Sermon on the Mount: The Pure in Heart (Mt 5:8)
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” - Matthew 5:8
This past Sunday Pastor Curtis preached on the eighth verse of the Beatitudes, this time dealing with the relationship between purity and seeing God.
Purity is to be Holy as God is Holy (Leviticus 19:2, 1Peter 1:15-16)
Power to be pure is found in God’s love (1Peter 1:22)
Promise of purity is seeing God (1John 3:23)
In essence these points add up to a lifestyle that relates to further separation from sin and a closer relationship to God. The study today will go deeper into the verse, carefully going into each word of verse 8. This will hopefully lead to a deeper conviction and understanding of how a pure heart and seeing God relate to one another.
Context and Recap
Read and discuss verses 3-5. What do these verses establish about the blessed person’s state on earth? How would you sum it up in a word?
Read and discuss verse 6. What does it mean to be righteous? (recap from 3 weeks ago)
Interpretation
Pure - katharos in greek, means pure, clean, clear, ethically from corrupt desire, guilt
Heart - kardia in greek, means the heart, thoughts or feelings, the middle, center
See - horao in greek, to stare at, discern clearly, to experience
What does it mean to be “pure”? Read Titus 1:15-16, James 1:27 and 1 Peter 1:22. How do these verses help you to possibly understand what it means to be pure?
What does the “heart” refer to? Read Matthew 5:28, 6:21, 12:34. What does Jesus seem to imply from these verses regarding the heart?
What does it mean to “see” God? Read John 11:40 and Hebrews 12:14. how is one able to see God from these verses?
Now knowing the definitions of “pure in heart” and to “see” God, how would you try to articulate the relationship between the two without using the words “pure” or “see”?
Application
Would you ever say you have “seen” God? What did that look like?
What are some things that are stopping you from being “pure”?
What are some practical things we can do to strive for purity?
Have you felt that perhaps your impurity has held you back from seeing God?
