It Is a Matter of the Heart
Mk. 12:38-44 NIV
Purpose: We will give God our heart in order to change it.
38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces,
39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.
40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.
42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their
wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live
on.”
This is the Word of God,
for the people of God,
praise be to God.
Amen
It's a Matter of the Heart!!!
Mark 12: 38-44 NIV
Purpose: We will give God our heart in order to change it.
Outline
I. Introduction
Talk about heart surgery and how it has been impacting the world. However, it is has to be difficult to have a new heart. Of course, the human body knows how to act and react with its heart. When one has had his/her own heart for a period of time, there has to be a kind of connection on how to interact properly between our organs and ourselves. I cannot imagine how it is to have another person's heart pumping in my body and helping me to live.
According to research, the recovery from a heart surgery is very slow, painful, and in several cases does not last for long period of time.
II. God's surgery of our hearts it is easy and secure.
III. Interpretation of the text, Mark 12: 38-44
IV. Conclusions
V. Prayer
It's a Matter of the Heart!!!
Mark 12: 38-44 NIV
Purpose: We will give God our heart in order to change it.
I am pretty sure that each one of us is familiar with human heart surgery. I think the most familiar and common surgery is when one person needs a coronary heart surgery. This surgical process helps to restore blood flow to the heart muscle; consequently the blood flow to the heart is going to improve1. I know some of you have experienced this type of surgery. What I have also heard and seen is the recovery after this surgery. It is painful and slow. The patient has to take baby steps in order to help the body to heal. Besides the care of the patient after surgery, it is the medicine that helps the new veins to function well, pumping blood into the heart.
Once surgeons became comfortable and successful with this procedure of unblocking arteries in the human heart, they looked for other possibilities to improve human health. So, they came with the human heart transplant. I think this is an incredible step in the field of medicine, to live with another person's heart. According to some research, a heart transplant is a fairly simple operation for a cardiac surgeon. They say that the procedure consists of three surgeries.2
First, they have to find a donor who can give his/her heart. The donor is usually a person who has suffered irreversible brain injury. The heart needs to be transported on ice to keep it alive. The period of life for a heart in this condition is around 6 hours.
The second surgery is removing the recipient's heart that is damaged. This operation can be easy or complicated. If the patient has had previous heart surgeries then he/she will have scar tissue. It can prolong the surgery. The third surgery is the implantation of the heart. At the same time, that the patient has to have three surgeries, he/she needs the medication that prevents the body from rejecting the new heart.4 To me, a heart transplant sounds very complicated, but it is worth it for the person who is receiving the new heart, because it keeps him/her alive.
Sadly, up until now, heart transplant surgery has been successful but not for a long time. Some statistics have shown that the recipients can survive from one year to three years with a new heart.5 The patients that need to have a heart transplant surgery are given everything to have a new heart, in order to live longer.(3)
Here, in the text of today, we have a poor widow who is giving everything that she has. She is giving her heart with her offering. She is giving herself to God. God already has performed a surgery in her heart. She has a new heart. She has experienced the transformation from a human heart to the heart of God. The poor widow is not concerned for her future. I am not saying that we should live the moment without responsibility. What I am saying is that if we let God give us a new heart, it is going to be easy to give ourselves to Him.
My dear ones it is a matter of the heart!!! Our hearts have been hurt through the experiences in our lives, such as when we have fallen in love with the wrong person. When we have suffered disappointment because the person whom we have loved has not loved us as well, or our beloved is no longer with us, or someone has cheated on us. Our hearts have been broken over and over, but here is the good news:
1) We don't have to find a donor to give us a new heart. We have the best donor in the entire universe, God. God has given us His own heart in the Holy Spirit.
2) Our heart is not going to last from one to three years. It is going to last for the entire eternity!!!
3) When our human and broken heart is replaced with the Divine heart of God, we are going to experience freedom from concerns, anxieties, possessions, and sins. Our body is not going to have the risk of "rejection." The Divine heart doesn't reject any human body that needs or wants a transplant. The only medicine that we will need is our wiliness to accept God's heart.
Finally, we are not just going to have more life. We are going to have an abundant and quality life, because we are going to live with a very specific purpose, to do the Will of God.
I am pretty sure that here in Glendale UMC, we have obtained the heart of God as did the widow of the biblical test of today. Now it is the time to go, to help, and to lead other people to get a heart transplant, to obtain the heart of God.
Let us pray,
Good Father
Thank You for the opportunity to have Your Divine heart. Help us to show others what it means to have Your Divine heart in this broken world. Help us to show them that they also can obtain abundant and free life.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
(3)http://www.medicinenet.com/heart_transplant/article.htm#introduction_to_heart_transplant. (Accessed on 11.6.2015). 4 http://www.medicinenet.com/heart_transplant/article.htm#introduction_to_heart_transplant (Accessed on 11.6.2015). 5 http://integrisok.com/nazih-zuhdi-transplant-institute-oklahoma-city-ok-heart-transplant-heart-transplant-life-expectancy-statistics (Accessed on 11.6.2015).
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