The Payoff for Finding a Pure Heart in an Impure World
First in a Lenten series: Jesus and our Hearts
John Knox Presbyterian Church, 109 SW Normandy Road, Seattle, Washington 98166
Sunday 17 February 2013.
LENT I
Dr. Robert Bayley
Scripture: Matthew 5:1-12
5 “Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,
2 and he began to teach them. He said:
3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of
me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.’”
Memory verse: Matthew 5:8
“’Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’”
Q: Jesus and our hearts: what is our ‘heart’ in Scripture?
For the ancients as well as both Old and New Testaments, the heart (mentioned over 1,000 times) is that core
of our person, of our lives, our existence, involving the (1) physical, (2) emotional, (3) intellectual, (4) moral,
and (5) volitional aspects of our earthly existence.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Proverbs 4:23
Q: What does it mean to have a pure heart and can I have one?
Soren Kierkegaard 1813-1855, Danish theologian and existential philosopher
“Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing: Spiritual Preparation for the Office of Confession”
Purity of heart involves a singular, focused will and internal spiritual and moral compass directed God-ward. It
determines the way we live:
1. Our own behavior – morals, ethics, priorities, relationships that are lived out in our physical bodies visà-vis our spiritual relationship with the Triune God.
2. Our imprint in the culture, the world in which we find ourselves, in which we have been sovereignly
placed in actual physical bodies for spiritual and physical purposes.
David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, Christian research organization, in his book
“Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity…and Why it Matters”:
“Older born-agains need to look more carefully at what Jesus teaches, that spiritual maturity is demonstrated
in a life as an outcome of the condition of a person’s heart and soul, that behavior follows belief.. And younger
born-again Christians need to take an honest assessment of their lives and realize that they are increasingly
poor witnesses of a life and mind transformed by their faith…many young believers are living out their
Christian faith with enormous moral laxity.”
Matthew 15:19 – “’For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false
testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’;…’”
Jim Wallis, a leader for progressive evangelical Christianity and founder of Sojourners magazine and the
Christian community by the same name in Washington DC observes “It’s not enough to keep pulling bodies
from the river; we must go up stream and see who is throwing them in. Not only do hearts need to be
changed, but the system has to be fixed.”
Ezekiel 36:26-27 – “’I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart
of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees…’”
Miroslav Volf in his book “Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and
Reconciliation” observes: “’Blessed are the poor’ and ‘Blessed are the pure’ belong inseparably together
(Matthew 5:8). Without a ’politics of the pure heart’ every politics of liberation will trip over its own feet -…”
Psalm 86:11 prayer: “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God with all my heart;…”
Q: If the payoff for purity of heart is to ‘see God’ what does this mean as I live on planet earth?
Bono, lead singer for U2, on his keynote address to the 54th National Prayer Breakfast in Washington,
DC in 2008 said: “God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence
of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard
under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with
them.”
Matthew 25:38-40 – “’When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you
did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
The question becomes for us all not only one of “What does it mean to see God?” but one of “Where am I
looking for Him to appear?”
Q: In what area of the arena of your existence do you most need to ‘see God?’ In what areas of the social,
cultural, economic arena in which you live do you think you and others desperately need to see God present?
Jesus calls to us during the Lenten journey to the cross and His suffering for the world:
Proverbs 23:26 – My child, give me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways,…”
Jeremiah 29:13-14: ”’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to
harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will
listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,…’
declares the Lord,…”
Unison Response Prayer: Book of Common Prayer
“O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of
death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your
law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness
during the day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.”