Sermon Central
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Happiness Through - A Pure Heart (Beatitudes) Series
Contributed by Thomas Bartlett on Nov 2, 2020 (message contributor)
Summary: Take all the good things you do. You help others, you give to those in need, you bring a coat for our coat drive, you deliver meals, you serve. That’s so important, but it’s not the most important aspect of your righteous-life. What’s most important? WHY YOU DO IT!
Happiness In An Unsettling World
Steele Creek Church, Eastfield Campus
Dr. Tom Bartlett – October 25, 2020
Pure In Heart
OUTLINE
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Vs. 8)
Pure in Heart: “righteous inward & outward”
Jesus: happiness comes when you are the same on the inside as on the outside
TWO ASPECTES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
• What you do
• Why you do it
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:1-4 (ESV)
God rewards those who honor Him
Learn to live for an audience of One!
HOW DO I KEEP MY HEART PURE?
The Steele Creek Strategy
EVERYDAY: (Daily: Word, prayer, worship)
• LET GOD’S WORD SEARCH YOUR HEART
“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” Psalm 139:23 (ESV)
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)
• FOCUS ON THE RELATIONAL ASPECT OF PRAYER
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:6 (ESV)
• GENUINELY WORSHIP GOD IN SPIRIT & TRUTH
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. John 4:23 (ESV)
MANUSCRIPT
Good morning and welcome to Steele Creek Church, Eastfield. If I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting you, I’m Tom Bartlett the campus here and I’m part of the men’s weekly group and Balentine Life Group.
I’m a creature of habit. When I shave, or make coffee or a ton of other mundane things, I always do them the same way. I have my routines and many of them I can’t even tell you why I do them, it’s just that I’ve always done it that way before. Some things in my life are automatic and some have a very pre-meditated approach.
I’ve noticed that certain unnamed people in my life can adopt some behavior patterns that are out of the norm at certain times. I mean, they start doing good things, like cleaning their room, or helping around the house or being overly friendly and kind to the point that I wonder, “what’s up, what do they want?” I find out later, that the overly kind gestures were a set-up for them to ask for something. Parents do you understand this sort of thing?
As I thought about this message this week, I was wondering about some of the thinking patterns and inner things of my life that you’ll never see, because I have some patterns there, too.
Still, if I’m not careful in my own life, I can wind up doing the right things for the wrong motives. The things I do instinctively are one thing, but the things I do hoping for a certain outcome are different.
I can serve others and do all the righteous activities I believe that I’m supposed to do, but do them for a completely wrong reason. Which by the way, always gets exposed! You cannot live outwardly one way and inwardly another and not eventually be exposed.
Even the great philosopher Socrates saw this, he said, “The shortest and surest way to live with honour in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be; and if we observe, we shall find, that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice of them. "
I have a feeling that I’m not the only one who has ever dealt with this sort of thing. Ever have to reevaluate why you do what you do?
It’s an important question because it cuts to the heart of who we are and it reveals so much about ourselves.
• If you do good things for others for them to pay you, that’s understood,
• but if you do it out of the goodness of your heart that’s something altogether different.
