Title: Good People
Text: Matthew 5:8
Truth: Integrity of life is necessary for a joyful life.
Aim: To challenge them to live more consistently and clean.
INTRODUCTION
Other preachers and I speak to the generation of Watergate and Monica-gate. Surely we have an easier time convincing the congregation and culture of the singular importance of purity. The plot was the same with both Presidents: wrongdoing, denials, a web of deception and solemn declarations that turn out to be lies. Those lies are probably better known than John 3:16. Who said, “I am not a crook?” Right. Richard Nixon. Who said with emphasis and indignation, “I did not have sex with that woman”? Right. Bill Clinton.
In lengthy television interviews with David Frost, Richard Nixon never admitted guilt. He used words like “errors of judgment” and “mistakes,” but he never bluntly confessed, “I was wrong. I’m sorry.” President Clinton proved more forthcoming only after the evidence of taped conversations, letters, gifts and a soiled dress—piled up.
There will always be this stain on their historical reputation—liar. Neither man could control their passions.
Actually, what these two represenitive figures witness to is the necessity to understand and practice this beatitude on purity. They show that impurity curses a life.
If a person were to accept Hollywood’s interpretation of reality, you would think that evangelical Christians go through life burdened by guilt, in contrast to carefree unbelievers. If you’ve been a Christian any length of time and you actually talk to people you know that the only people who go through life with the burden lifted off are Christians. Blessed are the pure in heart.
Jesus said that the pure in heart are blessed. What does “blessing” mean? Max Lucado said it is the too-good-to-be-true coming true. Do you remember the Publishers Clearinghouse commercial where they arrive at the front door of an elderly Black lady? When informed she has won she says, “Thank you, Jesus!” That’s blessed. Jesus must have enjoyed that.
To be blessed means God approves of you. He delights in you. It is to receive what you always dreamed about but never expected. This is what the pure in heart experience.
Notice two parts to this beatitude.
I. THE CONDITION FOR BLESSING.
The word “heart” is our word “cardiac.” Every culture has some internal organ which it considers the emotional, spiritual and mental center of a person. When we say, “Let’s get to the heart of the matter,” we mean let’s get to the essence or core. This is the way Jesus is using this word.
Had Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure” the Pharisees would have been happy. Outwardly they were very careful about keeping religious rules. But Jesus is not talking about outward purity but inward purity.
The Lord told Samuel that even though David’s oldest brother Eliab was a striking specimen of manliness he was not the Lord’s pick to be king of Israel. The Lord said, “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (I Sam. 16:7).
Proverbs 4:23 states, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Solomon tells his son that the most important duty the boy had was to protect his inner life: his thoughts, emotions and will. Your inner life will affect everything else for good or ill. A wellspring is a spring that bubbles from the earth to the surface freely. What you are on the inside will find its way out in your life.
A little boy was watching a pastor do some repairs on a picket fence. He didn’t say anything, just watched. The pastor thought the little fella would leave shortly, but he stayed. Finally, the pastor said, “Son, is there something you want?” “No,” the little boy answered, “I just wanted to hear what a preacher says when he hits his thumb.” Your heart will be revealed.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:34-35, “For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man, out of the treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Paul said in Romans 10:9-10 this is where a man makes the decision to accept Jesus as his God. “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
The condition for this blessing is inwardly we must be pure.
The word “pure” is our word cauterize. It means to cleanse.
Jesus is not talking about positional purity. When a person is saved, God declares that person as holy before Him. His name is written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Jesus is talking about conditional purity. This refers to our fellowship with Christ. None of us are perfect. All of us have thoughts, attitudes, emotions and choices that are not pleasing to Christ. The pure in heart is a person where Jesus is firmly established as the authority of their life.
Two meanings are given for the word “pure.” First, it means to make something clean by getting rid of the dirt or filth or contamination. This word was used to describe metals being refined in the fire. It was used in washing soiled clothes. It was used to describe sifting grain from the chaff.
Secondly, it refers to something being unmixed, as having no double allegiance. Warren Wiersbe said it refers to integrity, singleness of heart, as opposed to duplicity, or a divided heart. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
The person Jesus blesses is single-minded in his commitment to Jesus Christ, which is reflected in a passion for a cleansed character.
I read about a couple from Bakersfield, California who had just purchased a new boat, but were having some serious problems. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get their 22-foot boat going. It was very sluggish no matter which way they turned, no matter how much power was applied. After about an hour of trying to make it go, they putted to a nearby marina, hoping someone there could tell them what was wrong. A thorough check on the topside of the boat revealed that everything was in perfect working condition. The engine ran fine, the out drive went up and down, and the propeller was the correct size and pitch. Then, one of the marina guys jumped in the water to check underneath. He came up choking on the water because he was laughing so hard. As far as I know, this is a true story…under the boat, still strapped securely in place, was the trailer! (Brian Brill)
When God looks underneath your reputation, what does He see in your character? Are you still strapped to some thoughts or emotions or choices that are slowly pulling you under?
The hardest thing in life is to maintain your singleness of purpose and integrity of character. We’re good people. We do many good things. It isn’t that we dissolve the Dr. Jekylls of our personalies into dastardly Mr. Hydes. No, we keep our goodness intact, but we make small allowances in certain areas. Our cheating on the expense account is small or our movie selection is just a little over the line, or what we say to people only comes from our mouth but not what we really feel in our heart.
There’s a powerful scene in Robert Bolt’s play A Man for All Seasons. The story is that of Sir Thomas More, loyal subject of the English crown. King Henry VIII wants to change things to suit his own devious plans, so he requires all his nobles to swear an oath of allegiance which violates the conscience of Sir Thomas More before his God. Since he will not swear the oath, More is put in jail. His daughter Margaret comes to visit him. “Meg,” he calls her, with affection. She’s his pride and joy, the one who thinks his thoughts after him.
Meg comes to plead with her father in prison. “Take the oath, Father!” she urges him. “Take it with your mouth, if you can’t take it with your heart! Take it and return to us! You can’t do us any good in here! And you can’t be there for us if the king should execute you!”
She’s right in many ways. Her father answers her this way: “Meg, when a man swears an oath, he holds himself in his hands like water, and if he opens his fingers, how can he hope to find himself again?” (Wayne Brouwer)
Do you see what he is saying? Holding that water in our hand is like holding the essence of who we are and what we believe. But when we let our fingers come apart, just a little, who we are and what we believe begins to dribble away. Outwardly, we look the same, but inwardly, we have begun to change.
Years ago I read a book by a psychologist named Charles Beavers. The main point I got from the rather difficult book was that people experience peace to the degree that they can reduce ambivalence in their life. We all have these competing desires and values. We all have this struggle between what we know God would have us do and what we want to do. His point is we will always have this to some degree but to the degree we can reduce this conflict between practice and values will be the measure of peace we experience. Another way of speaking of that is increasing our integrity and purity of heart.
Blessed is the man who maintains a singleness of purpose and integrity of character. What he says and what he is are progressively moving closer to one another.
The second part of the beatitude refers to the consequences for purity.
II. THE CONSEQUENCES FOR PURITY
A startled gasp must have come from the crowd when they heard Jesus promise they would see God. Even Moses didn’t get to see God. Almost all of these people would live their lives and never see the king or, certainly not Caesar. It wouldn’t even enter their mind that they might actually meet him. They might see a statue of him or his image on a coin but no picture in the paper or nightly broadcast on the evening news.
Jesus is speaking to a Hebrew audience. The Greeks and Romans were people of the eye. They wanted to see their gods, so they built statues of them. The Hebrew’s were a people of the ear. They were the people of the Word and the unseen God. Their most famous passage, Deuteronomy 6:4 begins, “Hear, oh Israel, the Lord thy God is One.”
Jesus tells a Hebrew audience that they shall see God. They knew Exodus 33:20 where God tells Moses, “You cannot see My face for no man can see Me and live.”
So when Jesus promises that the pure in heart shall see God, what exactly is He saying?
The Greek word translated “shall see” was a significant word in their worldview. Being people of the eye, they thought this was the most important means of perception. So the word carried a wide range of meanings. Besides physical sight, it could mean mental or spiritual perception.
We use the word “see” in similar ways. When we want someone to perceive what we are explaining we say, “Can you see what I mean?” When we want someone’s will to change we want them to “see it our way.” When we want someone to understand something unambiguously, we want them to “see it clearly.” When we know that experience will help someone discern or understand, we prepare them for the experience by saying, “just wait, you’ll see.” Often times we don’t mean they will literally see, what we really mean is, “You’ll understand or you’ll get it then.” In this context physical sight is not necessary for even a blind man could have insight. So Jesus is not necessarily talking about physical sight but about perception, understanding and discernment. (Wayne Brouwer)
The blessing for a person who is singularly devoted to Jesus Christ and is seeking to make his profession and practice of Christ to be one is a person who is going to grow in his understanding of who God is and be more perceptive His will and work in this world. Do you see what I mean?
Doesn’t it amaze you that a naturalist or evolutionist can look at the same evidence we look at and come to completely different conclusions? He looks at the stunning complexity of genetics and does not see design, but just selfish genes and random replication. He sees the same complexity of a billion plus galaxies and believes it is the result of an explosion similar to a Hezbolla bomb that scatters a thousand ballbearings in every direction. He looks at himself. He does not see a creature made in God’s image, but an animal that has arisen from lifeless chemicals. What fascinates me is the atheist and the believer look at the same facts and data, but one sees it as proof there is no God and the other sees it as proof there is a God.
Jesus promised the pure would see God. I’ve been fighting a bug all week. I finally called in reinforcements and went to the doctor. Sometimes the nurse comes to the waiting room and calls your name and says, “The doctor will see you now.” Through purity we gain access to God. Purity allows you to see the unseen and hear the inaudible.
Psychologists who deal with the study of perception refer to a phenomenon called “habituation.” The idea is that when a new object or stimulus is introduced to our environment, we are intensely aware of it, but the awareness fades over time. For example, there is a ceiling tile in the middle of the entrance on the west that is stained and slightly bulging because rain getting it wet. When it first happened I noticed it and people commented about it and wondered if we had a leak in the ceiling. For months no one has said a word to me about that ceiling tile.
One of the greatest challenges in life is fighting what might be called spiritual habitation. We comfortably settle into a spiritual maintenance mode. We’re not involved in scandalous sin. We’re doing OK. We forget Jesus didn’t come so that we might do OK.
What can keep us from sleep walking through our spiritual life? What can help us pay attention so we see God at work in our world? Take time each day and look at the purity of your heart. Is Christ the first love of your life? Is there anything that hinders your fellowship with Christ?
CONCLUSION
Dallas Willard tells about a two-and-a-half-year-old girl that discovered the secret of making mud (which she called “warm chocolate”). Her grandmother had been reading and not watching what the granddaughter was doing. When she did notice she cleaned up little Larissa and told her not to make any more warm chocolate. Then the grandmother went back to her book.
It wasn’t long before Larissa resumed making her “warm chocolate,” but she had one request. With all the sweetness of a two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter she said, “Don’t look at me, Nana. Okay?”
At the tender age of two-and-a-half this child knew how necessary it was to be unobserved in our wrong.
Could it be that the prayer that is most often spoken by us—albeit silently—is this: Don’t look at me, God.
A businessman checks into a hotel. The hotel has a disclaimer that the name of the movies you watch won’t be on your bill. Before he watches, he has to say a little prayer: “Don’t look at me, God.”
A mom vents her frustration on her children with an inward sense of vengeful pleasure—
An employee pads the expense account—
A student cheats off another’s paper during a test—
A church member looks forward to another chance to gossip—
All of them must first say a prayer: “Don’t look at me, God” (J. Ortberg, God is Closer…, p.41).
Maybe the reason we are not seeing God as much as we want is because we are praying the wrong prayer. When we start praying, “Look at me, God, and show me what you see” we will receive the greatest blessing that any earth bound person could imagine. We will see God. That would truly be a blessing.
PRAYER
INVITATION
Have you noticed how weak is our will? If that were not true, we’d all be thinner and smarter. Yet, God appeals to us choose Him. It is a marvel that Sunday after Sunday in this church human beings are offered an invitation to know their Creator and God. When a person recognizes they are doomed to live separated from God in hell unless they turn from their sin and trust Christ alone to reconcile them to God, that choice results in their salvation. I marvel at God’s great love and power. Choose Christ today.
Christian, pay attention. Don’t sleep walk through today. Begin to pray more frequently, “Look at me God, and show me what you see.” You don’t need so much to hunt for God as to simply open your eyes. Choose Christ today.
