Title Sunday Faith Training (6/24)-Jesus' Happiness Theory (6)
content pointer">
Title: Jesus' Happiness Theory (6)
Text: Matthew 5:8
Date: 2012. 6. 24. Sunday Day Worship
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
A leprosy patient's wish / Paul Brand asked a leper patient. “What is the most precious gift you would like to receive from God?” He answered. "Give me pain!" The greatest pain for leprosy patients is the inability to feel pain. Not feeling pain means dying. Suffering is painful, but it is evidence of being alive and a blessing. (Paul Brand: Studying the root problem of suffering with leprosy patients. Son of an Indian missionary, missionary to India, working as a doctor, studying at University of London, England)
★ Pain that confirms that a leprosy patient is alive is a blessing. Every situation and condition that makes us yearn for the eternal kingdom of God and prepares us to be worthy of that kingdom is a blessing. This is the central lesson of the Beatitudes. Today, let's take some time to think about the 'sixth happiness' that Jesus spoke of.
1. Who is truly happy?
Jesus said that “the pure in heart” are the happy people (Matthew 5:7). The mind (cardia) refers to the center of feelings and thoughts, the source of religious and ethical behavior. Theologians have described the mind as 'the most holy place of religion'. The Bible emphasizes the importance of the heart (Proverbs 4:23). This important saying is that those who have a pure heart are blessed. What does it mean to be clean? In the original text, cleanliness uses the Greek word 'kataros'. This word is a noun derived from the verb 'catarizo'.
★ Katarizo (καθαρ ζω): It means 'to wash away dirt and sin' and 'to be free from sin', and it refers to a drug that doctors use to cleanly clean a patient's wounds or infected areas. This is where the word 'catharsis' (purification) came from. Purity refers to the state in which the sins of rebellion and opposition to God are removed from the heart.
★ Matthew Henry (17th century Puritan theologian) interpreted cleanliness as the opposite of "mixing". It is said that unmixed wine (undiluted liquor) and muddy water are like pure water without mixing. It is written in the Hokma commentary that "it refers to the heart of the saints who receive forgiveness of sins through Christ and live as faithful people of the Lord.
★ If so, let's summarize. What is the state of a pure heart? It refers to the state in which sins are forgiven because of the merits of Jesus on the cross. It is not two hearts at war between God and the world (James 1:8). It only refers to the state of having decided and decided to believe in and follow Jehovah God. “Now that we have been sown in our hearts to be freed from an evil conscience and our bodies have been washed with pure water, let us come to God with a true heart and complete faith. hold fast" (Hebrews 10:22-23). "Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, 'If you will return to the Lord with all your heart, remove from you the foreign gods and Ashtaroth, and turn your hearts to the Lord and serve Him. Then I will bring you out of the hand of the Philistines. I will rescue you.' So the children of Israel put away the Baals and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord alone” (1 Samuel 7:3-4).
★ A pure heart is a single heart toward God.
2. What kind of blessings do the pure in heart receive?
Jesus promised that the pure in heart will see God. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). The Greek word ρ ω, 'to see', means 'to see empirically' or 'to see practically'.
★ Matthew Henry said that we can see God in two ways. The place where we can see God in our present state is heaven on earth. The place where we can see God in our future state is heaven in heaven.
★ Heaven on earth is the church, and when the church community lives according to God's character, we can experience God's presence. "No one has seen God at any time; but if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is made perfect in us. He gives us his Holy Spirit, that we abide in him, and he abides in us. know" (1 John 4:12-13).
★ But seeing God on earth is a partial dim view. The place where we can fully see God is in the eternal kingdom. “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, then I will know fully, as the Lord knows me. always, but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:12-13). "There will be no more curse, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will serve him, and they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night, and there will be no more night for lamps and sunlight. There is none, for the Lord God shines upon them, and they shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:3-5).
★ Let's live with one heart toward God until the day we can see God fully!