Blessed Are the Pure in Heart

Matthew 5, Luke

            When I shop for supplies to make chocolate chip cookies, one of the items I buy is pure vanilla.  I don’t care what brand it is, as long as it says pure instead of imitation.  I know that pure vanilla will deliver the taste that I want.  Many products use the word pure, don’t they?  (can you think of some?)  Pure cane sugar, pure water, pure silk or pure cotton.  Pure-bred horses or dogs.  Pure gold. The word pure shows up in other contexts, too.  Pure motives, pure accent, pure and simple, pure genius, pure white.  Pure as the driven snow.  Pure gospel.  Pure bunk. 

            What does the word pure suggest?  That the item talked about is 100% what it’s supposed to be.  Nothing but.  Here are a couple of illustrations that are used in the Bible to help define what purity is:  one is in harvesting grain.  The chaff is discarded, and the wheat is preserved.  What you have when you’re done, is pure wheat.  The other illustration is the process of refining gold or silver.  Metals, when they are mined, are mixed with other things.  Chunks of rock, other metals, various impurities.  The raw material is put through the refiner’s fire, which purges the metal from all the unwanted elements, and you are left with pure gold or pure silver.  Nothing but. 

            Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

            When we bring the word pure over into the Christian life, what does it suggest?  Mostly, I think we relate the word to behavior.  That’s probably due at least in part to the influence of the Puritans on our history.  They were concerned about purifying themselves, their church, and their society.  They started in England, and when they got frustrated with that, they came over to the new world.  The Puritans defined purity in terms of what they did and didn’t do.  They had a strong work ethic and a very rigid set of do’s and don’t’s.   Many of us grew up with that sort of definition of Christian life.  It’s about what you do and don’t do.  And I don’t think it’s just the Puritans; I think most people find it easier to think about behavior that way.  To make a list of what’s ok and not ok, and then use that as a sort of check-off list.  If I’ve done everything on the do list and have avoided everything on the don’t list, I’m in.   If I’ve messed up my do’s and don’ts, then I will probably feel guilt-ridden.

            But Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 

            Blessed are the pure in heart. 

            Right behavior is not what gets us on God’s good side.   It’s the pure in heart who will see God.  I read a story this week that illustrates the point rather well, I think. 

Six-year-old Brandon decided one Saturday morning to fix his parents pancakes. He found a big bowl and spoon, pulled a chair to the counter, opened the cupboard and pulled out the heavy flour canister, spilling it on the floor.  He scooped some of the flour into the bowl with his hands, mixed in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar, leaving a floury trail on the floor which by now had a few tracks left by his kitten.
Brandon was covered with flour and getting frustrated. He wanted this to be something very good for Mom and Dad, but it was getting very bad.

He didn't know what to do next, whether to put it all into the oven or on the stove, (and he didn't know how the stove worked!).  Suddenly he saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and reached to push her away, knocking the egg carton to the floor. Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess but slipped on the eggs, getting his
pajamas white and sticky.  And just then he saw Dad standing at the door. Big crocodile tears welled up in Brandon's eyes. All he'd wanted to do was something good, but
he'd made a terrible mess. He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a
spanking.

But his father just watched him. Then, walking through the mess, he picked up his crying son, and gave him a big hug, getting his own pajamas white and sticky in the process.
            So often we worry about how we’ve messed up.  But God looks at the heart.  Blessed are the pure in heart.  They shall see God. So, if we are going to see how well we are doing on this beatitude, instead of simply checking our do and don’t check list, we need a heart check up—just in time for Valentine’s Day.

            When the Bible talks about the heart, it’s not just about sentimental feelings.  Like sending God a Valentine.  In the Bible, the heart is the center of feeling, thinking and deciding.  It’s the control booth of your life.  It’s where you make decisions and chart the course for your life.  It’s where you establish your values and priorities.  What’s important to you and where you’re willing to invest yourself. 

            Remember the definition of purity that we’re working with.  If it’s pure, it’s 100% the product advertised.  Nothing but.  A pure heart is undivided in its allegiance.   Maybe uncluttered is a word that would communicate what I mean.  Not wishy washy, not hypocritical.  Not saying one thing on the outside, and then doing something else when nobody’s looking.  A person whose heart is pure is someone we would call authentic.  The person is who she says she is.  Nothing but. 

            If you want to know if your heart is pure, test your motives and intentions to see if they match up with your words and your outward appearance. 

There was a pastor who was accustomed to giving an altar call at the end of every worship service.   He would invite people to come down front if they wanted to make a commitment to Christ or if they had prayers or other requests.   One day he was delighted to see his little three-year-old daughter come forward.   There were a few people ahead of her, but she patiently waited for her dad to get to her so she could give him her request.  When the pastor leaned down to hear what his daughter had to say, she whispered, “Can we go to the restaurant after church?”  (ill unlmtd, 386)

Her motives were a little mixed, weren’t they?  But then, she was only three.  A whole lot of adults come to God claiming they want to follow Jesus, but their heart is not pure. 

            In the Luke passage, it tells us about three people who said they wanted to follow Jesus.  He gave each of them a heart check-up.   The first said, “I will follow you anywhere.”  Jesus said, “Really?  Anywhere?  Remember I don’t stay in five star hotels.  My followers don’t get big salaries.  Are you sure it’s me you want to follow?”  What are your motives? 

            The second said, “I’ll follow you after I bury my father.”  Now, this sounds perfectly reasonable.  If his father has died, then give him a few days for the funeral, and then let him go.   What’s Jesus’ problem, anyway?  Did he get up on the wrong side of the bed?  We assume when we read this that the man’s father has died.  But that may not be the case.  In that culture there was a very strong sense of family that said a son is under the father’s authority as long as the father was alive.   Even if the son was an adult.  So, the son felt an obligation to the father’s authority, until the father died.  Jesus would have to wait until that happened. 

            The third interchange is very similar.  The would-be follower wanted simply to say good-bye to the folks at home.  Again there is the sense of the family’s authority.  Beyond saying good-bye, there is an underlying suggestion that this person is going to go and ask permission from the family.   And Jesus says, in essence, “It’s not their decision to make.  It’s yours.  If you want to follow me, then do that.”  This is one of those stories that exposes excuses for what they are:  “the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.” 

            These brief conversations become a challenge to anyone who wants to follow Christ.  They ask us to consider what it is we are doing.   You say you want to follow Christ, be a Christian.  Where is your heart?  Are you willing to put Christ above all, even your family—and your personal comfort?  Or, are your loyalties divided, so that you will make a good show of being a Christian, but then you’ll find all kinds of excuses for not following through when the going gets rough?  Remember, the heart is the control booth of your life.  You are responsible, not someone else. 

            It begins to make sense, then, why the pure in heart will see God.  The pure of heart can see God, because there are no obstacles in the way.  Their allegiance is undivided.  They are for God, 100%, nothing but.  They will see God at work in their life, and they will meet God when they die.  

It’s not good behavior that creates a pure heart.  But a pure heart will show itself in how we act.  Our motives and our intentions will become clear as we live a life full of excuses, or full of conviction and purpose. 

I’m told that this is a true story of something that happened just a few years ago at the University of Southern California.  A story of one person whose heart was undivided in loyalty to God. 

There was a professor of philosophy there who was a deeply committed atheist.  His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting
to prove that God couldn't exist.  His students were always afraid to argue
with him because of his impeccable logic.

For twenty years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever really gone against him because of his reputation. At the end of every semester on the last day, he would say to his class of 300 students, "If there is anyone here who still believes in Jesus,
stand up!" In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, "Because anyone who believes in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that He is God, and yet He can't do it."

And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. All of the students would do nothing but stop
and stare.  Most of the students thought that God couldn't exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up.

Well, a few years ago there was a freshman who happened to enroll. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about his professor. He was required to take the class for his major, and he was afraid. But for three months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said, or what the class thought. Nothing they said could ever shatter his faith... he hoped.

Finally, the day came. The professor said, "If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!" The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the classroom.

The professor shouted, "You FOOL!!! If God existed, he would keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!"

He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleat of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away unbroken. The professor's jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He
looked up at the young man, and then ran out of the lecture hall.  The young man who had stood, proceeded to walk to the front of the room and shared his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God's love for them and of His power through Jesus.