Sermon at Grace Episcopal on March 29, 2009 by Lynette

Jeremiah 31:31-34
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt-- a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Can anyone here tell me what world-changing event happened on December 3, 1967? How about if I mention the name of Denise Darvall? Louis Washkansky? Dr. Christiaan Barnard?

That's right: the 1st human heart transplant! Denise was a pedestrian who was killed by a drunk driver. Dr Barnard took her heart and placed it in the chest of 54-year-old Louis, who was imminently dying from an incurable heart disease.

It rocked the world. Nothing like this had ever happened anywhere before. Here was a man who was crippled and paralyzed by a weak and dying heart who suddenly was given a new chance at life because someone he had never met died and shared a heart with him.

Doesn't that sound familiar? It reminds me of God's promise in Jeremiah that we just heard. God promised to write His words on our hearts. It reminds me also of Paul writing that in Christ we are all new creations. Turn to page 805 and read with me from Ezekiel 36:26, "A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." (NRSV)

So the first human heart transplant wasn't done in a Capetown hospital by a surgeon from South Africa. The first heart transplant was accomplished by a man named Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, with 3 nails holding Him on a wooden cross on a lonely hill. Even though He had never met us, the Son of God sacrificed Himself so that we could have a new and healthy heart instead of the weak and dying organ that we have carried around with us.

The benefits of a heart transplant are amazing. Instead of being constantly gasping for breath and unable to walk, new heart patients can walk and even run again. And many of them do run marathons. Before, a few steps would leave them tired. The fluid from a single soda could move them over the edge into complete heart failure. But with a new heart they can hug their children, go on vacation and even enjoy a steak and a beer. If I had a sick heart like that I sure would want something to help me live a fuller life.

And when the Lord gives us a fresh and healthy heart there is an immediate rush of joy, peace, love, and holy discontent. Wait a second. Holy discontent? What the heck is that? And where does that show up on the heart spectrum?

Give me a moment and I'll explain. Sometimes we think of the signs of a weak heart as doing drugs, living a wild life, or being just plain mean, like kicking the dog. While those are signs of a heart that's not quite right, most of us don't kick the dog or spend our entire paycheck on drugs and partying. But that doesn't mean our hearts are right. Sick hearts have other signs too.

When our hearts are fragile and ailing, there are other obvious effects. We have bursts of anger and resentment. We get depressed and frustrated when things don't go our way. In fact, one sign of a weakened heart is when we want "things" and "experiences" to satisfy us. We can't wait for the next high, whether it's bungee jumping, street racing, a radical party, or trying to hit the jackpot in Vegas. Another sign of a weak heart, is a general discontent where we are always looking back with a woulda-coulda-shoulda view of life. You know what it's like. I coulda been a ballerina if I didn't have size 12 feet, or I woulda been a fireman if I knew long division. Scotty wanted to be a jockey. Seriously. But he doesn't go around blaming people that he's not. Of course you may know someone who says "I could a been the next Tiger Woods if I learned to play golf when I was 3years old!" That's general discontent.

Now holy discontent is different. That often comes with a new heart from Jesus. It is that twinge you feel when you walk by the panhandler without giving anything and you have $3.00 of change. It is when some idiot at work has irritated you to the point of a sore stomach, and you gave them a piece of your mind. But it wasn't the nice piece that you shared with them. Now you feel a bit shame, especially when you hear the words of Jesus to love your enemies. Holy discontent is when you want to help someone who is struggling so much that your new heart wants to jump out of your chest and say, "Over here! Let Jesus love you!"

Holy discontent says that even though we have a new heart with God's light written on it, we live in a land that is full of darkness. It is longing to have everyone we know and every part of our life dancing with wonder and delight. And it is not being irked when anyone or anything breaks in on our scheduled-to-da-max life.

But what can you find in this world that is unbreakable? What has a 100% lifetime warranty? Forgiveness and a new heart through Jesus Christ. That's the unbreakable promise we have from God.

I would love to stop right there. AMEN and thanks be to God. But that would be lying to you. That would reinforce something that slowly kills off Christians, as they lay awake at night and struggle. Here is a quick summary of the Lie, the Fallacy: once you find Jesus, a new heart is all you need. Once Jesus has given you a new heart, everything will be all rosy and hunky-dory. That's the Lie.

Often when we first get a new heart from Jesus, it's a new high. Being saved and meeting Jesus Christ for the first time is stronger than any drug I ever took. The overwhelming flood of new emotions and experiences when the Holy Spirit comes into us is a bigger rush than anything I ever experienced and that includes when I was diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and had a 22' great white shark swim up to me. My heart was at 150 MPH that day. But when I experienced the touch of the Holy Spirit, 150 MPH was like compound low, 1st gear compared to the thrill of knowing Jesus.

But then… stuff happens. You meet a guy. You fall in love with a girl. You forget to pay your cellular bill! The promotion you were promised was given to someone else who didn't deserve it. Your hours get cut back. You start to feel the aches of getting old. A dear friend drifts or moves away. Your car breaks down. Something from the past comes up and hurts you again. We fail, we fall, we get distracted, and we sin. Not just once, but time and time again.

We're so used to being let down and disappointed we begin to think it's normal. We're good at letting one another down all of the time. Our families let us down. Children often show zero respect to their parents. Parents have little time for their children. Husbands and wives often hurt each other by fighting and arguing and calling each other names. Our friends disappoint us by promising to help and lend a hand only to never show up. We even disappoint ourselves.

And our new hearts don't seem so filled with God's love anymore. We feel guilty if we say our hearts feel weak. It seems like a sign of not enough faith. And isn't God supposed to wipe away every tear and sadness from us?

So instead of turning to the Lord, we try and do things to fix ourselves. I am not talking about disciplined discipleship. That is part of holy discontent. This is when the sweetness of God we had tasted slowly begins to lose its flavor. This is when the man we love seems more like a selfish pig and the woman we love seems more like a sheriff. This is when the Bible seems more like a hard set of rules than a fountain of blessing.

We promise to change for the better. We fight to overcome our pet sins, only to have them rise up and tackle us in a moment of weakness. We often surprise ourselves because we think we've got what it takes to master the sinful flesh. The surprise comes when we realize just how weak we are.

So we run to a new diet or exercise program. We buy the Sham-wow from the TV shopping network. We start calling American Idol 20 times a night to vote in our favorite star. When our favorite dancer gets booted from Dancing with the Stars we get angry.

Scotty once took an ukulele to Maui to get fixed. There was a sign on the wall. Repair Costs: we will fix your instrument for $10/hr. If you need to watch, the cost will be $15/hr. If you have tried to fix it yourself, the minimum charge will be $45/hr.

So here is a truth that every one of us who follow Jesus needs to know: each of us, no matter how long or how far we have walked with Jesus will one day need another heart transplant. Sometimes we will need a new one daily. Other times, we might need one every hour. And the Lord will give us that new heart again and again. His grace is new each day

When Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed a heart transplant, the patients who received new hearts put themselves at peril. I mean, after your old heart gets cut out of your body, what if there's a problem? What if the new heart wasn't a good match? When asked if it was hard for his patients to risk everything, this is how he replied:

"For a dying man it is not a difficult decision because he knows he is at the end. If a lion chases you to the bank of a river filled with crocodiles, you will leap into the water, convinced you have a chance to swim to the other side."

In our case we need protection from the lions and the crocodiles. And the only way that we can ever get to the other side, get across the river to the Promised Land, is if we let God, the Great Physician, give us a new heart and move the waters so that we can inherit the promises He has given to us.

Our God gives us a new covenant, a new promise, a 100% warranty that is unfailing. This covenant will never wear out or expire. This new covenant is one of grace. It was written by love, in the blood of Jesus Christ.

In the new covenant God daily forgives the sins of all who will come to Him, believers, unbelievers, and even a sinner like me. As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our sins from us.

Let's ask God to give us new hearts…. Turn with me to Psalm 51:10-12 and together let's pray "Create in me a clean heart O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit." Amen.

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