We are in the fourth week of an eight-week series called Life’s Healing Choices. If you are familiar with 12-step programs, this may sound similar. But the beauty of the book by John Baker and the DVD series for our small groups by Rick Warren is that this message applies to everyone. Whatever your situation, whatever your hurt, hangup or habit, large or small, we all need healing.

 

But before we move forward, let's quickly review where we have been so far. 

 

Week one was---The Reality Choice. “I realize that I am not God. I admit that I’m powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life is unmanageable.”

 

Week two was---The Hope Choice. “I earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to him and that he has the power to help me change.” 

 

Week three was---The Commitment Choice. “I consciously choose to commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control.”

 

If you missed any of those messages they are available on our website at clcwhitefish.org.

 

So today we're at Healing Choice #4--

The Housecleaning Choice. “I openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God and to someone I trust.” 

 

How many of us love housecleaning? There may be a few, but not many! But I've got an excuse. I'm allergic to dust. Unfortunately, so is Stephanie. That could be an excuse not to clean. But if we don't do the housecleaning, it's even worse for our allergies. It just needs to be done. 

 

The same is true about the internal kind of housecleaning we're talking about here. We're all allergic to looking at the reality of what's inside of us--but it needs to be done. And this season of Lent that we've just begun is the perfect time to do it. Throughout many centuries of church history Lent has been a time to take a careful look inside--to examine what needs to change and to ask God's forgiveness and guidance to make that happen.

 

And let’s be honest with each other here. We all need to do this, because all of us have failed, all of us have blown it. All of us have sinned. Nobody’s perfect (Stephanie's pretty close though!) 

 

The Bible says, “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” Romans 3:23

 

That’s why it’s so important to remember what Pastor John pointed out with the first choice several weeks ago.

 

The freedom we seek begins not with our choice, but with God’s choice!   Ephesians 2:4-5 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”

 

Without confidence in God's love and forgiveness, taking this inventory of our inner lives would be terrifying. But being assured of God's grace we can take stock of our lives and clean out whatever needs to go.

 

And so the fourth choice is called The Housecleaning Choice. It says, “I openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God and to someone I trust.” 

 

But let's think about that. To admit something to myself? Sure. I guess I can do that. To admit it to God? Well, maybe. He already knows I guess. But to share all that stuff with somebody else?

 

But before you get too worked up here----God’s not asking you to go on a talk show and create a scandal about your own life. But he is asking all of us to be honest. To be honest with him and with ourselves and another person we trust. It’s because freedom and healing is impossible without honesty. 

 

In John 8:32 we hear, “When you know the truth it will set you free.” In other words, truth is the cost of freedom. But freedom is the reward of truth. Freedom is the reward of honesty. If we want to be free from all the rubbish that we’re carrying around in our lives, it begins with being honest with ourselves and with God and with another person.

 

So this week in our small groups we’re going to be talking about this whole idea of examining ourselves. 

 

My hope is that we can see how things can be. But before you can get there, you need to start with an honest evaluation of where you are right now.

 

It's important because often we don't have an accurate view of ourselves. We tend to have too low or too high a view of ourselves. Our pride says, "I don't need to do this! I'm far better than most people!!" Or our fear says, "Don't you dare look too deep inside, because you can't deal with what's there!"

 

But either way, we need to know the truth. And it all starts with God. You need to know just how deeply God loves you. It’s essential. Because when this whole idea of honesty starts to come up, a lot of us get scared. “I don’t need to do this. Or I can't face this."   But 1 John 4:18 says, “Perfect love casts out fear.” I believe that whenever we're afraid of the truth, it’s because we don’t fully understand how much God loves us. If we really understand the depth of his love there is nothing to be afraid of. 

 

Through this series we’re looking at the Beatitudes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. There's a Beatitude for every week of Life's Healing Choices; and the Beatitude this week is---

 

Matthew 5:8. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” 

 

What does Jesus mean "pure in heart"? Are we talking cardiology here? Do we need a little heart catheterization to clean things out? No, the Biblical concept of heart goes beyond the physical organ that pumps our blood. In this metaphor, the heart is the center of the emotions, the intellect and the will--everything that's central to who a person is. 

 

And Jesus is pointing out the difference between the Pharisees and others who were only concerned with outward appearances, outward following of religious laws, while inwardly they were far from God.

 

Martin Luther wrote: "What is meant by 'pure heart' is this: (a heart) that is watching and pondering what God says and replacing its own ideas with the Word of God." And when our heart is purified by God's Word, then faith is created and we see God here and now in his Word and his sacraments--we see God in Christ and through his Holy Spirit. And ultimately we see God face to face in eternal life.

 

It’s vital to understand that you can't make your own heart pure. Good actions don't purify the heart. You can’t just say, I’m going to clean up my act and behave myself and then I’ll have a pure heart. Good behavior does not purify the heart. But a pure heart will change your behavior. In Lent we talk a lot about repentance--to turn away from our sin. But repentance is not what you do in order to earn forgiveness. Repentance is what you do because your forgiveness has already been paid for.

 

Romans 5:8 “While we were sinners, Christ died for us.” He didn’t wait for us to clean up our act. The only way to have a pure heart is through the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross for your sins. Purity of heart is the gift of God’s grace. You cannot earn it. You cannot buy it. It is a gift that comes through faith in Christ.

 

How does God sees you right now? He sees at this very moment as having a pure heart. 

 

2 Corinthians 5:17 reads, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come."

 

But how can I have a pure heart when there’s all of this rubbish that’s still in my life? How is that possible?

 

 

The basis for a pure heart is not how good you’ve been. The basis for a pure heart is how good God is.

 

It’s based on God’s character not yours. It’s based on God’s actions, not yours. It’s based on God’s goodness, not yours. Your good behavior does not purify your heart. But a pure heart will change your behavior.

 

It doesn't happen overnight. It is a process. It’s a lifelong process. And you have a big role to play in that process. So do God’s people who are around you. Your role is surrender. Your role is to practice what you already know.    Your role is to cooperate with God in becoming what you are meant to be.

 

Romans 4:17, “God calls things that were not as though they were.” 

 

He sees you right now in Christ as already having a pure heart. So you are cooperating with him in becoming what you already are.

 

You've probably heard of, or seen photos of Michelangelo’s sculpture of King David--a sculpture cut from a huge block of marble. Michelangelo was asked "how did you do that?" He said, “I just cut away everything that wasn’t David.” 

 

For the rest of us--- all we would see is a big block of stone. But the master Michelangelo saw David in there. He cut away everything that wasn’t David. So David became what he already was in the mind of his creator. 

 

It’s the same process with all of us. God has already declared your heart as pure. Now you cooperate with him in the process of becoming what you are. That housecleaning--the cutting away, the getting rid of the things that bind you and that trip you up. 

 

If you fall down in the process, get back up. If you fall down again, get back up again. As many times as needed. This is where God’s people come in. You need people around you who love you, who love the Lord, to help you get back up on your feet and keep moving forward in the right direction. You're not alone. You’re not the only person in this room who still has to fight against temptation. You’re not the only person in this room who still loses their temper or thinks things they shouldn’t think. We are all in this together. 

 

Don’t ever let sin keep you from God. When you do that, you’re just playing into the devil’s hands because he wants to separate you from God. He wants to isolate you from fellowship.  Sin should drive you to God. Because that’s the only place you’re going to find forgiveness and mercy and hope and healing.

 

1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 

 

Don’t misunderstand this. God is not soft on sin. He’s not just some old man, winking his eye, “No big deal.” It is a big deal. Sin separates us from him. It’s the reason that Jesus had to die for us. God can't stand sin. But he loves you. And he promises to forgive you and to make your heart pure. 

 

This idea of examining our hearts, taking inventory and housecleaning--- Why does God want us to search our hearts? Why does he want us to take this kind of inventory? 

 

It’s because so much of our continuing struggles, so much of our behaviors now are tied to poor choices we’ve made in the past. They’re the result of things, either that we did or that were done to us, and those are the things that still distort our character, they distort our behavior, they’ve distorted our lives. And those are the things that we need to clean out and get rid of. And we can't do it halfway or the wounds never heal!

 

When our kids were small one of their chores was to take the garbage out to the compost pile that we used on our garden in the summer. And one winter we had snow like they're having in the east this year. It just kept piling up. And it got harder and harder to get out to that compost pile. But everyday the boys would take out the garbage and get rid of it--or so we thought. As spring arrived and the snow banks started to melt, we began to see banana peels and orange peels sticking out of the snow along the driveway near the house. And as the melting continued, we saw that much of the winter's garbage had never made it to the compost pile. They had taken the easy way out. Of course, the problem is when you don't really get rid of the garbage--you've just got to do it again! And when we do the internal housecleaning, getting rid of the garbage that we all need to, it's no good to do it halfway.

 

I know there are some of us right now living a painful memory, maybe a horrible memory of things you’ve done in your life, or were done to you, things that are still going on in your life. You’ve tried over and over and over again to get free from them. You’re thinking, this isn’t possible. I’ve tried it way too many times. It’s too late for me. 

 

But it is never too late. If you think you’re too sinful for God, you’re just what he’s looking for. Jesus said in Luke 19:10 “I came to seek and to save the lost.” 

 

With these choices God isn’t asking you to make a promise that you cannot keep. He’s asking you to receive a promise that only he can keep. God loves you. He cares about you and he wants to bring you freedom and healing. Not just to bring you from death into life, but from death into life in its fullness. 

 

“Happy are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Do you want a pure heart? Do you want to see God at work in your life, in your family, in your household, in your business, in your friendships and relationships? It begins with being honest to God. When you know the truth it will set you free. 

 

God is at work in you. He’s already started this process. He already sees you as having a pure heart. He’s got you in a process of becoming who you are. You don’t have to be afraid.  Expect the freedom that God has for you. And make the Housecleaning Choice.

 

Micah 7:18-19

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

Amen.