http://www.5min.com/Video/The-Churches-Role-In-Helping-the-Poor-303384006

In simple words the recent comments by Kay Warren have sparked some good discussion. However I don't understand what the debate is about. Mrs. Warren states that what we believe shapes our worldview, end of story. That statement is true of Christians and non-Christians alike. But I'm convinced that it is the heart Jesus is most concerned and not the external behavior. We humans tend to focus on the externals, and they are important, but we forget the internal, heart issues.

Jesus had similar things to say... "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God!" The word heart here is Karthos in the Greek. "Karthos" in Jesus’ context it means, "unmixed" or "undivided," without pollution in reference to a man’s relationship to God.

For Jesus, the heart was the totality of our person, the cockpit, the control tower, the seat of character, the origin of affections, perceptions, intentions, purpose, will and faith. Do you see what Jesus was trying to get across by using these two words together?
From the Jewish point of view of purity, a man might have within his heart arrogance, malice, pride, thoughts of lust or bitterness.. but.. as long as he observed the outward rituals correctly, he was pure. From Jesus’ point of view, even if a man’s outward actions were impeccably correct, even if he observed every detail of the ceremonial law with meticulous devotion, he might still be utterly impure.

Because the thoughts and motives of his inner self were not right. That’s why He said to the hypocritical religious leaders of his day, "You are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity!"(Mt. 23:27 NLT) Now, we might say, "How dumb to think they could be right with God by external observances when internally they were impure." Really? Don’t we do the same today? Is it not still possible for a person to consider themselves "religious," right with God, because they are doing all the correct things, going to Church, giving, being respectable, fighting abortion and homosexuals, all the while in the eyes of Jesus the person has no relationship at all with Him, because the inner recesses of their heart is not pure. This I believe is Kay's point.

The combination of Jesus’ words.. pure heart.. is clear. He is saying, "Happy many times over is the person who has undivided affections for God." He said that again & again.. "No man can serve two masters.." "Seek first the kingdom of God.." "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?"

The key word here for this beatitude is integrity. Jesus is telling us a big piece of the puzzle for happiness is not what you do but who you are, not external action but internal attitudes. Happiness comes when you are the same on the inside as you are on the outside. In order to have the happiness that God promises Jesus says you need... a "karthos kardia," a pure heart.

Finally, all the good works, all the good intentions Jesus himself said is not what he is most concerned with, it is the condition and attitude of the heart that matters, and when the heart is right and pure (not behavioral) but positionally in a right relationship with God, then our actions will reflect that attitude. It is certainly important to feed the poor and heal the sick, but Jesus said those things will not get a person's heart right. Only repentance and a turn in direction and a devotion to God puts our heart right and it is only because of what Jesus did for us on the cross by paying our sin debt that we could never pay.

Our world-view is absolutely conjoined with our understanding of scripture and whether or not we believe that it is the Word of God or not. If it is, then our friends who are agnostics or atheists will be of great concern to us as we show them Jesus and live our lives as people who look forward to eternity with Him. My greatest concern in life is that my friends and parishioners understand their eternity in light of the scripture, that is the business Jesus said we are to be about. I fear however, that we in the church have been so concerned with people's behavior on the outside that we forget their spiritual condition. We like all the good works of those in and out of the church, but we neglect to share the greatest news that ever came into the world, Jesus Christ!