Your Father is God, DON'T WORRY!

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Sermon:

Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Everybody knows the story of David and Goliath. But the world thinks that David’s young victory is about a little guy triumphing over amazing odds. The world puts the story of David and Goliath on the shelf next to the “Little Engine that Could”.

But David and Goliath is not primarily about determination, perseverance or even courage. Sure David was courageous, but that’s not the main point. What happened on that battle field 3,000 years ago happened because of David’s FAITH.

David knew God had promised that no one could stand in their way as Abraham’s descendants as they took possession of their God-given homeland. Turn to Deuteronomy, chapter 20.

“1When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. 2When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3He shall say: “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them. 4For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” (Deuteronomy 20:1-4 NIV).

When David first saw Goliath taunting the Israelites he said, “Who is this… that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26b). When King Saul told David that he was too young and inexperienced to face Goliath, David replied that Goliath would die because he had “defied the armies of the living God.” (1 Samuel 17:36 NIV).

David believed that God would KEEP HIS PROMISE and would fight against the enemies of Israel. David knew that when God is the Commander of your army, fear is silly.
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Today in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says something very similar: If God is your Father, than worry is silly.

Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)

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? 26Look 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? 27Who 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. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If 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? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

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Worry makes us near-sighted. It causes us to focus on details that may or may not matter. Sometimes at the expense of what more important.

When David told King Saul that he would fight Goliath, Saul’s mind thought of the little details of battle, not the big promise of God. He tried to discourage David, saying that Goliath was far more experienced.

When David refused to turn away, Saul turned to other details. Saul dressed David up in his own gear of war. Armor, sword, etc. He figured David would need these to stand a chance against Goliath.

David tried them on, and then took them off. He wasn’t used to wearing these things. Instead David took his shepherding stick and went down by the stream to get a few stones for his sling.

The truth is, David would have defeated Goliath if he had walked into that showdown armed only with a feather duster. The victory wasn’t in the sling. The victory wasn’t in the stones. It wasn’t in the boy. It was in the God whom the boy trusted.
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And when it comes to you and me, our LIFE and HEALTH doesn’t depend on food and clothing alone. Our culture values these things highly. But food and clothing are just the details. True life depends on having a faith connection to the Creator.

In verse 33 of our Sermon text Jesus promises…

“…seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33 NIV).

Being part of God’s Kingdom means believing His promises and basing our decisions on them. That’s what it means to seek God’s rule in our lives. First believing Him, then living by His Word. When we do this, we have God’s guarantee that He will provide our food and drink. A good King takes care of His subjects.

We have God’s righteousness when we trust in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of sins. In fact, God says that through faith in Jesus we no only OBTAIN forgiveness, we BECOME the righteousness of God.

Turn to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. There Paul writes…

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV).

Through faith in Jesus we are declared as sinless and perfect as God is.

These are the things that really matter! Not whether we’re eating macaroni and cheese or prime rib. Not whether we’ve got a pair of shoes for every occasion or just one pair of holey sneakers. Faith in Christ. Participation in the reign of God, right now.
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Look again at verse 26. Jesus says…

“26Look 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?...
28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If 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?” (Matthew 6:26, 28-30 NIV).

Jesus was sitting on a large hillside when he said these words. The people could no doubt hear the birds and maybe they could see the flowers around them, too.

What if tomorrow God forgot to make the flowers grow? What if tomorrow God forgot to feed the birds and they all died? These are silly questions. Here’s another silly question. What if tomorrow God forgot to care for the sinners He redeemed with His own Son’s blood?

Paul said it like this:

“31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32 NIV).

If the God of the Bible is our Father, and Jesus says that by faith He is, then we never have reason to worry.

He’s not a stupid Father! He’s not a weak Father! But that’s what we treat Him like when we worry. As if He could forget His own people. As if we might need to pick up the slack for God when He forgets to give us what we need.

He’s given us His Son to be our Savior, our Ever-living, raised-from-the-dead Savior and even calls Him our brother! He will not fail to provide what we need. We ARE far more valuable to our Father than all the little creatures and plants that He feeds and clothes every moment of every day.
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Worry settles into the heart when we take God’s responsibilities on our own shoulders. King Saul and his whole army were dismayed when Goliath challenged them because they thought that their sword and skill that had to win the battle.

We too, can lose heart when we begin to think that forgiveness depends on us sinning less tomorrow. But it isn’t our doing better that kills the giant called SIN, it’s Jesus’ perfect life that did that. We just trust in the promise, just like David.
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Now, Jesus isn’t saying never prepare for the future.

In Proverbs 10, verse 5 it says…

5 He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son,
but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son” (Proverbs 10:4-5 NIV).

Preparation for the future is different than worry. Peter says that all Christians should be prepared to tell people why they trust in Jesus. (1 Peter 3:15) Paul says that we should prepare ourselves to face the Devil’s temptations by putting on God’s armor. (Ephesians 6:11)

Letting our minds race around what might be said, or what might be done, or what possibly could go wrong – is not an exercise of preparing, but of worrying. It is also not an exercise of faith, but of doubt. Preparation for the future is different than worry.

Ever get stuck in the snow? Or mud? In your car I mean. Our instinct is to step on the gas. More power will help, right? But usually what works best is a steady foot on the gas. Let the weight of the car give the car some traction. Give just enough gas to move the care forward instead of polishing your own personal ice-rink with your tires.

That’s what worry is like. Spinning your tires. Thinking, oh, I can get out of this if I just put a little more mind power into it. Oh, no, it’s not working. Better spin faster. And on it goes until we’re tired and frustrated to finally sleep.

But Jesus wants us to know that even though our minds are attracted to worry, worry is really no good. Worry is not only powerless to help us, it is also a cumbersome weight that pulls us down.

Look at verse 27. Jesus says,

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:27 NIV).

Worry is powerless to help us, and it is therefore foolish to waste our time and energy worrying.

I’d like to prove this fact for you right now. I’ve got a feather here. Just one single feather. I’m going to put it here in front of you. And now I’m going to move this feather onto the ground just by using the power of worry.

(Pastor concentrates hard on the feather, but nothing happens.)

Okay, maybe I’m not good at worrying. I thought I was a pretty good worrier, but I guess I’m going to need some help. Is there anyone out there who is good at worrying? Raise you hand if you’ve got some experience worrying?

(Pastor asks one person to help him “worry” the feather onto the ground. They both concentrate hard, but nothing happens to the feather.)

Looks like we’re going to need everyone’s help here. I need you all to help me worry about this feather. With our combined worrying we surely move mountains, we must be able to move this feather.

(Everyone in the congregation concentrates hard on worrying the feather to the ground, but again, nothing happens.)

Some of you are thinking, this is a very silly exercise. And Jesus would agree. Worrying about anything is a very silly exercise indeed. Worry is powerless to do anything, except waste our time, waster our energy and draw our attention away from our Father in heaven. That’s why Jesus commands His followers “Don’t worry!”, three separate times!

Did you notice that? Look at verse 25. Verse 31. Verse 34. Jesus knows that worry is a persistent problem.
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There’s one more thing Jesus wants us to know about worry. Look at verse 34. Jesus says,

“…do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34 NIV).

I think we would all agreed that it’s foolish to let the past weigh us down. Christ Jesus cuts us free from all our past sins. It would be foolish to let guilt over those sins weigh us down. It is equally foolish to look forward and borrow tomorrow’s responsibilities today. In the present we can’t really do anything about tomorrow’s problems. We can’t really even be sure what tomorrow’s problems will be!

Have you ever gotten all prepared for some problem that you just KNOW is going to happen, and then it doesn’t? Ever had to talk to someone about something very important and gotten all tense about what they might say or do, and it turns out to be no problem at all?

When we borrow from tomorrow’s problems we borrow weight that isn’t meant for today. Leave it be, Jesus says. Quit pretending you’re God and just trust in the Father. Let today be what it is, and trust that God will care for you tomorrow also. He’s your Father, you know. He cares for you.

I’d like to end this message with a prayer.

Prayer:

Father in Heaven,
Forgive us for the times we try to wrestle Your responsibilities away from You. Help us not to worry, but to trust in Your promises. Help us to grow in faith, trusting in You and Your Son, knowing that You’ll take care of all the little details of our lives.

Forgive us for the times we have treated you like you didn’t know what we really needed, or like you were powerless to give us the right things. When we worry, help us to remember the birds and the flowers, which you feed and clothe. And help us to remember the way you have already clothed us with Christ’s righteousness, totally apart from our help.

When we find ourselves worrying about something, help us to realize it, Lord, and to throw off our worry with prayer.

We pray all these things in Jesus’ name, through whom You have made all worry a silly thing.

Amen.

The Peace of God which surpasses all our understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Being Heaven-Minded - Sep 20, 2009

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Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We’re in the second part of the Sermon on the Mount today. In the beginning of that Sermon, Jesus addressed the FALSE TEACHINGS of the Pharisees. Here in the second part Jesus has been addressing the FALSE WORSHIP of the Pharisees.

Jesus hasn’t been using the word, “Pharisee”, but we can be sure they understood that He was talking about them.

When Jesus described how NOT to worship, He described how THEY worshipped! He said, don’t be like the people who love to give to the needy – IN PUBLIC so everyone can see how generous they are. Don’t be like the people who love to pray – OUTLOUD so everyone can hear what good followers of God they are. Don’t be like the people who love to fast – BUT TELEGRAPH IT to everyone by the way their faces look, so that everyone knows they GENEROUS and PIOUS and they even go BEYOND what God commands them to do. They fast not only ONCE a year but twice a week!

This was how the Pharisees “worshipped” God. And as Jesus later said, ““Everything they do is done for men to see…” (Matthew 23:5 NIV).

Their spiritually was a show. Their religion, a machine they used to get attention. Their thoughts were not focused on the God of Heaven, but on the things of earth.

True followers of God are HEAVENMINDED. And that’s what Jesus is going to talk about today, being Heaven-minded.
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Turn to Matthew 6, verse 19.

“19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21 NIV).

Where you invest, YOU are invested. Let me explain.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger made movies, he was selling himself. He was selling an image of strength, an Austrian accent, little lines like “I’ll be back”. He was selling his personality. Who he was and how he did things.

When you make money at your job, you’re doing the same thing. You take your talents and abilities, your personality and time and you turn it into a paycheck. You’re taking who you are and what you do and making it into money.

When you then invest that money in the stock market, you’re really investing PART OF YOU.

Think about the stock market crash of 1929. Some people had invested everything they had into the market. They had invested more than money. They had invested their hopes and dreams, their time and effort, their emotions – their lives into that stock market. When it failed, they felt they had NOTHING LEFT. Some even took their own lives in despair.

When you invest something of yours, you are investing part of YOU.

With this in mind, Jesus says we’ve got two investment choices. Either we can invest in this earth. In the physical things that we can see and feel. Or, we can invest in Heaven.

But Jesus says, if you’re going to invest in the world be aware of this – EVERYTHING in this world eventually FALLS APART, or DISAPPEARS.

But investing in Heaven is a different thing. In God’s presence NOTHING DECAYS and nothing can ever be STOLEN. The treasures of Heaven are secure and eternal.

So, let’s take it back to the Pharisees for a moment. In all their acts of fake worship, the Pharisees were investing in the world. Get me attention, get me a reputation. That’s what they were investing in. And all of that was going to fall apart eventually. The better thing to invest in was a relationship with God.
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Jesus says that the difference between a Heaven-minded person and an Earth-minded person is like the difference between someone who can see and someone who is blind.

Matthew 6, verse 22. Jesus continues by saying…

“22“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But 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!” (Matthew 6:22-23 NIV).

Human beings are born into darkness. They are sinful from conception and without faith in God when they’re born.

But when the Holy Spirit brings the Gospel, these things change. Through the Bible, God shows people that they’re sinners, but He loves them. Loves them so much that He’s opened the way to Heaven for them. How? God’s sinless Son took the sinner’s place in hell. Jesus suffered their hell while He was dying on the cross. Because of His suffering, our sins have been paid for. In Jesus we have forgiveness.

And to prove that this all was not just some religious story made up to make people feel better about their mistakes, God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. Our Savior lives, now and forever.

Turn to First Peter 1, verse 3. First Peter is just a few books back from Revelation. Peter, John, Jude, Revelation. First Peter 1, verse 3. To fellow followers of Jesus, Peter writes…

“3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV).

Our first birth was into spiritual deadness and blindness. Through Jesus’ resurrection we are born all over again, forgiven and spiritually alive.

We sinners made saints. Blind beggars who can now see. Because of Jesus our Savior, we have been made princes and princesses of Heaven. Owners of an everlasting inheritance.

But if we replace God with something else, be it ourselves, or money or some false god, then darkness returns. And with darkness, stumbling and pain.
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When I was a kid, my Dad used to take the church youth group down to the Black Hills of South Dakota every summer for a camping trip.

We’d explore different parts of the Black Hills each time. Once we crossed over into Wyoming to see Devil’s Tower. Once we hiked up to the castle lookout tower on Harney Peak. And once we took a tour down into a deep cave.

In the cave the guide gave us each a simple lantern. It was a sideways bucket with a candle in it. Then he led us down into the darkness. When we had gone far enough he had us sit in a circle in a place where the path widened out a bit. When we were all there, he had us blow our candles out.

He said we were now experiencing complete darkness. We were far enough down in the cave that NO light could reach us. Try as you might, you really couldn’t see you hand in front of your face.

Now, the cave wasn’t much of a maze. There were only a few different paths that you might follow. So, on the way back out of the cave they let us explore on our own. Of course, everyone wanted to find their own special way up.

As I was finding my way out, my candle started to flicker. It had burned down to the end. The kids that were with me were either to far ahead or to far behind for me to use their light. So when mine went out, I couldn’t see a thing.

Stupidly, I tried to keep moving forward. Slowly, feeling my way along the walls. But even moving slowly, when I bashed my knee into a large, chunky boulder it hurt. A lot. I decided to wait until the grownups caught up.
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Turn to First Timothy 6, verse 9. The apostle Paul wrote this to a young pastor named Timothy.

“9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:9-10 NIV).

If we try to find our way through life without Jesus, we’re just groping in the dark, no doubt headed for some painful experiences.
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Turn back to Matthew 6, verse 24. There are somethings that seem grey in the Bible. Hard for us to understand. Hard to define. In this section Jesus is all black and white.

You can either invest in the world, or in heaven. You can either see through the eyes of faith, or you’re blind. And true devotion can’t be divided. Matthew 6, verse 24. Jesus says…

“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” (Matthew 6:24 NIV).

Over 20 years ago a survey was taken in America (James Patterson and Peter Kim, The Day America Told the Truth (New York: Prentice Hall, 1991)). The survey asked people, “What would you do for 10 million dollars?” There was a list of things people could pick from. Things like…

“Abandon your family.”
“Abandon your church.”
“Become a prostitute for a week.”
“Leave your spouse.”
“Kill a stranger.”

The results were startling. For 10 million dollars…

…25 percent would abandon their family.
…25 percent would abandon their church.
…23 percent would become a prostitute for a week.
…16 percent would leave their spouse.
…7 percent would murder a stranger.

You can’t be Heaven-minded and Earth-minded. There is only one throne on top the human heart. Either God sits there as King, or something else.
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Part of being Heaven-minded is truly meaning what we say in the Lord’s Prayer. We say, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We’re saying, “God I want to do what you want me to do, just like the angels do. Perfectly.”

But being Heaven-minded also means confessing our sins to God when we fail to do His will. Being Heaven-minded means trusting Him when He tells us, “I forgive you. Because of My Son, I forgive you.”

Let’s be serious here. Maybe we’ve never been offered 10 million dollars to do something we know is wrong, but how many times haven’t we chosen evil over the good, for far less than a million?

How about every day.

That’s why the Master we serve is so special. His Word says,

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 NIV).

Invest in your relationship with the Father, not in things that never satisfy and won’t last.

Let Jesus illuminate your every step, by listening to His Words every day.

Serve the Master, by believing His promise and learning to live His way.

Be, Heaven-minded.

Amen.

The Peace of God which surpasses all our understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Jesus Teaches Fasting - Sep 13, 2009

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Sermon:

Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

What I have in my hand right here is a flashlight. It has a working switch. It has batteries. It has a light bulb. It even has the one thing that makes a flashlight valuable. It has light.

However, if I don’t turn it on, it won’t help me find my way in the darkness. If I point it the wrong way, again, it won’t help me. If I shine it directly into my eyes, it’s going to make things harder to see, not easier. In order for this flashlight to be a useful tool, it needs to be USED PROPERLY.

TOOLS FOR WORSHIP

We have many tools meant to help us worship. We might think of the organ, the hymnal, the bulletin, the Bible, our voices, our emotions, our minds, our hearts. But, in order for these things to be useful in worshipping our God, they need to be USED PROPERLY.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day had many of the same kinds of worship tools that we have now, and some different ones as well. But they didn’t use these tools properly. For example, when the Pharisees they pray out-loud prayers, they were actually talking to the people around them, not to God. That was an abuse of prayer.

Their acts of worship did nothing to help them see inside themselves, nor did their acts of worship help them to see God better. Their “worship” was done so that they would be seen by other men (Pastor holds flashlight above himself, shining on himself).

We’ve been studying Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount for a while now. We’re now in the middle of the second part of that sermon, at a place where Jesus is addressing the false worship of the Pharisees. Jesus is also explaining what true worship is like.

He’s already talked about the worship tools of charitable giving and prayer. Today Jesus talks about the worship tool we call “fasting”. Turn to Matthew 6, verse 16. There Jesus says…

“16“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:16-18 NIV).

THE FASTING OF THE PHARISEES

The Pharisees fasted on Monday and Thursday, of every week. God didn’t command them to do this in the Bible, they simply chose to do it. They picked Monday and Thursday because Moses went up Mt. Sinai to receive the Law on a Thursday, and on Monday he came back down.

Monday and Thursday also happened to be the market days when people came into town from the country. Local courts were in session on these days also. Whether they intended it or not, on these days the Pharisees had a bigger crowd to see them fast.

And people would notice that the Pharisees were fasting. The Pharisees made sure of that. First of all, they made it known that Monday and Thursday were their fasting days. Then they made their time of fasting obvious by changing their appearance.

Jesus teaches that this is a MISUSE OF A WORSHIP TOOL. They were shining the “flashlight of fasting” on themselves so that others would notice them. But fasting is a worship tool that is mean to be used in secret.

THE NEGLECTED TOOL OF FASTING

Of the three worship tools that Jesus talks about in this part of the Sermon on the Mount, I think fasting is the least known to us and the least used. We know about charitable giving. We know about prayer. But how much do we know about fasting? Do we ever use this tool?

Do me a favor, raise your hand if you’ve EVER fasted with a religious purpose in mind.

Raise your hand if you consider fasting a very important part of your worship life.

If you look in our Catechism you won’t find fasting in the table of contents or in the index. You’ll find it mentioned in connection with the Lord’s Supper, but not explained in much detail.

So it isn’t surprising that we don’t consider fasting an important part of our worship. If you look in the Old Testament, God only required the Israelites to fast once a year. That doesn’t sound very important.

Even though God only commanded the Israelites to fast once a year, we find examples of people fasting all over in the Bible. Sometimes it’s an individual fasting as part of their worship in the Temple (Hannah). Sometimes it’s a congregation fasting before they send out a team of evangelists (Paul and Barnabas). Sometimes it’s a whole city fasting to God (Jonah’s Nineveh).

THREE KINDS OF FASTING

There are three basic kinds of fasting. There’s the NORMAL fast, when no food is eaten. There’s the ABSOLUTE fast, when food and water avoided. And there’s the PARTIAL fast, where only certain foods are avoided.

Simple enough. But the question remains: What is fasting good for? What exactly does it accomplish?

FASTING IDENTIFIES A DAY AS SPECIAL

You know how I said that God commanded the Israelites to fast once a year? That day when all the people were supposed to fast was the Day of Atonement.

The Day of Atonement was the only day of the whole year that God permitted a priest, and it had to be THE HIGH PRIEST, to enter the innermost room of the Temple. The Most Holy Place.

On this day a sacrifice was made for all the sins of the people of Israel. And the blood of that special sacrifice was carried into the Most Holy Place.

There were all sorts of things that made this day special. Unique. Set apart from all other days. Fasting was ONE of the things that helped to set this day apart. Fasting can help identify a time as HOLY or SPECIAL toward God.

FASTING IS ASSOCIATED WITH PRAYER

When we look up examples of fasting in the Bible, we find that prayer is associated with fasting. In fact, it’s more accurate to say that fasting is associated with prayer. Prayer is the bigger thing. Fasting is the smaller accessory. Fasting is added to prayer to make it stand out.

We often bow our heads when we pray. Ever think about why we do that? The Bible says that when Jesus prayed He actually “looked up to heaven”. Why do we look down? I think it’s a way of expressing that we are sinners who come before God in humility. He is so much greater than we are, so we bow in reverence and awe.

In moments of deep distress or need we might express this humble approaching of God even more intensely. We might actually fall down on our knees in order to pray to God. We might curl ourselves over more tightly than usual, or squeeze our hands together harder in our focused concentration.

That’s what fasting is. Fasting is a premeditated and more intensive “falling on your knees” or “bowing your head” before God.

A PHYSICAL EXPRESSION OF REPENTANCE

Turn to Jonah 3, verse 1. Jonah is eight books back from Matthew. Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Here were see another thing that fasting expresses. Verse 1…

“1Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
3Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. 4On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” 5The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:
“By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
10When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3 NIV).

Their fasting was a physical expression of their sorrow over sin. That’s why it was valuable to God. It communicated that they were repentant.

DO I HAVE TO FAST?

Sometimes we are drawn to fasting naturally. Our mind is so concentrated on something that food is the last thing we want to think about. We say, who can think of food at a time like this!

Usually, I can.

I’d always been curious about fasting. I never understood what was so special about it. So, I tried it a few times, thinking, maybe if I just do it, I’ll understand.

It didn’t work for me. I found that instead of being more focused on spiritual things, I was just more cranky and irritable.

Fasting is a worship tool, but maybe not one that is particularly beneficial for you. Or, maybe it is, but you need to learn it slowly. Easing into it instead of diving in like I did.

FASTING IS A FORM OF SELF-DENIAL

In the Psalm that we read together today, the Psalmist says that he humbled himself with fasting. That reveals one of the great benefits of fasting. It helps us to cultivate stronger SELF-CONTROL.

Fasting is a form of self-denial. What your body wants, you say no to. And that’s a good thing to practice. For there are many times when our hearts want things that will not be good for us.

Turn to James 4, verse 6. James is just a few books back from Revelation. James, Peter, John, Jude, Revelation. Verse 4…

“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6 NIV).

If fasting helps us to grow more humble. And God helps the humble, that alone is enough reason to fast.
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In Isaiah, God describes one last benefit of fasting. Turn to Isaiah 58, verse 7. There God is describing what fasting is for…

“7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
” (Isaiah 58:7-8 NIV).

In Isaiah God points out that fasting is not just abstaining from using what you have. Sometimes fasting is going without so someone else can have what is yours.
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That’s the kind of fasting Jesus knew all about.

He went without His fully glory as the Son of God every day that walked this earth as a Man. He went without food quite often because He was busy tending to the needs of the spiritually poor people of Israel. He went without justice, all the way to the cross, carrying our sins, suffering our pain, so that we could have life and forgiveness.

And on the cross He went without the Father’s presence. He felt the darkness of being truly alone. And He did all this so that we wouldn’t have to. So that we could know the loving embrace of the Father when we leave this world of sorrow.

Jesus went without forgiveness, so that we could have His.

Maybe that’s why Jesus never commands us to fast. He’s done our fasting for us already. But, if you decide to fast in your worship of the Father, remember to do it for the Father’s eyes only.

In fact, that’s Jesus’ underlying point in this part of His sermon. Do all your worship with the Father in mind. Worship to the Father. For the Father. In His way. Through His Son.

Amen.

The Peace of God which surpasses all our understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Jesus Teaches Prayer - Sep 6, 2009

To LISTEN to this week's sermon online click here. To DOWNLOAD an MP3, first right click here then choose "save link as" or "save target as".

Sermon:

Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The first part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is all about correcting the Pharisees’ FALSE TEACHINGS. The second part, is all about correcting the Pharisees’ FALSE RELIGION. That’s the part of the Sermon on the Mount that we’re in right now. Jesus is addressing the HYPOCRITICAL WORSHIP of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were unbelievers. But they weren’t the type of unbelievers who avoided church. They were the type of unbelievers who go to church regularly so that others will see them there. They did all the outward things that God told the Israelites to do in connect with worship. They gave to the poor. They prayed. They fasted. They came to the Temple on all the special worship days. But they didn’t do all these things because they were interested in a RELATIONSHIP with their Creator. They did these things only to earn the REPUTATION as a follower of God. That pretty much sums up the Pharisees’ religion: A reputation, not a relationship.

Last Sunday we heard Jesus talk about how the Pharisees gave to the poor. They gave alright, but in very public ways so that they’d get attention. In doing this they rendered their charitable giving spiritually worthless in God’s sight. He was not pleased at all by their faithless giving.

This week Jesus moves on from charitable giving to another aspect of the Pharisees’ false religion – PRAYER.

Matthew 6:5-8 (NIV)

5“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

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Have you ever been in a public place and heard a parent disciplining their child? But as you listen, you hear that mom or dad’s words are really being spoken to the audience around the naughty child? I like to call this “supermarket discipline”. I’m sure you’ve heard it before.

Spoken in a voice that has no edge of seriousness in it at all:

“Nicole, you shouldn’t doo-ing that.”
“You get back here right now.”
“Do we have to go home right now?”
“If you don’t listen to me, there aren’t going to be any treats later.”

Everyone knows that mom or dad isn’t going to actually do a thing unless little Nikki smashes a king size jar of pickles on the floor. Everyone knows that mom or dad is actually talking to the strangers who are thinking, “Yikes, control your kid.”

This is really hypocritical parenting. Fake parenting. Pretend parenting.
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The Pharisees did the same thing when it came to prayer. Their prayers were not really spoken to God, they were spoken for the ears of the people who heard them praying. They were fake prayers. Pretender prayers.

Jesus told a parable to illustrate this to the people. It’s found in Luke 18, verse 9.

“9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:9-14 NIV).

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The hypocrisy of the Pharisees was evident in their “look-at-me” prayers. Jesus says, Don’t be like them. They will be humbled in the end. Instead, when you pray – be real.

Look at Matthew 6, verse 6 again.

“6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6 NIV).

If our prayers are really prayers, if they’re US TALKING TO GOD, than no one else besides Him needs to hear us. Why not go to a venue were nobody else can possible hear our words our see our bowed heads. A private place can help us to be GENUINE with God. To really speak what is on our mind. To talk to God with no pretense. To be real with Him in a way that we might find hard to do around other people.

This is one reason why evening and morning prayers are a really good idea. If we pray when we wake up and before we fall asleep that’s one place were we are IN OUR OWN ROOM, and we can pray to God openly. Genuinely.

It’s kinda like what people do when they get a cell phone call from someone they’ve got to talk to about a serious thing. They don’t stick around, they excuse themselves and take the call out of the restaurant. Where their conversation is not out in the open for all to listen in on.
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So, Jesus says, 1) don’t pray like a hypocrite, and 2) be genuine. And then He gives His followers one more direction on how not to pray. Matthew 6, verse 7.

“7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8 NIV).

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The pagans thought of their gods like “big people”. Their gods had the same bad character traits that people had, they just also had a lot of power. Pagans figured that if they threw up enough prayers at their gods, they could push that god into giving them what they wanted.

Now, Jesus does teach us to pray repeatedly. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed to His heavenly Father three times about the same thing. Later in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says to KNOCK and the door will be opened. But Jesus never teaches us to use prayers like currency. You know, like if I pray enough times about this God will eventually listen and give in to what I’m asking. Or, if I ask enough other Christians to pray for me then I’ll have a better chance of getting the answer I want.

That’s a pagan thought. It’s really treating God like a human that we can manipulate if we use the right methods. Jesus says, don’t do that, your Father already knows what you need before you ask him – He’s not like you, He’s God.
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That leads us to a question: If God already knows what we need and what we’ll ask for, why does He want us to pray?

I’m sure there are more reasons than I can think of. But I thought of three reasons why God might want us to pray to Him, even though He knows what we need.

First, by praying we remind ourselves that we can do NOTHING without God, but with Him we can do EVERTHING. We can do everything through Him who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). Prayer keeps our hearts focused on God as the One who we are dependent on for EVERYTHING.

Secondly, we were made to interact with God in a Father to child relationship. Think about it for moment. God made Adam and Eve to be His children. In a loving relationship with Him. God wanted people to have this with, so He made the human race. But Adam’s sin destroyed this relationship. And as you know, only through Christ Jesus does this relationship get restored. Because Jesus suffered and died for our sins, we are forgiven and brought back into the family of God. That’s why Jesus teaches HIS FOLLOWERS to call God, OUR FATHER.

The point is, every time redeemed sinners like you and I talk to our heavenly Father, that restored relationship is being used! Our Father loves to hear us talk to Him, just like parents love to hear their children talk to them. Every time we say, “Father”, to Him, we identify HIM as our God.

Right now, my daughter Carmen has been busting out a lot of new words. She’s to that stage where she can mimic anything you ask her to, and she’s making more and more word connections to things.

Recently she started calling me Dad AND Papa. I can’t really explain how that makes me feel, but I’d guess that God feels something the same when He hears His followers talk to Him in the quiet of their private moments.

Thirdly, the Bible teaches us that peace if obtained through prayer. Turn to Philippians 4, verse 6.

“6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7 NIV).

Here Paul says, Don’t worry, pray, and God will replace your burden with His peace, the peace which comes from Jesus gives. That’s the peace which reminds us that our failings are forgiven. That’s the peace which reminds us that Jesus has promised to never leave us, but to guide us by His Word and His Spirit. That’s the peace which we have access to through prayer.
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So, Jesus has described how to pray and how not to pray. Don’t be a hypocrite. Be genuine. Don’t treat God like a human being. Jesus then gives an example prayer to His followers. Turn to Matthew 6, verse 9. You might be familiar with this one, we call it the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus says…

“9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’

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This prayer is very short, very concise, but packed with meaning. Here’s a little exercise you can try at home. Open you Bible up to the Lord’s Prayer and try to make it shorter without losing meaning.

It’s just about impossible to do. The Lord’s Prayer is SHORT, BUT VERY SWEET. It’s so rich with meaning that in His catechism, Martin Luther devotes at least a page to each line! In fact, Luther says,

“Since our Lord is the author of this prayer, it is without a doubt the most sublime, the loftiest, and the most excellent. If he, the good and faithful Teacher, had known a better one, he would surely have taught us that too.

…It would be better for you to pray one Lord’s Prayer with a devout heart and with thought given to the words… than… all other prayers” (Luther, M. (1999, c1969). Vol. 42: Luther's works, vol. 42 : Devotional Writings I (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (42:21-22). Philadelphia: Fortress Press).

With this prayer, Jesus gives us a prayer to model our own after. Christian prayer should be short and sweet with meaning, for pagan prayers are long and full of emptiness.
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We don’t have time right now to go through each line of Jesus’ prayer. We could easily spend a sermon on each. But note this about the Lord’s Prayer, only one line is dedicated to a non-Spiritual request. The line about God giving us the food we need for each day. The rest are all about Spiritual things. We’re drawn to pray about physical things, when the Spiritual are so much more weighty.

Note also that Jesus includes in His model prayer, that we ask for forgiveness for our sins. This is a safeguard against ever forgetting that apart from God we would be damned. Only because of Jesus can we pray to God, for only the righteous can speak with the Father safely. And we have been declared righteous by Christ’s death and resurrection. As surely as He lives, we are redeemed. Connected to Jesus by faith, His righteousness is now ours. That’s why Jesus throws those last two verses in. He says,

“14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15 NIV).

The forgiven, forgive. We cannot claim to be God’s people if we refuse to forgive. We cannot ask FOR forgiveness day after day if we don’t extend that same forgiveness of Christ to those around us. It is the hypocrite who tries to claim forgiveness without giving it. Jesus says, you are no pretenders, so forgive just as God forgave you.
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Jesus teaches us that our prayer should be GENUINE, TO THE POINT, SPIRITUAL, and spoken from a forgiving heart of a forgiven child of God. I’d like to pray the Lord’s Prayer together now. But in a different way than we usually do. I’ll speak with my mouth, you speak ONLY with your hearts as I do. Say this prayer inside yourself with focus on its meaning, and with thought given to each word.

Though far above us, Your are Our Father,
May who You are be honored by all,
May your control permeate our hearts,
May what you desire be done by us as perfectly as the angels do.
Give us the portion of food we need for today.
Forgive our sins, in the same way that we forgive those who sin against us.
Don’t carry us into temptation, but away from Satan. Amen.

The Peace of God which surpasses all our understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Hide Your Giving, Not Your Motives - Aug 30, 2009

To LISTEN to this week's sermon online click here. To DOWNLOAD an MP3, first right click here then choose "save link as" or "save target as".

Sermon:

The other morning I was in a hurry to get somewhere. I had skipped breakfast, so I stopped in at McDonalds to get a little something to eat. As the lady slid the window open to hand me my food, I could tell that she wasn’t having a stellar day.

Her eyelids were at half-mast. She was moving in a way that enabled her to conserve as much energy as possible. And when she spoke her tone was anything but enthusiastic:

“Welcome to McDonalds. Your order will be ready in just a moment.”

When she handed me my food and slid the window closed, she put the cherry on top of her warm and gracious performance by saying, (again, in a bland and cheerless tone):

“Have a good one.”

I drove away smiling. I was sorry that she was having a bad day, but the contrast between what her words meant and what her tone said was, well, humorous.

I’m sure she said what she was supposed to. I’m sure that she had been taught to greet customers and say something nice to them as they left. But as far as greetings were concerned, she was missing the point.
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The Pharisees of Jesus’ day missed the point to, not when it came to greetings, but when it came to what God’s Word meant. The Pharisees said they were teaching the people to act like God wanted them to. But they were getting it so wrong, they were actually teaching the people to act like everyone else in the world, and not like God’s followers.

Jesus addressed these false teachings of the Pharisees, in the first part of the Sermon on the Mount. For the past few Sundays we’ve heard Jesus correct their bad interpretations of God’s Word by saying, “You’ve heard it said… but I tell you”.

Now Jesus is moving on. Now Jesus is going to address their false worship in the second part of the Sermon on the Mount.

The Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew, chapters 5-7. Chapter five was about the Pharisee’s false teaching, chapter six is about the Pharisee’s false religion.
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In Matthew 6, Jesus is going to talk about religious things. Charitable giving. Prayer. Fasting. These were things that the Pharisees were doing. But, they were doing them all wrong. They were doing these things with hidden motives.

Later on in His ministry, Jesus told the people why the Pharisees did all the things they did. Why they gave so much to the poor. Why they prayed out loud. Why they fasted so frequently.

Turn to Matthew 23, verse 5. This is a key passage to remember when we’re looking at Matthew 6. Speaking about the Pharisees, Jesus says…

“Everything they do is done for men to see…” (Matthew 23:5a NIV).

Their acts of worship were done to buy attention. They hadn’t been teaching the truth with their words, and they weren’t teaching true religion with their actions either.

In the first part of His sermon Jesus led His followers and all who were listening to a deeper understanding of God’s Law. Now, He helps them to see what genuine religion is.

The first religious topic that Jesus deals with, is charitable giving. Take your Bible’s and turn to Matthew 6, verse 1. You can also follow along in the bulletin. This is the sermon text.

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.
2“So 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. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:1-4 NIV).

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Here Jesus talks about God’s followers giving to the needy, and being rewarded by their heavenly Father for doing so. The idea of “rewards” from God makes some Christians uncomfortable. It sounds too much like paying for past sins with good deeds.

But Jesus isn’t talking about sinner earning forgiveness. Forgiveness CAN’T be purchased by our good deeds. Forgiveness was purchased for all sinners when Jesus suffered our punishment. We receive this forgiveness, as a gift from Jesus. When Jesus talks about rewards here, He’s not talking about salvation from sin.

That said, some Christians are still on their guard when someone starts talking about God rewarding Christians for doing what’s right. They’re on their guard because they’ve seen people use Christianity for profit.

I was watching television late one night, when I stumbled on a late night preacher. He was going off. He was so charismatic and so entertaining. So I watched for a while. I couldn’t believe my ears. Here’s his offer: send him 24 dollars as a “faith offering” and in 24 hours you’d experience a miracle.

God doesn’t work that way though. He doesn’t set up a star chart for our good deeds. This many will earn you a pony. This kind of good deed will get you a yacht. This many prayers will ensure good health. God doesn’t work that way.

God certainly promises to bless His followers when they do what is right. But He doesn’t usually tell us exactly what the blessing will be.

Let me show you one place where God does say how He’ll bless His followers for their behavior. Turn to Mark 10, verse 29.

“29“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-31 NIV).

Here Jesus says exactly how those who put Him and the Gospel first will be blessed. But usually we aren’t told what our blessing will be.

When it comes to giving to the needy, our Father in heaven says He’ll bless us but He doesn’t tell us how. Perhaps with possessions. Maybe with peace. Maybe wisdom. Stronger faith. Experience. Greater perseverance. Increased love for those around us. Long life. Joy. He doesn’t tell us which. He just says, when you give in secret, there will be a reward.
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Now, when it comes to giving to the needy, Jesus says that there are two possible rewards that can be received. Let’s look again at Matthew 6, verse 2.

2“So 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. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:2-4 NIV).

First of all Jesus says, WHEN you give to the needy. He’s assuming that this is something that God’s followers will not neglect to do. When you give to the needy, you will either have the reward of…

A) Human recognition and honor.
B) God’s recognition and blessing.

It’s not just a matter of doing it! For it to be valuable in God’s eyes it must be a true act of worship, not just some religious publicity stunt. It must be an act intended FOR GOD’S EYES ONLY. An act, of faith.
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TO help the people remember how give and how NOT to give, Jesus attaches two funny pictures to His teaching.

First, a trumpet. When you give to the needy, do not announce it with TRUMPETS, as the hypocrites do!

After the sermon we’re going to pass the offering plates around as we usually do. This gives our members an opportunity to support the preaching of the Good News with their own money. Now, imagine that the guy next to you has a trumpet slung around his neck, and when the plate comes down your row and gets to him, he stands up, and… Tum Ta-da-dah Tum-tum-Tum TUM!!!

He sounds off on his trumpet and says, “I just wanted you all to know that I’m putting an extra $30 in the collection plate today because, well, I’m a giver. Thank you.”

If someone actually did that you’d know why, and God would know why too. Jesus says, that type of a person has their reward in full before they even sit down. Human recognition is what they way. A moment in the spot-light. A bit of honor. And that’s all they’ll have.

Don’t toot your own horn.
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Jesus continues with another funny picture to help us remember what Christians SHOULD do when it comes to giving to the needy. Jesus says, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

Okay, I’ve got to warn you, this is going to get a little silly.

(Holding his hands up, pastor puts googly eyes on them so they look like rudimentary hand puppets)

I told you this was going to get silly.

This is what Jesus says, don’t let your LEFT hand know what your RIGHT hand is doing.

(When the left hand is looking away from the right hand, the right hand picks up a dollar bill and tosses it in the collection plate.)

Christians, when we give to the needy, we don’t want to do it in order to get a pat on the back. In fact, we don’t even want ourselves to know about it so that WE don’t pat ourselves on the back. Jesus says, AVOID SELF CONGRATULATION too!

(Pastor pats himself on the back)

We don’t wan tour pride to grow. Wow, I gave to the needy, IN SECRET! Wow, I’M really CHRISTIAN!
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The right attitude is this: He’s watching me. My Father in heaven is seeing this. He’s my audience, and the only audience I need.

Jesus talks about people who give like this in Matthew, chapter 25. Turn there if you’ve got your Bible, Matthew 25, verse 34. Here Jesus is talking about the Last Judgment when all people are gathered and He sorts them. The righteous on the right. The faithless on the left.

On that day Jesus will point to the good deeds of the Christian as evidence of their faith in Him. But they won’t remember. Their left hand didn’t see what their right was doing. 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. 35For 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, 36I 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? 38When 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.’” (Mathew 25:34-40 NIV).

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The other day I was online looking at an old high-school classmate’s Facebook page. Somewhere on his page he had typed this interesting statement:

“Religions kill. What I have is a relationship with Jesus Christ”

In our day and age, “religion” has come to be viewed in a negative light. We might say, “He balances his checkbook religiously”. Or “She drinks religiously”. It’s not a good thing. Doing something “religiously” has come to mean doing something consistently, without thought, or maybe even obsessively.

Too many people think that religion is just a rigorous DOING of what the rules say. That’s what the Pharisees thought. To them religion was DOING what you’re supposed to do. Give to the poor, pray, fast, etc. Just go through the motions.

Jesus says, NO. True religion is more like a relationship. More like a FRIENDSHIP between a person and God. In this friendship…

God talks to you through the Bible, and you talk to Him in prayer. God does things for you, and you do things for God. You enjoy each other’s company. You feel happy to see each other if it’s been a while since your last meeting. This friendship with God is different than other friendships you have though. He’s a friend who’s really out of your league. A friend whom you’re indebted to. He saved your life once, by giving up what He love the most. His own Son.
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The Pharisees didn’t have this kind of relationship with the Father. They were only God’s FAKE friends. They used their connection to God for personal gain. And this motive of theirs was only slightly hidden.

That’s not us though. That’s not us. We have a real relationship with the Father. He has chosen us to be His friends. Called us to believe. Cleansed us by His Son’s blood. We’re not just connected to God in name, but by faith. So, when we do our acts of worship, let’s make sure they’re done TO HIM, and TO HIM ALONE. With no hidden motives.
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Now, before we close I’d like to say one more thing. Jesus isn’t saying that we are never to do anything good in front of people. Just that our INTENTION should not be to get ATTENTION.

In Matthew 5, verse 16 Jesus says,

“…let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16b NIV)

Our hidden giving might be found out. But that should never be our intention. Our good actions are done with our Father as our audience, and so that HE IS PRAISED, not us.

Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Blessed are the Peacemakers - Aug 23, 2009

To LISTEN to this week's sermon online click here. To DOWNLOAD an MP3, first right click here then choose "save link as" or "save target as".

I’m going to begin our message today by retelling some of a fictional story originally written by Victor Hugo. The story is called, “Les Miserables”. It is a story about a man named Jean Valjean who was orphaned as a young child. His sister raised him and when he grew old enough he began to support his sister and her seven children by chopping wood.

One day, Jean can find no work, and the cries of his sister’s starving children is too much for him. In the middle of the night he breaks into the baker’s shop and steals a single loaf of bread. In the morning he is arrested and taken away to serve time for his theft.

After four years he attempts to escape, but fails. Years are added to his sentence. He tried to escape again, but fails once more. More years are added to his sentence. All together he ends up serving 19 years for stealing a single loaf of bread.

When he finally gets out, he is a bitter man. No one will take him in or even feed him because he is a ex-convict. He must travel with a yellow passport and announce his criminal record to everyone.

Finally he ends up at the Good Bishop’s house. He knocks on the Bishop’s door and enters announces loudly,

“Look here, I am galley slave. Here is my yellow passport. It says: ‘Five years for robbery and fourteen years for trying to escape. The man is very dangerous.’ Now that you know who I am, will you give me a little food, and let me sleep in the stable?” (Quotations from “Les Misérables” adapted from Victor Hugo and taken from “The Book of Virtues for Young People” by William J. Bennett ).

But the Good Bishop says that Jean will dine with him tonight and after that he is welcome to sleep in the Bishop’s own home. True to his word, after supper the Good Bishop graciously shows Jean to a bed where he can sleep.

But Jean wakes up in the middle of the night and decides that he will rob the man. Finding the silverware they had eaten supper with, Jean takes it all and leaves through the garden at the back of the house.

In the morning, the Good Bishop finds Jean and the silverware are missing. He thinks to himself that he should have given the silverware away to the poor anyway. It was too valuable just to have around. And certainly, Jean was a poor man.

But soon, Jean returns, accompanied by five soldier who, finding an ex-convict with a bag full of silverware easily figure out what has happened.

But when the Good Bishop sees Jean he exclaims, “Oh, you are back again! I am glad to see you. I gave you the candlesticks, too, which are silver also, and will bring forty francs. Why did you not take them?”

The Good Bishop convinces the soldiers that he indeed gave Jean the silver. They release Jean and leave. Then Jean says,

“Is it true that I am free? I may go?”

“Yes,” the Good Bishop replies, “but before you go take your candlesticks. Depart in peace, but do not go through the garden, for the front door is always open to you day and night.”
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How many times in real life do you meet a person who shows compassion of this kind, for an enemy?

The Good Bishop of Hugo’s tale was living what Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says, “Love your enemies”.
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The part of the Sermon on the Mount that we’re going to take a look at today is found in Matthew, chapter 5. You can follow along in the bulletin, or in your own Bible by turning to Matthew 5, verse 43. Jesus says,

“43“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:43-44 NIV).

The people had heard, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy” from the Pharisees. But the Pharisees hadn’t gotten this from the Bible. They had STARTED with a passage from the Old Testament. But they had altered and twisted it until they came up with a completely different idea.

Turn to Leviticus 19, verse 18. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. This is the passage the Pharisees had started with.

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:18 NIV).

The idea that God expresses here is, “How to love people. As if they were actually YOU.” Imagine that you could meet yourself. Not a copy of yourself, but you meeting yourself. How would you treat yourself? God says that’s how you should treat everyone you meet.

But the Pharisees chopped off that last part, “as yourself”. They began teaching God was saying WHO to love, not HOW to love. Not love everyone LIKE YOU LOVE YOURSELF, but just love YOUR NEIGHBOR. Then they taught that “your neighbor” was only those people near to you, your fellow Jews. Not the Samaritans, you can treat them like dirt. Not the Romans, feel free to hate them.
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Jesus corrects this atrocious misrepresentation of God’s word. He tell the crowd listening that there should be no division between neighbors and enemies. Jesus says, while you may HAVE enemies, BE AN ENEMY TO NONE.

Jesus says to love our enemies. Love is more than merely wishing someone well. Love is more than an emotion in the heart. Love shows itself tangibly through actions like the Good Bishop giving Jean Valjean his silverware and saving him from making a horrible, life destroying mistake.

Jesus says we should pray for our enemies also. We should ask God to bless the people who make our lives hard.

If you love and pray for your enemies, are you really their enemy? No! He may remain your enemy, but Jesus says, don’t you be his enemy.
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Jesus tells us to treat our enemies with love, because that’s what God the Father does. Look at Matthew 5, verse 44-45.

“44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:44-45 NIV).

Right now there are millions of people around the world enjoying the same good weather that we are today. Good people, and bad. God doesn’t differentiate between the good and bad when He makes the sun rise in the morning or the rain fall of fields of thirsty crops.

God’s behavior confuses sinners. Why bless the evil? That isn’t what we would do. Typically, we are nice to nice and jerks to the jerks.
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Think about how you drive. You’re the idiot who hasn’t been paying attention and needs to quickly merge before you run over some big orange cones. You simultaneously flick on the blinker and twist around to see if there’s a spot.

There’s not.

But the drive just behind you sees your predicament and slows up, motioning you to come on over.

What do you do? At the very least we acknowledge their kindness with a thankful gesture. You know, “the wave” that says, “I’m a big dope, but you saved me! You’re the man! Thanks!”

Now think of a different scenario. Your traveling south down I-5 near Northgate. The express lanes are closed, so the sign says to merge right because your lane is going to end soon. A courteous driver, you get over right away. But other drivers stay in the lane until the last possible second, hoping to hop ahead of some traffic. They all bunch up where the lane ends, blinkers flashing, finally trying to merge.

This irritates you. If they’d have just gotten over when the sign SAID TO, they wouldn’t be all slowed up and about to slow you up too! So, you decide in response to their little maneuver, you’ll hug the bumper of the car ahead of you as closely as possible. You’ll also stare straight forward as a way of communicating that they themselves into that spot, and they won’t get any merging help from you.

On the road we respond to good with good, and to bad with bad. And while it might be easiest to see on the road, it happens everywhere in our lives.

But God doesn’t act like us. He blesses the bad and the good alike.

When God blesses the wicked, He’s not saying it’s okay to do what the wicked do, He’s simply exercising His goodness. The fact that the wicked are wicked can’t change the fact that God is good. Perhaps they’ll eventually realize that all their good things come from His gracious hand.

When Jesus says, “love your enemies”, He’s talking to His followers. He’s telling us to remember who we are. If we are the followers of God, than we should act like it. We should follow Father by doing things His way. We should love friend and enemy both.
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Jesus sure followed His Father’s example. He was the Son of God from eternity. He was pure and sinless. All sinners were His enemies. Yet He loved sinners by becoming human to save them. He suffered and died on the cross so that our death sentence would not be carried out on us.

Though Jesus has many human enemies, HE IS AN ENEMY TO NONE. The Bible says that if you are a sinner, Jesus suffered for your sins while He was on the cross of Calvary. The Bible says that Jesus took your punishment away, and because He did, your sins are forgiven. To you, God’s mortal enemy, Jesus gives forgiveness and eternal life.
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This section of the Sermon on the Mount is the last time that Jesus uses the phrase, “you have heard it said… but I tell you”. Jesus has used this phrase six times. He has been explaining how the Pharisees were missing the point when it came to God’s Law. They said, “Don’t murder, but hatred in the heart is okay”. They said, “Don’t commit adultery, but lust in the heart is alright”. They lowered God’s standards enough so that they could convince themselves they were right with God.

Jesus shows that by their tampering, the Pharisees had made God’s code of conduct no greater than the code followed by everyone.

Let’s look at Jesus’ final words in Matthew 5, verse 46. There Jesus says,

“46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:46-48 NIV).

“Every good turn deserves another”. It comes natural to repay good with good. The tax collectors of Jesus’ day were known for getting filthy rich because they overcharged people. Yet, they still were nice to the people who were nice to them.

Treating family friendliness is also something that everyone does. Even if the family is some cousin that we hardly even know, if they showed up on our doorstep, we wouldn’t treat them like a complete stranger.

As followers of Jesus and His Father in Heaven, Christians are called to a higher standard. Loving friends and family is ordinary. God calls us to complete love. Love that extends itself even to our enemies.

God calls us to be like Him, who blesses ALL people with sun and rain. He calls us to be like His Son, who suffered to rescue His enemies from hell.

The Pharisees lowered the bar, but Christ put God’s standards back where they were supposed to be.
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At the beginning of His sermon, Jesus said to His followers,

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9 NIV).

God has made peace with us by taking our sins away through Jesus’ cross. By making peace with our enemies, we show that we ARE the children of God.

Like Christ Jesus our Savior, let’s also be: enemies to none, Sons of our Father in Heaven, letting Him set our standards.

Amen.

The Peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Our Response to Evil - Aug 16, 2009

To LISTEN to this week's sermon online click here. To DOWNLOAD an MP3, first right click here then choose "save link as" or "save target as".

Sermon:

In 2008 it was estimated that somewhere around 1,200 kids were skipping school in the European country of Albania. But they weren’t skipping school to hang out at the mall, or go on a road trip. They were skipping school ALL YEAR LONG because they were afraid they might be murdered if they left their homes. These kids were targets, and many still are, because their families are involved in what is called a blood feud.

Now, most of us probably aren’t real familiar with that term, “blood feud”. So, let me tell you what it’s all about. Or at least how it works in Albania.

A blood feud is based on the idea that a family’s honor must be protected. When someone disrespects your family in a certain way, your family’s honor is dirtied and must be cleansed. But a family’s honor can only be cleansed by the shedding of blood. That blood doesn’t have to be the guilty person’s blood. It can be any male member of his family.

There are a few other rules usually observed in a blood feud. One of them is no entering an enemy’s home. That’s why many Albanian kids are imprisoned in their own homes.
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When you strip away all the tradition and nonsense about honor, blood feuds are nothing more than responding to evil with more evil. This is nothing new. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, man’s instinct has been to repay evil with more evil.

But the Bible teaches us very plainly that this is not what God wants. If you’d like to follow along, you can turn to Romans 12 verse 17. There Paul writes,

“17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Paul learned this from Jesus. And Jesus taught this very thing in the Sermon on the Mount.


We’ve been studying the Sermon on the Mount for a number of weeks now. The part of that Sermon which we’re going to look at today is the fifth time that Jesus says, “You have heard it said …but I tell you”.

The people had been taught one thing by the religious teachers of their day, but Jesus says, “listen up, here’s the truth about how God wants you to live.”

If you want to follow along in your own Bible, the sermon text is found in Matthew 5, verse 38. It’s also printed in the bulletin. Jesus says,

“38“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:38-42 NIV).

We’ve all heard those words before, “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”. But where do they come from? They come from the Laws that God gave Moses to use in governing the ancient Nation of Israel.

Turn to Deuteronomy 19, verse 18. This is the place where the phrase comes from. This is part of how God instructed Moses to make the Israelite court system work.

“18The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, 19then do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you. 20The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. 21Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot” (Deuteronomy 19:18-21 NIV).

It was God’s will that crimes be punished justly. Punishment for a criminal should correspond to his crime. That’s what an “eye for an eye” means, justice.

But the Pharisees taught that this was how God wanted all people to react to each other. The Pharisees were teaching the people that when someone did something evil to them, they should do the same. They should fight back. They should “put up their dukes” (raise your hands to fight).

But in verse 38, Jesus says,

““38“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person…”(Matthew 5:38-39a NIV).

Jesus uses the word “resist”. In the Greek what that word means is “to stand – opposed”. We might say, “To put up your dukes”, to get ready to fight.


Jesus says, “No. When someone does something evil to you, your response shouldn’t be to put up your dukes, your response should be to put out your hands in love.” Then Jesus goes on to explain exactly how we SHOULD react when confronted with evil in verse 39
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The examples that Jesus uses here are ordered in a downward stair-step. He starts with the situation that is most difficult to respond well to. Then he steps it down to a slightly easier situation, and so on.

Verse 39, Jesus says,

“…If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:39 NIV).

What would your response be, if I were to walk down out of the pulpit, come over to you and slap you across the face.

That’d be pretty shocking, wouldn’t it? What would your reaction be? I’m thinking that most of us probably wouldn’t react with a slap back. Maybe we would. But probably not. Probably our first response would be a look of anger and shock. Maybe more anger than shock. Maybe more shock than anger. I’m not sure how each of us would react.

But probably we’d be shooting some serious daggers with our eyes. And our heart probably wouldn’t be filled with warm loving thoughts, or even just completely with righteous anger. That might be there, some righteous anger. But there would also be some sinful, hateful anger as well. We’d be embarrassed, and we’d be hurt. Slapped in the face!? If there’s one thing we understand, you don’t mess with people’s faces.

It’s very difficult to respond to a slap in the face with anything other than anger and hatred. But Jesus says, “Your response in that situation should be to offer your other cheek to them.”

When violence is done to us, Jesus says our response should be TOLERANT PATIENCE. That’s hard.
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Jesus steps it down in verse 40, there He says,

“And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” (Matthew 5:40 NIV).

The tunic was the shirt that touched their skin. The cloak, was their outer, more expensive garment, like a jacket. Jesus is saying that if someone wants to sue you and take something from you, you should ALSO give them something more valuable than what they’re already stealing.

He says, if someone comes to take something of yours, don’t put up your dukes and fight for your stuff. Don’t respond to evil with more greedy, hate-filled, violent evil.

Jesus says that our response to theft is to give more was expected. Boy, that’s hard too.
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Jesus steps it down once more in verse 41, He says,

“If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” (Matthew 5:40 NIV).

Someone forces you to do something. Jesus says, “Don’t put up your dukes and say, ‘I don’t want to do this, so I’m going to drag my feet and fight you ever step of the way.” Jesus says, instead voluntarily serve them. Make your service a gift, and make it double what was expected.

You see how Jesus steps down from physical violence (don’t put up your dukes), to theft of possessions (don’t put up your dukes), to the forced taking of our time and effort (don’t put up your dukes). Whether it effects our BODY, our POSSESSION, or our TIME and EFFORT, we aren’t to respond to evil with evil.
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With His next words Jesus moves down one last step to a slightly different subject. In verse 42 Jesus says,

”Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:42 NIV).

Here Jesus switches from an evil person forcing you to do something, to a person who is simply asking for something.

Jesus says, if you have it, give it. In fact, Luke 6 verse 35 records an additional word from Jesus about lending things. He says,

“…love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back” (Luke 6:35 NIV).

Jesus says don’t lend things at all. Give them. When you lend, don’t expect to get that thing back.

Jesus was teaching the people not to close their hearts to evil people but to voluntarily serve them in love. And He says to do the same thing to people who simply come asking. Don’t close your heart to them because of greed, or selfishness or for any other reason. Maybe because you don’t like them. Don’t close your heart to them, Jesus says, but openly give. Openly lend, not expecting to receive anything back.
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Now some people will say, “Okay pastor, so Jesus wants me to give every time that someone asks for something?” No. That’s not what Jesus is saying here. He doesn’t want us to practice these commands of His like robots. When it comes to our health, our resources, our time and effort, there will be times when we can’t say yes to the person who asks because we have other God given responsibilities.

Jesus never tells us, “When someone asks you to feed their drug habit, feed them. When someone asks you to feed their irresponsibility, encourage that attitude.”

Remember, Jesus is addressing the misapplication of an “eye for an eye”. The point that Jesus is making here comes back to the teaching of the Pharisees. They said when someone does something bad to you, “put up your dukes”, resist them, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

Jesus says, No! Don’t do that! Don’t respond to evil with evil, instead, respond by doing good. That’s Jesus’ main point. These examples serve to show us how God would have us do this. Of course we shouldn’t neglect our other God-given responsibilities to do these things.
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Of course, we aren’t good at doing these things at all, are we. Turning the other cheek, going the extra mile. We aren’t good at responding to evil with good. We’ve failed many times in the past. Blurted out insults when people have insulted us. We’ve clawed and fought over stupid possessions. Grudgingly, unhappily done what someone simply asked us to do. Our response to good and bad alike has often been evil.

But God’s response has been very different. God has responded to our sinfulness with patience, and love. And ultimately God responded to our sin, by commissioning Jesus to save us. Through Jesus, God repays our evil, with forgiveness and salvation.
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On the way to the cross, where He Jesus experienced a cosmic beating for our sins, Jesus was slapped many times. But over and over He turned the other cheek. He didn’t put up His dukes. He didn’t retaliate. When beaten. When scourged. Even when tortured to death for no good reason. Even when He experienced borrowed guilt and horrific punishment for sins that He did not commit. For the sins that we committed yesterday and this morning.

Instead, Jesus turned the other cheek. Instead He gave us the priceless coat of His righteous life. Instead He went the extra mile, all the way to death. And because He did, our sins stand forgiven.

All our petty get-back-at-you comments, all our eye-for-an-eye deeds, they’ve been suffered for and forgiven us, because God’s response to our evil, was to send His Son to be our Savior.
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Do you ever think about what really made it possible for Jesus to do what He did? Sure, He was God, but He was also truly man. And as a man it was very difficult for Him to experience what He did. When He saw His suffering approaching, Jesus prayed fervently in the garden of Gethsemane that there might be some other way. But when the Father gave no other path, Jesus moved on boldly to the cross.

What made that possible? How could the man Jesus go there? I’d suggest to you, that Jesus was able to march boldly to the cross because He trusted absolutely in the Father’s goodness. He trusted absolutely that God the Father would make all things right in the end. He trusted that at the end of His pain, and suffering and death, the redemption of sinners would be done, and then His Father would raise Him from death, to glorious, eternal life.

Trust in the same Father God is what makes it possible for us to live like Jesus. Trust in that our Father above will give us all we need in this life. Trust that our Father will not abandon us, especially when we are laying it all on the line in an attempt to follow His Son’s teachings.

Trust in God is what made it possible for Christians to die for Christ. To lose their possessions gladly in His service. To give their hours and years freely to the doing of God’s work.
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There are SO MANY reasons to repay evil with good.

When we repay evil with good, we are WORSHIPPING God through our interaction with others.

When we repay evil with good, we are EXPRESSING OUR FAITH in a way that others can plainly see.

When we repay evil with good, we LEAVE DOORS OPEN for the Holy Spirit to work on the people we come into contact with. Who’s going to listen to the Christian who’s no different than the unbeliever? Nobody. We’re called to be different in Christ. Forgiven by Him and then changed by Him. We are called to re-learn how to respond to the evil world. We are called to respond like our Savior did.
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Evil always wants to spread. It wants to rub off from one person to another. Evil wants to drop seeds that sprout up and blossom into more evil. Evil wants to leave splinters that fester with bitterness until they burst into outward sin. That is Satan’s goal when evil is done to you. SATAN WANTS THE EVIL DEEDS DONE TO CHRISTIANS TO CAUSE AN EVIL RESPONSE. In that way, Satan can control God’s people.

Don’t let Satan use you like a puppet. Listen for your Savior’s voice, and just like Him, repay evil with good.
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In Albania, blood feuds exist because generations have been taught to respond to evil with more evil. But there is hope for the future in that country. One article that I read said that the youth of Albania is not absorbing the old ways so well anymore. Too many of them have been affected by the foolishness and evil of blood feuds. The hope is that the next generation is learning a better way.

And that’s what we need to do too. We need to learn a better way. We need to absorb Christ’s way. We need to re-learn how to respond to evil. Let’s pray.

Prayer: Father in heaven, first we pray for all the grieving families in countries that still practice blood feuds. By your followers, show them a better way. Comfort them by your love and teach them to know and give the forgiveness that comes from Jesus.

Teach us also Lord. We need to re-learn so much. Help us to get out of the sinful habits that we have fallen into. Help us to see them, and to change. Help us to grow in Christ .

Thank you Jesus, for responding to all our evil with dedicated love. Great Savior, lend us your Spirit so that we can praise you and worship you with all that we are. Amen.

The Peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

The Simple, Generic Truth - Aug 9, 2009

To LISTEN to this week's sermon online click here. To DOWNLOAD an MP3, first right click here then choose "save link as" or "save target as".

Sermon:

When you buy medicine, do you buy brand name, or generic? Do you buy Tylenol, or the cheapest box of generic acetaminophen that you can find?

Generic products sometimes carry the stigma of being cheap. But, when it comes to drugs, it makes sense to buy generic. When what’s in the box is the same substance, who really cares if it’s got a pretty label, or a catchy slogan.

What matters isn’t the packaging, but what the product actually does.

The same thing is true of promises. What matters isn’t the outward packaging, but what the person actually does.
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That’s what Jesus says in the part of the Sermon on the Mount that we’re taking a look at today. For a number of weeks now we’ve been listening to Jesus correct the Pharisees’ shallow understanding of God’s Law. Today we’ll hear Jesus speak about telling the simple truth.

If you’d like to follow along in your own Bible, turn to Matthew 5, verse 33. There Jesus says,

“33“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:33-37 NIV).

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Did you ever do the cross your fingers thing? You know, if you’re crossing your fingers you can lie and it’s okay? Did you ever do that when you were a kid? The Pharisees did.

Well, okay, they didn’t actually cross their fingers and hold them behind their back. What they did was they rated different oaths. Some oaths had to be kept, others didn’t matter.

If a Pharisee swore “by the altar” that he’d do something, he didn’t have to keep that promise. But, if a Pharisee swore “by THE SACRIFICE that was on the altar”, THEN he had to keep his promise.

Sound stupid? Jesus thought so too. Turn to Mathew 23, verse 16. Here Jesus is denouncing the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. Jesus says…

“16“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’ 19You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it” (Matthew 23:16-22 NIV).

It’s easy for us to condemn the Pharisees. How stupid could they be? Only some of your promises matter to God? Only certain ones really need to be kept?

But don’t WE do the same thing? I think we might. Are there circumstances that we believe excuse us from being truthful? Are there circumstances that excuse us from keeping promises that we’ve made?

Maybe when someone is unkind to us, we feel that we no longer have to keep a promise we’ve made to them. If they’ve broken a promise to us, we might think we’re no longer obligated keep promises we’ve made to them. The Pharisees weren’t the only ones who found ways to avoid keeping their promises. We do it also.

But Jesus’ teaching is uncomplicated. He says, “Don’t swear that you’re going to do something, and then fail to do it. Don’t swear at all, just DO what you say you’re going to do.”
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What would it say about us if we had to make all sorts of oaths so that people will believe what we say? It would say that most of the time we’re lying.

You know people who can’t be trusted. People who speak the language of lies more than the language of truth. People who regularly sprinkle little oaths into their conversation. Oaths like, “I swear to God” Or maybe, “no really, I’m serious, I’m not even making this up”.

As followers of the God of truth, we should not have to sprinkle our conversation with such promises in order for people to believe us. We aught to speak the truth with such consistency that we are know for it. We should consistently DO what we SAY we’re going to do so that that nobody ever doubts that we’ll follow through.
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But we fail.

We get put on the spot in a social setting, and instead of telling the truth, we say what we think people want to hear. We tell a little pressure lie.

We find ourselves in a situation where telling the truth probably won’t get us what we want, so we tell a little lie of manipulation.

We don’t want disappoint someone who needs something, so we say we’ll help, and we never get around to doing it. We over commit ourselves and our promises are slowly broken as we drag our feet and never get around to doing what we said we’d do.

We might not make oaths in the same way that the Pharisees did, but we break promises just the same. When pressure, anger, greed or temptation comes our way, promises get broken.
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Jesus had to deal with all the pressures of life too, but He never lied in the face of those pressures. Even then His words could have saved Him from certain death, Jesus wouldn’t lie.

What I’m talking about is that time in Jesus’ trial before the Jewish Sanhedrim where He was called on to speak. You can turn to Mark 14, verse 62 if you’d like. I’m going to read from there in a second.

There Jesus is standing before the Jewish supreme court. He’s been arrested and many false witnesses have come forward to try and make something stick to Jesus so the they can have Him executed. But nothing has been working. It almost seems like the Sanhedrim will fail to get Jesus killed. But then the High Priest asks Jesus if he is the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One. Without hesitation Jesus says,

“I am, …And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62).

And with those words Jesus sealed His ticket to the cross as far as the Jews were concerned. Jesus signed His own death sentence by refusing to lie and by telling the truth. And because He never told a lie, and suffered for our every lie, our lies have all been forgiven, erased, washed away and forgotten by God the Father.

And also, because Jesus never lied, never broke an oath, God the Father has restored His Son to glory. Now He lives our Risen Savior forever.

So why should we do anything but tell the truth with love and gentle humility? Jesus will bless us as we follow His example. He has already made us His own forgiven children. Let us now truly learn to live lives that are free from lies and true to God.
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What we need to be is more generic in what we say. Not cheap and flimsy, but simple and without manipulative decoration and exaggeration.

To do what we say we’ll do. And to not over commit ourselves to so many things that we can’t help but break our word.

Prayer: Father in heaven, thank you for taking away all our lies. Thank you for forgiving us because of Christ’s complete truthfulness and His cross. Send your Holy Spirit into our hearts by your Word, so that we always speak the truth, and not lies which are the language of the devil. Give us strength and endurance to actually do what we say we’ll do. Help us also to not over commit ourselves to so many things that we can’t help but break our promises. We pray these things through Jesus, Your Son, our Savior. Amen.

The Peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.