The Challenge To Live Pure In Heart Series

Introduction

Is it just me, or does it seem to you too that it is getting harder with each passing year to live the Christian life? There are so many things that challenge our Christian life. There is the continuous downgrade of entertainment found at the movie house and in your in-home television experience. There is social media and the internet that can expose you to so much temptation. And many Christians have fallen to its lure! There are so many more activities that compete directly with church times. For example, if you have children playing baseball, there is travel-ball that keeps you out of church and fellowship on Sundays. They actually schedule their games, the same time we have church. It doesn’t make sense to me.

I saw that Federal Express announced two weeks ago that beginning sometime in 2020, they are going to make Sunday delivery a regular part of their schedule. If they do that, you know UPS will follow suit, and it will not be long after that the post office will have to do the same thing to compete. Think of all the Christians that will be put in the position of having to decide between job and church. And let me tell you which one I think will win- the job. It is just a challenge to be a Christian living in 2020.

So, I think it would be good for us as we begin a New Year to go back and look at the life that God blesses. And as I thought about where I would find such valuable information, the Holy Spirit directed me to the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes define a life that God blesses straight from the words spoken by Jesus Christ. Does Jesus mean, if I do these things, I might be blessed, no, it means I will be blessed? Does it mean, if I do these things, that God will consider blessing me? If Jesus says nine times in ten verses, you are going to be blessed; I would say you are going to be blessed. Let’s read the total passage this morning, and we are going to focus this morning on verses eight- the pure of heart.

Scripture

Matthew 5:2-11 (NIV)

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.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Point #1

God wants your heart because God blesses a heart that is sold out to Him.

God wants your heart because He knows that if He has your heart, He has all of you. Anne has my heart; I love her today even more than the day I married her if that is possible. She does not have to worry that I am going to get up and leave; she does not fear that I am going to chase after something else. She can rest in the confidence that I am hers.

And if God has all of my heart, I am the one that can rest. It is a little bit different from my example. Anne has my heart; she can rest. God has my heart; I can rest. I can rest in the confidence that He is going to bless me no matter whatever comes my way. The pages of the Old Testament are filled with incredible stories where people endured some incredible difficulties, but God blessed them through it because God had their hearts.

God had Noah’s heart, and God blessed him and saved him and his family by instructing him how to build an ark. God had the hearts of three Israelite boys and blessed them by bringing them through the fiery furnace without even the hair on their arms being singed. God had the heart of Esther, and God blessed her by saving the people of Israel. Noah, the three Israelite boys, and Queen Esther rested because God had their whole heart.

Make no mistake; Jesus knew the importance of having your whole heart when He proclaimed that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and spirit.

The problem is, and here where the struggle comes in, the devil knows the benefits of giving your whole heart to God, and so he is going to do all that to divide your heart between God and something else. He is not going to try to steal your whole heart from God; he just needs to take part of it.