“Blessed are the pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8)
October 2, 2022
First Christian Church (DOC), Dexter, Missouri
This Sunday was the tenth anniversary of my arrival in Dexter. A decade ago I began my ministry at First Christian Church and have now lived in Missouri longer than anywhere else in my life. Thank you to everyone in our congregation for their kindness, hospitality, and support over the years. It is a blessing to be a part of what God is doing in this place.
Technical challenges have prevented posting the last several sermons, but we are now 3/4 of the way through a series on the Beatitudes. The series has looked at the way Jesus invites his followers to live into the kingdom of God on a daily basis. The sermon on the pure in heart talked about how the well-intentioned rules Christians often make up do not necessarily change a person’s heart. Sometimes they become idols unto themselves.
The word “pure” in this beatitude means “undivided.” We are to be undivided in our loyalty to Jesus, and to allow our hearts to be circumcised by his teaching. The reality of God’s realm is most visibly present in such people. It is there we will be most able to see what God’s love looks like.
(Sermon begins at 22 minutes)
Deuteronomy 10:12-22: “So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the Lord and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. 14 Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it, 15 yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. 16 Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, 18 who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. 19 You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the Lord your God; him you shall serve; to him you shall hold fast; and by his name you shall swear. 21 He is your praise; he is your God who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. 22 Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven (NRSV)
Matthew 5:1-8: When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he began to speak and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (NRSV)
