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Fruitful Attitudes
“One Heart, One Life”
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Matt. 5:8
Fruits of the Spirit include: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness,
Gentleness, Faithfulness & Self Control
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The whole Christian Character
Key Text: Psalm 24 – the description of the key to access the presence of God
Contained within is the duality of purity both with God and with man.
“Who does not lift up his soul to an idol (our relationship with God), or swear by what
is false (our relationship with God and man).”
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With God
Purity is a constant throughout scripture; linked intimately with holiness. It was the
purity laws set by God that made it possible in the OT for the High Priest to go into
the Holy of Holies. cf. Lev. 16.
However it is not sacrificial purity that Jesus is talking about in the sermon. In Luke
11:39 Jesus claims that the Pharisees are outwardly pure in their ceremony, but
inwardly they are full of extortion and wickedness.
This is possible for us also. Our dual spirituality causes us to be ceremonially pure but
inwardly un-renewed.
It is possible for our outward service and conduct to be impeccable in the sight of the
law and by others; however, our inward conduct can be impure. We have a
chameleonic spirituality that no one else but God knows whether or not it is true.
Psalm 24 speaks about swearing by what is false. To simply see it as swearing by
things that are contrary to the desires and purposes of God is to limit its application.
To swear by what is false could easily be to swear that our lives are not what they
truly are in God. We may swear by God but we may not live with him within us.

With Others
Tasker describes the pure in heart as “the single minded, who are free from the
tyranny of a divided self.”
The relational purity, in contrast to ceremonial purity and even inward purity is also
an integral part to Jesus’ statement.
As above we have seen that God looks at the inward state of the heart and compares it
to the outward state of behaviour. However it is important that we look at the
application of the same stream in the life of the believer in the transition from Church
service to home, from home to work and from work to church.
Apart from a change in responsibility and purpose as to our tasks, does our character
change around different people.
I often found it easier to be a morally good Christian around non-Christians. It might
be the other way round for some but either way it is a divided self.
Purity is translated into sincerity. Purity comes from seeking to be refined by the
maker.
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Where to start
Augustine of Hippo said, “O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.”
In a rhetorical statement somebody once said, “if absolute power corrupts absolutely,
does absolute powerlessness make you pure?”
As it has been said before, our reliance upon and fervent seeking of God’s Holy Spirit
is our key to living in mercy, righteousness, meekness and purity.
If our own power and our own strength can corrupt us then to lose that rely upon
God’s power and strength by actively seeking his Holy Spirit on a daily basis is to
become pure in heart.
Augustine’s statement may have been funny, but probably sincere. It’s hardest to start
something, but when you get going it is surprisingly not bad. It’s that moment of
putting your toe in to test the water when you should dive in and find out that it
actually is ok and beneficial to go for the swim.
Begin to live the transparent life, in purity with both man and God.