Clean Hearts
Sept 1, 2024
Clean Hearts
Lighting the Christ Candle
Welcome and Announcements
Call to Worship
O God from whom every gift derives, we gather to worship You this day.
You are an awesome God, greater than our comprehension or our imagination.
You are beyond any word we could ever use to describe You.
And yet, through Jesus, we know the intimacy of Your vast love.
May Your Holy Spirit surround and indwell this congregation now, and forevermore.
Hear us now as we worship you from the depth of love in our hearts.
Hymn: 321 Praise to the Lord
Prayer of Adoration
Holy God, you are worthy of our praises. Yet we offer them knowing that not one of us is worthy to approach you. O God, Creator of the universe, holy and all-powerful we are grateful that you have approached us and have shown us the human face of your love in Jesus, your Son, our Saviour.
He revealed your love and mercy by living as he did—serving others and accepting them as people made in your image and likeness. He pointed us towards a world in which each and every person could realise his or her identity as a precious child of yours.
He even gifted us with the Holy Spirit so that the very fabric of our existence is woven with the thread of his life. May this time of worship be a true reflection of our thanksgiving, wonder and praise over such blessings. This we pray in Jesus’ name, trusting in his mercy and the grace of forgiveness, as we confess before you our sins, saying….
Prayer of Confession:
We have sinned against you, and done what is wrong in your eyes. We are well aware of the wrong we do: the words we speak which wound, the unloving thoughts and actions which hurt others and ourselves. We know that these things distance us from you, and keep us from recognizing your life in us.
You desire complete honesty from us. We know that nothing can be hidden from you.
And so we lay open our hearts to you now—we lay before you those things for which we need your forgiveness, and those things from which we long to be set free. Gracious God, enter our hearts. Teach us what it means to have you at the center of our lives.
Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
God’s word has the power to save your soul. God’s love has anointed you with gladness. The mercy of Jesus has forgiven us to live in joy. Praise God our forgiveness is complete.
Passing the Peace
Hymn: 467 Praise my soul the God who crowns you
Scripture:
Psalm 15, responsive p 853
James 1: 22-25 p 1881
Mark 7 : 1-8, 14-15, 21-23 p 1563
Sermon: Clean hearts
James speaks to our innate need to not only know God’s word; but to also live by it.
Yet we all know that this is a very high and demanding task indeed. How often have we read Scripture, and not heeded what it said? Or kept the law outwardly, but have not lived by the substance.
We are all in that state of always learning more about how to serve God. Every time we read Scripture, we learn something that we may not have considered before. James encourages us to look intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and to continue in it—not forgetting what we have heard, but doing it—then we will be blessed in what we do. James 1: 25 NIV
When we read Scripture, we are always being challenged to learn from it and to do what we have learned. Not for others to see; but in order to be blessed in it.
The blessing comes from God, but it flows through our acts of service. This is how we keep the law.
We see Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, teaching the Pharisees that keeping all the laws perfectly can be done just for show and a sense of superiority over others. This is especially so when our heart is not in it, and we ignore the plight of those who are the least of these.
So what are we to do? Is the lesson from Mark the opposite of the lesson in James?
I don’t think these Scriptures contradict each other. James is encouraging us to know God’s word so well, that it flows from within us when we undertake our daily tasks.
Jesus is saying, that keeping the law and all the rules that seem to be a part of the faithful life, when done from a deep love for God, are signs of a clean heart.
There are many times when we can believe that Jesus is always scolding the Pharisees and calling them out for hypocrisy. Here where they scold Jesus for allowing the disciples to eat without first washing their hands can look like one of those times.
So, is he saying that the Pharisees only care about showing how well they follow all the laws? The thing is, none of us can see into the heart of another, so we can’t say for sure that they way they live by keeping all the laws isn’t a part of their true piety.
We, who have just lived through an era in which handwashing came to hold a place of supreme importance can perhaps resonate with the need to wash hands, especially in a culture where hands are used for eating.
For the Hebrew people, eating was a part of the holy rituals of life.
To come before God and touch the gift of the food he had given with unwashed hands was a sign of disrespect and ingratitude. When we realize that for the Hebrews, prayer does not precede the meal, but comes after it, we can see a little bit of how coming with clean hands might be important. Coming with clean hands might indeed be an act of love for God that flows from a clean heart.
Clean hands were a sign of gratitude for the gift of food given. We do the same when we pause to say grace and give thanks before a meal.
Those things are not the question that we wrestle with here. The real question is, do we wash our hands as a ritual that we do without thinking of Him for whom we wash? Do we pray before a meal as a ritual in which we hold little meaning or even gratitude?
Like all things in our lives, they can become just things we do, rather than a gift of love that we present to God.
In our daily lives we can recall times when our love for others has been an after thought. We are distracted and we forget to say “I love you” to our child as they leave for school. We may not think of it, but they miss that love and the accompanying hug. In the teen years we get it back in spades. It doesn’t mean that the love is gone. The rituals have slipped but the love remains.
That’s what is going on here. The rituals have slipped, but the love remains.
The disciples are hungry and going through the field, plucking the grains and rubbing them in their hands to remove the chaff and then they eat.
Is this a sign of lack of love for God?
If we live our lives as a service of love to God, then a lapse in handwashing while hungry in the field is not an issue. Then not praying when grabbing a snack on the go is not an issue. God looks at our hearts, and he knows how we live that love, if we keep all the laws perfectly and even when we don’t.
What God sees of our hearts means that if we live our lives only for show, God knows it and is not fooled.
I recently read a novel in which one of the characters attends worship dressed in his very best clothes, sits in the front pew and nods approvingly of everything the preacher says.
By this scene in the novel, we already know that this man physically abuses his children, and frequently threatens to hit the neighbour’s children.
But what we will subsequently learn about him is that he purposely neglects his family’s well being.
A very prosperous farmer, he sells all of his produce to the city and others who will pay top dollar.
There is never any bit of food that goes to the house.
Never a scrap of meat that ends up in his wife’s kitchen.
The children are hungry and clothed in scraps.
When the reader learns this truth, they also learn a truth about the neighbours. Louisa May encourages her grandchildren to help gather some of their crop and some baking and a casserole to bring to the farm to give to the man’s wife. They load it into the pantry and leave it all over the kitchen counters. They put together a meal and feed the children before they go.
As they go home the grandchildren question why they should have to feed this family when they are already struggling themselves.
The grandmother explains that because they know the children are starving, that they are responsible for feeding them.
Because they know the children have no clothes, they are responsible for bringing them clothes.
She reminds them, this is what God’s law expects them to do; but they do it more so because they need to show these unloved children and their mother that they are loved by someone and by God.
The grandchildren then question why the father gets away with not taking care of his own children. Louisa May assures the children that God knows this man’s heart and how it reflects his behaviour; and that God will, ultimately, hold him accountable.
Even as much as we want to believe that these are extraordinary circumstances, we know that in our corner of the world there are families that starve while their parent lives the high-life.
When we do what is right by our neighbours, love them, care for them, feed them, visit them, clothe them, bring them water, and more, then we live out of the heart of love that we have for God.
The more that we live out of that love, the more we grow and are able to give more love. Along the way if we forget to wash our hands, or pray before meals or at bedtime our comfort comes from knowing that God judges our heart, not our lapses in the keeping of all the laws and expectations of our calling in Christ.
Jesus quotes Isaiah to support his point that lapses in keeping the Law are not the behaviours for which God judges the people.
Jesus says, “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.” Mark 7: 7 NIV
Then he adds, 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
The commentator Johnson points out that it is possible for people to become so focused on the “externals of faithfulness” that they neglect to examine their own hearts.
I think that it is also possible to be so caught up in the struggle of living that we forget to examine our hearts.
One of the sayings that I have acquired along the way is that “the unexamined life is not worth living.”
I think that means, that we examine our lives in every stage. In tough times have we ignored God? Been angry with him? Treated others badly because we can’t find joy in our lives?
When we ponder what is in our hearts then we can find the ways and means through which we can change our behaviours. When we do that we give God and others the grace and thanksgiving that we see is actually in our hearts.
In the good times have we counted it as our accomplishment? Or have we seen God’s hand of blessing? When we pause to examine that we are more likely to live out the gratitude in our hearts and more likely to be more generous to those around us.
Examining ourselves becomes a part of understanding how our hearts are a reflection of God’s love.
This is why Jesus says that what comes out of us is what blesses us or defiles us.
For this reason, the good news for us is simple. To examine ourselves deeply, not just the image in the mirror, but also the pain and hurt in our hearts. Do we hold anger and resentments?
What in our hearts holds us back from loving and serving God?
And then… we can live so that what comes out of our hearts blesses us.
When that happens, we live our lives as an expression of joy. We give of ourselves to others. We worship exuberantly. We share grace with others. We will be kind and generous.
And God who looks at our hearts, will approve, because our hearts are shown in our outward actions.
Blessed to be a blessing.
Loved to be loving.
Forgiven to be forgiving.
Our hearts are given in service to the world. Amen
Hymn: 626 Lord of all power
Offering and Doxology 830
Offertory Prayer
God of light and beauty, every gift is from you. Even our ability to give is a blessing of your love. We offer you what we have and what we are.
Use our gifts to give birth to a world of righteousness where none are in need and where all draw close to your grace.
Amen.
Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession
God of abundant love, you delight us with your grace—grace expressed in the beauty of our world.
God of truth and light, you challenge us to live faithful lives—to turn away from evil, to follow your ways, to serve your people.
May your word of truth grow within us this day, that we may bring forth a harvest of peace.
In the service of that harvest we bring you our prayers of concern and intercession for all those who are near and those who are far.
JOYS
CONCERNS
We pray for the sick, the injured, the vulnerable,
and those undergoing all forms of adversity,
that they might all be raised up;
We pray for our congregation, that we might show forth our faith in action
WORLD CONCERNS
We pray for our nation, that whenever trials may befall us, that God may grant us endurance and wisdom.
Provincial Election
We pray for the world,
that the lowly may be raised up,
and that mercy may fall on us all.
Father of Lights, from whom comes every perfect gift,
hear our prayers which we offer fervently to you,
and in the name of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray saying, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever. Amen
Hymn: 644 May the mind of Christ my Saviour
Benediction
As Christ has fed and redeemed your life, now go into the world in peace and love offering ministries of hope and justice. Go in peace and may the peace of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit always be with you. AMEN.
Blessing Song: Go now in peace
Go now in peace. Never be afraid.
God will go with you each hour of every day.
Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true.
Know He will guide you in all you do.
Go now in love, and show you believe.
Reach out to others so all the world can see.
God will be there watching from above.
Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.
Public Domain
3 Fold Amen