Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro*

And just like that, we are close to the end of this series called “Back to the Basics: Knowing why you believe what you believe.”

We have been talking these days about salvation and last week we looked at what means to walk in freedom.

We saw that this meant in Galatians 5 to walk by the Spirit, moment-by-moment making the choice to respond to the Lord and His love and serve others.

Now when it comes to Christian freedom, we all know it is wrong to commit murder, adultery, to steal, cheat and lie.

But sometimes we do not know what to do with what is called the “gray areas.”

What should we do with areas that the Bible is not clear on?

This brings us to point 9, which I am glad is there:

/9.

//That God alone is the Lord of our conscience, and that the believers are free from the commands of men which are contrary to, or in addition to, the Scriptures in matters of faith and conduct./

Now this does not mean, “Well, if the Bible does not mention it, do whatever you want!

You are free in Christ!” Remember that the flesh is very opportunistic and will always try to find a way to feed itself with sin.

People who don’t realize how ready the flesh is will play around the lines.

Every once in a while, I will meet people who are more curious about where they shouldn’t walk instead of where they should walk.

So they will ask things like, “Is it okay to drink once in a while?

How much I can drink?

And how often can I go to the club?

Because after all, the Bible doesn’t say, ‘Thou shalt not club’ right?

And how far can I go with my girlfriend physically?”

So in essence, they are asking, how close to the line can I walk and still be ok?

I do agree that there are so many things not mentioned in the Bible, but does the Lord care about those decisions too?

Yes!

The Bible offers a lot of principles regarding the gray areas.

I want to give you some of those, but more than anything, I want us to have a supreme motivation for living life in general.

Because I believe if we have that gray will not seem so challenging and difficult for us to navigate through.

I really want us to live our lives in freedom, for His glory.

So I want to in our time together today, to unpack this verse in Matt.

5:8 in light of gray areas: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

This is unusual for me to preach on just one verse, since I usually enjoy studying a paragraph or two at a time, but we will trust the Lord to help us unpack this.

Our verse today is found in a section called “The Beatitudes.”

It is part of a bigger section of Christ’s sermons called “the Sermon on the Mount” (Matt.

5-7).

One day we will study this in depth, but for now study this verse.

First, let’s set the context.

Jesus has just announced upon His arrival that the Kingdom of Heaven was here (Matt.

4:17).

He also commanded people to repent to enter this kingdom.

This was already in contrast to the Pharisees and teachers of the law who taught that there was external righteousness needed to enter the Kingdom of God.

It was about keeping the rituals, laws and commandments for the religious leaders.

But Jesus just said, “Repent.”

Now as Jesus begins His teaching ministry, many were wondering.

What does it mean to be in the Kingdom of Heaven?

So Jesus begins with the Beatitudes.

By the way, The Latin word for blessed is /beatus,/ and from this comes the word /beatitude./[1]

Some have said these are “attitudes to be.”

Notice in the eight beatitudes listed here, from Matt.

5:3-11, that the Kingdom of Heaven is mentioned first and last.

These are the characteristics of those people who have turned from their kingdom (repentance) and willingly placed themselves under the rule of King Jesus.

| *      BEATITUDES  (Matt.

5:3-12)* | *WOES (Matt.

23:13-23)* |

| 1. Kingdom opened (v.3) | 1. Kingdom shut (v.13) |

| 2. Comfort for mourners (v.4) | 2. Mourners distressed (v.14) |

| 3. Meek inheriting the earth (v.5) | 3. Fanatics compassing the earth (v.15) |

| 4. True righteousness sought by true desire (v.6) | 4. True righteousness sought by selfish desire (vv.16-22) |

| 5.

The merciful obtaining mercy (v.7) | 5. Mercy “omitted” and left “undone” (vv.23-24) |

| 6. Purity within, then vision of God (v.8) | 6. Purity outside, uncleanness inside.

“Blindness” (vv.25-26) |

| 7. Peacemakers, sons of God (v.9) | 7. Hypocrites, lawless (vv.27-28) |

| 8. Persecuted (vv.10-12) | 8. Persecutors (vv.29-33) |

So the Beatitudes are not commandments, though there is authority behind them (since it is from our King).

They are not requirements to enter the Kingdom.

Rather, they show “/how a person who is in right relationship with God should conduct his life.”/[2]

Blessed here is literally translated, “Happy” or “Fortunate.”

However, it still does not convey the depth of it because “happy” might lead us to conclude incorrectly that he is referring to feelings.

Rather, it is the blessedness of knowing Christ ruling your life.

Though I like how Phillip Yancey says it, “Oh, you lucky person!”[3] because it conveys this desire that you want what that person has, it still is not the best.

Another commentator suggests that these sayings are like the equivalent of Jesus’ /congratulations/ to those who have entered His kingdom through repentance, though he himself is not satisfied with it.[4]

Perhaps the best word is blessed!

Anyway, we can say it is a quality of life that Jesus emphasizes that is deep, satisfying and characteristic of those who make up His Kingdom.

Notice all of the qualities here are more internal heart qualities that flows from within (or as Paul would say, the fruit of walking by the Spirit).

This is a different message than what the Pharisees taught.

They were concerned with how loud you prayed, how you looked when you fasted and how much you gave.

It was all external.

In fact, if you want to ever study the Beatitudes, you should compare them in light of the eight “woes” of Matthew 23[5]:

Sometimes it is better to understand what something means by studying its opposite.

By the way, when Jesus says, “Woe!”

He means something like “grief, calamity, misery, sorrow,”[6] essentially the opposite of being truly blessed.

All that is by way of introduction here.

The Kingdom is ours and will be set up in God’s timing.

God has not forsaken us in all our evil, but the King has come.

Through His death and resurrection, God is going to set everything in order again.

Pastor Ray Ortlund says, “The good news is that this world is not spinning out of control, but Heaven is moving in and taking over with powers that evil cannot stop…whatever you life may be right now, your future is as bright as the promises of God.

Yours is the kingdom of Heaven, you will be comforted, you will inherit the earth, you will be satisfied, you will receive mercy, you will see God, you will be called sons of God, yours is the kingdom of heaven…the Beatitudes are not handy tips for improving your week; they are the enduring promises of Christ, because you have stepped over the line to join him by faith in a whole new world so beautiful only God can accomplish it.”[7]

But what does Jesus mean by being “pure in heart”?

Does that just sound unattainable?

We may understand poor in spirit, being sorry for our sin, growing in meekness and wanting righteousness perhaps, but be pure in heart?

No way!

I can’t do it.

The Beatitudes are not a menu to choose from.

They are all strings of one pearl, giving us a “multi-perspectival portrait of the human profile that belongs in the kingdom of heaven.”[8]

So what is purity of heart?

Let’s start with this:

*I.  **To be pure in heart means whole-hearted devotion to Jesus Christ *

What does the word “pure” mean here?

William Barclay tells us that the Greek word was used to describe clear water, sometimes metals without alloy, sometimes grain that had been winnowed, and sometimes feelings that are unmixed.[9]

It means to be undivided.

It carries with it the idea of /focus/, /absorption/, /concentration/, /sincerity/, and /singleness/.[10]

In Psalm 24:3-4 David the Psalmist asks who can stand before God.

His answer in Ps. 24:4 is one with a pure heart and he elaborates on what he means: “one who does not lift up his soul to what is false.”

Lifting up our souls to what is false is giving our lives over to empty things.[11]

He may have in mind an idol.

We know an idol is whatever we look to that we think will quench the thirsts of our heart.

When we give our lives over to empty things, our hearts become divided, pulled in many directions.