Introduction:

A group of children were comparing home situations. The banker's son said proudly, "My father gives me a dollar each week for being good."

The lawyer's son said that he received fifty cents. The widow's son complained that he only got twenty-five cents.

Then the preacher's son spoke up. "My father is a pastor, so I'm good for nothing."

What are you good for? Or should I state the question, "For what purpose are you good?"

Dr. Donald Anderson said: "Frankly, this statement of Jesus, "Happy are the pure in heart," is one reason I have waited so long to write about the beatitudes."

"Early in my ministry, I was impressed by a book written by the late W.E. Sangster, a great British Methodist minister and writer. It was a book on the beatitudes, but it homed in on the 'pure in heart.' His thesis was that this was a quality of life possessed by the greatest of saints, and by them alone. In this beautiful book, Sangster equated purity of heart with a kind of holy naiveté that seemed so far removed from life in the twentieth century that it presented a strange, though intriguing, model for modern man. It was a component of a life style well suited to the first few centuries after Christ and difficult - if not impossible - to achieve in our times. This interpretation of 'pure in heart' became part of the mystique surrounding these statements of Christ that seemed to me to put them out of the realm of the relevant for his modern followers."

I would agree with Anderson that many who profess to being followers of Jesus Christ do not think "purity of heart" is within their grasp at all.. Therefore some concludes - why even bother to try. My friends - despite what may appear to be unachievable I believe that Jesus gave us these beatitudes to live by, 2000 years ago and today, including: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Do you desire to see God? I do! So let’s spend a few moments focusing on these words of Jesus.

I suggest three C's.
I. Cleansing
II. Conforming
III. Covenanting

I. Cleansing

When Jesus spoke about the purity of the heart, was He referring to the organ - the muscle in our chest that pumps blood throughout our bodies? No! When speaking of the heart He was talking about the center of a person's will, emotions, motives, and conscience. This is why the outline of a heart often symbolizes love.

What did Jesus mean by "Pure in heart?" The Greek word is katharos. It means cleansed or clean. Examples could include soiled clothes or dishes that have been washed clean. This is not a purity of having never been dirty or tainted.. P.T.L. or I'd never see God because I've been dirty from sin.

From this word we get the adjective, akeratos which may speak of milk that is unadulterated, unmixed with water or a metal which has not been tainted with any other metals or alloys.

Katharos can refer to grain sifted and cleansed of all chaff.

William Barclay mentions, “In the same way it is used of an army which has been purged of all discontented, cowardly, unwilling and inefficient soldiers, and which is a force composed solely of first class fighting men."

This cleansing then, is both negative and positive. Get rid of the impurities, of sin, then fill ourselves with all that is pure. Proverbs 4:23-25. “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put devious lips far from you. Let your eyes look directly ahead, and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.” Jesus spoke out against religious, ceremonial cleansing that did not purify the heart. And the hearts of men, women, and children are filthy.

We need a cleansed new heart as God said through the prophet, Ezekiel, 36:26: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh." You and I need cleansed, new, forgiven hearts, to be pure. This is a cleansing we cannot do for ourselves, a cleansing that comes from the miracle of rebirth as we confess our sins and open our hearts to Jesus. He is the miracle cleanser.

II. Conforming

With cleansed, pure hearts, we should live pure lives. That is NOT what society normally thinks of when we speak of conforming.

Conforming may defined as being similar to, to be obedient or compliant, especially to adapt oneself to prevailing standards. All around us, people are conforming to the prevailing evil standards of society, people including some professing Christians. Romans 12:1, 2. I urge you, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

If we have truly been born again and have a cleansed heart, Jesus is our standard. Pure hearts are like Christ. We should be conforming to the character of Jesus Christ. Do Jesus and His Holy Spirit live within you? Then you should be in the process of becoming more and more similar to Jesus.

Recall the words of Paul's in Phil. 2:1-5. and Col. 3:1-2. “If then, you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things of God, not the things of earth.”

In I Cor. 6:19-20 Paul wrote of purity in our body, of proper eating, exercising, etc.

We are to have moral purity, I Thes. 4:3. Abstain from sexual immorality, You shall not commit adultery. The Latin adulterate speaks of corrupt, make impure, weaken.

Pure thoughts, Matt 5:27-28. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Prov. 23:7

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Thought is the seat of action, the ancestor of every action is thought." My friends, the Bible and other writings affirm that sin begins with sinful thinking. Benjamin Franklin wrote, "It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follows it." Saint Augustine said, "Purity of soul cannot be lost without consent."

Paul wrote, Phil 4:8, "Whatsoever things are pure...think on these things."

To keep pure - conform to Jesus Christ in thoughts and action.

III. Covenanting to keep pure.

I've come to God for cleansing -
or I would be impure.

I'm conforming to Jesus Christ -
He is my standard -
I want to live as He wants me to live.

I'm covenanting to keep pure. I must continue to commit myself to Christ. I need help. I need His help and His promise of help, His covenant and I covenant, I promise Him my faithfulness. Of course this does not mean that I will never again sin, but when I do, I confess it and accept God's promise of forgiveness.

As I prepared this message the Lord convicted me and before proceeding I brought it to God.

By covenanting to keep pure I think first and foremost of our promise and commitment to God, but another aspect is the covenanting within the body of Christ, that is our accountability to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Recall the question asked of each other within the early Methodist societies, "Have you committed any sins since we last met together?"

Covenant groups, discipleship groups, Cell groups, small Bible Study and prayer groups are integral parts of churches that are alive today.

The New Testament calls those who are in Christ to be members of one-another in the church, to be accountable to each other. This was God's idea to help keep us pure so that we can see God. Present and future aspects may be appropriate. Present purity in heart giving us spiritual eyes to see God and His attributes., then one day face to face in eternity.

Conclusion

Remember the three C's of purity: Cleansing, Conforming, and Covenanting.

In closing I share this illustration from Billy Graham.

"From the old magazine 'Hi Call' comes this story:"

"Visiting in a mining town, a young minister was being escorted through one of the coal mines. In one of the dark, dirty passageways, he spied a beautiful white flower growing out of the black earth of the mine. "How can there be a flower of such purity and beauty in this dirty mine?" the minister asked the miner. "Throw some coal dust on it and see," was the reply. The minister did so and was surprised that as fast as the dirt touched those snowy petals, it slid right off to the ground, leaving the flower just as lovely as before. It was so smooth that the dirt could not cling to the flower."

"Our hearts can be the same way. We cannot help it that we live in a world filled with sin, any more than the flower could change the place where it was growing. But God can keep us so pure and clean that though we touch sin on every side, it will not cling to us. We can stand in the midst of it just as white and beautiful as that flower."

Return