A Clean Heart
A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
There are two great Bible passages which help us understand the meaning of spirituality, one in the Old Testament (Psalm 51) and the other in the New (Romans 8). The Romans passage will wait for a later time, but let's look at the great prayer of repentance by David (Psalm 51:10-17). According to that passage, to be spiritual is to have a clean heart. "Create in me a clean heart" (verse 10) - this is done by God through prayer. We may be capable of changing our behaviors, but not our hearts. Remember what Jeremiah says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 'I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.'" (Jeremiah 17:9,10) What needs to change is the heart, i.e., the inner motives, desires and purposes. But it's not just a matter of fixing up the old, a new heart needs to be created. That's what the "new birth" is all about. David was keenly aware of the truth taught by Jesus in Mark 7:21-23: "For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean'" When David prayed using the word "create", he used the same word used in Genesis 1- God created the heavens and the earth." Did you ever notice the next statement in Genesis? "And the earth was without (became) void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." (Genesis 1:2) But the question is, does that sound like something God would create - formlessness, emptiness, and darkness? It seems that something destructive must have happened between Genesis 1:1 and 2 (some believe it was the effect of Satan being cast out of heaven.) When you think about it, the same thing has happened in us. When God created man (Genesis 1:31), He saw that "it was good." But then it was ruined by the "fall". Apart from God, our lives are without form, empty and dark, i.e., the need for another creation. Furthermore, it's interesting to note that this word has, at its root, the prior idea of "cutting down a wood". In this regard, again we recall that at the very beginning of his ministry, Jeremiah, speaking the Lord's word said, "See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." (Jeremiah 1:10) In other words, there must be a cutting down before there is a building up, much like a tree must be cut down in order to use the lumber to build the house. The prayer is for a new heart - a clean heart, a morally competent heart, and a "right spirit". The word "right" could mean "perfect", reminding us of what Jesus said during the Sermon on the Mount when He said that we are to be "perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) But more likely this word means "stable". It comes from the idea of "standing erect". James in the New Testament speaks about a double-minded man, "unstable in all he does". (James 1:10) This is related to what is said in verse 12 - "sustain me with a free spirit". Let's make this clear, in this verse, the "spirit" is not God's but man's, for the literal rendering is "a spirit", not "thy spirit". Remember, there is now a new heart, a new spirit. God is the creator, or in this case the recreator, and we are the new creation. There is now a new spirit in us. The old has gone, the new has come. (II Corinthians 5:17) A favorite New Testament parallel Scripture is found in the great prayer of the Apostle Paul, "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." (Ephesians 3:16) So, is it God's Spirit or my own that's now in me? The answer is "yes" - both. Or, we may liken it to a radio receiver which has received the signal, but which cannot be heard unless the receiver itself has power. To be truly spiritual is to have a strong, stable, free, willing spirit - a new creation of God. The Spirit of God was there in the beginning, participating in creation. ("The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" - Genesis 1:2) The Holy Spirit was there again at the resurrection of Jesus (Romans 8:11), and He is present at conversion when He creates again. Yes, there are other things we might deduce from this prayer concerning spirituality. For example, when David prayed, "Cast me not away from thy presence" (v.11), he acknowledged that he was still in God's presence, even though he had sinned. But he also feared that he would be dispelled. Those who do not have clean hearts cannot remain in His presence. And also notice that spirituality expects to display itself as joy - "Restore unto me the joy" - and praise - "My mouth shall shew forth thy praise" (Notice this is "expressed" praise). Being spiritual is not about manipulating God. Rather, it simply has to do with acknowledging who He is and giving Him praise and worship. And spirituality involves the sacrifice of the ego which is humility. My daughter teaches in an afternoon program sponsored by the YMCA. During her first couple of days, she was bothered by the lack of interest her assistant, a young college student, had in most of the children. She only paid attention to a couple of older children with whom she could play cards. My daughter dealt with this the best way she could, but when she saw the assistant's bumper sticker, it all made sense. The message on the back of her car was, "It's all about me." (At least we could applaud her honesty!) Verse 17 says, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." Spirituality is always displayed as humility. Standing in the presence of God for worship is fine, but there comes a time when we must be willing to bow before Him in repentance and servitude. The most important understanding about spirituality that comes from this passage is that we would pray for a new heart - a clean heart, and it comes for the asking. This is not a matter of self-help, like fixing ourselves up to attend an important meeting or event. My own Pastor used to say it this way, "you can scrub a pig clean and drape it in fancy clothes, but it is still a pig - given the opportunity, it will return to the mud and roll in the slop." And so it is with us. "Create in me a clean heart, oh God."  - - Return to Top of this Page
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