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Psalm 24:3-6
The Pure in Heart
What do you think the Psalmist (in ) means by “lift up his soul to what is false”?
Matthew
Matthew 5:3-12
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .
Have you ever met someone who seemed “pure in heart”?
Who was it?
What were they like?
2 Timothy 2:22-26
What does say about purity of heart?
Our Covenant with God has been broken
Our covenant with God has been broken.
One of the reasons I don’t recommend new Christians try reading the Bible straight through from cover to cover right away is because of Leviticus.
Most people can get through the strange, but interesting narrative arc of Genesis.
And while there are some slow bits in Exodus, it’s doable - especially if you still have the energy and excitement that comes with a first real encounter with God.
But Leviticus.
Leviticus will slow down or halt even the most seasoned and faithful.
There are just
Our Covenant with God has been broken
Trouble in the Text
so
many
rules.
And if by some miracle, this faithful fledgling should happen to muddle or skim through Leviticus, they immediately encounter Numbers and Deuteronomy: a census of the Israelite people and . . .
more rules.
In Leviticus and Deuteronomy, laws are laid out for all sorts of situations: marriage, divorce, childbirth, temple sacrifice, diet, death, illness, mold. . .
But in spite of the seemingly esoteric lists of dos and don’ts, I actually really like these two books - especially Deuteronomy.
And short of maybe my 17 year old, you’ll be hard pressed to find many people
The law in the Hebrew Scripture is not just rules for the sake of rules.
It’s a covenant that God makes with God’s people.
Covenant is beautiful and exciting!
A covenant is more than a promise and it’s more than just a legal document.
A promise is an emotional contract.
Law has legal implications.
A covenant is both tied to emotion and legality.
It’s a binding way of saying, “These two things belong together.”
A covenant is more than a promise and it’s more than just a legal document.
A promise is an emotional contract.
Law has legal implications.
A covenant is both tied to emotion and legality.
But the law in the Hebrew Scripture is not just rules for the sake of rules.
It’s a covenant that God makes with God’s people.
A covenant is more than a promise and it’s more than just a legal document.
A promise is an emotional contract.
Law has legal implications.
A covenant is both tied to emotion and legality.
It’s a binding way of saying, “These two things belong together.”
Marriage, for example, is a covenant.
There are both legal and emotional implications.
There is legal contract and promise involved.
Marriage is one example of covenant.
Can you think of any others?
The covenant that God makes with Israel is one that sets the people of Israel aside as God’s special people.
This involves purity - being holy - being different from the people around them.
We see early on and often in the Old Testament a call to holiness and purity.
We see early on and often in the Old Testament this call to holiness and purity.
God wants God’s people to be set aside from those around them.
LEviticus 19:
4 “Hear, O Israel: dThe LORD our God, the LORD is one.2 5 You eshall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 And fthese words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
7 gYou shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
8 hYou shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9 iYou shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
This can feel like a pretty tall order.
It’s especially daunting when we read all the rules and laws that follow these statements.
In Leviticus and Deuteronomy, laws are laid out for all sorts of situations: marriage, divorce, childbirth, temple sacrifice, diet, death, illness, mold. . .
So the idea we see in the Beatitudes of purity of heart being important is not new with Jesus.
The point of this covenant is not to make people follow the rules because God is some sort of strict school teacher.
The point is that God’s people be purposeful, compassionate, different people.
God’s people are purified and set aside by this covenant.
The point of this covenant is not to make people follow the rules because God is some sort of strict school teacher.
The point is that God’s people be purposeful, compassionate, different people.
Likewise, the new covenant we see unfold in the gospels is not just another set of easier rules or different rules because the old covenant wasn’t just about rules to begin with.
God didn’t mysteriously have a sudden change of heart about what holiness looks like.
The New Covenant offers the ability to live holy lives to everyone.
The New Covenant offers the ability to live holy lives to everyone.
But the point is not to offer a list of what sort of people God normally blesses.
The point is to announce God’s new covenant.
In Deuteronomy, the people came through the wilderness and arrived at the border of the promised land, and God gave them a solemn covenant.
He listed the blessings and the curses that would come upon them if they were obedient or disobedient (chapter 28).
Now Matthew has shown us Jesus, coming out of Egypt (2:15), through the water and the wilderness (chapters 3 and 4), and into the land of promise (4:12–25).
Here, now, is his new covenant.
If you have a Bible that includes cross references at the bottom of the page, I encourage you to check out all the cross references in the Beatitudes.
The setting brings to mind both Mount Sinai, where Moses received the law from God and gave it to the people, and Mount Zion, from which King David ruled according to God’s law.
Jesus’ posture also communicates authority.
He sits, like a venerated teacher among his students or a rightful king among his subjects.
Jesus is presented as an unrivaled authority concerning the law and the proper authority within the coming kingdom of heaven.
If you have a Bible that includes cross references at the bottom of the page, I encourage you to check out all the cross references in the Beatitudes.
Like much of what Jesus says in the gospels, they are full of references to the Torah - both overt references and subtle ones.
Sometimes, the connections are as simple as the setting: the Beatitudes even happen on a mountain - just like where Moses was originally given the law.
There is an important and obvious connection between the covenants.
These are about the new covenant.
The one we just talked about last week as being “sealed in the blood.”
None of us can uphold the covenant, which is why Jesus came in the first place.
What is the difference between law and covenant?
What is the differences between promise and covenant?
Like the Jews of Jesus’ time, we find it easier to call out people (ourselves or others) for external violation of the “rules” or law than we do to inspect the internal status of our hearts.
In fact, we often fall for the lie that we can behave ourselves by our own power.
But this is not about the rules, this is about our hearts.
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