Pure Hearts

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Matthew 5:8

To see God, to behold His glory, to bask in His light, to exist as His child, and to look into the face of the One who died for us will be the culmination of blessing poured upon us at the cross.  Eternity spent with Christ is the great reward of grace by which we are saved.  Even better is that we can know a glimmer of this blessing here and now.  As we humble ourselves before the cross and accept Christ as our Savior and Lord, we are changed from the inside out.  Pre-Christ the Bible describes our hearts as;

²⁰And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.  ²¹“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, ²²deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. ²³“All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”  Matthew 7:20-23

But the good news of the gospel is not just for eternity in heaven, it is for life here and now.  God, when He captures our hearts, transforms us from the inside out, making pure the sinful hearts within us.  God says of those that repent and turn to Him:

¹⁹ “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,  ²⁰ that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.  Ezekiel 11:19-20

There is not one of us with any hope of beholding our God as Lord and Savior of our own merit.  Purity of heart is not a virtue native to us, or attainable by our efforts.  Purity of heart belongs to God, is gifted by God, and maintained only through a life spent in pursuit of God.  But, to see God as Savior and Lord is a prize beyond description and a reward far exceeding any earthly blessing.   The gospel message that the pure in heart will see God is a truth we can cling to now as we “see” God in our lives and in His word; then we will see Him face to face and bow before our Savior because in His grace He has given us a heart made pure by the washing of His blood from the cross.

“9 Way to Know the Gospel of Christ is True” -John Piper

Today’s post from the Desiring God blog is Pastor John Piper’s reflection on 9 reasons to look at the gospel of Christ as a trustworthy historical as well as spiritual event.

9 Ways to Know the Gospel of Christ Is True

Here is the first point he gives, which sets the foundation for those that follow.  Note that first sentence of Piper’s explanation below the point; powerful!

1. Jesus Christ, as he is presented to us in the New Testament, and as he stands forth from all its writings, is too single and too great to have been invented so uniformly by all these writers.

The force of Jesus Christ unleashed these writings; the writings did not create the force. Jesus is far bigger and more compelling than any of his witnesses. His reality stands behind these writings as a great, global event stands behind a thousand newscasters. Something stupendous unleashed these diverse witnesses to tell these stunning and varied, yet unified, stories of Jesus Christ.

Mercy

My son is getting old enough that the colors and sounds of a fun DVD hold his attention for a few minutes now.  So, as we were all home sick last week, we spent some time enjoying the colors and singing of Veggie Tales, specifically their movie, “Jonah”.  At the heart of that movie is this idea of mercy.  The basic definition they gave was “giving others a second chance, even when they don’t deserve it.”  I like that, because that is essentially the gospel.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.  Matthew 5:7

As Jesus comes to this point in His life-transforming message, He is calling us to pause and consider ourselves before we condemn others, which is not our natural tendency.  Especially as faithful Christians, we must guard against the temptation to point out the speck in our friends eye while ignoring the log in our own.  (Matthew 7:3)  In other words, we must see first and foremost that we are the recipients of the greatest mercy ever shown and as such we have no grounds for withholding mercy towards others.

At the heart of the Veggie Tales message and more importantly at the heart of Christ’s words is the cross.  The cross is where every single one of us deserved nothing, but was given everything; given another chance.  The cross is where mercy was poured out from heaven in measureless waves, washing us sinners clean.  The cross is where any pretense for self-righteousness must melt away as we look at the One who died in my place, in your place, and in the place of the one who needs your mercy right now.

How can we who have known mercy beyond measure withhold mercy from another?  The gospel compels us to show mercy as we have been shown it and in turn God’s daily mercies will continue to flow in our lives.

Prayerlessness

Pastor Kevin DeYoung’s post today at DeYoung, Restless and Reformed points us to the heart of our lack of prayer.

Prayerlessness is Unbelief

Check out this great thought and be sure to read the entire article as a strong reminder of what prayer is and why our faith is so tightly tied to it.

You don’t need to work and work at discipline nearly as much as you need faith.  You don’t need an ordered life to enable prayer, you need a messy life to drive you to prayer.  You don’t need to have everything in order before you can pray.  You need to know you’re disordered so you will pray.  You don’t need your life to be fixed up.  You need a broken heart.  You need to think to yourself: “Tomorrow is another day that I need God.  I need to know him. I need forgiveness. I need help. I need protection. I need deliverance. I need patience. I need courage. Therefore, I need prayer.”

God’s glory

Pastor John Piper is frequently heard proclaiming the “glory” of God in all things.  It is the heart-beat of his ministry and as he outlines in the article below, it should be at the heart of our Christian lives and our understanding of the Scripture.

The Centrality of the Glory of God

Here is a quote from the article that gets at the point:

“The glory of God” is a way of saying that there is objective, absolute reality to which all human admiration, wonder, awe, veneration, praise, honor, acclaim, and worship is pointing. We were made to find our deepest pleasure in admiring what is infinitely admirable, that is, the glory of God. The glory of God is not the psychological projection of human longing onto reality. On the contrary, inconsolable human longing is the evidence that we were made for God’s glory.

Great gifts from Desiring God

This is a huge offer from Desiring God for the Christmas season.  They have compiled 12 different gift packs, designed for different audiences, all at deep discounts.

Christmas Sale

Check in and see what you can pick-up for yourself or some loved ones.

Satisfaction

You ever wonder why the Rolling Stones are always singing about how they can’t get any satisfaction?  Really?  These guys have it all: fame, fortune, and miraculous longevity.  No satisfaction?

What about Solomon, certainly he knew what being satisfied was all about.  Blessed by God to be the wisest man ever to live and as a result he had every earthly blessing possible.  He had women, wealth enough to make Bill Gates shudder, and he knew God.  Yet, Solomon found all this amounts to so little;

Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
         ”Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” 
    What advantage does man have in all his work
         Which he does under the sun?  Ecclesiastes 1:2-3

You see, we are not so easily satisfied that the world’s offerings will quench our constant thirst.  We were built for so much more than this world can give us.  Solomon realized that and called all his earthly pursuits “vanity” because they left him still hungry and thirsty for more.

What then will satisfy us?  Where should we pursue true fulfillment?  Jesus holds the answer.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  Matthew 5:6

To live with purpose is to live as Jesus calls us to.  The pursuit of what is from God means ultimately that we are pursuing Jesus Himself.  Righteousness found its perfect form in our Savior, so as we pursue knowing, loving and serving Him, we pursue what is of God, we live with purpose, and deep satisfaction is finally found. 

Jesus said to them, ” I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.  John 6:35

Pursue what satisfies and the other parts of life fall into their satisfying place.  It is true that jobs must be worked, families loved and cared for, people served, our bodies fed, etc., but only when our highest pursuit is right will we accomplish all the others with satisfaction.  When all is said and done will we sing along to the emptiness of the Rolling Stones?  Will we wish we had not wasted so much on the temporal and fleeting as Solomon did?  Or, will we rest satisfied that as God takes us home we know we went to Christ, drank deeply of Him, lived for His glory, and found satisfaction only where it can truly be found, in His hands?  Hunger and thirst for Jesus, He does not disappoint.

Thanksgiving

From Southwest Bible Church’s Pastor Carl:  November 2009

What is so important about Thanksgiving? Reminders came to me recently from three sources the Lord used to tune my heart to its priority.

 First was the exhortation during Bill Brown’s recent sermon on Ecclesiastes chapter three to stop focusing on the blessings God isn’t giving us and to instead recognize the multitudes of blessings that He is.

 Next was Tom Aylward turning the staff to Colossians 4:2ff where we are commanded, “Devote your selves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving…”

 Thirdly I currently have this song, Thank You by 33 Miles, running in my head–What if I looked at my life in a different way, took a little more time to stop and pray? I know it would change all the moments in between. So here I go: Thank You for everything. Thank You for loving me. It don’t even matter what tomorrow brings. Well I will sing my thank You for sun and rain, for what You give and take away. For all Your goodness I will always say, “Thank You.” Oh I’ll say, “Thank You.” 

 What are a couple things that are forced out when thankfulness is dominating our minds? Bitterness about what we’re not getting, or about what has been taken away. So being thankful protects us and others from being defiled (“See to it that…no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled…” Heb 12:14).

 Spiritual sleepiness is also forced out. Being thankful energizes us to pray and act more readily for God. (“…praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” Colossians 4:3-6)

 “All the moments in between” are affected when we are saying, “Thank You!” Knowing that, do we simply move on hoping to “feel thankful” so all of those great things happen? No, instead we can and wisely should “do thankful”—give thanks as a determined, conscious act of our will…practice giving thanks… rehearse the things we can always feel thankful about…focus on God’s goodness…obey God’s command to “be thankful.”  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Colossians 3:15.

An Important Bible reading Principle

Pastor John Piper outlines a truth we should all keep tucked away as we read our Bible.

One of the Most Important Principles in Reading the Bible

Pastor Piper describes how it is God’s first and decisive movement in us, generating our response, which leads to our blessing from Him.

This is one of the most basic things people need to see about the Bible. It is full of conditions we must meet for God’s blessings. But God does not leave us to meet them on our own. The first and decisive work before and in our willing is God’s prior grace. Without this insight, hundreds of conditional statements in the Bible will lead us astray.

Gentleness

Is your heart humble enough to know that only God’s grace can get you to Him?

Is your sin the greatest source of mourning and sadness in your life?  Rejoice then, for to the cross it is nailed and salvation is our greatest comfort.

Jesus sees everything through heaven’s eyes and as He brings that perspective to the people we must take the time to absorb His words, because they are not the natural tendencies of our hearts.  He continues…

Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.  Matthew 5:5

Gentleness is tragically misunderstood.  It is wrongly equated with weakness, femininity, or failure.  The Bible says otherwise.  Gentleness is Christian strength, for men and women, lived out in the following life-changing ways.

• A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  (Prov. 15:1)    It should be in our words.  The easy path is harshness; yet the Christ-like answer is in gentleness. 
• But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  (Gal. 5:22-23)  It is Spirit-born, not natural.  It is from heaven.
• Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.  (Gal. 6:1)  It is a humble and gentle response that restores the sinner.  Think how Jesus restored Peter, not in harsh rebuke, but in gentle confirmation of love.
• Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  (Eph. 4:1-3)  It is a vital component of our walk and unity as a church.  What do our interactions with each other look like?
• Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. (James 3:13)  The wise live out that wisdom in gentle action.  Prove your faith by your life; a life marked by a gentle spirit.

There is so much more that space does not permit here, but take a look at a word study on gentleness and see why our world sees it so wrong.  Jesus was the best human to ever live, the man of men, pure and strong in every way and He described Himself in a warm invitation to us as follows:

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.  (Matthew 11:28-30)