Pieces of the Puzzle

¹ The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it,
the world and its inhabitants too.
² Because God is the one who established it on the seas;
God set it firmly on the waters.
³ Who can ascend the LORD’s mountain?
Who can stand in his holy sanctuary?
⁴ Only the one with clean hands and a pure heart;
the one who hasn’t made false promises,
the one who hasn’t sworn dishonestly.
⁵ That kind of person receives blessings from the LORD
and righteousness from the God who saves.
⁶ And that’s how things are
with the generation that seeks him—
that seeks the face of Jacob’s God. ~Psalms 24:1-6

Psalm 24 reminds us that the earth belongs to God, and so do we. With that truth comes responsibility—to care for creation and for each other. The psalm also asks, “Who may stand before the Lord?” The answer? “Those with clean hands and pure hearts.”

On Sunday, we celebrated Scout Sunday, reflecting on these values of stewardship, service, and honor. The Scout Oath and Law call young people to live with integrity, to help others, and to be reverent. These same principles are at the core of our faith – because living a life that honors God isn’t just about what we believe; it is about how we live.

But what does this look like in our daily lives? How do we live with clean hands – serving others with purpose? How do we cultivate pure hearts – loving God fully and loving our neighbors with sincerity?

For that answer, we turn to the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. When asked what commandment is the greatest, Jesus does not respond with a long list of rules or religious rituals. Instead, he gives us something deep yet simple.

“Love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.”

If Psalm 24 calls us to have clean hands and pure hearts, then Matthew 22 shows us what that truly means: our hands are meant to serve, and our hearts are meant to love…

³⁶ “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
³⁷ He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” ~Matthew 22:36-40

Sometimes, we care a lot about how we look on the outside – what we wear, what we say, and what other people think about us. It is like spending all our time cleaning a mirror to make it shiny, but never actually getting ourselves ready. But Psalm 24 reminds us that what really matters is what is inside – having clean hands and a pure heart.

Now, let’s think about work gloves. Gloves aren’t meant to stay clean. A brand-new pair of gloves sitting on a shelf look nice, but they aren’t fulfilling their purpose. Gloves are meant to get dirty, worn, and used for work. They are meant for planting gardens, building homes, helping others – they are meant for service.

Our faith isn’t about looking good – it is about getting our hands to work in service. That is exactly what Jesus tells us in Matthew 22: love God with everything you have, and love your neighbor as yourself. That love isn’t just a feeling – it’s an action. Just like a pair of gloves isn’t useful unless it is used for work, our faith isn’t complete unless it is put into action through serving others and living with integrity.

Psalm 24 tells us that only those with clean hands and pure hearts may stand before God. But clean hands don’t mean hands that have never touched dirt. They mean hands that have worked, helped, and served. Hands that have been used for Good.
Scouts have a simple slogan: “Do a Good Turn Daily.” It is a reminder that acts of service don’t have to be big projects, big sacrifices, or life-changing actions.

But often, love is seen in the small things. Holding the door for someone. Saying thank you and showing kindness. Sitting with someone who is alone. Picking up trash, even if you didn’t drip it. Calling a friend or relative who might be lonely. You don’t need to change the whole world to show love – you just need to change a moment for someone.

One day, a man was walking down the street when he saw a young boy helping an older man carry groceries to his car. The boy wasn’t asked – he just saw someone struggling and stepped in. The man watching smiles and said, “that was very kind of you!” The boy shrugged and said, “IT’s just what we are supposed to do, right?”

If clean hands mean serving with purpose, then a pure heart means serving with the right motives. Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Loving God isn’t just about believing the right things – its about giving our hearts fully to God in everything we do.

Do we help others so that people will see us? Do we do good things only when we will get something in return? Or do we love and serve because God loves us first Sometimes, we get so caught up in how we look or what we get out of it that we forget the real purpose of love and service. 1 Corinthians 13:3 says, “If I give away everything that I have and hand over my own body to feel good about what I’ve done but I don’t have love, I receive no benefit whatsoever.” Serving without love is just empty action.

We have spent time looking at Psalm 24’s call to have clean hands and pure hearts and Jesus’ command in Matthew 22 to love God and love our neighbor. Now we will bring it all together.
In Matthew 22:40, Jesus says, “All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
This means that everything God has ever taught us – every command, every law, every act of worship – boils down to two things: Loving God with all we are and loving others as ourselves. It is that simple. If we get this right, everything else falls into place. But here is the challenge. We can do a lot of things right and still miss the point if we don’t love.

We can attend church every Sunday but if we don’t love our neighbor, we have missed the point. We can pray beautiful prayers but if we refuse to help someone in need, we have missed the point. We can know every Bible verse by heart, but if we don’t show kindness, patience, and generosity, we have missed the point. We can follow all the rules but if our hearts aren’t filled with love for God and others, we have missed the point. This is why Jesus places love at the center of our faith. Without it, everything else is empty.

Let’s return to the work gloves analogy. If we leave our gloves on a shelf, clean and unused, they serve no purpose. If we only wear them to look the part but never do the work, we aren’t really serving. But if we put them on, get to work, and serve with love, we are fulfilling our purpose. This is what Jesus calls us to do.

Are we just polishing the mirror – worried about how we appear to others? Or are we putting on our gloves and getting to work – showing love in action? Faith is meant to be lived out. Our love for God is meant to be seen in how we treat others. Clean hands and pure hearts aren’t about being perfect. They are about being willing to serve, love, and follow God with sincerity.

We began today with a question from Psalm 24: “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?” And we found our answer: Those with clean hands and pure hearts. Then, we heard the words of Jesus in Matthew 22: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” This is what truly matters. This is what we are called to do. But where do we go from here? How do we actually live this out?

The Scout motto is “Be Prepared.” A scout is always ready – ready to help, ready to serve, ready to do what is needed. As followers of Christ, we must also be prepared – prepared to love when it is inconvenient, prepared to serve when it is not easy, prepared to answer when God calls. Being prepared doesn’t mean waiting for a big, perfect opportunity – it means being ready every day to do good wherever we are. Are we prepared to love? Are we prepared to serve? Are we prepared to live as Jesus taught?

The Cub Scout motto is “Do Your Best.” Jesus doesn’t ask us to be perfect – he asks us to do our best. Loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind doesn’t mean we have to get everything right – it means we give our best effort every day. Loving our neighbor doesn’t mean we always have to do something huge – it means we do what we can, when we can, with a willing heart.

So the challenge is simple:

Do your best to serve. Do your best to love. Do your best to live as Jesus calls us to.

Imagine what our world would look like if every person committed to: Keeping their hands clean by using them for service. Keeping their hearts pure by filling them with love. Being prepared to answer when God calls. Doing their best to love God and love their neighbor. If we lived this way, we wouldn’t just hear the greatest commandments – we would live them.

So, let’s make a commitment:

With our hands, we will serve. With our hearts, we will love. We will be prepared. We will do our best.

And when we do, we will truly be the kind of people God calls us to be. Amen.