Prayer is so important! Listen to this encouraging and excellent teaching on the Lord's Prayer to help you develop your prayer life.

Dr David Petts uses the story of Jonah in the Old Testament to illustrate important lessons for us today.

Hear more from David Petts on his podcast - "Great Bible Truths with Dr David Petts" or go to his website, davidpetts.org

iTunes podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/great-bible-truths-with-dr-david-petts/id1436963975

Non-apple users: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jon-petts/great-bible-truths-with-dr-david-petts

Andrea's first official sermon at BCC :-)

Listen to Toni's first official sermon at BCC :-)

Listen to the podcast and enjoy Jon's notes:

The Breastplate of Righteousness 5 – Guarding the Heart

Sessions:

Blessings of the Righteous

The Righteousness of God

Righteousness by Faith

Practical Righteousness

Guarding the Heart

 

My heart beat

I’m not keen on blood. Sometimes I’d hear or feel the pulse of blood going around my body as I lay in bed and the thought of blood made me feel squeamish. I’ll get over it. I wouldn’t want to do without it just because I don’t like the thought!

And in a spiritual sense, thinking about the state of the heart is not always a top priority. Sometimes we might just want to get on and do something. I have worked with lots of Christians and can witness to the fact that many of us put our prayer life second because instant needs crop up and demand our attention. But those who stubbornly protect their heart, their time with the Lord, have stayed the course and seen great benefit. The things they refused to be distracted by were sometimes miraculously taken care of by the Lord.

God desires intimacy over activity.

Guarding the heart

Proverbs 4:23 says:

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Everything!

How you live your life is driven by the state of your heart. If your heart is pure, your deeds will be pure. Out of the heart the mouth speaks.

Satan knows if he can get to our mind and emotions, he can easily lead us away from God.

The Roman soldier’s breastplate was used to protect the vital organs such as the heart and intestines. In the Hebrew mindset, the heart represented the mind and will. The bowels, or intestines, represented emotions and feelings. Therefore, the breastplate for us can represent guarding our mind and emotions.

Our minds affect how we live. Every action is preceded by a thought.

But the enemy is also interested in our emotions. It is easy to become emotionally unstable in a non-believing world which is so full of insecurities and instability. But as a believer in the world, but not of the world, we are under extra attack. Satan stirs up people to criticize and condemn. He stirs up little romances to distract us from focusing on God. He works to make believers worry and fret about the future so that they lose their joy. The enemy is cunning and keen. Therefore, we must guard our hearts above all else.

So where does the Breastplate of Righteousness fit in to all of this?

A peaceful heart

Two sessions ago we read Romans 4 to see that our righteousness is by faith and not by works. The next chapter begins with these words in Romans 5:1:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because of our righteousness by faith, we now have peace. Peace with God is an amazing thing. We are no longer warring with him on the inside. We have peace with God through Jesus. He has forgiven us all our sins and opened up a new way for us to live.

And this peace is more than a lack of war. We are told in Philippians 4:6-7 that God’s peace will be a garrison to the heart.

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Here we see the reality of the Christian walk. We have peace with God and are saved from sin. But anxious thoughts still come in. When David asked the Lord to examine his life, he specifically named anxious thoughts as something for God to focus in on.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24

Anxiety and lack of peace is real, and every Christian is susceptible to it. So there is a need, despite the peace with God that we have, to daily put on this breastplate of righteousness,

The Breastplate of Righteousness: 4. Practical Righteousness

 

So far…

The need for a breastplate; Benefits of the Righteous

The Righteousness of God

Faithfulness

Compassion

Judgement

Salvation

Practical Righteousness

Righteous requirements of the Law

Righteousness in Christ

Why we need to put on a breastplate: “You must be reckoned perfect before you can make headway in becoming good.” (John Piper)

 

This time...

Where we left off last time showed us that righteousness in Christ Jesus is not the end goal but the starting point of a whole new spiritual journey. We have gained our salvation in Christ, but we are created for good works.

 

Paul puts this best for our context in his letter to the Ephesians:

 

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

(Ephesians 2:1-3)

 

 

The overall context of this series has been that we are in a spiritual battle against rulers and authorities. We need to put on the full armour of God, of which the breastplate of righteousness is a part. Verse 2 of the above passage shows that before we were saved, we were living under the influence of this dark force.

 

We were dead in transgressions, unrighteous. Even if we’d tried to become righteous in our own strength, by works of the flesh and by obedience to the Law, we would never be good enough. These verses show the reality of our true status before God in heaven. We are not righteous outside of Christ’s redemptive work.

 

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

(Ephesians 2:4-10)

 

Despite our unrighteousness, we are saved by the grace of God. It is often said that ‘grace’ stands for ‘God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense’. We are truly rich because of what Christ has done. But reading on, we see that our salvation from the ‘ruler of the kingdom of the air’ was not an end in itself. Look at verse 10 again. We, the new creation, are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

Spirit-led works

He created works for us in advance! How amazing is that! He knew we would be saved and designed bespoke works for us. Works that would flow out of his grace, not our guilt or sense of a need to earn salvation.

 

It is essential to get this the right way around. Without faith it is impossible to please God. If we try to do good works out of our own self-effort, we are not acting in the realm of faith. He has exciting Spirit-led works for us to do that will bear much fruit. We must follow his lead and listen.

 

The law will teach us not to murder or steal, etc. but the Spirit will inspire you to live like this and will also lead you into specific outworkings of the Law. It is in the Law to love your neighbour, but the Spirit will teach you how to show that love to a specific person – how to reach into their heart with a word or a gift or a practical offer of help. He will set you up to bump into someone just at the ...

BCC Podcast: Hear Dr David Petts unpack biblical truth from the life of this often glossed over Old Testament Character. You will learn about the enemy we face today as Christians and how he is defeated.

Podcast description:

Andrea and I learned early on in parenthood that distraction is a great child management tool.

Scenario 1 – in the park.

Child: I want an ice cream

Mum: You can’t have an ice cream.

Child: But I want an ice cream now!

Mum: But you just had your dinner

Child: Ice cream.

Mum: You just had your dinner and you had a big chocolate pudding. You must be full up.

Child: Please can I have an ice cream?

Mum: You’ll be sick

Child: I said pleeeease?

Mum: Do you want to be sick all over your buggy?

Child: No, I just want an ice cream.

Mum: Daddy, do you think an ice cream is a good idea?

Dad: Wha? Sorry? I don’t know. Er. (Tunes in, sees mum’s expression) No. Ice cream makes you fat.

Child: Has daddy had an ice cream?

 

Scenario 2 – in the park.

Child: I want an ice cream.

Mum: Oh look! There’s a slide and some swings!

Dad: Oh yes! They look amazing!

Child: (being taken away from the ice cream van) I want an ice cream.

Dad: I wonder how high I can push you on that swing.

Mum: Careful darling.

Child: Swing!

Dad: Come on then! (pushes child high on swing)

Child: I feel sick.

Mum: You won’t want an ice cream then will you.

Child: Ice cream!

 

A distraction is a thing that prevents someone from focusing on something else. The example above is a good use of distraction to help stay away from unhealthy options, but to the untamed mind, distractions come in all shapes and forms and can hold us back and drag us down.

There are, then, two elements involved:

A desired focus (e.g. exercise)

An undesired focus that has got in the way (e.g. café with donuts next door to the gym)

We can be distracted from work, exercise, healthy relationships, study.

And we can be distracted by anything that looks more appealing at the time, usually something that brings quicker but less helpful results.

All this is familiar to all of us and we never grow out of it. We all have desires that can get in the way of good things.

But it’s not just us who are aware of this. God has plenty for us to focus on but much of it reaps rewards that we can’t instantly see. And our spiritual enemy the devil has got plenty of distractions up his sleeve that are intended to eventually throw us off course altogether.

So, what is God’s desired focus for us?

Last week I mentioned God’s playbook and our role in it. It was really simplified but gave us a good overview of what God’s up to in the grand scheme of things.

Save humanity

Come back to earth

Punish the devil

Reign forever with those who believed in him

Then I said that our role in all this was

Love God

Love people

Make disciples

But if I could distil it down and risk even oversimplifying it further, I’d say the desired focus is summed up by Jesus in Matthew 6:33

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,”

Seek first - there isn’t a ‘second’, unlike the greatest commandment where God gave a second too. Seek his kingdom first. For everything else you have two options – put it second or throw it out altogether.

You brought nothing into the world, and you cannot take anything with you when you die. You may have heard the joke about the man who tried to bring some gold to heaven when he died. When he got to the gates of heaven St Peter asked him what he had with him. The man replied, I pleaded with God before I died, and he let me bring this to heaven. Peter asked what was so special about a lump of pavement. In reality, you can’t take anything with you. But some things you do are of eternal value. You can store treasures in heaven by seeking his kingdom first. But you can only do that if you’ve had a forensically thorough declutter of the whole of your life and decide if everything you do has a kingdom attitude about it and if everything else you seek is secondary. Otherwise it’s a distraction.

Distraction from

Here’s what seeking the kingdom first looks like.

I was almost sold...

When we were young and impressionable and newly married, Andrea and I went along to a meeting in a hotel that offered a free holiday to anyone who attended. But first we had to listen to a presentation about a product. We were convinced by the end of the evening that we should sign up for this product which would cost us every month for a very long time. As my pen hovered over the paper to sign, I felt quite disturbed inside and had to back out. The sale’s person’s patter had worked but when it came to the crunch I ran away. He was very disappointed, and I think he held back a few rude comments about me.

I was almost sold.

Looking back, I could see that I had been led through a process in someone else’s playbook.

 

The playbook and you

Have you ever felt like the world is constantly trying to sell you something? Telling you what you don’t have rather than what you do have? Have you been sold on something before and not realised it was happening?

A good salesperson can easily take you on a journey and before you know it you’ve committed to a purchase.

Maybe you’ve been in sales yourself and know what it takes to get inside someone’s head.

 

What is a playbook?

The term ‘playbook’ (apart from ‘play book’ being used in the theatre and dramatic arts to mean a book of plays) originally meant a notebook containing a sports team's strategies and plays.

It’s now used in other lines of work and means a set of tactics frequently employed by anyone engaged in a competitive activity.

 

What’s in a playbook?

Most sales companies’ playbooks will introduce the company goals and vision. But they will also consider the following:

The persona and mindset of their target audience. “Sales reps have to get inside the buyer’s head to sell” (Zorian Rotenberg, insightsquared.com)

The buyer journey – the steps your prospect will usually take before committing.

Sales process – what it takes to make a sale – call methodology, pitching the product, usual buyer questions and your answers, suggested conversation flow, call and email scripts, sound bytes, objection handling.

In a sporting setting, the coach will spend a lot of time analysing the opposition, looking for weaknesses in their play, and devise a playbook accordingly. They might consider:

What are our strengths?

Which of these strengths will the opposition already know about and be prepared for?

What are their weaknesses?

Where are they likely to be strong in the next game?

What else is going on for them? (e.g. key player dropped / injured, tired or energised from recent games, current morale, predicted weather conditions, etc.)

How can we utilise the above to maximise our chances of defeating them?

Imagine a spiritual enemy looking at BCC and asking similar questions.

Imagine a spiritual enemy looking at your life and doing the same.

 

Does the Devil have a playbook?

Absolutely. Here are some verses from the bible that illustrate this.

For we are not unaware of his [Satan’s] schemes. (2 Corinthians 2:11)

Do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:27)

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)

Satan has a plan. But don’t worry, he’s only a fallen angel and the all-powerful, all-loving God of the universe has a plan too.

We just have to be

Aware of the devil’s schemes

Aligned to God’s

Then all is well. Simple? Let’s see.

 

God’s playbook

God has plans we don’t know about. He knows the plans he as for you.

In this series so far…

The need for a breastplate; Benefits of the Righteous

The Righteousness of God

Faithfulness

Compassion

Judgement

Salvation

 

This time...

Righteousness by faith – God’s righteousness and us

 

Righteousness requirements of the Law without Christ

Righteousness in the bible refers to strict adherence to the law. No diversion, walking a straight line.

Jewish tradition teaches that the Old Testament Law contains 613 commandments, although they have been listed and counted in different ways. Suffice to say, the 10 Commandments were only the beginning.

The law is perfect.

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. (Romans 7:12)

The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. (Psalm 19:7)

We are not.

There is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

We could never meet the righteous requirements of the Law in our own strength. We could of course try. Even as Gentiles we could convert to Judaism and attempt to follow the laws but one failure would set us back.

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10)

 

Since Christ

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

So when we put on the breastplate of righteousness we are putting on his righteousness, not our own – that would be no protection at all – chinks in the armour everywhere!

Righteousness by faith was always God’s way. Abraham is a great example because he lived before the Law.

Genesis 15:6                               

Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Paul treats this subject carefully in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 4

3 What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’

4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

7 ‘Blessed are those

whose transgressions are forgiven,

whose sins are covered.

8 Blessed is the one

whose sin the Lord will never count against them.’

9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the...