Elements City Church
The Beatitudes set forth the blessings God gives to those he is working in—blessings given not as a reward for our merit, but as a gift of His grace. Here is a Christian value system and God’s kingdom ethical standard—all of which are often at odds with those of the non-Christian world in which humanity functions. Blessed are those that recognize their spiritual bankruptcy and thus their need for dependency upon Christ and his gifts of grace. They will experience the God-life and a true good life.
Matthew 5:8 CSB
Jesus’ teaching on what it means to find godly happiness and the God-lived life! And that the God-life is better than what the world tries to push as the good life!
The Sermon (Matthew ch. 5-7) is probably the best-known part of the teachings of Jesus. It is also perhaps the least understood.
It is Jesus’ own description of what he wanted his followers to be and do.
Here is a Christian value system, and God’s kingdom ethical standard—all of which are often at odds with those of the non-Christian world in which humanity functions.
The Beatitudes set forth the blessings God gives to those he is working in—blessings given not as a reward for our merit, but as a gift of His grace.
series takeaway:
The pursuit of the good life (that this world says to seek) will ultimately let you down, but the pursuit of the God-life will lead to real joy and true blessing.
today, we’re examining the next phrase that Jesus utters in the Beatitudes that deals with being pure in heart...
Jesus said,
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
This sort of purity, however, isn’t something we can consume; rather it’s an inside out issue. What we’re talking about is the condition of our heart with God. A person who has a clean heart is a person of integrity. It’s where we do what we say. Where we’re consistent and our motives are pure.
Q) “Is it possible to do good things with wrong motives?” Most definitely!
What Jesus is saying is that blessings and happiness comes from when we’re the same on the inside as we are on the outside. Jesus thought that this was so important & vital!!
Remember God Sees Everything
Nothing is hidden from God. Nothing is secret. He knows everything. And that’s a little unnerving, because we all have secrets we want to keep that way, even from God.
The Scriptures say,
“There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)
If God therefore knows everything, then we might as well curate a pure heart rather than trying to continually fake it or filter it. We may fool others, but we cannot fool God.
== the amazing thing is that even though God knows all my faults and failures He still loves me. He still loves you!! The life, death and resurrection of Jesus proves this to be true.
Scholar John Stott also proposes that the core idea expressed in this beatitude has to do with "singleness of heart".
What Jesus portrays is the "single self" as opposed to the divided self.
It is the person who presents the true self to God and man.
If this is true, then the opposite of purity of heart is hypocrisy. John Stott describes the pure in heart this way, "Their very heart—including their thoughts and motives—is pure, unmixed with anything devious, or ulterior. Hypocrisy and deceit are detestable to them…”
We’re to seek a pure heart…a single-self, living out an undivided nature — bringing our whole heart to Jesus
We're to cultivate an undivided heart: where no compartment is sealed off from the Lordship and leadership of Christ.
Have you ever seen an echocardiogram--a picture of a human heart--up on the screen? It wouldn’t look like much of anything to us, but a trained eye could look at an echocardiogram and see if anything was wrong. Jesus performs a spiritual echocardiogram on the human heart.
Jesus is concerned with our heart. It is not enough to clean up our act on the outside. The transformation that Jesus wants to do is NOT just behavior modification - so that what people see on the outside appears “alright and clean”
Jesus wants to clean us from the INSIDE-OUT…
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greedand self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside of it may also become clean. (Matthew 23:25–26)
The aim of Jesus Christ is not to simply reform the outward behaviors of your life or the manners of society, but he seeks to change the hearts of sinners like you and like me.
see also: Matthew 15:18-19 and Matthew 12:33-34
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God?” -Matt. 5:8
1) As followers of Christ, we will see God in the life to come.
As our hearts have been cleansed and changed through faith in Christ, we know that we get to spend eternity with him. This hope is an anchor for our soul in this life, because of the godly guarantee of being forever present with the Lord, that it promises.
2) Jesus is also telling us that when our hearts are pure, we will begin to see God in this life--not just in rare moments, but in everyday life--in our ordinary moments. When your life is all about God, you see God everywhere.
the prayer of David:
Psalm 51:10
God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
PURITY IS NOT REACHED BY ONLY ABSTAINING FROM CERTAIN THINGS IN YOUR LIFE, IT IS ACHIEVED BY A SATURATING PRESENCE OF GOD IN YOUR LIFE.
Ask God to clean your heart - to change your heart. To help you focus your heart more and more on Him.
We'll see you back at Elements next weekend or online as we continue our series on the Beatitudes and how Jesus said to find and pursue happiness and the blessed life!