The Happy Life: E5 Pure in Heart

Jacob Creighton: What's everybody? Welcome back, the Formed Podcast. We are back with next episode of the Happy Life series. Chris is joining us from his house today, not his office. yeah, it's been a little bit, so Chris is in a Steelers shirt, he's ready for the season to come. And you know, as soon as OTAs start, that's when us fans just I mean, we're we're in it. We're in it all year. Yeah.

Chris: That's right. From the basement. Do this. mean it's in. Yeah, it's it's it's football season.

Jacob Creighton: It's crazy how much they talk about football all year round. Like people were f livid about Aaron Rodgers not signing in like March. It's like, dude, he ⁓ he's on vacation. You know? Yeah, it's okay. It's all right. Give him some time. Yeah, they don't have a game for another couple months. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. ⁓

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he's in a dark room somewhere. He's not he's not thinking about football. We are. He's not. He's ready to retire. Ha ha.

Jacob Creighton: All right, the happy life pure in heart is this week. ⁓ we look at the the next Beatitude. Blessed are the pure in heart. ⁓ yeah, this is gonna be a good one. I I love just the direction, Chris, that you took us ⁓ on Sundays with this. ⁓ and can't wait can't wait for us to dive in. ⁓ so let's do it. You ready? ⁓ yeah, blessed are the pure in heart.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Do it. I'm ready.

Jacob Creighton: For they will see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Matthew five verse eight. If you're ⁓ joining us listening, go ahead and ⁓ look at that, highlight that, ⁓ underline it, Matthew 5. I mean, we're doing all the beatitudes, so I guess you could underline all the beatitudes, but ⁓ yeah, Matthew five, eight is one we're looking at today. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Chris: That's right.

Jacob Creighton: ⁓ Chris, I I I like how you started this off and I think is ⁓ kind of fitting for this is is looking at the ⁓ even second half of this verse for they will see God. I mean, that's a huge deal. That's a huge deal, right?

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that's the it isn't that kind of the the point of what we want. I mean, we're kind of promised that in the end. You know, we're gonna stand before the throne, we're gonna be worshiping. There's not gonna be no need for even the sun, the the radiance of God will will give us light and energy and and and and heat and whatnot. But you know, it's not just later that we can see God. It's also a promise of of right now. And, you know, actually that's that's the point. ⁓ the great commentator Matthew Henry says that this is the most

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: like complete beatitude in some ways, the most comprehensive beatitude, because the promise is a pure, a pure heart gives you the the eyes to see God.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For something to have that attached to it. For they will see God. Man, I'm tuning into what's on the first half. And I'm tuning in. I'm not yeah. ⁓ so blessed are the pure in heart. ⁓ break it down for us a little bit. What does what does that mean? What does that even mean? Blessed are the pure in heart. It seems ⁓ seems unrealistic. Seems

Chris: Yeah. Yeah, for real.

Jacob Creighton: ⁓ if we're honest about ourselves it seems pretty ⁓ insurmountable insurmountable. ⁓ is it a little bit of pure in heart? Is it all the way pure in heart? What is it? Break that down for us.

Chris: Yeah. No, and that's great questions because I mean that's that's what you have to wrestle with. It's just kind of the whole like killer already, not yet kind of mentality here when you when you come to the pure and heart. I mean, you look at just the basic definition of pure, which means clean, unmixed, uncorrupted. And so you're looking at like gold, for instance, that's quality enough to to give a king or adorn a king. You're you know, you're looking at at water that's pure enough to be ⁓ drinkable. ⁓ and not, you know, create sickness or whatnot. And so clean, unmixed, uncorrupted. And so you're looking for this. Well, also too, we have to ask, what is the heart? You know, because I think we we think of the heart in more of like a functional sense because of our scientific, ⁓ you know, the surroundings of of science, especially here in Pittsburgh. I mean, we got this incredible, ⁓

Jacob Creighton: Right.

Chris: you know, medical field here. And so we look at it as like the the organ that pumps blood. And so you want pure blood, right? That's all you want. No, it's it's it's more than that to the early listeners. It would have they they the any mention of the heart would have driven their kind of minds to like the center of their life. All of their desires, their motives, their thoughts, their loves, and even their will. That's what drove them. ⁓ it was less of an intellectual society per se.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: ⁓ you know, we're post-enlightenment. So we we think a lot. So our brain does a lot of the driving now, where they would have thought of the heart in a similar way, ⁓ as where their desires and motives and and we kind of run with that when we say we have a broken heart or our heart hurts for that person. ⁓ it's an emotional center, but it goes even beyond that. ⁓ and so you put those together and it's like the the center of your life.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: Is pure. The center of your life is clean, unmixed, or uncorrupted. And it kind of flips that some because it makes you kind of challenge and consider some of the things that you're doing. And like, wait a minute, hold on. Like, am I wholly devoted to this God that I want to see by having a the center of my life being clean, unmixed, uncorrupted? So it definitely puts kind of a fork in our road here.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. To ⁓ use a golfing term, you know, of puring a shot. It's not off the toe, not off the heel. That thing is dead center of the club face. You know, center of the heart is what we're after. Pure. ⁓ that's good. ⁓ so you took us to another spot, ⁓ Isaiah fifty two, just to kind of give us a picture of

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: maybe what this looked like for ⁓ Isaiah speaking to the people of Israel and ⁓ kinda gave us a challenge from it as well. So I'd love for you to unpack even just that section. ⁓

Chris: Yeah, I mean, Isaiah is is fascinating here because 52 into 53 is actually like the the press into the most, I really one of the most profound, like messianic prophecies that there is. And so you go into 53 and you really start seeing it. It kind of tails in at the end of 52. And that's kind of what I wanted to get through with this because we'll see in a little bit as you ask the question, like, can we actually do this Pure and Heart thing? Like.

Jacob Creighton: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: ⁓ yes, but it really has to be done for us. But there's kind of some steps before that. And so you like, I want to see God, I want to see God, I want to see God. Well, what do you have to do? And Isaiah kind of goes through this process and and I've boiled it down to wake up, look up, speak up, and then open up. ⁓ and so, you know, he started with like what yeah, I say it slowly, sorry, as if I don't speak slow enough, right? ⁓ wake up.

Jacob Creighton: Say those again slowly. Yeah. Wake up.

Chris: Would would be kind of the first three verses of that Isaiah 52. And then after we wake up, we we begin to look up. So Isaiah's calling us to wake up, then we look up, and then we begin to open ourselves up. ⁓ and then we then we you know move into ⁓ I'm sorry, we I'm sorry before open up, we speak up and then we open up. ⁓ and we'll talk about the nuance there. But man, there's this beautiful thing where, you know.

Jacob Creighton: Mm.

Chris: Isaiah is trying to tell the people who were in captivity, they're in this like like fishbowl of the the ways of Babylon. And they're starting to buy into the the the ways that that you know Babylon was living, the things that they accepted, the gods that they worshiped, ⁓ the ways that they used their bodies and their money and their time and their talent and and everything else. And Israel was beginning to normalize those things. And I mean, I kind of think of it as like us normalizing lust or us normalizing greed or us normalizing the way that we compare our lives to other people through, you know, social media and whatnot, or gossip. And, you know, we as I said, we eventually stop fighting the things that we normalize. Well, how do we realize that? Well, there there's this reality that we have to wake up to it. We have to kind of in tune, you know.

Jacob Creighton: Right.

Chris: in tune our senses to the things that are around us and like, wait a minute, this isn't the way that it needs to be. This isn't the way that it has to be. There's there's a different way that God provides for us, ⁓ a way of purity, a way of of of seeking Him. and so it's like, okay, we got to wake up to the reality that we're we're we're in there's a problem here. And so as we wake up to that, then what we do, well, we begin to look up.

Jacob Creighton: There you right.

Chris: Because it's like, wait a minute, I can't fix this problem on my own. There's if I if I'm called to be pure in heart and if I'm entangled in the ways of the world and those ways aren't pure, then how do I untangle myself? Well, we we have to we have to look up. I I said that purity changes perception. And as we're like, man, we need this like water that we're swimming in to be purified. How do you do that? Well, we have we have to begin to.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yes.

Chris: To look up. And that's kind of what Isaiah is calling the people to do. where he's saying, like, my people shall know my name. This is what God is is saying through Isaiah. My people will know my name, like intimately, with all of their heart, the center of their life, know the name of God, the great I am, the personal God, the one who's there to to love and protect and bring justice and mercy and grace and all these great things.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: And so we begin to notice these things as we look up and we see the standard that God sets for us. Well, and as that happens, you know, we move into speak up. You know, as we as we begin to see the like purification process happen within us as we're we're waking up, we're looking up, we begin to speak up, things begin to come out differently. ⁓ you know, when you when you eat better food, you feel better. you know, maybe like pure, like natural food. Man, I can slam some McDonald's big backs, you know? I mean, we've Jacob and I have been guilty of of hitting up some some McDonald's, as I would say. That's right. Get that that McDonald's at me dropping you a free sandwich, you know, luring you in. But man, you know, when I eat ⁓ a a more purified diet, I feel better. And and and my performance begins to change, you know, as I lift or run or whatnot. And

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. We we check out check out those deals sometimes. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure.

Chris: You know, so just my outward like production begins to change. And so I begin to speak up. Things begin to change that are coming out of me. And I'm like, hey, I feel better. You need to go do this. That's why we make recommendations for restaurants. That's why I tell everybody to go eat at Big Gyms because it's good, you know? And and you know, it it it's tasty. This is the people are nice. It's it's it's the thing. And so, you know, Isaiah just kind of paints this picture in in 52, 7 through 10, where he's like.

Jacob Creighton: It's good. Mm-hmm.

Chris: How beautiful in the mountains are the feet of the herald who proclaims peace, who brings the good news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says the Zion, your God reigns. And he continues, and he's like, these people are gonna, as they, as they, they wake up and they look up, they begin to speak up and tell about this God who actually loves them and isn't just this demanding God of the of the people of Babylon. And

Jacob Creighton: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Chris: You know, it's just kind of a cool process. And then it moves into opening up. And we then we open up. We begin to really allow our hearts to be continuously changed and whatnot. But the thing is, is we don't change our hearts. And that's what Isaiah, I think, is getting to in the end of 52 and the 53, is he saying, Hey, you've woken up, you're looking up, you're speaking up, but this is what's really happening.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: And I'm going to reveal to you, as it says in 5213, the servant that will be successful in this, that he will be raised, he will be lifted up, he will be greatly exalted because he's going to justify you. He's going to make you pure. The actions that he does, you'll be able to fall under those things and not have to earn this on your own. And, you know, he's going to take on, you know, the sin and the sin that that that you have committed. And he's going to hand you righteousness or perfection or purity. And it's just this like no other conception of God promises that kind of thing. And so that's why we're invited into those who are pure in heart, not pure on our own standards, pure by falling under the purity of Christ that he provides. We get to see God. We see God work. We see God move. We we have a more intimate relationship with the God who is a personal God.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What I love about these, ⁓ and even just this this process laid out in Isaiah is it's a partnership with God in which he's you know, he's doing the work, ⁓ pretty much every step of the way. I think even the first step of wake up, you know, work like the Israelites, they're they were sleeping. They needed to be told by Isaiah, he's basically doing function three and

Chris: Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: you know, circling back to number one for them. But they need to be woken up from where they're falling short and where they're slumbering. Same thing with us. Like where we're asleep. ⁓ God is doing the action of, hey, hey, wake up, wake up. Here's my holiness and my purity, my perfection. Like wake up. This is what you've fallen into. ⁓ and the same thing throughout this step as we kinda kinda go through it all the way to to opening up.

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Jacob Creighton: we we open ourselves up and say, you know God, I can't do this work of causing my own self to to be pure. I need to I need you to show me. I need you to to help me out. And so ⁓ that's what I I love about this is that it's both a an extreme call to something that we can't obtain, but it's also something that that God is saying, No, I'm working this in you and and through this process. So

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and it's it's so cool that that we have a God that invites us back in. You know, we're we're so used to the demand and like failing and and and experiencing shame and and and frustration and

Jacob Creighton: For sure.

Chris: I'm like, ⁓ we can't go back because I messed up again or I messed up again or I messed up again. And I mean, the children of Israel show that they mess up time and time and time and time again. And God is constantly calling them to wake up. Wake up, come back to me. I I'm paying the ultimate price. It's done. It's over. Just come back. And you know, inviting us into a constant state of purification. ⁓ we're, you know, I think eternally we're pure.

Jacob Creighton: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Wake up.

Chris: You know, under the blood of Jesus, Jesus the Lord, He has, He has purified us. But that's kind of that sanctification process. It's that journey of becoming who we already are in Christ. That's what God is inviting us into. This this constant like peeling back the layers of our heart to experience and see him deeper. And it's just a it it it's it's mind-boggling because we don't get this anywhere else in our life. If you fail over and over and over again at work, you're gonna be fired.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And see Right. Right.

Chris: If you fail over and over and over again in your marriage, you're going to be in in marriage counseling. If you, you know, in a friendship, the friend is going to be like, I don't think this person is really a friend anymore. At a hobby, it's going to be like frustration. I'm going to put this on the shelf. I'm done. But God is like, come back, come back, come to me, find rest, find purity, find safety, find, you know. So

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. That's it. All right. Yeah. Yeah. And to your point, there is like an eternal aspect of the the verse, like blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. But it again to your point is is this is happening right now. He's the one saying, Hey, wake up, wake up, wake up, you're pursuing this. No, no, no. Like come back in alignment with me. ⁓ look at look at me. Look at me and my word and and everything. ⁓ speak up where you see this happening, maybe in your church or your community or you know, where you live, like speak up where you see something wrong.

Chris: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: ⁓ open yourself up to the continued work that I'm doing. ⁓ it's how we live and interact with God ⁓ daily. So not just for eternities for now as

Chris: Yeah. No, I and that's the that's the crazy thing about it is we can see God work right now. You know, the king as Jesus was saying, the kingdom of God is at hand. He is providing that now. That's what he's offering these people that he's talking to 2,000 years ago. Hey, you that are standing here in front of me, blessed are you who are pure in heart, for you will see God. And they actually right now are seeing God, you know. But I mean, we're indwelled with the Holy Spirit.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris: And so we have God inside of us that is constantly wanting to expose himself to the world. And we're a conduit of that. And so not only are we going to be like people, other people are going to see God through us, in us, you know, with us, but we get a chance to see God work and move with us right now.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ this is maybe hitting on the last last step of it, opening up. ⁓ but we we kind of saw in the s the psalms in Psalm one hundred nine where ⁓ the psalmist David, he exemplifies this. He he shows us what it looks like to open up to God. And I think what's so beautiful about this is it is counter cultural in the sense of, you know, we think that.

Chris: Mm-hmm. Yeah. ⁓

Jacob Creighton: To be pure in heart, we gotta make ourselves pure. We gotta like figure out everything wrong with us and then we can fix it, you know, and then we'll kinda give God the afterthoughts. But what he's saying is like, No, I'm coming to God as I am, I'm open up my hands and here's what he says Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my concerns, see if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the everlasting way. ⁓ One, it's just beautiful to s to read that, but also, ⁓ in praying with that and ⁓ being invited into ⁓ how we can be open before God. I it's just a beautiful invitation for us as well. So ⁓ yeah. You got any comments on that?

Chris: Yeah, no, I mean I it's it's just an incredible thing. Again, I mean, where else do you find this? Where you invite the God who is the creator God, the all-powerful God, the all-knowing God, the just God to say, Hey, search me right now. And not just not just search me and like you're just gonna like shame me for all these things that I I

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Search me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No.

Chris: I mean, my sinful heart, man. I am a pastor. I'm a professional Christian, as they say. I'm supposed to have ⁓ yeah, exactly. I'm supposed to have all my stuff together. And it's like, man, I am I just see more and more and more just how sinful I am, like as God searches me and you know, as He knows my heart and then He reveals that to me, it doesn't come with shame when He

Jacob Creighton: It's a scary thing to say. Yeah.

Chris: When he tests me and he he sees my anxieties and my concerns and my fears and and guilts and all this kind of stuff. And he he reveals these offensive ways in me, then what does he do? What's the promise of diversity? And he leads me in the everlasting way. He's like, put those things down. I've covered those things. I've taken care of those things. Let's move forward. I want to show you what I can do in you, with you, and through you.

Jacob Creighton: No. Yeah. Right.

Chris: And it's such a it it's again, I did this this verse really just blew my mind in how impure my heart is, what Christ did to purify my heart, and how God will reveal himself to me, but also through me to other people. How blessed are the feet are the ones who bring good news. It's just like I'm not qualified for this. I'm not. But yet here in his

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. I know. I know.

Chris: in his purification of me, he qualifies me. And it's just, it's mind blowing.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it it opens yourself up like we're saying, yes, to for God to search you and know you, but it also opens yourself up to say, God I trust you, lead me to where we're going. ⁓ which is the the the mind blowing part of it. ⁓ so yeah.

Chris: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and it also too, it it challenges our like performative measures and our culture. I think that's one of the things that is is really hard for us to release. It's like I I said in in the in the sermon that, you know, purity is not sterile perfection. It's not like me being able to put in a box and say, Hey, look, look at all the things that I accomplished. It's this increasingly undivided heart. It's this increasingly purified.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, right. Mm-hmm. For sure.

Chris: What it's basically telling us is like, hey, we're on this constant journey of looking more and more like Christ. And he is here with us. He's walking with us. He's encouraging us. He's ministering to us. He knows because he lived in that human body how much we want to hold on to certain creature comforts and and processes and thoughts and dreams. But he's like, hey, I'm right here. I'm with you.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah.

Chris: Keep opening your hand, opening your heart. I've got something better for you. It's this eternal glory. Just one more step. One more step. One more step. And it's it's just it's it's it's humbling to to sit in.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The job of the Christian or the not the the Christian life is not a job to go figure out and then come back to God and say, Here's what I got. ⁓ it's you know, the Christian life is walking it every step of the way. open, trusting, alert, looking at God ⁓ every step of the way.

Chris: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: Yeah, ⁓ blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God, what a promise. ⁓ yeah, it's exciting stuff. Any closing remarks, Chris?

Chris: It is good stuff. No, I think I would love to hear your comments as you go through this process. I would love to hear you tell the story because I I think as God purifies us, we can't help but let it out. It's gonna just naturally come out. And I I would I would love to hear some like humble brags in this area. You know, like

Jacob Creighton: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm. Yeah. The cool thing about this is there's like nothing off limits, you know. You come into God as you are. It's not like you have to say, Well, I'm gonna bring the most Christian thing about me to God and then he could search that. It's like, you know, I might bring what I think is the dumbest thing on my mind to God, and he's like able to work with it, you know? So ⁓ yeah. Well, thanks for listening. Yeah, we would love to hear from you in the comments, so leave us a comment.

Chris: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jacob Creighton: ⁓ share it. ⁓ yeah. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.

Chris: Yep. We'll see you soon.