June 8, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode, from a chapel service held on Tuesday 6 May 2025, Dan Wu, Lecturer in the Old Testament department at Moore Theological College, speaks on Proverbs chapter 14 verse 10 and human emotions.
He reminds us that even though our emotions are complicated and hard to navigate, God has given them to us to help us connect with him and also with others as we seek to love and care for them.
For more audio resources, visit the Moore College website. There, you can also make a donation to support the work of the College.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Welcome to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, that seeks
to glorify God through biblically sound, thought-provoking and challenging talks and interviews.
In this episode, from a chapel service held on Tuesday, 6th of May 2025, Dan Wu, Lecturer in the
(00:29):
Old Testament department at Moore Theological College, speaks on Proverbs 14:10 and human emotions.
He reminds us that even though our emotions are complicated and hard to navigate, God has given
them to us to help us connect with him and also with others, as we seek to love and care for them.
We hope you find the episode helpful.
(00:53):
I want to begin with a pastoral failure from years ago that still sits very heavy with me.
Um, I was a ministry apprentice, uh, having lunch and doing my quiet time in Carlingford food court.
Then a random guy walking past stops and asks me, are you reading the Bible?
Can we please talk?
(01:13):
It's like, this is amazing.
Alright.
This is the gospel opportunity you dream of.
Uh, so he'd been a leader at his church, but he fell into sin and ended up walking away from his faith.
Uh, but as life came apart, he wanted to reconnect with God had seen me and he thought he'd reach out.
So we started to meet regularly.
I'd love to say it went well.
Sadly not.
(01:34):
Uh, you know, I, I took him to those core gospel truths that everybody needs.
Justification from all your sins, past, present, future god's sovereignty, even over your failures, assurance and joy.
From trusting in Christ alone, not our flaw performance perfect pastoral Bal.
So I thought didn't work right.
He got frustrated, he put the shutters up.
(01:54):
I got frustrated because no matter how precisely and skillfully I brought God's word to him, he'd just say, yeah, I know all that.
It's just not helping.
And I'd think, no, it is helping because the gospel always works.
Your problem is you are just not trusting it enough.
But things round down and we stopped meeting.
(02:16):
It still sits here very heavy with me and I, I really do hope he found his way back to God.
Uh, but as I reflect on what went wrong, I think if I could go back and talk
to my younger self i'd, I'd put my arm around my shoulders and say something.
Comforting.
Like you idiot.
People are not just brains in jazz.
(02:39):
He repeatedly told you he already knew the truth.
You tried ramming down his throat.
So did it ever occur to you he needed something different?
Now, seriously, of course he needed God's word, but I should have recognized his
need at that point was not primarily intellectual, but emotional and relational.
He knew his Bible, but there was such a disconnect between what he knew and what he felt.
(03:05):
It was crippling.
I, I should have said, mate, that's so tough.
I just want to come to church with me.
Be in God's family for a while and we'll talk when you're ready.
I think that would've been so much more helpful.
And the point I want to make is that our emotions are more central to who we are.
Then we often recognize it in our circles, and I think we tend to just dismiss them or
(03:28):
maybe articulate and acknowledge them so we can then dismiss them in good conscience, right?
But Proverbs 14, 10 calls on us to actively engage them in knowing ourselves.
Drawing close to God and others in love and service.
So I have three main headings, uh, emotions, guard and guide our souls.
(03:51):
God gave them to connect us to him and we use them to connect to others before we wrap up with how to use them well.
So emotions, guard and guide our souls.
Proverbs 14.
Each heart knows its own bitterness and no one else can share its joy.
This proverb is about the profound breadth and depth of our emotions.
(04:15):
So in Hebrew, giving the extremes of a range encapsulates everything in between.
Like heaven and earth means all creation, bitterness, joy, full sweep.
And a closer translation of the first half of the verse is actually, each heart knows the bitterness of its soul.
That's deep, isn't it?
(04:35):
Our, our hearts have their own mini me souls to plumb the depths of, but it's more than just a statement of fact.
It is a call to engage with and grow in this God-given core aspect of who we are.
Uh, but I'm sure that you are as aware as I am.
(04:56):
That is a very complex and challenging thing to do because our emotions are very complicated and hard to understand and navigate.
Now, I don't want to turn this into a psychology lecture or a counseling session, but I do think some clarity is helpful.
Uh, so I want to say I'm taking emotion here as the.
Comprehensive, you know, psychosomatic, mental and bodily system that encompasses both what we call
(05:19):
affections, which is our settled disposition towards what we love, and also things like feelings,
which is the more sporadic, conscious, bodily experience layer of our emotions or whatever, and more.
As you can see, I'm still coming to terms with it myself, but I do have four snapshots of how emotional
system, uh, works that I found really helpful as I've been, uh, reading up on this for this sermon.
(05:44):
So, number one, uh, emotions are kind of like our soul's sonar system.
So they basically receive and send signals to what's around us to help us detect what's going on and navigate.
They're also like our sense of balance a little bit.
So, uh, balance, you know, both involuntary reflex reaction, also controlled
(06:06):
and intentional, but it's always active whether we are aware of it or not.
Why to help keep us balanced and stable.
Third, there also kind of like, uh, our hamstrings, or at least my hamstrings.
What, what?
Well, in first year of College.
Uh, I developed really bad, debilitating back pain so bad, and knee pain as well, so bad.
(06:29):
I almost couldn't walk and I had to lie on the floor for lectures.
I was just about to go to the doctor, check out, you know, doing an early onset arthritis or something.
Uh, when a physio friend checked me out and he said, mate, you just got tight hams, right?
It's all referred pain.
So a couple of weeks of really painful stretches.
(06:50):
All good.
Hammy Health actually interconnects and impacts on other parts of the body that you don't expect.
Um, have you ever gotten angry with someone only to realize later that they had nothing to do with what was going on for you, right.
Uh, they just caught the flag.
Four.
They're kind of like a budget or a diet, so they need positive deposits and
(07:12):
nourishment, sleep, healthy food, exercise, friendship, fun to build, reserves to spend.
Now you can overdraw on them.
Sometimes you have to, but too long or deep in emotional deficit causes serious problems for us and for those around us.
Keith Condi, he used to lecture here, has a great summary when he says, our emotions are always feeding
(07:34):
us vital information to help us respond well to what's happening to us and what's important to us.
And this came home to me in a little way, uh, the other day.
So I have a school morning routine with my younger son, Harry.
As we walk to the front gate, I'll put my arm around his shoulders and just pray for the day and then see him off.
Uh, but this day.
(07:56):
Just normal day, I realized I'd actually stopped walking, and suddenly I was holding
him tighter and longer than usual, and then it suddenly became a full bear hug.
Then the moment passed and off he tried to school.
Now, previously I would've gone, eh, it was a bit weird.
(08:18):
Nice and moved on.
Uh, but as I've been reflecting on this, a whole stack of stuff came to me, right?
He's my last primary schooler.
We also have our first year twelver in the house, and I turned 50 in December.
Right?
That is three massive changes this year, all tied to the fact that my precious
(08:39):
time of young family life is coming to an end and it really scares me, right?
I'm desperate to hang onto it, even though I know I can't.
But it also positively shows my deep connection to my family, right?
And even that physical contact just filled my tanks a little bit and renewed my determination to that.
(09:01):
My family know they feel loved, and I do everything in my power to build them safe and strong in the Lord while they're under my care.
So can you see in the light of Proverbs 14, can you see how that works?
Sonar balance, hamstrings budget.
Vital part of our lives.
(09:24):
Now, I'm not saying get less theological and more touchy feely.
All right.
Although, having said that, I do sometimes think we in our circles could get a little more touchy feely.
It wouldn't hurt us.
Uh, nor am I saying that emotions are always accurate or even necessarily necessarily correct.
What I am saying though is that emotions are deeply theological.
(09:48):
That they always give us helpful information and they are core and central to our beings.
And so this verse is calling on us to actively engage and integrate our
emotional life positive and negative into our very way of walking and ministry.
(10:09):
And if we do so, it is gonna help us maximize our energies in serving God.
Give us critical warning signs to protect us from damage.
Uh, I was in discussions recently about the growing number of people being burnt out or leaving vocational ministry, and the key reasons
as discussions swelled around weren't theological or even moral, but actually not being able to navigate the emotional load of ministry.
(10:39):
Each heart knows its own sor uh, bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.
So it's really important that we know and grow and engage with the full breadth and depth
that God has stitched into our emotional life and use it to fuel our lives towards him.
Well.
(11:00):
Uh, this then leads to my second point, and that is, I think the primary function of emotions in God's plan is to connect us deeply to him.
So you'll see there that the proverb specific focus is actually the privacy of our emotions, right?
Each heart knows its own bitterness and no one else can share its joy.
(11:23):
So your unique experience.
Is what makes you you, but it also means no other human can ever perfectly or comprehensively understand and love you like you need.
But this is the glory of this verse because who wrote it right?
(11:46):
At one level it's a proverb, right?
It's a collected human saying.
Some random, uh, dude wrote this down and it was collected, but ultimately.
It's author is God, isn't it?
And by including it in his word to us, his saving word to us that God is giving us an assurance.
He is the one who perfectly, comprehensively, loves you as you truly need and can
(12:12):
carry you through everything you face no matter how overwhelming or bewildering.
No matter how much no one else truly understands, I'm gonna commit a cardinal sermon sin and use a family member in multiple illustrations.
Uh, but it's generic enough I think to be okay.
So have you ever taught a kid to swim?
(12:32):
That's the generic part, right?
I taught mine and they all loved it.
Uh, let me qualify that.
They loved it as long as they had enough floaties on to raise the Titanic and their head stayed well above water.
So here's my Harry, uh, when he was young.
And, uh, he loved swimming, but he hated getting his face wet.
Right?
My goal, dunk him as many times as I could, right?
(12:53):
Uh, and, and he couldn't understand right?
Why?
When he was perfectly happy bobbing around like an overgrown cork, uh, with, with two jumping castles on his arms.
So why do it, right?
Why put him through that suffering?
It's obvious, isn't it?
It's 'cause I want him to know all the joys of swimming bombs off the side, surfing, snorkeling more.
(13:15):
But to do that, he needs to learn to swim and to do that, he needs his head dunked.
And yes, it sucks at the time, but he's always in my hands.
And if you could see what is on the other side, why he has to go through it, he'd see it's all worth it.
And that is the wonderful promise of this verse.
(13:37):
Each heart knows its own bitterness.
No one else can share its joy and God knows that.
His plan for you is probably gonna be very different to your plan for you, more joy than you anticipate more grief and bewilderment.
And maybe that's you.
(13:57):
You even now.
But while we often can't see the full picture, God does, he knows he knows your bitterness more than you even know it yourself.
He loves you.
And you are safe in his hands.
And if you needed any more assurance of this, just look at the Lord Jesus and the emotions, the Bible records to share with us.
(14:27):
The eternal God took on our frail flesh, wet went sleepless.
New doubt and anxiety and overwhelming dread.
God physically shared our bitterness and joy.
(14:48):
Why not?
'cause he had to.
Graciously so we would know how intimately and completely and comprehensively he loves us.
Doesn't Hebrews fortify?
Put it so beautifully when it says we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel
sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are.
(15:15):
During the days of Jesus life on Earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.
And he was heard because of his reverence, submission.
I.
For me, that also deepens the call in Philippians four, six, where it says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything
(15:36):
by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding.
I. We'll guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Now, I dunno about you, but I certainly have felt more need to do just that in recent times, uh, than any other time of life I recall.
(16:00):
So precious, isn't it what Jesus shared with us in his emotions.
Now, let's be clear.
We are not saved by Jesus' emotions or his identification with us.
We're saved by his death and resurrection, but.
Neither are we saved without them.
Uh, you know, one podcast I listened to on emotional connection, uh, talked about how empathy, uh, and shared
(16:23):
experience actually creates a synchronization in both body and mind that is essential to growing deep relational bonds.
That's why singing and chapel together is so powerful for us because we are sharing this bodily rhythm that actually draws us closer together.
In the same way.
(16:43):
God doesn't save us at arm's length just from on high, but by walking close with us in grief and joy.
So we will know just how deeply we are loved by the eternal God.
And then third, uh, flowing on from this, uh, the.
(17:06):
Primary, I guess practical reason I think God has given us emotions is so that we can actively and wisely use them to connect deeply to others.
Now, we can't understand or love someone perfectly, but we can be a flawed and partial, but real expression of Jesus love for them.
(17:29):
So earlier in Philippians chapter one, verse seven, eight, Paul describes his ministry to them in this way.
He prays for them with joy and it is right.
He says to feel joyful about all of you because I have you in my heart.
God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
(17:53):
Isn't that a profoundly beautiful way?
To describe the nature of ministry to long for someone with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And brothers and sisters, let me say this.
Gospel ministry is not just dropping truth bombs from the top of the dome.
Sadly, uh, there have been graduates of this College, I think, whose ministry could be
(18:18):
described in exactly that way, and it has been disastrous and damaging for their people.
Gospel ministry is connecting deeply to people with the affections of Christ, with his love.
And I actually, uh, again, on reflection, I found it so amazing how he often
(18:38):
uses our experienced joys and bitterness to open doors to other people's hearts.
Let me give you a quick example of each.
So Joys.
Um, I once sat next to a newcomer at church and we started, well, we tried to chat afterwards at morning tea, and it was just awkward,
you know, those conversations, you're just scrambling around going, I gotta find something to keep in there before they leave.
(19:00):
Uh, and as I was just, you know, desperately trying to find something, uh, randomly, I don't know how the topic of fishing came up
instantly.
His eyes lit up.
We each had our phones out.
We're getting excited, talking about big catches.
We are best mates.
Right?
Uh, that synchronization you that I talked about before, you could feel it happening, right?
(19:23):
But most importantly, it just instantly opened the door to natural rich conversation about where he stood with Jesus.
Amazing.
Just opening that emotional door actually made the conversation, not an imposition, but a talk amongst friends.
So Joys use your joys to connect with other people.
(19:45):
What about bitterness?
Uh, one of the hardest seasons of life, Chrissy and I have had to walk, uh, was a time of secondary infertility.
We struggled to fall pregnant with our second now.
For us it was temporary, but still during very painful and really testing our faith to its limits.
(20:06):
Uh, but without any sense of grief mongering.
Um, I do want to say that that experience of bitterness and suffering has not only broadened our ministry opportunities to more people, I think it's
also equipped us with a depth of compassion and empathy that's been more relationally resonant and powerful in our ministry than we previously had.
(20:29):
So, joys, bitterness, we can use them to serve other people.
You know that saying, uh, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
It's a great truth in that, isn't there?
And so a key ministry implication of this verse is that we don't just acknowledge or even accept, we
learn to use our emotions to open relational doors to genuine personal love and service of others.
(20:57):
All right?
Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joys.
It's true enough as it stands, but in God's goodness, it doesn't have to stay that way.
Uh, let, let me apply this.
I, I'll, I'll run you through how I've applied this verse into my ministry, I think in a really helpful and positive way.
Uh, what I want you to do is just take a moment to think about that verse for you.
(21:20):
Think about all those private burdens that you carry, that you have walked into chapel with this morning.
Think about how hard they make.
Trust in God and Godly living and how wonderful it'd be to have someone you can just trust to
(21:40):
ask how you're going and handle it well in a way that will bless you and lift you up in Christ.
Now what I want you to do is very subtly look around the room and realize that is true of every one of us.
(22:01):
So can you be that person for someone else here this morning freely offering an open connection?
In a way that will bless them and lift them up in Christ in conversation afterwards.
I think that that'd be a great way to apply this verse to our lives.
Now, uh, let's wrap up.
There's so much more we could say, uh, but we do need to finish.
(22:24):
Uh, I love this verse if you can't tell, uh, because I think it shows us the need to be attentive, not
only to the dynamics of the gospel, but the dynamics of the human vehicles through which the gospel comes.
Our emotions are a core, powerful gift of God to us, right?
(22:45):
They help guard and guide our beings as we live for him.
They help us connect deeply and directly to the God whose love we truly need, and they are a
powerful resource that we can use actively, wisely, and lovingly to share the affections of Christ.
(23:07):
In service of others.
It's amazing, isn't it?
Each heart knows its own bitterness and no one else can share its joy.
Uh, would you join me in thanking God for his word?
Dear Father, you are an amazing creator.
Thank you for the depth and profundity with which you have made us and made us to know ourselves to know you.
(23:36):
To know others in the love and service of Jesus.
Thank you for the manner in which Jesus so completely identified with us so that we would know how completely we are
loved, and please help that to fill our tanks so that we can reach out in genuine love and service of others in him.
(23:59):
And we pray it in his name.
Amen.
Thank you for listening to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College.
Our vision as a College is to see God glorified by men and women living for
and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches and reaching the lost.
(24:24):
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Since 1977, the annual Moore College lectures have showcased leading contemporary biblical and theological
scholarship on topics ranging from a theology of the Christian life with Kelly Kapic, the use of the Pentateuch
in the New Testament with T Desmond Alexander, and last year's series on the book of Galatians with Tom Schreiner.
(24:50):
This year, Peter Orr, lecturer in the New Testament department at Moore Theological
College, will be delivering the 2025 Annual Moore College Lectures on the topic of faith.
What is faith?
Is faith without knowledge still faith?
What did Jesus mean when he said that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can uproot a tree or move a mountain?
(25:12):
And why does Paul tell us that we are declared right with God by faith, apart from works of the
law in Romans, while James insists that a person is justified by works, and not by faith alone.
Join us on the mornings of Monday 4th to Friday 8th of August, and hear from Peter
Orr how God provides us with an unfolding revelation of faith across the whole Bible.
(25:36):
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Registrations will open later this year.
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(25:57):
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(26:22):
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(26:47):
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Until next time.
Welcome to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, that seeks
to glorify God through biblically sound, thought-provoking and challenging talks and interviews.
In this episode, from a chapel service held on Tuesday, 6th of May 2025, Dan Wu, Lecturer in the
(00:29):
Old Testament department at Moore Theological College, speaks on Proverbs 14:10 and human emotions.
He reminds us that even though our emotions are complicated and hard to navigate, God has given
them to us to help us connect with him and also with others, as we seek to love and care for them.
We hope you find the episode helpful.
(00:53):
I want to begin with a pastoral failure from years ago that still sits very heavy with me.
Um, I was a ministry apprentice, uh, having lunch and doing my quiet time in Carlingford food court.
Then a random guy walking past stops and asks me, are you reading the Bible?
Can we please talk?
(01:13):
It's like, this is amazing.
Alright.
This is the gospel opportunity you dream of.
Uh, so he'd been a leader at his church, but he fell into sin and ended up walking away from his faith.
Uh, but as life came apart, he wanted to reconnect with God had seen me and he thought he'd reach out.
So we started to meet regularly.
I'd love to say it went well.
Sadly not.
(01:34):
Uh, you know, I, I took him to those core gospel truths that everybody needs.
Justification from all your sins, past, present, future god's sovereignty, even over your failures, assurance and joy.
From trusting in Christ alone, not our flaw performance perfect pastoral Bal.
So I thought didn't work right.
He got frustrated, he put the shutters up.
(01:54):
I got frustrated because no matter how precisely and skillfully I brought God's word to him, he'd just say, yeah, I know all that.
It's just not helping.
And I'd think, no, it is helping because the gospel always works.
Your problem is you are just not trusting it enough.
But things round down and we stopped meeting.
(02:16):
It still sits here very heavy with me and I, I really do hope he found his way back to God.
Uh, but as I reflect on what went wrong, I think if I could go back and talk
to my younger self i'd, I'd put my arm around my shoulders and say something.
Comforting.
Like you idiot.
People are not just brains in jazz.
(02:39):
He repeatedly told you he already knew the truth.
You tried ramming down his throat.
So did it ever occur to you he needed something different?
Now, seriously, of course he needed God's word, but I should have recognized his
need at that point was not primarily intellectual, but emotional and relational.
He knew his Bible, but there was such a disconnect between what he knew and what he felt.
(03:05):
It was crippling.
I, I should have said, mate, that's so tough.
I just want to come to church with me.
Be in God's family for a while and we'll talk when you're ready.
I think that would've been so much more helpful.
And the point I want to make is that our emotions are more central to who we are.
Then we often recognize it in our circles, and I think we tend to just dismiss them or
(03:28):
maybe articulate and acknowledge them so we can then dismiss them in good conscience, right?
But Proverbs 14, 10 calls on us to actively engage them in knowing ourselves.
Drawing close to God and others in love and service.
So I have three main headings, uh, emotions, guard and guide our souls.
(03:51):
God gave them to connect us to him and we use them to connect to others before we wrap up with how to use them well.
So emotions, guard and guide our souls.
Proverbs 14.
Each heart knows its own bitterness and no one else can share its joy.
This proverb is about the profound breadth and depth of our emotions.
(04:15):
So in Hebrew, giving the extremes of a range encapsulates everything in between.
Like heaven and earth means all creation, bitterness, joy, full sweep.
And a closer translation of the first half of the verse is actually, each heart knows the bitterness of its soul.
That's deep, isn't it?
(04:35):
Our, our hearts have their own mini me souls to plumb the depths of, but it's more than just a statement of fact.
It is a call to engage with and grow in this God-given core aspect of who we are.
Uh, but I'm sure that you are as aware as I am.
(04:56):
That is a very complex and challenging thing to do because our emotions are very complicated and hard to understand and navigate.
Now, I don't want to turn this into a psychology lecture or a counseling session, but I do think some clarity is helpful.
Uh, so I want to say I'm taking emotion here as the.
Comprehensive, you know, psychosomatic, mental and bodily system that encompasses both what we call
(05:19):
affections, which is our settled disposition towards what we love, and also things like feelings,
which is the more sporadic, conscious, bodily experience layer of our emotions or whatever, and more.
As you can see, I'm still coming to terms with it myself, but I do have four snapshots of how emotional
system, uh, works that I found really helpful as I've been, uh, reading up on this for this sermon.
(05:44):
So, number one, uh, emotions are kind of like our soul's sonar system.
So they basically receive and send signals to what's around us to help us detect what's going on and navigate.
They're also like our sense of balance a little bit.
So, uh, balance, you know, both involuntary reflex reaction, also controlled
(06:06):
and intentional, but it's always active whether we are aware of it or not.
Why to help keep us balanced and stable.
Third, there also kind of like, uh, our hamstrings, or at least my hamstrings.
What, what?
Well, in first year of College.
Uh, I developed really bad, debilitating back pain so bad, and knee pain as well, so bad.
(06:29):
I almost couldn't walk and I had to lie on the floor for lectures.
I was just about to go to the doctor, check out, you know, doing an early onset arthritis or something.
Uh, when a physio friend checked me out and he said, mate, you just got tight hams, right?
It's all referred pain.
So a couple of weeks of really painful stretches.
(06:50):
All good.
Hammy Health actually interconnects and impacts on other parts of the body that you don't expect.
Um, have you ever gotten angry with someone only to realize later that they had nothing to do with what was going on for you, right.
Uh, they just caught the flag.
Four.
They're kind of like a budget or a diet, so they need positive deposits and
(07:12):
nourishment, sleep, healthy food, exercise, friendship, fun to build, reserves to spend.
Now you can overdraw on them.
Sometimes you have to, but too long or deep in emotional deficit causes serious problems for us and for those around us.
Keith Condi, he used to lecture here, has a great summary when he says, our emotions are always feeding
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us vital information to help us respond well to what's happening to us and what's important to us.
And this came home to me in a little way, uh, the other day.
So I have a school morning routine with my younger son, Harry.
As we walk to the front gate, I'll put my arm around his shoulders and just pray for the day and then see him off.
Uh, but this day.
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Just normal day, I realized I'd actually stopped walking, and suddenly I was holding
him tighter and longer than usual, and then it suddenly became a full bear hug.
Then the moment passed and off he tried to school.
Now, previously I would've gone, eh, it was a bit weird.
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Nice and moved on.
Uh, but as I've been reflecting on this, a whole stack of stuff came to me, right?
He's my last primary schooler.
We also have our first year twelver in the house, and I turned 50 in December.
Right?
That is three massive changes this year, all tied to the fact that my precious
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time of young family life is coming to an end and it really scares me, right?
I'm desperate to hang onto it, even though I know I can't.
But it also positively shows my deep connection to my family, right?
And even that physical contact just filled my tanks a little bit and renewed my determination to that.
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My family know they feel loved, and I do everything in my power to build them safe and strong in the Lord while they're under my care.
So can you see in the light of Proverbs 14, can you see how that works?
Sonar balance, hamstrings budget.
Vital part of our lives.
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Now, I'm not saying get less theological and more touchy feely.
All right.
Although, having said that, I do sometimes think we in our circles could get a little more touchy feely.
It wouldn't hurt us.
Uh, nor am I saying that emotions are always accurate or even necessarily necessarily correct.
What I am saying though is that emotions are deeply theological.
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That they always give us helpful information and they are core and central to our beings.
And so this verse is calling on us to actively engage and integrate our
emotional life positive and negative into our very way of walking and ministry.
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And if we do so, it is gonna help us maximize our energies in serving God.
Give us critical warning signs to protect us from damage.
Uh, I was in discussions recently about the growing number of people being burnt out or leaving vocational ministry, and the key reasons
as discussions swelled around weren't theological or even moral, but actually not being able to navigate the emotional load of ministry.
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Each heart knows its own sor uh, bitterness, and no one else can share its joy.
So it's really important that we know and grow and engage with the full breadth and depth
that God has stitched into our emotional life and use it to fuel our lives towards him.
Well.
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Uh, this then leads to my second point, and that is, I think the primary function of emotions in God's plan is to connect us deeply to him.
So you'll see there that the proverb specific focus is actually the privacy of our emotions, right?
Each heart knows its own bitterness and no one else can share its joy.
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So your unique experience.
Is what makes you you, but it also means no other human can ever perfectly or comprehensively understand and love you like you need.
But this is the glory of this verse because who wrote it right?
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At one level it's a proverb, right?
It's a collected human saying.
Some random, uh, dude wrote this down and it was collected, but ultimately.
It's author is God, isn't it?
And by including it in his word to us, his saving word to us that God is giving us an assurance.
He is the one who perfectly, comprehensively, loves you as you truly need and can
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carry you through everything you face no matter how overwhelming or bewildering.
No matter how much no one else truly understands, I'm gonna commit a cardinal sermon sin and use a family member in multiple illustrations.
Uh, but it's generic enough I think to be okay.
So have you ever taught a kid to swim?
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That's the generic part, right?
I taught mine and they all loved it.
Uh, let me qualify that.
They loved it as long as they had enough floaties on to raise the Titanic and their head stayed well above water.
So here's my Harry, uh, when he was young.
And, uh, he loved swimming, but he hated getting his face wet.
Right?
My goal, dunk him as many times as I could, right?
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Uh, and, and he couldn't understand right?
Why?
When he was perfectly happy bobbing around like an overgrown cork, uh, with, with two jumping castles on his arms.
So why do it, right?
Why put him through that suffering?
It's obvious, isn't it?
It's 'cause I want him to know all the joys of swimming bombs off the side, surfing, snorkeling more.
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But to do that, he needs to learn to swim and to do that, he needs his head dunked.
And yes, it sucks at the time, but he's always in my hands.
And if you could see what is on the other side, why he has to go through it, he'd see it's all worth it.
And that is the wonderful promise of this verse.
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Each heart knows its own bitterness.
No one else can share its joy and God knows that.
His plan for you is probably gonna be very different to your plan for you, more joy than you anticipate more grief and bewilderment.
And maybe that's you.
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You even now.
But while we often can't see the full picture, God does, he knows he knows your bitterness more than you even know it yourself.
He loves you.
And you are safe in his hands.
And if you needed any more assurance of this, just look at the Lord Jesus and the emotions, the Bible records to share with us.
(14:27):
The eternal God took on our frail flesh, wet went sleepless.
New doubt and anxiety and overwhelming dread.
God physically shared our bitterness and joy.
(14:48):
Why not?
'cause he had to.
Graciously so we would know how intimately and completely and comprehensively he loves us.
Doesn't Hebrews fortify?
Put it so beautifully when it says we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel
sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are.
(15:15):
During the days of Jesus life on Earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.
And he was heard because of his reverence, submission.
I.
For me, that also deepens the call in Philippians four, six, where it says, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything
(15:36):
by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding.
I. We'll guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Now, I dunno about you, but I certainly have felt more need to do just that in recent times, uh, than any other time of life I recall.
(16:00):
So precious, isn't it what Jesus shared with us in his emotions.
Now, let's be clear.
We are not saved by Jesus' emotions or his identification with us.
We're saved by his death and resurrection, but.
Neither are we saved without them.
Uh, you know, one podcast I listened to on emotional connection, uh, talked about how empathy, uh, and shared
(16:23):
experience actually creates a synchronization in both body and mind that is essential to growing deep relational bonds.
That's why singing and chapel together is so powerful for us because we are sharing this bodily rhythm that actually draws us closer together.
In the same way.
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God doesn't save us at arm's length just from on high, but by walking close with us in grief and joy.
So we will know just how deeply we are loved by the eternal God.
And then third, uh, flowing on from this, uh, the.
(17:06):
Primary, I guess practical reason I think God has given us emotions is so that we can actively and wisely use them to connect deeply to others.
Now, we can't understand or love someone perfectly, but we can be a flawed and partial, but real expression of Jesus love for them.
(17:29):
So earlier in Philippians chapter one, verse seven, eight, Paul describes his ministry to them in this way.
He prays for them with joy and it is right.
He says to feel joyful about all of you because I have you in my heart.
God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
(17:53):
Isn't that a profoundly beautiful way?
To describe the nature of ministry to long for someone with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And brothers and sisters, let me say this.
Gospel ministry is not just dropping truth bombs from the top of the dome.
Sadly, uh, there have been graduates of this College, I think, whose ministry could be
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described in exactly that way, and it has been disastrous and damaging for their people.
Gospel ministry is connecting deeply to people with the affections of Christ, with his love.
And I actually, uh, again, on reflection, I found it so amazing how he often
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uses our experienced joys and bitterness to open doors to other people's hearts.
Let me give you a quick example of each.
So Joys.
Um, I once sat next to a newcomer at church and we started, well, we tried to chat afterwards at morning tea, and it was just awkward,
you know, those conversations, you're just scrambling around going, I gotta find something to keep in there before they leave.
(19:00):
Uh, and as I was just, you know, desperately trying to find something, uh, randomly, I don't know how the topic of fishing came up
instantly.
His eyes lit up.
We each had our phones out.
We're getting excited, talking about big catches.
We are best mates.
Right?
Uh, that synchronization you that I talked about before, you could feel it happening, right?
(19:23):
But most importantly, it just instantly opened the door to natural rich conversation about where he stood with Jesus.
Amazing.
Just opening that emotional door actually made the conversation, not an imposition, but a talk amongst friends.
So Joys use your joys to connect with other people.
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What about bitterness?
Uh, one of the hardest seasons of life, Chrissy and I have had to walk, uh, was a time of secondary infertility.
We struggled to fall pregnant with our second now.
For us it was temporary, but still during very painful and really testing our faith to its limits.
(20:06):
Uh, but without any sense of grief mongering.
Um, I do want to say that that experience of bitterness and suffering has not only broadened our ministry opportunities to more people, I think it's
also equipped us with a depth of compassion and empathy that's been more relationally resonant and powerful in our ministry than we previously had.
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So, joys, bitterness, we can use them to serve other people.
You know that saying, uh, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
It's a great truth in that, isn't there?
And so a key ministry implication of this verse is that we don't just acknowledge or even accept, we
learn to use our emotions to open relational doors to genuine personal love and service of others.
(20:57):
All right?
Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joys.
It's true enough as it stands, but in God's goodness, it doesn't have to stay that way.
Uh, let, let me apply this.
I, I'll, I'll run you through how I've applied this verse into my ministry, I think in a really helpful and positive way.
Uh, what I want you to do is just take a moment to think about that verse for you.
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Think about all those private burdens that you carry, that you have walked into chapel with this morning.
Think about how hard they make.
Trust in God and Godly living and how wonderful it'd be to have someone you can just trust to
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ask how you're going and handle it well in a way that will bless you and lift you up in Christ.
Now what I want you to do is very subtly look around the room and realize that is true of every one of us.
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So can you be that person for someone else here this morning freely offering an open connection?
In a way that will bless them and lift them up in Christ in conversation afterwards.
I think that that'd be a great way to apply this verse to our lives.
Now, uh, let's wrap up.
There's so much more we could say, uh, but we do need to finish.
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Uh, I love this verse if you can't tell, uh, because I think it shows us the need to be attentive, not
only to the dynamics of the gospel, but the dynamics of the human vehicles through which the gospel comes.
Our emotions are a core, powerful gift of God to us, right?
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They help guard and guide our beings as we live for him.
They help us connect deeply and directly to the God whose love we truly need, and they are a
powerful resource that we can use actively, wisely, and lovingly to share the affections of Christ.
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In service of others.
It's amazing, isn't it?
Each heart knows its own bitterness and no one else can share its joy.
Uh, would you join me in thanking God for his word?
Dear Father, you are an amazing creator.
Thank you for the depth and profundity with which you have made us and made us to know ourselves to know you.
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To know others in the love and service of Jesus.
Thank you for the manner in which Jesus so completely identified with us so that we would know how completely we are
loved, and please help that to fill our tanks so that we can reach out in genuine love and service of others in him.
(23:59):
And we pray it in his name.
Amen.
Thank you for listening to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College.
Our vision as a College is to see God glorified by men and women living for
and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches and reaching the lost.
(24:24):
We invite you to attend any of our upcoming events, including this one that's happening at Moore College.
Since 1977, the annual Moore College lectures have showcased leading contemporary biblical and theological
scholarship on topics ranging from a theology of the Christian life with Kelly Kapic, the use of the Pentateuch
in the New Testament with T Desmond Alexander, and last year's series on the book of Galatians with Tom Schreiner.
(24:50):
This year, Peter Orr, lecturer in the New Testament department at Moore Theological
College, will be delivering the 2025 Annual Moore College Lectures on the topic of faith.
What is faith?
Is faith without knowledge still faith?
What did Jesus mean when he said that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can uproot a tree or move a mountain?
(25:12):
And why does Paul tell us that we are declared right with God by faith, apart from works of the
law in Romans, while James insists that a person is justified by works, and not by faith alone.
Join us on the mornings of Monday 4th to Friday 8th of August, and hear from Peter
Orr how God provides us with an unfolding revelation of faith across the whole Bible.
(25:36):
You can find out more on the Moore College website moore.edu.au.
That's moore.edu.au.
Registrations will open later this year.
You can find out more and register by going to the Moore College website moore.edu.au.
(25:57):
That's moore.edu.au.
If you have not already done so, we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast
through your favourite podcast platform so that you'll never miss an episode.
For past episodes, further resources, and to make a tax deductible donation to support
the work of the College and its mission, please visit our website at moore.edu.au.
(26:22):
If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a friend and leave a review on your platform of choice.
We always benefit from feedback from our listeners, so if you'd like to get in touch, you can email us at comms@moore.edu.au.
The Moore in the Word podcast was edited and produced by me, Karen Beilharz, and the Communications Team at Moore Theological College.
(26:47):
The music for our podcast was provided by MarkJuly from PixaBay.
Until next time.
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