Seven Principles for a Flourishing Life - Mercy in Action

Nathan: 00:00

Hey, I'm Nathan, and I want to welcome you back to the love shaped life podcast where we talk about our big dream, which is to see, experience and live in the middle of the wonder of God's radical love. We're in season five. Episode Six. This season, we've entitled seven principles for a flourishing life. I'm here in the studio with my good friend Bob. Good to be back, good

Bob: 00:26

to be back. Always, good to opening the Word of God and sharing what God has shared with us about who he is. Because when we see that and the beauty of that, life becomes a flourishing life?

Nathan: 00:41

Exactly, yes. And so what we're working through is seven principles for this flourishing life presented to us by Jesus in what we're calling an inaugural speech. It's the first lines of that speech given on a mountainside to a huge number of people, where Jesus lays out the principles for experiencing our best life. We've been through five principles, and we're now beginning with the sixth principle. Did you want to say anything about the pre the last principle number five?

Bob: 01:21

Well, again, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall attain mercy, right? So the principle is, is that, as you receive mercy from God, you give it, yes. Now the shift, and what Jesus was talking about here, in these principles is now this one particularly was saying, now you've been recipients, so now I want you to give it Yes, right? So now he's inviting us to imitate him and exercise that's right, the mercy that was received from us towards other and that mercy, again, is an acts of kindness, compassion, yes, just towards other people, and just to remember that God treats us in ways we don't deserve. He doesn't seek to punish, but to bring healing and restoration to something that is broken, that's right, right? So, and he's had compassion on us, and He wants us to have compassion on other human beings.

Nathan: 02:24

Yes. So we've talked about these principles and the sense that they build one on top of the other. And so here we are. We have, in the first three principles, seen how we open our heart, acknowledging our need of God. Then principle four was this idea that God fills us up with himself. And then principle five is as God fills us up, then we flow out in in a life of mercy toward others. Right? So today's, or this episode's, principle is blessed, or the pure in heart, for they shall see God. That's how it's commonly articulated in the English language. This principle comes at a really incredible place in the Beatitudes, in this seven, in these seven principles of flourishing. And here's why this is incredible, purity doesn't come at the beginning. We would sort of think of that if we're thinking of of of religion, where there are even literally rites of purification. In Jesus day, they were washing rights, filtering rights, cleaning the house, rights, etc, to purification and kind of the sense that you had to clean up your act in order to be in God's presence. The be these seven principles are fascinating, because, in fact, the first three is acknowledging my act isn't cleaned up. I don't have what it takes opening the heart to acknowledge that receiving what God offers, and as I live out God's radical love to others, that's when this experience of purification actually takes place, because as I love, as I engage In loving light, God loves. Working with God and loving radically, I'm actually being emptied of my self interest, and my heart is being reshaped into a heart that beats to the rhythm of God's heart of other centered love. Purification of heart cannot take place unless my life is occupied with deeds of mercy, with actions of loving radically, that's a necessary precursor to experiencing the kind of purification Jesus has in mind, which. Fundamentally, is moving away from a life of self absorption to a life of loving radically. Okay,

Bob: 05:07

I need to unpack that. Do it. Let's do it. So let's back up and realize again that the crowd that was listening to Jesus was largely of a Jewish descent. They were not all, but it was largely those who was Roman soldiers, and it was people from other areas that were not of a Jewish descent, right? And so this crowd was impacted by the teachings of what was known to religious leaders, Pharisees, scribes, teachers, what they taught them about God. And

Nathan: 05:38

these were purification religious elites. We're talking about the people who called the shots in the religious community. But

Bob: 05:46

purification amongst them was huge, huge, yes. So they did many forms and ceremonies in order to stay pure and keep pure, but it was all outward, right? So this was they were very diligent about what they did. They were very meticulous about what they did because they didn't want to be defiled. They didn't want to be impure. In fact, I shared in the last episode in Matthew the 23rd chapter, and I just want to read that again briefly. It was Matthew chapter 23 and it is verse 25 I believe just one moment, bear with me. And so Matthew chapter 23 is verse 25 listen to this. It says, Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, hypocrites, you clean the outside of the cup in the dish, but inside there full of greed and selfish indulgence. Blind Pharisees first clean the inside of the cup in the dish, and then the outside will also be clean. So he was saying to those religious leaders, listen, you're busy cleaning, making yourself pure on the outside, but inside you're dirty. And he said, first we need to do is clean that inside again, so the outside can be clean. In fact, in the verse before it is, Jesus told them how that they were commending them for their their being so meticulous about tithing their herbs. But again, he said that you forgot the weightier matters, which was mercy and compassion. But then he said, You strain in a gnat and you swallow a camel. You know, they actually would strain their water, right, so that no gnats would be in their water, because they didn't want to be impure. They didn't want to be contaminated. This was how meticulous they were, that they actually strained their water and so concerned about outside purification. So Jesus comes along and says, Yeah, Blessed are the pure in heart.

Nathan: 07:44

Oh, that's powerful. So, right? So yeah, well, you mentioned this language of straining gnats and swallowing camels. Jesus meant for that dramatic contrast, because essentially, he said your external curation of your religious appearance, all of these visible rituals you go through is as significant as a gnat. When you neglect the big stuff, neglect your heart, it's like you're playing with gnats, swatting at gnats and chugging down camels. When, as a human being, we engage in religious practice, whether that's attending church, whether that's strict meditation. Again, we can look at all kinds of religious practices focusing on that and neglecting the transformation of heart. Again, incredible important that you brought this back to our attention. Very first Beatitude, the poor in spirit, Jesus was building a Kingdom that's grounded first on transformation on the inside, that then translates into a genuinely beautiful life, not a facade, not an act, not a performance for social media, not performative charity.

Bob: 09:17

If you look at most religions, I mean, if you just want to look at all kinds, just lump it all together, then you'll see that a lot of them focus on outside, right, purification and outside, not dealing with the inside. You see, the inside does require to trust in God. It does to do what God is promising to do for us, like he's saying, I'll give you a new heart. I'll give you a new spirit, right? I'll put my laws within you, that you may walk in my statutes and keep my judgments right. So he's making this promise. He's making promises to give us this new heart, to fill us up with his with his righteousness, with His love, as we talked about in our previous episode. Code. So we have to, in order to experience that, just trust in this god, yes, that's right. So it seems to us as human beings, and correct me if I'm wrong, just seems easier for us to just work on outside things, right, versus simply just trusting in God yes, that he will do for us on the inside so the outside can take care of itself.

Nathan: 10:24

Yeah. And I want to speak to that really and actually, speak to you directly, so so we might get tired. You might be tired of religious performance, or what you see other religious people do. I want to be clear and say that there is no religious practice or system in any religious or non religious circle that offers what Jesus offers, a flourishing life requires the presence of God. So you know, you're literally wasting your time if you're engaging some kind of non Christian or Christian practice that is not the simple gospel of Jesus. Put all of that religious stuff aside and just lean into the Jesus process, offered, presented, laid out in these seven steps to flourishing life, and you will experience a flourishing life, guaranteed. That's what God is able and longing to give us, and it does mean acknowledging that everything else, everything short or different from this, is a waste of our time and and God isn't interested in making religious people either the point of Scripture was never to make a bunch of people who followed religious ceremonies, but people whose hearts are transformed by the wonder of God's love.

Bob: 11:52

So Blessed are the pure in heart, right? It's a hard issue. This is a hard issue, but oftentimes we have these, these pictures, and we're thinking about pure right? Of we're hard to nail it down, right, because we have all kinds of stuff, all kinds of stuff, right? And so, so when the Bible, when Jesus, is talking about, Blessed are the pure in heart, and

Nathan: 12:17

so, and most of what we see is, don't do this. Don't do that. External rules confining us to a box,

Bob: 12:24

yeah, and then our concept of purity, right, right? So the purity Blessed are the pure in heart. You had mentioned before, again about when you were talking earlier, about this purity as we exercise the mercy, right? The fifth principle, Blessed are the merciful. They obtain mercy. Once we start to exercise mercy, there's a transformation continually taking place that's purifying the heart, in the sense of making us more Christ, like

Nathan: 12:57

lovers, like God loves lovers, like God

Bob: 13:01

love. So are you saying that pureness of heart is becoming like God? Yes,

Nathan: 13:07

I'm saying that. And I'm also saying that purity of heart cannot be experienced in a, in a in solitary, like I can't go up into a mountain cabin and pursue purity of

Bob: 13:18

heart. And that's what that's still a concept today that, you know, I'm gonna go and be in the mountains somewhere and experience, or seek defying purity of heart, yes, but, but unless the heart is changed inside, right? It's still impure, right? It's like the thought of, you know, starting, you know, living on another planet, right? There's this there's this talk that we could perhaps go and live on another planet as our planet self destructs, right, right? The environment self destructing, the wars and everything. Somehow we just go and we live on another planet. But the problem is, we take the problem with us, we poison it, right? We poison it because we're still taking the same selfish heart there, exactly. So we're gonna still have the same issues, right? So in God's kingdom, the future kingdom does come the pure in heart. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, right? We're going to have a changed heart, yes. So when we get to God's kingdom, you talked about a civilization, yes, that loves like God, this is what the plan of salvation is. We would call it this Christian journey. This is what the process of walking with God is all about,

Nathan: 14:28

yes, and ultimately, literally, the Bible talks about resettling a recreated Planet Earth like this earth, literally the place we live now, the place we're having this podcast will be resettled. Actually, our science fiction, in some sense, gets it right in that we will resettle. The part that's missing is the only people who resettle the planet will be people whose hearts beat to the rhythm of God. God's wild, radical love.

Bob: 15:02

Yeah, because reality is those who don't beat to that heart won't want to be there, won't want

Nathan: 15:06

to be there. And if they were for one, they would be miserable. And we're actually going to encounter that later in today's discussion, but would also poison it.

Bob: 15:17

So I want to go back, step back a little bit. Now, can we

Nathan: 15:20

before we step back? I want to say one more thing that I mentioned, that purity of heart cannot be experienced in isolation, because only as we exercise kindness to others, do our hearts become purified so literally a life of purity in the Jesus sense, happens in the process of God's love flowing through my life into the lives of the people around me. That's why purity of heart cannot be experienced in isolation at home. I have to be with people living out the love of God to experience the purification Jesus envisions in this, this fifth or sixth, the sixth principle well,

Bob: 16:11

and I just want to say to add in there, if you're capable of being with people,

Nathan: 16:16

yeah, right, Right, right. But interacting with people, interacting with Michael,

Bob: 16:20

right? So, so again, you're mentioning that as we exercise mercy, that there's a purification taking place, right? I think of the scripture verse that Jesus said in John, chapter 17, verse 17, he says, Sanctify them through Thy truth. Right, Thy word is truth. In other words, sanctify means to set apart or to make holy right? And we talk about holiness is becoming like God, right? So being sanctified through the word of God. As we practice what God is asking us to practice like we're talking about demonstrating mercy towards other people, we're practicing it, then there's this sanctification process happening in our life, this purification process happening, and then purification is making us more and more like him, right, right? Yeah, so I just want to add to that, we're still faulty human beings, right? Yes. So we're still faulty human beings. We still some of us, when we get tired, we get cranky, right? Not everybody. I have friends that they don't sleep much a lot of times, and they never seem to get cranky, right? So, so, but if you're like me, you know I've got to watch out when I get tired, right? So we get hungry, sometimes we get a little irritable. So these are human these are just human experience. So we want to be careful that as we're talking about being purified, yeah, more like Christ, we're not thinking that, you know, absolute, yeah, absolute, right? We just got to be real. Yes, we do being real, yes. But the purity of heart is, I'm accepting, and I'm choosing, I should say, to live by the principle of other centered living. I'm choosing to live my life by the principle of imitating the God whom I see, which is seeking to benefit everybody that I come in contact with in some capacity. When I say benefit, meaning just being kind, compassionate, considerate, and so on, imitating Christ, right?

Nathan: 18:23

And what you're saying is the reason why these seven principles of flourishing are always present, dynamically present. That is, I may find myself snapping at a co worker, then I'm back at a moment where I'm leaning into principle one, I good, blew it so we never moved beyond principle one. There's there's always space in our lives for coming back to that place where we're like, Man, I have so much more to become. That's okay, that's part of the process. That's that's not you've blown it. That's just part of this process of flourishing. Is the times where we we grieve over our failures, we grieve over the times we've blown it. That's as real in this process, as purification, as showing mercy, as being filled. It's just part of this dynamic ongoing, always present process of seeing our humanity, seeing its brokenness, acknowledging its brokenness, not sweating it, not losing sleep over it, just continuing to lean in and being filled up with the fullness of God and recognizing that at this point that's going to be an ongoing reality, of facing up to who we are in the light of God's love and continuing to become more like Him.

Bob: 19:51

Yeah, I want to go back to your example of your coworker, of snapping at your coworker. It's just as much evident. That the Spirit of God is working in your life. Yes, if you turn around and apologize to that individual, yes, as if you never had done it right, perhaps in times past when you weren't walking with God, you would have just said, Oh, just you just keep moving right. But now you realize when you make a mistake or you do something that you shouldn't have done, it's very important to turn around and apologize, because that's what God would have us to do, right? So it's just as much evidence that God is working with you as if you've never done it, right? So I just want to say and even to the audience, to give yourself space and grow in the journey. We're faulty human beings, but you're there's a God that loves you consistently. The Bible likens it to steadfast love. How you behave doesn't change him. It doesn't change how he sees you. You're his child, and he just embraces you, yeah, and you are in this process of being transformed into His likeness, and just enjoy the process when we fall. Just, you know, deal with it, right? In fact, the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, though he fall, though he fall, he shall not be cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his right. So falling in the Christian life is part of the journey, part of it. That's right. So we don't want to Jesus wasn't giving a picture as if you were going to hit this Nirvana experience all of a sudden. But he's talking about what, what, what needs to happen again, is allowing him to live in you and change the heart Yes, and US cooperating with him by choosing to practice and to exercise. Yes, what he would have is to exercise like mercy, compassion, kindness to people, right? That's part of growing. It's just part of growing. And sorry, but my point here is and to those who are listening and just enjoy the journey. Yes, please enjoy the journey. Don't beat yourself up. Yes, you know if you, if you did, said something to somebody you shouldn't have, and you turn around and apologize. God has forgiven you. Ask God's forgiveness. He's forgiven you. It's just starting over, and he's not starting around talking about it's just right, you're where you are. Don't keep beating yourself. The devil's a master at trying to just hammer home our mistakes and our failures, to try to drag us down and to separate us from God. That's right, and we've got to, again, relook into the character of God and who he is, and stay focused on that God hasn't failed you. God will never fail you. God will never give up on you. He's always there for you. Yes, so don't listen to those voices. That's right. Rejoice in the fact that we're still fallen human beings. We're still in need of a Savior.

Nathan: 22:57

That's right. Nothing you can do or fail to do will change God's love for you in the slightest. He loves you wildly, without reserve Period. End of story. That's just who God is,

Bob: 23:14

you know. And I just again expounding on that you know, as human beings are our The Way We Love is, if you love me, I love you, right? If you're not nice to me, I'm not going to be nice to you, right? A lot of times, right? So, but that's not God, no, not at all. So what's happening is, if you treat me in a way I don't think you should treat me, my behavior then changes towards you. Now, when it comes to God, our behavior, no matter what it is, doesn't change him. That's right. As you go back to the Garden of Eden, you go back when Adam and Eve fell, God still remained who he was. He was still consistent, still loving, still pursuing, always will be. Our behavior does not change the character of God.

Nathan: 23:59

That's right. And I would say the placement of this purity concept and flourishing implies Jesus understood the dynamics of living as a human being, with our human weaknesses, with what it means to be human, because showing mercy loving others can sometimes bring out the worst in us, and that encounter draws us to leaning into the wild, radical, unconditional love of God, and moves us to a deeper level of releasing our self interest to be displaced for it to be displaced by the radical love of God, literally, again, we can't say this enough. The whole idea is not to beat yourself up, not to get anxious or worried. Just lean into the process. Let God love you. Let His love come out when you see you're messed up. That's normal. It just says you're human in need of. Jesus just lean into his love and keep going. Yeah,

Bob: 25:02

and remember, it's very difficult for us to let go. It is, right? Very difficult. It's a fearful thing, because we want to be in control. And reality is, when we're in control, we're really out of control. So as we're in this journey with God, there's a process of letting go, right? So the more we see that radical love towards us, the more we embrace that radical love, the more we're just letting go, exactly letting go, letting go, because God wants to bring us to the point of complete trust, complete trust, and we're resting right in his love.

Nathan: 25:39

Free fall into grace. Oh, that's beautiful.

Bob: 25:41

Free fall into grace was this is so important because it's it's just a process. It is. God knows our fears, He knows our weaknesses, he knows all about us. And he just continually drawing us in, drawing us in, drawing us in. So lean into the process. That's exactly

Nathan: 25:57

right. I have this passage from Romans eight, and it in it, the writer paints this picture of, let's see, let the Spirit control your mind. Well, let me just read it. But letting the spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. So it's really this process Romans eight, of releasing ourselves to the operative power of the Spirit of God. Don't, don't sweat it, but don't release yourself to the power of God.

Bob: 26:32

Yeah, but I want to say, in the journey, the only way we're going to continually release ourselves to the power of God is by seeing more of his beauty. Yes, that's right. So the more we see of who he really is, we're letting go. So we're allowing the Spirit of God to reign. That's

Nathan: 26:52

right. That's why the greenhouse of transformation is seeing God's love, meditating on his love, accepting His love and resting in his love. That's the greenhouse. That's where all of this stuff happens. Is in the light of God's beautiful love. When we leave the greenhouse, we start to shrivel, right? So the place to be is in the greenhouse of the wonder of God's radical love. And we will flourish because we're in the right context, not because we bring something special a table, not because we're trying super hard, just because we're in the right context. You

Bob: 27:27

know, there's a proverb, Proverbs, 22, verse 11, he that loves pureness of heart, right for the grace of his lips, the king shall be his friend. He that loves pure pureness of heart, the king shall be his friend. That's cool. God wants all of us to be his friend and accepting the fact that he can make us pure, right? You can't make yourself pure. You can't change your heart, you can't change your thoughts, you can't change who you are, but God can change you. And just allowing that to happen, that's right. What a great what a great opportunity.

Nathan: 28:10

Yeah, and there's the second half, which we haven't talked about much, but that the pure in heart will see God. Oh, yeah, I'm glad you brought that up as we experience the purifying power of God's love in our hearts, we increase our capacity to see the beauty of God. Man.

Bob: 28:30

I want to in I want to just back up again. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Yes, that's true that someday we're going to see him face to face when the new heavens and new earth are created, but in this world, seeing God, and we've talked about it in previous episodes, is the perception of the mind. It's not the physical eye, right? We're not seeing God with a physical eye. God is changing our perception of seeing him beauty, and that the nature of not following the ways of God, disobedience to God brings darkness. When Adam and Eve chose to believe the lie their perceptions, right, their ability to see God changed, right?

Nathan: 29:10

And that's because, as they acted in self interest, they begin to believe God was acting in self interest, right? But as we begin to believe the truth that God acts out of radical love. As we begin to let that radical love change how we relate to others, then we begin to see more deeply the kind of radical lover God is. And the more we engage in the process, engage in the journey, the more intensely we perceive the wonder and beauty of who God is.

Bob: 29:48

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God will have clear and clearer perceptions of the character of God, right, clearer and clearer. But. It's better than all the gold and silver or anything this world has to offer is the opportunity to know the Creator Himself. In fact, Jesus, in John chapter 17, said this is eternal life that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent, Jesus said eternal life was knowing God. So

Nathan: 30:21

it's was not about never dying as much as about experiencing the presence of God. Now the never dying part, we do believe, is part of the equation, right? But the big idea in Jesus words was not the never dying, it was the entering into that wonderful relationship with God, right? So there's this, these words in first John three, two. I'll start with verse one. See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him, dear friends. Now we are the children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known, but we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. This is the idea that as we lean into the love shaped life, we're actually moving to the place where not only do we see God more clearly now, but we're moving to the place where we can have face to face fellowship, connection, conversation with God, the Creator.

Bob: 31:41

Can you just read that first part of that verse for me?

Nathan: 31:44

Yeah. It says, See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. I

Bob: 31:50

love that thought, that see what manner of love the Father has lavished on us. It just reminds you of just pouring it on Yeah, absolutely is what he's doing. He's just pouring it on us, and that's the reality, right? And that we might be called

Nathan: 32:08

children of God, right? That

Bob: 32:10

when he comes, we will see Him as He is, right? You know when, when Jesus talked about when he comes. There's basically two classes of people, those who know him and those who don't know him, right? He says to those who know know him, come enter into the home my father, right? And then he says to those that are there, he says, I don't know you others. He says, I don't know you. So at the end of the road of life's journey, it boils down to do we know God, or don't we know God? God is giving us all the opportunity in this world to know him. That's awesome, but the choice is ours, and the choice is yours. If you're listening today to say, Lord, I want to know you. I want to accept what you're offering me. I want to walk in that path. I'm making a choice because I want to know you, and the promise is you will.

Nathan: 33:17

That's right, you will. So see, what do we talk about in this episode as C as we wrap up?

Bob: 33:23

Well, I see Blessed are the pure in heart, right? Seeing that God purifies our heart in the sense of making our hearts more like him as we exercise the mercy that he has shown to us,

Nathan: 33:39

right? Yeah. And I would say, for me, the C is recognizing that God's love never changes toward me. Under any circumstances, any condition, I am always radically loved by God. That's beautiful. What about experience?

Bob: 33:56

Well, I would again, the Christian walk is an experiential one, right? So we're daily walking with God in this experience and learning to walk, because most of us have never been down the road before. That's right. So it's a new it's a new experience for us so and experience experiencing more of transformation of the work, even in little things, of our perceptions changing, you know, that's the experience of it, and then being able to see more of the beauty of

Nathan: 34:31

God. Yeah, and I would say, for me, experience is knowing that in this process of leaning into God, I'll see myself more clearly. I'll see when I mess up. I may feel like I mess up more often. That's just part of the experience. Don't lose sleep over it. Don't get anxious about it. Just keep leaning in. God loves you. Radically, nothing's going to change that. That's for me, is an experience piece that's pretty important. Just to lean in and not worry. And

Bob: 34:59

I want to. Mentioned, as long as you're saying that. Remember the text I mentioned, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, though he fall, though he fall, he should not be cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand. Yes, God is not because we're going to fall, right? God is not concerned about the fall. He's He's concerned about lifting you up. That's right. That's right. That's right. When we fall, we turn do we want to make sure we turn to him? Right? Right? Isn't that a beautiful thing? I just think it's such a beautiful thing. I'm thank God that he doesn't remind me of my past. He doesn't remind me of my failures. He's just looking at what I can be, and he's concerned about lifting me up as human beings. We have a tendency to remind people of their past, what they've done, but God doesn't do that.

Nathan: 35:42

That's right, that's right. And I think live is just the idea that day to day, letting God's love shine through our lives beautiful.

Bob: 35:50

I'm going to go Ditto on that one. Alright? So

Nathan: 35:53

until next time, keep leaning in to the love shaped life you.