Have you ever been on the outside looking in at a turbulent situation and seen these two groups of people.
Whether it is a financial problem, or a health scare, maybe an industry is on the outs, or whatever.
There are usually two camps in these situations, the worriers and the calm people.
And I say USUALLY, because that is not always the case, sometimes NO ONE is calm and EVERYONE is in a panic.
Well, if you look closely when you are in the middle of "the mess", the same to camps are there in your situation too.
And here's the thing campers, you are one or the other. You are the one who is calm and collected or you are the one who has LOST IT.
If I took a poll most of us would say we are the calm ones right, everyone wants to seem like the cool one in a tense situation, but tell the truth, we worry right? We freak out when things start to go south.
Now, each one of us expresses it in a different way and each one of us has his or her own tipping point, but we all freak out.
We all worry.
And there are some things that other people worry about and they panic and YOU or I just think, “Are you serious? Is THAT really such a big deal?”
And that's usually our reaction when it's something trivial to you or to me, then we're like, “come on man, Get a Grip!”
But what is trivial to us is important to someone, and the things that would push the panic button in our lives may seem silly to other people.
The point is: we all panic we all stress, we all WORRY about something.
And Andy Stanley, a pastor down at North Point Community Church in Georgia, points out that a lot of people help to feed our worry.
For example, on the occasions where our life is in a storm, with the Job or family or whatever, in those times when you haven’t panicked, in those times for whatever reason you just felt completely tuned into where God has you.
And when everything has been peaceful in your heart, you may have found this to be true –
People think you are crazy, or maybe clueless to the reality of the situation because you aren't panicking and going screaming into the night with them.
Our peace doesn't make sense to the mob of worrywarts.
So, they want to clue us in and say things like:
- Don't you realize that they're talking about layoffs?
- Don't you get it? If little Johnny doesn't get that 4.0 he can kiss that acceptance letter from ______________ University goodbye.
- Don't you see? If candidate B wins, this whole country is going to the garbage can, we'll all be speaking pig Latin by next March!
What they are forgetting when they come up against our peace, and what we are forgetting when WE go into panic mode is a point that Pastor Mark Saunders down at Baylife Church in Brandon, Florida makes — it’s that no matter what is going on, God is in the mess with us.
Car’s broke? God’s there.
Divorce pending? God is there.
Kids are out of control? God’s there.
Can’t keep a job, can’t find a job, need a different job? God is there.
Cancer, addiction, AIDS, Baby’s got Down Syndrome? GOD IS THERE.
God’s in the mess with us!
I'm not saying your turmoil in life is not tragic. I'm not saying that you should go around acting like all is well when all seems like Hell.
What I am saying is what Jesus tells us: If we are His, then He will never leave us and He will never forsake us, Amen?
Do you believe that today? Are you living in that faith today?
Let's turn to Matthew 6:25-34 and before we read let's pray...
UNPACK: who’s talking, who’s the audience.
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
UNPACK: First off, let's keep this in perspective. If we are occupying our time with these worries, about food and drink about clothing - What Jesus seems to think of as senseless worries - than we are not concerning ourselves with the more important issues in life; and the most important issue of the life after this one.
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
UNPACK: Here Jesus points out His care for the insignificant things of life and says DON"T YOU GET IT! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MORE THAN THESE THINGS.
Another point, Scriptures tell us all creation serves the purpose of revealing God to an unbelieving world so that they are without an excuse. (Romans 1:20)
But to believers, Jesus shows us how WE can still look to creation for reminders of His greatness.
The next time you are on the riverfront or in the park and you see a couple of birds flying around, allow it to remind you of God's provision for your needs.
Brother's and sister's you will have enough to eat.
Food, shelter and clothing will not always fall into our laps, if we have the ability to work, that is part of God's provision to get you food and shelter and clothing.
If we are unable, He gives us the one another's in the church, and He gives us the humility to ask for help and He gives those with plenty the ability to help their brothers and sisters.
There is still effort involved on our part, amen?
Read
Proverbs 6:6-9 (New International Version)
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
Moving On...
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more
clothe you, O you of little faith?
UNPACK: Again, we see so many lessons in just a few verses. Not only does Jesus tell us that we are more valuable than the lilies, so we need not worry for our provision, but He also gives us a gentle reminder about the lack of permanence that we have and the foolishness of striving for the next better thing.
Remember that not only does the beauty of a flower have a short season here on the earth, but we do too. If we strive for the nicest and best new clothes, than we are striving for the wrong thing.
As this message stair steps on the last message, we learn not to make clothes or anything here our treasure. We must not make stuff the focus of our heart!
Because you can spend your whole day thinking about the next outfit or the next new shoes, but you don't know how long you have left.
What a vain (fruitless) and vain (full of ourselves) endeavor to pursue stuff instead of God.
We may be looking for the nice new shirt and worrying about how to get it — not knowing that at the end of the day my friend Josh might be fitting us for our casket clothes at the funeral home.
And what's more, Solomon had all the riches in the world, but his clothes still couldn't match the beauty of the flowers in the field.
Again it goes back to last week. There's always something better around the corner when it comes to materials, so these THINGS will never satisfy. You could have riches like Solomon and still see someone, or something dressed better. So don't look to that stuff for satisfaction!
31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these
things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
UNPACK: Once more, Jesus reminds us, WE ARE DIFFERENT - WE ARE COUNTER-CULTURAL - WE REFLECT A DIFFERENT REALITY stop being like the pagans, otherwise they will never see us as set apart from the world and they will never be drawn in to the fold.
People aren't intrigued by people who are like them.
But you are going to draw a crowd for Christ if you are the one person in your family or in your work place that isn't loosing their mind in a crisis.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well.
UNPACK: Do we need to go over this again? Seek FIRST His kingdom, not the house not the car, not the stuff, not the next girlfriend, not the next boyfriend, not the next husband or wife.
No, Make Christ your treasure and pursue Him as you would a treasure.
One of the cliché’s among recovery groups for many kinds of addiction is that if an addict would pursue God as diligently as he or she pursued the next fix, or the next drink, then they would be sober in no time.
Seek first the Kingdom, Go after the things of God like an addict searching for the next hit. To an addict, that is their single-minded focus. It takes precedence over ALL OTHER THINGS.
Worries about food and shelter and clothing all go by the wayside.
The difference is our fix is the things of God and our fix brings eternal life, Amen. And God promises us that if we seek Him first, all our other needs will be met as a surplus of His love.
These things like food shelter and clothing are like the parsley, the garnish on the plate where we find what we really need - His mercy and grace.
These things that we turn into the BIG stuff of life are little details, they are the extras, the set dressing. They are NOT what this life is all about.
Then Jesus ends this point and we end Chapter six with another amazing verse...
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
This is beautiful get this. Again, we don't know that we'll be around here tomorrow. The next breath you take could be your last. So don't waste your time dwelling on the "what if's" and the "oh, I hope's" that own us sometimes.
Stop writing scripts in your head about future confrontations stop trying to figure out all the right moves to get what you want to happen next week. Just find rest, find peace, in the place God has you NOW.
We say: What about this problem that's coming down the pike?
Lamentations 3:22-23 (New International Version) responds:
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
In other words, He is NOT going to let you perish. But also, you don't have His mercies, His grace, His compassion for tomorrow, that isn't in your vault yet, just hold to the mercies that are yours today. And walk, through the mess of today knowing all the while that: GOD IS WITH YOU IN THAT MESS.
Let's sum it up and get you home: Worrying about things like our food and shelter and clothing is not only a waste of time it is also a clear sign of a lack of faith. And, spring boarding from last week's message, worries reveal where our hearts are.
We need to be on guard. A worry that is more than a fleeting concern or one that does not go away with a quick reminder of God's provision or a worry that we try to justify to ourselves or to others may be like the canary in the coal mine.
That bird is a harbinger of worse things to come.
And let me make another note here from Scriptures.
Not all CONCERN is sinful or a sign of a lack of faith. There seems to be a distinct difference between Concern and Worry in the Bible.
The things we've been given stewardship of require a healthy level of concern.
In Acts, Paul warns the church leaders to watch out for the wolves who might disrupt the teaching of the Word and the spreading of the Gospel.
Acts 20:27-31 (New International Version)
27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy
Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31 So be on your guard!
And in Proverbs, we are told to keep an eye on our actual flocks
Proverbs 27:23-27 (New International Version)
23 Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,
give careful attention to your herds;
24 for riches do not endure forever,
and a crown is not secure for all generations.
25 When the hay is removed and new growth appears
and the grass from the hills is gathered in,
26 the lambs will provide you with clothing,
and the goats with the price of a field.
27 You will have plenty of goats' milk
to feed you and your family
and to nourish your servant girls.
In our culture, this could be being good workers in our jobs, tending to them with excellence. Or if you are in school, keeping up with your studies and improving your grades, because the work we do now pay dividends later.
Parents, yes we should concern yourself with your kids, but not to be to the point that it paralyzes you or the family.
My friend calls this "paralysis by analysis" and I think that is so perfect. Because what worry does; it makes us keep that junk in our heads instead of giving it over to prayer or doing the work that God has allowed us to do to make a way through the mess.
Don't swing to the other side either. The other ditch is total lack of concern. Laziness is equated to foolishness throughout the Old Testament.
And here's a way of bringing it forward to where we live today.
The truth is, there are many worries in our life. But where we see worry most in the world today displays our heart.
Our NEEDS have been met and now we find our minds filled with unrighteous worry about getting the wants.
There are times when there are the worries for the next meal, or about where we will sleep tonight. But where it touches the heart of many
Americans year after year, day after day and night after sleepless night, is the times we worry about the promotion, or getting the right stuff for Christmas (for ourselves or to give to others).
We worry about next newer bigger better car or house, we worry about fitting in, in the fashion or what others will think about us (That is one of the number one killers of our ability to evangelism).
We worry about our kid's social standing or athletic abilities. Beyond concerning ourselves rightly about our children's education - we worry about perfect grades or getting into the RIGHT school.
That is all the trivial. None of that will matter in a hundred years.
Again, I don't want to make light of your troubles, I certainly don't want you to laugh off my worries either.
But, can you and I. Can WE stop letting this stuff own us? It is fruitless, it is usually harmful and it takes our eyes off the goal, to seek the Kingdom and His righteousness.
Let's pray...
Aug 30, 2009
Matthew 6:19-24 — Series on the Mount #24
Welcome. Please turn in you Bibles to Matthew 6: 19-24. We’re going to start tonight by just reading through our Scripture passage — were going to read it, then talk a bit, then pick it apart…
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
When I was a kid I was in an awful heavy metal band. I wasn’t any good, but I loved to play and I loved guitars. Les Paul’s, Stratocasters, Flying V’s. I loved them and I spent a ton of my time thinking about them (when I wasn’t thinking about girls).
Then I matured, and I began getting into photography. This was an area where I had more talent than in my music, and in a similar fashion, I saw all of this great equipment, large format cameras, Hasselblad medium formats and a Canons and Nikons with all of the necessary lenses and lighting and the works. And I spent a lot of my time, many hours of thought and most of my money on that stuff.
Then I “grew up” and I spent time money and thought on cars, and eventually a house.
And what was true about the guitars that I spent my money on and what was true about all of the photography equipment is also true about the cars and the house.
What was true is that as soon as something is bought it begins to deteriorate.
All of those things eventually fall apart, wear out, get stolen, get wrecked or just loose their appeal because the next “newer and better thing” has come out.
I got a Les Paul guitar, but it was a cheap version of one, the only one we could afford and it never stayed in tune.
My older brother surprised me with a Fender Stratocaster, but it got stolen out of my wife’s car in St. Louis.
I got a Hasselblad camera, the envy of all my friends, but it wore out and it lost favor as the photo world went digital, and it was only good for film.
Four of my cars have been totaled, two more just up and died on us and the rest have just been reliable wheels that have left me longing after the new models that come out each year.
I mean, have you seen the new Camaro? Anyway, you get what I’m talking about, right.
All of those things were not necessarily bad, but each of them became the focus of my attention. They became my treasure, which occupied my time, my thoughts and my heart. And with that being true, that’s where my money went too.
And that’s just the stuff, the things, the materials.
There is also a beautiful wife, then a wonderful little boy, and those two also became focal points in my thoughts and heart.
And we’ve talked about not allowing relationships become ultimate, that is important, but Jesus seems to be addressing stuff here more than people, so we will too.
The big idea of this passage, is that if your life’s pursuit is to gain, more stuff, or more money, or the next bigger and better whatever, or the next better paying job to finance more stuff, more money and more bigger and better things, then watch out.
If that is your pursuit; if those things are your pursuits, if those are the goals that drive you, things will eventually come down around you.
I know I’m not the only one who has faced this, your pursuit may not have been more musical instruments or photo equipment.
For you it may have been golf stuff, or motorcycle stuff, or for you it may have been more and more education, or animals, or computers, or video games.
Or for you it may have just been more cash. Maybe you have seen the devastating problems that come with poverty, so for you the pursuit is simply more and more money because you think that will safe guard you. And you’re tucking it away in a bank or diversifying in stocks or maybe stuffing into a mattress.
And if you are like me, you can justify almost any of this stuff.
— It’s necessary for my profession.
— It’s for the kids.
— The old one’s not cutting it anymore
— It was too good of a deal to pass up…
Or you may be more honest.
— This looked so cool in the store.
— I saw my neighbor with one and I wanted it
— It just makes me feel good to get something new…
The point here for you and the point here for me really the point that Jesus wants to make to any of us that want to follow Him
or are trying to follow Him,
or are contemplating the idea of following Him
The point is this:
If you are living your life to gain anything other than a deeper relationship with Christ,
If you and I make anything more important than God, then we will eventually have to choose which we will pursue and leave the other by the wayside.
Toward the end of this passage Jesus gives us the simple but profound statement: “No one can serve two masters.”
But before we get to that lets start from the top, at verse 19.
Before that though let’s pray…
GOD says, – 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
(UNPACK) Treasure - th_-sau-ro's, things that we lay up in our treasury, we mainly see this in our money, but it can really be anything that you value deeply.
And this is true for us whether we think of ourselves as rich or poor. Your treasure may be big and expensive or small and cheap, but as Martin Lloyd Jones said, “if it is everything to you, that is your treasure, that is the thing for which you are living.”
Your car, your jewelry, your house, whatever; Jesus says to us, I know you like that new car, but just so you now, the metal is already corroding, the paint is already fading… Everything on this earth is deteriorating.
Even cash, loses value as the market fluctuates and consumer behaviors shift.
The things of this world that we focus on and look to for fulfillment have already begun the cycle in which they will eventually stop satisfying us. So…
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
(UNPACK) Now, this is where we move from preaching to meddling in your life.
How do we store up treasures in Heaven? We can’t actually send money to our new earth home and ask Jesus to put a Camaro on layaway for us. What does it look like in our lives to store up treasures in Heaven?
Well, I found out that is you look to five respected commentators on this, you will get as many different answers, so instead we will go to the bible for our answer.
Keep your finger in Matthew 6 and turn ahead to 1 Timothy 6:17-19 Where Paul explains to the young church leader how to address the rich people in the congregation.
And before you say, “Good, that’s fine for the rich, but I’m not rich.”
I would answer this applies to all of us. Just like I said last week about giving to the needy. There is always someone worse off than you. And to them we are rich. So Paul tells Timothy:
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Now turn back to Matthew 6:21
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew Henry breaks this down like this, and I can’t say it any better:
"Where the treasure is, there our cares and fears are, lest we come short of it; about that we are most solicitous (expressing an attitude of concern; paying very close attention to the details); there our hope and trust are; there our joys and delights will be; and there our thoughts will be, there the inward thought will be, the first thought, the free thought, the fixed thought, the frequent, the familiar thought.”
Moving On…
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
You’re not alone if this is a confusing piece. Pastor Mark Vroegop at College Park Church in Indianapolis studied this passage and points out that the eye was often times a symbol for expressing goals and the body, life, so with that in mind we can re-read the passage:
22 "The goals are the lamp of the life. If your goals are good, your whole life will be full of light. 23 But if your goals are bad, your whole life will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
In other words, if your goals are self focused and not God focused, if our goals are all about our comfort, our pleasure, our wants, our glory then that is a life lived in the darkness. And darkness is not what we are here to show the world people!
We are the light, the city on the hill, we shine God’s light in the darkness and emptiness of this world. So, if we pursue our stuff, we stop ourselves from carrying on the mission that we are called to.
With that understanding, let’s move into…
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Now, you may be used to the other translation of Mammon, instead of Money. The word here is not cash in and of itself, but the placing of cash as the number one priority, or even placing the things that Money gets us. It is a warning against making Stuff our God.
It is not a matter of being rich. Again Martin Lloyd Jones said it is not wealth, but our relationship to that wealth that we need to keep an eye on.
So what’s this look like?
This passage doesn’t tell us to sell everything we have and give it all to the poor. But what we do glean is the fact that many of us (myself included) have spent a majority of our time tending to our own wants and needs and to what we like to think of as our security, (our rainy day funds, our retirement plans)
And we’ve tried to make sure that our kids want for nothing and that our wives and husbands get to have the things that their hearts desire — from that new cell phone to another vacation.
And all the while we pass by the needy who are within our reach, and we neglect the support of our local churches, and we make excuses for not helping the charities that do more as an organization than individuals could or are willing to do separately.
And maybe because we also treasure our comfort and conveniences, we waste the resources of this planet, we defy calls to steward this planet well — at least our little pocket of it — and we add to the negative environmental impacts that affect people across the globe.
What this looks like is what nearly every teaching has looked like. PUT GOD FIRST. First in your giving, first in your spending, first in your saving, first in your loving, first in your thinking.
God First. God First. God First.
One last thought. The thing we choose to pursue, it eventually gets easier and easier to pursue that thing as we make the next decision — and the next — and the next.
And with each decision to follow that thing, whether it is Christ or the stuff of the world, the thing that we don’t choose begins to seem less and less like a choice.
Brothers and sisters, what Jesus challenges us with in this passage and what I would challenge you with is, make the choice TONIGHT to begin pursuing Christ the ultimate treasure in Heaven.
And remember Our Lord is just that. He is the Lord, the King. He is God and He doesn’t want to be second or third or wherever He falls in our list of priorities.
He demands that we put him first in all things.
This may sound cheesy, and you may not like to do the group participation thing, but I’m gonna have Andy pass out these little slips of paper and pencils and I want you to write on the paper, what it is that you have been pursuing more than Jesus.
You aren’t turning these in to me I want you to keep it somewhere that you will be reminded this week. Maybe put it on your bathroom mirror, maybe tape it to your dashboard, maybe put it in your wallet. Whatever; just put it somewhere that is hard to miss.
And the first blank is for your name. Personalize this message. This sermon isn’t for your husband or your wife, or your kids or your parents. This sermon isn’t for your annoying coworker; it’s for you.
Own this message. Apply it to YOUR life.
So the first blank is your name and the second is the thing that you’ve been making ultimate before God.
“____________________, you cannot serve both God and __________________________________.”
Your second blank may be the next car, or the next camera, it may be the next degree, or the next house, it may be the next job, or the next promotion, it may be the next computer or the next video game, it may be the next set of season tickets or it may simply be more and more cash. Or it may be something that I haven’t mentioned.
Like I said, this passage deals heavily with stuff, but if your blank is best filled in with your kids or your spouse or your boss or your addiction or your lust, or your self esteem then so be it.
Remember this should be personal and it should be specific.
Let’s pray…
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
When I was a kid I was in an awful heavy metal band. I wasn’t any good, but I loved to play and I loved guitars. Les Paul’s, Stratocasters, Flying V’s. I loved them and I spent a ton of my time thinking about them (when I wasn’t thinking about girls).
Then I matured, and I began getting into photography. This was an area where I had more talent than in my music, and in a similar fashion, I saw all of this great equipment, large format cameras, Hasselblad medium formats and a Canons and Nikons with all of the necessary lenses and lighting and the works. And I spent a lot of my time, many hours of thought and most of my money on that stuff.
Then I “grew up” and I spent time money and thought on cars, and eventually a house.
And what was true about the guitars that I spent my money on and what was true about all of the photography equipment is also true about the cars and the house.
What was true is that as soon as something is bought it begins to deteriorate.
All of those things eventually fall apart, wear out, get stolen, get wrecked or just loose their appeal because the next “newer and better thing” has come out.
I got a Les Paul guitar, but it was a cheap version of one, the only one we could afford and it never stayed in tune.
My older brother surprised me with a Fender Stratocaster, but it got stolen out of my wife’s car in St. Louis.
I got a Hasselblad camera, the envy of all my friends, but it wore out and it lost favor as the photo world went digital, and it was only good for film.
Four of my cars have been totaled, two more just up and died on us and the rest have just been reliable wheels that have left me longing after the new models that come out each year.
I mean, have you seen the new Camaro? Anyway, you get what I’m talking about, right.
All of those things were not necessarily bad, but each of them became the focus of my attention. They became my treasure, which occupied my time, my thoughts and my heart. And with that being true, that’s where my money went too.
And that’s just the stuff, the things, the materials.
There is also a beautiful wife, then a wonderful little boy, and those two also became focal points in my thoughts and heart.
And we’ve talked about not allowing relationships become ultimate, that is important, but Jesus seems to be addressing stuff here more than people, so we will too.
The big idea of this passage, is that if your life’s pursuit is to gain, more stuff, or more money, or the next bigger and better whatever, or the next better paying job to finance more stuff, more money and more bigger and better things, then watch out.
If that is your pursuit; if those things are your pursuits, if those are the goals that drive you, things will eventually come down around you.
I know I’m not the only one who has faced this, your pursuit may not have been more musical instruments or photo equipment.
For you it may have been golf stuff, or motorcycle stuff, or for you it may have been more and more education, or animals, or computers, or video games.
Or for you it may have just been more cash. Maybe you have seen the devastating problems that come with poverty, so for you the pursuit is simply more and more money because you think that will safe guard you. And you’re tucking it away in a bank or diversifying in stocks or maybe stuffing into a mattress.
And if you are like me, you can justify almost any of this stuff.
— It’s necessary for my profession.
— It’s for the kids.
— The old one’s not cutting it anymore
— It was too good of a deal to pass up…
Or you may be more honest.
— This looked so cool in the store.
— I saw my neighbor with one and I wanted it
— It just makes me feel good to get something new…
The point here for you and the point here for me really the point that Jesus wants to make to any of us that want to follow Him
or are trying to follow Him,
or are contemplating the idea of following Him
The point is this:
If you are living your life to gain anything other than a deeper relationship with Christ,
If you and I make anything more important than God, then we will eventually have to choose which we will pursue and leave the other by the wayside.
Toward the end of this passage Jesus gives us the simple but profound statement: “No one can serve two masters.”
But before we get to that lets start from the top, at verse 19.
Before that though let’s pray…
GOD says, – 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
(UNPACK) Treasure - th_-sau-ro's, things that we lay up in our treasury, we mainly see this in our money, but it can really be anything that you value deeply.
And this is true for us whether we think of ourselves as rich or poor. Your treasure may be big and expensive or small and cheap, but as Martin Lloyd Jones said, “if it is everything to you, that is your treasure, that is the thing for which you are living.”
Your car, your jewelry, your house, whatever; Jesus says to us, I know you like that new car, but just so you now, the metal is already corroding, the paint is already fading… Everything on this earth is deteriorating.
Even cash, loses value as the market fluctuates and consumer behaviors shift.
The things of this world that we focus on and look to for fulfillment have already begun the cycle in which they will eventually stop satisfying us. So…
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
(UNPACK) Now, this is where we move from preaching to meddling in your life.
How do we store up treasures in Heaven? We can’t actually send money to our new earth home and ask Jesus to put a Camaro on layaway for us. What does it look like in our lives to store up treasures in Heaven?
Well, I found out that is you look to five respected commentators on this, you will get as many different answers, so instead we will go to the bible for our answer.
Keep your finger in Matthew 6 and turn ahead to 1 Timothy 6:17-19 Where Paul explains to the young church leader how to address the rich people in the congregation.
And before you say, “Good, that’s fine for the rich, but I’m not rich.”
I would answer this applies to all of us. Just like I said last week about giving to the needy. There is always someone worse off than you. And to them we are rich. So Paul tells Timothy:
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Now turn back to Matthew 6:21
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew Henry breaks this down like this, and I can’t say it any better:
"Where the treasure is, there our cares and fears are, lest we come short of it; about that we are most solicitous (expressing an attitude of concern; paying very close attention to the details); there our hope and trust are; there our joys and delights will be; and there our thoughts will be, there the inward thought will be, the first thought, the free thought, the fixed thought, the frequent, the familiar thought.”
Moving On…
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
You’re not alone if this is a confusing piece. Pastor Mark Vroegop at College Park Church in Indianapolis studied this passage and points out that the eye was often times a symbol for expressing goals and the body, life, so with that in mind we can re-read the passage:
22 "The goals are the lamp of the life. If your goals are good, your whole life will be full of light. 23 But if your goals are bad, your whole life will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
In other words, if your goals are self focused and not God focused, if our goals are all about our comfort, our pleasure, our wants, our glory then that is a life lived in the darkness. And darkness is not what we are here to show the world people!
We are the light, the city on the hill, we shine God’s light in the darkness and emptiness of this world. So, if we pursue our stuff, we stop ourselves from carrying on the mission that we are called to.
With that understanding, let’s move into…
24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Now, you may be used to the other translation of Mammon, instead of Money. The word here is not cash in and of itself, but the placing of cash as the number one priority, or even placing the things that Money gets us. It is a warning against making Stuff our God.
It is not a matter of being rich. Again Martin Lloyd Jones said it is not wealth, but our relationship to that wealth that we need to keep an eye on.
So what’s this look like?
This passage doesn’t tell us to sell everything we have and give it all to the poor. But what we do glean is the fact that many of us (myself included) have spent a majority of our time tending to our own wants and needs and to what we like to think of as our security, (our rainy day funds, our retirement plans)
And we’ve tried to make sure that our kids want for nothing and that our wives and husbands get to have the things that their hearts desire — from that new cell phone to another vacation.
And all the while we pass by the needy who are within our reach, and we neglect the support of our local churches, and we make excuses for not helping the charities that do more as an organization than individuals could or are willing to do separately.
And maybe because we also treasure our comfort and conveniences, we waste the resources of this planet, we defy calls to steward this planet well — at least our little pocket of it — and we add to the negative environmental impacts that affect people across the globe.
What this looks like is what nearly every teaching has looked like. PUT GOD FIRST. First in your giving, first in your spending, first in your saving, first in your loving, first in your thinking.
God First. God First. God First.
One last thought. The thing we choose to pursue, it eventually gets easier and easier to pursue that thing as we make the next decision — and the next — and the next.
And with each decision to follow that thing, whether it is Christ or the stuff of the world, the thing that we don’t choose begins to seem less and less like a choice.
Brothers and sisters, what Jesus challenges us with in this passage and what I would challenge you with is, make the choice TONIGHT to begin pursuing Christ the ultimate treasure in Heaven.
And remember Our Lord is just that. He is the Lord, the King. He is God and He doesn’t want to be second or third or wherever He falls in our list of priorities.
He demands that we put him first in all things.
This may sound cheesy, and you may not like to do the group participation thing, but I’m gonna have Andy pass out these little slips of paper and pencils and I want you to write on the paper, what it is that you have been pursuing more than Jesus.
You aren’t turning these in to me I want you to keep it somewhere that you will be reminded this week. Maybe put it on your bathroom mirror, maybe tape it to your dashboard, maybe put it in your wallet. Whatever; just put it somewhere that is hard to miss.
And the first blank is for your name. Personalize this message. This sermon isn’t for your husband or your wife, or your kids or your parents. This sermon isn’t for your annoying coworker; it’s for you.
Own this message. Apply it to YOUR life.
So the first blank is your name and the second is the thing that you’ve been making ultimate before God.
“____________________, you cannot serve both God and __________________________________.”
Your second blank may be the next car, or the next camera, it may be the next degree, or the next house, it may be the next job, or the next promotion, it may be the next computer or the next video game, it may be the next set of season tickets or it may simply be more and more cash. Or it may be something that I haven’t mentioned.
Like I said, this passage deals heavily with stuff, but if your blank is best filled in with your kids or your spouse or your boss or your addiction or your lust, or your self esteem then so be it.
Remember this should be personal and it should be specific.
Let’s pray…
Aug 17, 2009
Matthew 6:1-4 - Series on the Mount #23
Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 6:1-4.
Tonight we will conclude a series with in the series from the Sermon on the Mount where we have been dissecting this small section of 18 verses to see what Jesus had to say about our religious activity.
We talked last week about fasting with the right heart.
And before that a couple more weeks back we talked about praying with the right heart.
And tonight we are going to talk about giving to the needy. And no, we aren’t going to address giving to the church, that’s not what this text is about, but if that kind of discussion makes you uncomfortable, be aware that when Scriptures address an issue we will too. So that’s talk is coming up.
No tonight it is giving to the needy. And back to the larger scope of what we’ve been discussing. Jesus talks about three things our giving, our praying and our fasting. And in every circumstance He is driving down, beneath the surface and saying “Hey, these are all great things to do, but don’t do it for you own glory, do it as an act of worship to God.”
And we can look beyond this to whatever our particular giftings are.
If you are gifted to serve, or to be an encourager, or you are gifted to instruct children, or you are gifted to get up here and speak. Whatever it is, get lost in it! Go at it with unreserved passion, ware yourself out, got hold back, use whatever your gift is for the Glory of God, BUT NOT SO OTHER PEOPLE WILL SEE YOU, ONLY BECAUSE GOD SEES YOU FOR SURE, Amen?
Let’s get to work:
1 "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
That’s our springboard for the last few weeks.
Don’t be a hypocrite.
And, that’s what we just talked about, Jesus is going to complete the thought, and we are not going to spend a lot of time on it tonight, because we’ve tackled it in several areas at length. If you need more clarification, get with me after the service. I’d love to talk with you some more.
Continuing on:
2 "So when you give to the needy,
I can’t say this enough. Jesus is not saying that the religious bigwigs were wrong for giving. He’s not saying don’t do this because they do it.
No, we are to give. Just like we talked about in the past about fasting and praying, these are elements of a mature walk of faith.
When you give to the needy…
do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.
Back in the times that Jesus taught, commentators believe that this was an actual practice.
The big time religious leaders would give their alms giving, which was – again – standard operating procedure for a first century Jew. But, before they gave, as they made their way onto the street of into the synagogue, they would have trumpets sound or they would call out in a booming voice to let everyone know they were about to give.
Now this seems absurd, and even if you aren’t a Christ follower, even if you don’t know about this whole God stuff that we’re talking about, even the pagans know that there’s something wrong with making a show of this stuff.
But we still see this today don’t we. How many people donate a bunch of money to a hospital or a college without getting a building named after them. And on a smaller scale, how many businesses donate to local charities, if they can get a picture in the paper, letting everyone know just how benevolent they are?
And, if you asked the Pharisees, they would likely make it into a holy-sounding exercise.
“Well, I had the trumpets sounded so that more people would know that I was here to help.”
Today, too, there’s a million ways to rationalize and justify our “righteous deeds” for applause, recognition or gain.
Let’s keep going…
I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
They have received their reward in full. In other words, Jesus is about to tell us that our reward for quiet, pure heart giving is present and future. He says even though our reward is not yet completely realized, the reward for the hypocrite, the reward for the big spender, for the conspicuous giver, is already history. It is fruit rotting on the vine.
And we talked about this on the first week, the giver of the great reward is a holy and wonderful God, who has an unending love for us, His children. He has desire to seek out His own glory, and He does that by heaping blessings on us, which we then lay right back at His feet, and we can never out give God, we can never out do His love, His rewards to us are unimaginably great.
But the reward given to the hypocrite comes from the people around them that see their giving and from the needy people who receive the giving.
And unlike God, that crowd is a fickle bunch. They are. They are like you and me they are sinful, little people, who will turn on a dime.
Just look around today. The same crowd that praises a wealthy citizen in the community when that person helps someone out of a financial bind, or sponsors a charitable cause or event;
That same crowd will have people in it that curse the benefactor for not giving more, or for not giving to other causes too. Or they will say wicked things out of an envy of the wealth. Wealth that they just praised!
Or look to the one who was helped. They too, at times receive in an ungrateful way, or they sometimes waste what they’ve been given. Or they latch on and keep drinking from the same trough until it is dry.
Then what, they move on in search of more. Again this is not always the case, but we’ve all seen it happen.
In fact, there have been times when I have been the ungrateful recipient or the heckler in the crowd of onlookers. Am I the only one?
We are going to talk about this a little bit more later on, because these reactions happen to the hypocrites and to the pure hearted givers.
But the point is, we give not for the reactions of the fickle onlookers and not even for the response of the recipient of our benevolence. We give as an act of worship. We give out of a desire to thank God for His gifts to us, we who were in desperate need of redemption, were given the gifts of reconciliation through Christ.
Okay, on to verse 3:
3 But when (not if) you (that means you) give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
There’s two pieces there, we get the when you part, right? So the first part to explore is one that we probably could have done earlier. That is when you GIVE TO THE NEEDY. When you give to those who are less fortunate than you.
This is a regular part of the Christ follower’s walk, and it isn’t a begrudging gift. God doesn’t honor someone who gives money with a side of complaining, Amen.
And this isn’t something that you are going out of your way to do for them. It’s actually a simple equation, person “A” sees that person “B” is in need. Person “A” has the means to provide, so he (or she) gives to person “B” without hesitancy.
Proverbs 3:27-28 says it like this
27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it,
when it is in your power to act.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
"Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"—
when you now have it with you.
Now, a lot of churchy people like to point to the words “those who deserve it” and then look for disqualifiers to where person “B” doesn’t deserve our help.
I as the preacher and we as the church in the grass are not going to make you give anything to anyone. That’s between you and God.
But, if you’re looking for an out and think you found one there, I’d ask this question: Did you deserve to be helped by the saving work of Jesus? If anyone thinks they can answer yes, that they deserved to be saved because of anything you did, then see me after the service. And we’ll walk through Ephesians 2: 1-9 together.
So, are we tracking, if you are person “A” in this little equation, and you have the means, GIVE to person "B."
Moving on, when we introduced this series about hypocrisy and heart motives we talked about not letting your right hand know what your left hand is going.
The context of the passage is giving financially, or giving food, shelter or clothing. But it applies across the board.
If you give to a charity, if you give to a homeless person; If you give of your time to visit nursing homes or hospitals; If you give of your talent to organizations who need you –
Don’t do any of that for a pat on the back by the people around you. As much as you can, keep it to yourself. And even then, don’t keep replaying it over and over again to yourself for your own pride.
Just thank God for the opportunity to give and move on.
Now, in verse 4 we see why. Why give, why give quietly, why, why, why?
What’s at the route of all of this, if we’re not doing it to be seen by men, then why do it?
If the crowds of sinful fallen people in a sinful fallen world are not audience to our giving, and if we are not to do it to pat ourselves on the back, who’s’ going to see it? Is someone keeping track?
“do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing…”
4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
I think we’ve got the secret part right? And who sees what is done in secret? God, right? But Jesus doesn’t say God, or Yahweh, or anything like that. Jesus says then your FATHER. The word is pa-tar. The word is defined like this:
Referring to God as the father “of Christians, as those who through Christ have been exalted to a specially close and intimate relationship with God, and who no longer dread him as a stern judge of sinners, but revere him as their reconciled and loving Father”
Never forget this piece, because that is who you are, if you believe the Gospel message and have submitted your life to the Lord. You are a new creation. You are in this world, but you do not need to look to things that fade away as your source of satisfaction or approval. You can look to your father, who sees and will reward you.
Now, let’s talk about the rewards, because I think we can slide off track here if we don’t interpret scripture with scripture.
There’s two types of people, two camps of interpretation. There’s one that looks for rewards sooner than later and so gives out of a sort of bartering idea with God.
That doesn’t work.
The second camp overcorrects and ends up in the other ditch, they say, your only reward is heaven, when you see Jesus face to face, that is the only reward.
If you were likely to go into either ditch, I would point you to that one.
But, I think there is a third camp, a group that keeps a straighter bead on the road and stays out of either ditch of extremes.
It is absolutely true that Jesus IS THE REWARD. Every Christ follower has that promise, the promise of an eternal life with Jesus on in the New Heaven and the New Earth, free and unencumbered from sin and brokenness.
We see this in Luke 14: 13-14
13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
But, that doesn’t mean that you should not expect anything on this side of eternity.
We read in the Scriptures of times when blessings flow into the lives of those who bless others.
In Psalm 41:1 David sings:
Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble.
That’s in the here and now. It’s not a guarantee in every situation, But David believed it and walked in confidence that God had his back. And really, even if we are killed, it is still true; God’s got your eternal life securely in His hands. You are safe in times of ANY kinds of trouble.
Proverbs 11:24-25 says:
24 One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
Again, I would warn against making this a magic spell where you think you have some grip over God because you did something nice. Remember heart motives matter, and if you or I try to put a leash on God, it will be destructive to say the least. Stay out of that ditch, but understand that He does honor a generous person.
One more. Proverbs 28:27
He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.
Now, we are going to close. And in some respects this is an easy message tonight. I know most of you well enough that I have seen your generous spirit. In fact I have been on the receiving end of your generosity in the past.
Before we leave, let me offer a few suggestions. Take them or leave them. These aren’t commands; it’s just some ideas. Because sometimes I get done hearing a message and I think, what can I do with that? What’s that look like in my life? Here they are:
-Begin looking for areas that may be right under your nose. If you are like me, you kind of zone out and miss a lot of what God is trying to show you.
-Start looking for areas where you have been giving with impure motives – we’ve all been there or we are there now. Just cleanse yourself of selfishness, or pride or even compulsion. Give out of a love and thankfulness to God and give in joy.
-Remember that giving is giving, and there are a lot of needs that go beyond food, shelter, and clothing. But don’t neglect the food shelter and clothing.
The point there is, many are in need of companionship, give some of your time to the shut in or to the nursing home resident.
- Maybe volunteer time with Big Brothers or Big Sisters.
- Look into being a child advocate with Pathways.
- Find a way to give what you have to the needy. Be Person “A” in the equation for person “B” this week.
- And remember no to look at the recipient of the giving with expectations or demands, just give freely. If they waste what you give, remember that what you gave away is not yours anymore and the giving is not contingent on their response. God sees it all and He will reward you in His time and in His way.
We will close tonight with a reading in Matthew 25, just a few pages to your right, you can read along or just listen:
Starting in verse 34:
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Let’s pray…
Tonight we will conclude a series with in the series from the Sermon on the Mount where we have been dissecting this small section of 18 verses to see what Jesus had to say about our religious activity.
We talked last week about fasting with the right heart.
And before that a couple more weeks back we talked about praying with the right heart.
And tonight we are going to talk about giving to the needy. And no, we aren’t going to address giving to the church, that’s not what this text is about, but if that kind of discussion makes you uncomfortable, be aware that when Scriptures address an issue we will too. So that’s talk is coming up.
No tonight it is giving to the needy. And back to the larger scope of what we’ve been discussing. Jesus talks about three things our giving, our praying and our fasting. And in every circumstance He is driving down, beneath the surface and saying “Hey, these are all great things to do, but don’t do it for you own glory, do it as an act of worship to God.”
And we can look beyond this to whatever our particular giftings are.
If you are gifted to serve, or to be an encourager, or you are gifted to instruct children, or you are gifted to get up here and speak. Whatever it is, get lost in it! Go at it with unreserved passion, ware yourself out, got hold back, use whatever your gift is for the Glory of God, BUT NOT SO OTHER PEOPLE WILL SEE YOU, ONLY BECAUSE GOD SEES YOU FOR SURE, Amen?
Let’s get to work:
1 "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
That’s our springboard for the last few weeks.
Don’t be a hypocrite.
And, that’s what we just talked about, Jesus is going to complete the thought, and we are not going to spend a lot of time on it tonight, because we’ve tackled it in several areas at length. If you need more clarification, get with me after the service. I’d love to talk with you some more.
Continuing on:
2 "So when you give to the needy,
I can’t say this enough. Jesus is not saying that the religious bigwigs were wrong for giving. He’s not saying don’t do this because they do it.
No, we are to give. Just like we talked about in the past about fasting and praying, these are elements of a mature walk of faith.
When you give to the needy…
do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.
Back in the times that Jesus taught, commentators believe that this was an actual practice.
The big time religious leaders would give their alms giving, which was – again – standard operating procedure for a first century Jew. But, before they gave, as they made their way onto the street of into the synagogue, they would have trumpets sound or they would call out in a booming voice to let everyone know they were about to give.
Now this seems absurd, and even if you aren’t a Christ follower, even if you don’t know about this whole God stuff that we’re talking about, even the pagans know that there’s something wrong with making a show of this stuff.
But we still see this today don’t we. How many people donate a bunch of money to a hospital or a college without getting a building named after them. And on a smaller scale, how many businesses donate to local charities, if they can get a picture in the paper, letting everyone know just how benevolent they are?
And, if you asked the Pharisees, they would likely make it into a holy-sounding exercise.
“Well, I had the trumpets sounded so that more people would know that I was here to help.”
Today, too, there’s a million ways to rationalize and justify our “righteous deeds” for applause, recognition or gain.
Let’s keep going…
I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
They have received their reward in full. In other words, Jesus is about to tell us that our reward for quiet, pure heart giving is present and future. He says even though our reward is not yet completely realized, the reward for the hypocrite, the reward for the big spender, for the conspicuous giver, is already history. It is fruit rotting on the vine.
And we talked about this on the first week, the giver of the great reward is a holy and wonderful God, who has an unending love for us, His children. He has desire to seek out His own glory, and He does that by heaping blessings on us, which we then lay right back at His feet, and we can never out give God, we can never out do His love, His rewards to us are unimaginably great.
But the reward given to the hypocrite comes from the people around them that see their giving and from the needy people who receive the giving.
And unlike God, that crowd is a fickle bunch. They are. They are like you and me they are sinful, little people, who will turn on a dime.
Just look around today. The same crowd that praises a wealthy citizen in the community when that person helps someone out of a financial bind, or sponsors a charitable cause or event;
That same crowd will have people in it that curse the benefactor for not giving more, or for not giving to other causes too. Or they will say wicked things out of an envy of the wealth. Wealth that they just praised!
Or look to the one who was helped. They too, at times receive in an ungrateful way, or they sometimes waste what they’ve been given. Or they latch on and keep drinking from the same trough until it is dry.
Then what, they move on in search of more. Again this is not always the case, but we’ve all seen it happen.
In fact, there have been times when I have been the ungrateful recipient or the heckler in the crowd of onlookers. Am I the only one?
We are going to talk about this a little bit more later on, because these reactions happen to the hypocrites and to the pure hearted givers.
But the point is, we give not for the reactions of the fickle onlookers and not even for the response of the recipient of our benevolence. We give as an act of worship. We give out of a desire to thank God for His gifts to us, we who were in desperate need of redemption, were given the gifts of reconciliation through Christ.
Okay, on to verse 3:
3 But when (not if) you (that means you) give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
There’s two pieces there, we get the when you part, right? So the first part to explore is one that we probably could have done earlier. That is when you GIVE TO THE NEEDY. When you give to those who are less fortunate than you.
This is a regular part of the Christ follower’s walk, and it isn’t a begrudging gift. God doesn’t honor someone who gives money with a side of complaining, Amen.
And this isn’t something that you are going out of your way to do for them. It’s actually a simple equation, person “A” sees that person “B” is in need. Person “A” has the means to provide, so he (or she) gives to person “B” without hesitancy.
Proverbs 3:27-28 says it like this
27 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it,
when it is in your power to act.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
"Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"—
when you now have it with you.
Now, a lot of churchy people like to point to the words “those who deserve it” and then look for disqualifiers to where person “B” doesn’t deserve our help.
I as the preacher and we as the church in the grass are not going to make you give anything to anyone. That’s between you and God.
But, if you’re looking for an out and think you found one there, I’d ask this question: Did you deserve to be helped by the saving work of Jesus? If anyone thinks they can answer yes, that they deserved to be saved because of anything you did, then see me after the service. And we’ll walk through Ephesians 2: 1-9 together.
So, are we tracking, if you are person “A” in this little equation, and you have the means, GIVE to person "B."
Moving on, when we introduced this series about hypocrisy and heart motives we talked about not letting your right hand know what your left hand is going.
The context of the passage is giving financially, or giving food, shelter or clothing. But it applies across the board.
If you give to a charity, if you give to a homeless person; If you give of your time to visit nursing homes or hospitals; If you give of your talent to organizations who need you –
Don’t do any of that for a pat on the back by the people around you. As much as you can, keep it to yourself. And even then, don’t keep replaying it over and over again to yourself for your own pride.
Just thank God for the opportunity to give and move on.
Now, in verse 4 we see why. Why give, why give quietly, why, why, why?
What’s at the route of all of this, if we’re not doing it to be seen by men, then why do it?
If the crowds of sinful fallen people in a sinful fallen world are not audience to our giving, and if we are not to do it to pat ourselves on the back, who’s’ going to see it? Is someone keeping track?
“do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing…”
4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
I think we’ve got the secret part right? And who sees what is done in secret? God, right? But Jesus doesn’t say God, or Yahweh, or anything like that. Jesus says then your FATHER. The word is pa-tar. The word is defined like this:
Referring to God as the father “of Christians, as those who through Christ have been exalted to a specially close and intimate relationship with God, and who no longer dread him as a stern judge of sinners, but revere him as their reconciled and loving Father”
Never forget this piece, because that is who you are, if you believe the Gospel message and have submitted your life to the Lord. You are a new creation. You are in this world, but you do not need to look to things that fade away as your source of satisfaction or approval. You can look to your father, who sees and will reward you.
Now, let’s talk about the rewards, because I think we can slide off track here if we don’t interpret scripture with scripture.
There’s two types of people, two camps of interpretation. There’s one that looks for rewards sooner than later and so gives out of a sort of bartering idea with God.
That doesn’t work.
The second camp overcorrects and ends up in the other ditch, they say, your only reward is heaven, when you see Jesus face to face, that is the only reward.
If you were likely to go into either ditch, I would point you to that one.
But, I think there is a third camp, a group that keeps a straighter bead on the road and stays out of either ditch of extremes.
It is absolutely true that Jesus IS THE REWARD. Every Christ follower has that promise, the promise of an eternal life with Jesus on in the New Heaven and the New Earth, free and unencumbered from sin and brokenness.
We see this in Luke 14: 13-14
13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
But, that doesn’t mean that you should not expect anything on this side of eternity.
We read in the Scriptures of times when blessings flow into the lives of those who bless others.
In Psalm 41:1 David sings:
Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble.
That’s in the here and now. It’s not a guarantee in every situation, But David believed it and walked in confidence that God had his back. And really, even if we are killed, it is still true; God’s got your eternal life securely in His hands. You are safe in times of ANY kinds of trouble.
Proverbs 11:24-25 says:
24 One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
Again, I would warn against making this a magic spell where you think you have some grip over God because you did something nice. Remember heart motives matter, and if you or I try to put a leash on God, it will be destructive to say the least. Stay out of that ditch, but understand that He does honor a generous person.
One more. Proverbs 28:27
He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.
Now, we are going to close. And in some respects this is an easy message tonight. I know most of you well enough that I have seen your generous spirit. In fact I have been on the receiving end of your generosity in the past.
Before we leave, let me offer a few suggestions. Take them or leave them. These aren’t commands; it’s just some ideas. Because sometimes I get done hearing a message and I think, what can I do with that? What’s that look like in my life? Here they are:
-Begin looking for areas that may be right under your nose. If you are like me, you kind of zone out and miss a lot of what God is trying to show you.
-Start looking for areas where you have been giving with impure motives – we’ve all been there or we are there now. Just cleanse yourself of selfishness, or pride or even compulsion. Give out of a love and thankfulness to God and give in joy.
-Remember that giving is giving, and there are a lot of needs that go beyond food, shelter, and clothing. But don’t neglect the food shelter and clothing.
The point there is, many are in need of companionship, give some of your time to the shut in or to the nursing home resident.
- Maybe volunteer time with Big Brothers or Big Sisters.
- Look into being a child advocate with Pathways.
- Find a way to give what you have to the needy. Be Person “A” in the equation for person “B” this week.
- And remember no to look at the recipient of the giving with expectations or demands, just give freely. If they waste what you give, remember that what you gave away is not yours anymore and the giving is not contingent on their response. God sees it all and He will reward you in His time and in His way.
We will close tonight with a reading in Matthew 25, just a few pages to your right, you can read along or just listen:
Starting in verse 34:
34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Let’s pray…
Aug 6, 2009
Matthew 6:1; 16-18 — Series on the Mount #22
Good evening, before we get started with the message, let me remind you that we will share in Communion tonight, and as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:28, each person should examine himself or herself before eating the bread or drinking from the cup, so as to not take communion in an unworthy manner.
All that said, no one around you knows where your heart is tonight. You may be tracking well, or you may have some un-confessed sin that is owning you right now. I would just ask that you give anything back over to God and surrender again to Him tonight before we take communion, Amen?
Now lets get to our message.
Please turn in you Bibles to Matthew 6:1.
Now, if you remember, a couple weeks ago, we we started here and talked about three areas that Jesus talked about: Giving to the needy; prayer; and Fasting. And on the first night we talked about how or Lord, used these three areas as examples of where we can do good things in the eyes of the world, we can even do things that are important values in the Scriptures, but if they are done to make us look good, and not done to glorify God, then He says, it's worthless.
Tonight, we are going to look at fasting. And remember that, to the Jewish people that Jesus was addressing this was standard operating procedure. And, too the early churches that carried the faith early on through the centuries after Jesus ascended into Heaven, this was a S.O.P.
Now today, you still see a lot of Christians who give to the needy, and we're going to address that next week.
And, you always hear Christ followers talking about prayer, and we discussed that a couple of weeks back.
But fasting? This is an area that many in the church, myself included, seem to set aside.
So we're going to dig in tonight, and see what Jesus has to say about it, before we do, let's pray...
Ok, now let's read starting at Matthew 6:16, and we'll go through verse 18.
Before we go any further, let's define fasting. In Greek, it is na-stee-you-o. It means “to abstain as a religious exercise from food and drink: either entirely, if the fast lasted but a single day, or from customary and choice nourishment, if it continued several days.”
I have seen some who abstain from everything but water for several days, up to 14 days. Others are sun up to sun down fasters for a day or more.
The point is that we give up something that satisfies a need of our flesh, in order to focus our hearts and minds on our Lord for several different reasons, and we'll tackle some of those reasons a little later.
Moving on. I know we've been talking about this for quite a while now, and I don't want to insult your intelligence, but again, No matter what you are doing, do not do it to puff yourself up. It is not service to God, if your motivation is to build your ego.
Jesus makes it clear, if that is why you do any religious activity, then that applause from the crowd, is all you can expect to get from it.
Now we can see in a parallel to that principle another danger.
Let me explain, there are areas of our life where we get so focused on the imagined short term, immediate benefit, that we loose sight of our eternal rewards.
In fact, I would say that most of the time that we sin it is because we are looking for immediate satisfaction, even though that satisfaction never lives up to our expectations and never lasts. And it usually ends in guilt, heartache, or relational damage.
Look at the adulterer, who gives up on the beautiful gift of a marriage that ends well at the end of a long life. He gives it away for the immediate desire to chase the new girl at work. Or she gives it up for that old boyfriend who has come back into her life.
Or look at the addict, or the alcoholic who has begun to see the light of a life lived without enslavement to chemicals. He or she trades that new life in for “one more” and it leads to regret, betrayal and at times, I've seen it lead to death.
And you look at the couple trying hard to get out of debt, a financial strain that causes stress on their relationship, stops them from being able to make choices about careers, or even their mission in the church, and really just keeps them down. So they begin to make progress, they start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But then there's that temptation for that television, or the car breaks down again and they rationalize an excuse to buy new instead of just paying for the repairs and then the cycle of debt starts all over again.
It's the same in nearly any area of sin that you look at.
And this does not conform to God's perfect will for our lives, but if this is what we choose, if we choose – over and over again to turn to the immediate instead of to the eternal, then God will turn us over to it.
We see this in Romans 1:20-25, turn with me there. And in this context, we see God's reaction, when we turn to things other than Him for satisfaction. Here specifically, Paul talks about honoring things He created, more than glorifying the Creator of all Things!
And we see this in other people all the time, right? We look into the train wreck of someone else's life (think of your favorite celebrity or unfortunate relative here) and we say, “What were they thinking? Didn't they realize what they were walking into?”
But Jesus says this is a potential trap for anyone, to make something or someone more important in our lives than our Father in Heaven.
And He says here it's not always something that is obviously bad, many times we take something good and make it ultimate, and that is just as sinful as shooting heroine with a prostitute.
So with that in mind,
(UNPACK - if a person looks bad then it can make everyone wonder what's up and bring the focus away from God.)
(UNPACK - this hearkens back to a passage in Ecclesiastes 9:7-9 that talks about being ready to enjoy life with the ones you love. So in other words, don't play up the fact that you are hungry, instead reflect joy in the world {or at least comfort}. He'll continue that concept here in verse 18 ),
Now, lets dig in a little deeper, because there have been a lot of times when I've had to check my prayer life to snuff out any impurity, and there have been times when I have caught myself getting a little proud of my giving to charity or church. But I've never seen a time when this has been a problem when I fast.
Why is that, you ask.
Because I'm so holy. And I've got this all figured out.
I'm kidding.
No, it's because this, fasting, is a discipline that I am still trying to submit to in my walk with God.
Honestly, I am just not very good at fasting. And I doubt I'm alone, so lets look at why we fast and a couple of suggestions about how to live it out.
I say suggestions, because this is not commanded in the New Testament, we do not have a day of atonement that we are required to fast on like the nation of Israel was commanded to do.
The Day of Atonement pointed to the final, once and for all sacrifice for our sins that happened on Calvary.
So the ceremonies from the old Testament ended with Jesus' ultimate sacrifice. So, I'm not going to tell you that you have to fast during lent, or for the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve or every fifth Tuesday. Here's what I will tell you.
Fasting is a way of restoring and building our individual fellowship with God, it is a way of focusing ourselves in meditation and becoming more receptive to direction from the Holy Spirit...
And, even though it is not commanded for the Christ follower, it is assumed that we would do this as a part of our walk in Faith.
Again, in the sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “When you fast.”
And in Matthew 9, John the Baptist's disciples wanted to know why everyone was fasting except for Jesus and His crew.
Now, Jesus didn't say, “Fasting? What are you talking about? That's Old Testament stuff. We don't need to fast, little buddy.”
And then, in later parts of the New Testament we see that fleshed out.
In Acts 13:3, the church at Antioch received direction from the Holy Spirit after fasting and prayer.
In Acts 14:23, we see that elders were appointed for various churches through fasting and prayer.
In 1 Corinthians 7:5, we see a fasting, not from food, but from sex, for a time, so that the husband and wife can refocus their prayer lives.
And, in the Old Testament, we see that fasting not only came at times of repentance or in times when decisions needed to be made, but also times of mourning, like In 2 Samuel 1:12, when David and the men with him mourned over the death of Saul and Jonathan.
And in Psalms 35:13, where David fasted and prayed for intercession for others who are sick.
And in Ezra 10:6, when Ezra fasted in a time of mourning over the sins of the Jews in exile.
And in Nehemiah 1:4, when Nehemiah fasted in mourning for the broken down wall around Jerusalem.
So fasting served a purpose in many different life situations. And we can see that today.
Today, when you get a bad report from the doctor, or when you lose a loved one, or you are made aware of a moral failure in the church, or you witness a church split, or you have sin in your life that you cannot seem to find victory in, or you seem to be having trouble connecting with God in prayer because of the many, many, many distractions in life – in any and all of those situations, the answer for you may be to fast.
What has been true in my life and what I have seen in the lives of others and in the Scriptures, is that GOD honors fasting when it is done with the right heart.
And when I have done it, here's what I've found, it has brought me closer to Him in a more tangible way than when I only prayed.
Now, there are several reasons that I can see.
First off, I am easily distracted. I am one who, like I said a few weeks ago, my brain jumps from one thing to another and I will find myself thinking about the car needing an oil change, instead of conversing with God.
For some reason though, when I am fasting, when my body is hungry, my mind seems to focus easier on the present moment.
Also, fasting provides an excellent opportunity to stay in a more continual time of prayer.
And this is where I think the Pharisees missed the boat. Instead of making pained faces and telling people about it when they felt weak or hungry, the hunger pains should instead have been used as prompts for prayer.
See, you may be like me. When I am hungry, fasting or not, I am constantly thinking about that hunger. So those prompts come to us over and over and with each prompt we can be reminded to go to God.
And depending on why we are fasting it can be a prompt to go to Him with gratitude, or to go to Him in prayer for an unbelieving friend or family member, or to go to Him to ask for wisdom or guidance in a major decision, or to go to him for the willingness to submit to His will, which may be going against everything we've thought or lived for up to that point.
Whatever your reason for fasting, each hunger pain each dizzy spell, can be a prompt for prayer. And the more we pray the more we cut through the surface elements and we dig down to the heart of the matter.
This works, this is designed by a God who loves us and wants us to come to Him in an honest level of submission.
Now, let me address one thing that I think may have gotten a bit distorted in the church recently.
We, or at least I, am quick to look for the path of least resistance. I gravitate toward the easier, softer way of doing things. So I heard pastors say that really, food isn't necessarily the issue. And that we can fast from anything that distracts us.
I am by no means discrediting that. But I would say that the two things that Scriptures seem to talk about when there is a time of abstaining is food and sex.
So, I am not going to be the pastor that says, keep the chicken wings, give up your iPod for a week, or keep the foot long meatball sub, but stop watching television for a month.
It is my experience that giving up other things can be very beneficial, but nothing brings me back to fellowship with God quicker or more substantially than fasting from food. So that's what I suggest.
The truth is, when I stopped watching television for a month, I figured out that I didn't need a fast, I just needed to cut my cable off.
For you it may not be vegging out in front of a TV., for you it might be shopping trips that don't fulfill a specific need, you know. For you it might be endless hours on face book, or playing video games.
Nothing sinful, just a lot of time diverted from YOUR Kingdom mission.
There's some things you don't need to fast from, you just need to get rid of them, Pray that God would make you aware of what those things might be in your life.
And we will close soon, but let me give this helpful advice. If you are not used to fasting, if this is not a normal part of your faith walk YET, then I would advise not to go overboard right out of the gate.
Again, I suggest a fast from food, but you may need to start by just skipping a meal, then two, then fasting from sun up to sun down, then a couple days, then a week.
I am a bit impulsive, so I have a habit of going farther than I should. Don't be like me. Take it slow, take it with the right heart, take the steps in faith, but also with wisdom, if you are diabetic or hypoglycemic or whatever, if you have a health condition, talk with a doctor first, you may need to fast from food, but still have juice or something, whatever they advise.
And however fasting takes shape in your walk with God, remember the admonition from the Sermon on the Mount and don't do it for others to see, do it in private as much as possible.
Now, if you've been fasting today, this may be the best time to break the fast. Tonight we will end in a time of Communion.
This is a time for all of us who are Christ followers to share in a ceremony instituted by our Lord before He was betrayed.
He told His disciples that the bread was to represent His body, which would soon be broken for them (us).
Then He took the wine and said it represented the blood that would be spilled for us.
And He told them, “Every time you do this, do it in remembrance of me.”
And that's is what we are going to do tonight.
If you are not a Christ follower, if you have not yet given your life over to Him, we want to welcome you to the Church in the Grass, but we would ask that you refrain from taking the bread or the cup. Scripturally, this is a time of fellowship to be shared by believers.
That said, we do practice open communion, meaning that no mater what denomination you are a part of, whether you are from the Christian Church, the United Methodist, Baptist, what ever, so long as you follow Christ, you are welcome to partake.
But before we do, let's pray...
All that said, no one around you knows where your heart is tonight. You may be tracking well, or you may have some un-confessed sin that is owning you right now. I would just ask that you give anything back over to God and surrender again to Him tonight before we take communion, Amen?
Now lets get to our message.
Please turn in you Bibles to Matthew 6:1.
Now, if you remember, a couple weeks ago, we we started here and talked about three areas that Jesus talked about: Giving to the needy; prayer; and Fasting. And on the first night we talked about how or Lord, used these three areas as examples of where we can do good things in the eyes of the world, we can even do things that are important values in the Scriptures, but if they are done to make us look good, and not done to glorify God, then He says, it's worthless.
Tonight, we are going to look at fasting. And remember that, to the Jewish people that Jesus was addressing this was standard operating procedure. And, too the early churches that carried the faith early on through the centuries after Jesus ascended into Heaven, this was a S.O.P.
Now today, you still see a lot of Christians who give to the needy, and we're going to address that next week.
And, you always hear Christ followers talking about prayer, and we discussed that a couple of weeks back.
But fasting? This is an area that many in the church, myself included, seem to set aside.
So we're going to dig in tonight, and see what Jesus has to say about it, before we do, let's pray...
Ok, now let's read starting at Matthew 6:16, and we'll go through verse 18.
Before we go any further, let's define fasting. In Greek, it is na-stee-you-o. It means “to abstain as a religious exercise from food and drink: either entirely, if the fast lasted but a single day, or from customary and choice nourishment, if it continued several days.”
I have seen some who abstain from everything but water for several days, up to 14 days. Others are sun up to sun down fasters for a day or more.
The point is that we give up something that satisfies a need of our flesh, in order to focus our hearts and minds on our Lord for several different reasons, and we'll tackle some of those reasons a little later.
Moving on. I know we've been talking about this for quite a while now, and I don't want to insult your intelligence, but again, No matter what you are doing, do not do it to puff yourself up. It is not service to God, if your motivation is to build your ego.
Jesus makes it clear, if that is why you do any religious activity, then that applause from the crowd, is all you can expect to get from it.
Now we can see in a parallel to that principle another danger.
Let me explain, there are areas of our life where we get so focused on the imagined short term, immediate benefit, that we loose sight of our eternal rewards.
In fact, I would say that most of the time that we sin it is because we are looking for immediate satisfaction, even though that satisfaction never lives up to our expectations and never lasts. And it usually ends in guilt, heartache, or relational damage.
Look at the adulterer, who gives up on the beautiful gift of a marriage that ends well at the end of a long life. He gives it away for the immediate desire to chase the new girl at work. Or she gives it up for that old boyfriend who has come back into her life.
Or look at the addict, or the alcoholic who has begun to see the light of a life lived without enslavement to chemicals. He or she trades that new life in for “one more” and it leads to regret, betrayal and at times, I've seen it lead to death.
And you look at the couple trying hard to get out of debt, a financial strain that causes stress on their relationship, stops them from being able to make choices about careers, or even their mission in the church, and really just keeps them down. So they begin to make progress, they start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But then there's that temptation for that television, or the car breaks down again and they rationalize an excuse to buy new instead of just paying for the repairs and then the cycle of debt starts all over again.
It's the same in nearly any area of sin that you look at.
And this does not conform to God's perfect will for our lives, but if this is what we choose, if we choose – over and over again to turn to the immediate instead of to the eternal, then God will turn us over to it.
We see this in Romans 1:20-25, turn with me there. And in this context, we see God's reaction, when we turn to things other than Him for satisfaction. Here specifically, Paul talks about honoring things He created, more than glorifying the Creator of all Things!
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
And we see this in other people all the time, right? We look into the train wreck of someone else's life (think of your favorite celebrity or unfortunate relative here) and we say, “What were they thinking? Didn't they realize what they were walking into?”
But Jesus says this is a potential trap for anyone, to make something or someone more important in our lives than our Father in Heaven.
And He says here it's not always something that is obviously bad, many times we take something good and make it ultimate, and that is just as sinful as shooting heroine with a prostitute.
So with that in mind,
(UNPACK - if a person looks bad then it can make everyone wonder what's up and bring the focus away from God.)
(UNPACK - this hearkens back to a passage in Ecclesiastes 9:7-9 that talks about being ready to enjoy life with the ones you love. So in other words, don't play up the fact that you are hungry, instead reflect joy in the world {or at least comfort}. He'll continue that concept here in verse 18 ),
Now, lets dig in a little deeper, because there have been a lot of times when I've had to check my prayer life to snuff out any impurity, and there have been times when I have caught myself getting a little proud of my giving to charity or church. But I've never seen a time when this has been a problem when I fast.
Why is that, you ask.
Because I'm so holy. And I've got this all figured out.
I'm kidding.
No, it's because this, fasting, is a discipline that I am still trying to submit to in my walk with God.
Honestly, I am just not very good at fasting. And I doubt I'm alone, so lets look at why we fast and a couple of suggestions about how to live it out.
I say suggestions, because this is not commanded in the New Testament, we do not have a day of atonement that we are required to fast on like the nation of Israel was commanded to do.
The Day of Atonement pointed to the final, once and for all sacrifice for our sins that happened on Calvary.
So the ceremonies from the old Testament ended with Jesus' ultimate sacrifice. So, I'm not going to tell you that you have to fast during lent, or for the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve or every fifth Tuesday. Here's what I will tell you.
Fasting is a way of restoring and building our individual fellowship with God, it is a way of focusing ourselves in meditation and becoming more receptive to direction from the Holy Spirit...
And, even though it is not commanded for the Christ follower, it is assumed that we would do this as a part of our walk in Faith.
Again, in the sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “When you fast.”
And in Matthew 9, John the Baptist's disciples wanted to know why everyone was fasting except for Jesus and His crew.
Now, Jesus didn't say, “Fasting? What are you talking about? That's Old Testament stuff. We don't need to fast, little buddy.”
No! He told them in Matthew 9:15, “...The bride groom is with them, but there will be a day when the bridegroom (that's Jesus) will be taken away from them, (when Jesus ascended into Heaven) and after He is gone, then they will fast.”
And then, in later parts of the New Testament we see that fleshed out.
In Acts 13:3, the church at Antioch received direction from the Holy Spirit after fasting and prayer.
In Acts 14:23, we see that elders were appointed for various churches through fasting and prayer.
In 1 Corinthians 7:5, we see a fasting, not from food, but from sex, for a time, so that the husband and wife can refocus their prayer lives.
And, in the Old Testament, we see that fasting not only came at times of repentance or in times when decisions needed to be made, but also times of mourning, like In 2 Samuel 1:12, when David and the men with him mourned over the death of Saul and Jonathan.
And in Psalms 35:13, where David fasted and prayed for intercession for others who are sick.
And in Ezra 10:6, when Ezra fasted in a time of mourning over the sins of the Jews in exile.
And in Nehemiah 1:4, when Nehemiah fasted in mourning for the broken down wall around Jerusalem.
So fasting served a purpose in many different life situations. And we can see that today.
Today, when you get a bad report from the doctor, or when you lose a loved one, or you are made aware of a moral failure in the church, or you witness a church split, or you have sin in your life that you cannot seem to find victory in, or you seem to be having trouble connecting with God in prayer because of the many, many, many distractions in life – in any and all of those situations, the answer for you may be to fast.
What has been true in my life and what I have seen in the lives of others and in the Scriptures, is that GOD honors fasting when it is done with the right heart.
And when I have done it, here's what I've found, it has brought me closer to Him in a more tangible way than when I only prayed.
Now, there are several reasons that I can see.
First off, I am easily distracted. I am one who, like I said a few weeks ago, my brain jumps from one thing to another and I will find myself thinking about the car needing an oil change, instead of conversing with God.
For some reason though, when I am fasting, when my body is hungry, my mind seems to focus easier on the present moment.
Also, fasting provides an excellent opportunity to stay in a more continual time of prayer.
And this is where I think the Pharisees missed the boat. Instead of making pained faces and telling people about it when they felt weak or hungry, the hunger pains should instead have been used as prompts for prayer.
See, you may be like me. When I am hungry, fasting or not, I am constantly thinking about that hunger. So those prompts come to us over and over and with each prompt we can be reminded to go to God.
And depending on why we are fasting it can be a prompt to go to Him with gratitude, or to go to Him in prayer for an unbelieving friend or family member, or to go to Him to ask for wisdom or guidance in a major decision, or to go to him for the willingness to submit to His will, which may be going against everything we've thought or lived for up to that point.
Whatever your reason for fasting, each hunger pain each dizzy spell, can be a prompt for prayer. And the more we pray the more we cut through the surface elements and we dig down to the heart of the matter.
This works, this is designed by a God who loves us and wants us to come to Him in an honest level of submission.
Now, let me address one thing that I think may have gotten a bit distorted in the church recently.
We, or at least I, am quick to look for the path of least resistance. I gravitate toward the easier, softer way of doing things. So I heard pastors say that really, food isn't necessarily the issue. And that we can fast from anything that distracts us.
I am by no means discrediting that. But I would say that the two things that Scriptures seem to talk about when there is a time of abstaining is food and sex.
So, I am not going to be the pastor that says, keep the chicken wings, give up your iPod for a week, or keep the foot long meatball sub, but stop watching television for a month.
It is my experience that giving up other things can be very beneficial, but nothing brings me back to fellowship with God quicker or more substantially than fasting from food. So that's what I suggest.
The truth is, when I stopped watching television for a month, I figured out that I didn't need a fast, I just needed to cut my cable off.
For you it may not be vegging out in front of a TV., for you it might be shopping trips that don't fulfill a specific need, you know. For you it might be endless hours on face book, or playing video games.
Nothing sinful, just a lot of time diverted from YOUR Kingdom mission.
There's some things you don't need to fast from, you just need to get rid of them, Pray that God would make you aware of what those things might be in your life.
And we will close soon, but let me give this helpful advice. If you are not used to fasting, if this is not a normal part of your faith walk YET, then I would advise not to go overboard right out of the gate.
Again, I suggest a fast from food, but you may need to start by just skipping a meal, then two, then fasting from sun up to sun down, then a couple days, then a week.
I am a bit impulsive, so I have a habit of going farther than I should. Don't be like me. Take it slow, take it with the right heart, take the steps in faith, but also with wisdom, if you are diabetic or hypoglycemic or whatever, if you have a health condition, talk with a doctor first, you may need to fast from food, but still have juice or something, whatever they advise.
And however fasting takes shape in your walk with God, remember the admonition from the Sermon on the Mount and don't do it for others to see, do it in private as much as possible.
Now, if you've been fasting today, this may be the best time to break the fast. Tonight we will end in a time of Communion.
This is a time for all of us who are Christ followers to share in a ceremony instituted by our Lord before He was betrayed.
He told His disciples that the bread was to represent His body, which would soon be broken for them (us).
Then He took the wine and said it represented the blood that would be spilled for us.
And He told them, “Every time you do this, do it in remembrance of me.”
And that's is what we are going to do tonight.
If you are not a Christ follower, if you have not yet given your life over to Him, we want to welcome you to the Church in the Grass, but we would ask that you refrain from taking the bread or the cup. Scripturally, this is a time of fellowship to be shared by believers.
That said, we do practice open communion, meaning that no mater what denomination you are a part of, whether you are from the Christian Church, the United Methodist, Baptist, what ever, so long as you follow Christ, you are welcome to partake.
But before we do, let's pray...
Aug 5, 2009
What's Your Gift? Use it in Love. (Stand Alone Sermon)
As Andy alluded to in his welcome to us, our mission here at the Church in the Grass is:
…To simply express God’s message of salvation (John 3:16, Ephesians 2: 8-9); show the importance of a church family in the life of EVERY believer (Ephesians 2:19, Romans 12: 4-5); and stress the need for each believer to properly represent Christ to those who still have not found or accepted Him. (Colossians 3:17, Romans 15: 5-6, 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21).
With that said, we want to always remind those of you who come here and those who would call this your church home, we want to remind you — often — of our mission. And the mission is a bit wordy; so let me distill it even more. We are here to talk about God’s love, live in a community that shares God’s Love, and go out and proclaim God’s love in word and action.
One big piece that is on my mind this week is the responsibility and truly the calling for each one of us to play our parts in the mission of the church.
This weekend, John and his wife, Andy and his family and my family and I traveled out to Lancaster, Ohio for my ordination. That is, the elders of our church family in Ohio, Lancaster Community Church, publicly recognized and declared an open recognition that I have indeed been called into the pastoral ministry.
The ordination included the laying on of hands and anointing and it was both an honor and very humbling for me.
But, as the time approached to go to Ohio, I was drawn to two texts in the Scriptures that I thought we would be wise to study.
So, we are going to divert from our regular schedule for a week and dig into another area tonight.
And, even though this shouldn’t take very long tonight, there is a lot of text. So if you are prone to tune out, let me just get right to the point and then we’ll unpack it in Scripture. Here it is. Each one of us has been given at least one gift for the building up of the Kingdom. So, have you found yours yet and what are you doing with it?
And originally I was going to call this message, “Church on a Mission”, but instead it’s this, “What’s Your Gift? Use it! (In Love)”
Say it with me and personalize it “What’s MY Gift? Use it! (In Love)”
Now lets dig in, we will be in Romans Chapter 12, that’s page 844, and 1Corinthians 12 & 13 on page 854 so keep a finger or a bookmark in 1 Corinthians 12 and turn with me to Romans 12.
Both of these are written by Paul, an apostle of Jesus, who wrote a majority of the New Testament. Paul was a missionary who planted many, many churches throughout the know world of his time and most of his letters that we have in the Bible are written to churches or pastors to equip them to stay on mission.
And the two sections that we are going to look at tonight deal with the need for everyone to play a part to accomplish our mission to build God’s Kingdom.
Romans 12:3-8
As Paul is going to say, there are some giftings that are more public and obvious to see, but others are not. This first line speaks directly to those with more publicly visible ministries to stay right sized in humility and not to get carried away with pride or arrogance.
This is important to remember. If you have been given a gift. And 1 Corinthians 12:7 tells us that you have if you are a Christ follower.
So, not if you’ve been given a gift, but since you’ve been given a Spiritual gift, remember it is not for you alone, when we are called into relationship with Jesus, we are also called into relationship with God’s family. And we use these gifts to glorify God and continue to build up his church.
Our gifts belong to others, just like our eyes and ears belong to the rest of our body. And, just like our bodies are hindered if our eyes do not work, so to, is the church as a whole, hindered if you and I do not function in relation to our gifts.
And, if you look at it the other way, what good is an eye on it’s own? Imagine if your eyes just decided they were going to go out on their own, that they didn’t want to be hampered by the rest of the body. Or what if your ears got annoyed by personality conflict with your nose, so they quit showing up? Paul says that’s what it is like if we try to go it alone.
Our faith, our spiritual walk is not an isolated thing. There is no scriptural foundation for what my friend Ron calls “Lone Ranger” Christianity. Let’s keep going.
Notice a couple of things here. First, the operative words in that passage, “IF.” If it is a gift of prophesy, or if serving, or if teaching and on and on.
We should eagerly seek each of the gifts of the Spirit, and some of us may have more than one, but the point is pray that God will show you what yours is and then if you look at the formula, Paul then says what ever the gift is in your life, Use it with GUSTO! Use each gift in the most excellent way you can.
Also, this is not meant to be a full list of spiritual gifts –we’ll see more listed in a minute. But, we can use the same pattern to look at any of the gifts.
One more thing before we move on, A friend knew we’d be discussing this topic tonight and added this point about Spiritual gifts.
He said, bad things “can happen if we force ourselves into an area of service (or try to take on a gift) that we simply don't have or for the wrong reason: because we want our Church friends to be impressed with all that we do; because we look up to someone (idolize, you might say) and desire to follow them (not Him); we think that it is expected of us because it goes along with our position.”
Now turn to your place in 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13 (Page 854) This is going to repeat some information and shed more light – very important light — on our use of gifts. Let’s go…
(See a pattern?)
Paul lists more gifts and note what he writes God has appointed. That is something we’ve always got to keep fixed clearly in our heads. If we remember that the gift is from God and does not originate in us, it should keep us from getting puffed up with pride.
Then Paul goes on…
Each of these questions is asked rhetorically. The answer to each is no.
Again, don’t think that you have to have this gift or that in order to “truly” be a believer.
We, as the CITG are not cessationists. That means, we don’t believe that gifts like prophesying and speaking and interpreting in tongues and healing are just a thing of the past.
The New Testament doesn’t teach that those gifts stopped somewhere.
But, we also do not believe that you have to speak in tongues or any other particular gift in order to prove you are a Christ follower. This passage says that not every believer will have each gift. But, we are to earnestly desire the gifts.
Now let’s move into this. First, as we’ve said, we are all part of the body, and each part of the body is equipped with a gift or several gifts for the functioning of the body.
So. Use your gift(s)!
Then Paul points out, and use them with love…
In other words, pray that God would give you these gifts. They are still useful. But no matter what your gift, Paul now lays out how we should frame the use of any gift. I’ll give it away, this is a pretty well know section. It’s all about using what God has given us with LOVE.
1 Corinthians 13(UNPACK EACH)
Now to the part you’ve heard at nearly every wedding and with good reason to, here we go, but don’t only look at this in the context of man and wife, look at it in the context of Scripture, this is how we use our gifts…
And then with all that in mind, we are reminded that God gives these gifts for His glory and His purposes and they are all temporary. We do not find our rest, or our identity or our status, or our satisfaction in the gifts, we find all of that in the truth of God’s love.
In the end, the gift or gifts that God has given to you are not for you, they are for the church universal and for the unbeliever that God is sending you to evangelize to.
And one day, the final day will come, when God takes His bride, that’s us that’s the church of Christ followers. One day He will take His bride to be with Him in the new Heaven and new Earth. And He will judge those who never accepted him.
And on that day, we will all see clearly, so there will be no more need for prophesy, or preaching or teaching, and there will be no more sickness so there will be no more need for healing and there will be no more need for the gifts at all and they will pass away in exchange for a clear, unobstructed fellowship with God.
So, if you are not sure of your spiritual giftings, there are some good tests that can help you zero in on it. We would love to sit down with you and just talk it out and see what we find.
Also, if you go to my online blog I have included a link to a site with a really good rundown of many of the Spiritual gifts.
But, in addition to all of that I would say walk in humility and obedience to the word of God and He will make it very clear where your giftings are.
No matter what though, let us leave here tonight in a spirit of Love above all else. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.
Let’s pray…
…To simply express God’s message of salvation (John 3:16, Ephesians 2: 8-9); show the importance of a church family in the life of EVERY believer (Ephesians 2:19, Romans 12: 4-5); and stress the need for each believer to properly represent Christ to those who still have not found or accepted Him. (Colossians 3:17, Romans 15: 5-6, 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21).
With that said, we want to always remind those of you who come here and those who would call this your church home, we want to remind you — often — of our mission. And the mission is a bit wordy; so let me distill it even more. We are here to talk about God’s love, live in a community that shares God’s Love, and go out and proclaim God’s love in word and action.
One big piece that is on my mind this week is the responsibility and truly the calling for each one of us to play our parts in the mission of the church.
This weekend, John and his wife, Andy and his family and my family and I traveled out to Lancaster, Ohio for my ordination. That is, the elders of our church family in Ohio, Lancaster Community Church, publicly recognized and declared an open recognition that I have indeed been called into the pastoral ministry.
The ordination included the laying on of hands and anointing and it was both an honor and very humbling for me.
But, as the time approached to go to Ohio, I was drawn to two texts in the Scriptures that I thought we would be wise to study.
So, we are going to divert from our regular schedule for a week and dig into another area tonight.
And, even though this shouldn’t take very long tonight, there is a lot of text. So if you are prone to tune out, let me just get right to the point and then we’ll unpack it in Scripture. Here it is. Each one of us has been given at least one gift for the building up of the Kingdom. So, have you found yours yet and what are you doing with it?
And originally I was going to call this message, “Church on a Mission”, but instead it’s this, “What’s Your Gift? Use it! (In Love)”
Say it with me and personalize it “What’s MY Gift? Use it! (In Love)”
Now lets dig in, we will be in Romans Chapter 12, that’s page 844, and 1Corinthians 12 & 13 on page 854 so keep a finger or a bookmark in 1 Corinthians 12 and turn with me to Romans 12.
Both of these are written by Paul, an apostle of Jesus, who wrote a majority of the New Testament. Paul was a missionary who planted many, many churches throughout the know world of his time and most of his letters that we have in the Bible are written to churches or pastors to equip them to stay on mission.
And the two sections that we are going to look at tonight deal with the need for everyone to play a part to accomplish our mission to build God’s Kingdom.
Romans 12:3-8
As Paul is going to say, there are some giftings that are more public and obvious to see, but others are not. This first line speaks directly to those with more publicly visible ministries to stay right sized in humility and not to get carried away with pride or arrogance.
This is important to remember. If you have been given a gift. And 1 Corinthians 12:7 tells us that you have if you are a Christ follower.
So, not if you’ve been given a gift, but since you’ve been given a Spiritual gift, remember it is not for you alone, when we are called into relationship with Jesus, we are also called into relationship with God’s family. And we use these gifts to glorify God and continue to build up his church.
Our gifts belong to others, just like our eyes and ears belong to the rest of our body. And, just like our bodies are hindered if our eyes do not work, so to, is the church as a whole, hindered if you and I do not function in relation to our gifts.
And, if you look at it the other way, what good is an eye on it’s own? Imagine if your eyes just decided they were going to go out on their own, that they didn’t want to be hampered by the rest of the body. Or what if your ears got annoyed by personality conflict with your nose, so they quit showing up? Paul says that’s what it is like if we try to go it alone.
Our faith, our spiritual walk is not an isolated thing. There is no scriptural foundation for what my friend Ron calls “Lone Ranger” Christianity. Let’s keep going.
Notice a couple of things here. First, the operative words in that passage, “IF.” If it is a gift of prophesy, or if serving, or if teaching and on and on.
We should eagerly seek each of the gifts of the Spirit, and some of us may have more than one, but the point is pray that God will show you what yours is and then if you look at the formula, Paul then says what ever the gift is in your life, Use it with GUSTO! Use each gift in the most excellent way you can.
Also, this is not meant to be a full list of spiritual gifts –we’ll see more listed in a minute. But, we can use the same pattern to look at any of the gifts.
One more thing before we move on, A friend knew we’d be discussing this topic tonight and added this point about Spiritual gifts.
He said, bad things “can happen if we force ourselves into an area of service (or try to take on a gift) that we simply don't have or for the wrong reason: because we want our Church friends to be impressed with all that we do; because we look up to someone (idolize, you might say) and desire to follow them (not Him); we think that it is expected of us because it goes along with our position.”
Now turn to your place in 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13 (Page 854) This is going to repeat some information and shed more light – very important light — on our use of gifts. Let’s go…
(See a pattern?)
Paul lists more gifts and note what he writes God has appointed. That is something we’ve always got to keep fixed clearly in our heads. If we remember that the gift is from God and does not originate in us, it should keep us from getting puffed up with pride.
Then Paul goes on…
Each of these questions is asked rhetorically. The answer to each is no.
Again, don’t think that you have to have this gift or that in order to “truly” be a believer.
We, as the CITG are not cessationists. That means, we don’t believe that gifts like prophesying and speaking and interpreting in tongues and healing are just a thing of the past.
The New Testament doesn’t teach that those gifts stopped somewhere.
But, we also do not believe that you have to speak in tongues or any other particular gift in order to prove you are a Christ follower. This passage says that not every believer will have each gift. But, we are to earnestly desire the gifts.
Now let’s move into this. First, as we’ve said, we are all part of the body, and each part of the body is equipped with a gift or several gifts for the functioning of the body.
So. Use your gift(s)!
Then Paul points out, and use them with love…
({Again) 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? {Rhetorical no}) 31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.
In other words, pray that God would give you these gifts. They are still useful. But no matter what your gift, Paul now lays out how we should frame the use of any gift. I’ll give it away, this is a pretty well know section. It’s all about using what God has given us with LOVE.
1 Corinthians 13(UNPACK EACH)
Now to the part you’ve heard at nearly every wedding and with good reason to, here we go, but don’t only look at this in the context of man and wife, look at it in the context of Scripture, this is how we use our gifts…
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking (is not self-seeking! is not self-seeking!), it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
And then with all that in mind, we are reminded that God gives these gifts for His glory and His purposes and they are all temporary. We do not find our rest, or our identity or our status, or our satisfaction in the gifts, we find all of that in the truth of God’s love.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (UnPACK)
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (UnPACK)
In the end, the gift or gifts that God has given to you are not for you, they are for the church universal and for the unbeliever that God is sending you to evangelize to.
And one day, the final day will come, when God takes His bride, that’s us that’s the church of Christ followers. One day He will take His bride to be with Him in the new Heaven and new Earth. And He will judge those who never accepted him.
And on that day, we will all see clearly, so there will be no more need for prophesy, or preaching or teaching, and there will be no more sickness so there will be no more need for healing and there will be no more need for the gifts at all and they will pass away in exchange for a clear, unobstructed fellowship with God.
And, looking at verse 13 again; on that day, there will be no more need for faith or hope because,
“faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”(Hebrews 11:1). There will be no need for faith because we will see God in all of His glory and we will have all of our hopes met when we stand in His light. But what we will still have, what endures past our giftings, past our faith and past our hope is love.
And the greatest of these is love.
So, if you are not sure of your spiritual giftings, there are some good tests that can help you zero in on it. We would love to sit down with you and just talk it out and see what we find.
Also, if you go to my online blog I have included a link to a site with a really good rundown of many of the Spiritual gifts.
But, in addition to all of that I would say walk in humility and obedience to the word of God and He will make it very clear where your giftings are.
No matter what though, let us leave here tonight in a spirit of Love above all else. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.
Let’s pray…
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