Author: pensandpicks

Thoughts on Matthew 7:1-6

“Don’t judge me!” is a phrase most of us have heard, said, or both at some point in our lives. Those with just enough Biblical savvy to be dangerous usually tack on that Jesus said not to judge each other in order to add some oomph to their contention. There’s no doubt Jesus, and other New Testament authors, warned against judging each other wrongly, but what are they really getting at? The rest of the entire Bible is rife with passages about coming judgment, so Jesus is by no means contradicting that reality here.

As with most difficult passages in the Bible, we have to do two things: balance what’s said in one verse or body of verses with what’s said in other verses that seems to be in contradiction; and, as part of the first action, look at the whole of the Bible. There are other places where we are told explicitly and implicitly to judge others. In fact, we are told in 1 Corinthians we are to judge “those inside the church” (5:12), that we should judge between each other and not go rely on the secular legal system (6:2), that we should judge matters of propriety in the church (11:13), that we will judge the world (6:2) we will judge the angels (6:3). We are also told we will know God’s people versus the people of the world based on the “fruit” they bear (Matthew 12:33, Luke 6:44), and how are we to make that determination if we do not make judgments?

Now, let’s put “judge not” back into it’s immediate context. We have already seen quite clearly that Jesus is cutting to the heart of both issues and men, and that Jesus has addressed a number of counterarguments thus far in His sermon. Jesus is doing both of these things yet again here. This is not an imperative command never to make any kind of judgment or distinction or decision regarding someone else. In fact, the example Jesus uses in this passage about removing the “log” or “plank” from our own eyes concludes with “and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Jesus isn’t telling us not to confront a brother or sister who is in sin. James 5:19-20 encourages us to do just that, and Paul talks about how he made a judgment and confronted Peter in Galatians 2:11-14. Rather, He’s warning us to look at ourselves and where we fall short before we set out on a crusade to fix others.

At this point in Jesus’ sermon, there were surely those listening who thought, “Oh, I wish so-and-so were here so they could hear this!” or who were elbowing the person next to them in the ribs or casting glances at those they judged as guilty of the things Jesus was condemning. Rather than being honest with themselves and examining their own hearts, they were judging and condemning others while denying or justifying their own sins. I believe Jesus, who knows the hearts of men, knew there were those in his audience who needed to hear (from the parallel passage in Luke 6): “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.” These words cannot be detached from the context of this sermon and what Jesus was addressing in the hearts and minds of those who were listening that day, sitting on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus ends this section with a final warning aimed at those who were tempted to equivocate or contend with Jesus’ hard words. “Dogs” was a colloquial term for Gentiles in that time, and “pigs” or “swine” were, of course, unclean animals to the Jews. If the “Sons of Abraham” who were there that day felt an urge to “trample” Jesus’ words and “attack” him, then they were no different than unclean Gentiles, which, to the Jews, was an abhorrent thought. If we hear the words of Christ and immediately dismiss them as relevant to us and rather turn them to pronounce judgment on others, we are acting like dogs and swine who defile and destroy holy things and, worse, attack the one who delivered the message.

I will conclude this blog with a dire warning from Paul that parallels Jesus’ warning in the Sermon on the Mount. Pay attention though to the concluding sentence in the passage below. This message is not all doom and gloom. All of the Sermon on the Mount and all of Jesus’ proofs that we are unable to live how we ought don’t simply culminate in the terror of impending and just condemnation, but rather a call to repentance and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.

“Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

Thoughts on Matthew 6:25-34

As mentioned in the previous post, this passage flows directly from Jesus’ assertion that we cannot serve God and money. The very next word is “therefore,” and so we must connect what’s going to come with what’s been said. To paraphrase, Jesus is saying, “Since you cannot serve both God and money, don’t worry about your life – what to eat, what to drink, what to wear – because there is something so much more important to life than these fleeting things.” And, as we will see, that which is of so much more significance is the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.

The temptation here is to contend that we have to do our part to secure food, clothing and shelter to meet our basic needs. That’s why we go to work to earn money, right? Are we not charged in other Scriptures to work hard and earn our bread? (2 Timothy 3) Do we not have an obligation, as Paul says, to provide for our families? (1 Timothy 5:8) Then why does it sound like Jesus is telling us to just “let go and let God”? If there’s one thing Jesus is not telling us to do, it’s to stop working to make a living. But, and as always in this sermon, Jesus is after the condition of our hearts.

There’s one word Jesus uses six times in these ten verses, and that’s the word “anxious.” Jesus is warning us not to fret, stress, ping, worry, about our basic needs. This is in contrast, but related to, the previous section about treasures. Jesus is answering the unstated argument of “Fine then, we get we cannot both seek to be rich and serve God; but, what about striving to meet our basic, physical needs?” Jesus is getting at the fact making, or serving, money should not be what consumes our thoughts or what motivates us to toil. Rather, we should be content to work unto the glory of God (Colossians 3:17) and keep the Kingdom of God in the forefront of our minds. Wherever we are, we should be on mission for the Kingdom; and whatever God calls us to do, whether it’s work a good job, a bad job or no job, we should be content and trust Him to provide for us. Contrary to the “health, wealth and prosperity gospel,” we may be called to poverty and need. Paul reminds us in Philippians chapter four of how he learned to be content in abundance and while in great physical need.

So, the solution to anxiety Jesus is offering here is contentment – contentment in the loving provision of the Father who knows what we need. Paul also says in 1 Timothy 6:6-11,

“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.”

And the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 13, verse five, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”

Contentment in and of itself is not the ultimate solution though. Seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness “first” is, and here’s why: when we “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1), the “things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace” as the hymn Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus so aptly states. Contentment in any condition in this life is possible when we seek the Kingdom of God because God’s Kingdom so powerfully eclipses any earthly pain or pleasure and most importantly because, as the Hebrews passage states, Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us. Thus, we can not be anxious about tomorrow (or today) because we know that what awaits us in heaven with Christ is beyond our ability to even imagine. May our prayer be that we “set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For [we] have died, and [our lives are] hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:2-3)

Thoughts on Matthew 6: 19-24

Why would Jesus go from talking about treasure to talking about good eyes and bad eyes, and then go back to talking about treasure (money, or “mammon”)? This whole eyes, light and darkness insertion can be quite confusing, both because of it’s seemingly obscure meaning and odd placement. I believe what Jesus is doing here is building an argument, addressing an unstated counterargument, summarizing his position, and then dropping the mic.

Jesus has said multiple times up to this point in his sermon that we are not to seek the praise (rewards) of men, but rather rewards from the Father. He then, in these verses, transitions into the fact there really are treasures to be laid up either here (likely alluding to the religious leaders’ attempt to “accumulate” praise and rewards) or in heaven, and makes it quite clear that imperishable heavenly rewards given by the Father are of far greater value than anything we can obtain here on Earth, whether tangible or intangible. He concludes the first part of this argument by stating that what we treasure leads our heart – whether that’s money, possessions, power, relationships, knowledge – to its final destination.

Jesus then appears to interrupt his train of thought about rewards and treasure to talk about our eyes being the “lamp of our body,” but what he’s doing here is answering an unstated counterargument (but one I suspect he knew some people in his audience were thinking) which is this: We can please the Lord and seek/receive riches and the praise of men. Rather than answer the face of this fallacious argument directly right away, Jesus cuts to the heart if the issue (pun intended). The reality is that many who hear him will remain in darkness because their eyes are “bad” and the light of the truth will not shine on their hard hearts. Moreover, what light they think they have – knowledge of the Law (religion), self-righteousness, Jewishness (cultural/ethnic superiority) – is actually extreme darkness.

Another aspect of this section to consider is that the lamp of the eye faces inward, not outward. This passage is not about what’s inside of us shining out through our eyes and revealing what’s in our hearts. Rather, the good eye that sees the things of God allows light to shine into and fill the body with light. However, a bad eye does not let the light of God in, and the body is full of darkness.

In order to completely destroy any notion that we can please God while simultaneously seeking riches and glory, Jesus concludes his argument forcefully saying, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Though, even this statement is somewhat metaphorical. So, because we are often so hard of hearing and love to try to twist any ambiguous words, Jesus asserts this mic-drop conclusion: “You cannot serve God and money.” This will be important to remember moving forward because the main point of next passage flows directly from it.

However, the takeaway from this section is this: our hearts are led by what we treasure. This is slightly nuanced from the idea that what we treasure is a result of what’s in our hearts. What Jesus says is that wherever our treasure is accumulated, whether here or in heaven, is where our hearts will be. If we seek the praise of men and toil after temporal wealth, our hearts will perish with it in the end; but, if we pray, give, fast and love others to please the Lord, our rewards will be eternal and flow from our heavenly Father.

God cares about our hearts, which, if you’ve been following this blog series on Matthew you’ll know, is the whole point of the Sermon on the Mount. However, this is not the only portion of Scripture where we learn this. Here are just a few verses to consider as both an admonition and encouragement.

“Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.” – Deuteronomy 11:16

“He said, ‘Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel.’” – Joshua 24:23

“For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.” – 1 Kings 11:4

So the big question to wrestle with is this: What do we treasure in our hearts? Is it Christ and his Kingdom, or is it another master and the kingdom of this world?

Thoughts on Matthew 6:16-18

Think back to the posts about giving and prayer and how there were two main points – 1. Jesus assumed those acts would be done and, 2. Jesus cares more about the condition of our hearts than the outward act. These few verses on fasting are not much different in that Jesus says again, “when” to do an action, not “if.” In Matthew 9:15, Jesus states that His disciples “will” fast after He is gone; so again, there’s an assumption fasting is a practice in which Jesus’ followers will participate. Jesus also paints a picture of what fasting should not look like – seeking to let others know how holy we are for depriving ourselves of food or some other thing. Rather, Jesus wants our goal to be to please the Father “who sees in secret” and to not even appear like we’re in need to others.

Let’s be honest here. The orthodoxy of fasting is a whole lot easier than the orthopraxy of it – in other words, it’s easier to talk about fasting than it is to actually do it. I confess I have not made fasting a regular, or even irregular, part of my Christian experience. I have done it a few times over the years, but I’m ashamed of how seldom I’ve attempted it (I say attempted because many of my few attempts were merely that). Of all the spiritual disciplines, this is the one that seems to get pushed way into the back, only to be noticed from time to time; and even then, the idea gets toyed with more often than implemented. I say all this not as a form of self-deprecation, but rather to identify with anyone else who has struggled to embrace and benefit from this discipline.

There are two approaches to fasting I have come to understand (there are probably more). The first is the one alluded to above – a planned and recurring time of depriving oneself of food (or some activity or object) as a spiritual discipline. The other approach is a scenario where we’re so burdened for something that we deliberately or unintentionally forego normal meals so we can continue in prayer and supplication. I’m embarrassed to admit I have skipped more meals while wholly wrapped up in fishing than I have while praying about something.

As I see it, there are three takeaways at this point:

1. Fasting is something Jesus said we should do
2. Fasting is a profitable spiritual discipline (evidenced by the fact Jesus said we should do it and by the testimonies and examples from Biblical and extra-biblical history)
3. I have revealed and confess I am wholly unqualified to teach on this subject

As such, I will conclude my commentary on this passage here and provide a link to an article that does a great job of explaining Biblical fasting and some tips on how to go about turning orthodoxy into orthopraxy. May the Lord give us wisdom and grace to understand this spiritual discipline and how to do it in a way that pleases Him and conforms us more and more into the image of Christ.

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/fasting-for-beginners

Thoughts on Matthew 6:14-15

Jesus makes a bold statement in these verses – “…if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” This comes on the heels of verse 12, where Jesus makes the assumption in the Lord’s prayer that we have forgiven our debtors, and thus seems to make the Father’s forgiving us of our debts contingent upon our extension of forgiveness to others. The fact that Jesus reiterates this point in the immediately following verses cannot be ignored. The parallel passage in Luke 6:37-38 says, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (emphasis mine)

Does this make the forgiveness of our sins and, by extension, our salvation, dependent upon us and our ability to forgive? Does this not make the act of forgiving others a “work” and, therefore, make salvation not of grace alone through faith alone in the work of Christ alone? If the only Scriptures we had were Matthew 6:12, and 6:14-15, then, yes, it would seem clear our ability to be forgiven and saved is wholly contingent upon our willingness to forgive others. However, as with any difficult passage, we must interpret this passage in light of the whole of the Bible.

The first passage we should look at to help our understanding is also in Matthew – in chapter 18, verses 21 through 35. Here the Disciples ask Jesus about forgiveness (specifically, how many times must we forgive someone who sins against us), to which Jesus replies with a parable to illustrate His point that those who are forgiven should forgive. He concludes with another “if” warning that judgment will come to you “if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” The most significant nuance to this particular narrative is that both the servants in the parable owed their master more than they could ever repay (which correlates to all of us), and both had their debts forgiven. It’s important to remember this as we try to understand Matthew 6:14-15.

Paul makes the same point in Colossians 3:12-13 where he says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.” (emphasis mine) Paul said the same thing Jesus said, which is basically this: forgiven people should be forgiving people. Or, to put it more resolutely as Paul does, forgiven people must be forgiving people.

The answer to the questions above about whether these “if” statements result in a kind of “works salvation” is also a sober warning to us: If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven; if we are forgiven, we will be forgiving. It seems kind of like circular reasoning, but it’s not. Our ability to forgive is contingent upon our being forgiven, and our forgiven-ness is evidenced by our forgiving of others. Therefore – and here’s the dire warning – unwillingness to forgive on our part can be evidence that we are not forgiven. And, to solve the theological issue of works vs. grace, our forgiveness of others is not a means of our salvation. Rather, our forgiveness of others is an evidence of our salvation. Remember, “we love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). There is nothing I can find in the Bible, not even these passages about forgiveness, where we initiate any part of the salvation process which, as I see it, removes any possibility of attaining genuine salvation via works.

If God can (and He does) extend forgiveness to all who seek it from Him, then we “must” be willing to extend forgiveness as well. We must beware not to have a higher standard than God when it comes to what we are willing to forgive! We would likely never say we have a higher standard than God, but heart attitudes manifested by unforgiveness say otherwise. Think back to the parable in Matthew 18. The reason the first servant was thrown into prison (think hell) was because he was unwilling to forgive his fellow servant what amounted to a grain of sand on a beach compared to what the master forgave the first one of.

It’s very likely some of you reading this struggle greatly to forgive others for grievous and/or repeated (and unrepented) sins against you. You may have endured unspeakable wrongs, and forgiveness seems impossible. While it’s correct to say, “Well, the Bible says you must forgive if you want to be forgiven, so you’d better get over it and forgive,” the Gospel of Jesus Christ speaks a deeper truth and comfort into these hard situations.

We are all broken and sinful, and sin and brokenness affects our vertical relationship with God as well as our horizontal relationships with others. The Gospel teaches us that we are all equally in need of forgiveness, and that God extends grace and mercy through Jesus Christ to repair our relationship with Him (reconciliation). Once our relationship with God has been fixed, we can then work on our relationships with each other (again, “we love because He first loved us”). This means what’s impossible in our own strength is possible through the power of Holy Spirit and the new life we are given in Christ.

If you’re struggling with being able to forgive someone today, pray for the Lord to help you. Unforgiveness doesn’t just affect our horizontal relationships, it affects our vertical one right here and now, and, if left unresolved, for eternity.

This phrase, “and lead us not into temptation,” has been the source of much debate over the years, and for good reason. The question of whether or not God causes us to sin, or at the very least intentionally places us in circumstances where we are tempted to sin, is one with huge implications for the holiness and goodness of God. This can seem especially challenging for those of us who believe in God’s complete sovereignty over all things, including all evil and sin and sickness. If we conclude simply that God does not do the tempting himself, but allows, and even leads, his people into temptation (or trials, as the Greek word in this verse can be rendered), does that not make the sovereign God culpable in some way for our sin?

I could bring up a number of theological positions on this, or attempt to delve into the philosophy of causality; but instead, let’s look at the Scripture text at hand as well as some associated ones to see if any clear answer(s) can be found.

James 1:13-15 make it very plain that God is not the source of our temptations, but rather we are “lured and enticed by [our] own desire.” James goes so far as to state emphatically, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God.’” In other words, temptation ultimately comes from unfulfilled desires within us. Yes, if we are “in Christ” we are new creations and have been given new hearts that are inclined toward God; but, because we live in a corrupt world in these “bodies of death” (the “flesh” that Paul talks about extensively in Romans and his other Epistles), we still struggle and strive to live as people set free from sin.

Jesus even juxtaposes these concepts of spirit and flesh when he warns the Disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane to “watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” These passages seem to indicate that temptation is internal to us and arises from the weakness of our flesh. While Scripture is clear that God is not the one who tempts us, the question raised by Matthew 6:13 remains: does God “lead us” into circumstances or places where we will be tempted?

There are instances, such as in the book of Job and where Jesus tells Peter that Satan had asked and been granted permission to “sift [him] like wheat” that the devil is allowed (with limitations) to put God’s people through trials and temptations. Even more clearly, Matthew tells us in chapter four the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness “to be tempted by the devil” (emphasis mine). While Jesus’ circumstances and purpose were unique, His intentional temptation shows us two things: God was not the source of the temptations, the devil was; yet, God the Spirit explicitly led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. Therefore, God’s Word reveals to us that God does, in fact, in His sovereignty allow and even enable his people to be tempted.

Now, before we jump to any conclusions about God’s character and culpability as an active agent in our sin, consider these things:

First and foremost, read the words of Paul from 1 Corinthians 10:13 where he says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” This verse really defuses any argument we may form. The bottom line is that God, in his sovereignty, allows us to be tempted, but also in his sovereignty restrains the tempter and graciously provides “a way escape” for us so that giving in to temptation and sinning is not our only option.

However, pay attention as well to the words in the verse that immediately follows, where Paul says, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” We have a responsibility to take an active role in the avoidance of temptation and sin. We can’t just pray that God will lead us away from temptation and do nothing ourselves to combat it, and then blame God when we fall into sin. Paul admonishes Timothy to “flee youthful lusts.” He doesn’t tell him to remain in compromising circumstances and just pray for God to help him. He says, “flee!” In other words, take action!

Because God is sovereign over all things, including the Devil and sin, and because God “works all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose,” we can find our answer (and hope) in that God uses temptations – and even our sin – to bring about sanctification and holiness in our lives. For the unsaved, sin leads only to the “heaping up of wrath,” judgment and death (consider also 2 Peter 2). For God’s children, His elect, sin can lead us to repentance and a greater love and appreciation for what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross – “he who has been forgiven much loves much.”

So, what do we do with “and lead us not into temptation”? Two final thoughts.

The first is that we can view this as a way by which we, in our prayers, acknowledge those things that tempt us and are the “sins which clings so closely” (Hebrews 12:1). This helps us in our “fleeing” as we identify and call out sin in our lives for what it is. The second is that we can see Jesus creating a contrast here between temptation and deliverance from evil. His statement is hyperbolic in way. Rather than being led away into a situation where sin is lurking we should seek deliverance from evil – something on the polar opposite side of the spectrum. It’s similar to when Jesus said that we should “hate” our father, mother, brothers and sisters compared to how much we love him. He’s not advocating that we actually hate our families, but rather that our love for him would be so great, even extreme, that it makes our love for our families appear to be on the same side of hate on a scale depicting levels of our love.

Thus, our prayer and desire should be to abhor and shun evil so much in order to obey and love our Father in heaven that everything else be viewed as temptation and illicit desire. We need to have a passion for holiness so intense that we are willing to give up any earthly pleasure, activity or relationship to pursue God. That’s what loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength looks like. Sound impossible? Yes, but it’s our calling – “Be holy as I am holy.” It’s only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are enabled to live in a way that’s pleasing to him; and, thanks be to God, we have forgiveness through Jesus Christ when we fall short of this calling.

Thoughts on Matthew 6:5-13

Imagine you’re sitting out in the sweltering Mediterranean sun, longing for a breeze from the sea of Galilee to stir and offer some relief. You could leave, and part of you wants to, but you don’t want to be the first person to walk away from Jesus as he preaches from the hillside. You have pressed as close as you can (or dare), along with your fellow Pharisees, and your anger has been stirred as this Nazarene carpenter has spent the past hour teaching things that threaten to expose your falseness and the futility of your religiosity. You’re hoping the people have not been listening well and that they don’t start to perceive you differently. Then Jesus said it, or so you thought. “Did he just call us hypocrites?” you ask your friend. “I think so, but I’m not sure. Let’s keep listening,” he replies sharply. Then, it happens again, and this time you’re both sure.

Jesus was not afraid to call things what they were. He never dodged the truth or sugarcoated anything so as not to offend. Obviously, he was not malicious or reckless (nothing about Jesus is reckless, not even his love), and he even told his followers that people would be offended at them on account of Jesus. This passage is certainly no exception. Jesus had just finished calling out the “hypocrites” for the way they made a big deal about their giving to the poor and seeking the approval of men. Then, Jesus warns his listeners not to “be like the hypocrites” who stood and prayed loudly in the synagogues and on the street corners.

Some people have taken this passage to mean Christians should never pray in public (like for a meal at a restaurant). I think that interpretation is extreme and misses the point Jesus is making – that just like the giving and doing good deeds, it’s about our hearts. If we were to never pray outside the confines of our rooms, then we need to stop praying in church, prayer meetings and while evangelizing. That’s such an absurd view that I won’t say more to contradict it as Scripture and church history are more than sufficient to do that. However, I will say that we need to be careful when we pray in the presence of others that we’re not putting on a show for others rather than coming before the throne of God.

I’ve had plenty of experiences where preachers and other people default to what I’ll call a “prayer voice” when they prayed publicly. I get that we all have nuanced ways of speaking with various people, God included, and that’s normal. What I mean by “prayer voice” is when it’s over the top (sometimes in King James English) and is obviously not a normal way of speaking to anyone, not even God. God is our Father, and Jesus is our Brother and High Priest, among many other things, and our conversation with them should be natural and normal (assuming we’re practiced in prayer). Again, God is after our hearts – and knows what’s in them!

The second prayer-related warning Jesus gives here is not to “heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do.” It was not uncommon in those days for pagan worshippers to repeat their prayers over and over in hopes their false god would hear them. Jesus makes it clear these mantra-like repetitions are unnecessary with God because, unlike wooden or metal idols, he not only hears the first time, but knows our needs before we even voice them. He then presents a prayer after which we can model our prayers.

Because there are thousands of books, articles and posts about The Lord’s Prayer, I will limit my comments here to a basic outline of this prayer that we can use to approach God in a way that can be very helpful and prevent us from approaching God as if he were just a divine Santa Claus who exists to hear our wish lists.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” – acknowledge God’s deity and majesty, but also his condescension to us as a loving Father who has graciously adopted us into his family.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – express our desire to be in God’s presence and to submit our will to his, and to see God’s purposes fulfilled throughout the earth.

“Give us this day our daily bread…” – Confess our dependence upon the Lord for all we have, as well as our contentment for what he provides, be it much or little.

“…and forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors” – Confess our sins to God (vertical relationship), and examine our hearts to ensure we have forgiven and been reconciled with others (horizontal relationships), and, as Jesus already addresses in Matthew 5:23-24, go and be reconciled before coming before the Lord.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” – Plead for God’s grace and strength to overcome sin, and for divine protection against the attacks of the enemy (whether in the physical or spiritual realms).

I will conclude here to keep this post from becoming too lengthy, but in subsequent posts we will dig deeper into some questions about whether or not God causes us to sin (based on verse 13) as well as the conditionality of forgiveness (verses 12 and 14-15). In the meantime, let’s commit to praying more, and praying in a way that highlights God’s holiness and our need and depravity, but also in a way that sounds and feels like a conversation with our Father who loves us more than we can even comprehend.

Mark chapter six stands out because of two very familiar stories – Jesus feeding the 5,000 and then walking on water. And, there’s another significant story in that chapter most of us never heard in Sunday School, namely, the beheading of John the Baptist. I imagine the take-home crafts and drawings for that tragic story would not make for great Sunday lunch show-and-tell. However, those are not the only narratives in chapter six.

After Jesus feeds the massive crowds and then walks to his disciples on the water, he ends up with them in Gennesaret, a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee that was located just a couple miles southwest of Capernaum – where Jesus was living at that time. The text says that when they landed and got out of the boat “the people immediately recognized” Jesus, and “ran about the whole region and began to bring the people on their beds to wherever they heard he was.” The passage goes on to discuss how people would lay out the sick in the villages, cities and countryside (in other words, everywhere) wherever Jesus was and beg that they might just touch the edge of Jesus’ garment. Because of their faith-filled actions, “as many as touched it were made well.”

This is the picture of evangelism – going and spreading the news of Jesus to others. The first lesson here is to “come and see, go and tell” (I stole that term from our pastor’s sermon this past week). These people had apparently either been healed themselves, or had seen Jesus heal others, and their belief that Jesus would heal more people motivated them to go about “the whole region” and bring others to Jesus, even going so far as to carry them on their beds to wherever he was.

The second lesson we can learn about evangelism is that we need to be sensitive to the Lord’s leading and listening for His voice – and then obey … and then keep listening and obeying. There are two sub-points I want to touch on here. The first has to do with being able to hear and discern the Lord’s voice. Many of us fret about not knowing if we would know God’s voice if we heard it. You will know it when you hear it (Jesus said His sheep know His voice). But, let’s be honest here. Most of us don’t hear from God because we’re so distracted with other things that we’re not tuned in. I think of the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. Philip was listening, heard from God and obeyed the prompting to sit along a hot, dusty road in the middle of the desert. If that were me, I’d probably sit there thinking how cool it was that I heard and obeyed the Lord, and then I’d pull out my smartphone and start playing Scrabble since, after all, I’m now sitting in a desolate place and have nothing else to do. I hate to think that, knowing myself, I’d not have heard the second message, like Philip did, to go evangelize the person off in the distance. The second sub-point is that we have to be willing to change our plans to synch up with God’s. I don’t know about you, but I have missed out on missional opportunities not because I was deaf to the Lord’s voice, but rather because I had an agenda I didn’t want to have altered. I made excuses. I was selfish. And then, the chance was missed and the Good News of a savior in Jesus Christ was not shared that day.

Jesus had been preaching and healing in the region of Galilee for a few months, which was long enough to gain a reputation and accompanying recognition so that he had a hard time being alone. Even the thousands of people he fed the day before sought and found Jesus in a desolate place when he was trying to get away and be alone to rest (and even get a chance to eat!) with his disciples. Verses 33 and 34 say, “Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When [Jesus] went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” In other words, Jesus was willing to forego his initial plans to rest and be alone and instead served people in need.

This seeing and recognizing of Jesus, followed by going and telling others, is a theme we find throughout the Scriptures, and John 1:29-51 is no exception. John the Baptist sees Jesus and proclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” and then Andrew tells Peter, “We have found the Messiah,” and Philip finds Nathanael and informs him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” They were willing to risk their message being rejected (which it was in part by Nathanael initially), but were so sure of the truth and importance of what they were proclaiming that they spoke anyway.

Here is the third and final lesson – the fear of rejection should not prevent us from evangelizing. Why? Because the truth of the Gospel is God’s word of salvation to humankind; and if the message is rejected, it’s God’s message that’s being rejected, not us, the messengers. Therefore, it should not be difficult for us to shout from the rooftops that we have “found the Messiah” and that others should come and see him and believe as well. Their acceptance of the Gospel message is not within our ability to ensure. Only God through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit can change hearts and draw people to himself. Our job is simply to sow the seeds and water, but it’s the Lord who causes seeds to sprout and fruit to grow. These passages make one thing clear – our need to run to Jesus for salvation, and then to run from Jesus to go and tell others what we have found.

Thoughts on Matthew 6:1-4

The first word of this next section of the Sermon on the Mount is “beware,” and is a fitting theme for the remainder of the sermon. The following two chapters, as we will discover, are full of warnings prefaced by “do not” and “beware” statements. This first warning is against “practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.” I emphasize the last half of that quote because there’s a tension that must be held here with an earlier quote from this sermon that says, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (5:16). The Apostle Peter also addresses the “visibility” side of this tension in 1 Peter 2:12 which says, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

Clearly there’s a right and proper way to do good works that are visible to others that bring glory to God, and there’s a way to do good works for our own vainglory and for which we will not receive any reward from God. It’s important here to see that the first verse describes “practicing righteousness” in general, whereas the subsequent verses address giving specifically. The most obvious answer, which is contained in the first verse, has to do with our motives. Jesus implies that we should and will do righteous acts, but then warns that our reason for doing so must not be to “be seen” by other people. What I take from this is that our good deeds will be seen, and, according to Matthew 5:16 and 1 Peter 2:12, should be seen. Thus, we should be about the business of doing good deeds, but with pure motives. Again, as we have seen over and over again in the previous verses in this sermon, Jesus is cutting through the surface to get at our hearts.

We have already seen that good deeds, done with the right motives, bring glory to God and are an expectation for his followers. In the remaining verses of this passage, Jesus juxtaposes loud, attention-seeking giving with secret, quiets acts of charity to make his point that those who give in a flashy, self-aggrandizing way are “hypocrites” and have “received their reward” – the approbation of man, rather than the favor and reward of the “Father who sees in secret.” It cannot be ignored that Jesus says to give “in secret,” so we’re forced to figure out how to reconcile that with the other two passages I mentioned earlier. How do we give such that our left hand does not know what our right hand is doing, yet do it in such a way that others see it and glorify God? Jesus clearly says to give in secret, so how does that fit with visibility? Or does it?

There are two answers I see. One is that in the first verse Jesus mentions doing good works generally, as already discussed, and then drives down to a more specific and relevant topic that would resonate with his audience. The second is that giving to the poor, even if secretly/anonymously, often results in open and visible effects that bring glory to God. There are many stories where anonymous providential provision brought about much praise and thanksgiving to the Lord and benefit to the recipients (as well encouragement to those who heard or read about it). Those who gave “in secret” have been, or will be, rewarded, and God has received glory. Thus, the tension between giving in secret and letting our light shine is not as difficult as it may have seemed.

In summary, and as always, Jesus is after our hearts. Outward acts, no matter how good, do not matter compared to the motives of our hearts. Our call is to love God and love others, whether that means good works that cannot be hidden or secretive giving that openly blesses others. Either way, we are reminded to do all that we do for the glory of God. Soli Deo Gloria.

Thoughts on Matthew 5:48

Here is the sum of all that Jesus has said thus far in the Sermon on the Mount, and the prerequisite to enter into the Kingdom of heaven: “You therefore must be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” It’s the highest and most impossible call for us fallen humans with an inherited sin nature. Yet, Jesus’ words are true and the standard has been set. Any hopes of entering the Kingdom of Heaven based on external actions, religiosity or good deeds have been smashed to bits (at least in the minds of those who are able to see the pervasiveness and magnitude of their sin). If Jesus were to have been taken up into heaven at the moment He concluded this first half of the Sermon on the Mount and left humanity to hopelessly strive for sinless perfection, everyone would be lost … eternally.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,..” (Ephesians 2:4-6) This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the only hope we have. When we are broken by the weight of our sin and see Jesus, the Messiah, standing with outstretched, nail-pierced hands, the cross upon which He bore the punishment for our sins looming larger and larger, it’s then, when we hear His call, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” that freedom from slavery to sin and death are realized, our hearts of stone are removed and replaced with hearts of flesh, faith is ignited in our new hearts, and our mouths are opened and we confess Christ as Lord and rejoice in songs of thanksgiving to our Savior.

There’s so much that happens in that moment, and it’s all the grace of God working salvation in us and sealing us with His Holy Spirit. It’s what happens next that Jesus really gets after in the second half of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus focuses in on holy living as it relates to prayer, fasting, tithing, supplication, good works, judging, interpersonal relationships and other topics. As I have said before and as we will continue to see, the things to which Jesus calls us are not possible without Him as our Lord and savior, empowered and enabled by the Holy Spirit. Thus, the call is first to believe the Gospel and “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” and then to let all the other things fall into place as we walk with and in obedience to Him. May our prayer today be to abide in Him, and He in us that we may love Him, love others, and, ultimately, bring Him glory.