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The Breastplate of Righteousness 5 – Guarding the Heart

Sessions:

1. Blessings of the Righteous
2. The Righteousness of God
3. Righteousness by Faith
4. Practical Righteousness
5. 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, which brings peace to the heart. Righteousness guards the heart, and this is required above all else.

In a physical battle, if your enemy can shoot you or stab you in the heart, it’s game over. And in the spiritual battle, God wants your heart, so protect it and you will have peace. Left unprotected, and the enemy will find that chink in your armour, that area of your life you have not fully surrendered to God. You will be led down a path of unrighteousness because your breastplate of righteousness has slipped. The end result is distance from God and inevitably lack of peace. Your peace came from God and his righteousness. So when you are led away from him, your peace is instantly under threat.

Practical steps

 

1.   Rejoice & Give thanks!

We read Philippians 4:6-7 earlier. Now let’s back up and read some more of this passage.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!

⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

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.

Philippians 4:4-7

 

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

 

Think good thoughts – fill your mind with truth and righteousness. If you can’t think of something nice to say, think of something nice to say.

Praise is a precursor to blessing. Minister to the Lord. We have access to the throne room of grace and Jesus is your beloved. Why not spend time with him. The Lord is at hand!

 

2.   Take thoughts captive

⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Believers guard their hearts by recognizing wrong thoughts and emotions, taking them captive, and making them obedient to Christ.

When we are struggling with anxiety or complaining, our hearts and minds are not being obedient to Christ. We need to confront wrong thoughts and emotions with the truth, confess them to God, and submit them to Christ.

 

3.   Fill your mind with good things

Philippians 4:8-9 says:

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

If we fill our minds with truth and righteousness, then the devil will have less opportunity to tempt us. Every day we must fill our minds with truth by thinking on Scripture through our reading, worshipping, and even entertainment, if at all possible.

And if we do…

We will have peace! Imagine peace in a battle. Peace in a storm. What will that look like to an unbelieving world in chaos and turmoil? And the peace of God will guide you. As others look on and see your righteous life lived out of a guarded heart of love for your saviour, and as you seek first his kingdom in your everyday life, others will inevitably be drawn to the hope that you have. And that’s the ultimate goal – that his righteousness might be shared with others and found by them. That they might have a conviction of their own unrighteousness before God and desire to put that right. May God fulfil this in our town and in our lifetime.

Let’s re-read the whole section of Philippians 4 we have referred back to in this session and let the Lord speak through his word.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 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.

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

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