Sacred Delights
Blessed Are The Pure in Heart
Sunday, June 16, 2024
Welcome and Happy Father’s Day!
We are so glad to have you join us on this special day to honor dads and to give praise and thanks to our Heavenly Father who loves us with an unfailing love.
Call to Worship:
Come, sing praises to God!
Rejoice in his presence!
For he is our God:
a Father to the fatherless,
and the defender of all who need protection;
the One in whom the lonely find a home,
and the prisoner finds release.
Bless the Lord,
the God of our salvation,
who sustains and strengthens us,
day after day!
Let’s worship God together!
Praise Songs
We are continuing on in our series, Sacred Delights, this week focusing on the verse in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the Purse in Heart, for they will see God.”
Notice there is a condition on the front-to have a pure heart.
It is the state of our heart that determines our ability to see God in our lives.
How are we purified in our hearts?
Not by our own doing that is for sure; that will only lead to greater pride and arrogance. Not by the world and the many and ever changing influences around us. We can only be purified in our hearts by coming to the source who is Pure-that is Christ Himself.
Jesus is the spotless Lamb who was slain; whose blood shed was without stain or sin. He is the righteous One, holy and pure. It is only by being washed in His blood and allowing the Holy Spirit to renew us in our spirit and fill our heart with His Word that is true, that we become purified. In coming to Him, we gain wisdom that is not of this world and not of self, but of God. We learn from our Heavenly Father who delights in us and loves us, how to live holy, peacefully, and joyfully as we follow His instruction. We learn as we come to Him to teach us and guide us, to live with eyes enlightened to His beauty all around us, ears that hear that cry of those who are oppressed and broken, hearts that feel empathy and compassion for the lost and wandering and a mind that is caught up in His eternal purposes and Kingdom focused. The closer we walk with God; the more we let His Word into our heart, the more we become like Him. We are made in His image; the image of our Heavenly Father, and it is His great desire to help us become the fullness of that image throughout our lifetime. It is to our great joy to let Him!
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Let’s look at this more closely.
Proverbs 4: 10-14, 18-23 NLT
10 My child, listen to me and do as I say, and you will have a long, good life.
11 I will teach you wisdom’s ways and lead you in straight paths.
12 When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble.
13 Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.
Guard them, for they are the key to life. 14 Don’t do as the wicked do,
and don’t follow the path of evildoers.
. 18 The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
which shines ever brighter until the full light of day. 19 But the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over.
20 My child, pay attention to what I say.
Listen carefully to my words. 21 Don’t lose sight of them.
Let them penetrate deep into your heart, 22 for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.
23 Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.
How many times did you hear Listen, Pay Attention, Take Hold of and let them penetrate your heart. Do you think God might know something about our stubbornness and resistance to listen and heed what we are told?
As a parent, how many times have you repeated the same instructions over and over again while raising up your children? And when they become annoyed with us and say, “I know…..” with a big eye roll to make sure we see their disgust and irritation that we should dare bring it up again… what do we say?
“Well if you know, then why don’t you do it?”
To which we get yet another eye roll or a big huff and stomping off.
But isn’t this the same thing we do to our Heavenly Father? He lays out His faithful instruction. He makes sure we have access to it, why? So He can make us miserable and be the joykill in our lives? No… exactly the same reason we strive to teach our children what is good and right and will lead to blessings in their life; so our Father has carefully recorded His Word of instruction and truth to keep us safe and bring us fullness of life-not only in this world, but for all eternity.
Don’t you think God might also respond to us when we eye roll at Him, I know God…. “well if you know why don’t you do it?”
- Polished Exteriors Do Not Mask Rotten Fruit.
Who here has had the power gone out and you ended up with spoiled food inside to deal with?
If it had sat there for any amount of time-if you were gone away and came home to find this happened, what greets you when you open the door?
An awful smell that about knocks you over or makes you gag right? Not pleasant and yet it has to be cleaned up.
We wouldn’t ever consider just sanitizing the outside of the freezer or giving it a good polish to make it look all pretty and new again, and believe the rotten food inside would be gone and dealt with. It’s still there and continuing to rot all the more. The longer it sits, the more overpowering it will become.
We wouldn’t think well since that food is spoiled, I’ll just go out to eat and enjoy some time with friends and then I don’t have to think about it. We might try that, but what happens when we come back home? It’s still there, still rotting and stinking of the joint.
We wouldn’t merely spray air freshner to mask the potent smell and truly believe that would solve our issue right? Again we might try it, but we know we’re still going to have to face the nasty in the freezer and get it out of there.
We wouldn’t just go buy a new freezer and sit it alongside the one that is holding the rotten food and think ok well I’ll just use a new freezer and I won’t have to deal with that one. It’s just new food in a new freezer and I’ll be good.
Anyone think these ideas sound ridiculous? Anyone try some of them in hopes the spoiled food would magically disappear?
We all know at some point, the stink is going to get worse, the food will keep rotting, and we WILL have to face it and remove it, as much as we don’t want to.
And yet, isn’t this how we face our lives?
We have something in our heart that is beginning to spoil and rot-but we don’t want to address it for what it is-we try to polish up our exterior-maybe we get some new clothes, a new hairdo, focus on our outer physique, conduct ourselves in a new way and put on a great front we have it all together and life couldn’t be better. Meanwhile, inside, the rot is taking hold.
Maybe we try to mask the pain and issues that are within our heart by buying something to ease our pain and discomfort- a new vehicle, an expensive vacation, fancy shoes or whatever that is we have to have. Isn’t that the fix-go buy yourself something you’ll feel better.
Meanwhile, inside we’re depressed, lonely, bitter, guilty, ashamed, angry and no matter how you dress up your exterior and polish it till it shines, the inside will keep corroding; the fruit will continue to spoil until you face it and deal with.
Matthew 15: 10-11 10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Matthew 15:18 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.
Matthew 23: 27-28 27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Let us not live as the Pharisees who were whitewashed tombs-beautifully polished on the outside but decaying on the inside. Let us bring our hearts before our Holy and righteous God to purify them and let us heed His instruction that brings life and abundant fruit to our whole body.
Dads and grandpas here today- know the best way for you to influence your children and grandchildren for good is to look within your heart and let God refine and clean that which is corroding and decaying. Let Him purify you from the inside out. Yes that makes us vulnerable and that is the only way to truly know God and let Him lead you, is to offer Him your heart as it is. He is not afraid to face what lies within, that smell of rotting fruit won’t drive Him away and in His great love He will wash us clean, sanitize us and place within us new fruit that is good. He will continue to watch over our hearts as keep them pure as we come to Him. He will cause righteous fruit to bloom as we let His Word take hold in our heart more and more.
Proverbs 4: 21-22 21 Don’t lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, 22 for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body.
Life and Healing to our whole body. This is how we see God through the changes in how we are living our life; through healing the deepest of wounds in our heart; through new hope and dreams to chase after; through peace as we lay our heads down at night knowing our Father has us and will never let us go.
- Change Your Life by Changing Your Heart.
Let’s remember the process Jesus has been leading us through in this teaching in the Beatitudes. Do you remember what we have discussed so far and where we begin?
We begin by an admission of our poverty apart from Christ- we acknowledge we are poor in spirit without His infilling.
We have sorrow over our sinful state-we mourn over our condition which leads us to repentance and we cry out to our Savior and express our great need for Him.
We come before Him meek and lowly, humble in heart acknowledging He is Lord Almighty and our God; He is righteous, just, and holy and worthy of our faithfulness. We begin to be used by God and seek to be used by God to accomplish His purposes over our own desires.
The more we are used by God and see His power and grace at work; the more we develop a hunger to know Him and be of greater service to Him. The more we seek, the more we hunger and as His Word states in this proverb, in Him we find life and healing. We find purpose, the key to really living beyond self.
The more we hunger after Him, the more we experience His mercies in our life as our Loving Father. The more mercy we receive from the Father, the more mercy we extend to others around us-now our hearts are changing. We are no longer living for selfish desires and accolades, but for Him and to make Him known and felt to others through our love for them.
This is the purifying process Jesus is teaching. How long it takes us to work through these phases is in relation to our willingness to heed His instruction and our humility to know our need for our Savior. For some of us it might take a long time to come to the point we are today, Blessed Are the Pure in Heart, for they will see God. For others, you will move more quickly. For most of us, this will happen in phases and layers of purifying over the course of our lives.
Proverbs 17:3 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.
Are you seeing God daily in your life? Are you really seeing Him?
If not, we can pray and we should pray for God to show us what lies within our heart and purify us. This is a prayer our God delights in answering!
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
There are temple builders like the Pharisees-who only focus on the exterior of their appearances including the structures they preach in and there are Savior Seekers-who focus on knowing the One who lives within. When we gather to worship the One, that is Jesus Christ-let our focus and hearts always be on Him, His Word, His Presence and what He is purifying within you. Guide your heart and focus back to Him when you wander and get more focused on the temple than the One who the temple was built for. Amen!
Proverbs 4:23 23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Conclusion: May we always remember why we gather to worship and WHO we worship-Jesus, our Savior and the Living God. Let Him purify your heart, for you will see Him more and more in your life. Let us be Savior Seekers in our heart!
This is a gift and promise from our loving Father.
Let’s pray.
Special Prayer of blessing for Fathers:
Let us praise those fathers who have striven to balance the demands of work, marriage, and children with an honest awareness of both joy and sacrifice.
Let us praise those fathers who, lacking a good model for a father, have worked to become a worthy and virtuous father.
Let us praise those fathers who, by their own account, were not always there for their children, but who continue to offer those children, now grown, their love and support. As well, let us pray for those fathers who have been wounded by words and actions of their children. Heal their hearts Father God.
Let us praise those fathers who, despite marital discord, have remained in their children's lives.
Let us praise those fathers whose children are adopted, and whose love and support has nurtured a thriving life. Let us praise those fathers who, as stepfathers, freely choose the obligation of fatherhood and earned their step children's love and respect.
Let us praise those fathers who have lost a child to death and continue to hold the child in their heart.
Let us praise those men who have no children but cherish the next generation as if they were their own.
Let us praise those men who have "fathered" us in their role as mentors and guides.
Let us praise those men who are about to become fathers; may they openly delight in their children.
And let us praise those fathers who have been called to their eternal home but live on in our memory and whose love continues to nurture us. We thank You for their love that we still hold in our hearts.
Father God bless and raise up all earthly Fathers to grow more and more into Your glorious image. Soften their hearts towards You to hear and heed Your instructions that guide them in how to live as a man of God and to best love their wives and children in all seasons. Beckon them to share their heavy burdens with You O God that they do not carry the weight of the world on their shoulders alone-but give those burdens to You, trusting in You to carry them and guide them. Where they have been wounded bring healing. Where they have been disappointed, encourage them. Where they are weak Lord, fill them with Your strength. Where they worry, be their peace and assurance. When they stumble pick them up Lord and set them back on Your path to righteousness. When they feel alone, remind them You as their Father will never leave them and You are always with them. Help each of us look upon our dads and our husbands as fathers and father figures through Your eyes and let us see Your love actively at work in and through them. We thank You for dads who are present, steadfast, and seeking You O God. May they always know Your unfailing love, and may they hear our words of honor from our lips. Bless them always and guard their hearts and minds in You Christ Jesus. Amen.
Prayers:
Final Song
Final Blessing: 1 Thessalonians 3: 12-13 May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
