Sermon on Mount
Blessed are the merciful
Opening illustration
In the beatitudes, Jesus’ aim was to create a lifestyle in his followers that would make people think about the value of God, or to glorify God. The beatitudes start out showing us our great need for God and then the rest show us what it means to live like Jesus or walk in righteousness.
1. Jesus is concerned about my heart
This beatitude tells us that Jesus is not only concerned with our behavior. He wants to go deeper than the way we act - In the OT it was said not to commit adultery but Jesus say anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has committed adultery. I think we as the American church focuses so much on do’s and don’t to the neglect of the heart. As long as we look ok; everything is ok. But anything done without you’re your heart in it, that is a heart of faith, is done in vain. Listen to Jesus -"’These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain (Matt 15:8-9).
Matthew 23:25 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
Matthew 15:18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ’unclean.’ 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
Jesus did not come just to change bad habits; he came to change bad hearts. The heart is the center of the entire personality - feeling, willling, thinking. The heart is what you are when you peel everything away like an onion and all you have is the center. It is what you are when no one is looking, your thoughts, feelings, affections. What do you think about when your mind is in neutral; where does your mind drift when you begin to daydream? That tells you what your heart is set on. He is concerned with the heart, it is not enough to clean up ones act on the outside and not deal with the inside (Mat 15:8-9). Our culture, the world deals with the outside, modify peoples behaviors. God is much more concerned with the heart.
Lets look at a close parallel to this beatitude to see what it means to be pure in pure heart.
Psalm 24:3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. 5 He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.
You can see what David means by a "pure heart" in the phrases that follow it. A pure heart is a heart that has nothing to do with falsehood. It is truthful and free from deceitfulness. Deceit is what you do when you will two things, not one thing. You will to do one thing and you will that people think you are doing another. You will to feel one thing and you will that people think you are feeling another. That is impurity of heart. Purity of heart is to will one thing, namely, to "seek the face of the Lord" (verse 6). Ie kids, parents, husbands, wives, employees.
You can see this idea of purity in the NT in James 4:8: Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. The double minded (soul) persons heart is divided between between the world and God like a wife who has a husband and a boyfriend. That is the way James describes the double minded man in 4:4, James 4:4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. So if we are looking for what Jesus says it means to be pure in heart and James tells us to purify our heart from double minded thinking, then I think we look at Matthew 22:37 "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ Love the Lord your God, not with part of your heart, not with a double or divided heart. That would be impurity. Purity of heart is no deception, no double-mindedness, no divided allegiance. Purity of heart is to will one thing, namely, God’s truth and God’s value in everything we do. I have a concern for us. I see many of us with divided hearts. We love God but we also love the world. It shows up in our affectiosn, in our interests, and in our appetites. Where does your mind wander when you are day dreaming. What would you rather be doing right now? What interests you more than spending time with God? Being committed to a small group? What is even a greater concern for me is the fruit of that in our kids. Many of our kids are worldy – you see it in their interests, you see it in their appetites, you see it in their affections. What do they talk about? What do they spend their time doing? What is plastered on the walls in their bedrooms. Purity of heart is to will that one thing. The aim of the pure heart is to align itself with the truth of God and magnify the worth of God. If you want to be pure in heart pursue God with utter singlemindedness.
2. Jesus wants me to get a glimpse of God
What does it means to see God:
I think it means at least three things: First it means to be admitted to his presense. When Moses comes to Pharoah after the plague of darkenss Pharoah in a fit of rage commands Moses to leave. Listen to what he says.
Exodus 10:28 Pharaoh said to Moses, "Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die." To not see his face again is to never be admitted into his presense again. Some of you know that I am on a diet for a yeast infection and I had questions about the diet. So when I was in his office to get a shot on Friday I asked to see the doctor. When I did that I wanted to be with him – not wait in his office, not talk to him on the phone, not see a picture of him, I wanted to see him directly. So first of all to see God is to be admitted to his presense.
Second I think it means to behold or be awestruck by his glory. Listen to Job 42:5-6: My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Virtually all of our spiritual sight in this life is mediated to us through the word of God or the work of God in providence. We "see" images and reflections of his glory. We hear echoes and reverberations of his voice. Ie sitting on the alagnack. But these are just fortastes of what it will be like one day. There will come a day when God himself will dwell among us. His glory will no longer be inferred from river, salmon, lightning and mountains and roaring seas and constellations of stars. Instead our experience of him will be direct. His glory will be the very light in which we see (Revelation 21:23) and the beauty of his holiness will be tasted directly like honey on the tongue.
So seeing God means not only being admitted to his presence, but also being awestruck by a direct experience of his glory. Last, it is being comforted by his grace. NIV Psalm 27:7 Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful(or gracious) to me and answer me. 8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek. 9 Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior.
"Hide not your face from me," is the same as saying, "Be gracious to me!" This means that seeing the face of God is considered to be a sweet and comforting experience. If God shows his face we are helped. If he turns his face away, we are dismayed. So when Jesus promises the reward of "seeing God" there are at least these three things implied: we will be admitted to his presence, not just kept in the waiting room. We will be awestruck with a direct experience of his glory. And we will be helped and comforted by his grace.
And this we will have -- in part now, and fully in the age to come -- if we are pure in heart. Jesus says that the pure will see God. That is, purity is a prerequisite for seeing God. Jesus’ point is the same as Hebrews 12:14, "Strive for ... holiness without which no one will see the Lord." In other words, blessed are the holy for they shall see God. This beatitude should drive us to God because -- "With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible." In other words, God creates a purity for us and in us so that we can pursue purity. And by his grace we must seek that gift by praying with David, "Create in me a clean heart, O God" (Psalm 51:10). And we must look to Christ "who gave himself for us ... to purify for himself a people" (Titus 3:l4). We cannot manufacture this, God must do it for us and that is why Acts 15:9, says "God purified their hearts by faith." God is the one who purifies the heart, and the instrument with which he cleans it is faith. Therefore, trust in the Lord with ALL your heart (Proverbs 3:5). Will this one thing and you will see God.
