do you see God

today we study Matthew 5:8

⁸"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Now I have trouble with this verse because I do not know what pure in heart means. Well the word pure comes from the Greek word "katharos"  which means according to blueletterbible.com lexicon

clean, pure

a) physically

1) purified by fire

2) in a similitude, like a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit

b) in a levitical sense

1) clean, the use of which is not forbidden, imparts no uncleanness

c) ethically

1) free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt

2) free from every admixture of what is false, sincere genuine

3) blameless, innocent

4) unstained with the guilt of anything

We are purified by the Holy Spirit by fire like John said in Luke 3 right before baptizing Jesus and this purifying helps us to produce fruit in keeping with repentance

Notice that pure also means not mixed which flies in the face of our wanting to create a compartment for God in our heart. After all the great commandment says love the lord your God part of your heart right? NO it says in Matt 22:37

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Note that this purity is not mine but Jesus Christ's purity imparted onto me just like Joshua the high priest in Zech. 3. After I admit in my flesh I have impure thoughts if you can say you haven't but if you do you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you as john said in his epistle. But i am in Jesus Christ so i know when God looks at me he sees Christ's purity and righteousness, not my sin, and thank God for that. If you have not done so I encourage you to ask God to show you grace on the basis of  his son Jesus Christ who died on the cross and impart his purity and righteousness on to you.

the government

Today I have decided to take a break on the sermon on the mount since yesterday was president's day and talk about Romans 13:1-7

       ¹Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ²Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, ⁴for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ⁶For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. ⁷ Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

In this day and age we sees Christians wanting to throw off the chains of our government because we are citizens of God's kingdom.  We see from this passage we see that is not the case the government is also God-given.  From verse 2 and 3 we see that the Apostle Paul is envisioning a government that does its job and we see that policemen who are honorable in exercising their authority are a good thing.  Can you imagine a country where murder, and theft was legal.  We do not reject our earthly citizenship from the U.S.A when we become Christians.  Yes we are to obey God rather that man when they come into conflict but that is the exception not the rule. As uncomfortable as this is to read in verse 6 and 7 that we should pay our taxes. One passage people refer is in the gospel of Luke chapter 3

¹² Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher,  what shall we do?" ¹³And he said to them, "Collect no more than you are authorized to do." ¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."

he is not knocking their occupation he is knocking the corrupt practices they were known for.

In 1 peter 2 it says

 

    ¹³ Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, ¹⁴or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. ¹⁵For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. ¹⁶ Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. ¹⁷ Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor

its interesting he says honor the emperor. The emperor at the time was Nero a nutcase who legend says would kill peter, yet peter says to honor because his authority comes from God. Plus submitting to the government can help silence rumors Christians that are false.

I don't think i stopped being a citizen of this great country when I gave my life to Jesus. Instead I am grateful he put in a country where we can gather openly without fear of being arrested or martyred for out faith

blessed are the merciful

Today we finally look at the 5th beatitude in Matthew 5:7

Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

Now first off this is not talking about salvation by works like some could take this.  This is referring to sanctification which is the process we are make holy until the end, not justification which is when we are declared righteous by on the basis of Christ's sacrifice.

At first this beatitude seems easy mostly because our sees mercy as a feeling, But when had mercy he didn't just have a feeling but he was moved into action by that mercy. In James 2 it says

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

but I would say this can read without works mercy is dead too. 

Jesus once told a parable that illustrated this very concept to peter. The context is peter wanted to how many time he would have to forgive his brother so Jesus told this parable in Matthew 18

   
    ²¹Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" ²²Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
    ²³"Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. ²⁵ And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. ²⁶So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' ²⁷And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' ²⁹So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' ³⁰He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. ³¹When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. ³²Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' ³⁴ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. ³⁵ So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

so in light of this parable how can I not forgive someone for a sin against me when we have been forgiven a whole life of sin.