Got Clarity? Consider “Heart. Home. Hood.”

Good day, marathoners in and for Christ. (1 Corinthians 9:24; Hebrews 12:1; 2 Timothy 4:7) Pull up a seat at The Training Table and get ready to feast!

Feast of the Heart exists to help bring about Christ-centered “reformation, revival, and constructive revolution” (Francis Schaeffer, Death in the City) so that God will be glorified and people blessed.

Reformation… we seek to abide by and serve up the true truth, pure doctrine of the Bible

Revival… we seek to model biblical Christians living in word and deed

Constructive Revolution… we seek to spread the true gospel right where God has planted us with urgency, compassion, and radical self-abandonment

Let’s Feast!

“For Christians, spiritual growth depends on a healthy diet that includes both the milk and meat of God’s Word. But before we can savor large portions of sound doctrine, we need to be able to digest the basics of biblical truth.” (Sinclair Ferguson) How has your diet of the basics of the faith been?

“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…” (1 Corinthians 14:33).

Don’t Blame God. It’s Not Confusing! Repeat After Me, “Heart, Home, Hood. Heart, Home, Hood.”

Sure, there’s some mystery and confusion [strictly on our part] related to God being God… and NOT you or me being God. I mean that would make sense, right? Is anyone confused about whether they are God? And God’s person and plan is so far beyond our creaturely capability to “know it all” that it’s not even worthwhile to make a comparison… it would just be too paltry.

But hear this: God’s Plan of Redemption—what the Trinity has sovereignly put together to redeem the entire universe from The Fall (Genesis 1:3; Romans 1:18-32) and Adam’s poor choice on our behalf—is plain enough for any human being, a fallen Image Bearer of God, to understand, repent of falling short, believe in faith, and be saved to serve until death do he or she parts!

The basics of Biblical faith [note how Keller sermons are organized: Discovery. Growth. Mission. E.g., Heart. Home. Hood.] have been irrevocably put together by God [wait for it] who loves His Image Bearers to the ends of the universe: How could it be that this very same God would make His plan so inscrutable, mysterious, and elusive that we couldn’t “unscrute,” demystify, reason it out, and execute it?!

Clearly, if any manifestation of God—and there’s only One, True God (Deuteronomy 4:35, 39)—was to decide to redeem your life… and make the plan so unreasonable, unknowable, and anecdotally unreal… Well, that sort of god would hardly be worth holding in high regard, right? Avarice, covetousness, disorientation, a cosmic shell game, or sadistic dithering are NOT attributes of the God of the Bible.

So, let’s dive into a feast of putting God’s Plan of Redemption very simply: Heart. Home. Hood.

1. Heart: Kingdom Proclamation—the Gospel of Grace Proclaimed to One’s Heart

The heart of the matter is a matter of the Trinity bringing a predestined (Romans 8:28-30) yet dead, stony, rebellious heart to life. By grace alone, new life, new identity, new meaning, new purpose begins within the heart—and NOT until then. It’s at the level of the heart that new life begins. When the Gospel is proclaimed to a predestined, touched by the Spirit, regenerated heart, it responds by God-, self-awareness, repentance, faith, and taking the first step of the journey of discipleship. Christ’s obedience to the Father, His manifold mercies, and propitiation for our sins on the cross is FIRST revealed within the heart: that’s where our most cherished truths and falsehoods reside; so, that’s where the new birth, the Gospel reclamation, and new life MUST begin.

As far as the priority of the heart being #1 is concerned, here’s how it went down… and will continue to go down until Christ returns: a) God the Father wrote all the names of those who would be saved in the Book of Life before time began—and gave the book to His Son as a gift; b) at just the right time, the Son Jesus Christ was born, lived, dead, resurrected, and ascended—for every “propitiated, forgiven name” written in the Book of Life; c) at just another right time, the Holy Spirit does His thing: “flutters”, as he did in the beginning (Genesis 1,2), and touches, enters, regenerates the heart of one predestined, dead in Adam, and whose name is and written in the Book of Life; then, d) a born-again, new-born spiritual baby Christian must be raised-up (Proverbs 22:6; 2 Timothy 3:16-17) as a disciple… saved to serve; e) and ALL of this will accrue to exactly what the disciple of Jesus Christ’s ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN will be made up of! From eternity past to eternity future, God’s Plan of Redemption is all about God’s love… for, of, in, and through our hearts.

God thought; Christ spoke; The Spirit fluttered… all things out of nothing (Genesis 1:1; Psalms 33:6; Psalms 148:5; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 11:3). The Trinity co-authored the HEART (Genesis 1:26) and works in unison to RANSOM and REDEEM YOUR HEART (Jeremiah 17:9; Ezekiel 11:17-21; John 3:16)!

The Book of Life Chosen by The Father: “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

Election, Effectual Calling: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:3-6).

Regeneration, Predestined Hearts Brought to Life: “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…” (Titus 3:5).

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19).

“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (John 3:3).

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

The Victory at the Heart of Faith: “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).

At the Heart of Temporal and Eternal Rewards—Guard Your Heart: “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 17:10).

“Does not God who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?” (Proverbs 24:12)

“But they will have to give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5).

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of [TEMPORAL and ETERNAL] life” (Proverbs 4:23, emphasis, parenthesis added)

PLEASE NOTE:

When—and not until then—the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our HEART (Ezekiel 26:36; 2 Corinthians 5:17), and He makes our heart His HOME (1 Corinthians 3:16; John 14:26), then any only then, can we procreate the Kingdom beginning with, and from within, our own HOME… and beyond (Matthew 28:19-20).

2. Home: Kingdom Procreation—The Fruitful Family of God Produces “Little Christs” (Martin Luther)

Get This Gospel Reality Down: It is by the Trinity’s design that when any fallen Image Bearer, human being, experiences the radical change of HEART—recognizing God’s holiness and our sin (Ephesians 2:1-10); repenting by faith (Luke 5:31-32); being born again (John 3:1-21); moving from spiritual death to life in Christ (John 5:24); moving from the old man to the new man (Colossians 3:9-11); from bondage to sin to a saved-servant of Christ (Romans 6:18); from an orphan to an adopted son or daughter of God (1 John 3:1-2); from a life of condemnation to a life free of condemnation (Romans 8:1 following); from a life devoted to self to that of being devoted to the other (Luke 9:24)—two main things occur when we are made into new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17):

We are brought into a whole new family.

And there is no more shame.

Please Pause: How robustly, deeply, widely, radically, joyfully, tearfully, and rationally does your HEART get this Truth and Love of God? It encapsulates the entirely of what God had to UNDO in The Fall, and DO, by His Son, for you and me… to provide us a new beginning, a fresh start, a do-over of cosmic proportions! This reality should rock our world, soften our hearts, and radically transform our home—and why God put home in place “In the beginning…”.

Our Heavenly Home—God’s perfect plan to procreate, populate, and expand His Kingdom was put in place “In the beginning…”: “And God blessed them [Adam, Eve]. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

But ever since The Fall (Genesis 3) that heavenly plan and home… and every single heart-home since then… has been a way-fallen version of what God originally described as a very good [E.g., the best ever] home.

There is no doubt whatsoever that within Adam and Eve’s home they would have procreated hearts entirely devoted to God… had The Fall not occurred: That’s what God originally put the Proto-Man and Woman in place to do; until our forbearers sinned and secured Original Sin (Romans 5:12) in the heart of EveryMan: Hearts hardened, homes divided, “the land” [culture] fragmented into a chaos of individuality, egotism, envy, and dysfunction.

But God’s vision and mission for the heart, family, and home has not changed!

Our Home is an Extension of God’s Covenant—Promised by God, Come to Fruition in the Heart and Home: All four “Covenant types and prototypes” in the Bible [Adamic, Noahic, Mosiac, New Covenant between Christ and the church] are part and parcel of God’s Covenant for marriage… and the HOME. “A covenant is intended by God to be a lifelong fruitful relationship between a man and a woman. Marriage is a vow to God, to each other, our families and our community to remain steadfast in unconditional love, reconciliation and sexual purity, while purposefully growing in our covenant marriage relationship.” (Bible Commentary)

The HOME brings one male and one female HEART(s) together: new creations in Christ together to “leave, cleave, and become one flesh”—for Christ-centered spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical procreation.

In God’s ideal, the HOME consists of two born-again HEARTS, equally yoked, united under and in the covenant of marriage, as God intended it in Genesis 2: “The union of intimate allies working for a common cause: namely the extension, expansion, [“procreation”] of God’s Kingdom” (Dr. Michael Haykin, parenthesis added)—on earth as it is in heaven.

Our Home is God’s Shelter: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’” (Psalm 91:1-2).

Choose This Day Whom, in Our Home, Will Serve: “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Our Heavenly Dwelling Supersedes Our Earthly Home: “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:1-10)

When Faith in Christ is in the Home, Hearts are Hopeful: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1-2).

The God-Centered Home is a Co-Sanctifying Place: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14).

A Home of Peace: Made by Division, Loyalties: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:34-39).

A Home for Wives and Husbands: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:22-27).

A Home for Parents and Children: “Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4)

NET-NET / BOTTOM-LINE for HOME? As seen above, the primary foundations for a Godly family, marriage, home is based upon, and deeply rooted in, Creation, Christ, and Covenant. But the secondary components, the fruits of the first, are:

“1. Companionship. The affection, love, and true companionship which grow out of a oneness of spirit as each partner models Christ’s unconditional love (Amos 3:3).

2. Enjoyment. The physical relationship is a reflection of the loyalty and affection shared among marriage partners who have become “one flesh” (Hebrews 13:4).

3. Fruitfulness. The blessing of children in a marriage relationship allows that relationship to reproduce itself physically. It is an example of the “oneness” that results in a marriage (Genesis 1:28; 1 Peter 3:7).

4. Protection. The husband protects the wife by laying down his life for her (Ephesians 5:25). The wife is to protect the home (Titus 2:4-5) and the parents together protect their children to raise up a godly seed (Malachi 2:15; Psalm 112:1-2).” (Family Life)

FROM HERE… ONLY FROM HERE… we can move out to bless the HOOD—OUR church, OUR neighborhood, OUR community, OUR school, OUR workplace, OUR city, and OUR beyond.

In closing for the HOME section, notice just above the emphasis on OUR: In the purview of God’s Plan of Redemption “the Kingdom Comes” by means of Christ in you, and in me, moving from OUR heart, home, and “hood” NOT [get this] as a last order of things IF we’ve got some time, talent, and treasure leftovers for God’s Kingdom work; BUT RATHER as our first and foremost priority each day—24/7/365—that God gives us life.

If we would carry out this truth about Christ in us, and our #1 meaning and purpose in life, the world would be a radically different place: On Earth as It Is in Heaven. Each heart, home, and hood is redeemed by each Christ indwelling, by the Spirit, each of us… you and me: Heart. Home. Hood.

3. Hood: Kingdom Proliferation—Christly Conformation, Making Disciples, Stemming Decay, and Revealing Truth

Christly Conformation and Jesus’ Compassion Spread Abroad: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:20-23).

Roll up God’s Plan of Redemption and we can plainly see: Christ-likeness, Union with Christ is both the means and the ends! And this is an unspeakable mercy of God that we must speak much about.

Make Disciples: Changed Hearts, Change Home, Now “Go into the Hood”: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19).

“… depending on whom you ask, you might find a wide variety of interpretations regarding what it actually means to “make disciples.” Most churches today understand it as a command to evangelize the world—to lead people to faith and repentance in every corner of the world and spread the gospel as far as possible.

And while there is certainly an evangelistic aspect to Christ’s command, His instructions go beyond just spreading the gospel. The verb translated as “make disciples”—mathēteuō—is beautifully complex, carrying more meaning than simply accumulating converts. It communicates the idea of a learning believer—someone who is growing in his faith and his love for the Lord.

Jesus’ words emphasize not the moment of salvation but the lifetime of sanctification that follows. He made the same point in John 8:31 when He said, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.” It’s the difference between a one-time profession of faith and a lifetime of spiritual growth and increasing godliness—between counterfeit and genuine conversion.” (John MacArthur, What Does it Mean to Make Disciples?)

God’s Salt…: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet” (Matthew 5:13)

Believers in Christ are preservatives to the world, preserving it from the evil inherent in the society of ungodly men whose unredeemed natures are corrupted by sin (Psalm 14:3; Romans 8:8).

“… salt was used then, as now, as a flavor enhancer. In the same way that salt enhances the flavor of the food it seasons, the followers of Christ stand out as those who “enhance” the flavor of life in this world. Christians, living under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in obedience to Christ, will inevitably influence the world for good, as salt has a positive influence on the flavor of the food it seasons. Where there is strife, we are to be peacemakers; where there is sorrow, we are to be the ministers of Christ, binding up wounds, and where there is hatred, we are to exemplify the love of God in Christ, returning good for evil (Luke 6:35).” (ESV Study Bible Reference)

…And Light: You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

“The presence of light in darkness is something which is unmistakable. The presence of Christians in the world must be like a light in the darkness, not only in the sense that the truth of God’s Word brings light to the darkened hearts of sinful man (John 1:1-10), but also in the sense that our good deeds must be evident for all to see.

And indeed, our deeds will be evident if they are performed in accordance with the other principles which Jesus mentions in this passage, such as the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-11. Notice especially that the concern is not that Christians would stand out for their own sake, but that those who looked on might “glorify your Father who is in heaven” (v. 16, KJV).” (ESV Study Bible Reference)

S-L-O-W Down… In Near-Closing, Let’s Look at Suppressing the Truth About All of the Above… In Brief:

1. [Short of God’s Common Grace] A HEART devoid of being born again, ERGO: unregenerate, hardened, and willfully committed to suppressing the truth of God (Romans 1:18-32), is incapable of being and doing anything in life except for embracing pride, egotism, pretense, and self-centeredness: These are simply yet dreadfully the earmarks of The Fall, Adam and Eve’s poor choices, humanity’s inherited Sin, and habitual sinFULLness. The fruit of the above sinful characteristics consist of what the author of Ecclesiastes calls living a life of existential meaninglessness: This lack of relationship with God [only devoted to the things of this passing world] results in a life of hedonism, existentialism, and stoicism.

Please consider this: Can you conceptually, or perhaps even anecdotally, see what it might be like to bring a HEART of this kind into a HOME?

2. A HOME devoid of newly-created HEARTS cannot help but be devoted only to the things of this world: This is a hard message, so allow me to offer it by someone far wiser, more well trained and seasoned, and closer to God than me, C. H. Spurgeon sermonized: “…because you reject the only thing that can heal you. As George Herbert says, “Whom oils and balsams kill, what salve can cure?” If Christ himself has become a savor of death unto death unto you, because you reject him, how can you be saved? There is but one door, and if you close it by your unbelief, how can you enter heaven? There is one healing medicine, and, if you refuse to take it, what remains but death? There is one water of life, but you refuse to drink it; then must you thirst for ever. You put from you, voluntarily, the one only Redeemer; how then shall you be ransomed? Shall Christ die again, and in another state be offered to you once more? O sirs, you would reject him then as you reject him now? But there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. On the cross, God’s mercy to the sons of men was fully revealed, and will you reject God’s ultimatum of grace; his last appeal to you. If so, it is at your own peril: Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more; he shall come again, but without a sin offering unto the salvation of his people … There is no sin that shall damn the man who believes, and nothing can save the man who will not believe.” (The Unbelievers Unhappy Condition)

Unbelief accrues to a host of maladies in an unbelieving heart and home.

3. A HOOD—the local and global culture—devoid of newly-created HEARTS and HOMES has little hope [except by Common Grace] of beginning and sustaining any good which glorifies God and blesses the people. In the void of the hood, culture where God does not reign, a) rampant secularism [no shame], b) rampant pluralization [no truth], and c) rampant privitization [what occurs in our private life has not bearing on our public life]… fills the void and REIGNS! We could chew on lots more here, but suffice it to say:

The HOOD, culture will die.

How does God’s Plan of Redemption work—in a simple yet complicated and doable form?

1. Heart: Kingdom Proclamation—the Gospel of Grace Proclaimed to One’s Heart

• Have you been born again?
• Under what circumstances did your conversion occur?
• What’s “your secular [before Christ] and your sacred [after Christ]” story?
• Do you believe that—at the end of the day, your life—God will weigh your good deeds against your bad deeds and then decide as to whether He’ll allow you into His Heavenly Kingdom?
• Do you have a 30-second testimony—for use while standing in line at the grocery store?
• Do you have a 1-hour testimony—for use while hanging out with family, friends, or strangers?
• In what ways could you, do you, witness to others about God’s amazing grace—“I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind, but now I see?”
• How does your story dovetail with this Bible truism: “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD” (Ezekiel 11:19-21).
• Do you believe you’re being uniquely used of God… “saved to serve?”
• What would A.C.T.S look like in regards to how you would pray for your HEART:
• Adoration…
• Confession…
• Thanksgiving…
• Supplication [making requests known]…

2. Home: Kingdom Procreation—The Fruitful Family of God Produces “Little Christs” (Martin Luther)

• What sort of home did you grow up in?
• Did your family, home a) “procreate Christ’s love and truth” or b) “procreate UN-love, dysfunction, wounds, insanity, and shame?”
• And how about your home today? Another generation of “a)”… or “b)”?
• Has God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit broken the bondage of generational brokenness in YOUR [heart then…] home? Partially broken? Begun to rescue, heal, and redeem—for the purposes of Kingdom-building in the HOOD?
• In what ways does your HOME-life reflect the hearts of its residents? Is it obvious that The Spirit is resident within the HEARTS of those who reside in your HOME?
• What would A.C.T.S look like in regards to how you would pray for your HOME:
• Adoration…
• Confession…
• Thanksgiving…
• Supplication [making requests known]…

3. Hood: Kingdom Proliferation—Christly Conformation, Making Disciples, Stemming Decay, and Revealing Truth

• Beginning in the smallest concentric circles of influence and concern outside your HOME, how does your neighbor-HOOD reflect your HEART and HOME for Jesus Christ—via Christ-likeness, evangelism, stemming decay, and revealing the truth of God?
• Your church?
• Your community?
• Your school(s)?
• Your workplace?
• Your city?
• Your “beyond”: anywhere in the world God brings you?
• What would A.C.T.S look like in regards to how you would pray for your HOOD:
• Adoration…
• Confession…
• Thanksgiving…
• Supplication [making requests known]…

Yes indeed, this feast of the born-again heart has been a meaty plateful! Please, I beseech you Marathoners for Christ, chew your food well. It is well-suited for running the good race.

Remember: Not in part, not out of order, but go after it full bore: Heart. Home. Hood.

God’s manifold and richest blessings,
JohnDoz