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.
Let’s look at some of the ways that the devil does that.
Point # 2
THE DEVIL CAN STEAL PART OF YOUR HEART BY GETTING YOU TO LIVE FOR SOMETHING ELSE RIGHT NOW, AND THAT IS ALL HE NEEDS TO ACCOMPLISH HIS GOAL.
Revelation 3:16 (NIV)
16 So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
I think the something else right now person falls into the lukewarm category. The one that God will spit out of his mouth.
Over the years while in the ministry, I have heard people tell me, I am going to take time out from God and church because:
1. I want to pursue my education, and I need to devote all my time and energy to school.
2. I want to get myself financial sound first.
3. I want to pursue what I want to do first, and then I will settle down and serve God. I call those people the ones who want to sow their wild oats first.
4. I am just God and church tired, I have been doing the Christian thing for so long, and I just need some time away to recharge.
Here is the danger, do you know someone whose child had left home and came back home and the child said this is just going to be temporary and temporarily turned into permanent.
You take time away from God; you lose the blessed life, remember He blesses the pure of heart, and you are in danger of the temporary situation becoming a long term absence from God.
If you want to be blessed by God, you need to stay the course; remember, the devil just needs to take you away a little bit to win and steal your blessing.
3. THE DEVIL CAN STEAL PART OF YOUR HEART BY GETTING YOU TO HOLD ON TO JUST ONE THING AND NOT GIVING THAT ONE THING OVER TO GOD.
If you remember your Old Testament, the Israelites defeated the people of Jericho on the way to the Promise Land, and God gave them specific orders not to take any spoils from the city. One man, Achan, took some of the spoils. The people of Israelite then go against the next city, and the Israelites are defeated. Joshua discovers that God withheld the blessing to the whole nation because of one man.
Now take that down to an individual’s life. Holding on to one thing that you need to give over to God might be withholding God’s blessing in your life. The rich young ruler of the New Testament came to Jesus to seek His blessing, and we discover that He was sold out to God in all his ways except one-his money. He could not give that part of his life over to God, and the Bible goes on to say that the rich young ruler went away sad because he could not receive God’s blessing.
The devil knows that he just got to get you to hold on to one thing in your life and not give that part to God, and he wins. I wonder today is there some part of your life you haven’t given over to God. To the rich young ruler, it was his money; to some parents, it might be their children; to some workers, it might be their job. You know what it is in your life that you haven’t given over to God.
4. THE DEVIL CAN STEAL PART OF YOUR HEART BY GETTING YOU TO HOLD ON ONE SECRET SIN AND NOT CONFESSING THAT SIN TO GOD.
I hope that you confess all your sins like we are told to do in I John because our Heavenly Father is faithful and just to forgive us of all our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But I know from the story of King David and Nathan the prophet that David had a secret sin that he had not confessed to God. And I know from my counseling practice that people have secret sins that they told nobody- not God, not their spouse, no one. And finally, I know from personal experience there are sins that I have committed that I tried to keep away from God. As if, He did not know!
Why do we hold on to secret sins? I am sure there are many reasons. Two that come to my mind quickly are: I might be too embarrassed to tell God, and the other, I like that sin, and I don’t want to give it up yet. And you may have another reason why you hold on to your secret sin.
But if we hold on to our secret sin, the devil wins, and we don’t get the blessing.
Conclusion
What I am asking you to do today is difficult. It is difficult not to take time out some point in your Christian life for whatever reason; it is difficult not to hold at least one thing close to you and not give it over to God; and, it is difficult not to keep a secret sin that you don’t want God or anyone else to know about.
But here is the reward. You will see God; you will see God working in your life day in and day out. And you will certainly see Him face to face in eternity. And the reward is greater than the cost.
