Cultivate: A Crowded Heart | Part 4

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

And today we're actually concluding a series with a four-week series we've been in, kicking off the brand new year, uh called Cultivate the Secret to Spiritual Growth.

And we've been asking and wrestling with this question: how do you experience growth that lasts?

How do you just not have, you know, like a good start to the new year?

Uh, but then February comes and oh well, you know.

Uh how do you, you know, some of us had that new year, new you hopes and dreams.

Well, how do you really experience growth that lasts?

Well, we've been looking at this series, uh, this parable.

A parable is just a story with a point to it.

Jesus often spoke in parables.

Uh, the parable of the soils, uh, where Jesus says this.

He says, There's a farmer uh and he had seed, and he went around and uh he scattered it literally everywhere.

He scattered the seed, some fell on the path where the birds came and ate it, some fell on rocky soil, and it grew but that couldn't withstand the heat and it withered and died.

Some grew, uh fell among thorns, and as it grew up, it got choked out, and then others grew on good soil, and it produced a harvest of 30, 60, or even some a hundredfold what was sown.

And here's the point that Jesus was making that good seed plus good soil equals exponential harvest.

Would you go ahead and just say that with me?

Good seed plus good soil equals exponential harvest.

We've been saying this every single week.

Good seed, Jesus said the good seed is the word of God.

We have good seed plus good soil, and soil represents our heart and receptivity or response to God's word.

Good seed plus good soil always brings about a harvest.

And week one, we talked about this whole idea of harvest and the law of the harvest, and you know this.

Uh, that whatever you sow, you grow.

Literally, you reap what you sow.

So we have to ask the question so important, what are you sowing right now?

And then the reason many of us don't experience the growth that we long for is tied to this law of the harvest, is that we never reap in the same season that we sow.

Remember, I gave you these uh little, you know, planter cups with uh sunflower seeds, and today's the last day, uh so if you want to get your seed, you can do that again.

I loved watching um you post your pictures or send them to me of your sunflower seed that's growing.

It's awesome.

And some of you are asking, well, Ryan, what do we do next?

How do I continue to care for it?

Google it.

Um you might want to repot it and continue to water it.

Here's one of the things the reason I pick a sunflower seed, this is fun.

Um, is a sunflower is actually my daughter's favorite flower.

Oh, I know, isn't that great?

Um, and then uh here's the beautiful part about a sunflower is a sunflower, the flower always follows the sun.

And that's such a good reminder, that'll preach right there.

Um and so uh today, as we continue our series, we've been going through the different soils, the rocky, the path, and today we're on the thorny soil because good soil doesn't happen by accident, it's cultivated.

If you want to experience growth that lasts, God's dream and longing for you is that you experience growth that lasts, a fruitful life, but good soil.

It doesn't just happen by accident.

You don't just wish for it or hope for it, it's cultivated.

And so today we're looking at the thorny soil.

Go ahead and say thorny soil.

This is the crowded heart.

How do you grow when life in Silicon Valley feels like a race you can't win?

We live in a world addicted to speed, success, endless distractions.

Being busy is a badge of honor, isn't it?

How you doing?

Busy?

Busy, yeah, me too.

How do we clear the clutter that keeps us from experiencing the growth that God intends for us?

If you got your Bibles, would you open up to Mark chapter 4, uh verse 18?

Mark 4 · chapter mention

If not, you can just open up your notes, it's right there and follow along.

Jesus explains what the thorny soil is, the crowded heart.

He says this, still others, like seeds sown among the thords, hear the word of God, the worries of life, and the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things, come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

Now I want you to notice this.

This is important.

A crowded heart cannot produce a fruitful life.

A crowded heart cannot produce a fruitful life.

Jesus said, these things choke the word, making it unfruitful.

We live in one of the most innovative, opportunity-filled places on earth.

Now listen, yet we are also among the most anxious, overworked, spiritually restless people on the planet.

Jesus' parable of thorny soil speaks directly to Silicon Valley hearts.

Life so crowded with more that there's no room for what truly matters.

So here's what we want to do.

And if you've been following along, this is what we've done every single week.

We want to define what is a crowded heart, thorny soil, what are the symptoms of it?

How do we get to the root issues and then some application?

How do we cultivate the soil of our souls?

First, what is a thorn thorny soil?

Thorny soil, if I can say it, thorny soil, thorny, thorny, thorny.

Thorny soil represents a heart overwhelmed by competing priorities, distractions, and misplaced desires.

It's a heart that's trying to fit God in alongside everything else, but the everything else just tends to take over.

Jesus gave us three things that tend to take over.

He said, worries of this life, deceitfulness of wealth, desire for other things.

These things choke up and distract our lives.

The worries of this life, these are the everyday anxieties about success, relationships, finances, or future.

These are the things that just bubble up.

They're on, you know, in the backdrop of your mind.

In fact, you might even be thinking about them right now as I'm talking about them.

The deceitfulness of wealth is the false promise that money will solve your problems and will give you security, significance, or happiness.

And so we run after, we chase after, if only I can get this, if only I can earn more, if only I can own.

And then the desire for other things, the endless pursuit of more, more comfort, more success, more pleasure, possession.

That is the American dream, fundamentally, is just more.

Well, what are the symptoms of a crowded heart?

What is a life overrun with weeds look like?

And here's what I want you to do.

I just wanted you to take an inventory.

And as you take an inventory, and if you're sitting next to someone you know or related to or married to, keep your arms to yourself.

Not like that's you, you know, none of that.

But what I do want you to do is just begin to mark if this is you.

Oh yeah, that's me.

Oh, I have a symptom of this.

Oh, you know what?

Yeah, there are parts where I'm experiencing the symptoms of a crowded heart.

First symptoms is constant restlessness, constant restlessness.

Life feels like a race I can't win.

There's always something more to do, but it's never enough.

I'm busy, overwhelmed, and unsure if I'm even doing what matters most.

Another symptom is emotional and mental exhaustion.

I feel drained physically, emotionally, and mentally, like I'm running on empty.

The weight of responsibilities, worries, and expectations leave me unable to rest or recharge or spiritual stagnation.

I struggle to connect deeply with God.

My faith feels flat, distracted, or stuck.

I don't see real transformation in my spiritual life.

Another symptom or sign is empty fullness.

I stay busy chasing success, achievements, or possession.

But no matter how much I accomplish, I feel unfulfilled.

Contentment always feels out of reach, and I believe the next thing will finally make me happy.

When I get and you fill in the blank, then I'll be happy.

Content.

Or maybe relational strain.

My relationships feel shallow or strained because I'm too busy, distracted, or emotionally depleted to invest deeply.

Perhaps resentment or unresolved conflict creates distance in my closest connection.

And then finally, lack of spiritual fruit, a symptom or sign of a crowded heart.

Despite my best efforts, there's little evidence of God's peace, joy, or love growing in my life.

The fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control.

I always miss one.

I'm not sure which one.

Like I don't see the evidence of that.

I feel like I'm just surviving instead.

Living a life that uh instead of living a life that blesses others and reflects God's purposes.

It's the signs, the symptoms of a crowded heart.

Now, here's the problem with weeds.

A couple things.

One, if you just leave weeds on their own, you know what happens?

They multiply, they just take over.

My yard, I just did a weeding feed on my yard.

Why?

Because I didn't pay attention for a while, and then I look out, it looked green, but actually it wasn't really grass, it was just weeds.

The other problem with weeds is this is you see a dandelion in your yard and you go and you just pluck the top, it's gone, right?

Wrong.

Why?

Because you didn't get at the root.

Because we know that if you just take the top and deal with the surface, it looks good for a moment, but the root is still there, and unless you dress the uh address the root, it will grow back right in its place.

Uh, in fact, we got one of these things, it's called a weed picker.

And to full transparency, I have no idea how to use this thing.

I had people come up after service because they're like, I literally got a tutorial on how to use this because it was so embarrassing the first service.

Uh this is a weed picker, it's got these four prongs.

You take your foot.

I'm just telling you what I was told.

Uh, you take your foot and you push down on it, gets all the way in, and then you move it to the side and it closes it around those roots and you pull out, and it grabs the weed not from the top, but from the roots and pulls it out.

And unless we deal with root issues, listen, this is so important.

Weeds will keep cropping up and we'll live choked out, unfruitful lives.

And what we tend to do is we just address symptoms.

You know what?

I need a better app for being more efficient in my life.

I need to be better about saying no.

You know what?

I need to make some adjustments to my calendar.

I'm just telling you all the symptoms that I've tried to fix.

I don't know what yours are.

But until we get to the root issue, you will not see the change and transformation that you long for.

Uh, Dr.

Robert McGee, uh, he's a psychologist.

He wrote a Christian classic called The Search for Significance.

It's uh a wonderful book.

I would deeply encourage you to read it.

Um, in it, he he takes the four major places where we put our identity in outside of Christ, and then he attaches those to the work of Christ on the cross.

And here's the reason why.

The reason why is your activity flows from your identity.

All of our activity, the actions, the busyness, the hurry, actually is speaking deeply and profoundly about your identity, what you believe to be true about you.

And until you deal and understand with your identity and begin to allow God to work and shape your identity, you're just gonna keep just grabbing the weeds on the top.

So from his book, The Search of Freak for Search for Significance, let me give you those four key identity root areas.

The first is uh the performance trap.

The first is the performance trap.

I must meet certain standards to feel good about myself.

If I'm not hitting the targets, whether it's at work in my relationship or in my faith, then I'm not enough.

My worth is tied to my productivity, my success, and the image I project to the world.

So I keep striving, hustling, and overcommitting, hoping to finally feel like a measure up.

But no matter how much I achieve, the bar keeps moving and I'm left exhausted.

Success, I believe, will bring fulfillment and happiness.

Maybe for you the root issue is performance.

You're stuck in the performance trap.

Or perhaps it's the approval addict.

I must be approved by certain others to feel good about myself.

I live for likes, compliments, and recognition.

I replay conversations, wondering if I said the right thing or came across the right way.

I feel empty if I'm not noticed, praised, or validated by others.

So I people please, avoid conflict and work hard to keep everyone happy, even if it means losing myself in the process.

There's a root issue, the need for others' approval.

Or perhaps the blame gain.

Those who fail are unworthy of love and deserve to be punished.

I hold myself and others to impossible standards.

When I fall short, I spiral into self-condemnation.

When others fail me, I can't seem to forgive them.

Deep down I believe that love is conditional, earned by performance and revoked by failure.

I carry the weight of judgment both for myself and others, and it's exhausting.

Operating often behind the scenes in all of us is shame.

Shame says, I am what I am, I cannot change.

I'm hopeless.

There's a voice in my head that says, You're not enough, you'll never be enough.

It whispers that my past defines me, that my mistakes have locked me into this version of myself forever.

I feel stuck, defeated, unworthy of love or transformation.

Hope feels like something for other people, not for me.

All of your activity, all of my activities flow from our identity.

And until we get to the root issues, whether it's performance, approval, blame, or shame, and begin to address those things, we'll continue to live crowded, choked out lives.

Because that is the driver for what you're running after or what keeps you running.

I don't know if you remember or know about Jesus' baptism.

Um Jesus, he spent 30 years in obscurity.

What did he do for those first 30 years?

Well, he grew up and he was a carpenter.

We don't have really any information.

He didn't do any miracles.

And then he's baptized by John the Baptist, and it says that the Spirit of God descended on him like a dove, and heavens opened up, and this Father said this.

This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

Jesus, who hasn't done anything, who hasn't even started ministry, who hasn't healed anyone, hasn't gone to the cross and paid for the sins of humanity.

He, what has he done?

I don't know, some woodworking?

Some masonry, maybe?

And it was in that moment, is from that place.

It was out of his identity of whose he is that he did ministry from.

This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased.

See, and Jesus' identity is now our identity in Christ.

See, um, spiritual maturity is ultimately coming to understand and embrace our true identity in Christ.

The more we understand our identity in Christ, then everything else flows from that.

Our activity flows from that, our life flows from that.

Listen to what is true about Jesus and true of you.

He's a son.

He's a beloved son.

You are a daughter and a son of the King Most High.

You have been adopted into the family of God.

He's beloved.

You are the object of your heavenly father's affection.

He's well pleased.

Some of you just need to hear that right now, that God is well pleased with you.

You already have his approval.

You already have your heavenly father's approval.

We live such fast-paced lives.

And the heart of what's the next innovation that's going to make our lives better?

In fact, I was just talking with a friend, we're talking about AI.

He works for Google, and uh, you know, it's like this thought, well, AI is gonna help us to simplify our lives, and we're gonna, you know, have be able to work less.

You know, that's what the computer originally was for, right?

The dream of the computer was that we would now work 20 hours instead of 40 hours.

Innovation has not created margin, by the way.

What if we need less innovation and more just simply accept the invitation of Jesus?

Because you know what he said?

He said, Come to me.

Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest.

Are you weary this morning?

Are you burdened?

Are you overwhelmed by life's demands and pressures?

Is your heart discouraged?

Is there a restlessness?

Is there an emptiness?

Jesus says that qualifies you to come to me.

Come to me, and I'll give you rest.

Well, how do we do that?

You've had a tape playing in your mind for all of your life.

It's on repeat.

We'll say a track for the kids today.

It's a track.

I'm only as good as my last performance.

I'm only worthy if people accept me and love me.

My past has disqualified me.

You have a tape, and it's from someone who said that, it's from you saying it, and it's going on in the backdrop of your mind, and it's on repeat, and you've been listening to it for years and years and years, and it's shaped and shaping who you are.

And the scripture tells us to take captive every single thought unto Christ.

What that means is I'm going to take that thought and put it into prison because that thought has become a prison for me.

I'm going to take that thought, I'm worthless.

No, that is not true.

The seed, the word of God, what does it say about me?

That I'm beloved, I'm adopted, I'm redeemed, I'm forgiven.

This is who I am, and I replace it.

You know, some of you guys, um, some of you with your your seeds, you you overwatered.

Shared with me, like drowned it, flooded the thing.

Others, you forgot to water.

Like I watered for a little bit and then I totally forgot about it.

If you don't water it consistently, it won't grow.

What you put into your mind consistently, what you allow your mind to think about reveals and will determine what your life grows.

What you water grows.

And you've spent a lifetime repeating a track about who you are that is an untruth in line with who God says you are, and it will take a process and time.

Because if you wake up tomorrow and go, I'm a child of God, I'm a daughter of the King Most High, I'm beloved.

Just like we said with seed, day one, not much is gonna happen.

Week one, I don't know if the whole lot has changed.

After a month, I'm starting to sense a difference.

And you just keep watering.

One of the deep practices that you need to do for your overcrowded life is begin to replace the track you've been playing in your mind about who you are.

It might be just grabbing a three by five card and writing down what's true of you.

I am.

I am beloved, not based on anything I've done or could do, just because I'm his kid, period.

I am forgiven forever and finally, not because I've earned it, but because Christ has accomplished it on the cross.

I am blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Ephesians chapter one.

I am.

And you just begin to renew, renew.

That's how we water the seed of our minds.

Because all of our activity fundamentally flows from our identity.

As we close our time, how do we get to some of the root issues and give you just two more practical?

This is just really practical in context of what Jesus talked about.

Remember, he said that cluttered life.

Remember what he said about that cluttered life, right?

It's like the deceitfulness of wealth, the desire for more things.

Like these crowd out our hearts.

So, how do we clear the clutter?

I want to give you just two just simple practices.

They're profound though.

One, would you practice systematic generosity?

It feels a little bit out of left field, but it's Jesus spoke more about money than any other subject.

More than heaven and hell combine.

And here's the reason why.

Where your treasure is, what you value, what you treasure, there your heart will be also.

Anytime we talk about money, we're talking about priorities and we're talking about value.

That's the reason we get defensive.

Practice systematic generosity.

Most of us practice sporadic generosity.

I, you know, give a little here, I give a little there, so I feel generous.

Systematic generosity realigns our heart with God's heart.

This is something I do consistently, habitually.

I have a specific amount I do, and this is what I'm gonna do regardless of circumstances in my life.

Systematic generosity trains our heart to trust God.

See, it's that endless pursuit of more, getting caught up in the rat race, the American dream.

The American dream is just more than what my neighbor has.

We constantly compare.

Am I keeping up with the Joneses?

Do I wear have the right fit?

Am I driving the right thing?

Do I have the right home?

Oh man, they have this big home.

And guess what?

Everybody has a bigger home.

Somebody has a bigger home than you.

I was just talking with a friend.

His kids go to a really nice um private high school.

And it's north of here.

His kid got invited to the San Francisco 49ers head coach house to play with their kids' house.

You know, party or whatever.

It's a big house.

And we live in this weird world of Silicon Valley where we're just looking around.

That's the picture of success.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

That's just not success.

And as we keep chasing it, it will keep us from experiencing the fruitful life that Jesus has for us.

Don't you want contentment?

Don't you want peace?

Systematic generosity trains my heart to trust God.

When I have nothing or when I have a lot.

This is how it worked when we were first married.

We're first married, my wife and I, we lived in Chicago.

I was going to school at Moody.

I worked part-time at a church.

She worked full-time at a coffee shop.

We had lots of cash as a result.

Just kidding.

But we decided at the beginning of our marriage that the first 10% that came in were giving to God.

We lived in a little apartment.

We had amazing, like, like, oh, that 10%.

We could have used those hundred dollars, you know, for that.

And then we moved.

I had my first full-time job in ministry.

Uh Jenny was pregnant and gave birth to our first, Ella.

We made a whopping$30,000 a year on a single income.

And we decided we're going to give the first 10% away.

We've just done that.

Whether we were dual income, single income, we did that, whether we would ever own a house or not.

And you know what it does?

It trains your heart to trust God.

It reminds you that all that you have is from Him.

The way I tell my kids this is God gives us a lot so that we can give a lot.

So that as He gives us more, we're constantly reminded that, oh, we're just stewards.

This is His.

And whatever we have, whether it's a car or a house or even finances, God, it's yours.

However, you want to use it.

It's an incredible way to live.

It's like Jesus said it's the blessed life.

Not that you got more and more things, but you got more of what matters.

Would you practice systematic generosity?

I have a deep conviction wherever you're spiritually fed is where you should give to.

If it's here, give here.

If it's somewhere else, give somewhere else.

But we just do this like sporadic stuff and then wonder why we're not experiencing it.

Yeah, you have to change some things.

You have to adjust your life.

You have to make some uh decisions, and you realize, oh, actually, it was already God's end to begin with, and trusted.

Um, the family in our church, this uh they they practice this with their time, their talent, their treasure, and they serve in our different ministries here, and they have a heart for college students.

And it's amazing.

They came to our um our college Christmas party, and they have kids in that stage of life or beyond, and um they just have a heart, they love the heartbeat of awakening to awaken this generation to life.

Like, we want to get around and be more apart, and how can we help uh more college students experience the love of Jesus?

So they were on a Zoom with Jenny, and they're like, you know what, God just put it on our heart.

We want to help fuel that, and and so we want to give an amount to, you know, of money to really help you uh do more with college students.

What's the need?

And Jenny said, well, you know what the biggest need is, is um transportation.

College students need transportation.

It's hard to get here.

You know, we're used to be able to bust students and then some of the new regulations.

We need a van.

The next day they had prayed about it, they came with a number triple of what they initially thought.

Not a wealthy family like, hey, I'm Silicon Valley wealth.

This number meant that they were sacrificing something, maybe a vacation, maybe something that they really wanted for their home, maybe something for their family.

I don't know what it was, but they said this number, we believe so much, and by the way, that amount of number now got us this fan.

There we go.

That investment, that investment is now gonna invest in college students, and hundreds and hundreds of college students are gonna experience the love of Jesus because someone said, My stuff ain't my stuff, and God, however, you want to use it, and we thought a number, and now we prayed about it, and we got back and we doubled and tripled that number, and now God brought us a van as a result.

But as long as you're holding tightly onto your stuff, your stuff has a tight hold on you, and you will not break free from the crowded heart syndrome here.

All right, second practice.

Invite the band to come on up.

Embrace the discipline of first and last.

We've talked about this before.

Embrace the discipline of first and last.

The first things I put into my mind, and the last things I put into my mind.

That I would end my day with God on my mind, and I would begin my day in God's word.

You know how most of us begin our day?

Like this.

Checking email, scrolling Instagram.

You know how most of us end our day Netflix, zoom scrolling.

Where you just begin to go in the tyranny of the urgent and the chaos and the busyness.

I am gonna cultivate a life that begins in the word of God and ends with God on my mind.

I'm gonna allow him to book in my days.

That's the way the psalmist said it in Psalm 1, the meditate on the law of the Lord day and night, always keeping it in front of us.

Eugene Peterson said it this way: I can be active and pray.

I can work and pray, but I cannot be busy and pray.

I cannot be inwardly rushed, distracted, or dispersed.

In order to pray, I have to be paying more attention to God than to what people are saying to me.

More attention to God than to my clamoring ego.

Usually for that to happen, there must be a deliberate withdrawal from the noise of the day, a disciplined detachment from the insatiable self.

And so, first thing in the day, would you join us on our awakening Bible reading plan?

Or do Lectio 365.

It's an app.

Yes, you can go on your phone and spend time with God.

At the end of the day, I want to invite you to do an ancient practice done by Christians down through the centuries, and it's called the prayer of examine.

The prayer of examine is where we replay the day.

You get into a quiet space, you replay the day's events as if remembering your day like a movie.

You begin to rejoice.

Thank God for where he showed up, how he worked, the obvious and even the mundane.

Like, thank God for heat today.

No.

Then you repent as you notice attitudes, responses, emotions, or actions that weren't according to God's heart.

And then renew.

Look towards tomorrow, deciding to live that day for Jesus.

A prayer of examine, replay, rejoice, repent, renew, replay, rejoice, repent, renew.

Jesus said, Come to me.

In this moment, I want to give you space and time.

We're not going to rush to the next.

In a moment, we're going to take communion together.

His body broken for you, his blood poured out.

Scripture tells us, though he was rich, he became poor for our sake, that we through him might become rich.

So, would you do the prayer of examine?

Would you replay the events today?

Rejoice.

Begin to thank God for his activity.

Repent of anything you need to repent of.

And then would you come forward renewing, looking towards tomorrow, deciding to live that day for Jesus.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded.

And hey, we'd love to connect with you.

Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.