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God’s Hit Parade #3: Guard Your Heart

Proverbs 4:20-27; Focus on v.23
New Horizon Community Church of God: Men’s Breakfast
Feb. 2, 2002

Sometime ago I began asking myself if God has a favorite song. For those of

you from Cascades Fellowship, you heard my answer to that question two years ago

in a sermon titled “God’s Favorite Song.” For those of you who are part of New

Horizon Community Church or are new to Cascades Fellowship– since I know all of

you who were members of Cascades when I first preached on God’s favorite song

remember every point about the sermon – the sermon was inspired by the song of that

title performed by Phillips, Craig and Dean. Well, since that time I have continued to

dwell on God’s favorite song and have expanded it somewhat. I began to think about

what songs that we sing as the body of Christ would be included on God’s Hit Parade?

You know, a top 40 for God. Obviously, no church would allow me to preach a forty

part series, so I have narrowed the field a bit – something a little less ambitious, like

God’s top 5.

Well, if God did have a top five, one song I think would make it is called

“Guard Your Heart.” Does anyone know who sings this song? (Allow for a response)

Anyone? Steve Green recorded this song on his CD “The Mission.” The song has a

very unique beginning, but we will discuss that a bit more later. For now, I want us to

concentrate on our passage for this morning, Prov. 4:20-27. Before we get too far

along, I have to mention that at Cascades Fellowship we have begun a preaching

series on the Book of Proverbs and I want to clarify something. Men from Cascades
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Fellowship – don’t think that when we get to Proverbs 4 in our series that you can

take that Sunday off! I will have a different sermon for that part of the series.

Okay, in order for us to understand what’s happening in our passage I want to

first get a quick overview of the preceding chapters, because the first three chapters

and the first part of chapter four build up to vv. 20-27. Second, I would like us to dig

a little deeper into v.23 of our text from which this sermon and the song that inspired

it draw their titles. Finally, we will talk about what it means to guard your heart.

When I started on this sermon – and coincidentally the current series on

Proverbs – I began looking for sources to study and found to my chagrin that there is

very little preaching done on the Book of Proverbs. SOOOOoooo, I began wondering

why. One of the possible reasons for this is that there are some who say the Book of

Proverbs is not arranged in any logical or discernible order – other than grouping

according to who uttered or wrote them. The Book of Proverbs doesn’t fit easily into

a systematic theology. Nor does it lend itself to those consumed by ferreting out

obscure references to the end times and our Lord’s return – people often more

interested in pinning a date for the return of the Lord of the Harvest than gathering the

harvest from ripened fields. Its apparent haphazard arrangement provides only for

general insights into life lived here on terra firma. It does not contain promises to be

fulfilled, just common sense observations of sagely saints experienced in the warfare

of everyday living on a creation groaning to be released from the bondage of decay. A

creation looking for the consummation of God’s great plan of redemption.

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Now, for the most part, I find it to be true that Proverbs does not have an over-

arching theme – other than the life lived wisely or the righteous life over against the

foolish or wicked life. Unfortunately, this theme does not offer any real structure in

the book’s arrangement. One does get the sense that the pithy little sayings found in

the Book of Proverbs were simply recorded as they were uttered and arrangement

according to theme or central message be hanged – except for the first four chapters,

possibly the first nine.

The central theme of the first four chapters of Proverbs – indeed the first nine –

is wisdom. What it is, how you get it, what it does for you, what happens if you

neglect it. The first chapter defines wisdom as “beginning with the fear of the Lord.”

In other words, wisdom entails heeding the instruction of the Lord, living by Torah. It

means that being wise implies a moral life. This is made clear when the path of

wisdom is compared to the path of sinners in chapter 1v.10. Strong warnings are

levied against abandoning wisdom – abandoning the fear of the Lord to follow after

the way of sinners.

Now who would do that, really? Abandon the instruction of the Lord to follow

after a bunch of guys who hate discipline and do not fear the Lord. Who would do

such a thing? I would. You would to, if you stop seeking wisdom – that’s the

observation the father is making to the son in this first chapter of Proverbs. If you

cease in the pursuit of wisdom, if you no longer search out the instruction of the Lord,

generally speaking, you will fall into folly, make bad choices and find yourself

cruising down the path of sinners.

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Chapter two offers us insight into the benefits of wisdom. Wisdom begins with

the fear of the Lord, which is also the beginning of knowing God. And it is God who

is the fountainhead of wisdom and the giver of discernment. With wisdom one is

saved from the ways of the wicked, preserved from the wiles of the adulteress, and

establishes his way among the upright.

Chapter three continues the insights into the benefit of wisdom and again

connects wisdom – gaining it and living wisely – with ones relationship to God and

his instruction. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, acknowledge him all your ways

and he will make your paths straight.

So as you can see, the first three chapters are spent setting up the value of

wisdom – what is its source and content, its benefits and offerings, and the results for

any who neglect it. In chapter four, the father teaching his son draws upon the time

when his own father taught him the way of wisdom. He recalls that he was told that

“wisdom is supreme,” to be sought above anything else in life. Which brings us to

our text this morning, Prov. 4:20-27.

At first glance (and probably at any following glances) vv.20-22 serve primarily as

the attention-grabber for what comes in v.23. They, along with the preceding chapters

extol the virtues of wisdom and warn of the consequences of the way of the wicked.

And then, as if expressing the bottom line the father says "Guard your heart above all

else, because it is the wellspring of life."

The heart -- the fist-sized organ that pumps blood to the far reaches of the body.

The Bible in Lev. 17:11 says “…the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given
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it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes

atonement for one’s life.” The heart pumps life throughout the body. Physically, it is

the wellspring of life. But is this proverb warning us to guard our physical hearts? Is

it an exhortation to watch our cholesterol, cut back on fried foods and walk 2 miles a

day? While adopting these habits for your lifestyle is healthy, this is not the biblical

notion of the heart.

The heart, in the biblical sense, is the seat of emotion and will. It is the center

of the inner-life – the center and the operations of human life. The heart is the “home

of the personal life,” and hence a man is designated, according to his heart, he is a

wise man, a pure man, a foolish or wicked man, etc. – it all begins in the heart. In

Matthew 15 Christ taught that it is out of the overflow of the heart that we speak and

act. Essentially what all this means is that the contents of our heart determine our

character. Pretty scary when you get right down to it, isn’t it?

It is this idea of the heart that the father exhorts his son to guard. And not only

guard, but guard with great care. Let me read for you an amplified version of v. 23.

“Above everything else that you guard or keep diligent watch over, guard with

fidelity your heart – because out of it comes the thunderous well-springs of life.”

What you need to know here is that in Proverbs 4:13 the son is told that the

father’s instruction – that is wisdom – is life. An OT professor of mine liked to say

“Torah is life.” Perhaps today we understand it better by saying God’s instruction is

life. God’s wisdom is life. Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the embodiment of the
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wisdom of God is life; his words are life. And it is in the heart that we hide the

wisdom of God so that our wellsprings might become living water, welling up to

eternal life.

As those of you from Cascades know, I recently became a father for the first

time. Wow, what a change. I find myself doing things now that before would never

have dawned on me. While my wife, Rachel, and I were in Norfolk this summer

awaiting the Lord’s direction on where he would have us to minister, we were at a

church picnic where her dad is the pastor. Our daughter, Abby, was just a couple

weeks old. During a time of prayer and praise at the picnic, I could not resist the

compulsion to start picking up pieces of broken glass. Abby can’t even hold her head

up yet, much less crawl along the ground, but there I was, picking up glass as we were

singing songs and taking prayer requests out of this overwhelming need to make her

world safe! I was guarding the precious gift God had given me.

But gentlemen, this proverb is asking us to guard something infinitely more

precious. It is nothing less than our life in Christ. It is nothing short of our life before

the face of God. Think about it a moment. Think for a moment about how much

energy you put into guarding your money, your home, your family. All of these things

are worthy of your attention and are gifts God has given you in stewardship to be used

or cared for wisely. But above all of these things, beyond any other consideration,

you should be guarding your heart. Above everything else you guard – guard your

heart. It is an essential part of obtaining wisdom or being wise.

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But how does one guard his heart? How does someone keep watch diligently

over the source of the thunderous wellsprings of life? Well in v. 24 the father offers

the son this sage advice: Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far

from your lips.

Beloved of God, it is no secret that the tongue often betrays that what we have

hidden in our heart is filthy water. James, lamenting the tongue’s power for evil, says

this in chapter 3: “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the

body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is

itself set on fire by hell.” Earlier James stated that a person who could not keep his

tongue in check practices a worthless religion. Christ said it is out of the overflow of

the heart that we speak. So if we are speaking garbage… well, you get the picture.

The Bible has much to say about the tongue, both in metaphor and literal

description. But this morning I will limit myself to one passage that I think captures

the power of the tongue, Prov. 18:21. “The tongue has the power of life and death,

and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Our words, what we say and how we say it, has the power to heal or to wound the

heart of others – to plunge a root of bitterness into the wellspring of those we wield

our words against. Keeping a reign on our tongue is not only a wise action; it is a

gracious one as well.

Proverbs 17:28 says: Even fools who keep silent are considered wise; when they

close their lips, they are deemed intelligent. We hear that proverb today in this form,

“Better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” If
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you’re one who has trouble controlling your tongue – who has to have the last word –

commit Proverbs 17:28 to memory. It may spare you from planting a root of

bitterness in the heart of another and you from the regret that will become a root of

bitterness in your own heart. By guarding your lips, you guard your heart.

I said in the introduction that the song this sermon is titled after has a very unique

beginning. It begins with a children’s song. “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.

Oh, be careful little eyes what you see. For the Father up above is looking down with

love. Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.” This song that we classify as part of

nursery or early elementary age musical fare is full of the same sage advice the father

gives the son in v. 25. “Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly

before you.”

This is the second way to guard your heart. Guys, we live in an age of enticement

for the eyes – glitz and glitter everywhere and visions to satisfy every appetite. But

all that glitters is not gold. Be careful little eyes what you see.

How do we do that in a world where porn is the fastest growing online industry

and everything is packaged to tempt the eye? I want to give you one principle this

morning to take with you – one that can be practiced at all times and all places. This

is not a revolutionary idea. Nor is it some new insight – it just one that we seem to

ignore. Are you ready? Flee. That’s right, I said flee. This was Paul’s advice to the

Corinthians and to Timothy and it is still great advice for you and me.

Disappointed? Look, I know it’s not profound. And I know that this means that

we may miss out on a few things. But remember what you are guarding. If your
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struggle is the lust of things, don’t go where your appetites are going to be excited.

Read Luke 12:22-31 often. Surely you are more valuable than the flowers of the

fields and the birds of the air. If the lust of the eyes causes you to stumble, then

maybe you should ask Sports Illustrated not to send you the Swimsuit issue. Avoid

the places where your eyes can get you into trouble. Don’t visit questionable web sites

– and let me offer you a little tidbit – if a magazine or web site advertises itself as

being “for men” then consider it questionable. Don’t go there unless you know the

content is worthy of consideration.

If the lust of the flesh is a particularly difficult temptation for you, then don’t

watch sexually suggestive movies or television shows. If you are one of those who

says looking at other women is like window shopping – you can look all you want, as

long as you don’t buy – let me direct you to the words of Christ Matthew 5:27-30. He

doesn’t seem to leave much room there for “window shopping.” Be careful little eyes

what you see. Heed the words of Paul and keep your eyes on the goal set before you

– the upward calling of Jesus Christ.

The final way that the father advises the son on how to guard his heart is found in

vv. 26-27. “Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do

not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”

One of my less endearing qualities is that I have the worst time keeping track of

keys. When Rach and I lived in Grand Rapids, I constantly locked myself out the

apartment, and on occasion, my truck. In fact the first time I went to meet Rachel’s

grandparents in Wisconsin I locked my keys in the truck. Anyway, I am painfully

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aware of my predilection for forgetting keys so what I have learned to do is make

several copies of any key I own and then spread those keys around to the people in

my social circle. This way, before I ever lock myself out, I am prepared to deal with

it. I am making level paths for my feet and taking ways that are firm.

You see, the advice the father gives the son in this proverb is simply this: examine

yourself. Know what your weaknesses are and know in advance how to deal with

them. Remove any moral stumbling blocks in your path – the sin that so easily

entangles – by preparing an answer before hand. Spend a little time going over in

your mind how you will respond when that pet sin or temptation rears its ugly head.

In doing so, you prepare the way your feet will walk to flee from that sin and having

done so will not stray to the left or right from the path established before you.

Steve Green, in his song titled “Guard Your Heart” says it only takes a moment, a

glance to turn the wellspring of life into murky waters. In that instant we can be

carried away by our lust and the seeds of sin be sown. For one moment’s pleasure, we

abandon wisdom – we exchange life for death. That is the message the father gives to

the son in the first chapters of Proverbs. A message he climaxes with this instruction,

“Above everything else that you guard, guard your heart.” Sage advice. Men of God,

guard your heart. It is not only a song on God’s hit parade, it’s the way we live before

the face of God.