through these verses today. My hope and prayer is that it speaks to you guys too.

The Golden Rule

We're going to start in Matthew 7, verses 12 through 14. This is actually my first Bible I got for First Communion. My parents gave me an NIV, and I don't know if you know this, but Catholics actually have a different Bible. It's actually kind of funny that I got an NIV, and I love it. The Lord knew, but hopefully it brings me some luck today.

So in everything do to others what you would have them do to you. For this sums up the law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 7:12-14

Let me pray as we dive into this. Lord, I thank you for your word, that you are constantly speaking to us, that it is active. We can take that and apply it. I pray that any distractions, any anxieties, worries, either from me or from other people here today, Lord, we can just put those aside and really focus on what it is you want to get out of today. Speak to people's hearts in your name. Amen.

It's only three verses, but there's a lot of ways these three verses can go. Our so what is: unconditionally desiring an intentional transfer. Our now what is: submit to intentional relationship with Jesus. Accept his love for yourself and allow that to transform your heart and give that love to others.

For those who might not be familiar, we like to have a so what, like this is something that we believe, this is something that God is telling us. And then our now what is how can we apply that.

Moving into Matthew 7:12 specifically: so in everything do to others what you would have them do to you. This sums up the law and the prophets. Hopefully this sounds familiar. I feel like every elementary, preschool classroom has a list of classroom rules: treat others how you want to be treated.

As a kid that plays maybe a little differently than like, I don't want to give him my toy or that person wants me to be totally honest, right? I was a sick kid in school. Kids can be really honest. But even now as an adult, I'm a project manager at Epic. I do have a job here in Madison.

A lot of my job is relying on other people doing certain things, just like other people rely on me doing certain things. Like sending the calendar invite more than 24 hours in advance or sending notes after a meeting. Whenever I don't do that, I give myself grace and I'm like, oh, I hope other people give me that same grace. I'm like, it was an accident, I had a lot going on. You know what I mean?

When I get a meeting with like five minutes notice or they don't give me my notes and I have to remind myself of even this verse. Instead of just squeezing my little stress ball, maybe I should put this verse up on my wall so I can look at, oh, in everything, do to others what I would have them do to me. Give them the grace that I would want them to be giving me.

A part I want to lead into on this verse is kind of, this sums up the law and prophets. When I was reading this, it just stuck out to me. I know that's everywhere probably in the Bible, but the verse that specifically stuck out to me was Matthew 22:37-40.

At this time the Pharisees are asking Jesus. A lot of times the Pharisees are trying to catch Jesus in something. They're asking him questions to see if he falters in whatever answer he gives, but he never does. Praise Jesus. He's great.

But Jesus, they're like, what is the greatest commandment? Jesus replied:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.

Matthew 22:37-39

With that, taking a step back, what does he mean by the law and the prophets? Well, at this time, Jesus is speaking to people who grew up memorizing and learning all the Old Testament, the Torah and other scriptures. A lot of the religious leaders of the time are performing all of these things that they've learned. They're the models of what it's supposed to be for people.

However, Jesus constantly references those prophecies. In the Old Testament, they're doing sacrifices to try to fulfill them. He's constantly like, no, I have come to fulfill these laws now. It is my love and through my love that these laws are fulfilled. He knows we're not perfect. But through these verses, he's letting us know that it's through loving the Lord and loving others that all of those things that they've been taught, all these things they're performing, stemming from the love of the Lord now, right? It's all stemming from that sacrifice that Jesus gave us.

As a commandment for us as followers of Christ, we can't forget that the first commandment that Jesus points out is love your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. Because it is from loving the Lord that we are going to have an overflow of that into our relationships with other people. That's how we're going to fulfill the golden rule and treat others the way they're meant to be treated. We need to accept the love of God for ourselves, if we're really loving the Lord and using that as our example.

The Overflow of Love

When we fully love him, a couple of points I want to think about. It leads us into loving others well, because we then understand what that true love is and what it looks like. With Jesus, it's an unconditional, wholehearted love, right? He sacrificed himself for us and we didn't have to do anything. He did that for us so that we can have that relationship and reconciliation with him. So that he can then change us from the inside out.

With that too, when we have that love as our basis, the love we give out is not based on how it's reciprocated by other people. And that is a specific point that has been on my heart the past few months. If the love that we are giving out is stemming from the Lord, then it's not based on the reciprocation of others.

For example, I love people very strongly. My coworkers know this probably the most. I probably smother them a little bit. Sometimes I get embarrassed because I'm like, oh, they might not be showing me love in the same kinds of ways. I will go in their office several times a day. And if they're gone, I leave little sticky notes. I leave notes on their whiteboard. I'm like, I miss you and come see me. And if I'm not careful, sometimes I get a little embarrassed. I'm like, I need to limit my love for these people because they're not giving me the same kind of love back.

But that's not the way that I believe we should be operating. I don't believe we should be limiting our love for people based off of how they are giving it back to us. I don't think that's how Jesus lives his life either, right? He gives us his love fully and wholeheartedly, regardless of whether or not we are doing that for him.

And so if I'm not careful, my identity, my love for people, is rooted in that. But it should be rooted in that love that Jesus gives us and in that love that God has for us. If it is, then it's going to consistently overflow because that love is unwavering, it's unchanging, it's always present, always there. We're always going to have that fulfillment, that satisfaction.

Practically speaking, the way that we're going to follow out that golden rule and loving other people is by loving the Lord and focusing on that first commandment. The other commandments are going to follow as we go along. It'll flow out of an overflow. Anyway, this isn't easy because we live in a fallen world where everyone is like, actually, our love should be based on how people are treating us. Or we shouldn't love that person because of what they do or who they are.

It's easy to allow that to change how we love people. We live in that culture. We are bombarded by that culture a lot of the time. A lot of things like this are countercultural. So it makes it a little difficult.

The Narrow Path

This is where I'm going to go into Matthew 7, verses 13 through 14.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 7:13-14

Taking a look at this, what is meant by the narrow gate and the road versus the wide gate and the road? As we referenced before, Jesus is speaking to people who've studied the Old Testament. Religious leaders and people are focused on the outward rituals, how they're performing to people, how they are looking. But they're not having that actual heart transformation.

That is what the wide path is kind of referring to. It's appearing and acting a certain type of way as if you have these fruits and these beliefs in your heart. But in reality, you're not fully submitted. Your heart is not transformed by the love of Jesus. That's going to show in some other behaviors.

The narrow path is striving to have the intentional relationship with Jesus. We experience his love. We're allowing that to transform our hearts, making it more consistent, making it steadfast, to move into spaces with love, sacrificial love, creating peace with people, creating a world full of love with those people in it. Not just sitting in selfishness, not harboring any negative feelings.

Kind of a concept that I was thinking of this morning is the concept of root to fruit. I don't know if anyone has heard that concept before. Anyway, I'm happy to introduce it. Root to fruit is something that in my Chi Alpha we did this practice a lot. Essentially it's this concept of whatever patterns are going on in your life, positive or negative, that's an indicator of what you're holding in your heart. What is your root?

Sometimes it's for negative things, right? Like if I'm gossiping a lot. Or it can be relationship based. Like this person, I'm like, I don't like this person. I don't trust this person very well. I don't know why. Something like that. And tracing that back to what is the unbelief I'm holding about God.

So it's like, oh, well, if I am not trusting this person very well, that could be rooted in, you know, somebody did this one thing and it changed how I viewed God. And therefore I need to remember that God is the root. God is trustworthy. And that should then transform how I trust other people.

The reason I bring that up is because it's kind of then driving my point of like, our heart transformation is what guides our outward behavior. We have other phrases too that are very similar to this. Like we become what we behold. Whatever is stored in our hearts, that is our treasure. Things like that. So it's kind of driving that point of the narrow gate is the heart transformation because that is Jesus.

If we are not having Jesus transform our hearts, then our outward behaviors are only going to be performative. They're not going to be long lasting. Because if we're harboring bitterness, if we're harboring hatred or frustration, those things are going to come out eventually. Like I mentioned gossip. That's a big one. I struggle with that too. But there's a lot of things that can come from having those.

Even if we're performing, it's going to falter because it's only through the actual heart transformation that it's going to have long lasting change.

The Rich Young Man

Thinking about that, I know it can be hard to get to a point of having that heart transformation. A passage that was brought to my mind as I was reflecting on this was Matthew 19, verses 16 through 26. I'm going to pull there. Hopefully this one is also maybe a little familiar. My Bible says the rich young man. Some say the rich young ruler, but I'm going to go ahead and just read through this.

A man came up to Jesus and asked, Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life? Jesus replied, Why do you ask me what is good? There is only one who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments. Which ones, the man inquired? Jesus replied, Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not give false testimony. Honor your father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself. All these I have kept, the young man said. What do I still lack?

Matthew 19:16-20

This man thinks he's good. He's like, I can't possibly change anymore. He's like, oh man, I'm locked in. I'm getting up there. But Jesus says:

If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sad because he had great wealth.

Matthew 19:21-22

Then Jesus says to his disciples:

I will tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Matthew 19:23-24

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, Who then can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said:

With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

Matthew 19:26

So let me kind of explain something. Pretend it's July for a second. We're going to have Christmas in July. So yeah, I know this looks crazy. That's a graphic design. That's what I do. That's actually my Gmail profile picture. I took a little screenshot and put it on there.

But yeah, normally this would be a good picture, right? Normally Santa is like exciting. You have Christmas gifts coming to kids, right? Things like that. This is actually bad though. This is my face on Santa making it kind of weird that I'm lugging this big bag of stuff.

So essentially, as I was reflecting on this passage and this concept came to mind, I just felt like the Lord was putting on my heart this concept of me carrying this massive bag. I can't get very far very quickly. I'm able to go, but not very fast. I was kind of on this little path and just a couple things of, you know, I'm wobbling off the path because I'm carrying this big bag. I'm trying to go all over the place. I'm not staying on that path. I'm also going really slow and I'm like, I'm trying to get somewhere super quickly. Like, why can't I get there?

So kind of like, what is in this bag? What's in this bag is essentially just anything I'm holding on to and idolizing outside of Jesus. Like this rich young man had his wealth. He had his house. He had all this stuff. He's like, I'm doing all these things though. You know, I'm doing all these things. I'm good to go.

And he's like, well, what about those things? And he's like, darn, guess I can't follow you. It's anything that I'm not willing to submit. It's not a problem that he had the house. It's not a problem that he had wealth. But the problem is he wasn't willing to give that to Jesus first.

Really, it's from God come all things. We have songs saying that. Really, it's being willing to give those things up to the Lord and allow him to carry that. If I gave Jesus my bag of stuff, I could easily walk that path. That doesn't mean he's going to say, get rid of the stuff. But he's like, just let me hold it. Let me just take it. Then we can figure out what to do with it together.

Essentially, everything in that bag is just what am I putting in front of Jesus? What am I putting in front of receiving his love fully and giving him my full attention, giving him my whole heart? So that he can then use to transform and then love others?

The Heart Transformation

I'm going to invite the worship team up as we come into kind of a time of reflection here. Sorry, I talk kind of fast. But yeah, following Jesus isn't easy. Following this narrow path to heart transformation is not easy. We are told often and time again that it's going to cause friction with others. We can go through misunderstanding with other people as we try to follow Jesus. You know, even like family members sometimes don't understand what you're doing or why you're doing it. It's hard. And it can not only cause friction with other people, it can cause friction in ourselves, right?

Like I was thinking about, I'm like, if God told me to sell my car, for example, I rely on my car a lot. That causes a little friction in me. I'm like, would I be willing to give up my car? I don't know. So it's like, those are things that I want to encourage us to reflect on today. It's just kind of like, what are we holding on to?

So I have a few questions I believe. Yes. So kind of taking a step back, have I fully accepted God's unconditional, fully satisfying love for myself, right? I might have heard several times like, Jesus died for me. But he did. Jesus died for you, regardless. Regardless of if you were going to love him back, he did. He wants you to experience that love. He wants you to take that for yourselves.

And then with that, what's keeping you from accepting that love? Is it something that you're idolizing? Is it something that maybe someone's told you in the past? Is it something that you're telling yourself? And if you have accepted that love, right, if we know the love of Jesus and we've accepted him into our hearts and we have that, are we allowing that to move into our relationship with other people.

In general, as we're striving towards Jesus and striving towards that intentional relationship, what might be keeping us from doing that fully and wholeheartedly and giving him all of our life? Jesus wants us to be focused on him, not how we're presenting ourselves, not how other people are seeing us, not our performance. He wants us to just give him all of us so that he can work through us and he can give us that fruit.

Being set apart summer, we have foreign groups, we have summer communities, we have all of these opportunities to kind of take that as you will. Talk to people about it if you need accountability partners. But like, what are the things that are distracting you from receiving that and giving that to other people?

I want to point out too that in that verse of the rich young man, verse 26 says:

With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Matthew 19:26

This is hard and God doesn't expect us to do it alone. That's the best part. I like this verse in particular. I know a lot of people like to quote Philippians 4:13, you know, through God all things. God can strengthen me. But I like this verse specifically because it's more about the idolizing piece. It's not just about like, oh, I'm in this desperate situation and I don't see the hope, I don't see the goodness, right? But this is about what am I holding on to? How can I possibly get rid of all of this? How can I possibly follow Jesus? And it's God saying, I can do that with you. You don't have to do that by yourself.

Some other translations reference instead of the narrow path, the narrow gate, but like the way, saying Jesus is the narrow way. And that's just because Jesus is the only way that we can experience that love and he's the only way that we can experience that love and give it to others through that heart transformation.

When we come to know Jesus, we come into relationship with the Lord and we start to experience that. He allows the Spirit to guide us into conviction and alignment with how he desires us to live. That's naturally going to bring us into that right relationship with other people.

Closing Prayer

I'm going to go ahead and pray over us as we head into worship. The psalm of the day today is Psalm 15, and it actually works very well with what I spoke about today. God is cool, you know? But yeah, if you guys wouldn't mind, if you want to stand, be in a posture of receiving, however that might look for you. I'll go ahead and pray this psalm over us and pray us into some worship.

Psalm 15 says:

He who does these things will never be shaken.

Psalm 15

Lord, I thank you once again that your word is active, that your word provides guidance, provides wisdom, provides a way to live. I thank you that we don't have to try and listen to this all on our own, Lord, that you are there in your presence speaking to us through it, Lord. I thank you that you give us a way to live, but Lord, that you want it to be through the heart transformation first.

And so that is my prayer for us today, Lord, that we do not just focus on doing the right things, but Lord, that we would actually just focus on you and allow you to do the right things through us and for us, through your Spirit. God, I pray that your Spirit is here, that your Spirit convicts us of whatever it is that might be standing between us and giving you all of our life, Lord, giving you every little piece of it. Spirit, I pray that you just work in the hearts, Lord.

Even David, a man after your own heart, said, Search me and know my anxious thoughts. See any offensive way in me. Lead me in the life everlasting. Lord, we are asking that today as people seeking after your heart, Lord.

Lord, I pray if anyone is ever confused on what even love feels like for me, Lord, that they would just feel an overwhelming sense of peace knowing that you are there, you are present. God, that you would speak to them in the way that they need to be spoken to. God, I pray as we move into this time of worship and reflection, people can really take in whatever it is you're trying to speak to them, God, that we go into this time with open hearts, open minds, open spirits, Lord. Jesus.