Purity, Narrowness, Simplicity

Presentation Notes

Purity, Simplicity, Narrowness

Mainly 3 hebrew words that can be translated pure.

Purity is a very fundamental concept when approaching God.

But there’s a lot of meaning nested within the idea of purity, and a few different kinds of purity.

As you can see, there is a direct connection between the ideas of being

Without mixture (as in pure gold, pure oil)

Clean as in not dirty

Ceremonially acceptable

Righteous.

Another way to think about purity is that it is single and original.

I say original, because think about the clean (tahor) animals. All of the clean mammals are herbivores. They have to chew the cud and have a cloven hoof. Chewing the cud means they’re herbivores.

The clean birds are also mostly herbivores, though they eat insects, which are lower order animals.

Certain ones like chickens will eat meat, but the clean birds are not those that primarily rely on prey or scavenging.

Fish are kind of their own thing.

This means that they are the least changed animals from their original design and purpose. They’re pure.

“Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”

It also appears that animals will return to being herbivores during the reign of Messiah.

The actual guidelines are established in Leviticus, but it seems like God is limiting consumption of animals whose diet and perhaps biology have been corrupted since the fall.

And of course, you have the idea of cleanness. That’s something that isn’t corrupted in nature, but has been polluted by the outside world. When we work, we get dirty. Dust gets stirred up, and dirt clings to us.

What is the main cleaning agent in the Bible? Water. That’s at a global scale, and at a personal level. It is also cleansing on the physical level and the religious.

The priests had to wash their hands and feet from a basin before entering the tabernacle.

Anyone who was ceremonially unclean needed to submerge in water.

It makes sense to think of ritual impurity as “unclean”. Dirtiness works as a good metaphor for spiritual impurity - because not only is metaphorically similar, but literally related.

This is a mirror of our need to continually wash the grime of the world off of us. The same way we bathe often, we also need to have our heart and mind washed repeatedly by the influence of Messiah’s words.

Ephesians 3:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

Now, I used another word to define purity, too.

Gold, for example - what makes it pure? Singleness. Meaning, its lack of imperfection, basically anything that isn’t gold.

Low quality gold has other metals in it, such as zinc, copper, silver, or iron.

High quality gold is just one thing - gold

It’s single.

Unmixed. There are other commands about mixture that points to mixture as being negative.

God commanded that we not mix wool and linen together in our garments.

From a purely material standpoint, what’s the big deal about that?

Don’t mix the seed that you’re planting.

Not plowing with an ox and a donkey together.

These all have a purpose, some we understand, some we don’t, but they all point to the idea of purity.

3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?

Or who may stand in His holy place?

4He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,

Nor sworn deceitfully. (Ps. 24)

“Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.”

What is pureness of heart? It’s a heart that is single. It is not mixed with the things of the world. It is single.

That means when distractions come, they don’t enter in.

The heart stays fixed on the goal of serving God.

That seems really simple.

Then why is it hard?

Because there’s mixture.

It’s already there, and it needs purged out.

How is gold refined?

Fire. What is fire?

Trials, tribulation.

Why do we need to suffer to be made pure?

Because it’s when we really really need God that everything else goes away. The distractions fall away. Our personal desires don’t matter.

In that moment, we are single in desire and purpose. “God, please help.”

If only we saw our need for Him every day.

But, I tell you that we don’t necessarily need the fire to bring us closer to God.

Heaven

What is the most clean thing you can think of? The sky. Heaven. The heavens.

There’s a connection there.

But, I’m going to suggest that it is more than a connection. It is God’s representation of what purity is.

Now, I’m asking you conspiracy people to ignore the chem trails for a moment, and you environmentalists to ignore the pollution.

We’re trying to understand this idea from an ancient Hebrew perspective.

When you look up, it is the closest physical representation of what the spiritual actually is.

It’s clean. It’s clear. It’s bright (filled with light). … It’s without mixture (there are clouds, but even the clouds are pure). It’s without defilement. It’s uncorrupted, and incorruptible, it’s unchanged.

It’s even “righteous” in the metaphorical sense in that apart from the occasional meteor - nothing is colliding or in conflict,

or out of place. Everything is in order according to it’s time and place (the sun, moon stars)

And, it’s pure, because it’s one thing.

There are no walls in the sky, no property lines, no rivers or oceans separating it. It’s a single thing.

And in that sense, it’s simple (another word that’s related to purity).

In English we have a phrase - Pure and simple. The two are related.

Just like the heavens, those who are spiritual should be clean. Not dirty. There is a connection between dirt and moral impurity.

They’re connected in more ways than one, because they mirror each other.

Where does dirt come from? Below. The ground, as opposed to heaven.

If I say someone has a dirty mind, it’s from below - sensual, carnal.

James 3:15 talks about the wisdom from below - is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

There’s also a tendency for certain people of lower morals to tolerate physically dirty things. It’s not 1 to 1, but there is a correlation,

and it kind of makes sense, because it takes a love of goodness, purity, and the ability to examine one’s abode, combined with a bit of gusto to want to clean things.

I say this with a pile of clothes sitting on my bedroom floor, so take it for what it’s worth.

However, like the heavens, we should also be clear (transparent) - no obfuscation. Nothing hidden or deceitful. Nothing to deceive about.

We should be bright - reflecting the light of God to the world around us.

Without mixture, undefiled - single in heart and mind.

We should be without unnecessary conflict:

19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves James 1: 19

Or – like the heavens themselves – ordered according to the will of God, in full submission.

But, what does that look like? Like I mentioned, purity is related to simplicity.

Instead, we want it to be hard.

“What do I have to do, Lord?”

Maybe if I give up something. I’ll try harder to be nice to people. I’ll learn to avert my eyes when I see an unwholesome advertisement. Then I’ll be clean, and I’ll come to you.

We’re kinda like Naaman in the Bible.

He came to Elisha to be healed of leprosy. But, he was expecting to have to have a grand encounter with the prophet, or at least do something difficult.

“Climb a tall mountain and face the east until the sun rises 3 times.”

“Bring me an offering of 100 bulls and I will call upon my God.”

Nope, a servant tells him to dip in some dinky river 7 times and he’ll be good.

He was mad, but his servant told him

“Look, if he told you to do something hard you would do it, how much more if you’re told to just take a bath?”

Similarly, we imagine that things should be hard... Because we want to have earned it.

But no, it’s much more simple that anything we could suppose that we needed to do - or would make us feel like we achieved it.

Just like heaven, it’s one thing, but it encompasses everything and is the answer to all things.

** You just ask. **

7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

9Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.

10Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Luke11:9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

James1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Sometimes, we need to go through the fire to be brought to this place of asking. But if we can take it to heart, this is how we get purified if we don’t want to go through the fire.

We deal with it before God has to by asking Him.

Asking Him to fill us with this Spirit.

Allowing Him to search us and try our hearts.

James 1 also says that when we ask, we need to ask in faith. If we doubt, then we’re called double-minded. Double as opposed to - Single. Single, simple, unmixed, clean, pure.

A life of purity is, in a sense - very simple, and very narrow. Serve God. Generally, that consists of having a family, serving them, having a job, laboring in exchange for material security. For the vast majority of believers, that’s what life should looks like, and that’s what life consists of. It’s rather simple, rather narrow.

1 Thess 4:10 But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more [in love]; 11that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

Now, that quiet simplicity should be tempered with the untame, mysterious influence of the Spirit. But that Spirit itself is the breath or wind of God - which is clean, pure, clear, single.

Yeshua says this of the spiritual life: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14

The narrow gate, the difficult path. Of course, Yeshua is talking about behavior, speech, and thinking, not roads. He’s using the obvious, the physical, the thing that we’re all familiar with to explain a spiritual, metaphysical truth that isn’t as obvious.

It’s a good metaphor. A broad road has much room for the traveler. And broad roads are usually more frequently traveled and can also support a larger number of travelers. They are also generally on flat land. Large roads usually follow the easiest possible path, because the easiest possible path is the one that is most traveled.

Likewise, there are an infinite number of ways that you can mess up and go the wrong way (ie sin).

Generally, these are the easiest possible things to do.

To follow the path of least resistance.

To do what feels best in the moment, regardless of any other factor.

To succumb to temptation rather than resist it.

To steal rather than to earn.

To appear to be something rather than to be it.

To serve that which best serves you today.

The way of sin and death is a very wide path. It’s also been traveled by vastly more people than the narrow way, as can be obviously seen by reading history or turning the television on. Literally, the way of destruction is defined by what it is not, and that can be within any category. It’s “not good”.

Something else about a broad path is that it leads to many places.

What are the widest roads in our culture?

Interstates?

They travel the furthest, and go right through many towns.

Each off ramp offers many possibilities of their own.

Bigger towns will have a sign that says something like:

You, know “Lodging”, “Gas”, ..

“FOOD” McDonalds, Arby’s, Burger King, IHOP (or Waffle House), Culvers, Taco Bell.

There are many many options when traveling a large road.

Some places, the road is there because it’s highly populated. Sometimes, a place becomes populated, because it’s on the well-traveled road.

Getting back to the spiritual meaning,

Some sins have always been around and people go that route because, well. “Other people are doing it, so I’m going to too.” kind of attitude. Drunkenness. Alcohol has always been around, lots of people do it, and peer pressure is strong.

However, sometimes people take advantage of others’ weakness and lead them into sin for their own profit.

There are many options along the wide road.

On the other hand,

The difficult way is specific, with a narrower set of choices, generally one.

Because, why would there be a difficult path unless it was going to a particular place?

There probably aren’t many people setting up shop along difficult, narrow, less-traveled paths.

The spiritual implication being:

Any time you define what something is, you’re creating a boundary to that idea, or narrowing it.

God says: “Here is the way of life, walk in it”. Here’s specifically what that looks like (do this, don’t do that).

If you’ve ever been hiking before, you know that parks often have multiple paths.

You can usually get a map telling you the length of the path and the level of difficulty.

What do you usually find about the shorter, easier paths?

They’re wide.

Sometimes, they’re paved.

Lots more people are walking on them.

What about the difficult paths?

They’re narrower.

In certain places, only wide enough to walk single file.

They weave through trees.

There’s roots that you can trip on.

They go up and down through the hills

They can tire you out.

Sometimes you get to the end, or to the top of a hill and you’re out of breath.

Why would you do that to yourself?

Well, it’s good for you.

And, the difficult paths have the best ??? view. The most beauty.

The way of life is traveled (or lived, acted out) by fewer people, compared to the

The physical mirrors the spiritual.

Both are necessary.

The spirit gives meaning to the physical. Just like if something doesn’t have spirit, it is dead. If the order, or purpose behind a thing, it’s meaningless or without value.

We all know this. It’s the most basic observation about atheism.

If there is no God, then nothing has meaning.

If there is no being that created the world with purpose,

anything in the world has no intrinsic value or purpose.

We live, we die. No matter what happens, or what you do, nothing will be remembered in the end.

The idea, or the spirit behind something gives purpose to the material thing (for example, a road, or a way as it’s called in the parable).

On the other hand, the physical serves as an example or embodiment of the spiritual, allowing us to understand it.

Now, you can’t say that the physical is the spiritual. Otherwise, it would mean whoever walks on the easy path at Forest Park Nature Center would be on their way to hell.

BUT, by connecting the two, a whole realm of meaning is presented to help us understand the spiritual, beyond the exact meaning of the statement comparing them.

AND THUS giving additional meaning and purpose to the physical, as though it were a very manifestation of the principle.

Practically everything Jesus taught was through or at least prefaced with a parable or metaphor.

The parable is necessary. It is the language of Christ, the man.

Creation itself is the parable. It is the language of Christ, the Creator God.

High ideas require a lot more examples to be made understandable. “Good” “Honor” “Justice” If justice was simple you wouldn’t need to take things to a courts with judges, juries, lawyers. It’s almost impossible to define. You can only observe and intuitively decide if something appears closer or further away from it. But, it is made concrete through examples. This is the idea behind legal precedent. Behind and supporting each decision are volumes and volumes of recorded cases, each with subtle differences.

This is why ultimately, Judgment belongs to God. It is quite literally impossible for us to judge righteously in ever matter, because that means that we would have to know everything.

However, justice itself is not hard to define because it’s complex, which is to say that it isn’t many things, it’s hard to understand because it’s too simple. It needs to be broken down into applicable, concrete examples to be examined and have our understanding refined.

The Gospel on the other hand, the Good news that God wants most of all for people to understand is as simple as a man dying on a tree on your behalf, which is there to tell you an even simpler message, that God loves His children this much.

Purity - Singleness - Simplicity - Narrowness

As with all vast, simplified concepts, like Justice – the closer we get to the ideal the more apparent it becomes.

The more we embody purity and goodness the closer we get to the Source of Goodness, the Father of Lights.