“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Some years ago, to promote Christ Church New York City, we advertised our service times and locations and our website with words drawn from Psalm 24 on small bottles of hand sanitizer: ‘Clean hands… Pure heart’. While we received some positive responses we were not inundated with newcomers. Rather, I quickly discovered New Yorkers were not particularly enamored by the idea of a ‘pure heart’. Pure hands, yes. Pure hearts, no!
SO WHAT IS JESUS SAYING?
In the light of this attitude it’s tempting to think that Jesus is thoroughly unrealistic. Yet we need to remember that while his primary audience for his Sermon on the Mount consisted of ‘followers’, vast crowds were present that day when he spoke. Jesus knew that because his words are true and because men and women are made in the image of God, his teaching is beneficial for everyone.
Indeed, the present tenses of his statements that day, tell us that Jesus is saying that purity is something we, men and women, should aim at now. Certainly, those who call themselves God’s people and who look forward to the perfection of the coming kingdom, should already be preparing for it. Life in the new heaven and the new earth should not surprise us by its purity, but be the perfecting of what God has already begun in our lives.
PURE IN HEART
In the light of the broader context of the Beatitudes, let me suggest that Jesus is not speaking about an outward conformity to rules or even simply an inward purity or righteousness – although these elements are certainly biblical. Rather, as New Testament commentators such as RVG Tasker and John Stott have pointed out, pure in heart here is primarily a reference to single-mindedness in the way we relate to God and to one another.
To pick up the theme of Psalm 24, the pure in heart are those who do not serve false gods – the gods of wealth, success or self-interest. Nor are their lives shaped by lies and deception.
The pure in heart are characterized by sincerity and genuineness. They are without guile, before God and people around them. As John Stott put it, ‘their very heart – including their thoughts and motives – is pure, unmixed with anything devious, ulterior or base. Hypocrisy and deceit are abhorrent to them’.
So this Beatitude asks us awkward questions: Do we let our circumstances determine our response in each situation – what mask we might wear, what half-truths we might speak, what role we might play? Are we known and respected as a person of integrity, someone to be trusted, someone whose heart is pure?
The searching nature of Jesus’ words here and the promise attached to them are challenging. For they remind us of the attitude of mind and the quality of life we need to work at living now by the grace of God. For as John Stott succinctly put it, ‘only the pure in heart will see God, see him now with the eye of faith and see his glory in the hereafter, for only the utterly sincere in heart can bear the dazzling vision in whose light the darkness of deceit must vanish and by whose fire all shams are burned up’.
Jesus’ words in his Sermon continue to search us. They challenge us to ask whose blessing do we want most of all? Do we look most of all for the blessing that comes from people around us because they perceive us to be successful? Or do we want God’s blessing above anything else in life?
On Sunday, July 25, 1993, a year before Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa, a man with an AK-47 and another with grenades embedded with nails, entered evening worship at St James’ Anglican Church, Cape Town. Eleven people were killed in church that night, and fifty-eight wounded. When TV reporters turned their cameras on the man whose wife had been the first to die, they asked, ‘What is your response?’ Looking squarely into those cameras that were pressed into his face, he said he forgave the attackers.
FORGIVENESS
Throughout the church the response was the same: they held out forgiveness. The world was stunned. Some cynically responded that if there were a God he would have protected his people. But countless others, in Cape Town and around the world, started asking questions. Bishop Frank Retief recalls that a thousand people turned up at church the following Sunday night. Over the coming months many came to know Jesus Christ.
Bishop Retief later remarked that any grand scheme Christian leaders might plan to reach South Africa with God’s gospel would have paled into insignificance compared with the conversations and the conversions that resulted following that dark night. It began with the spirit of forgiveness church members held out to their attackers.
“Blessed are the merciful,” Jesus said,“for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
SHOWING MERCY
When we first read these words we might get the impression that if we want to receive God’s mercy we need to show mercy ourselves. But to think Jesus is saying that God’s mercy and forgiveness are conditional upon our willingness to forgive others is to fail to understand the context and nature of mercy. We are not saved by being merciful. Mercy is not attained through merit. If it were, mercy would not be merciful. Meritorious acts, by definition, deserve a reward – not mercy.
A parable. In Matthew 18 we read Jesus’ parable about a servant who owed a king a large amount of money. The servant said, ‘Master, please be patient and I will pay you everything.’ The king was moved with compassion and canceled the debt. But later on the same servant refused to be merciful towards a fellow servant who owed him a small amount of money.
The parable is a powerful illustration of someone who asks God for mercy but doesn’t show mercy himself. Anyone who truly acknowledges their own need of God’s forgiveness and mercy will begin to see that they should show mercy to others. Showing mercy can be a good sign we have received mercy from God.
Putting Jesus’ words here into the flow of his beatitudes, when we are conscious of our own spiritual bankruptcy (Mt 5:3), when we grieve over our sin and the sin of those around us (Mt 5:4), and when we hunger and thirst for righteousness (Mt 5:6), we will be blessed. When we receive God’s mercy ourselves we will want to show mercy. In turn, beneficiaries of our mercy, even though they may have earlier dismissed us, may show mercy to us by wanting to learn why we have shown mercy.
RECEIVING MERCY
Jesus makes a promise: as we show mercy, we in turn receive it. Members of St James’ Anglican Church, Cape Town, South Africa, in showing mercy were shown mercy when outsiders to the church gave them a hearing. This is something we need to think about given the antipathy towards Christianity in the West.
Jesus’ words, Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercyforce us all to ask hard questions: Am I merciful towards or dismissive of the needy? Am I compassionate or indifferent towards the downtrodden? Am I helpful or callous towards the backsliders? Am I willing to forgive the perpetrators of evil towards me as a follower of Jesus?
If we are to see a time of spiritual revival in the West, one of the first signs will be a widespread acknowledgement of spiritual bankruptcy – a bankruptcy that finds its satisfaction only in God and his righteousness – and goes on to be merciful towards others.
This is one of the big themes we will be exploring at the Anglican Connection conference at the end of this month (see anglicanconnectionconference.com): in our changing world are there fresh ways we can twin showing mercy with introducing God’s good news?
The 2011 movie, The Eagle of the Ninth portrays the way the Romans glorified justice, courage, discipline, and power. Where mercy was shown, it was mocked. In the mind of the Romans, mercy was a sign of weakness. Roman leaders were egotistical, arrogant and self-righteous.
Into this world Jesus said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy”(Mt. 5:7). These words would have surprised Jesus’ first hearers. Not only were the Romans merciless, so too were many Jewish leaders.
It is significant that in the history of western society another view has arisen – arguably in the light of Jesus’ words. Mercy is seen as a virtue, if not the greatest of virtues. Abraham Lincoln remarked, I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Mercy today is the language of political correctness. If you show mercy, others will show mercy to you. But of course, as a general rule, being kind and merciful doesn’t work like that. If you show mercy to others, beware! They are likely to walk all over you. Was Jesus offering just another wild unrealistic expectation with his words, Blessed are the merciful…?
Certainly, God’s mercy was something Jesus consistently modeled. He reached out to others in their need. Indeed, he is the most merciful person who has ever lived. But look what happened. The merciless and powerful Roman and Jewish leaders nailed him to a cross. If mercy carried its own reward Jesus would not have been spat upon, cursed and crucified.
To understand Jesus’ meaning we need to consider his words more carefully. The Greek word translated ‘merciful’ is found only twice in the NT – here and in Hebrews 2:17. Yet the verb ‘merciful’ is found many times in the Bible. It means ‘to have mercy on’; ‘to care for the afflicted’; ‘to aid those in need’.
GOD’S GRACE AND GOD’S MERCY
How then is God’s mercy different from God’s grace? The two words are often used interchangeably, but there is a distinction. God’s graceis a loving response that is undeserved. God’s mercyis a loving response prompted by the misery and helplessness of those on whom love is showered. Dr. D.A. Carson notes: ‘Grace responds to the undeserving; mercy responds to the miserable’.
Mercy responds to the pain we experience because we live in a world of sin, for we have a problem. We have made extraordinary advances in science and technology, yet we find it impossible to bring just and lasting peace to our world. Corruption, greed and injustice, tension and conflict, hunger and poverty, still dominate much of the world. Why can’t we do better?
Indeed, how many people agree that what we need is the practice of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan: a world of selflessness, of genuine love, of kindness and God’s mercy?
If we follow the flow of Jesus’ Beatitudes in Matthew 5, it is when we experience God’s grace of forgiveness in our lives that we will want to show God’s mercy to others.
It’s striking that when God came amongst us his big plan was not first to destroy Roman rule, or to cure all the sick, or to deal with all the social ills of the world. God’s supreme act of grace and mercy was what he did for us through the cross of Jesus Christ.
In his hymn, At Calvary, William Newell wrote: Mercy there was great, and grace was free; / Pardon there was multiplied to me; / There my burdened soul found liberty, / At Calvary.
Mercy. There is much more to mercy than meeting physical needs, pressing though they are. What about the spiritually needy? Mercy has compassion for the lost.
Augustine, the 5th century Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, said: ‘If I weep for the body from which the soul is divided, how should I weep for the soul from which God is divided?’ We shed tears over dead bodies. Do we do the same for dead souls?
If we say we have experienced God’s mercy, shouldn’t we now show mercy to those whose souls are lost for eternity?
A good meal is always very satisfying. It is particularly delightful when we are able to enjoy the food we like, presented in a way that tantalizes our senses. And, most of all, we are truly satisfied when we are replete without being overfull. There is an irony here because when it comes to hungering and thirsting after righteousness, we are never perfectly satisfied.
BIBLICAL EXAMPLE
Indeed, one of the questions we need to ask ourselves is, ‘Do I really hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness?’ As I indicated last Wednesday, the context of Jesus’ words here refers to moral righteousness, not legal righteousness. Jesus is speaking of a righteousness of life that is consistent with the mind and character of God. It is a quality of life that is measured by the nature and integrity of Jesus’ own life.
Luke’s gospel records the words of the officer in charge of the crucifixion. Seasoned soldier though he was, he offered his verdict about Jesus. He’d seen men die before. He’d heard their agonized groans. But he had felt the darkness; he had heard Jesus shout, and he had seen the way Jesus died. ‘Surely this man is a righteous man,’ he said.
How true! Righteous Jesus was: the most righteous man who has ever walked this earth. No deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate. Instead he put himself in the hands of the judge who judges justly. And in that voluntary sacrifice, we’re told, he bore our guilt in his body. He had no personal sins of his own to die for: he hadn’t committed any. He is the one man who always treated God as God in his life.
KEEPING AMBITION IN PERSPECTIVE
Let me ask: ‘What is your ambition in life?’ Martyn Lloyd Jones, one of the great preachers in London last century, commented: I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or herself in this whole matter of the Christian profession than a verse like this. If this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements of the whole of Scripture, you can be quite certain you are a Christian; if it is not, then you had better examine the foundations again.
If we claim to be Christian but are not hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of which Jesus speaks, we need to ask whether we really know him at all. How keen are we to put in the hard yards to search the Scriptures, so that we will grow in maturity in understanding the mind and the will of God in order to live more righteous lives? Many professing Christians give a nod to God on Sundays but give little thought to making godly decisions the rest of the week. It’s so important we read and re-read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and passages such as Ephesians 4:17-6:4. Only when we soak our minds in God’s thoughts will we be better placed to bring a social righteousness to bear at church and in the wider community.
TO BE TRULY FILLED
When we begin to understand the real meaning of righteousness as Jesus uses it here, we will hunger and thirst for more. For we will see that righteousness is not just about a duty but the quality of life we are designed for. Living God’s way is the most satisfying way to live.
The great thing is, Jesus promises that when we hunger and thirst after righteousness we will be filled. The irony is we will long for more. One of my favorite desserts is key lime pie. But even though I am satisfied when I have some, I always long for more! So it is with the righteousness of which Jesus speaks. However, the great news is that the day will come when we will be perfectly satisfied, for all will be perfect.
Righteousness, like holiness, doesn’t easily resonate with even the best of us. When discussing spiritual matters we tend to talk about growing spiritually or about spiritual experiences. We avoid speaking of righteousness per se. Yet into our lives Jesus says: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
LEGAL, MORAL, AND SOCIAL RIGHTEOUSNESS
In his Christian Counter-Culture, John Stott identifies at least three aspects of righteousness in the Bible – legal, moral and social (p.45). Legal righteousness speaks of our relationship with God. The Jewish people sought to achieve this through obedience to the law. Failing to realize their inability to achieve this through their own efforts, they also failed to benefit from the gift of God’s righteousness made available through Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:21).
Moral righteousness speaks of a quality of life that imitates the character and life-style we find in Jesus Christ – qualities of life that honor God.
Progression of ideas. Matthew has introduced Jesus’ Beatitudes by telling us that while there were crowds present, the disciples were Jesus’ primary audience (5:1). Furthermore, we observe a progression of ideas from one beatitude to the next. Jesus is saying that anyone who is poor in spirit, who understands their spiritual impoverishment before a holy God (5:3), who grieves over personal sin and the sins of the city (5:4), who approaches God and their neighbors with meekness (5:5), will also hunger and thirst for righteousness (5:6).
Hunger and thirst for righteousness(Matthew 5:6) is not here a reference to legal righteousness. Rather, it is a reference to moral righteousness – the quality and integrity of our life as God’s people. It is to delight in the truth of God revealed in his Word. As DA Carson points out, we hunger and thirst ‘not simply for knowledge, but growing up and living life to the full with God. It is to hunger and thirst for a life that is the best kind of life in the world to live.’ It is knowing God, loving him, and delighting in being loyal in serving him and those around us.
Social righteousness. Furthermore, a moral righteousness at the personal level will also hunger and thirst for a social righteousness– the welfare of the city (Jeremiah 29:7). We will want to find ways to play our part as citizens of our country in giving voice to concerns about the sex trade and slavery, and to the conversation about marriage – that love only has meaning when it has much more than emotional desires to frame it. We will also want to play our part in helping the materially poor – the hungry and homeless – as well as the asylum seekers.
RESPECT FOR ALL MANKIND
However, given the anti-Christian voices in the wider community, we need to find ways to recapture the respect of others. We so often forget that the Bible speaks about men and women as a unity of body, mind and spirit. Jesus showed compassion for the physical needs of men and women as well as their deeper spiritual needs.
In the same way that Wesley and Whitefield cared for people in need alongside their gospel preaching, we today need to explore effective ways of serving people in need alongside our preaching. I suggest we need more than God’s people simply sending off checks to aid agencies, necessary though this is. We also need personal action.
The twinning of effective gospel, disciple-making ministries together with practical action for people in need, is the major theme at the Anglican Connection conference at the end of next month. If your minister has not yet registered please urge him to do so. The conference is not just for Anglicans. If you are a church member you are also welcome.
Anyone of us who truly hungers and thirsts for righteousness will not be content to drift through life content to satisfy self-serving material interests and desires. Rather, we will have an appetite to see God’s people living more and more God’s way, serving the city.
