A Pure Heart a Single Eye 1978

Psalm 27, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold, to see the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. When Jacob wrestled with the Lord at the fort of the Jabba, his eyes were probably shut half the time with pain, yet he described that night as the place and time where he saw God face to face. Seeing God is not a matter of curiosity, like, you know, did you ever see a flying saucer? I wish I could see somebody from outer space.

But when we see God, we change. Every time, during this age of grace, in any way that we see God, we absorb his nature. We are formed into his likeness.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding, seeing the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another by the Spirit of the Lord. Now, in this matter of seeing God, I believe that we have all settled for far, far less than we should. And for this reason, our lives are much duller and much weaker than they ought to be.

Every Spirit-born follower of Jesus ought to be a seer, a prophet, a person who sees God and, seeing God, sees everything else in terms of God. O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary.

This is not some idle prayer, but this is the doorway to life. For it is only when we, in some way, really begin to see God, that our bodies, as Jesus says, fill up with God's light and become lamps that radiate that light to the needy world around us. There is nothing that we have to offer the world, nothing that we can give in word or deed to the world, redemptively, unless we are walking in the light of a vision of God.

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is single, sound, your whole body is full of light. But when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness.

Therefore, be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If, then, your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright as when a lamp with its rays gives you light. So when is the eye single so that it can do this? When the eye of the heart and of the will and of the mind is fixed on God, so much so that it begins to absorb God's light and drink in and soak up God's mercy and God's nature.

It is the people who, in that way, see God, who have a word in season for him who is weary, who have a prayer that brings healing into a broken heart, who have a touch that brings life to a sick body, who have wisdom that comes from heaven, and who have the power to endure when everybody else misunderstands what they're doing, they keep right on going. They don't get better. I suppose one of the reasons why we're afraid of all this, and we are, most of us, if not all of us, is that we've seen so many sick minds that claim to have seen God, so many false prophets who claim to have seen God, and so many swollen egos who claim that they see God, that we say to ourselves, if I get into this thing too deep, I'll get like that too.

But the answer is, when you really see God, you will never make a production out of it. You'll never stand up before the assembly and make some big thing out of your vision, and you will only share your vision, if you ever do, when God gives you leave to do so. It's not important to advertise that we have seen God.

Once I begin to live before the face of God, I am no longer so worried about the eye of man. My fulfillment, my satisfaction, my joy, my life is God. I don't measure my worth in terms of whether people admire me or approve of me.

I'm settled on that. Now, there's only one reason why Jesus died on that cross and rose from the grave to watch away our sins, and there's only one reason why he comes into this assembly, as he comes into every assembly of believers on earth, in order that we might open our eyes to God. As he opened Peter's eyes, and Martha's eyes, and Mary's eyes, and John's eyes, I am the light of the world, he says.

He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life, and the light of life is a vision of God. But Jesus also makes very clear that to have this vision of God, we have to pursue. We have to seek.

It doesn't just come and hit you on the head. Somebody says, well, look, the apostle Paul wasn't looking for it, and it came. But it's obvious that the apostle Paul was following the light he had.

He was a seeker. Don't ever fool yourself. This man was a seeker long before he met Jesus on the Damascus road.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, and in order for us to see God, there has to be evidence that we're pure in heart, that we're seeking, asking it shall be given you. Seeking you shall find. Not that it shall be opened unto you.

O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee. When thou saidst, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. We have to seek the face of God in at least three ways.

First, we have to seek the face of God by purifying our own hearts. Beloved, we are God's children now. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. What does it mean to purify our hearts? It means to unclutter them, get rid of the distractions.

Another word is repentance, to turn away from those things which we know already are death to us. Now, God will make clear to us what's cluttering our hearts. He already has.

Praise his name, he doesn't throw it all to us at once, but already at this moment, there are specific things in each of our lives that he's putting his finger on as clutter. Now, the clutter in my heart may be different from the clutter in yours. One thing may be permissible for you that isn't for me, or vice versa, but he will make it clear exactly what that is.

And if we take that one thing that we become aware of, let's say today, or that we decide now we're going to do something about today, we begin to move. Create in me a clean heart, oh God. How can we pray that prayer unless we're willing that it should be no longer a heart that goes in five directions at once, a heart that is fixed on God, resting in him, at peace in him, inwardly settled on him? Secondly, we need to seek the face of God by drawing near to Jesus as we have never drawn near to him before.

Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father and we shall be satisfied. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. He is, Jesus is, the brightness of God's glory, the expressed image of his person, and we can know him far, far better than we know him now.

One of the most deadly things that happens to us is that we begin to think, I really know Jesus. I'm not like those other dummies. I know him.

And we stop at that. When we read the Gospels, there ought to be the prayer in our hearts every time, Lord, I want to know you better, help me, and he does. And when we pray, there needs to be the cultivation of the presence of Jesus in that room or wherever we are, praying, Lord, help me to discern your presence with me right now, so that it's not just repeating words or whatever it is, but that I'm really at that moment, in that place, having fellowship with Jesus that increases all the time.

And when we gather as we're gathered here right now, and especially as we come to the place where we break bread, we need, with our minds and wills, to discern the presence of the Lord among us. We need to commune with him, worship him, praise him, adore him, love him. This is where our life is, it's in the person of Jesus.

Jesus is the face of God. When we see him, we see God. And finally, we need to seek the face of God by drawing near to the needy.

And this, I think, is the place where the body of Christ on earth has made the biggest failure of it. All of us. Then the king said to those at his right hand, Come, O blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.

I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.

Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and feed thee? Or thirsty, and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger, and welcome thee? Or naked, and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick, or in prison, and visit thee? And the king will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. Now, these people were perhaps not conscious as they were feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked, and visiting the sick, that they were seeing God. But they were, for sure, answering a thirst in their hearts for God that was driving them out among the people in need.

It was as if they knew that they would have no peace unless they were out there. And it's true that it's so much easier to see God when we're among the people in need than anywhere else, because the people in need are God's special friends. For instance, if the rich man had spent some time with Lazarus at his gate, begging, if he had taken time with this man and just talked to him, and had he talked to him, he would have had to give him some food, surely, the rich man would have thus brought some light into his own dark soul.

So it adds up to this. If you're having trouble seeing the face of God, and as far as you can tell, you've done everything in your power to unclutter your heart, and you still can't see the face of God, as far as you know, you've used all the strength you have to draw near to Jesus, and you still can't see the face of God, then go out into the streets and lanes of Detroit, and draw near to the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind. Get near them.

Go out into the highways and hedges of the suburbs, and go out among the people who are being forgotten out there, too. And get near to them, and I guarantee you in Jesus' name that very, very soon your vision of Jesus will become clear, your heart will become uncluttered, and you will see God. Everybody has some vision that lights up her life or his life.

You know, maybe it's a vision of money, or a vision of what I'm going to make out of my children, or perhaps it's a vision of some great success that I hope to bring about eventually, or maybe it's some ultimate pleasure that just holds us like a magnet, like an obsession. But there is only one vision that can really move us and forever will renew our youth, and that's the vision of God. When we begin to see the goodness of God shining from the face of his son, Jesus, when we see that, we will live as his sons and daughters, we will do his will.

God help us to pursue that vision. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Let's pray.

Lord, we confess that so much running around that we do in the name of religion is completely void of light because we don't even know which way we're going. And we confess to you, Father, that so many of the things that aggravate us and get us mad are because we don't see you. And we pray that this day you would just help us to respond to your invitation to see and give us encouragement, Heavenly Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit to turn away from the idle distractions that have divided our hearts and see that seeing you, Lord God, we may begin to again absorb your mercy and relax in your love and then become firm and strong in doing of your goodness.

Father, we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.