The Pursuit of a Pure Heart (Part 1: Why?)
- Posted by Julee Huy
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I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:3-11
PAUL’S PRAYER
Paul’s letters reveal much of his Christ-like love for his brothers and sisters in The Lord, the people whose very faith in Christ supply him with joy. We see that it is this partnership in the Gospel (v.5) for which he thanks God. His joy is founded in the faithfulness of Christ’s good work that He will complete in those whom He calls His sons (v.6). All the saints, including Paul, are partakers of this undeserved grace, and it is this common ground of grace that propels Paul’s love for them. We see this when he claims that he holds them in his heart (v.7) and yearns for them with the affection of Jesus (v.8). He loves the saints because of the unity he shares with them in Jesus and the joy he holds in Christ’s salvific work. Paul’s written affection reaches a climax in verses 9-11 when he proclaims his prayer for the Philippians. He wishes that all would hold this thankfulness and affection for each other. His prayer, that their love may abound more and more, is a prayer that we as saints should all take to heart. This Christian love is clearly posited by Paul as an avenue in which we are brought to completion on the day of Christ (v.10). So, love is a foundational component of the good work God is doing in us. It is by His love that we partake of the grace of the Gospel and by His love that we reach the end of this life victorious.
PARTNERSHIP IN THE PURSUIT OF PURITY
According to these truths, we know that thankfulness for partnership in the Gospel is what drives Paul’s love for his fellow workers. And we know that love is vital to the purpose of the redemption of the saints (you and I). But what exactly is this connection between love and the day of Jesus Christ? Paul tells us that this love makes us pure and blameless, filling us with the fruit of righteousness. The psalmist makes clear that unless we are pure in heart, we are unfit to see God and his glory:
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Psalm 24:3-5.
To receive salvation and the righteousness of God for the day of Christ, we need this pure heart, but Jesus himself says, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19). It seems that we are incapable of holding the purity of heart that grants us closeness with God, and ultimately, salvation. In our human depravity, our hearts are clearly impure, and because of this, we are distant from our God and ill-prepared for the day of Christ. But this is the good news that the Gospel proclaims! Christ brings us into His kingdom and fundamentally changes us; He sprinkles us with clean water and gives us a new heart, purifying us (Ezekiel 36:24-27)! When we are made new, righteousness is imputed to us, and we are then blessed. Jesus proclaims in His Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Purity of heart is a quality that characterizes those who are living under the kingdom of God, and it is in these conditions that we are blessed indeed (for this is how we are able to see God and fit to “stand in his holy place”).
THE KINGDOM PURPOSE IN PURITY
If Jesus has brought us into His kingdom and made us pure and blameless, then why is Paul commanding us to be pure and blameless? Jesus may have brought the kingdom of heaven to earth, but this beautiful work will not be brought to completion until the day of his return. This is why Paul says that God will be faithful to bring the good work He started in you to completion at the day of Christ! It is then that we will be fully rid of our sin and death. We may have been made pure by Christ when He died on the cross in one sense, but in another, we will not be fully complete until He returns. This is why John says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). When our hope is in Christ, the One who has brought us into His kingdom, we are given His Spirit, and therefore the desire to purify our hearts to align with His kingdom. Later in his letter to the Philippians, Paul presupposes the same truth when he commands us to work out our own salvation, because it is God who works in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13). Paul also commands the Philippians to hold fast to the Word of life (v.16). This Word of life is Jesus, and it is on His gospel that our sight of God hinges (as the Beatitude tells us). So our obedience to the Gospel, to be pure and blameless, is simply living in the blessed state of who God will finally make us when Jesus returns. God is glorified in this process.
Part Two of this blog will address a biblical understanding of how this process works.
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