outer man is your physical self; it’s the house that God has designed for your heart while you’re here on earth. Like astronauts have a space suit, you could call your body your earth suit. Someday, we’re going to get a new suit--some of us are excited about that; I think I heard some ‘Amens!’ And then, the Bible talks about the inner man; it uses many terms for the inner man--mind, emotion, wind, spirit, soul, will, and they are all collected by one big basket term, the term ‘heart.’ That term is used in hundreds and hundreds of passages of Scripture. It’s one of the most well-developed themes in all of the Bible. I am convinced you cannot understand the message of the Bible unless you understand the Bible’s theology of the heart. Now, I want to give you a definition so when you’re reading your Bible, you come across the word ‘heart,’ you will know what the Bible is talking about. Here’s a definition: “The heart is the causal core of your personhood.” Let me say that again, “The heart is the causal core of your personhood.” One more time, “The heart is the causal core of your personhood.” The heart is the steering wheel. The heart is the directional system. The heart shepherds, guides, shapes, motivates your words and behavior. Now to help us to understand that principle and its importance, Jesus uses two very helpful illustrations. The first is your talk. Jesus says, “It’s out of the heart that the mouth speaks.” Have you ever said to someone, “Ooh, I didn’t mean to say that”? What would be more Biblical to say is, “Please forgive me for saying what I meant?” Do you get the point? You see, if it hadn’t been in your heart, it wouldn’t have come out of your sweet lips. Everything, wives, that comes out of your mouth was there already. Everything, husbands, that comes out of your mouth was there already. My mom was a member of a depression era family of ten brothers and sisters. It was what we would now call, in our culture, a classic dysfunctional family. When these people reached adulthood, they didn’t like one another very much, but they were committed to family reunions. You’re right; they were creepy gatherings. They would rent a hall, and they would sit at separate tables and glare at one another like warring nation states--wonderful gathering--like a bad UN or maybe like the real UN. And the centerpiece of the day would be this great buffet table because everybody would bring their best dish. And then at end of the meal, there would be enough alcohol come out to float the United States. And this thing would get crazy. Well, my mom and dad had the habit of going for the meal, and they taught us how to work the tables and say ‘hello’ to our estranged aunts and uncles and cousins. And before this thing got too crazy, we would be at our retreat. One Saturday, my mom got involved with an evangelistic encounter with one of her siblings and didn’t realize that another one of her brothers, downstairs, where my brother Mark and I were, little boys, had gotten very drunk, and he was saying sexually perverse things about women in the room. My mom ran downstairs; she grabbed my brother Mark and me, and she yanked us to the car. I remember it very well; I don’t think our feet touched the steps. And before she drove away, she said to us, “I want to say something to you about what just happened, and I don’t want you to every forget it.” I obviously never have. She said these eloquent words; hear this, “There’s nothing that comes out of the mouth of a drunk that wasn’t there in the first place.” You see, the alcohol didn’t create that sexual perversion. What the alcohol did was loosen the lips. And when the lips got loose, out came the heart. Your husband, in his bad moments, doesn’t cause you to do the nasty things that you do in response. That’s caused by your heart. Your wife, when she doesn’t live up to your expectations, doesn’t cause you to beat her up with words—that comes out of your heart. That’s what Jesus is saying. It’s radical and humbling. SESSION 2 Your husband, in his bad moments, doesn’t cause you to do the nasty things that you do in response. That’s caused by your heart. Your wife, when she doesn’t live up to your expectations, doesn’t cause you to beat her up with words—that comes out of your heart. That’s what Jesus is saying. It’s radical and humbling. We’ll use another illustration that is beautiful and helpful. It’s the illustration of a fruit tree. Think with me; what’s the easiest way to recognize an apple tree? Apples! If you see a tree laden with apples, you don’t stand in front
Transcript: Session 2
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?
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