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The Sermon for All Saints’ Day, Sunday, November 1st, 2026
The Lessons: Ecclesiasticus 44:1-14; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:15-23; Matthew 5:1-12
The Text: Matthew 5:8
INTRODUCTION
In his book The Moral Intelligence of Children, Harvard professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Coles writes:
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Character is higher than intellect.” Marian, a student of mine several years ago, much admired Emerson. She had arrived at Harvard from the Midwest and was trying to work her way through college by cleaning the rooms of her fellow students. Again and again, she met classmates who had forgotten the meaning of please, or thank you, no matter their high SAT scores. They did not hesitate to be rude, even crude toward her. One day she was not so subtly propositioned by a young man she knew to be very bright. She quit her job and was preparing to quit going to school. Full of anxiety and anger, she came to see me. “I’ve been taking all these philosophy courses,” she said to me at one point, and we talk about what’s true, what’s important, what’s good. Well, how do you teach people to be good?”
The answer to that question, according to the Bible, is not education, but conversion. No one can learn to be genuinely good, for only God is perfectly good. The light of true goodness dawns in the heart only when God shines there.[1]
THE BEATITUDES
In our Gospel Lesson today, we have the beatitudes spoken by the Lord Jesus to his disciples, and they provide for us a picture of the saintly life of a disciple of the Lord and the new nature which his Holy Spirit gives to the believer through rebirth (John 3:3, 5; 1 John 3:9). The Beatitudes of our Lord, William Barclay wrote, are not so much religious hopes of what will be, nor glowing but vague promises of future bliss, but congratulations on what is.[2] A beatitude is here equivalent to a Hebrew exclamation translatable as “O the blessedness of….!” Through this we know that our Lord was pronouncing divine approval and blessing on a series of qualities or characteristics of those who belong to God’s kingdom.
PURITY OF HEART
Today we consider closely just one of these characteristics of those in God’s kingdom, the virtue of being pure in heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ proclaims, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8, KJV). This beatitude reflects, but expresses more clearly, insights we find in the Psalms. For instance, in Ps. 15, the answer to the question of who may dwell in the Lord’s presence, or on his holy hill, is given as the person who lives rightly, does what is right and speaks the truth from his heart (Psalm 15:2), among other virtues. In Ps. 24, the answer to the question of who may ascend God’s hill or stand in his holy place is the one “that hath clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:4a, KJV).
In the spiritual realm, the Holy Spirit requires our cooperation to rid our lives of all that is sinful and unnecessary, all that hampers our growth in God’s kingdom. The great makeover in our lives is done by the Holy Spirit, working with our willingness, and working at times in ways we do not see. He is the One who cleans house and transforms our lives into an astonishingly successful makeover! He is the one who creates in us a pure heart.
What, then, is a pure heart? The Greek word for “pure” (katharoi), it has been pointed out, was used in different senses:
- Originally, it meant “clean.” It could be used of clothes which had been washed clean.
- It was extensively used of corn which had been winnowed or sifted and cleansed of all chaff; in the same way, it could refer to an army purged of all discontents and inferior soldiers.
- It appeared along with another Greek adjective, “akeratos.” This word was used of milk or wine not mixed with water, or metal without any alloy.
The essence of a pure heart is a mind unmixed with impure motives, free from evil, whole-hearted in its devotion to the Lord, and sincere. This concept is also expressed by our Lord in Luke 11:34-36, his sayings concerning the eye as the light of the body, the eye really being a metaphor for the soul, or spirit, of a person. In that teaching, when the eye is single, the whole body is full of light. By “single” is meant “sincere, whole-hearted and pure in love for God.”
William Walsham How, the bishop who wrote Hymn 126, “For all the saints,” described how a minister should be: “a man pure, holy, and spotless in his life; a man of much prayer; in character meek, lowly.”[3] This, indeed, is how the Christian ought to be also, single-minded in his devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. This purity of heart is shown by our words and actions. In this regard, the Lord Jesus Christ also said:
For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
(Luke 6:43-45, KJV)
St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430) quotes the warning of St. Ambrose on this subject, “the man or woman who does not want to see God will not see Him. God is not seen in any place except the clean heart.”[4] St. Augustine adds that if one does not devote oneself to the kind of spiritual work needed to continually cleanse the heart – that is, to free oneself from worldly thinking and pursuits which result in spiritual darkness and fleshly lusts – then one does not really want to see God.
A WAY TO PURITY OF HEART
How, then, do we have the purity of heart by which we shall see God?
To do this, we begin with faith and repentance, as we began our Christian life. It is impossible to see God if one does not please God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), the writer of the Hebrews warns us.
- Faith, or trust, in God is necessary, for we must both believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
- Secondly, we must live a life of righteousness, peace, and holiness, since “without holiness no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:6)
- Thirdly, we must take captive and banish from our minds every disobedient and sinful thought (2 Corinthians 10:5)
- Fourthly, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit, rejoicing in the Lord, giving him praise and thanks in all things and for all things (Ephesians 5:18-20)
- Fifthly, we should seek the Lord’s presence in prayer, calling upon Him, waiting on Him, and listening to His word.
CONCLUSION
No great saint ever found it easy to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and to be pure in heart. Will you take the steps outlined above, and follow Christ faithfully and single-mindedly all your life?
[1] p. 88, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers from Craig Brian Larson and Leadership Journal. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Bakerbooks, 2002. Second Printing, 2008.
[2] p. 102, William Barclay: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume One. Louisville, London: Westminster John Knox Press, William Barclay Estate, 1975, 2001.
[3] p. 99, Robert J. Morgan: Then Sings my Soul, Book Two. Nashville, Tennessee: Nelson Reference & Electronic, 2004.
[4] See pp. 73-74, David Hazard: Early will I seek you. A 40-Day Journey in the Company of Augustine, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House Publishers, 1991.