Matthew 5:8
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
I remember the first time I heard the term "postmodernity." It was in a conversation with a friend of mine who is also in the ministry and we were working on some things and stuff together. He was talking about some books he was reading and encouraged me to read them as well. I did, and a large portion of the books were concerned with the cultural and societal dynamics we were facing and they were referring to it as "postmodernity."
Being "postmodern" can mean anything from furniture and design to other forms of art and how people feel about "modernity" or the modern world. "Post modernity" or "postmodern" looked at the "modern" world of science and the Enlightenment with a measure of disdain and overall a fairly negative outlook and gloomy worldview. This was seen by some as chaotic and pretty much a downer. Now, some are saying we are on the backside of "postmodernity" and have now entered a time of being "metamodern". "Meta-modernism" is seen as more positive and that we live in a society that isn't as aggressively negative and not as antagonistic towards people who have some measure of hope and may even smile a little.
I bring all of this up to point something out. Fads come and go. Scientific discoveries are made and theories are proven and disproven. Countries succeed and fail. Economies flourish and flounder, yet the words of Jesus remain and instructions in scripture have remained the same for 2,000 years. Our perspective of them, our understanding, our application, even our appreciation or lack thereof changes as a society and culture. Individually, we are still held accountable for the words of Jesus and whether or not we are obedient to them.
We have been looking at what it is to be blessed and what it is to be a citizen of Jesus' kingdom as we examine the "Beatitudes." In the passage quoted above, Jesus is remarking on His requirement of spiritual purity or cleanliness. He is not referencing our physical selves (which being clean is not a bad thing, ask the person next to you) but our "heart." The heart in question is not the blood pumping mega-muscle in our chest but more of our mental and moral activity, the rational and emotional core of who we are. Well, now that we know what it is, how do we "clean" it or make it "pure?"
King David wrote "Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit." - Psalm 51:10-12.
In this Psalm David was confessing his sin and asking for a right relationship with God,. He is trusting that the power of purity or to make one clean is God's and therefore a component of forgiveness and being in a right relationship with God or being righteous. Psalm 24:4-5 says, "He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, And righteousness from the God of his salvation." I mentioned previously the importance of confession to God and His promise of cleansing or a moral resetting to a right state in His sight.
Peter wrote, "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever." Jesus said in John 15:3, "You are already clean (same word for pure in the Greek) because of the word which I have spoken to you."
So what am I saying? I'm saying that purity is possible when we receive the word of Christ in faith and know Him. We are made pure when we are forgiven, we are forgiven when we ask, we ask when we hear His word and receive it in faith. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Therefore His word makes us pure.
Our position of purity is accomplished by Him and as a result we can please Him and live a life pleasing in His sight. His presence in our lives currently is assured through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Our future existence in God's presence is assured because the Holy Spirit is with us now. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:13-14, "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."
So, it doesn't matter if our society is "modern," "postmodern" or "metamodern," or even if it all falls apart and we go back to iron age technology and a post-meta-modern preindustrial type of existence.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever," according to Hebrews 13:8. Therefore, His truth is unwavering and always relevant and relative. Well, that leads me to the question: is spiritual purity possible in a "metamodern" society?