Religion or Real Faith?

October 11, 2024

Matthew 5:8 (NIV) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 

These are Jesus’ words. Notice he didn’t say, “Blessed are the religious in heart.” It’s blessed are the pure in heart.

Some of the most unhappy people I know are religious in heart. They’re just miserable. Do you know people like that? Their whole life is a bunch of rules. All those rules are Don’ts. They want us to believe that the Christian life is just Don’t, Don’t, Don’t, Don’t, No, No, No. They want us to think that’s what life in Christ is all about. But that’s not what it’s all about.

John 10:10 (NIV) I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

 Not that we might have religion, but that we might have life. 

Jesus doesn’t want me to be religious. He wants me to be real.  

“Happy are the pure in heart.” Not the religious in heart. In John 11 we read about the time when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. I want us to look at this for a moment, because there’s a truth here that we need to discover. Remember the Bible doesn’t just tell us the things that God did. The Bible tells us how God does things.

John 11:43-44, Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”

It says his hands and feet were bound with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a head cloth. There’s significance there. That means that nothing that binds us up and keeps us from fullness of life, nothing that trips us up as we try to follow Jesus, nothing that covers us up and keeps us hidden from the rest of the world – none of that can withstand the life-giving power of Jesus Christ. 

 When we gave our life to Christ, the Bible says he brought us from death into life. It’s just like Lazarus – we were brought from death into life. But there are still things in our life that keep us from fulfillment in our life. 

Jesus said, “I came to give you fullness of life.” But there are things that bind us up, that hold us back, that restrict us, that keep us from finding or reaching our full potential in life. There are things that still trip us up as we try to follow Jesus – old ways of thinking, old behavior patterns, addictions, all of that kind of stuff. Things that trip us up as we go along. There are still masks that we try to hide behind because we don’t want people to see the real me. Jesus says, “I want to set you free from all of this stuff. It’s not just enough that I’m bringing you from death into life, but I want to bring you into freedom.” He does it through his people.

Notice toward the end, “Jesus said to them…”  Who are the “them”? “Them” are the disciples, his followers. Jesus said to his followers, “you unwrap him and you let him go.” Jesus does it through his people. That’s why it’s so important for all of us to be in relationship with other followers of Christ. That’s what a small group is all about. It’s about people helping other people to walk into freedom to get free from the things that hold us back and trip us up and cover us up. Jesus says to his followers, “loosen and let him go.” Notice he doesn’t say, “loosen and then wrap him back up in another bunch of stuff.” He says, “let him go.”

John 8:36  If the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

It’s important to understand that we cannot make our own heart pure. Good behavior does not purify the heart. We 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 our behavior.

Repentance is not what we do in order to earn forgiveness. Repentance is what we do because our forgiveness has already been paid for.

Romans 5:8 God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners

He didn’t wait for us to clean up our act. While we were sinners, Christ died for us. The only way to have a pure heart is through the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross for our sins. Purity of heart is the gift of God’s grace. We cannot earn it. We cannot buy it. The only way to get a pure heart is to surrender to him. Give our life to Christ. Let him forgive us of our sins and purify our heart, to give us the pure heart.