Sunday, November 6, 2016

Blessed are the pure in heart...

The text this morning is Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”
Let’s pray and look at this Beatitude together.

God who lives in pure light, shine Your light in our hearts and help us to see You this morning. Amen

I have been reading Mere Christianity aloud to my students over the past few months and as I was preparing for this sermon, it seemed like C.S. Lewis and I were preparing for the sermon together. There were so many examples and quotes that seemed to dovetail with my thoughts. So I hope you don't mind if Jack, as his friends and family called him, joins us this morning and helps me as we look at this verse together.

I think that if we are honest with ourselves, we don’t really want to be pure nor do we really want to see God. Harsh, I know, but I think it’s the reality of the human condition. I’ll come back to this thought, but first let’s look at the verse in more detail. 

The word purity is so often used in the context of sexual purity that it is hard to hear the word without bringing on that connotation. So instead of the word pure, I want to look at the Greek word that is used here instead: katharos. Katharos is used 28 times in the New Testament, mostly being translated pure but also clean. The lexicon describes the word as physically clean as in the phrase "purified by fire" also in the sense of a vine cleansed by pruning and so prepared to bear fruit. The word is also used in a Levitical sense, ceremonially clean – we see it in Matthew when Jesus tells the Pharisees, “First clean (katharizo) the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean (katharos).” The word katharos can also imply ethical purity or cleanness, as in free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt. Synonyms include sincere, genuine, blameless, innocent.

It is where we get the English word, catharsis - one of the Webster definitions of which being “a purification that brings about spiritual renewal.” To rephrase our beatitude with this Greek word in mind, "blessed are the blameless hearts which are cleansed and ready to bear fruit."

There are three main methods that are mentioned in the Bible for this type of cleansing or purification.

In Psalm 119:9, the question is asked “how can a young person keep their way pure?” and the answer is “by obeying God’s Word - by living according to and conforming their life to God’s Word.” God’s very Word purifies us. Of course, only if we live by it. We see this again in 1 Peter 1:22 “by your obedience to the Truth through the [Holy] Spirit you have purified your hearts.” In 1 John 3, we read that “when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” The more we spend time with God and in His Word, the more we will become who we are truly meant to be - the purest version of ourselves. C.S. Lewis says that it is the first job each morning to spend time “listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.” We get our marching orders, so to speak. Check in with our coach for our daily routine - run the race to get the prize - singularity or purity of purpose. The writer of Hebrews extends this metaphor, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us”

Another way that we can become pure is confession. I think that this can often come out of spending time with God and His Word. Is there anyone one of us who can read God’s Word and not see in our own life places where we need light and forgiveness and change? As Mark Twain said, “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.” We read in I John 1, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify (katharizo) us from all unrighteousness.” This recognition of how and where we are missing God’s perfect mark brings us to confess or admit our wrong and lets God work at the right part of us. This cleanness of heart is what David asks for after he confesses his sin of murder and adultery, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” We agree with God that there is some dirt there that needs to be cleaned. It’s a great feeling! Coming clean, repenting, getting things out in the open – these take sin’s power away and we begin to heal and make things right.

The other type of purifying that is mentioned in the Bible is purification by trials. The clearest example of this is in 1 Peter 1, “for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the tested and proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” When talking about trials in this sense, let’s think of some everyday type of trials, like dealing with a difficult situation or being interrupted - these types of trials are a gift to us in that they show the quality of our hearts.

C.S. Lewis explains, “Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of a man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly.  But the suddenness does not create the rats:  it only prevents them from hiding.” These small trials are gifts in the sense that they help to purify us - to show us who we are so that we can change. We need to be students of our own lives - examine them.

Paul encourages the church in Corinth to “Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups.” If we do this work in the small trials, when the life-crushing trials and tribulations come (and they will come) we will have faith that has been tested and purified. In Jeremiah 12, God asks, “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?”

Which brings me back to the beginning of my sermon. We don’t really want pure hearts. We want to hold on to our pet sins, nurse our wounds. And besides, we are trying really hard. Aren’t we good enough?  Really God, what do you want? Perfection? Well… yes, that is what He wants. This seems like bad news, but really it’s the best news. The quicker we see our own imperfection and admit it, the quicker we can turn to God and begin the process of becoming perfect. What He requires, He also provides. Like the old hymn says “All the fitness He requireth is to feel your need of Him.”

We don’t really want to see God, either. We talk about God so much that we lose sight of how big and powerful He is. Hebrews 10:31 says “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” In Malachi 3, “who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?” Being in the presence of God is like walking on water, being surrounded by flames in the furnace, standing next to a whirlwind.

But I think the most prevalent reason that we keep God at arm's length is something different. C.S. Lewis has a great analogy to describe it: “When I was a child I often had toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get to sleep. But I did not go to my mother—at least, not till the pain became very bad. And the reason I did not go was this. I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin; but I knew she would also do something else. I knew she would take me to the dentist next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain: but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists: I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache. They would not let sleeping dogs lie, if you gave them an inch they took an ell.” [when God says], ‘Be ye perfect’…. I think He meant ‘The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less.’

This Beatitude has a cyclical nature to it. When you see God you are purified, when you have a pure heart, you will see God. This is exactly the kind of loop that God wants us to get caught up in. Paul describes this cycle in Romans 7 & 8 - at the end of Romans 7, Paul talks about how he wants to do right but doesn’t seem able to do it - in desperation he asks “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” but immediately he answers the question: God will! God stands ready to rescue - there is no condemnation for those whose lives are hidden in Jesus - all we have to do is stay in Him.

God himself said to Abraham, “No one can see me and live.” and that’s the point! Spending time in the presence of the living God helps us to die to ourselves. Colossians 3:3 says “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” and again in Romans 6:11 “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

We are meant to live our lives as living sacrifices, taking up our crosses daily and following our Perfect Example, Jesus. C.S. Lewis says it like this, “Give me all of you!!! I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work. I want YOU!!!  ALL OF YOU!! I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman, but to KILL IT! No half measures will do. I don’t want to only prune a branch here and a branch there; rather I want the whole tree out! Hand it over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them ALL over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self---in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart.”

The last thing I would want anyone to come away with this morning is a feeling of guilt or inadequacy. God is the one doing the work. God is the one showing us gently where we need to grow and change. He does this little by little – He is preparing us to live with him and each other forever. In order to partner with Him in this good work, we need pure hearts. C.S. Lewis has this analogy for this partnership: "[God] shows much more of Himself to some people than to others—not because He has favourites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favourites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one… the instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man’s self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred—like the Moon seen through a dirty telescope."

Jesus said it this way, "Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness.  If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light."

I know I mixed a lot of metaphors this morning: Running a race as an athlete, going to the dentist, rats in the cellar, being a mirror or telescope. It all boils down to this: to quote one of C.S. Lewis's favorites, G.K. Chesterton "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” To this I will add, but don't keep doing it badly! Be a little more patient next time, a little kinder, a little more forgiving. Work with God and not against Him and start where you know you need to.

Lewis gets the last word this morning. A young woman named Mary Neylan, a student of C.S. Lewis had an ongoing correspondence with him, starting in 1931. According to Richard James of Taylor University, "Thirty-seven letters from Lewis to Mary, her husband Daniel, and her oldest daughter, Sarah, have been published. They span over a period of thirty years touching on many personal, religious and literary themes, including marriage, confirmation, Narnia and family illnesses." On January 20, 1942, Jack is writing to Mary about chronic temptations – a topic on which she had asked his advice. In his letter he says, "“Sorry you’re in a trough. I’m just emerging (at least I hope I am) from a long one myself.” I think we can all identify. In a rut. Stuck. Discouraged by our own sinfulness. Listen to what he says to her and if you remember nothing else from this morning remember this:

"No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes are in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present to us: it is the very sign of his presence."