Date:
Text: Matthew 5:7-8
Title: A Heart Like Jesus
Theme: As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to learn to develop a merciful and pure heart like his.
Introduction:
Ed doesn’t like to travel by plane. He prefers driving. Why? Because when he gets on a plane, he is not in the driver’s seat, he has no control over it. He feels very insecure in the plane.Don’t we all want to be in the driver’s seat? Even if not, we still like to give instructions, right?.
Sometimes we carry this into our Christian faith. Martin Lloyd Jones once said, “We’re not meant to control Christianity, Christianity is meant to control us.” To many of us, this concept may sound quite foreign. For we’re so used to be in control of our own lives. We want to do things our ways, and often we even decide what our faith should be, consequently we each have our own personal version of what Christian faith is.
However, in our study of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, we learned that we are to let his teachings dictate how we should live as citizens of God's kingdom. Its not what I think I should live, but what Jesus expects from me as his follower. Matthew 5 is about who we are. In chapters 6 and 7, Jesus teaches us about what we do, what we say and think. Who we are defines what we do.
In the previous Sundays, we learned that as followers of Jesus Christ, we are to be poor in spirit, we grieve over our sins, we are meek as we see ourselves moderately, and to put others first. Seeing our own spiritual poverty, we are to desire for what is right in God's sight. Such a person is one who is truly approved of by God, is blessed by God. The beatitudes tell us that this is really a portrait of our lord, Jesus Christ. As his followers, our first and prime objective in life is to be like him. This morning we’ll learn how to develop a merciful and pure heart like our Lord.
I. Happy are the Merciful.
What is the meaning of being “Merciful”? The word mercy and grace are often interchanged. Grace means a loving response when not deserved. For example, you have hurt me through some of your words and deeds. Because of this, you don’t deserve my love. Yet I still forgive and reach out to you. Mercy is a loving response to the miserable ones.
Being merciful means a compassionate and gentle response to the miserable and helpless ones. It is not a tokenism. Like during Christmas and other occasions, we feel that we need to do something to calm our consciences. This act is good, but being merciful is showing love on a regular and continuous basis. Once again, let us review the sequence of the beatitudes we have studied so far. A person who sees his own spiritual poverty and corruption will grieve over his sins. The more he sees his corruption, the more he will hunger after what is right and proper in God's sight. The more he sees his wretchedness, the more he will also show mercy, be loving and compassionate to the miserable ones around him.
The
one who is not merciful, is usually the one who is not
aware of his own spiritual poverty. If you have never experienced hunger in
your life, you will not understand the starving people. Remember when you tell
you child the reason to eat all the food on the plate? “Think of the starving
child in
In
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Here, Jesus is saying, as his true followers, we are not takers, but givers. We are to show love to those who are miserable and helpless ones. How can I be merciful? Here are some suggestions:
Physically. We can help the needy ones. I think of individuals and fellowship groups taking turns to cook for families going through a difficult time. A young adult who would keep several McDonald coupons in her car. When she saw some needy persons, she would give it to them. This is being merciful
We can also sponsor a needy child in some underdeveloped or developing countries. For $28 a month, we can provide adequate clothing and educational opportunities for children who may otherwise not have a chance. To those who are lonely, we can befriend and offer them companionship. Sometimes a simple phone call or a card can bring much comfort and joy to them.
Then there are the elderly and the unborn children. The elderly persons are often being taken advantage of and mistreated. To be a merciful person, we can speak out for them. We can visit the nursing homes. Every day about 4000 unborn children are being aborted in this country alone. We can offer our time and resources to agencies that help the pregnant mothers so they can carry their children to birth.
Then there is also the spiritual aspect. We learn in the gospels that when Jesus saw the multitude of people before him, they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he was greatly touched, he had compassion for them. How do we see the people around us? Do we see how miserable they are spiritually without God? When we see their lives without direction, all they care for is material things, do we feel sorry for them? We all have many friends who have made it in this society. Within 10 years of their arrival to this country, they have all the material prosperity that they want. Yet, their marriages are beginning to fall apart.. They don’t know their children anymore. They are miserable inside. They would tell you that if they knew this 10 years ago, they would not have taken this path. Do we see their spiritual poverty? When we see how miserable they are, we will begin to pray for them earnestly. As we pray for them, we also ask God how he can use us to answer our prayers. This often means that God wants to use us to share the gospel, the good news with them.
What happens when we are merciful? We shall be shown mercy. This means that the more I see my own wretchedness, the more mercy I will show others. And the more I see my own unworthiness, the more I will also experience God's compassion and gentleness toward me. A merciful person is one who gives a loving response to the miserable and helpless ones. He is also the one who constantly receive loving response from the heavenly father. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to be merciful just as Christ is merciful.
II. Happy are the pure in heart.
A truly blessed person, is also one who is pure in heart. Being pure in heart is not an intellectual condition, nor emotional piety, but it is a condition of the heart. In the Bible, the heart is the center of our entire personality. That is, the heart is who we are.
Let’s take a look at Jesus' assessment of human heart. Matthew 15:19, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Romans 1:21, 2:5, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened…… But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart….” Not a very pretty picture, right? However, don’t we all agree that it is true? Yes, because we are all God's image bearers, there is also something beautiful within us. Such as our love for others, our sense of right and wrong, even though we differ in its intensity. But because of sin, we are also very ugly inside. I don’t think there is one person here who dares to open his heart and show what is within.
To be pure means cleanse from filth and iniquity. There is no added mixture of any foreign elements. For example, if you take a piece of really expensive chinaware, hold it under bright light, you won’t see any mixture of foreign elements in it. To be pure in heart means the lack of spiritual/moral pollutants in my life. This purity of heart is indispensable to see God, to have fellowship with God. Psalm 24:3-4, “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.” Hebrews 12:14, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Only a person who has a pure heart can have fellowship with God.
1. Purity in Attitude. Jeremiah 32:39, “ I will give them singleness of heart and action…..”, Psalm 78:72, “ And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.” Pure in heart means single devotion, single purpose, pure motive. It is about attitude, integrity and singleness of heart. Jesus desires a heart that is unmixed in its devotion and motivation. In ministry and people relationship, we need to ask what our motives are. Are we doing this for personal gain or for God's kingdom?
I think of Billy Graham, probably the best known evangelist in church history. During the 50 years of his ministry, his motive is pure: to preach Jesus Christ. His financial records and relationships with people are beyond reproach. He is a man of pure heart.
2. Purity in Morality. To be pure in heart also means, Ephesians 4:29,31; 5:3,4, “ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen……. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice… But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”
A person who is pure in heart, is free from such bitterness, rage, anger, slander and any hint of sexual immorality.
Pure hearts will lead to pure thoughts and pure deeds. Again, the issue is not how well I conform to outward rules, but what is the condition of my inner life? How do I know that I am pure in heart? These are some hard diagnostic questions we can ask of ourselves.
What do I think when my mind is in neutral? When we are busy at work or study, our thoughts are quite disciplined. But when we have met all the assignments and have time to relax, what do we think? What do I want more than anything else? To what extent are my actions and words accurately reflecting what is in my heart? Or, to what extent are my actions cover-ups of my heart? I ask these questions because they are personal, and only you can answer them. How we answer will tell us about the condition of our heart.
By now we understand how difficult it is to be pure in heart, especially in light of the facts that we started with a rather impure heart.
What if we fail? 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” We don’t deserve this, but he generously forgives our sins. This is grace and mercy combined.
Moreover, the scripture also teaches us that, “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.” (1 John 3:3). This is about motivation. Yes, we know that as followers of Jesus Christ, we are to be pure in heart, this is how we can maintain our fellowship with him. What is our hope? One day, we will be pure as he is. That is when we face him after death, or he comes back before we die, we’ll be holy and complete just like him. With this as our hope, we now want to be pure. We don’t have to wait till that day. We can begin now.
I think of a person whom I met in the early 80’s. He was the pianist for Beijing Symphony. He told me that during the cultural revolution, he had only one wish; to go to US some day. So he made use of every opportunity to learn English. He listened to FEBC. During those “learning time”, he would hide an English conversation book behind a book. Why such a motivation to learn English? He knew one day he will be speaking English. Isn’t it also true with us? We know one day, when Christ comes back or when we go to see him, we’ll be pure, just as he is. Therefore, we start now. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we become pure in heart.
Conclusion:
Certainly this is not easy: to be merciful and pure in heart. Many of us are probably saying it is impossible. Only Jesus can. Since we are not Jesus, there is no way we can be like that. Humanly speaking, it is impossible for us to be merciful to people around us. Not only this, it is also impossible to be pure in heart all the time. Once in a while, may be ok. When I am in a retreat, I may be able to become pure. But regularly? This helplessness is exactly what Jesus wants us to see. Only when we see our limitations, then can we come to him and admit to him our spiritual poverty and grieve over our sins. The more we see how limited we are, the more we want to be more like Christ, to hunger after what is right in God's sight, wanting to be merciful and pure in heart.
The good news in the Christian faith is that we don’t do this alone. There is the Holy Spirit constantly by our side, helping us to become holy like Jesus.