Pure In Heart

Couple of weeks ago, I was mowing my lawn. And as some of you know - I live up in Grand Rapids, and we’re sort of downtown-ish, north of Alger Heights. And so all the houses in our area have these little tiny postage-stamp sized yards. You know - city yards. Now we’re very blessed, we have a little side yard - a little bigger than a postage stamp. But not much bigger, and so I was mowing - and my mower just straight up died on me. It made this horrible ka-chunk noise and then the whole thing just poofed out smoke in every direction. Dead. Now, I was about halfway done with the yard - and I’m not handy enough to fix a mower by myself. So I looked around - tiny little city yard and I think to myself. I could just weed whip the rest of this. I bust out the weed whipper (which, I’m told some people don’t call it a “whipper” they call it a “whacker” - but you know what I mean), I start weed whipping the rest of the yard. Turns out, my yard is bigger than I thought it was. By the time I finished up my forearms were SCREAMING. Turns out it’s a whole lot easier to push a mower than it is to hold a weed whipper. I had never used those muscles like that. For the next few days I was whining to anybody who would listen to me just how bad my arms hurt. But that’s how it works - right? When you use muscles in a new way - it hurts, at least until your muscles grow and develop and then it doesn’t hurt quite so much anymore.

Today we are continuing our study of Matthew five, a little portion called “the beatitudes.” And if you’re just joining us for the first time - that’s awesome, we are so glad to have you with us. But to recap, basically what’s been going on is that Jesus is walking us through a list of blessings - but they are strange blessings. They seem backwards, they seem upside down. Blessed are those who mourn, those who have mercy, those who are meek. Things that our world doesn’t really value - but what we have found, basically every week of this series, what we have found is that it is not Jesus who is backwards - it’s US! Our hearts are upside down, and Jesus is out here setting us right side up. This week we are diving into verse 8 where he says, “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God” - and so today we are going to look at what it means to have a pure heart, and what we are going to find is that the heart is a muscle, and just like any other muscle - when we stretch, when we use it in ways we haven’t used it before - it takes practice, and sometimes we’ll be a little sore.

Jesus says, “blessed are the pure in heart” - but to really get at what that means, we need to understand the words they used in the way that they used them. To us in the modern world, we use “heart” to talk about emotions. If I say “my heart is broken” I am saying that I am sad. I’m not saying that I have heartburn or a clogged artery - that’s not what I mean. If I say, “I have joy in my heart” - that means that the emotions, the feelings that I have are happy. Valentine’s day - where we hand out little heart cards to people in elementary school, it’s all about love, and feelings. That’s the modern world - but back when the bible was written, for ancient near Eastern people - the heart was MORE than just feelings. They understood heart as the core of your being. The heart is the source of who you are. It’s funny - they had no idea what a “circulatory system” was, and yet they thought of it as a fountain from which everything flowed, the source of our life-blood - which is pretty close to the truth. Our thoughts, emotions, and actions all started with the heart.

And so our heart is not just our emotions, but all of who we are - and so when Jesus says, “blessed are the pure in heart” he means “blessed are those who are pure in all of who you are” but here’s the problem - I don’t have a pure heart. All of who I am is not pure. Like, with a bunch of these other beatitudes, at least there was something I could work on. Last week was “blessed are the merciful” and i mean, I can definitely work on being merciful. But “pure in heart” [clench fists, squeeze eyes shut]. Come on heart, get purified. Like, where do I get a brita filter for my heart? I don’t think Costco sells those. And I know my heart is not pure, because I have desires that go in a different direction from what God wants. And sometimes it’s so strong that my heart is actually AGAINST God. I think the best description of this comes from Romans chapter 7. [read v.14-25]. I know that was a long passage, but doesn’t it just make so much sense? There’s this internal struggle, my fallen heart - you could call it my “sin nature” is wrestling and fighting with God, and the only solution is Jesus. This is the first major teaching I want you to grab onto to this morning. Nothing short of a change of heart will bring about a pure heart. I can’t scrub my heart clean. There’s no three step process of purity to fix my messed up heart. I need a change of heart. I need heart transplant.

If you want to open up your bible, I know we’ve been in a couple places already - but we’re going to dive into Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel is way back in the Old Testament. And this is what it says in chapter 36, verse 25 [read v.25-27]. This is that spiritual heart transplant that I was talking about. When we meet Jesus, this is what it looks like. We admit that we tried it our way, and there’s still sin in our life. There’s still darkness in our hearts. We are not pure in all of who we are - none of us. And that recognition, that moment - that is the start of grace. It’s the moment when we realize we need help. And the heart of the gospel, no pun intended, the good news that Christians have is that this is what Jesus can do for you. If you are ready to admit that your life is far away from God, to own your sin and realize that you can’t fix it by yourself. If you are ready to ask for help, that help is available. If you call on the name of Jesus, you are forgiven in a moment. Instantly. God will replace your stubborn heart of stone and give you a tender, responsive heart.

But here’s the problem. I think a lot of us think of forgiveness, we think of grace as a heart surgery. I realize I need a new heart, I ask God please forgive me, please give me a new heart, and then I put the little anesthesia mask on and I pass out, and I wake up with a little scar and a brand new heart, I’m perfect and I’m ready to go. And the only problem is that that has never been anyone’s experience ever. The process of forgiveness happens in a moment, when you accept Jesus into your heart that is instantaneous. But that does not mean that you are perfect when you wake up the next morning. And let’s stick with the metaphor. You just woke up from a heart transplant - are you ready to go run a marathon that afternoon? Of course not! You just got a brand new beautiful and purified heart, the holy spirit is in your life working on you, and that’s amazing - but the heart is a muscle, you need to go through a little physical therapy. Living life under God’s grace, living our life after we are forgiven, living into our identity as a child of God - that takes practice.

Let’s go back to Ezekiel. Now Ezekiel is an old testament prophet, and I mentioned Amos last week - but one thing you’ll learn about me as a pastor is that I love the Old Testament prophets. I think a lot of people avoid them. The names are hard to pronounce, the visions and imagery are super weird - but let me just encourage you. When you figure out how to read the prophetic works in the bible - you unlock such incredibly rich teachings. And so with Ezekiel, let me just paint a backdrop for you. The role of the prophet is to be the mouthpiece of God. God would tell them stuff and they would tell it to the people. And usually the words from God were some sort of warning. “Hey, you’re doing bad stuff - stop it or there are consequences.” Can you imagine if that was your job? On the one hand, “I am a prophet of God” - it’s very honoring, it’s very respectable. On the other hand - their everyday life was giving people bad news and telling them what they NEED to hear, but they don’t want to hear. Anybody want to sign up for that job? Don’t shoot the messenger! (but, actually, most of the time they shot at the messenger). And so the book of Ezekiel, he spends 33 chapters warning people. Stop doing this, bad things are coming. And then the city falls. It’s sort of this horrible “I told you so” moment for Ezekiel.

So then what happens is the city gets destroyed and they do this thing called exile. Basically when an empire would conquer an area - they would take a big chunk of the people and uproot them and move them to a new place. And the reason they did that is when you take people and move them to an unfamiliar place, it is harder for them to rebel. If you’ve ever seen the movie Red Dawn - it’s the same idea. If you’ve never seen it - it’s a fictional movie where Russia invades the US, but they get driven off because the Americans know the land. They are able to disappear into the woods and into the hills to fight on the home turf. So to avoid rebellion, the empire would uproot the people and force them to live as exiles in a place called Babylon. Now Ezekiel could have said “I told you so” - because he did, over and over he warned them. But what’s awesome is that the moment they get totally destroyed and defeated, Ezekiel switches gears. He starts talking about what comes next. He reassures them. He reminds them that God is so powerful, more powerful than their enemies. And then he starts talking about restoration. He says, “yeah, you got knocked down - you lost the fight, you lost your home. This is bad. But someday God is going to bring you back.” This exile, this distance from home, it’s not going to be forever.

And so in chapter 36, where we were before - verse 26, that’s the heart transplant line, but then if you keep reading - jump down to verse 33, [read v.33-36]. Every time I read the bible, I ask two questions. What does this teach me about the character of God, and what am I going to do about it? In the moment when Israel has been destroyed by their own actions, God doesn’t gloat. God doesn’t revel in it. God gives them a path to rebuild. Now let me ask - do you see it? Do you see the parallels to your life? It is the moment when your city is in shambles, when your life has crumpled because your sin nature has gotten the best of you. And God comes to you in that moment, and he doesn’t gloat. And he doesn’t say “I told you so” - although he could and we would absolutely deserve it. But that is not the character of our God. In the moment when we are at our lowest, in the moment when we are in our darkest valley - God offers us a vision of rebuilding. And I want you to pay attention to that rebuilding. A heart transplant might happen in a moment, but rebuilding your life in God’s grace takes a lifetime. It’s like rebuilding a city that has been destroyed. It’s like replanting a field where the crops have been decimated. This is not a disney movie where sparkles fly across the screen and suddenly everything is fixed magically in a moment. We need some physical therapy to learn how to live with this new heart God has given us.

And I don’t have time to get into it, but it’s so amazing in chapter 37, in the next chapter, God gives Ezekiel a vision, and he sees this valley full of dry bones - just dead people long gone. And it says in chapter 37, verse 7 [read v.7-10]. Now this was just a vision, but the message was God saying to Israel “I am going to rebuild you from death” From dusty bones, I will put you back together. I will cover you with new muscles and flesh - I will breathe new life into your lungs. And then Ezekiel gives us another vision in chapter 47, where he sees this river. And at first it’s just around his ankles, and then it’s up to his knees and then as he goes across, it gets up to his waist and then it’s too deep to walk through. And this river is pouring into the dead sea valley. You guys remember that place? It’s like super salty and nothing can live there - it’s kind of gross and dead. And it says in chapter 47, verse 6, [read v.6-9].

What I want you to realize right now is that I am not telling you stories about the country of Israel from thousands of years ago. I am telling you a story about your life right now here today. The visions of Ezekiel are just visions - but inside those visions is a message from God. God brings new life to his people. When we give our life to Jesus - our life, we are the dry bones, we are the dead sea valley, we are the city destroyed by the empire - but God brings new life to his people. And he is ready to breathe new life into you today. And I’m just going to put this call out there. If you are feeling like your life is dry bones. If your city has been destroyed - maybe you barely made it here this morning. Maybe you’re trying to heal from a failing relationships - and you’re standing in the rubble of what you thought were unbreakable walls. Maybe your job isn’t what you thought it was going to be. Maybe it’s struggles with the kids - as they grow, they start pulling away from you and that relationship that was rock solid when they were little, it’s changing, it’s evolving. Maybe your kids are grown and gone, but you’re watching the news and it just feels like our nation, our world, is coming apart at the seams. Think about this - what is your exile? Do you have a moment in your life where you feel ripped away from home base? Do you feel like Israel - uprooted and thrown into exile in babylon? And if that’s you - if that’s where you are at today, can you hear God’s incredible good news? God brings new life to his people. Whatever you are struggling with, whatever you are going through, whatever is your babylon - there is a God who promises new life. If that is you today - will you call on the name of Jesus? Will you speak his name - invite him to come and begin a work of restoration in your life. Are you ready to dedicate your life to Jesus?  

And let me just say - that moment? That’s what we call profession of faith, that’s baptism - where we declare Jesus. And if you are ready for that - please let us know. Come talk to me, or if you’re feeling shy or if you’re not sure - there’s even cards on the giving table for that. But let me show you the coolest part. Through the beautiful name of Jesus, you can be forgiven in a moment, and then you begin a journey that lasts a lifetime. I think about the nation of Israel - the decree goes out, they get to go home. That happens in a moment. But rebuilding their life takes time, and it takes work. It’s the same thing in our lives. Think about that heart transplant. You can get a new heart in an instant, repentance/forgiveness happens in a moment. But then taking the next steps towards a life that God has called you to live - that is a journey that takes a lifetime.  You are forgiven in a moment, you are perfected over a lifetime.

There’s actually fancy words for this. Nerdy bible people will say there’s “justification” and “sanctification” - you don’t need to remember that. What you need to remember is that forgiveness is the first step to getting a pure heart, but it is not the last step. You are forgiven in a moment, you are perfected over a lifetime. When you give your life to Jesus, we invite the Holy Spirit to come into our life - and when that happens our hearts begin a process of transformation. I’ve been a Christian for a little over twenty years. I love Jesus so much, and I ask for forgiveness all the time. And God has worked incredible things in my life. I am not who I used to be. I have grown so much. But I’m also not done yet. God is still working on my heart, perfecting me, refining me with his presence with his goodness, making me more like Jesus. And if you’re here today, and you’re thinking - well, I’ve already been baptized, I’ve already accepted Jesus - but man I am such a screw up. I’m still so far away from God. I have screwed up this Christian life over and over and I’m sure God’s going to get sick of me. He’s not going to forgive me this time. I’m not perfect yet. If that’s you - whew. I have some good news. You should see some of the stuff Israel used to do. And God got big mad about it, but he never abandoned his people and he will never abandon you. God loves you so much. But I want to challenge you today. If you are a Christian, but you don’t feel like you are growing closer to God in your life - it’s time to renew that vow. To rededicate your life to walking the way of Jesus.

So to finish up, I want to talk about how we do this. Blessed are the pure in heart - and to get a pure heart we are forgiven in a moment, training for a lifetime - what does that training look like? How do we grow closer to God? Well, here’s the thing - You’re not going to like the answer. Actually, I’ve noticed this is how it works with almost all major life problems. Most of the time we know the answer, we just don’t want to do it. I have a friend who started a weight loss journey about a year ago. And he was posting about it and he said, “I regret to inform you that diet and exercise are indeed the best way to lose weight.” And I laughed so hard, because he’s right! Like, we KNOW how to be healthy - we just don’t want to do it. A lot of times we look at our financial troubles - and what’s the answer: budgeting! For me, when Sara and I finally got our finances sorted it was all about eating out too much. We were eating our paychecks. But budgeting solved a lot of our financial woes. Not all of them, but some of them. For most of the big challenges in life - the answers aren’t always complicated. But just because something is simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy. And maybe there are things you USED to do to grow closer to God, maybe you used to have incredible devotion time with God, and you were worshipping God with every moment of your life and praying without ceasing, but then life happened and you got away from all that. This is a perfect time to rededicate yourself to growing closer to God with every single day we have. Diet and exercise are good for your health. Budgeting is good for your finances - and as for growing closer to God? Three things - prayer, read your bible, and love and serve the people around you.

So let’s walk through them real quick - Number 1: Pray. Very simple. Talk to God. Every single day. Start that conversation. God wants to hear from you. And YES, it can be really awkward in the beginning when you’re still figuring out how to talk to God. It’s like that when you talk to anybody for the first time. Here’s a way that might help - I call it the ripple prayer. You start with yourself. Talk to God about what’s going on in your life. We celebrate joys, confess sins, say thanks for blessings and ask for help through our struggles. Just imagine you’re talking to someone who genuinely loves you and cares about what’s going on in your life (because that’s actually what IS happening). Then let it ripple out from your stuff to your families stuff. Talk about your family, the people around you - co-workers, neighbors, people in your immediate sphere that you see and interact with. Then let it ripple out again - pray for your church family. Talk to God about your brothers and sisters in this place. Celebrate joys, confess sins, say thanks for blessings and ask for help. Then let it ripple out again - pray about our town. Your neighborhood, your school system. Pray for our state, our region, our country. Pray for the world. Start with what you know best - your world, but let it ripple out in circles. One of the greatest ways you can grow closer to God, to put some physical therapy on that heart transplant God has given you, is to talk to God. Pray every day.

Number 2 - read your bible. Now here’s the problem - some people turn it into legalistic rules. I read my bible every morning for 20 minutes and then bam, I’m done. But that is not my advice here. We don’t read because that’s what we’re supposed to do. We read to discover God. Remember, blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. We read this book, not because “well that’s just what we’re supposed to do’ - no! We read it to get to know God! To let our spiritual heart transplant work to pump blood through our whole body. I mentioned earlier, I always ask two questions when I read the bible. What does this teach me about the character of God? And What am I going to do about it? If you want to see God, to get to know that divine thing that is out there, talk to him and read about him.

Last thing on that before we move on. If you read your bible and it is confusing.  Like that stuff about Ezekiel and the dry bones and these visions - if you encounter something that is confusing in the bible - ask! Ask your life group leaders! Send ME a message - I swear to you one of my favorite emails to get is “Hey, I was reading this thing in the bible and I don’t understand it, can you help me.” Like, I’m a huge bible dork and I get obscenely excited to answer those emails. There are so many amazing resources out there - so please, use this book to discover who God is. 

Pray. Read your bible. And three - SERVE. One of the things we learn about the heart of God when we read our bibles is that God in the old testament, and Jesus in the New Testament - they challenge us to take care of people all the time. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Visit the sick. Pray for people. Be there for people. Love people. If you do this stuff - you will experience God, you will see God working all around you. I don’t challenge people to volunteer, because hey the church needs more volunteers. No. I do it because living a life of serving other people is one of the best ways we can experience and encounter Jesus. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Let’s pray.