If there’s one thing that most of us can’t stand, it’s a fake, a hypocrite.  Someone who’s one thing on the outside and something quite different on the inside. And when that fake, that hypocrite is us – it can end up tearing you apart. 

I don’t know about you but if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a fake. A product that doesn’t do what the advertisers claim that it will do. A person who says one thing but does another. It’s not just dishonest but well, it’s annoying. Because there’s no excuse for it.

Fake is the word we use to describe a thing that falls into that category. But when it comes to a person we have another word. We call them a hypocrite. A hypocrite is someone who lives life by the maxim, ‘Do what I say and not what I do’. A hypocrite is someone who holds themselves out to be one thing but on the inside they’re something entirely different.

Hypocrisy violates trust. And let’s be honest, it’s something we’ve all done. When we go for a job interview we can be so intent on putting our best foot forward that we hold ourselves out to be something that we just aren’t. We so want to impress so that we can win the job, we embellish our abilities and our experience.

You know what I’m talking about. Two faced is another expression we have to describe this disconnect between the person who we are on the inside and who we really are on the outside. Because eventually who we are on the inside shows through. And that’s why it appears that we have two faces. The question is, when we look in the mirror can we spot the fake?

Last week on the program and again this week we’re looking at our hearts. That deep place inside where we live. Where our dreams and motivations and desires and intentions are. The place where we experience joy and pain. Because the heart is so incredibly important.

It’s something I realised when I gave up smoking. I used to smoke 3 packets a day. I was a chain smoker. I was really addicted. I tried to give up, I tried and tried and tried but I never could. I tried and tried and tried again. But one day I was in a room and I watched someone die of cancer. I watched this woman breathe her last breath on this earth. She’d been a smoker.

It’s almost 30 years ago now but I remember as if it was yesterday. I walked out of that room. I took the packet of cigarettes out of my pocket, a gold pack at about half full. I threw them in a grey metal bin and I haven’t had a single cigarette since.

Why? Because I had a change of heart in that room. Watching that woman die moved me so deeply, it changed my heart. And the moment my heart was changed the rest was easy. But for ages before I used to lie to myself and others. I’d pretend I’d given up. I’d kid myself. I’d pretend to others. But you can tell when someone’s had a cigarette. I was trying to be one thing on the outside but I was something else in secret until I had that change of heart.

The heart is so incredibly important because it’s what happens in our hearts that determines how we live our lives. If the stuff going on in our hearts is good then we’ll live a good life. But if it’s rotten, we’ll live a rotten life. You can’t help it. It’s just the way it is.

Psalm 55. It’s a psalm of king David. Have a listen to what he says about a so-called friend:

My companion laid hands on a friend and violated a covenant with me. With speech smoother than butter but with a heart set on war. With words that were softer than oil but in fact were drawn swords.

I love that contrast. “A speech smoother than butter but with a heart set on war”. Do you see the disconnect between what the person was saying, this so-called friend, and what he did. That’s the temptation for all of us. To have deceit and anger and war in our hearts and to pretend to be something else on the outside.

In fact many, many years later the apostle Paul wrote this. You can read it in the New Testament book 2 Timothy chapter 3, beginning at verse 1:

You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable slanderous, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Holding to the outward form of Godliness but denying its power. Avoid them.

See, there it is again. This disconnect between the real person on the inside and what they pretend to be on the outside. They hold to an outward form of Godliness but inside there’s all this rottenness. They pretend to be Godly but they deny the power of God to change their lives.

That’s the problem with being religious. People ask me, “Are you religious?” And I answer, “Absolutely not!” It has absolutely nothing to do with religion for me. It’s about a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus said the same thing. The hypocritical religious leaders, the Pharisees, appeared to be so Godly, so “goody two shoes” on the outside but listen to what Jesus said to them. Matthew chapter 23, verses 25 and 26:

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees. You hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the plate but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisees, first clean the inside of the cup so that the outside may also be clean.

And this is the reason that we’ve been talking about the importance of a clean heart over this past week and again this week on the program. Listen to me. Unless God changes our hearts and that’s the power the apostle Paul talks about, nothing’s going to change in our lives.

I tried to give up smoking but it’s not until God changed my heart that it actually became possible. Can I tell you? I tried so hard. I have a strong will okay, I’m not some weak-willed person. I simply couldn’t give up the cigarettes.

But here’s the amazing news. God wants to transform our hearts. He wants to change our hearts. He wants to do things in us that we simply can’t do for ourselves. So even if you or I were heart surgeons, we couldn’t operate on ourselves to clear a blocked artery. You have to get someone else to operate on your heart.

That’s what’s going on here and the heart is who we are deep inside. It’s so important. Because who we are deep down inside is either going to give us a fantastic life. A life that’s a blessing to ourselves and to others. A life where we have the power to love and to sacrifice and to serve. Or it’s going to give us a rotten life. A life of selfishness. A stunted life.

Last week we looked at this verse from the book of Proverbs. Let me ask you to let it become part of who you are and how you live and what you want God to do in you. Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23:

Above all else, guard your heart for it is the well spring of life.

Let’s stop pussy-footing around. Let’s stop tinkering at the edges trying to change this or that. Real change, powerful change, decisive change that once and for all sets us free from the rubbish that’s holding us back, comes from the power of God, the Holy Spirit. God Himself at work in our hearts. Because when He sets us free we will be free indeed.

I believe that God wants to give us a pure heart, a strong heart, a soft heart, a steadfast heart. I believe God wants to hide His word in our hearts. Yours and mine. To do mighty, mighty things that we simply can’t even imagine.

So often – religion is about the things we do.  It’s about being seen in the right places, showing up, doing things for God.  And we can all, quite easily, fall into that trap.  I remember the shock, though, when I realised that God isn’t so much into religion, as He is into a relationship.  

I remember a decade and a half ago when I became a Christian. I remember the first time I took myself off to Church. Man, it was a scary thing to do. My frame hadn’t darkened the doorstep of a Church for many years. Other than the odd wedding or funeral. It was a sunny day.

I spotted out this little Church building not far from where I lived. So I rocked up, pretty much just on time so I wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. Didn’t realise back then that they always started 10 minutes late. And this man greeted me at the door. He was wearing a red tie and a white shirt with short sleeves. “Hi, my name is Phil”, he said and he shook my hand enthusiastically and smiled.

So I went inside and I looked around and I thought to myself, “I wonder where the minister is?” I was looking for a guy in robes or at the very least, with a dog collar that ministers used to wear in those days. Couldn’t find one. And truly, I had no idea who “the minister” was until it came time for the sermon and Phil got up and preached it. “This is pretty odd” I thought. ”Could it be that he’s the minister? Where’s the collar? Where are the robes?”

I learned so much from Phil. And one of the most important things he ever taught me was that it’s not about religion and ritual. That’s not what God is looking for. It’s about something else entirely.

Phil Littlejohn is his name. He became a giant in my life. A man who encouraged me and taught me and through whom God brought a lot of healing to my life. But the old Phil refused to be called, “Reverend Littlejohn”. I never saw him in a dog collar or in robes. And he talked so much about the fact that living our lives for God had nothing whatsoever to do with the outward trappings of a religion.

Now that was a shock to me. It’s just not what I expected. I expected those outward trappings. But you know something, the more I read what God has to say, the more I read about what Jesus actually did and said, the more I had to come to the conclusion Phil was absolutely right.

Is there anything wrong with robes or collars or choirs, all that stuff? No, not at all. But those things, well they’re not the main game. God’s not interested so much in the rituals we perform as He is in the relationship we have with Him.

Have a listen to this exchange between some of the religious leaders of the day and Jesus. It’s so powerful. Have a listen. It comes from Matthew chapter 15, verses 1 to 9:

Then the Pharisees and the scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of our elders for they do not wash their hands before they eat?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God says, ”Honour your father and your mother and whoever speaks evil of the father or mother must surely die? But you say that ‘Whoever tells a father or mother whatever support you might have had from me is given to God’, then that person need not honour the father.

‘So for the sake of your tradition you make void the word of God. You hypocrites. Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said, ‘This people honours me with their lips but with their hearts they are far from Me. In vain do they worship Me teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

I find that sobering because I’m a baby boomer, a post war generation. We like order and organisation. That’s why I had the expectations that I did of what a Church should be like. And I constantly thank God for giving me Phil that first day I walked into a Church. Because He used Phil to set me free from religion.

If you’re younger than me you won’t find that exchange between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees so much sobering. But probably you’ll find it liberating because you’re just not into structures and hierarchies and all that stuff. But it’s this one sentence that Jesus spoke that I really want to hone in on ’cause it’s the word of God that has the power to breathe life into you and me today. Have a listen. He said:

This people honours me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. In vain do they worship me teaching human precepts as doctrines.

Because you know something, the world over there are millions, hundreds of millions, even billions of people who think that by going to Church and going through the religious motions and rituals and ticking the religious boxes that somehow this would put them in favour with God. That that’s what it’s all about. That by doing what the religious leaders say they will have eternal life.

But so much of what we do when we play “church” are human things we invented. In some churches they kneel and stand and sit at different times in the service. Now there’s nothing wrong with that but it’s a human invention. Some churches burn incense. Others say certain set prayers. Some sing, some don’t. Some use guitars and drums. Others use an organ. It’s all good but none of those things are where it’s at.

We can sing songs and honour God with our lips but if our hearts are far from Him, then we are worshipping Him in vain. You see it in marriages. Some marriages, sadly, are little more than a facade and a ritual, they’re a sham. There’s no real heart connection there between husband and wife. You think that just labouring through each day and pretending everything’s okay is what a marriage should be about? Well of course not.

So how can we imagine that living our lives for God can be about ticking religious boxes? My friend, God wants our hearts. God wants a heart connection with us. He’s so passionate about that, that He sent His only Son to die for you and for me so that we could have that sort of a relationship with Him.

These religious leaders Jesus was talking to didn’t have a clue about the love of God and the heart connection He wants with us. Not a clue.

The world is full of Churches that are full of leaders and people where they don’t have a clue of the passion that God has for them. The passion to connect. The passion to set us free. The passion God has for us to experience His glory and His grace and His love where He is.

Are all Churches like that? No, of course not. Let me tell you, a lot are. I know people who’ve gone to Church most of their lives. I look in their eyes and I’m looking for the spark of passion, the spark of desire for God and there just isn’t one.

Listen to me. Loving Jesus isn’t about singing songs and going to Church and doing religious things. Loving Jesus is about opening our heart to Him and letting Him have sway in us and laying our lives down for Him and loving the people around us and serving the people around us.

Listen to what the Psalmist writes. Psalm 84, verse 2:

My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

That’s what God’s looking for and that’s the sort of heart and desire that He’ll give us if only we’ll ask Him. God is in the business of changing our hearts my friend. God is in the business of utterly transforming our hearts. I long for the living God. I long to see Him, to hear Him, to know Him in every part of my life.

That’s why I spend time praying each day. That’s why I take quiet times to rest in Him. And the more I discover Him, the more I realise I will never run into the boundaries of His love. I’ll never come to the end of it because there is no end. There is no end to His love. What a joy! What a life! Religion can’t give me that.

You know something – if I were God, there are a few people on this earth who would discover what wrath was all about.  But fortunately for you, I’m not.  And in fact, what really shocked me was to discover that God has this amazing heart – this amazing desire to heal those who once hated Him.  

I don’t know if you remember that old Frank Sinatra song, “I Did It My Way”. But that could well be the bi-line for the way that I decided to live my life. I grew up in a home where we went to church. I had plenty of opportunity in my teenage years to give my life over to God. I kind of did. But as I grew up and realised there was money to be made in the world out there. I decided there was only one way to live my life – my way.

Have you ever been half hearted about something?  We all have – and the thing is, when we’re half hearted, there’s one thing for certain, we’re never going to succeed.  Part of us pulling this way, part of us pulling the other way. It tears us apart.  But God, God is into healing our divided hearts.

You know one of the things that I give thanks to God for is that I’m not indecisive. Well, at least I don’t think I am but maybe, I don’t know. What do you think? You get the point. It’s okay for us not to be sure about some things in life.

I was speaking with a man just the other day. Faithful man of God. Put in charge of a ministry. And once he took over he discovered that the organisation was massively in debt. And as I listened to him share his story with me. Would they have to close the doors in the next couple of weeks? Or would God perform miracles they needed? I really felt for him.

Sometimes in the circumstances of life we’re not quite sure how things are going to turn out. Is this going to go this way or that? Is God going to show up with a miracle or not? They are normal issues with life that we deal with.

But there’s something else that can go on in our hearts, an indecisiveness of a much deeper sort. An indecisiveness so deep that it tears us apart. And that condition is known as a “divided heart”. A heart torn between God and all the other things in life that we can chase down. A heart torn between a deep desire to give our all to Him and the intensely human desire to chase after the gratification this world peddles.

Imagine for a moment a football team where the players can’t agree which end of the field they’re defending and which end they’re attacking. Half the team thinks it’s one way and the other half thinks it’s the other way. You don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that they’re probably not going to be the most affective and cohesive team on the field that day. And they’re probably not going to win the game.

It’s blindingly obvious, isn’t it? Yet how many people live their lives like that? Let me get right in your face with this today. I’m not going to “mamby pamby” around because while Gods passionate desire is to heal our hearts, there’s often little He can do when our hearts are divided.

Now there’s a principle that Jesus spoke of on this very subject. It was in a different context but the principle nevertheless stands. They all saw the amazing miracles that Jesus was doing and so some of the religious leaders accused Him of being the devil. They were saying that He was demonised and all these amazing displays of power were being, well, powered not by heaven but by hell. Jesus answered His critics this way:

Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If satan drives out satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

It makes perfect sense doesn’t it? It’s the football team analogy. If a kingdom is divided against itself that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. It’s blindingly, obvious.

And if our heart is divided, if our desires are pulling in two different directions, let me ask you something. How much peace are we going to have in our lives? How much power are we going to have in our lives? How affective are we going to be in pouring the love and the grace of God out into this lost and hurting world? Well again you don’t have to be Einstein to figure that out.

One of the things that really shocked me when I started scratching around in the Bible was how often this phrase appeared:

With all your heart.

Have a listen to just a few. Deuteronomy 4:29:

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 6:5:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 10:12:

And now O Israel what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart?

Deuteronomy 11:13:

So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Over and over again, it’s in the same context. Being committed to God, loving Him and seeking Him with all our hearts.

There are so many people who want the benefits of believing in Jesus but haven’t thrown their hearts into it. There are so many people who want the peace and the joy of knowing Jesus. Who want the power for things to change in their lives for the glory of God. But their house is divided. Their kingdom is divided. Their heart is divided.

God is not looking for part of us. God is not looking for some half-hearted commitment. Last time I checked there were no Biblical dispensations for honouring and serving and obeying him like, “Well Berni, if it suits you. If it doesn’t cost you anything. If it’s not too inconvenient. If it’s safe and you won’t lose anything.” And yet sometimes we behave as though those dispensations are there.

So many Christians, people who love Jesus. Who believe in Jesus. They do it half-heartedly. Have a listen to what James writes about the getting of wisdom:

If any of you lacks wisdom he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him but when he asks he must believe and not doubt because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed with the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord, he is a double minded man unstable in all he does. (James 1:5-8).

God doesn’t want part of us. He wants all of us. God doesn’t want us to be half-hearted or double minded, tossed around. He wants ALL of us. He’s calling us today to love Him, to serve Him, to seek Him out with all our hearts. Every last little bit. Every last ounce of what we have left. That’s how much He wants us.

Let me ask you something, are you in or are you out? Because there are no half measures for God. There is no lukewarm. There are no comfort qualifiers on this commitment.

How do I know if I’m committed? Well, here are a few questions that I use from time to time in my own life as a litmus test:

Am I prepared to stand completely alone for Jesus in this world?

Am I prepared to lose everything to follow Him?

Is there anything that I would not give up in order to serve Him?

They’re telling questions my friend. They are important questions because the one who is double minded, half-hearted, lukewarm, shouldn’t expect to live in a place where he or she receives the joy of the Lord and the power of salvation. Yes God wants to heal our hearts but in order for Him to do that we have to hand the whole heart over to Him so that He can heal the whole thing.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever asked God to help you with that? Here is a prayer that King David prayed along those very lines:

Teach me Your way oh Lord and I will walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear Your name. I will praise You oh Lord my God with all my heart. I will glorify Your name forever. For great is Your love towards me. You have delivered me from the depths of the grave. (Psalm 86, verses 11 to 13).

What a mighty prayer. And Gods promise is to give us an undivided heart. Ezekiel 11:19:

I will give them an undivided heart and a new spirit in them. I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.

Music has this ability to – well, to lift our spirits.  To move us on the inside in a way that nothing else can.  And so when we make music in our hearts – music for God – there’s a healing that comes out of that overflow.

There’s something special about music. We each like different things. For me it’s Beethoven, Chopin, The Little River Band. Funny thing music. I mean I listen to one of my favourite songs and, well without the music the lyrics would still probably make a pretty good poem but it wouldn’t be the same, would it?

There’s something about music that moves us. Music is something that touches the soul. Music is something that touches us so deep in our hearts. When you stand back and think about it, well it’s kind of weird. It doesn’t make sense but there you go.

Music affects us in ways that we can’t explain. And that’s why I love this particular verse written by the apostle Paul almost 2,000 years ago. Have a listen:

Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19).

It’s one thing for someone else’s music to move us, to rock us to the core. But that’s not what Paul’s talking about here. He’s not talking about receiving music. He’s talking about giving music. Singing and making music in your heart to the Lord. Now that’s something quite different.

Over these last couple of weeks we’ve been talking about the fact that God wants to heal our hearts. The heart is that place deep inside where we live and laugh and cry and experience things.

People can have hard hearts or soft hearts. Divided hearts or committed hearts. Our hearts can be proud and arrogant or humble and contrite. And the point, I guess, of what we’ve been talking about over these last few weeks is the fact that our hearts need healing. Because when they’re sick, it robs us of life. It stunts our growth and that’s why God wants to heal our hearts.

Even when we’ve turned our backs on Him, especially then. When we’re hurting. When we’re living through the consequences of our rebellion. Jesus, quoting Isaiah, said this:

For this people’s heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn and I would heal them.

And what happens when our hearts are healed is this. Instead of being needy all the time. Instead of always needing people to help us and support us. Instead of being mostly a taker, we become mostly a giver. There’s an overflow. There’s an abundance. There’s more than enough to share with others whose hearts, in turn, need healing. And nowhere is this more evident than when we’re making music in our hearts to God.

I wonder if that isn’t what worship is all about. See, these Christians, they go to church, mostly on Sundays and sing songs and worship God. But I know from my own experience and maybe you’ve been in this place too, that it’s entirely possible to stand there, to sing the song and have your mind wandering. “Oh I wonder who’s going to win the football match this afternoon.”

You know what I’m talking about. There’s no worship happening there. The mind’s not even engaged yet alone the heart. But when our hearts have been healed by God we just want to make music. We just have to.

Because when the Spirit of God gets a hold of our hearts and heals them and brings forgiveness and repentance, that turning back to God that we were talking about the other day. When we love God and we seek Him and serve Him with all our hearts. When that’s what’s happening on the inside, let me tell you, we just want to make music to God in our hearts.

Can I ask you something today? Can I implore you? Don’t settle for a life of anything less. This is God’s plan for you and for me so that even when we’re going through the most severe trial, we can close our eyes and just know that we are full of the Spirit of God Himself. That we are loved. That we are safe and that my friend is where the joy of the Lord comes from. That’s what makes us want to make music to the Lord, our God, in our hearts.

There was a time when David, before he became king of Israel, was being hunted down like an animal by the current king, Saul. Saul wanted to kill David and so David, this day, was hiding in a cave. Later he writes a psalm about that experience. Listen carefully, it’s so beautiful. Psalm 57:

Be merciful to me O God, be merciful to me. For in You my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until the destroying storms pass by. I cry to God most high, to God who fulfils His purposes for me. He will send from heaven and save me. He will put to shame those who trample on me. God will send forth His steadfast love and His faithfulness.

I lie down among the lions that greedily devour human prey. Their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongues are sharp swords, be exalted O God above the heavens. Let Your glory be over all the earth. They set a net for my steps, my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my path but they have fallen into it themselves.

My heart is steadfast O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make melody. Awake my soul. Awake O harp and lyre. I will awake the dawn. I will give thanks to you O Lord among the peoples. I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your steadfast love is as high as the heavens. Your faithfulness extends to the clouds.

I love this! Here is David, he is hiding and cowering in a cave. People are after him, he is in fear for his life. This is the darkest hour, his life is threatened. He’s lying amongst the lions and yet listen to what he’s saying. Psalm 57:7:

My heart is steadfast O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make melody.

How can he want to sing? How can he want to make melody? Because his heart is steadfast. It is healed. It is resting in God. He is safe amidst the danger and the threat. And he just can’t help himself. He wants to sing.

Does that mean we should expect to be on cloud nine? No. Some days are going to be tough. Some days are going to be like hiding in the cave fearing for our lives. But on those days I want to deliberately encourage you today to make music in your heart to God.

God wants to have us healed. He wants a heart in us that is steadfast and abundantly overflowing with the joy of the Lord. And you know what I’ve discovered? On those bad days when sometimes the very last thing that I feel like doing is worshipping God, I worship Him anyway. Because in this strange kind of way, in a way that I can’t quite explain, worshipping God, making music to Him in my heart brings healing and peace and joy.

My friend, listen to me. God wants to heal your heart. Lay it out before Him. Seek Him with all your heart. Love Him with all your heart. Serve Him with all your heart. And He will, I promise you, He will come and heal it.

It may take time, it often does. But little by little, that sickness inside us He calls sin goes away and it’s replaced by health, a vitality, a passion, a desire to sacrifice and serve the Lord our God. And it’s like He gives us a new heart or it’s like He revives our heart. And when He does that, no matter what comes, we end up in our own way saying what David said:

My heart is steadfast O God, my heart is steadfast. I will sing and make melody.

You just can’t help it.