Song Sheets & Sermon

His Mercy is More

What love could remember no wrongs we have done

Omniscient all knowing He counts not their sum

Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore

Our sins they are many His mercy is more

What patience would wait as we constantly roam

What Father so tender is calling us home

He welcomes the weakest the vilest the poor

Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Praise the Lord His mercy is more

Stronger than darkness new every morn

Our sins they are many His mercy is more

What riches of kindness He lavished on us

His blood was the payment His life was the cost

We stood 'neath a debt we could never afford

Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Praise the Lord His mercy is more

Stronger than darkness new every morn

Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Praise the Lord His mercy is more

Stronger than darkness new every morn

Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Great is Thy Faithfulness PH 556

1 Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
there is no shadow of turning with thee;
thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
as thou hast been thou forever wilt be.

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

2 Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
join with all nature in manifold witness
to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

3 Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow–
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

New Doxology

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost

Let earth and heavenly saints proclaim

The pow'r and might of His great Name

Let us exalt on bended knee

Praise God the Holy Trinity

Praise God praise God

Praise God Who saved my soul

Praise God praise God

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

Praise to the King His throne transcends

His crown and Kingdom never end

Now and throughout eternity

I'll praise the One Who died for me

Praise God praise God

Praise God Who saved my soul

Praise God praise God

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

Praise God praise God

Praise God Who saved my soul

Praise God praise God

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts

Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost

Create in Me a Clean Heart

Create in me a clean heart, oh God

And renew a right spirit within me

Create in me a clean heart, oh God

And renew a right spirit within me

Cast me not away from Thy presence, oh Lord

And take not Thy holy spirit from me

Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation

And renew a right spirit within me

Glory be to the Father

Glory be to the Father,

and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

as it was in the beginning,

is now, and ever shall be,

world without end. Amen, amen.

CCLI licence number 486616

Adam Veenstra

Ebenezer CRC

July 28, 2024

Scripture Reading

In his ministry, Jesus creates, and recreates. He takes what is and he redeems it and transforms it into what it should be. The beatitudes reflect God’s desire for what we should be, and what happens when his Gospel message grabs hold of us, and the Holy Spirit begins to work in our lives.

That transformation is at the heart of the beatitude that we are focussing on today. In Matthew 5:8, we read that:

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Message

Part One - Context

Jesus promises that a pure heart will help us better see God at work in our lives and in our world. We will be blessed when we’re transformed in how we think, feel, and see the world.

Because to see God is to experience him, to discern his will and how he works; one of the direct translations even means to properly stare at.

It’s an opening of our eyes to recognize how the Spirit of God is alive and at work all around us. Even if we can’t necessarily catch all the details, we at least begin to recognize the broad strokes, and we have the assurance that yes, he is at work.

We believe it because we can see it.

And that comes from the condition of our hearts.

The Greek word used to describe a pure heart in this beatitude is katharoi, which also translates to clean.

In the 21st century church, “clean” is maybe a more manageable translation.

In the past few decades the term “pure” has taken on a negative connotation in church circles.

It has unfortunately been weaponized to set a standard of behaviour that’s nearly impossible to live up to. And when we don’t, it’s easy to feel ashamed, and distanced from God.

There’s a conversation that has been written about St. Francis of Assisi and a fellow monk, who believed that definition of being pure in heart. He believed that it must mean having no sins, faults, or weaknesses.

So this is what he was striving towards, and, naturally, became more and more discouraged in his walk with God.

St. Francis pointed out that it was no wonder he was in despair, trying to live up to such an impossible standard.

He is said to have explained, “Don’t be so preoccupied with the purity of your heart. Turn and look at Jesus. Admire him. Rejoice that he is what he is—your brother, your friend, your Lord and Saviour. That…is what is means to be pure of heart.”

He went on to say that the “sadness of not being perfect…even borders on idolatry”. As though true purity is something that we achieve aside from grace, and before we approach our Saviour.

Thankfully, our Reformed theology doesn’t support this definition of purity.

We don’t believe that anything can be achieved apart from God’s grace.

In the Reformed tradition we believe that everything has been touched by sin somehow; everything has been slightly twisted from its original purpose and ways of being.

It’s something known as total depravity.

One of our statements of faith explains that because of the disobedience of the first people, this depravity is a “corruption of all nature…an inherited depravity” that produces every kind of sin.

But that’s why we look to Jesus as our Saviour.

And it’s why he has given us these beatitudes: they’re a course-correction on the new way to be.

Nothing is completely pure or perfect.

But clean? Sure.

Because when you clean, no matter how much you scrub or dust or mop, something is going to be left behind. It can be clean without being completely perfect.

That’s being human.

Some of the greatest heroes of the Bible, like King David, were also some of the most notorious sinners of the Bible. Murderers, adulterers, liars, betrayers.

But, still children of God.

They were not completely perfect, but God’s grace helped clean their hearts, and they were able to see his will for their lives, and how he was work in the world.

They were blessed by him.

In a couple of weeks we are going to be celebrating communion, and taking part in the sacrament that reminds us of the grace we receive from Christ.

We spent time this spring talking about the importance of readying our hearts to be in communion with God and with one another.

But if we waited until we reached complete purity to take part in communion, we never would.

Instead, this sacrament is the chance to turn and look at Jesus. Admire him. Rejoice that he is what he is, that he does what he does. For us.

It is a chance to see God because he is at work in our hearts.

It is a chance to be assured that we are still children of God, and we are blessed.

Our hearts our pure not because they are without sin, but because we are promised in Scripture that “Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.”
And that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

There is no condemnation for those who are seeking to have a heart like his.

In the early centuries of God’s people, the language of cleanliness and purity had a slightly different connotation than it does for us today.

It stemmed from ceremonial laws in which physical cleanliness, and sometimes even physical conformity, reflected spiritual cleanliness.

So people could be set apart from society based on sins they committed involving the body.

Even further, they could be set apart from society for a time based on natural bodily functions.

Even further yet, they could be set apart from society based on physical ailments and disabilities.

People could be deemed unclean spiritually based on physical conditions well beyond their control.

People could be left alone.

By his words and actions, Jesus assures us that we are never alone. He comes to transform our world, and transform our lives.

Jesus regularly spent ample time with those who were considered physically or spiritually unclean.

Being pure of heart wasn’t about being sinless or blameless, or about conforming to a cultural definition of clean, but about recognizing the power of God’s grace, and seeking that grace for the world around them.

It was no longer about how the world looked at them, but how they looked at the world.

In Luke 17, Jesus heals ten people with leprosy. He takes away a physical condition that set them apart from society and left them alone.

Out of the ten, one of them comes back after he has been healed, and Scripture says that he was praising God in a loud voice, and threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. Interestingly, he was also a Samaritan, who should have been considered an enemy to someone who was Jewish, like Jesus was.

He could see Jesus for who he was. He was blessed.

In his book on the beatitudes, Darrell Jonhson calls this the most extravagant promise of all the beatitudes: that we get to see Jesus for who he is.

There’s such an array of ways that we see and recognize and discern the presence and power of God at work.

I’m sure we’ve all had our own unique experiences in the way that God works.

We could spend the rest of the services going row by row, and hear dozens of ways that God has been at work in each of us.

I’d do it if it didn’t mean unfairly putting you on the spot, or stretching the service by an extra few hours.

So, if you have a chance this week, share that with someone. Tell them how you have seen God at work in your life and the world around you, and ask them to tell you the same.

It happened to me twice this week, where God smacked me in the face with the blessing of his presence.

Nothing compares to that.

In his book, Darrell Johnson says that however you define it, he wants it. He wants a pure heart so that he can see the blessing of God’s presence.

He wants what Jesus promises, that a heart that is pure will be blessed.

And a heart that is pure and focussed on Christ will also demonstrate all of the traits of the beatitudes.

When our hearts and minds are focussed on Christ and aligned with him, we will be poor in spirit, we will mourn, we will be meek, we will hunger and thirst for righteousness, we will be merciful, we will be peacemakers, we will be persecuted because of righteousness…and we will be blessed. We will experience the fullness of a life with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and see the world as he does.

Part Two - Application

That transformation of our perspective is a huge part of becoming more like Jesus, and becoming blessed to experience the fullness of life in him.

If you have glasses then you know what this is like: the Holy Spirit is like a set of new lenses, that helps us have a clearer perspective on the world.

Being pure in heart means having a pure outlook on the world.

Being pure in heart means we have a pure perspective on God’s creation, and all that’s in it.

Including one another.

The new lenses of a pure heart gives people the benefit of the doubt. It sees their identity as children of God. It sees their potential, and hopes for and expects the best of them.

The new lenses of a pure heart also gives God the benefit of the doubt. It sees that he is at work, and hopes for and expects that he is doing what’s best for us.

Our beatitude, our blessing, is that Jesus transforms us to have that perspective.

It’s actually pretty easy to be a pessimist. It’s a common perspective, and if we’re honest, the conditions are ripe for it. But they always have been.

It’s always been easy to look around and think that evil is winning.

It’s always been easy to choose to see the world as the enemy, that we need to be protected from because everything has gone so wrong.

But that’s not how a pure heart is meant to see God’s creation.

Our world belongs to no one but God. No one has the power to take it from him. His hand is on everything, even when it’s hard to see.

So Jesus blesses us to see that, and to see the Holy Spirit at work, even where it’s least obvious or least expected.

Then, we are invited to join in the Holy Spirit’s work. Our Gospel mission as followers of Jesus is to see God, and follow him, and engage and redeem the world.

That’s harder. It’s harder to be an optimist, to hope for the best, and then work for it. But that is what God calls and equips us to do.

That is what God blesses us to do.

Anecdotally, things are bad right now. They are. In our world, and maybe in our homes. I don’t want to dismiss the pain or fear that exists on a global scale, or that you might be feeling in a personal way.

But overall, humanity is doing okay.
Historians have pointed out that we are actually living in the least violent time in our history.

And while we may have an increasing awareness of abuse and injustice and inequality, that awareness actually means we have increasing efforts to reduce abuse and injustice and inequality.

We are continually blessed to see God at work where his grace is needed.

It’s harder to be an optimist. It’s harder to see the world with a pure heart.

But that is what God blesses us to do. It’s who God blesses us to be.

Conclusion

This is a new paradigm for the new people that the beatitudes describe.

People who have a new way to think, feel, and see the world like Jesus did.

People who are blessed to see the presence of God in their lives.

I hope that in the coming week, you have the blessing of seeing the presence of God in your lives, and that you have the opportunity to share that with someone.

Closing Blessing

So I invite you to hear this closing blessing, based on the words of Psalm 51, and our prayer for one another today. Will you please rise to receive it, however you are able and comfortable:

“May God create in you a clean heart, and renew in you a steadfast spirit. May he keep you in his presence, remind you of the joy that comes with salvation, and sustain you to willingly join in the work of the Spirit.” Amen.

AUGUST 4, 2024

Matthew 4:12-22 (NIV1984)

When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali--to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."

From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew.

They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John.

They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Dear friends, let's allow for a few moments of imagination rooted in Scripture.

Let’s make space to imagine that scene along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

The sun hung just above the horizon like a medallion. The morning haze stretched it oblong, but the sun promised to blaze and burn away the day’s gentle beginning. Andrew pushed the hair out of his eyes and looked down the shore for Peter. He should be back already.

They were already ashore with the morning catch. You could stay out there all day if you wanted, but the best fishing was just before dawn and just before dusk ~ in that in between time when it wasn’t really light and it wasn’t really dark. This morning was a decent haul, no record setter, but enough for the day. Peter had hustled the fish down to the market. Early and fresh they would bring a nice price.

But, he was always late. There was something so impulsive about Peter.

He would stop to see his wife,
stop to help another boat,
stop to pick a fight,
stop at the bakery for warm bread,
stop to listen to a rabbi.

Peter always led with his heart. Strong head, strong back, strong heart, strong back. He never ceased to make Andrew smile. And they wouldn’t do as well as they did without Peter’s bull strength, but sometimes Peter just didn’t see the big picture. He lived in the moment.

Andrew always lived in the next moment. He was worrying about prices and weather and equipment, wondering about saving and adding another boat, wrestling over hiring a few Syrians, and wanting to have something to pass on to their children.

But, Peter would just hook a big beefy arm around him and belt out a big beefy laugh and ask if this wasn’t enough: Good honest work with a brother? Who could ask for more?

Andrew rubbed a callous on his hand and looked down the coast again. Lately Peter seemed a little distant, a little drifty, and a little detached. He would be pulling the nets up, but looking at the horizon lost in thought. He would come back from the market looking at his feet ~ absent from the moment.

They had heard “John the Baptizer” recently and his word about repentance seemed to stick with Peter. For, Peter always bumbled and stumbled where angels fear to tread and then he would apologize later. He always made promises and resolutions – full of best intentions because duplicity wasn’t in his bones – but then he would falter and fail to follow through and beat himself up with guilt and frustration. He understood apologizing, but he longed for a repentance that would fix things. Maybe that was what seemed to be unsettling Peter.

They didn’t get many good rabbis up-north. The best teachers didn’t travel this far, so they always felt a little like the country-bumpkin cousins of Capernaum. These rugged hills of Galilee were generous with Gentiles and the Jews in Jerusalem could be snooty, as if all the light was in Jerusalem and everyone else lived in the dark shadows. But, be that as it may – where was Peter?

Andrew could hear Zebedee and his boys coming ashore. They were a bigger outfit with a few hired hands, and they certainly made a bigger ruckus, but they were good guys and hard workers. They were just loud,

Just then with a big loaf of bread, and a bigger grin, and before Andrew could say a thing, Peter showed up and piped up,

Come on, let’s put in a little ways and see what we can pull out before the day gets too hot. Maybe we can get one more good load! And, if we don’t we can eat this bread and relax and talk and we’ll tend to the nets later!

Andrew, shrugged his shoulders, chuckled, and turned toward the water.

It was good work with a brother; he could live in that moment!

An hour later they were pulling up empty nets and empty conversation.

And then Jesus walked by.

Jesus walked by,

in the middle of a work day,
on the shores of a distant lake,
nowhere near the temple,
in the flow of life,
with an indifferent sun in the sky.

Jesus walked by and called out to

two average guys
two blue collar brothers,
two working stiffs trying to make a wage,
two guys who weren’t the brightest or the bravest,
two guys who weren’t looking for him.

Jesus walked by and called out to follow.

Andrew and Peter followed, and James and John followed.
They left Zebedee in Zebulun and they followed Jesus.
And down the shore journeyed a carpenter’s son and four fishermen.

Dear friends, there is no evidence that these men simply dropped their nets, walked away, left their boats and their families, and never went back. We know that Zededee, the father of the “sons of thunder” stayed back to mind the fish. And, we know that further down the road Jesus healed Peter’s mother in-law (Matthew 8:14). The sense of the Greek phrasing in this passage is that their leaving was decisive, but it was also part of the culture for there to be traveling teachers and for the students/disciples to follow along to listen and learn.

But, we don’t know what Andrew and Peter thought they were getting into when they followed Jesus. We don’t know what James and John said to their father as they left to follow Jesus. Neither do we know the pragmatic details of what their following looked like, felt like, or if this was their first encounter with Jesus.

What we know is:

Jesus sought them,
Jesus found them,
Jesus called them,
and they followed.

In Judaism the rabbi didn’t call the students. It was considered bad form for a rabbi to go out and ask people to become his disciples. The responsibility fell on the student to seek out a teacher. But, here Jesus chose them.

There was no application process,
there was no review committee,
there was no standard to first meet,
there were no fishing tests.

Jesus tracked them down, intrusive and impractical and incongruous as it may be, and he called them to follow. In the words of G.K. Chesterton:

An adventure is, but its nature, a thing that comes to us...

One way to characterize the Bible is as a record of humanity’s long search for God. But, it is better understood that Scripture is the story of God’s search for humanity. Over and over in Scripture God seeks after us.

God goes looking for Adam and Eve.
God calls Abraham.
God tracks down Jacob.
God picks Moses.
God interrupts Jeremiah.
God chooses David.
God intrudes on Mary.
God shows up as a baby.
God gathers a band of disciples.
God goes to the cross.
God busts through death.
God calls you and me.

Or think of Jesus.

He told stories of a shepherd who beats the bushes to find one lost sheep, a women who turns her house upside down to find one lost coin, and a father who runs down the road to welcome his one lost son,

Or think of Jesus.

He picks Zacchaeus out of a tree,
He saddles up to two men walking on a road to Emmaus,
He enters a closed room of a bunch of uneasy and uncertain disciples.
He shows up on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and calls fishermen to follow.

May the news be that simple and that good:

Whether we’re rascals or recluses,
whether we’re impulsive or timid,
whether we think we’ve got it buttoned down or its all coming apart,
God seeks after us and calls us to follow.

I don’t know how God shows up in our lives. I know that sometimes I am too dense, self-absorbed, busy, or cynical to notice. Maybe there is something that gets in the way for you as well. But, I do know that the record of Scripture, played with a reformed hermeneutic, has a boldly struck chord. God comes after us!

In creation,
in covenant,
in Christ,
in cross,
in church,
in sacrament,
God comes after us!

Someday when you’re cleaning nets,

or looking for your brother,
or waiting for your lover,
or doing your best to make ends meet,
or burying the dead,
or buying the bread,
Jesus will show up and call you to follow.

May we have the ears to hear, and the courage to drop what we’re doing, and the hearts to follow.

Come Lord Jesus.

Amen.