Have you ever asked, “What does God want from me?” “What is God really after?” As I read through the book of Ezekiel this question keeps coming up for me. And Ezekiel offers the answers. Last week Ezekiel told us that God wants exclusive worship. We received confirmation of that truth through the words of Jesus. Today Ezekiel shares with us that God demands purity from his children.
When we throw the word “purity” around we almost always assume that it’s about sex. Did you know that when you eat soft-serve ice cream you are ingesting chemicals that are also found in anti-freeze and paint thinners? Obviously the designers or makers of the ice cream have found a way to use these chemicals so that you don’t die when you eat their product. When we are immoral in our behavior it’s like we are so hungry for ice cream that we’ll just go to the shed and throw some anti-freeze and paint thinner in some milk and freeze it. It’s not that these chemicals are a bad thing, they have a good use, even in ice cream, but only the makers of the ice cream know how to put these chemicals together so they don’t harm a person.
I like how Duffy Robbins sums this up, “God never said “Sex is bad” any more than he ever said “Thou shalt not eateth ice creameth.” But God makes it clear that this God-given desire for sexual intimacy must be fulfilled within God-given guidelines. Or, the result is poisoned lives and poisoned relationships.”
And when it comes to the subject of purity this is how we assume we’re going to talk about it, and while purity includes a discussion on sexual morality as God defines it, it’s actually a word that is more about an idea that a definition.
The first key to understanding purity is found in the first sentence of the Scripture in Ezekiel that we are looking at today. “Now set the empty pot on the coals. Heat it red hot! Burn away the filth and corruption.” There are two basic parts to making something pure. First the fire has to be really hot. The idea that God wants us to have here is the same concept as what it takes to shape or make metal something useful and/or valuable. Blacksmith’s and welders make their living at making metal hot enough so that they can mold it into a shape that they want or need. According to www.beautifuliron.com “The higher the heat and brighter the color, the softer and easier to forge the steel and iron become. But there is often a specific temperature or color range to which a smith heats the iron, which gives the best results for each type of forging task to be accomplished. “ This is one part of the idea behind purity. The fire must be hot enough to mold the metal into the shape the blacksmith wants it.
The second part is to burn away the filth and corruption. The technical word for this is called cupellation. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary cupellation is refinement (as of gold or silver) by exposure to high temperature in a blast of air by which the unwanted metals are oxidized. The Bible has a lot to say about what purity is and God almost always uses the analogy of heat and cupellation to describe it.
Proverbs 17:3 - Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the Lord tests the heart.
Psalm 66:10 - You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver.
Malachi 3:2-3 - But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the Lord.
1 Peter 1:7 - These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world
There are many others but hopefully you get the idea. Jesus only used the word “pure” one time. He said, “Bessed are the pure in heart” Matthew 5:8.
Mark tells this story in Mark 10. Jesus is approached by a rich and fairly young politician. He’s cocky and a tad arrogant. Sounds just like a politician if you ask me. I don’t know what this guy’s motive was as he approached Jesus. Maybe he was being sincere. There were other rich politicians like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea who were sincere in their questions and responses to Jesus. So it could be that this young successful leader ran in those circles and was genuine in his questions. I’ll assume that. But he does something a little odd for someone so cocky, he kneels at the feet of Jesus. He is publicly stating that Jesus is his superior, someone in authority. Rabbi’s were esteemed in this society, and especially rabbi’s with the mass following that Jesus enjoyed at this time in his ministry. In the beginning of Chapter 10 we’re told that masses of people were following Jesus everywhere he went. So this young man esteems Jesus as his spiritual authority and he has the most important question.
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Here’s why this young man asks the question. Jesus had rocked the boat on the traditional teaching of all the other rabbi’s. For all the other Saturday School teachers the idea of inheriting eternal life was a foreign concept. There are Old Testament Scriptures especially in Psalms that discusses heaven and hell and the idea was if you obey the law of Moses perfectly then you might get a shot at living with God in heaven, but, if you don’t you’ll go to hell. If you search for the phrase “eternal life” in the Old Testament you won’t find any responses. But do the same search in the Gospel books and you’ll find Jesus talks about it, a lot.
So this guy wants to know more about it. “How do I inherit eternal life?” Jesus is the only rabbi talking about it. So Jesus gives the answer he knows this guy wants to hear. “follow all the commandments, you know them, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, honor your folks, yada yada yada...” Now I think this guy is somewhat surprised by this answer. It’s the same answer every other Saturday School teacher gives. So he says, “I’ve obeyed all these commands since I was a kid.” In other words, “what gives dude?” “I thought you had a different answer than all the other teachers?” “What’s so special about you?”
Mark tells us that Jesus looked down on the kneeling, confused, rich young politician and felt love for him. Today, the world might look at that statement and have a different understanding, but, that’s because the world perverts everything, especially love. But Jesus knows the heart of this guy. He knows the impurity that is in his life. Jesus knows that what needs to be refined from the life of this young man is his greed. “There’s one thing you haven’t done.” Jesus told him. “You need to sell all your stuff, give the money to poor people and follow me.” Ouch. That message wouldn’t be received very well today, either.
The key to understanding why Jesus told this young rich guy to sell everything and give the money to the poor is to understand the idea behind purity. Jesus doesn’t tell everyone to sell everything they have and give it to poor people. He tells those whose impurity is greed to do that. This young man failed to have a pure heart, because he wouldn’t let go of his greed. Blessed are the pure in heart.
Letting go of things that keep us from being pure in heart is very difficult. This is why God explains the process as a refining fire. Burning away the impurities in our life is painful. I know people who have lost friends because they decided that in order for them to be pure in heart they had to walk away from influences that constantly introduced impurity. I know people who have walked away from family so they can walk in purity with Jesus. I know people who have lost jobs. Personally, I have learned the value of the refining process. I have been through the refining fire as God cleared impurity from my life and in the process I learned how much my wife loves me and supports me.
In my experience as a minister for the last 20 years I have been privileged to witness many lives being refined through confession and allowing God to burn the impurities from their hearts and minds, but, I also know there are many who look at the fire and decide it’s too hot and painful.
This is what the young man in this story considered. He decided the fire was too hot. Mark tells us that “the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions” That’s a particularly interesting phrase to me and says a lot about the expectation of the man at Jesus feet. His face was beaming the whole time. “Hey Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He was smiling from ear to ear. “You must obey all the commands.” Oh, he was ecstatic! “Oh, man, yeah, I’ve obeyed every single command since I was a kid.” There’s gotta be more though. He’s excited about what Jesus has to say to such a righteous, pure guy like him. “there’s one thing more for you to do.” Oh, yeah, here it comes, the guy is all smiles and confidence. “sell everything you have and give the money to the poor.” WHAT? His face fell. This face went from smiles and confidence to doom and gloom in seconds.
The fire was too hot. I wonder if Jesus pondered the words of Ezekiel in this moment, “I tried to cleanse you, but you refused”
The best question for you to consider now is this, “Are you pure in heart?” Have you allowed God to refine you from the impurities in your life? How do you do this?
James 5:16 “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”
When we confess sin we’re simply agreeing with God that we are impure. Confession is asking God to refine the impurity from the heart and mind. It’s pretty simple really. Jesus says that if our sin or impurity is against another person we need to confess that to them. Matthew 5:23-24.
Otherwise Jesus puts it like this, “What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting. So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” Matthew 18:7-9
Jesus is using a common literary tool of his day that uses exaggeration to drive a point home. How do we know that he is not to be taken literal here? Because, then, none of us would have any limbs. Jesus is consistent with the idea of purity. This is another example of what it means to be “pure in heart” It’s a painful process. But the value of refined gold or the effectiveness of a tool that has been molded is worth the process.
I think our problem with confession is revealed in a story about three guys who were best friends who went fishing one day. After a couple of hours in the boat and not even a nibble even after trying a couple different kinds of bait the guys were getting bored. “I’ve got an idea” the first guy said, “Let’s be totally honest with each other and confess our worst sin. I’ll go first. I cheated on my wife once on a business trip.” The second guy said, “well with the economy as bad as it is, I’ve had to embezzle money from my employer just to make ends meet.” And the third guy looked up from his smart phone and said, “Well my sin is gossip and I’m on facebook right now.”
Part of the fire of confessing our sin to someone, especially someone we love is the humility and trust it takes. We don’t confess our sin and impurities because we don’t trust our family or our church with it. Satan is lying to you and you are believing him if you think that you will be judged or condemned. I’m not suggesting you spill your guts to the whole church, but, who do you confess to? That is a valid question. Obviously the one who can heal your impurities, who can refine you is God.
1 John 1:9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
There is a connection between confessing sin and being cleansed. This is the idea behind purity. 1 John 1:8, “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth” In my past I’ve confessed to my wife because it was our relationship that I was hurting. Who do you need to confess to?
It’s impossible for you to be pure on your own. Everyone needs Jesus. I believe that the maximum quantity of all that is good, honorable and positive that resides in a human being compared to the quantity of all that is good, honorable and positive revealed in Jesus Christ is incomparable. It's like taking a grain of salt and holding it up to a cruise ship. We can’t find the purity of God in our own human nature. We can only discover our own definition of it and many people in the world define what is pure by their own standards.
Only Jesus introduces us to the idea of purity that is defined in this one statement “Blessed are the pure in heart.”
Paul sums this up well in Romans 7:14-25 “The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
And only the pure in heart according to how Jesus defines it will live in heaven. The heart matters. Jesus said, “these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” Matthew 15:8 and he also said, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” Matthew 6:33
So, are you “pure in heart?”
