The Blessing of a Pure Heart

"Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God."

Matthew 5:8

Do you remember the joke I told a couple of weeks ago?  It was about a man who has fallen off a cliff.  There was a branch sticking out from the side of the mountain.  The man is holding on to that branch for dear life and crying for help.  “Help Me!  Help Me!  Is anyone up there?”  I’m here,” came a voice.  “Who are you?  Can you help me?”  It’s me!  It’s the Lord.  I’ll help you.  Just let go.” The man looks down at the valley floor far below him.  Looks back up a second time and cries out, “Is anyone else up there?”  I tell that story again because it is the perfect illustration of why this beatitude worries me.

“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God!”  This is what worries me about this beatitude What does it mean to be “pure in heart?”  The best answer to that question is given by King David in Psalm 24 “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.”  Do you see the problem?  First and foremost, a person with a pure heart is someone who puts His trust only in God.  He never puts his faith in a false god.  The man hanging from that branch does exactly the opposite.  He asks, “Is there anyone else up there?”  You and I too often ask the same question. What are the false gods you look to? Money? Hard work?  Popularity?  Staying young?  Things?  For me, one god in my life has been the desire to be liked?  If everyone would like me, then I would be happy.  Of course David doesn’t stop there. He adds that someone pure in heart is also someone with no deceit in his heart.  How’s that look for you?  How hard is it to admit when you were wrong, in particularly to someone you don’t like?  How many of us wear a mask, pretend to be happy… put on a show of being great Christians to hide the things that go on in secret?  Do any of us ever live a lie… let alone tell one?   That’s why this beatitude troubles me.  How can I… How can any of us ever hope to see God?  After all we are anything but pure in heart!

But then, it occurs to me,  how is it that David could write those words in Psalm 24.  Adulterer… murderer.. liar – even to God.   His hands weren’t clean.  His heart wasn’t pure.  The answer lies in the next verse of Psalm 24.  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.  He will receive blessing from the Lord and mercy from the God of his salvation.  Two words that tell us that a pure heart is a gift of God – salvation and mercy.  David had received mercy.  When God finally stripped away the veil of lies… when David finally gave up his deceits and confessed his sin, God cleansed His heart.  Listen to David’s own words.  For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.”  Hiding his sin hid God from David’s eyes.  That is until, as David himself describes it,  “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”  A pure heart is to be found in only one place – the purity of God’s forgiving heart.

That’s where we find it too.  For God has made known to us the purity of His heart and His love in Jesus Christ.  “This is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and gave His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  God made His heart known to us His own Son took on flesh and blood, lived among us, died on the cross for our sins and rose again the third day.  IN Jesus we have beheld the purity of God’s love – full of grace and truth.  Then God made His pure heart known to you personally in baptism… when even though He knows all about your sin, He adopted you into His family anyway… makes His love known to you when at the Holy Supper He invites you to His table. . 

My friends, we will never see God by trying to white wash our sin… Hiding our sin from God, we end up hiding God from our eyes.  We will never see God by trusting in ourselves to make up for our wrongs… or by trusting in our ability to lie to ourselves or each other or even Him… That’s what David calls lifting up our soul to what is false… The Apostle John said it so well in his first epistle.   If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.   A pure heart is one that lifts up its sin to God in Jesus Christ and trusts alone in Him.  Such a heart,  made pure by God’s forgiveness,  will one day see God face to face.  Indeed, confessing your sins you will see Him right now - in the pure, loving, forgiving heart of Jesus. 

Now I get it.  “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God!”  Amen!

Blessed are the Merciful

Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy."

Matthew 5:7

Do you know the difference between justice and mercy?  Justice gives what people deserve.  Mercy withholds what people deserve. 

Justice looks like this.  A father bought a bike for his twin daughters.  He assumed they could easily share that bike.  But then one day both girls wanted to use the bike at the same time.  The battle was intense. The father had to step in.  With great wisdom he announced, “It’s Sarah’s bike on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  It’s Monica’s Bike on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. “But who gets the bike on Sundays?” asked one of the girls.  “On Sundays,” said the father, “the bike belongs to your little sister Rachel.” That’s justice.  The father tried to make sure everyone got their fair share of the bike, that everyone’s rights were honored.  

People spend a lot of time demanding justice.  Someone insults us and we get indignant.  “She has no right to talk to me like that.”  A child’s voice screams, “That’s mine.  I had it first.”  “Finder’s keepers, loser’s weepers” pits one person’s rights against another’s.  We do it with God too.  Bad things happen and we assume some right has been violated.  One man told me that he didn’t believe in God because it just wasn’t fair that people should end up living in a nursing home.  People have a right to expect better of God.  After all, isn’t that the purpose of God – to defend our rights against every injustice?  Bad things happen and we wonder, “What did I do to deserve this?  God you aren’t being fair.” “Fair?”  God answers.  “Didn’t I create the world and you in it?  Didn’t I give you life, and every blessing of survival and strength as my free gift?”  But then you answer, “Sure - don’t think I am ungrateful.  But I have tried hard to live a good life.  I want what I deserve?”  Is that really what we want?  What do you… what do I deserve?  Do we really want justice from God?

Or would we rather have mercy?  Mercy and grace are two sides of the same heavenly coin.  Mercy is when God withholds the punishment we have deserved.  Grace is when God gives us the salvation we had no right to expect.  That is what God gave to the world when He gave His only Son, Jesus.  In Jesus God’s mercy is put on display.  Think about the way He works. When they brought Him the woman caught in adultery, He did not stone her.  He forgave.  When your parents brought you to baptism, God did not turn His back.  He forgave you.  He accepted you.  When the Gentile woman begged for scraps from the masters table, He did not ignore her as she deserved.  In mercy, He healed her in body and soul.  He does the same for you when you come to His table.  He gives you no scraps. He gives you Himself to eat and drink.   On the cross Jesus didn’t call down vengeance on those who put Him there.  He had mercy.  “Father,” He prayed, “Forgive them.”    His very dying there was an act of mercy towards you.  He accepted the punishment we deserved… so that instead of punishing us, God has mercy.  Jesus prays for us too.  Father forgive them.

Once a long time ago I heard a Pastor preach on the word that starts every beatitude – the word “Blessed.”  He told us that the root of the Greek word is the word for a volcanic eruption.  His theme was that God’s blessings are like a flow of lava from an erupting volcano.  Nothing can stand in the way of the Lava.  Even so God’s blessings  are an eruption of unstoppable goodness.  That is really true in this Beatitude.  Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy.  Think what He is saying.  God’s mercy flows into our hearts and lives and changes us.  How can we who have received mercy refuse mercy to others?  Even so His mercy flows through you with unstoppable power to bless

those who persecute you, to bless and not to curse.  God’s mercy flows through you so that if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, you let him have your cloak as well. God’s mercy flows through you so that if someone forces you to go one mile, you can offer to go with him two miles. God’s mercy flows through so that you  give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.  God’s mercy flows through you as it did through a soldier who was witnessing to his non-Christian roommate.  The non-Christian got so angry about the man’s faith that he punched him.  The Christian fell against the table.  His head cracked open.  Blood was everywhere.  The roommate yelled at him, “Now will you leave me alone about this Jesus.”  The Christian looked at him, held up his blood soaked hand.  If Jesus loved you and me enough to shed His blood for us, how can I love you any less.”  That’s how the mercy of God changes your outlook on things like justice and rights.  His mercy begets mercy in you and leads to God’s final act of mercy… to His words to you on the last day , “Well done, good and faithful servant.  Yes. blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  It really is an eruption of God’s unstoppable goodness.  Amen.

The Blessing of Being Totally Dependant

Blessed are the Meek for they will inherit the earth

Matthew 5:5

The man fell off a high cliff.  As he fell he caught hold of a branch.  Holding on to that branch, suspended 100s of feet above the ground, the man began to cry out, “Help me!  Help me!  Is anyone up there? Can anyone help me?”  “I’m here,” said a deep voice.  “Who are you?” the man cried out.  “It’s me.  It’s the Lord.”  “Lord, can you help me?” said the man hanging on for dear life.  “I can,” said the Lord.  “Just trust me.  Just let go of the branch.”   The man thought for a moment.  He looked up towards the voice. He looked down at the long drop beneath him. He looked up again. He cried out, “Is anyone else up there?” 

That man wanted to believe he had another choice. But the reality was he didn’t.  We like to think we have other choices too.  We each have our own branches that we hang onto instead of God.  For some – being in control, getting your own way is the branch you hang on to.  For others it’s hard work.  For some it’s having enough money.  For others it’s exercise, good food, working hard to stay young and healthy.  Now there is nothing wrong with those things, except when we let them take God’s place in our lives. For you see there is no beatitude that says, “Blessed is the man who takes charge of his own life and makes things happen… There is no beatitude that says, “Blessed are those who know what they want and go after it, for they will dominate the earth… There is no beatitude that says, “Blessed are those who can stay young and healthy for they will never die.”  Those other branches will fail us. 

Why is it so hard to let go and trust God?  Why is it so hard to depend totally on God?  Is it that we don’t believe this beatitude.  “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.”  To us meekness is about laying down your defenses and just trusting God. It means refusing to fight for your rights.  We think the meek person is the doormat.  He’s the one people take advantage of.   He’s the person who gets slapped on one cheek and turns the other so people can slap him there too.  He’s the person who gets stuck with all the dirty jobs no one else wants to do.  How can that be blessed?

Well let me tell you the meekest person who ever lived.  His name is Jesus.  He let go of the branch and put Himself in the Father’s hands.  He did not consider equality with God something to be held on to but made Himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant.  He did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.  When the disciples were too proud to be foot washers, Jesus let go of the branch. He washed their feet.  When they came to arrest him, Jesus didn’t fight.  He surrendered. When they lied about Him at His trial, he refused to defend  Himself.  When they nailed Him to the cross, Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of those men with the hammer. Jesus had no home, no money, no income, no place even to lay his own head.” Give us this day our daily bread,” was His prayer.  His strength was in His heavenly Father.  His security was in the fact that He was the Father’s Son.  Jesus knew that the gates of Hell were being stormed by His life and death.  He knew those gates didn’t stand a chance.  He knew He couldn’t lose no matter what evil was done to him. Those who find security in themselves, who refuse to let go of the branch eventually lose everything.  But the Son, who trusts the Father, inherits the earth.  He did indeed.  He rose again.  Now “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”

Because of him there is blessing in meekness.  We have nothing to fear from letting go of our branches.  After all is not God our Father in Jesus Christ?  Have we not been adopted into His family at baptism?  Does He not invite us to sit and eat at His table?  Yes!  Yes! Yes!  And Again Yes!    We can’t lose!  The earth and everything in it is ours in Christ.  “Take they goods, fame, child and wife.  Let these all be gone.  They yet have nothing won.  The kingdom ours remaineth.”  There is nothing for us to fear in letting go of our branches!  There is nothing to fear in becoming one of the meek!  When I think of meekness, I think of Herman Weertz.  His wife had Alzheimer’s.  He took care of her at home for years but eventually had to put her in the nursing home.  Every day he went to visit her.  Every day she would throw shoes at him, curse at him, accuse him of cheating on her.  He never got mad.  He never stopped going.  He took it all. He continued to love her. He continue to take care of her.  That’s meekness.  That’s strength.  Where did that strength come from?  From letting go of his branches and letting God catch him.  That’s what this beatitude means.  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.  Let go, my friends. He’ll catch you.  Indeed He already has you.  That’s the blessing of being totally dependant. Amen!

Blessings in Disguise - The Blessing of a Grieving Heart

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."

Matthew 5:4

“Blessed are those who mourn?”  Is Jesus serious?  Most of us don’t think of grief as a blessing.  I knew a young wife who struggled with terrible grief for two years after her husband was killed by a drunk driver.  I have known elderly people who could never recover from their husband or wife’s passing… grieved so hard that not even a year later they were gone too.  I know in my own life, the pain of losing my sister, my dad, my mom – was some of the worst pains I have experienced in life.   How in the world can Jesus say that those who grieve and mourn are blessed? If this is a blessing, than it really must be a blessing in disguise.

Yet Jesus would have us to understand that grief and mourning goes with being a believer.  Think of what things about you, about your life, about this world that bring you grief.  I am willing to bet you that many of the things over which you grieve are because you are a follower of Jesus.  Are there things about your life that you have thought or said or done that grieve you?  That’s called contrition and repentance – feeling sorrow or regret over your sin.  Are there things going on in the lives of those around you that grieve you?   I talked Sunday about the husband who came to me so upset, so grieved because his wife had cancer and was dying.  I have encountered many parents whose grown children have left the faith or don’t go to church – grieving out of concern for their children.  Are there things going on in the world that grieve – the harsh things people are saying to and about one another because of politics?  Every new terrorist attack?  If you are a believer in Jesus – then as you see what sin has done in your life… the lives of others… in this world you will grieve.  You will mourn. 

But how is that a blessing?  Listen again to this week’s beatitude.  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”  The key lies in the tense of the verbs.  Jesus, first says, “Blessed ARE those who mourn…” There is the present tense.  Followers of Jesus,. Believers who mourn and grieve over sin are blessed in the present, right now, today.  How can that be?  Jesus gives the reason in the future tense.  “for they WILL be comforted.”    I have told you before, as believers we live in the time of the “already but not yet.”  We are already saved but we are not yet in heaven.  We are already forgiven but we are not yet perfect.  We are already God’s children but we are not yet living in the Father’s house.  God has already called us and named us as heirs of His kingdom but that inheritance has not yet been fully distributed.  That day is still to come- the day Jesus promised when he will take us to be with Him forever… the day when Jesus will say to us “Come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you…”  the day when as Jesus promises “God will wipe ever tear from our eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be any mourning nor crying, nor pain…”  the day will come “when God will make all things new.

There is no doubt!  We know this to be true.  We know that day will come, because another day has already come… the day when “in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law, that we might receive thee adoption as sons…”  the day came when “Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification…”  The day has already come in your life and mine “when God sent for the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out “Abba Father.”   Because of what God did on those days you and I, even with all that grieves us, are right now “no longer a slave but a son and if son, then an heir through God.”

That’s the comfort and hope of our faith in God.  Yes we grieve and we mourn but not like the rest of the world that has no hope.  In our grief we have hope for, as Paul wrote, “we believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.”    So it is that parents grieving what’s happening to their adult kids, are comforted because God loves their kids even more than they do.  So it was that on the day of my father’s death I cried tears of pain because I missed him and tears of joy because in Christ I knew I would see him again.  So it is that even as we grieve our own sin, we do so knowing that because of Jesus “though our sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”  Of all the Beatitudes this one really is a blessing in disguise – “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”  Amen. 

Blessings in Disguise - the Blessing of Running Out of Gas

.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.” 

Matthew 5:3

I think it happened after 10 on a Friday night.  We received a phone call from our one of our kids. en..  He and some buddies had decided that day to drive from Milwaukee Wisconsin to Cleveland, Ohio (about an 8 hour drive).  When they got south of Chicago, their car started having trouble.  They got off the highway to check it out.  While they were by the side of the road, a police man came by to warn them that they were in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the Country.  They needed to get back in that car. They needed to drive it down the road to the next truck stop or they were going to have worse problems..  Well they did what they were told.  That’s when the car literally stopped working. They didn’t know what to do.  They didn’t have any money.  They didn’t have any way of getting to Cleveland or back to Milwaukee.  So he decided to call us 1000 miles away in Texas.

That’s what it means to be “the poor in spirit.”  It means to be “spiritually” broken down by the side of life’s highway with no spiritual resources whatsoever.   It means to be spiritually destitute, spiritually blind, no way or ability to reach out to God, nothing to offer God, nothing that you can do to make up for the fact that you are a sinner.  That’s our condition. . Every one of us is one of the “poor in spirit.”  That’s what these ashes mean.   They remind us that because of sin you and I are dust and to dust we shall return.   Now doesn’t it sound very strange for Jesus to see us in this condition and call us blessed?  That’s what He says.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”  How in the world can that be true?  That’s the way it is with all the Beatitudes of Jesus.  They sound like bad things. Yet in Jesus, they are “Blessings in disguise.” 

How does having no spiritual resources become a blessing?  Well it all starts with these ashes.  People ask me, why do we do this?  Well I don’t know about you, but I need this reminder on my forehead.  The hardest thing for me to admit is that I can’t handle something… that I need help… that I am running out of gas.  Linda will tell you that is true literally. She hates when I run the gas gauge down to empty before stopping.  Many of us do that in life – hide things that we are struggling with rather than ask for help… keep going in the wrong direction rather than admit we are wrong… keep pushing forward on our own rather than admit we can’t handle life’s situations… Keep going until we run out of gas… ignoring symptoms rather than going to a doctor… or calling on a pastor or a counselor. I need these ashes because its only when I finally admit that I am empty… only then can God bless me and fill me.  I need God  to confront me with the truth that I am one of the “poor in spirit."  You need this too.  That moment of crying out for help is when our Lord pulls back the disguise and shows us His blessing.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” He promises, “for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”  How can that be since we have nothing to offer God? The answer is simple.  The King has given us for free what we can never afford.  Forgiveness of sins, eternal life, the Holy Spirit, free access by prayer to the throne room of God, an eternal home in the Father’s kingdom – they are all ours as a gift of God.  The King purchased for us a place in His kingdom. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor so that you by His poverty might become rich.”  That’s what was happening when He was born of Mary, when He suffered under Pontius Pilate.. when Jesus was crucified for your sins and when He rose again the third day.  He was purchasing the Kingdom for you and me.  Then in baptism He made us part of His family, co-heirs of His kingdom… all as a completely free gift. 

About half way through my time at Lamb of God, our youth took a mission trip to Mexico.  We were going to build two homes for the poor.  On second night, many of our people started getting sick.  That night we had to take about 35 youth and adults across the border to the emergency room at the hospital.  By morning one half of our group was on one side of the border in the hospital and the rest were still in Mexico.  We didn’t know what to do… or where to turn.  Our youth worker said that out loud at the hospital.  A nurse heard him and said that she know a place that had dorm space for 100.  There are usually church groups there every week, but this week it was empty.   By nightfall we had all our youth out of the hospital and back in the USA resting and recovering in these dorm rooms.  Just when we were empty and had no place to turn, God filled our cups.  Oh and that night our son called.  Well I called my sister.  She and her husband drove the hour and half to get them and bring them home – a blessing in disguise as they got a great meal and an overnight in Chicago.

That’s what Jesus means -  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”  It really is a blessing to wear these ashes, to admit the truth that we are spiritually destitute. For it is then that we are ready for God to fill our lives with His free gifts, with the riches of His kingdom!  Amen.