Bible Text:

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”           (Matthew 5:8)

Psalm 24 was a favorite Psalm for me as a child. But it was a favorite for a somewhat unusual, maybe even silly reason. It was a favorite because it came after Psalm 23! Let me explain. In many ways Psalm 23 was almost too familiar. So when my father would ask my sisters or me what Scripture to read on some occasion of family devotions, we’d call out, “Read Psalm 24!” 

Psalm 24 is sometimes referred to as an Advent psalm, or perhaps a psalm for Palm Sunday. “Lift up your heads, O mighty gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, that the King of Glory may come in.” 

But the first part of the psalm is what really intrigued me as a child, and still does: “Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in God’s holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart…”

As a child, that sounded pretty reasonable and doable. It meant simply, wash your hands before every meal, and don’t use naughty words, ever. As an adult, these words sound very complex, improbable, even impossible. Who among us can stand before God with clean hands and a pure heart? 

Yet the idea shows up again in the sixth beatitude of Jesus: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” As a matter of fact, in this beatitude we confront two impossibilities. One, purity of heart; two, seeing God! 

A number of advertising jingles still ring in my memory from childhood. One of them many of you will also remember. It had to do with Ivory Soap. That product was advertised as 99 & 44/100% pure. They never said pure what—they just said pure. I remember thinking, “That must be the purest stuff around.” But I also remember thinking, “However, it’s not perfect.” 

As an adult, I guess I became wiser and more discerning. I asked myself, “Could anyone ever attain this level of perfection? Would any one of us ever get even close to 99 & 44/100% pure?” I had a friend in one of my first churches who could never quite become a convinced believer. He had a problem with this beatitude. Compounding the problem were Jesus’ words where he says, “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” 

The apostle Paul says, “Whatsoever is pure, think on these things.” Max Lucado writes in one of his books, “Jesus has authority over your ideas. To have a pure heart, we must submit all thought to the authority of Christ. If we are willing to do that, He will change us to be like Him.”[i] That’s a marvelous statement, but it is also an extraordinary assignment from Jesus. 

At one level, “purity of heart” does mean no hurtful thoughts, no lustful thoughts. It does mean no thoughts that are spiteful or caustic, covetous or sarcastic. Therefore it is a worthy goal. Yet who among us can even attain this level of purity? Who among us can stand before God, innocent of these things? 

As difficult as these things seem, purity of heart seems to go even deeper. It is more than just doing the right thing. Doing the right thing is a good thing, of course, but there’s more to it. I remember reading a story about a man who set all kinds of sales records selling batteries for a full-service gas station. He would fill the tank with gas, check the oil, and then ask to be able to check the trunk of the car. The unsuspecting customer would pop open the trunk. The man would come back to him or her and report that the spare battery was missing. And that is how this man set all kinds of sales records for batteries. Purity of heart is more than just doing the right thing. 

It is more than saying the right words. And it’s more than not saying the wrong words. Garrison Keillor has a wonderful monologue from his “Lake Wobegon” series on Pastor Inquvist. Inquvist is the Lutheran pastor in the mythical town of Lake Wobegon. As the spiritual leader, he has to be on guard at all times. "So much so,” says Garrison Keillor, “that when the pastor hits his shin bone on the corner of his desk, the words available to him at that moment are severely limited. And all of the really satisfying words are simply not allowed.” 

Purity of heart is more than saying the right words. It is also more than avoiding those words that are not allowed. 

It also means more than just being a good example. We are more than just models walking around on earth. There’s a wonderful quote from the American “philosopher” Will Rogers that goes like this: “Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your pet parrot to the town gossip.” 

Purity of heart is more than any or all of these. We sing the song, “Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart. Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.” Yet who among us would dare to claim to be like Jesus? 

Purity of heart is hard to define. Purity itself is hard to define. I remember thinking years ago that 14-karat gold was pure gold. Then I learned about 24-karat gold. 24-karat gold is more pure. But it’s also so soft as to be rather useless. It needs alloys to strengthen it. But then it’s not pure gold anymore. What constitutes purity? 

Some of us here have been on the old historic Delta Queen steamboat that plows up and down the Mississippi River and the various other rivers of the heartland of America. The Delta Queen is an authentic sternwheeler. The only power for the boat comes from a steam-driven paddle wheel. Or at least so I thought. But then I learned that the Delta Queen has bow thrusters. These are jets of water that shoot out from the side to help the boat get away from the dock or the bank of the river so that the paddle wheel can take over and send it on its way. The Delta Queen is not as pure a sternwheeler as I had originally thought. 

Blessed are the pure in heart. What does it mean? There is a story about a preacher who finished his sermon one day and invited anyone who cared to, to come down to the altar to receive Christ or to have a prayer about any concern that was on their minds. Among the half-dozen or so people who got up to come down was the preacher’s own 4-year-old daughter. The preacher was pleased to see her coming, and many people in the congregation were impressed. The little girl stood in line to wait her turn. When she stood before her daddy, people strained forward to hear what she was going to say. She said, “Daddy, can we go out to a restaurant after church?” 

What does it mean to be pure in heart? Try this: purity of heart means a principle within. 

THE DESIRE TO STAY FOCUSED 

Purity of heart means the desire to stay focused, to stay on track. However, we all know that even that desire is hard to attain. 

You may remember the story about the two sisters who visited each other each summer. One lived in Texas; one lived in Hollywood, California. Usually the Texas sister would come to visit the Hollywood sister. 

The Texas sister also had a romantic crush on the actor, Paul Newman. She always hoped that while she was visiting in Hollywood she would catch a live glimpse of Paul Newman. 

As luck would have it one day, she walked into an ice cream parlor. It was an old-fashioned ice cream parlor with individual stools up and down the counter and a center place where you could order your ice cream cone. As she stood waiting her turn, she looked to her immediate right and saw sitting on the first stool, none other than Paul Newman. She did not want to make a fool out of herself, even though she became somewhat nervous and her palms became a little sweaty. She ordered her ice cream cone, paid the clerk, took one more quick glance at Paul Newman, then turned to walk out of the store. 

When she got outside, she realized she didn’t have her ice cream cone. She thought to herself, “That’s strange.” She turned around and walked back in and said to the clerk, “I just bought an ice cream cone and you didn’t give me my cone.”

“Lady,” he said, “I gave you your cone.” 

She said, “Look, do you see a cone in my hand? I paid you for that cone and I want it now.” It was then that Paul Newman spoke up. He said, “Lady, you put it in your purse.” 

Purity of heart means the desire to stay focused. Perhaps the definitive book in this regard is one by Soren Kierkegaard. The title of the book is Purity of Heart is to Will one Thing. It is probably still highly recommended reading for each seminary student. Kierkegaard talks about having the will to remain focused, to want God’s will to prevail in all things including in me. It means to be utterly honest with ourselves when we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” 

At one point Kierkegaard writes about the end of life. He says we will only be asked one question at the throne of God. Not the question, “Were you rich or poor?” nor “What was your status in society?” nor “What was your employment? Were you a teacher, engineer, homemaker, preacher?” But you will be asked this question: “Did you try to remain faithful?” Always with grace and forgiveness in the mix! But did you try to stay focused and faithful? Purity of heart means wanting to stay focused. 

When I was very young I had a treasured toy. It was a simple compass. I don’t know where I got it or why I even had it. On occasion I would spend hours with it. My father told me that the needle on the compass would always point toward the North Pole. The compass also had a locking mechanism (like the winding stem of a watch) that could be used to hold the needle in place when the compass was not in use.  

I can remember occasionally trying to fool my compass. I would deliberately aim it away from the north, let go of the locking mechanism, and found that that compass always tried to return to true north. The compass wanted to stay faithful.

Last summer I read for the first time Charles Sheldon’s book, In His Steps. In many ways I am still pondering that little book. What does it mean to ask the question at every point in my life, “What would Jesus do in this instance?” 

That’s the focus issue. 

Or consider our life together as a faith community, as a church. The schedule and number of events in this church is staggering at times. Christ Church has become a complex, intricate system. Most of it is good. Most of it is rich in meaning. Most of it is enjoyable. But for us, purity of heart may mean, “Are we always about disciple formation?”

·         in our worship?

·         in our age-group ministries?

·         in our small group ministries?

·         in our use of financial resources?

·         in our staffing priorities? 

As your senior minister, I must always ask of myself, am I focused in my own choice of how I use my time? 

Purity of heart is to will one thing. 

RE-FOCUS OVER TIME 

I need to add here that you may change or re-focus your priorities over time. Should your focus be exactly the same as it was five years ago? Should the focus of Christ Church be the same in 2003 as it was in 1993 or 1983? 

As we mature, new focal points emerge. Jesus is always the same, of course. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. But you and I are not always the same through the decades of life. And this church is markedly different than it was. We should be. 

Part of the excitement and joy of my life is discovering new dimensions of faithfulness on the journey—on my journey, on your journey, on our journey together. 

The important thing is to will to be faithful. Purity of heart means being willing to be faithful, wanting to be faithful. It means offering a prayer something like this: “Lord, make me faithful to this setting and this day. Lord, make me faithful to my neighbor, my marriage, and my family today. Lord, in the particular decisions that I face this day, let me be utterly faithful.” 

THEN COMES THE PROMISE 

Then comes the promise: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 

Does that mean literally? No, I do not think so. Does it mean that you will have a mystical vision of God at some point? That may happen for a few, but certainly not for everyone. Does it mean you will see God in eternity? Yes, but that’s not what Jesus is talking about here. Jesus means seeing God now, on this side of eternity. 

John Wesley once wrote, “Many indeed think of being happy with God in heaven, but the being happy with God on earth never enters their thoughts.” 

The promise here is closely linked to John Wesley’s idea of “assurance.” When you are in God’s will, when you are trying to live God’s will, when you are focused, you have an inward witness, an inward assurance. John Wesley wrote that his father’s final words to him were very much like this: “The inward witness, son—that will make all the difference.” 

Seeing God means having that inward assurance, and it can be very real. 

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