Blessed Are The Pure In Heart Series

Blessed Are The Pure In Heart

Matthew 5:8

MGCC – on December 19th, we as a church began a journey in the Gospel of Matthew…

NOW CURRENTLY – we are in Matthew chapter 5.

WHERE JESUS – after spending about a year… teaching the multitudes, healing the sick, cleansing the leper and telling everyone to repent for the Kingdom is at hand…

GATHERS – those who were following Him on a hillside overlooking the sea of Galilee, and then He lays out His radical counter cultural manifesto about what life in His kingdom is all about.

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down.

AGAIN - that’s what rabbi’s did when they were about to drop some wisdom, they sat down.

His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: “Blessed (‘makarios’ - joyful, fulfilled, satisfied, content, happy)…

Blessed are the poor in spirit – Matthew 5:3

AND – we are like, that doesn’t make a lot of sense.

BECAUSE - we are conditioned to think, “Blessed are the rich.” YEAH - that’s how the equation seems to work in our world.

BUT - Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the poor in spirit.” “Blessed are you when you reach this point where you recognize,

‘LORD, I am bankrupt. I need Your help. I can’t fix it, I can’t mend it, I can’t restore it, I can’t put the pieces back together again…please help me_____’

AND LISTEN B/S – there is a blessing for you in that moment, that you will never find outside of it.

And then Jesus says…

Blessed are those who mourn. – Matthew 5:4

NOW – this is just counterintuitive, it seems contradictory. “Blessed are those who mourn”… It’s like saying, “Happy are the sad, the sorrowful… blessed are the depressed’.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense.

HOWEVER- what we find… IS THAT - in the tears (in the pain and sorrow) there is a blessing from God that cannot be found outside of mourning. And a lot of us have experienced that comfort.

As Job says in Job 42:5, my ears have heard about you, but now my eyes have seen you.

And then Jesus says, Blessed are the meek… - Matthew 5:5

Those who keep their power and strength under control for the benefit of others and the glory of God.

for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

Those who hunger and thirst: to know God, to be like Jesus, and to make this world a better place for

For they will be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful…

Not just those who do acts of mercy, but those who ‘are’ become more merciful, such that, mercy begins to flow out from them, to those, who…

• Have a material need

• Mess up and need a second chance

• Are on the outside, alone, outcasts

• Doubt and are struggling in their walk

• Fail and disappointment them

• Hurt them

• Are lost and need to hear the Gospel (save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear” -Jude 23

for they will be shown mercy

AND B/S – as I asked last week, “what if, Jesus was serious?”

LIKE - what if joy, fulfillment, satisfaction and contentment are found not in pursuing happiness (trying to control and make ‘just right’ all of the things happening around us), but rather, in pursuing a blessed life?

YEAH – what if, Jesus was serious?

AND – what if, you/me/we… took Him seriously… and began to really go after this life? B/S – here’s the deal…

The life you have always wanted, the life you were created to live, the Kingdom life… is within your reach. IN FACT – it is ‘the life’ that He (through The Spirit) has empowered everyone who has come into His Kingdom to live.

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. – 2 Peter 1:3

MGCC – it’s 5/1/2022… And this morning we will unpack beatitude #6, in Jesus radical, counterculture manifesto about life in His kingdom.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will SEE God.

QUESTION – what is your first reaction to this beatitude?

‘Seeing God’ - awesome!

But being ‘pure in heart’ – impossible!

OKAY MGCC – let’s do this!

AND HERE - is how I want to attack our conversation this morning, BY - unpacking 3 things

• The Call

• The Promise

• The Path

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

NOW – this week, I kind of want to kind of reverse engineer this beatitude, and talk about, ‘The Promise’ first.