
One of the great benefits that comes from Scripture is having a right anthropology (i.e. doctrine of man). The Bible is a revelation of God and it gives us a proper understanding of ourselves--of how God created us and how we are constituted. This being so, the Bible helps us develop a proper psychology.
Many psychologists today address man from a wrong worldview. They seek to understand man on the basis of their own whims & philosophies, and not according to the way God has really designed things. Thus they come up with all kinds of erroneous conclusions concerning man.
Many psychologists today address man from a wrong worldview. They seek to understand man on the basis of their own whims & philosophies, and not according to the way God has really designed things. Thus they come up with all kinds of erroneous conclusions concerning man.
That is why our passage for this morning is so good. Today's text brings us wisdom because it gives us a window into the nature of man--a godly glimpse into the inner life of a man and our emotional well being. Let's read it together...
"A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed."
Proverbs 15:13 ESV |
Introduction
One of the things that makes Hopewell Church such a great place to be is the merriment and cheer that characterizes this place. Every Sunday there can be heard laughter in just about every corner of this room. The atmosphere here is downright electric each Sunday because of the gaiety that permeates the room. There is a brightness that characterizes this place, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the kind of lighting we have here. It is the brightness of cheerfulness and gladness.
Of course, the reason for this is because we have a congregation full of jovial people. I have to admit that you all seem to be some of the most jovial people I’ve ever met. And it seems that with each family that comes through the doors, the level of cheer in the room increases. There’s something that happens to your own spirits. There is a raising of the spirits.
I know for me that this is typically the case. I come in here and my brain is normally helter skelter. But the atmosphere that you all create is such that a lot of that melts away. The exuberance that bubbles up in this room is something that refreshes me and is quite contagious. And I know that for me, I typically leave this place emotionally enlivened. I’m physically exhausted. I will often turn into a puddle of mush for a good part of the afternoon. But even though my body is drained, my spirits have an invigorated charge. I’m emotionally uplifted, and I truly believe that it is the ecosystem of joy that you all create.
And this is a wonderful thing. As a matter of fact, this is what the passage before us speaks to. The proverb before us this morning is talking about the emotional tenor of a person. It reminds us that God has created us as emotive creatures and it calls us to examine our emotions and keep them in some degree of check. In other words, the lord lays out here the reminder that our emotions are not just real, they are spiritual and influential realities. The human psyche is a radical thing and it is imbued with grand power over the rest of your person. And, as it bends and sways, so the whole of our being can be affected. And as that happens, as our demeanor is expressed outwardly, it can even go on to influence and affect those who may be around us.
So this morning, I want us to examine this realm. This morning our Lord is taking us on a special mission—a mission wherein we examine the inner life of a person. We are going to survey the realm of our emotions, our will, our affections. And we might begin by recognizing something very important—what we might call the priority of the inner life.
I. The priority of the inner life
You might say that the heart of this passage is the heart itself.
Notice that the word “heart” is found in both halves of our proverb. In the first half you have a glad heart. In the second half you have a heart that is laden with sorrow. And the whole of the person is affected by the disposition of the core and center. When your heart is glad, it evidences itself in a cheerful face. If it is downcast, then something terrible happens. Not only will your face show your sadness, but it will weigh heavily upon your spirits. There’s a sort of paralysis that occurs.
But again, this is all due to the condition of the heart. And we are to recognize that the inner life is of prime importance. When it comes to our emotional well being, it is primarily an issue of spirituality.
Thus we need to really understand what kind of creatures we are. We are not just a bunch of atoms and molecules. Our bodies are grand things. God created a dazzling thing up from the dust of the earth. The wonder of the human eye. The radical intricacy of the nervous system, the whole of the digestive tract is a complex conglomeration of amazing organs—each of which is radically sophisticated. But no matter how fascinating our bodies may be, no matter how important it is to our livelihood, it is still a very small part of who were are.
In our materialistic day and age, we have grown accustomed to thinking of ourselves in an unnatural way. We have reduced so much of our lives to mere chemical reactions and biological processes. We often see ourselves as not being overly different from a blade of grass that goes through the process of photosynthesis. We look at ourselves primarily as genetic creatures: as being products of DNA and the sum of this or that chromosome.
And this is given rise to the idea today that our emotional state is really dependent upon which synapse are firing and how much of dopamine is being produced in our brains. Or maybe we’ll boil it down to how many carrots you eat. The idea is “healthy food is happy food.” And of course, the pharmaceutical companies like this. This allows them to sell more pills because pills can regulate this or that.
Now, I recognize that these things can be legit. We do have a physical component. We were designed to have all our synaps firing at the right time and in the right way. We should be aware of the foods that we eat and recognize that gluttony can have negative effects. And there certainly is a place for the use of drugs and pharmaceuticals. But we should never reduce life to such things. We cannot be so reductionist.
We are so much more than that. Our physical component is but a fraction of who we really are. We are much more. We are not just physical beings, we are (you might say) super-physical beings. That is what RB Girdlestone said as he summarized the Bible’s teaching regarding the inner life. Listen to his words,
Man’s structure is of the soil—he is earthborn and allied with all physical existence. He is subject to the laws of light, heat, electricity, gravitation. But the immaterial existence that permeants that structure invests it with consciousness, floods it with sensibilities, illuminates it with understanding, and enables it to plan, will, rule, sympathize, and love. This pulse of existence—this nucleus of feeling, thought, and action, is a denizen of an immaterial sphere of being, though ordained by God to live and grow and be developed within the tabernacle of flesh.
All this is to remind us that the inner life of the soul is a significant part of who we are, if not the majority of who we are. I am not saying that the spirit is greater than the body. Not at all. They are both wonderful and imbued with dignity. That is why Christ had to become incarnate. He came to save our bodies. He took on flesh so that our flesh might be redeemed. In his physical death and resurrection He claims lordship over our bodies.
The point I’m trying to make is that we must recognize the priority of the inner life. We are spiritual beings. When it comes to our personal composition—when it comes to our humanity, we must not get caught up in the materialistic perspective of our culture. But we must always be understand that the inner life is a reality and its reality floods the rest of our person.
And that’s the next point that we make here on this text. We remember that the heart is the core of who we are, we must remember that the heart impacts how well we are. This is what I might call the complexity of the inner life.
II. The centrality of the inner life
I think that it is important to point out and remain focused on the fact that the heart is the main issue here. As you notice from the first half of the passage, it is the heart that stimulates happiness. Notice what it does not say, it does not say that our environment makes a cheerful face. Our surroundings do not make us happy. Neither does it say that our economic position makes a cheerful face. It is noteworthy that the key to happiness is not said to be anything external. The focus is the heart. It is the inward person. It is our inward person that is central when it comes to the experience of joy.
I admit that I am indebted to Tim Keller on this point. He had preached a very good sermon on this theme. And I’d like you to hear what he says in this regard. He says,
We human beings are obsessed with the idea that our happiness is determined by our external circumstances, that our happiness is completely determined by whether our body is healthy or whether our body looks good, whether we have money, whether people are treating us right, whether things are going well out there. That’s what makes us happy, or that’s what makes us unhappy.
The Bible actually says, “No, it has nothing to do with your circumstances. Happiness is determined by how you deal with your circumstances from inside, how you process, how you address, how you view them.”
He goes on to talk about the Apostle Paul. Remember that Paul could right to the Philippians the most upbeat letter of all the New Testament. In it he calls them to rejoice over and over. But he himself is sitting in a dank Roman jail cell. This was the fellow who could sing hymns while imprisoned and evangelize his fellow inmates, and even the guards who held him captive.
And Keller also points out that this is what Paul’s prayers for the churches typically focus on. When Paul takes up his pen he does not pray that they may be healthy, wealthy, and wise. He prays that they may be strengthened in the inward man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts and you may be rooted and grounded in love.
Of course, we recognize that the real key to happiness lies in Christ. Joy is a byproduct of the new birth. It is when the inward man is changed and made alive that it is imbued with happiness. That is why heaven is the place of eternal joy. It is because heaven is a place where the hearts of men have been made perfect in the enjoyment of God.
And this is why we call everyone to Christ and tell them to pray for a renewal of the heart. Only when you find this inward cleansing and renewal can you truly find the enduring cheer that transcends your personal situation. When you come to have the Spirit dwelling within you, there are eternal fountains of never ending joy welling up inside of you.
The continual expression of any Christian is that he is happier now even though he be sad, since his heart has been turned to Christ, than ever he was at his most elated moment prior to his conversion.
So, as we consider the inward life, it is important that we recognize its priority and centrality. We are spiritual creatures and our happiness is very much bound up in the renewal of our spirits. We are born in the bondage of sin and under the power of death and guilt. But once we understand that Christ frees us from these gloomy dungeons and gives us a new heart, then we will have the rays of gladness flooding our souls.
But, having noted that, let us beware of the complexity of the inner life.
III. The complexity of the inner life
The passage makes clear to us that our health and well-being has many different facets. When you look at this passage you use that there is a focus on the spiritual, emotional, and the physical. And what you understand, when you examine it, is that spiritual health, emotional health, and physical health are all very much interrelated.
It should be noted that this verse is not putting the righteous and the wicked in contrast to one another. This verse is not saying that the righteous man will be the happy man and the wicked man will always be the glum fellow. The contrast is not so much between two different people, as it is between two different emotional states.
And this helps us recognize just how complex the inner life may be. Sorrow in the heart is a condition that redeemed people can experience. Depression and dejection are pains that any person can bear. Certainly, we may say that they are more characteristic demeanors of those who would be characterized as wicked. Their worldview is a worldview of death. Their hearts are dead in sin, and so should not demonstrate the lively cheer that Christians normally would. But still, the focus here in this passage is that even a Christian heart can be crushed.
Literally we could read this that the spirit is flogged. That is the idea behind the spirit’s feeling crushed. It feels like it has been whipped and beaten and now it just lies there due to excessive pain. And this emotional state is put in parallel with the cheerful face. The idea, I believe, is that the emotional crushing leads to physical dreariness. Instead of the body being invigorated and energized through a glad heart, the body stoops and becomes dreary and deadened. It follows in tow with the emotions.
In looking at a passage like this it is good to note. For we often think that the church is supposed to be a place where only the chirpy, happy go lucky people may be. If you look at brochures of many churches, what do you see? You see pictures of people who are smiling and cheery. Part of the problem with modern marketing techniques is that we brand the church as a place for bubbly, high spirited people. And if you don’t fit that category, you probably don’t fit in.
But the truth is the Christian may bear many sorrows. And we be sensitive to the fact that the inward man may be a place where many storms rage.
IV. The vitality of the inner life
What is the cure for this crushed spirit? If you are a Christian and you are experiencing sorrows, what remedy is there?
We have mentioned already that there may very well be a place for drugs and pharmaceuticals. We should not be among those who say such things are taboo. Our brains may be bruised or broken just like the rest of the muscles or organs of our bodies. And we may certainly understand that such treatments should have their place, just as we would treat a heart condition or other physical ailment.
But again, we recognize the priority and centrality of the inward life. No matter what the condition of our physical brain, we understand that the heart is the command center of the person. And so our greatest need is the hope and redeeming grace of Christ.
When Darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
The greatest cure we have is to turn our thoughts towards the many benefits we have in Christ. This world gives us many reasons to sorrow, but in such times we must do our best to turn our hearts towards the world to come.
This is the wisdom that Paul offers us in Colossians 3.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your[a] life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
He tells us here that our concentration must transcend the sorrows and sins of this world. The greatest psychology we have is the redemption of all things. While there are many specific applications we can make on gaining a happy perspective, this is the foremost. This is the key for one’s inward vitality. You are in Christ, and Christ is at the right hand of God. We therefore now live and reign with him. We have been seated in the heavenlies. And this is our sphere of operation. We do not dwell ultimately in the dregs of earthly life. Though we live here, we abide in the highest regions of glory.
And though we do sympathize and acknowledge the pains of one who has a crushed spirit, this person must let this blessed balm cover all his sores. He must apply to himself the ointment of grace and the save of eternal bliss. This is his hope and satisfaction and the true source of personal reprieve.
One of the things that makes Hopewell Church such a great place to be is the merriment and cheer that characterizes this place. Every Sunday there can be heard laughter in just about every corner of this room. The atmosphere here is downright electric each Sunday because of the gaiety that permeates the room. There is a brightness that characterizes this place, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the kind of lighting we have here. It is the brightness of cheerfulness and gladness.
Of course, the reason for this is because we have a congregation full of jovial people. I have to admit that you all seem to be some of the most jovial people I’ve ever met. And it seems that with each family that comes through the doors, the level of cheer in the room increases. There’s something that happens to your own spirits. There is a raising of the spirits.
I know for me that this is typically the case. I come in here and my brain is normally helter skelter. But the atmosphere that you all create is such that a lot of that melts away. The exuberance that bubbles up in this room is something that refreshes me and is quite contagious. And I know that for me, I typically leave this place emotionally enlivened. I’m physically exhausted. I will often turn into a puddle of mush for a good part of the afternoon. But even though my body is drained, my spirits have an invigorated charge. I’m emotionally uplifted, and I truly believe that it is the ecosystem of joy that you all create.
And this is a wonderful thing. As a matter of fact, this is what the passage before us speaks to. The proverb before us this morning is talking about the emotional tenor of a person. It reminds us that God has created us as emotive creatures and it calls us to examine our emotions and keep them in some degree of check. In other words, the lord lays out here the reminder that our emotions are not just real, they are spiritual and influential realities. The human psyche is a radical thing and it is imbued with grand power over the rest of your person. And, as it bends and sways, so the whole of our being can be affected. And as that happens, as our demeanor is expressed outwardly, it can even go on to influence and affect those who may be around us.
So this morning, I want us to examine this realm. This morning our Lord is taking us on a special mission—a mission wherein we examine the inner life of a person. We are going to survey the realm of our emotions, our will, our affections. And we might begin by recognizing something very important—what we might call the priority of the inner life.
I. The priority of the inner life
You might say that the heart of this passage is the heart itself.
Notice that the word “heart” is found in both halves of our proverb. In the first half you have a glad heart. In the second half you have a heart that is laden with sorrow. And the whole of the person is affected by the disposition of the core and center. When your heart is glad, it evidences itself in a cheerful face. If it is downcast, then something terrible happens. Not only will your face show your sadness, but it will weigh heavily upon your spirits. There’s a sort of paralysis that occurs.
But again, this is all due to the condition of the heart. And we are to recognize that the inner life is of prime importance. When it comes to our emotional well being, it is primarily an issue of spirituality.
Thus we need to really understand what kind of creatures we are. We are not just a bunch of atoms and molecules. Our bodies are grand things. God created a dazzling thing up from the dust of the earth. The wonder of the human eye. The radical intricacy of the nervous system, the whole of the digestive tract is a complex conglomeration of amazing organs—each of which is radically sophisticated. But no matter how fascinating our bodies may be, no matter how important it is to our livelihood, it is still a very small part of who were are.
In our materialistic day and age, we have grown accustomed to thinking of ourselves in an unnatural way. We have reduced so much of our lives to mere chemical reactions and biological processes. We often see ourselves as not being overly different from a blade of grass that goes through the process of photosynthesis. We look at ourselves primarily as genetic creatures: as being products of DNA and the sum of this or that chromosome.
And this is given rise to the idea today that our emotional state is really dependent upon which synapse are firing and how much of dopamine is being produced in our brains. Or maybe we’ll boil it down to how many carrots you eat. The idea is “healthy food is happy food.” And of course, the pharmaceutical companies like this. This allows them to sell more pills because pills can regulate this or that.
Now, I recognize that these things can be legit. We do have a physical component. We were designed to have all our synaps firing at the right time and in the right way. We should be aware of the foods that we eat and recognize that gluttony can have negative effects. And there certainly is a place for the use of drugs and pharmaceuticals. But we should never reduce life to such things. We cannot be so reductionist.
We are so much more than that. Our physical component is but a fraction of who we really are. We are much more. We are not just physical beings, we are (you might say) super-physical beings. That is what RB Girdlestone said as he summarized the Bible’s teaching regarding the inner life. Listen to his words,
Man’s structure is of the soil—he is earthborn and allied with all physical existence. He is subject to the laws of light, heat, electricity, gravitation. But the immaterial existence that permeants that structure invests it with consciousness, floods it with sensibilities, illuminates it with understanding, and enables it to plan, will, rule, sympathize, and love. This pulse of existence—this nucleus of feeling, thought, and action, is a denizen of an immaterial sphere of being, though ordained by God to live and grow and be developed within the tabernacle of flesh.
All this is to remind us that the inner life of the soul is a significant part of who we are, if not the majority of who we are. I am not saying that the spirit is greater than the body. Not at all. They are both wonderful and imbued with dignity. That is why Christ had to become incarnate. He came to save our bodies. He took on flesh so that our flesh might be redeemed. In his physical death and resurrection He claims lordship over our bodies.
The point I’m trying to make is that we must recognize the priority of the inner life. We are spiritual beings. When it comes to our personal composition—when it comes to our humanity, we must not get caught up in the materialistic perspective of our culture. But we must always be understand that the inner life is a reality and its reality floods the rest of our person.
And that’s the next point that we make here on this text. We remember that the heart is the core of who we are, we must remember that the heart impacts how well we are. This is what I might call the complexity of the inner life.
II. The centrality of the inner life
I think that it is important to point out and remain focused on the fact that the heart is the main issue here. As you notice from the first half of the passage, it is the heart that stimulates happiness. Notice what it does not say, it does not say that our environment makes a cheerful face. Our surroundings do not make us happy. Neither does it say that our economic position makes a cheerful face. It is noteworthy that the key to happiness is not said to be anything external. The focus is the heart. It is the inward person. It is our inward person that is central when it comes to the experience of joy.
I admit that I am indebted to Tim Keller on this point. He had preached a very good sermon on this theme. And I’d like you to hear what he says in this regard. He says,
We human beings are obsessed with the idea that our happiness is determined by our external circumstances, that our happiness is completely determined by whether our body is healthy or whether our body looks good, whether we have money, whether people are treating us right, whether things are going well out there. That’s what makes us happy, or that’s what makes us unhappy.
The Bible actually says, “No, it has nothing to do with your circumstances. Happiness is determined by how you deal with your circumstances from inside, how you process, how you address, how you view them.”
He goes on to talk about the Apostle Paul. Remember that Paul could right to the Philippians the most upbeat letter of all the New Testament. In it he calls them to rejoice over and over. But he himself is sitting in a dank Roman jail cell. This was the fellow who could sing hymns while imprisoned and evangelize his fellow inmates, and even the guards who held him captive.
And Keller also points out that this is what Paul’s prayers for the churches typically focus on. When Paul takes up his pen he does not pray that they may be healthy, wealthy, and wise. He prays that they may be strengthened in the inward man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts and you may be rooted and grounded in love.
Of course, we recognize that the real key to happiness lies in Christ. Joy is a byproduct of the new birth. It is when the inward man is changed and made alive that it is imbued with happiness. That is why heaven is the place of eternal joy. It is because heaven is a place where the hearts of men have been made perfect in the enjoyment of God.
And this is why we call everyone to Christ and tell them to pray for a renewal of the heart. Only when you find this inward cleansing and renewal can you truly find the enduring cheer that transcends your personal situation. When you come to have the Spirit dwelling within you, there are eternal fountains of never ending joy welling up inside of you.
The continual expression of any Christian is that he is happier now even though he be sad, since his heart has been turned to Christ, than ever he was at his most elated moment prior to his conversion.
So, as we consider the inward life, it is important that we recognize its priority and centrality. We are spiritual creatures and our happiness is very much bound up in the renewal of our spirits. We are born in the bondage of sin and under the power of death and guilt. But once we understand that Christ frees us from these gloomy dungeons and gives us a new heart, then we will have the rays of gladness flooding our souls.
But, having noted that, let us beware of the complexity of the inner life.
III. The complexity of the inner life
The passage makes clear to us that our health and well-being has many different facets. When you look at this passage you use that there is a focus on the spiritual, emotional, and the physical. And what you understand, when you examine it, is that spiritual health, emotional health, and physical health are all very much interrelated.
It should be noted that this verse is not putting the righteous and the wicked in contrast to one another. This verse is not saying that the righteous man will be the happy man and the wicked man will always be the glum fellow. The contrast is not so much between two different people, as it is between two different emotional states.
And this helps us recognize just how complex the inner life may be. Sorrow in the heart is a condition that redeemed people can experience. Depression and dejection are pains that any person can bear. Certainly, we may say that they are more characteristic demeanors of those who would be characterized as wicked. Their worldview is a worldview of death. Their hearts are dead in sin, and so should not demonstrate the lively cheer that Christians normally would. But still, the focus here in this passage is that even a Christian heart can be crushed.
Literally we could read this that the spirit is flogged. That is the idea behind the spirit’s feeling crushed. It feels like it has been whipped and beaten and now it just lies there due to excessive pain. And this emotional state is put in parallel with the cheerful face. The idea, I believe, is that the emotional crushing leads to physical dreariness. Instead of the body being invigorated and energized through a glad heart, the body stoops and becomes dreary and deadened. It follows in tow with the emotions.
In looking at a passage like this it is good to note. For we often think that the church is supposed to be a place where only the chirpy, happy go lucky people may be. If you look at brochures of many churches, what do you see? You see pictures of people who are smiling and cheery. Part of the problem with modern marketing techniques is that we brand the church as a place for bubbly, high spirited people. And if you don’t fit that category, you probably don’t fit in.
But the truth is the Christian may bear many sorrows. And we be sensitive to the fact that the inward man may be a place where many storms rage.
- There may be sorrow due to unconfessed sin.
- There may be sorrow due to confessed sin, but it is simply sin that seems impossible to stop.
- It may be the sins of others that make your soul drowsy. You may be weighed down by all the evils that exist in this world.
- It may be evils that have been perpetrated against you personally. You may be the victim of someone’s malice or passion.
IV. The vitality of the inner life
What is the cure for this crushed spirit? If you are a Christian and you are experiencing sorrows, what remedy is there?
We have mentioned already that there may very well be a place for drugs and pharmaceuticals. We should not be among those who say such things are taboo. Our brains may be bruised or broken just like the rest of the muscles or organs of our bodies. And we may certainly understand that such treatments should have their place, just as we would treat a heart condition or other physical ailment.
But again, we recognize the priority and centrality of the inward life. No matter what the condition of our physical brain, we understand that the heart is the command center of the person. And so our greatest need is the hope and redeeming grace of Christ.
When Darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand;
all other ground is sinking sand.
The greatest cure we have is to turn our thoughts towards the many benefits we have in Christ. This world gives us many reasons to sorrow, but in such times we must do our best to turn our hearts towards the world to come.
This is the wisdom that Paul offers us in Colossians 3.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your[a] life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
He tells us here that our concentration must transcend the sorrows and sins of this world. The greatest psychology we have is the redemption of all things. While there are many specific applications we can make on gaining a happy perspective, this is the foremost. This is the key for one’s inward vitality. You are in Christ, and Christ is at the right hand of God. We therefore now live and reign with him. We have been seated in the heavenlies. And this is our sphere of operation. We do not dwell ultimately in the dregs of earthly life. Though we live here, we abide in the highest regions of glory.
And though we do sympathize and acknowledge the pains of one who has a crushed spirit, this person must let this blessed balm cover all his sores. He must apply to himself the ointment of grace and the save of eternal bliss. This is his hope and satisfaction and the true source of personal reprieve.