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."
