"Give Us Clean Hands, Give Us Pure Hearts..."

In recent weeks we have been asking God to let us see people, our community and each other through His eyes. We've asked, through prayer, for Him to give us His heart for people who are far from Him. We want to weep over the things that make Him weep and rejoice over the things that make Him rejoice! As we anticipate our outreach effort this Sunday, September 13, 2009 -- Our Bridge Day & Block Party events -- we felt the need to ask God to do some interior work on us, His church. So we asked a few key questions:

What Made Jesus Weep?

1. Lost People - Luke 19:37-44
Jesus wept as he looked out over Jerusalem and contemplated how so many people had not believed that He actually WAS the Messiah and had not accepted His gift of salvation through faith in Him. He was moved to tears that anyone would be eternally separated from God! And He asks us to weep over lost people too!

2. Sick & Dying People - John 11:32-36
Some of Jesus' closest friends were the sisters, Mary & Martha and their brother, Lazarus. When Jesus gets word that Lazarus is sick he and his disciples begin to make their way to his home. But by the time they arrive, Lazarus has died. As Jesus sees Mary, Martha and some of their friends and family weeping and mourning, it moves Him to tears as well. Jesus weeps over people who are physically, spiritually, emotionally and relationally sick or dying. Our infirmity in any of these areas moves our Savior to weep for us! We are also called to let ourselves be moved by the sufferings of others as we follow Jesus' example.

3. The Burden of Doing His Father's Will - Luke 22:39-46
As Jesus knelt in the garden called Gethsemane, He cried out to His Father in heaven, He sweat blood, He was in anguish over seeing God's will done on this earth! His words, "...not my will, but yours be done" must become OUR words each day as we seek to actually BE His church! Doing God's will brought Jesus to tears! It should move us in exactly the same way because we are the living body of Christ!

What Did Jesus Tell Us to Rejoice In?

1. When we are persecuted for His sake - Matthew 5:11-12
Jesus didn't just tell us that we would be persecuted for His sake, He told to REJOICE when it happens! While this may not make sense to the rest of the world, this is kind of the point...that the world would see us joyful in the face of persecution, suffering, trouble and hardship! What a testimony to God's grace, power, provision and promises! As we are able to rejoice in our sufferings we grow in our understanding of what Jesus did for us! His sacrifice on the cross was painful and cruel, but through His own power Jesus rejoiced in doing it because it paved a way to His Father for all of us!

2. That our names are written in heaven - Luke 10:20
No matter what happens to us down here on earth we can rejoice because of the promise of heaven! As we are obedient to the call of Christ, receive salvation, pursue holiness and strive to be like Jesus, God imparts an ability to rejoice no matter that...we lost our job...our marriage is struggling...we're neck deep in debt...no matter what comes! We can rejoice because our names are written in heaven!

3. That what was lost, is now found - Luke 15:3-7; 8-10
In these verses Jesus tells two powerful parables that illustrate the rejoicing that happens for us and in heaven when someone far from God comes to know Him personally! However, the second parable, the parable of the lost coin, challenges believers in some ways too: In order to find the lost coin the woman illuminated the darkness and eliminated the dirt. And when she illuminated what was dark and eliminated the dirt, what was lost...was found! In our efforts to reach people who are far from God, we may have to let God illuminate the dark places of our lives and clean out the dirt and dust that has accumulated there. When we let God do that, then our hearts, our minds, our attitudes and our spirits are prepared to be used by God to reach the world around us!

Lord, give us clean hands! Lord, give us pure hearts! Help us to weep for what makes You weep! Help us to rejoice like You rejoice! Help us see the world, people, ourselves and our churches through Your eyes. We need You! Apart from You we can do NOTHING! Come in power and bring glory to Your Name!

Amen!

In His Grip,

Pastor John