The Heart Of God || Matt 9:35-10:23 & Rom 5:1-8

Kia ora, and welcome to the St. Francis Church

Sermon Podcast. We're so glad that you've joined

us. Our prayer is that as you listen, you would

encounter God's presence, be refreshed in your

faith, and equipped for everyday life with Jesus.

As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow

Jesus by practicing His way at His pace. For

more info about who we are and what God is doing

among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and

peace. Morning family on this winter morning.

Yes, the earlier service they noticed that I've

been wearing a jacket the last two weeks and

set a short sleeve so they must... Realise it's

getting a bit colder. But it's lovely to have

that change of weather. As Dave mentioned, the

seasons that help us move forward or settle in

as well. I just want to take us back to last

week briefly. We had Corpus Christi where we

celebrated. In that we saw love given, love shown

through Christ's body. His dying and giving himself

to us. And that leads very well into... the readings

that we've got today. But before we move forward,

I want to ask you a question before we go anywhere

else this morning. And it's not a warm -up question.

It's a question that everything else is going

to be built on. And it's this. What is God actually

like? Not, what do you know about God? What has

he actually been like as far as you can tell?

Is he warm or cold? Does he move toward people

or does he wait to actually be found? Does he

feel something when he looks at the world or

is he more like a distant CEO running the universe

from a long way away? These aren't just theological

questions for us. They're personal ones. Because

Really, the God you actually believe in, not

the one that you could describe in a statement

of faith, but the one who lives in the back of

your mind when things get hard, that's the one

who shapes how you live, how you go about your

life. So we have two passages in front of us

today. They come from very different places.

One is a letter, one is a gospel. But together,

they actually do one thing. They show us the

heart of God, what it's like, what it does, and

what it looks like when it gets into us. There's

the three movements, and here's the spine of

all the three. The heart of God receives, the

heart of God feels, and the heart of God sends.

So with that, let's go through this message.

Firstly, let's begin with that first one, the

heart of God receives. Paul has spent four chapters

of Romans building a case. And now in chapter

five, he lands it. And here's what it looks like

when the heart of God has done its work in the

human life. For he says, therefore, since we

have been justified through faith, we have peace

with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through

whom... we have gained access by faith into his

grace in which we now stand. Justified through

faith. Someone's come and stood for us, taken

upon themselves what we should have received,

but they have done that, and that is Jesus. And

in this, we have peace with God. We have access

to grace. The word access here... was used for

being brought into the presence of a king. You

don't walk in uninvited. You're led in by someone

who has a right to take you there. Paul was saying,

that's what Jesus has done for you. You have

been brought in to the presence of the king,

to the presence of God. And then Paul rises at

the line that everything turns on. God's love

has been poured into our hearts through the Holy

Spirit who's been given to us. That word poured

out, we hear it should echo from some weeks back

as well. In Greek, it's not a gentle word. It's

not a trickle, not a careful measure. It's the

same word used in Acts 2. When the Spirit falls

at Pentecost and it's poured out. It's flooded.

It's lavished on the people there. The heart

of God doesn't ration love. The heart of God

overflows with love to his creation and to us.

And then Paul pushes to this sentence in the

whole passage. But God demonstrates his own love

for us in this. While we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. Not at... At our best. Not

on a good day. Not mid -comeback story, well,

I'll come now for you and die for you. Paul doesn't

say, well, we were trying. He doesn't say, well,

we're halfway there. He says, well, we were at

our worst. Where we were actively opposed to

him. We were indifferent to him or just distracted

to care. That he existed. That's when Jesus moved.

Paul has a word for that condition. He calls

it sin, not just mistakes. The sin that you hear,

it's really a posture. As Dave invited us to

take that posture to come into and receive from

God, sin takes a posture. of actually turning

away. It's a choice that we have. That's a posture.

No, I do not want to do that. I'm going to do

this. The heart of God moved toward us at the

worst possible moment in our lives. When we were

at our most broken distance or most unlikely

us. This is what the heart of God is like. It

doesn't wait for you and I to be impressive.

It actually moves first. It takes the initiative.

It gives first and it loves first. N .T. Wright

wrote this, that the love of God is not a sentimental

feeling. It is a divine energy poured into human

hearts by the Spirit, transforming not just what

we believe, but what we are capable of becoming.

The heart of God, and we are the ones that it

actually moves toward. Before we even asked for

it, before we were even ready, the heart of God

has already been here. We know that because we

are created in the image of God and the Holy

Spirit dwells within us. Often we start off the

point that God is out there. He's as close as

your breath right now. The heart of God has already

been here. But also the heart of God feels. We

move now from Paul's letter and we go into the

gospel reading today. And we don't get abstract

theology here. We get Jesus walking through villages,

looking at people, feeling something. It says

in Matthew 9 that Jesus went through all the

towns and villages, teaching in the synagogues,

proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and

healing every disease and illness. When he saw

the crowds, he had compassion on them because

they were harassed and helpless like sheep without

a shepherd. That word compassion, it literally

means to be moved in the gut. The bowels. In

the ancient world, the gut was where the deepest

emotion lived. It wasn't in the head or not even

in the heart. It was in the very core of the

person. Just like you have that gut feeling.

This is where it comes from. Compassion. When

your stomach moves, like when you're going down

a quick drop or something, you feel it in your

gut, don't you? Not your head. See, this word

here that's used in this passage, Jesus doesn't

just notice the crowds that are around him. He

doesn't process them efficiently from a distance

saying, I know what's happening over there. He

is physically moved by what he sees. And what

does he see? Well, it's told us, harassed people,

thrown around, battered, and people that were

exhausted. These are people who've been beaten

up by the life, by systems, by leaders who promised

to care for them and didn't. We know that as

well, don't we? They're also harassed and helpless.

Helpless is literally thrown down, lying there,

not able to get up on their own. He sees that

and his compassion, his gut moves. Now here's

the thing about this passage that I don't want

us to actually miss because it's a long one.

When Jesus feels compassion, he doesn't sit down

and have a private moment with his feelings.

He prays. And then he acts. It says in Matthew

9, 37 and 8 that he said to his disciples, the

harvest is printable, but the workers are few.

Ask the Lord of the harvest. Therefore, to send

out workers into this harvest field. The heart

of God feels and then it moves. The gut feeling

is never the end of the story. It's what calls

us into action. It's always the beginning of

a movement toward the person, toward the problem,

toward God in prayer. Dallas Willard said it

like this, that compassion is not a virtue, it

is a commitment. When Jesus felt compassion,

he didn't stay still. The gut feeling was always

the beginning of a movement toward the person,

toward the problem, toward God. And here's a

connection that ties these two passages together.

Romans 5. says the love of God has been poured

into our hearts, has been flooded into us. And

Matthew 9 shows what that love looks like when

it's actually in someone. And working, it looks

like being moved in the gut by what moves God.

Again, if we understand and know and believe

that we're created in the image of God, what

moves him moves us. What moves God when he sees

compassion in people around them should move

us. We should have that gut -wrenching feeling.

This means something for us. That if you've genuinely

received what Romans 5 is actually describing,

if the love of God has actually been poured into

us, we should expect to start feeling what Jesus

feels when he looks at the world. Now, in some

of our circumstances, it could be a lonely colleague,

or it could be the neighbour who never comes

out, and you're aware of it, but you've done

nothing about it, or the person who's fine on

the surface, but clearly, clearly isn't. We start

to see them differently, as they may see us differently.

We don't see them as problems. But as people,

the heart of God is already moving toward them.

And from that feeling, the heart of God sends.

Now this is the part where we think it's left

down to a few. The disciples were talking about,

you know, who do we send in the harvest? And

then Jesus prays and then sends them. So you're

going to be sent. Jesus feels what he feels and

then he acts on it. He calls, as we know, 12

ordinary people, fishermen, a tax collector,

a zealot, and he does two things. He gives them

his authority and then he sends them out. It

says in Matthew 10, Jesus called his 12 disciples

to him and he gave them authority to drive out

impure spirits and to heal every disease and

illness. And then they're followed in the instruction.

So as you go, proclaim this message. The kingdom

of heaven has come near. Heal the sick, raise

the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive

out demons, freely you have received, freely

give. We don't have leprosy around us and things

like that. But there are other things here. There

are strongholds of fear, anxiety, loneliness,

lack of peace. You have the authority in the

name of Christ. He's given it to you to go and

help and have compassion with people. To give

them words of encouragement. Any part of scripture

you find that. To feed them. the love of God

through who you are in him. It says at the very

end, freely you have received, freely give. You

can't charge anyone anything of this. You can't

say, oh, no, not really yet. It's not mine. Well,

it isn't ours. It's been freely given to us.

That is the entire logic of the sending in one

sentence. The heart of God has poured love into

you, into me, freely before any of us have actually

earned it. Before you ask for it. So go and let

it pour out the same way. Notice what he doesn't

say. He doesn't say, go when you're ready. Go

when your faith is stronger. Go when you've sorted

out your doubts, you've sorted out your history,

your baggage, your personality type. He says,

go as you are. Go as you are today. Because what

you need for the going, I've actually already

given it to you. This isn't about, us being all

sorted out before being sent, it's being available,

ready for God to send you. And often that's in

moments when we're least expecting it. For those

who want to sit with Matthew 10 and these later

verses here, there's this third layer that Jesus

builds in, and it's worth for us to name it.

Jesus actually tells them, How to go. All right?

Giving you authority, they'll go out. It's not

just that they should go, but he says you to

go light. You carry no extra bag, no backup plan.

Find people of peace in each place. People who

are open, ready, and people who are receptive.

And go deep with them rather than moving on quickly.

And then he prepares them, as he does for us,

for something harder. He says not every door

is going to be open to you. Some people won't

want to hear it. You're going to face opposition

or disagreement. There will be moments when you

feel completely out of your depth. And he doesn't

say that to frighten them or for us. He says

it because he wants them to go in with their

eyes open. Because the heart of God sends, but

it doesn't send naively. It sends prepared. I'm

sending you out like sheep among wolves. And

then immediately, but the one who stands firm

to the end will be saved. And this is for all

of us to really hear this bit and don't worry

about what to say. If I've done it, I know you've

done this. You practice what you're going to

say to someone. That's right. It's like the practicing

gets rid of all the words you shouldn't be saying.

And then the Lord gives you the words to say

or not to say. And there could be silence. It

will be given to you in that moment. Because

we don't know what that moment will be. So we

trust on the words to be given to us. The sending

is not abandoned. The heart of God goes with

you into the hard places. Michael Frost, from

his book Surprise the World, he says it this

way. Jesus does not call us to do things for

him. He calls us to be with him. And from that

withness, to go as his presence into the ordinary

places of everyday life. That matches what's

been told in scripture. He'll give us the words

to speak in the moment that we need to say them.

We have been given authority in Jesus to do the

things that he said that he did and we can do

too. So what does that look like for us this

week? Or any week? Not in the abstract, right

here in Hillcrest or wherever we may be moving

into during the week. It could look like something,

or someone at work, you've been meaning to actually

ask how they're doing, but you haven't. So you

finally ask them, how are you? How are you really

going? Or maybe it's a neighbour you've waved

to for two years but never spoken to, or the

ones that are moving into the street. Today's

the day to do it. Or this is the moment to actually

do it. The person in the row behind you who seems

fine but isn't, you notice. The person beside

you or in front of you this morning. And you

stay. And you check in on them. It's like ordinary

courage. And that ordinary courage is not a program,

it's not an event. Just the heart of God in you

that dwells there flowing outward to the people

there. Because that's what, A heart that's been

filled eventually does. So I want to bring these

three things home for us. How the heart of God

receives. In Romans 5, that before you ask, before

you earn it, before you're ready, there is love

poured out. Christ dying while we're still a

mess, and maybe a mess later today or during

the week, his love is poured into you. That's

what God is actually like, not waiting at a distance,

already moving towards you. And as the heart

of God receives, it also feels. And we see that

in Matthew 9, where Jesus, walking through the

towns, looking at harassed, helpless people,

got moved by what he sees. What will that be

like for you as you're walking through the streets

in Hillcrest, Hamilton, or wherever you are as

you travel? That type of feeling that we saw

that Jesus had is not a God who manages the world

from a safe distance. That is a God whose heart

is in it, is there for you right now at that

moment. And as the heart of God receives and

feels, it sends us. Just as God sent his son,

we are sent out into the places. In Matthew 10,

it's ordinary people. We heard that, fishermen,

zealots, tax collectors, ordinary people in ordinary

day lives who were given authority, sent out

with the simplest logic in the world. Freely

you have received, so freely give. Don't say

to someone or in turning to you as you're before

someone, I'm not going to give you this. I don't

think you deserve it. Well, God's freely given

to you first. So freely give. And here's what

these three movements really add up to. The heart

of God is not a closed system. It doesn't receive

and keep. It receives and it overflows. It feels

and it moves. It loves and it sends. Which means

the question this morning is not, do you know

about the heart of God? You might. Most of us

here could describe it, but the question is this.

Has the heart of God actually gotten into you

and is it moving you? For in 1 John 4 .19, we

hear these words, we love because he first loved

us. So right at the end, that's all of it in

six words. We love because he first loved us.

It starts with him. It always starts with him.

The heart of God moves first. It pours first

and it loves first. And once it gets in, it tends

to get out. That's the heart of God. Let us pause

and pray and give thanks. Thank you, God, that

you first reached out and you're always coming

towards us. In our week that's ahead, when we

have those gut -wrenching moments, when we see

injustice around us or other things happening,

may we remember your words that you first loved

us freely, you have received freely, give. We

are your people and you call us to love. You've

given us the authority to pray and to heal all

manner of things that you've done. May we be

bold enough to live that way, to claim those

things that you've given us in your name for

the benefit and peace of others. For these things,

for your life in us, we give you thanks. Amen.