Read Part 1
(3/23) As we continue our series, "Habits of a Healthy Heart," we will explore the practice of pursuing righteousness and godliness in our lives. This is important because a healthy heart involves not only physical wellness but also spiritual and emotional well-being. And each of these areas is shaped by the influences we allow into our lives. And so, we need to evaluate the importance of eliminating unhealthy influences from our lives.
You could say that I am somewhat of an expert on this because before embracing Christianity, I lacked any sort of filter in my life. I didn’t recognize the negative impact of unhealthy influences from my diet, my environment, nonbelievers, movies, and media on my physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being. I didn’t understand that there was a reason that the entertainment industry put ratings on movies; they were to help us to be discerning, to remind us to be cautious, nor did I understand that they are from a worldly perspective and not a Christian one.
And so, as believers, we must be mindful that repeated exposure to mature content from the world’s perspective can desensitize us to sin and harmful behavior, leading us away from a faithful life of serving God. In other words, it is just as the Bible says,
"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers" (Psalms 1:1 NIV).
For thirty years, I wandered the ways of the world, stood in the path of wrongdoers, and sat among scoffers. I did as I pleased, went wherever I wanted, and filled my mind with questionable content every day.
I now recognize that there is a right way and a wrong way, and these unhealthy influences of the world can desensitize us to sin and harmful behaviors. In fact, you might notice that our generation has become desensitized to what is bad because it is now seen as good. Yet, the word of God warns against those who confuse good with evil, stating,
"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter" (Isaiah 5:20, NIV).
Many of us today don’t even recognize the unhealthy influences we are consuming and paying attention to. Some of you are going to find this message to be a little convicting, and if it is not convicting for you, it might be because you are not following Jesus. You may identify as a Christian, but you are not a disciple of Jesus; therefore, you are not truly following the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.
The truth is our culture is bombarding us with messages that aren’t pleasing to God. And maybe you didn’t notice, maybe you’re not sensitive to what the Spirit of God is saying to you, but I want to encourage you today to,
"Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:22).
Let’s be honest; we are saturated with an anti-God, Antichrist culture. We’ve all seen movies and TV shows to take God’s name in vain. We’ve all read books or looked at something that wasn’t pleasing to God. And we have become so accustomed to it that it doesn’t really bother us anymore.
Now, if I dropped a few F-bombs in this message, most of you would be offended, some of you would leave, and yet many of us willfully consume and pay for similar content on Spotify, Netflix, or whatever app you seek for entertainment. And so, my hope today is for you to recognize the tension here because many of us subscribe to unhealthy influences. Some of you might doubt me, and some of you may question what defines an unhealthy influence. So, here is our definition:
Unhealthy: not conducive to good health; not helpful (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
Today, we’re addressing unhealthy influences—anything detrimental to our physical, mental, or emotional well-being. Such influences can harm us, make us ill, spiritually drain us, divert us from God, and even destroy us.
And so, as Christians, we must be vigilant and recognize the presence of evil, being aware of Satan’s schemes because he cleverly uses deceptive influences to subtly groom us. If you doubt that you are being groomed, maybe you don’t know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? The Scripture says,
"If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them" (1 John 2:15).
These influences may appear harmless or entertaining, but they are, in fact, gradually poisoning our spirits.
This includes various forms of media—movies, music, television, internet sites, and social media platforms—as well as the magazines we read, the video games we play, and even the people we associate with. Therefore, it is crucial to discern these harmful elements and resist them. By doing so, we protect our well-being and maintain our spiritual integrity.
With that introduction, the Spirit of God says,
"Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?" (Ezekiel 3 oh 4:19).
In other words, could it be that we have become a muddied spring in the ways that we have embraced the unhealthy influences of this fallen world?
Before you tune out, dismiss me, or label me a Jesus freak or Bible thumper, I want to speak directly to those of you who sincerely desire to deepen your relationship with Jesus. I pray that the Holy Spirit touches your heart and brings lasting transformation to your life because the word of God warns us,
"If the godly give in to the wicked, it's like polluting a fountain or muddying a spring" (Proverbs 25:26, NLT).
So, there are three important reminders about potentially unhealthy influences. First, we must recognize that even a small amount of sin can have a significant impact. The Apostle Paul explained this in 1 Corinthians using the metaphor of yeast spreading through dough. In the Bible, yeast often symbolizes sin and its far-reaching effects. Paul said,
"Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:6-7, NIV).
In other words, he says to get rid of the sin, that old yeast, or we could say those unhealthy influences so that you may be a new batch without sin because Jesus has been crucified for our sins.
And so, we need to remember that a little bit of sin or yeast goes a long way. Because in many of the movies and TV shows that we call entertainment, there are some bad words, some partial nudity, some violence, but it’s not that bad, it’s just a little bit, everybody says, "just a little bit."
You might say, "Well, I’m 16, or I’m 21, or I’m an adult, but if children aren’t allowed to see it because it might be a bad influence on them, why is it okay for it to be a bad influence on you?" If you don’t want your children to be corrupted, if you don’t want their innocence to be ruined, do you really want to allow such an unhealthy influence in your soul?
The second thing we need to remember is that looking at or consuming unhealthy influences doesn’t make it right just because everyone else does it. I know I sound like your mother now, but she was right: just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right. In fact, I want to look at Romans chapter 12 because it is so direct:
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world" (Romans 12:2, NIV).
In other words, don’t become so comfortable, so desensitized, and well-adjusted to the ways of the world that you blend in without a second thought.
Instead, focus your mind on what God desires and be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2, NIV). Allowing the Holy Spirit to transform you from the inside out, nurturing you so that you can test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will (Romans 12:2, NIV).
This is important because when you conform to the pattern of this world, it can be tempting to think, "Well, everybody else is doing it!" However, just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right, and that applies to the church as well.
Just because another family in the church is doing it doesn’t make it right either. In fact, the truth is that often the majority is wrong. For instance, in Numbers chapter 13, when the 12 spies were sent out to explore the land of Canaan, 10 returned with a fearful report saying,
"The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them" (Numbers 13:32-33, NIV).
The people of Israel said, "If the majority said that they must be right!"
However, in the next chapter, the other two spies, Joshua and Caleb, returned to represent the faithful remnant, and they said,
"The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us" (Numbers 14:7-8, NIV).
Despite the opinions and fears of the majority, Joshua and Caleb stood firm in their faith, trusting in God’s promise to lead them to a land flowing with milk and honey.
This story reminds us that just because everyone else does it or thinks it, it does not mean it is pleasing to God or beneficial to us. Often, it is the minority that stands for and pursues righteousness and godliness. This is why Jesus told us:
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." Who enters through it? "Many" enter through it, right?
"But," then Jesus says, "small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:13-14, NIV).
Turn to your neighbor and say, "Be one of the few."
In other words, just because everyone is heading that way, just because the gate is wide, just because the road is broad, and just because everybody else is doing it, doesn’t mean they’re going in the right direction. Just because everyone else does it doesn’t make it pleasing to God, nor does it make it right or helpful for you.
And so, number three just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean that we should. Now, we do have freedom in Christ, but that doesn’t mean we should do everything we can, because not everything is healthy; not everything is beneficial. The apostle Paul said it this way,
"Everything is permissible for me—but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me—but I will not be mastered by anything" (1 Corinthians 6:12, NIV).
In other words, I could eat as much cheesecake as I want, never exercise, and still be a Christian who goes to heaven, right? But that’s not beneficial, it’s not healthy, and I refuse to be controlled by anything.
Now, can I waste my time looking at inappropriate content on the Internet or watching shows filled with perversion? No, because that would be a slippery slope, a downward spiral, and statistics tell us that everybody else is doing it. And Jesus said very clearly, "Wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction," so we don’t want to go that way.
My concern is that some of you are very susceptible to temptation and continue to indulge in things that are harmful to you, causing you to fall more and more in love with the world and less with the things of God. In other words, you are feeding your flesh more than your spirit, which is not helpful because we are called to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are called to be set apart, to be holy, which means that we are a lot different from the world. And so, if we are not any different from the world, then we probably don’t truly know Jesus, because we are not following Him through the narrow gate.
That leads to the question: how do we know what we should or shouldn’t do, and what we should consume or not consume? Sometimes it’s clear—if something is harmful, you shouldn’t engage with it. If it’s not going to build your faith or bring you closer to Jesus, avoid it. However, other times it’s less obvious, like when I’m deciding whether to read this book, listen to this music, or hang out with these friends. So, when it’s not clear, what do we do?
Now some people would say listen to your conscience, and occasionally that is good advice, but the Holy Spirit warns us,
"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure" (Jeremiah 17:9).
In other words, there are times when your conscience can be helpful, and yet there are times when your heart can be misleading, convincing you that it’s not a big deal. For instance, consider those situations that used to trouble you, but now they no longer do. The apostle Paul tells Timothy about those whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2).
For instance, when something is clearly wrong, and we disregard the warning signs, it can become easy to ignore it. If you keep repeating this behavior, you start to convince yourself it’s no big deal, that it hasn’t really hurt you. Your conscience may become seared, calloused, or desensitized. As a result, we might start to believe it’s not that bad when, in reality, it is wrong, dangerous, harmful to the heart of God, and detrimental to our well-being.
And so just because something doesn’t bother you doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t bother you and that’s why the Bible says,
"Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, NIV).
In other words, we need to develop the habit of distinguishing between what is good and what is bad, what is helpful and what is unhelpful, and what is healthy and what is unhealthy. If it is good, we embrace it; however, if it is sinful, wrong, unhelpful, or harmful to God and ourselves, we must avoid it at all costs. The Bible says,
"Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace" (2 Timothy 2:22).
This is an impulsive or instinctive response, similar to Joseph fleeing from Potiphar’s wife and leaving his robe behind. This is a mindset that has determined to pursue righteousness and godliness at all costs, and it is essential because even small, seemingly insignificant negative influences can permeate and affect our entire lives.
Just a little compromise, just a little crudeness or harmful behavior, can spread and impact our lives without us even realizing it. And so, how do we prepare ourselves to flee instinctively, like Paul tells Timothy? Well, the Scripture says, "Test everything." So, how do we do that?
Well, last week, we talked about praying, asking God,
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalms 139:23-24).
As we test everything and ask God to search us, I want to provide you with three questions that I believe could be helpful.
The first question is: Am I being entertained by something that is sinful? In other words, is this article, this book, this movie, or this music wrong in God's eyes? Am I promoting something as entertainment that Jesus died for? I know some of you will dismiss me because it was just so funny, it was hilarious, but being funny doesn’t make wrong right.
And so, the second thing you want to ask yourself is: is it pleasing to God? This is important because God is not just our friend; he is so holy that mortal man cannot look upon him and live. Therefore, we want to avoid anything that does not please him while pursuing righteousness and godliness.
And the third question: Does this draw me closer to God or push me further away? In other words, does this tempt me and draw me away from Christ? If it does, we should stay away from it, doing what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12:
"Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus" (Hebrews 12:1).
As we close in prayer, let’s rid ourselves of everything—every weight, every hindrance, every questionable form of entertainment, every distraction, and everything that doesn’t matter—so that we can keep our eyes on Jesus.
Read past sermons by Pastor John Talcott
