Pure in Heart
In Johannesburg, South Africa, a young geometallurgist, Steve Chingwaru, has uncovered a $24 billion gold resource – 420 tons – buried in mining waste. The massive discovery came from research for his master's thesis. "They were already extracting the gold from these tailings," he explains, "But all the processors in South Africa are only extracting free gold, using cyanide." "They were only managing to get out 30% of the gold." - Leaving 70% behind...
An Associate Professor at the Center for Minerals Research explained, "The big question is whether we currently have the technology to economically extract all of the gold and make a profit." Reprocessing the tailings could also have significant health benefits for the people of Johannesburg, "if there is a viable business case to remove the gold, the sulfur, and any remnant uranium".
So, an enormous amount of time, money and work using cyanide - a highly toxic chemical compound, and then separating out sulfur and radioactive uranium – just to get to the pure gold. Obviously we place a huge value on pure gold. Do we place the same value on pure hearts?
Today we're again in our series from The Beatitudes in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Let's go ahead and read our text from Matthew 5:1-8 (NIV)...
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, (2) and he began to teach them, saying: (3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (4) Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
(5) Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (6) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (7) Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (8) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
We're going to focus this week on that last verse, verse 8, and let's start by taking…
I. A look at 'purity'
As a society we're increasingly concerned with environmental purity. We want to drink pure water. We want to breathe pure air. Last year alone, it's said that Americans spent over 5 billion dollars on air purifiers. We are concerned with purity – but are we as concerned with being pure in heart? We're concerned with what we put into ourselves, but Jesus was more concerned with what comes out of our mouths and out of our hearts; our actions.
Matthew 15:18-19 (NIV)
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' (19) For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
We understand pure air and pure water - both have been either kept from contaminants or cleaned of their contaminants. All the 'bad stuff' has been removed. - That's a good thing. So why is it that today's society seems to reject and even make fun of purity when it comes to people - to their hearts - their values? When did the idea of purity become...
A. 'Old fashioned'?
When did God's values, such as 'purity', become 'old fashioned'? Today, people who value purity have been branded as 'weird'. Modern people may like to think of themselves as 'progressive' or 'open minded' when it comes to morality. But those are words that don't apply to God. 'Progressive' implies change in order to make things better. Does God have to change to become better..? Is God 'open minded'? God doesn't need to keep His mind open to new and 'better' truths – God is truth! God is the author of truth!
God is merciful. God is gracious. God is Holy. God is not 'open minded'. God is not 'old fashioned' in any negative connotation of the phrase. God and His values are perfect – they only become 'old fashioned' from our perspective, when people move away from truth. They are seen as 'old fashioned' when people take on different values than God has in submission to their own personal desires.
Purity is not a bad thing. It's a Holy thing. God places a high value on purity in a relationship between a man and woman. It says this in Hebrews 13:4 (NIV)...
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
God's Word says that the marriage relationship between a man and a woman should be honored; that the relationship be kept pure. That's God's design! But if you say that, you're the uptight one, the mean one, the weird one...
If statistics are to be believed – although around 65% of Americans say that they believe that adultery is morally wrong, about 45% of all married individuals will have an affair at some point in their marriage.
That's a big number. Now the numbers are lower among people who profess to be Christians – but they still don't reflect people who highly value purity. We need to understand that sex was created by God and designed to be Holy in the context of marriage between a man and a woman. That's not me saying that, that's what God says! Sex in itself is not a bad thing, but any misuse of sex is sin – it goes against God's Will.
But people don't want to hear about sin. We live in a society that says, "Yeah, I probably shouldn't have an affair once I'm married – but before I make that commitment, I can sleep with any number of people I choose, with no consequences." Jesus says…
Matthew 5:27-28 (NIV)
You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' (28) But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
This is not about judgment or condemnation on our part, but about speaking and understanding the truth. We need to understand that…
B. God takes purity seriously
In the Old Testament, there are multiple instances where the nation of Israel defeated its enemies and then God commanded them to destroy every living thing in the city – men, women, and children. ... Why did God do that? Short theological answer - God didn't want anything left that would influence His people to sin; He wanted His people kept pure and holy.
... But why did God have to go to such extreme measures? It doesn't make complete sense to me, but God doesn't have to explain Himself to me. What I do know is that God desired purity even over the lives of those who were destroyed – and remember, God created them in the first place. He cared about them - they were His creation, too! God takes purity seriously!
And we even see something similar in the New Testament as well. God desired purity and holiness so much that He again took drastic measures to wipe out sin - yours and mine.
God desired purity so much that He came down in the flesh, as Jesus, God incarnate, to die to make a way for you and me to be pure again. Jesus didn't die on a cross just because I had some bad habits in my life. Jesus died on a cross because I have sin in my life - and sin separates me from God. Jesus died on a cross to purify me from that sin. God takes purity seriously! Therefore...
II. We need to desire purity
One of the biggest problems I see with many in the Church today is that we live just like everyone else. We have the same life goals, the same ambitions; we make many of the same choices as those who don't follow Jesus. We live like we believe that this world is all there is... The trouble is that we then have all of the same problems, tensions, stresses and heartaches as those who don't know God.
When Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in heart", 'happy' are the pure in heart – He means, 'Set your heart first and foremost on pleasing God – then you will see God and then you will be happy and content and fulfilled.'
... Now there are some who seek purity but forget its purpose is to please God. Purity is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Some look at the Bible as a set of rules to follow and as long as you follow all the right rules – then you can be pure. The Pharisees, the religious leaders of Jesus' day tried that, and it didn't work. Jesus called them whitewashed tombs. They looked nice on the outside, but legalism doesn't deal with what's on the inside of a person – what's in your heart.
Others have sought purity by redefining the rules, picking and choosing the parts of scripture that they like and don't like. That way, they can then measure up to the new, lower standard. Doesn't work – God sets the standard, not us.
Still others think that if they can do enough good they can somehow earn purity and therefore God's favor. It doesn't work that way, either. There will be a lot of very 'good people' - by the world's standards - who never see Heaven because they don't know Jesus.... That should break your heart.
The main problem is that sin is not just in the world around us – it's also in us, in our own personal will. Purity of heart isn't just the absence of certain things in your life - it's the very presence of God in you. The process of purity begins when I fully understand who I am - a sinner in need of God's grace and forgiveness.
Billy Graham once said, "We're suffering from only one disease in the world. Our basic problem is not a race problem. Our basic problem is not a poverty problem. Our basic problem is not a war problem. Our basic problem is a heart problem."
A. We have a heart problem
The key to purity in a messed up world starts with our heart, our inner being, our thoughts and where our focus is. The Bible says in Proverbs 4:23-24 (NIV)...
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (24) Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
This matters! If you want purity in what you say – it starts with the heart. King David understood this when he wrote...
Psalms 119:9-11 (NIV)
How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. (10) I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. (11) I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
If you want purity in your actions, seek God with all your heart. Fill your heart and mind with His words - read His Word, read the Bible, listen to the Bible!
And we find in the Bible, after King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and was found out, he cried out to God as His only source of hope. He realized that he had no hope on his own of changing his sinful ways. He wrote, in Psalms 51:10 (NIV)...
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
David understood that he had a heart problem! And the only way to fix it was for God to give him a new heart; for God to change the desires in his heart. We need to desire purity, but understand that on our own we have no hope.
The reason many see sex outside of marriage as fine and normal, the reason that we have unbelievably high adultery statistics, the reason that drug and alcohol abuse is rampant in our society, the reason that pornography is estimated to be a 100 billion dollar business, the reason that sex has lost its place as something sacred in marriage and has become something that's cheap and casual – the reason for all of this is that we don't seek God's heart.
As I say all of this - again it's not my intention to condemn or judge anyone or make anyone feel guilty. It's not my intent, nor do I believe it's Biblical. But it is my desire to strongly encourage us and our families to seek God's heart, to love purity – and ultimately to enjoy…
B. The blessing of purity
God doesn't desire purity in our lives so that we can be boring; so that we can live stuffy, prudish lives. God designed us and He knows what will fulfill us and make us truly happy! God doesn't desire purity in our walk with Jesus as some arbitrary rule. God calls us to seek purity so that we can have the very best life we can possibly have! The blessing of purity is seeing God. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
The Apostle John wrote about our future hope in 1 John 3:2-3 (NIV)...
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (3) Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
The pure in heart will see God. Another blessing of purity is actually freedom. A person who's pure in heart knows that God knows them; He knows everything about them, the good and the bad – and that God loves them anyway!
Romans 8:1-2 (NIV)
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, (2) because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
We can have freedom from condemnation! We can have freedom from all the garbage of this world! We have freedom to have an honest relationship with the Creator of the entire universe! Purity is not 'old fashioned' – it's crucial for those who want to see God!
So What?
Remember the story I shared at the beginning about gold being found in mine waste? Do you think I would ever just plop any of my kids down in mine waste with cyanide and uranium and ask them to sift around for gold? Absolutely not – no loving parent would, no matter how much gold there may be.
But why then, many times, do we just send our kids and grandkids out among the garbage of this world and simply hope that they find something of value? Why do we live just like the rest of the world, raise our kids just like the rest of the world and just hope they end up with Godly values - hope they end up knowing Jesus?
Why do we settle for garbage in our own lives knowing that God has something better for us? We need to become people who value purity as God values purity. We need to teach our children to seek God first before everything else! We all need to allow God to purify our hearts, because, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."