Sermon: Matthew 6:19-24

22 Wednesday Jul 2020

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If I’m honest, it amazes me that next week we will finish Matthew 6.

Next week we’ll be 2/3 of the way done studying the greatest sermon ever recorded.

But here we are. Life goes on.

And I’m really excited for these next two sermons.

But they are on a difficult topic. So let me open in prayer for us.

Creator God, you call us to love and serve you with body, mind, and spirit through loving your creation and our sisters and brothers. Open our hearts in compassion that we might receive the spiritual nourishment that you offer us today. O Lord, in humility we confess that we are often guilty of searching for meaning and purpose through the tings of this world and not in You. We confess that in thought, word, and action, we have often chosen sin instead of You. Forgive us Lord and grant that we may be renewed in our devotion to you and you only.

Amen

Today and next week I’ll be preaching a two-part sermon on Matthew 6:19–34.

And I’m excited because I think these verses are SO, SO applicable to us.

These verses are so practical. The deal with money.

Money, wealth, possessions: these are essential to life. But money is a cause of great struggle for many, for most people probably.

But money is one of the things Jesus spoke about the most.

Perhaps Jesus spoke about money more than anything else because so many of us are at risk of falling into idolatry of money, or the worship of comfort, or an obsessive pursuit of security.

Let me be clear, our verses today are aimed at those individuals who have what they need to survive, but are tempted to store up for themselves all kinds of extras because of greed or jealously.

  • Extra comforts
  • Extra possessions
  • Extra worldly possessions
  • Extra luxuries
  • Extra security

Our text today is not directed at those trying to make it by. It’s not directed at those who wake up and pray for God to give them their daily bread, but for those of us who take God’s provision of daily bread for granted.

It’s directed at those of us who are no longer content with having daily bread, because what we really want is a daily feast. What we really want is to ensure that we will have our daily bread for years to come.

I’ve lived here in Germany for only about 9 months, but here are some things I’ve noticed about the German culture:

  1. Security is really important.
    • Insurance for anything and everything
  2. Quality is important.
    • Rating systems.
    • Things need to last forever.

In the US, the attitude about possessions is that they need to be cheap and they need to be fast and easy to get. “I want it now and I want it cheap.”

In Germany it seems to be more like this: “I don’t care how much it costs me, but I want it to be the best and I want it to last forever.”

In the US where I grew up, the attitude is about accumulating more and more and more. Stockpiling things that can easily be tossed aside and replaced by more things.

This temptation is everywhere, probably. But what I’ve noticed here in Germany is that the attitude seems to be a desire for security. A desire for assurance, insurance, protection from risk, etc.

But no matter where you are from, both of these attitudes are common to human thinking.

They must be, because Jesus will address both of these things.

He’ll address the dangers of wanting more and more and more.

He’ll address the danger of wanting protection and security for our things.

And he’ll warm us that if we are not VERY careful, our hearts will be devoted to an idol no matter what our lips say.

And this is the main point of the sermon today: Our relationship with money is a spiritual matter.

It’s that simple, we each need to decide now, today whether we want to serve God or money.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with financial stewardship or fiscal responsibility. Jesus has much to say about these as well, but what he will show us today is that there is real spiritual risk in setting our eyes and our passions on gaining earthly treasures.

I understand that this topic is something that many people feel strange talking about.

Many of you may be sitting there thinking something like:

“But pastor, you have no right telling me how I should live or what I should or shouldn’t do with my things.”

Or perhaps you had a pastor in the past who loved to talk about money. Maybe you had a pastor in the past who used guild, shame, or the promises of blessing and financial prosperity to manipulate you into giving money to the church.

I understand that some of you may have come from churches where pastors may have abused their spiritual authority to manipulate you on the issue of money.

I understand, and I want to assure you that I am not a health and wealth prosperity gospel preacher.

I will not tell you today that if you give money to the church that God will bless you with more financial security or with more money.

The problem with the prosperity gospel which says that God wants to bless us with health and wealth in this life is that it’s unbiblical. And it uses peoples’ idolatry of money against them for the church’s own gain.

That’s not what I’m going to do.

That is not what God promises.

God promises to give us our daily bread.

He calls us to cast aside our idols and follow him.

But before we read our text, I want to make a few things clear.

  1. Although it may make you uncomfortable, I am going to talk about money, because Jesus talked about money.
    • We are going through the gospel of Matthew, so we will talk about money…since Jesus talked about it.
  2. Jesus talked about money because it is such a huge stumbling block for us.
    • Money can so easily become an idol and turn our hearts away from God.
  3. Jesus talked about money because money gives evidence of where our hearts really are.

Think about it this way, money is so important that later in Matthew Jesus will connect our possessions to our salvation.

Matthew 19:24: “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

So, I will talk about money. Your salvation may depend upon it.

It’s that serious.

So, let us now open the book of Matthew and read all of chapter 6.

6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The Lord’s Prayer

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

“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 this day our daily bread,

12       and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13       And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Fasting

16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Lay Up Treasures in Heaven

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Do Not Be Anxious

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

As I said above, the message of our sermon is simple: Our relationship with money is a spiritual matter.

Specifically, Jesus is telling us that we need to choose between money (and all that we think it represents) and God.

This, I believe, is Jesus’s message for us, but in making his point, Jesus will address three uncomfortable truths about our relationship with money.

Today we will get through verses 19–24. These are the three truths we will consider.

These verses are made up by three small sections. Each one is comprised of a metaphor to teach us something about money, but each one ends with the same conclusion: our relationship with money is a spiritual matter.

And these three sections make these three uncomfortable points about money.

POINT 1: Earthly treasures are insecure.

POINT 2: Greed is blinding.

POINT 3: We can only serve one master.

Let’s look at these points one-by-one.

POINT 1: Earthly treasures are insecure.

Look back at our text.

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

The point of this text is clear, isn’t it?

I’m sorry Germans, but possessions here on earth are temporary and they are insecure.

The point is clear, but let’s take a moment and dig a little deeper into these verses.

These verses are so often read apart from the rest of this chapter.

But how does it start?

It starts with the command, “do not.”

This is the pattern that the whole chapter has taken:

  1. V. 2 – Do not give to the poor in order to be seen by others.
  2. V. 5 – Do not make a scene when you pray in order to be seen by other.
  3. V. 16 – Do not draw attention to yourself when you fast in order to be seen by others.

And here in V. 19, “Do not store up treasures on earth.”

And what does he mean by “treasures on earth?”

I think he means two things:

  1. THE RECOGNITION OF OTHERS (“They have their reward already”)
    1. Giving to the poor
    2. Praying long prayers
    3. Fasting
    4. DO NOT STORE UP THESE KINDS OF TREASURES
      1. They will fade.
      2. They will go out of fashion
      3. You will be behind the times

But Jesus links this passage to the ones above it in order to transition to the other topic he wants to talk about . . . money.

  1. EARTHLY POSSESSIONS
    1. Do not store up for yourself earthly possessions.
      1. Money
      2. A bigger house
      3. German luxury cars
      4. Miele kitchen appliances
      5. Extravagant holidays

The problem with all of these, Jesus says, is that they are temporary.

They are here today and gone tomorrow.

  • People’s opinions can change.
  • Fads will change.
  • Stock markets crash.
  • Houses burn to the ground.
  • Cars crash and break down.
  • And in the end, so what if it’s made with German quality and will outlast the competition, one day you’ll die and you can’t take it with you.
    • And if what I see on Ebay Kleinanzeigen is true, even if your fancy hand-made furniture lasts forever, your children will inherit it and will virtually give it away.

The point is . . . Jesus’s point is, don’t store up treasures for yourself down here, because you can’t take it up there.

Illustration: Parable of the rich fool in Luke 12.

But what should we do instead?

Jesus says to store up treasures in Heaven.

If I’m right that earthly treasures are 1) the recognition of others and 2) physical possessions, then let’s consider our text to see if these “heavenly possessions” as the opposite.

And, as it turns out, we do see the opposite.

  1. Practice secret righteousness and God sees in secret and rewards you.
    1. Get your reward from God, not man.
    2. This has been Jesus’s promise the entire chapter.
      1. Vv. 3–4: Give to the poor in secret and God will see and reward you.
      2. Vv. 6–7: Pray in your closed room and God will see and reward you.
      3. Vv. 17–18: Fast in secret and God will see and reward you.

So what does it mean to be rewarded by God, to store up treasures in heaven?

It means this:

  1. Live for God’s kingdom and he’ll give you the kingdom.
    1. This is how that parable of the Rich Fool ends
    2. I don’t think this is
      1. a bigger house in heaven
      2. Financial rewards here on earth
    3. But it might include
      1. Greater stewardship in God’s kingdom
        1. “You have been faithful with little, I will make you ruler over many.”

Now look back at the text and see how Jesus’s metaphor ends.

Here’s the conclusion: 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

As we consider this statement, let’s put in in the perspective of the main message for today, our relationship with money is a spiritual matter.

If your treasure is on earth, your heart will be on earth.

If your treasure is in heaven, your heart will be in heaven.

Our relationship with money is a spiritual matter.

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

  • Where is your heart?
    • Time
    • Talent
    • Treasure
  • Where do you want your heart to be?
    • Time
    • Talent
    • Treasure

POINT 2: Greed is blinding.

Look back at your Bibles and let’s take a look at Jesus’s second metaphor.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

This is a more challenging metaphor, because to understand it we have to first know a little bit about ancient understanding of anatomy, and we also have to address how we translate certain Greek words.

This sounds complicated, but I’m going to keep it simple.

Ultimately you may not agree with me, but hear me out.

Very briefly, it is important to understand that the ancient Greek and Palestinian understanding of vision was that the eyes were a light source.

Instead of understanding vision as we do today as light coming from a source like the sun, reflecting off of objects and being focussed within our eyeballs, the ancient understanding was that the eye was a source of light.

Light shined out of the eyes to see objects.

So Jesus is comparing two different eyes:

  1. One that shines out a light
  2. Another that shines out darkness.

Another challenge to understanding this metaphor is to understand the words that the ESV translates “healthy” and “bad.”

This is difficult and translations vary widely.

Your Bible may mention a “healthy eye,” “good eye,” “sincere eye” or “pure eye.” For the other eye, your Bible might read “a bad eye,” “a diseased eye,” an “unhealthy eye” or an “evil eye.”

So is Jesus comparing a healthy eye that can see well versus an unhealthy eye that can’t see well?

No, I don’t think so.

The difficulty of translation, seems to be rooted in a belief that a more literal translation of these Greek words is more confusing.

But I find the more literal translation to actual make things clearer.

That more literal translation creates a contrast between one who has eyes that are “pure and sincere” and one who has eyes that are “evil and stingy.”

This passage is NOT talking about the health of your eyes. In Jewish thinking an “evil eye” (the more wooden translation) is one that is stingy, greedy.

Here’s a cross reference for you:

Prov. 23:6–7

6  Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy (lit. whose eye is evil); do not desire his delicacies, 7  for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

And there are other cross references like this.

But consider this: when Jesus talks about a “pure” or “sincere” eye, he is talking about someone whose eyes are kind and generous toward others.

The parable of the Rich Fool that we discussed above ends this way,

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

That is what it means to have a pure, sincere eye. It means to invest in God’s kingdom.

That means, invest in the causes of the kingdom. Invest in God’s mission for the world.

  • Building up His church
  • The spread of the gospel.
  • The care of the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the stranger.

What should you invest?

  • Invest what you have
    • Time
    • Talents
    • And yes, your money.

So then what does it mean to have an “evil eye”? It means to be stingy and greedy. To look at things that you want and to covet after them. To look at the things that you want and to take them by force.

That’s what Jesus is talking about. That’s the connection to the section above.

If your heart is down here on earth, and if your desire is to store up treasures here on earth, then then lamp of your eye will be darkened by evil.

And how does this section end?

Conclusion: If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

If your eye is greedy and covetous, you become blind to all the blessings that God has given you.

Your darkness is great because you are missing out on recognizing the many blessings that God has given you.

God has given you all of these blessings in your life, but your busy looking at all the things you WISH God had blessed you with, all the things God blessed THOSE people with.

Your hoarding up treasures, angry at God for being stingy with his blessings.

“God, why didn’t you give me THAT life. God, why didn’t you give me THAT house, or THAT job, etc.”

And as you TAKE, TAKE, TAKE, you miss out on all of God’s actual blessings for you.

Illustration: David and Bathsheba

And what parable does Nathan the prophet use to teach David his lesson?

Again, let me remind you, our relationship with money is a spiritual matter.

  • Do we respond to God’s generosity to us in thankfulness and generosity toward others?
  • Thankfulness is a spiritual discipline.
  • Living a life of generosity is a spiritual matter, because it comes from a heart of obedience, a heart that has been changed by God to be more like God.

And finally, let’s look back at our text.

POINT 3: We can only serve one master.

Now, let’s look at the final metaphor.

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

In this metaphor, Jesus uses the metaphor of a worker. For the sake of the metaphor, this doesn’t have to be a slave, just somebody who works for and does the bidding of another.

The metaphor is clear, though, isn’t it?

Jesus’s point is about devotion.

Where do your loyalties lie?

You will never succeed in being devoted to God and simultaneously trying to store up treasures for yourself here on earth.

Perhaps at this point you need to be told to stop trying to fool yourself. You are either serving God or you are serving something else, like money.

Again, I’m not saying that having money is the same as serving money.

But I will repeat what Jesus says in Matthew 19:24: “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Jesus says a “rich man” not a greedy man.

There is something inherently more difficult for people with wealth to have their hearts devoted to God.

So you who have money, let me warn you…be very careful. There is an added difficulty for you to have your hearts set on the things of God.

You young people, as you grow and advance in your careers, be very careful. God may bless you with finances. Be very careful about not letting your heart stray from God.

Because, how does Jesus end this section?

Conclusion: You cannot serve God and money.

Illustration: An illustration, as obvious as it is shocking, is that of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

Our relationship with money is a spiritual matter.

You simply cannot serve both God and money.

You may be asking several questions, and I’m now going to try to answer some of them very directly.

Question of APPLICATION

  1. How do I know where my loyalty is?
    • Where do you spend your money, your time, and your talents?
  2. What do I do if my heart is devoted to money and possessions and not with God?
    • Your heart will follow your investments!!
    • Invest in the kingdom!!
  3. Practice generosity.
  4. Practice thankfulness.
    • You need to stop and thank God.
    • Parents need to teach their children to stop and be thankful for what they do have, not focus on what they are lacking.

If this is something that you struggle with, reach out to someone. Open up honestly with people you trust this week or speak to a friend or elder.

Jesus talked about money so much because people really struggle with this.

Sermon: Matthew 5:43-48

17 Friday Jul 2020

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With our text today we come to the end of the second major portion of the Sermon on the Mount.

We have been calling these the antitheses: “You have heard it said…But I say to you…”

And we have said repeatedly that Jesus is not undoing the law, but offering his disciples a true interpretation of the law.

The law cannot be so easily undone. In fact, Jesus says that the law will remain until heaven and earth pass away.

The law cannot be undone because the law comes from God. The law reflects who God is and the law gives us the principles necessary to live in God’s world.

We’ve discussed this many times.

But the reason that this keeps coming up in our sermons is that our hearts are hearts are always leading us astray.

Our hearts tempt and entice us with the things of this world.

You see, for the followers of Jesus, there are two truths that are in conflict with one another. And our text today brings this reality before us in a very clear way.

The two competing truths are these:

  1. We are always battling our old sin nature…what Paul calls the “flesh.”
  2. We have died to the law, we have died to the world, and our life is hidden in Christ. … in the words of Paul, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

The day-by-day, moment-by-moment challenge of the Christian is to take off the flesh and put on Christ. To live in the reality that we are IN CHRIST.

Being “in Christ” is not some goal to reach, or some future reality once we get to Heaven. Instead, we are currently, at every moment, “in Christ.”

He is “in us.”

Our text today will challenge us explicitly to be like be like God the Father.

But this is not something that WE accomplish.

For even though in these antitheses, Jesus has given us very practical ways to obey his commands, our obedience to the law of Christ does not come through our efforts, us trying harder.

Growing in sanctification is not about us becoming better people or better disciples of Christ.

Too often we think of sanctification as something that WE do.

We say to ourselves, “Oh, I’ve got to get this sin out of my life and I’ve got to get better at this and that.”

This is not what sanctification is about.

Sanctification is about the Holy Spirit conforming us more into the image of the Son. Sanctification is about the Holy Spirit taking hold of us and making the reality that we are “in Christ” – that it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives “in us” – and making this reality a lived-out reality.

Our text today will challenge us to be like our father, but we must remember that that process is done through the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.

Our text today will clearly command you to be like God…to be perfect, even. But even though Jesus commands us to be perfect, you response should be one of prayer, submission, and obedience to what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life. But even this desired response cannot come from yourself, but rather comes from God.

This is important for you to hear, because our text is particularly challenging.

Let me tell it to you clearly: “Be perfect in love.”

That’s it. That’s the point of our text today. It will require some work to understand a bit more of what this means, but that’s the point, that’s the challenge.

“Be perfect in love.”

Let me now read our text today. We’ll begin in Matthew 5:17 and read to the end of the chapter:

 Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Anger

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Lust

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Divorce

31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Oaths

33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Retaliation

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Love Your Enemies

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Let me re-read that last verse:

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

What Jesus means here is “perfect in love.”

There are plenty verses all over the Bible about God’s people needing to be like Him in all sorts of ways.

Just two weeks ago we looked at the issue of taking oaths. Christians are to be faithful and steadfast, just as God himself is. That was our focus.

But here, the command is to be perfect in love.

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

And as we look more deeply at this text, we will address three key concerns.

WHO should we love?

HOW should we love them?

WHY should we love them that way?

Answering these questions will help us to understand what it means to be perfect in love…to love the way God does.

  1. WHO should we love?

Look back at the text,

Verse 43:  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

This was the attitude and teaching of the religious leaders. This is what was taught to the people.

But on top of this, the people, we might say, would have been happy to receive this teaching. This is one of those commands that’s easy to follow.

This can be rephrased this way: love the people that are like you and hate the people that aren’t.

Or, love the people that you like and hate the people that don’t like you.

Or, love the people that are nice to you but hate the people that aren’t.

Can we all agree that these ideas come naturally to us?

Can we all agree that we don’t have to be taught to love the people that give us something, do something for us, or provide us with something we want?

But for Jesus’s audience, this idea of loving your neighbor and hating your enemy was being explicitly taught to them by their leaders.

And this teaching was rooted in a misunderstanding and misapplication of God’s law.

Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

It’s clear from this verse that God is talking about how to live among God’s people.

The reference to “neighbor” here is obviously about people within the community of Israel.

In this verse, “love you neighbor” means “love your fellow Jew.”

But in the Gospels we see that the example the religious leaders are giving to the people this concept of “love your neighbor as yourself” is applied in an even more restrictive way.

Do you remember all those dinner parties where the Pharisees grumble about Jesus. “Doesn’t he know that she’s a sinner.” “Why does he like to eat with sinners and tax collectors?”

The problem with the sinners and tax collectors wasn’t that they weren’t Israelites, it’s that they weren’t like the Pharisees.

On top of this, you also had the natural exclusionary tendency of Jews. Israel was the people of God and no one else. In their mind, it was Israel and goyim, “the nations.”

  • Magi …
  • Theme of Matthew about the outsider …
  • Children of Abraham from the rocks …

This confronts the Jewish exclusionary attitudes.

This is why in Luke 10, a teacher of the law tries to test Jesus by asking him to define the word “neighbor.”

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

 29 But [the lawyer], desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

This teacher of the law wants to define who his neighbor is in a way that suits his selfishness.

He wants to see as his neighbor those people that he WANTS to love.

This is why Jesus answers his question by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus wants to shatter his understanding of who his neighbor is.

It seems therefore, that Matthew wants us to see the selfish motives of the religious leaders and the teachers of the law who interpret and apply God’s law for their own convenience.

No wonder then that Jesus will say in Matthew 23:13:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

They shut the doors of heaven in the faces of those who desire to go in. “It is sick people that need a doctor,” Jesus says. It is these sick people that Jesus came to heal, and it is these sick people that the scribes and the Pharisees don’t want anything to do with.

In response to this kind of exclusionism, Jesus says, “No. Love your neighbor and love your enemy.”

It doesn’t really matter how you define neighbor. Love your neighbor and love your enemy.

The parable of the Good Samaritan shatters the definition that people had in Jesus’s day…it shatters the definition that the teachers of the law were teaching to Israel.

But for our text here in Matthew 5, it doesn’t really matter who you define as your “neighbor.”

Is your neighbor your fellow Jew, people like you, people you like?

Jesus sweeps all that away and says, love your neighbor and love your enemy.

But let me ask you, was this radically different than what God intended in His law?

Of course, the answer is no.

In fact, back in Leviticus 19, just before Israelites are commanded to love their neighbors, we find these words:

9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.

What is this command?

Farmers and wine growers are told to leave grain and fruit available for the poor and for the outsiders.

This verse fits in with the rest of the Bible that gives dignity to all people …

Prov. 22:2 –      The rich and the poor meet together;

                        the LORD is the Maker of them all.

 Prov 29:13 –     The poor man and the oppressor meet together;

                        the LORD gives light to the eyes of both.

 The poor and the outsiders are to be loved.

This was God’s design. And this is what Jesus is pointing out to his disciples and to us.

So the answer to our question “Who should we love” is EVERYONE.

No matter who they are, we need to be pouring out love toward them.

So what does that look like?

  1. HOW should we love them?

To answer this question I’m going to point out four principles from the text, but all of them can be put under the heading of what is called the Golden Rule.

Later in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will present to his disciples the principle for life in the Kingdom of God known as the Golden Rule.

He says in Matthew 7:12, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

So if you want to keep the law, if you want to be obedient to God, treat all people the way that you would like to be treated.

This Golden rule is so important to understanding our text today that in Luke’s gospel, he actually makes the connection explicit. In Luke’s version of our text today, there are three sections that are separate in Matthew’s Gospel are put together in Luke’s Gospel.

In Luke’s Gospel, the text from last week, the text from this week, and the Golden Rule from Matthew 7 are all combined into one section on loving enemies.

So let me just say, that as we look at Jesus’s words today, the Golden Rule should be in the back of our head.

And these are the principles of HOW to love both our neighbors and our enemies.

First,

  • Treat all people with dignity as fellow image-bearers of God.
    • Treat people with dignity.
    • This is not always easy to do
      • But here’s the point.
      • The creator God, who pours out his rain and gives his sunshine, created men and women in the image of God.
        • This is why the law is so strict about certain sins.
          • Murder is more serious that stealing because murder destroys an image bearer.
            • It destroys someone made in the image of God.
          • That person that you dislike and perhaps hate is made in the image of God.
            • This should change the way to treat that person.
            • This should change the way you act toward that person.
          • Being an international church, we have the advantage of being surrounded by many people that are not like us and being reminded that we are all made in the image of God no matter where we are from.
            • But sometimes it becomes difficult to apply that same understanding to those people that we don’t like or that harm us or that frustrate us, perhaps.
            • Instead of treating them with love, we’d rather defend ourselves or let them know how much they harmed us by harming them in return.
            • Instead of loving them, we’d rather ignore them.
            • But Jesus says that we are not to do that. We who understand that God made all people in His image are to treat all people accordingly.
              • This means that we are to treat the vulnerable, the poor, the outsiders, etc. with dignity and love.
              • Those groups that are most often marginalized are to be honored and treated with dignity.
              • I won’t get into it, but the book of James deals with a problem in the church that is still going on now. The problem is that because the church is full of sinners, the church has a tendency to pick favorites and treat some people better than others. THIS SHOULD NOT BE. The poor, the foreigner, the black, the brown, the women, the children in our churches should all be treated with love and with dignity.

 And here’s the next principle:

  • We should be willing to have our generosity taken advantage of.
    • Luke writes this in his version of our text: “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”
    • Similarly, in 1 Cor 6, Paul is a addressing a church that is so messed up that they are taking each other to court for the wrongs they are suffering from each other. Paul writes, “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?”
      • And here’s my point: Becoming more like our heavenly Father means that we will have a growing willingness to be taken advantage of by people.
      • Matthew points out that God provides for the whole world.
        • God gives generously to all his creation.
        • God gives generously even though the world hates him.
          • God’s relationship with the world is not a simple transaction: He does not love the world by giving rain in order to get something in return.
          • He gives even though his name is abused and he is slandered and his creation his good gifts are misused and mismanaged by those he loves.
          • Example: Parenting
          • Example: marriage
          • Example: roommate, neighbor, boss, family
        • Becoming more like our heavenly Father means that we will have a growing willingness to be taken advantage of by people.
          • We will have a growing willingness to pour out without getting something back.
          • To lend without getting repaid
          • To show hospitality without the expectation of being invited over in return.

But keep in mind, and this is a third principle of HOW to love like God loves:

  • Sometimes all we can do is pray.
    • When it comes to your enemy and your persecutor, sometimes all you can do is pray.
      • From last week’s message, we learned that when we’re harmed or taken advantage of, we don’t retaliate, but instead trust in God.
      • Jesus is not dictating here that you have to go out of your way to shower love onto your enemy.
      • Instead, Jesus is saying that prayer is one way to fulfill God’s command.
        • Prayer is the place to start.
        • Prayer has a way of changing our perspective on things.
          • …
        • Prayer has a way of aligning our wills with God’s will.
        • Prayer has a way of moving us along the path of God’s will for us.

Finally,

  • Loving our enemies does not mean that sin goes unchecked or unpunished.
    • David spoke about this last week, but it needs to be repeated.
    • Sin has consequences.
    • We should not, for example, shield our children from the natural consequences of their sin. Protect, them from danger? Yes, but not shield them from the natural consequences that teach them the valuable lessons they need to be mature adults.
    • Also, if your being sinned against in a way that is illegal or harmful to you physically, emotionally, or psychologically, reach out to someone. Reach out to the elders and we will help you.

Let’s now turn to the final question.

  1. WHY should we love them that way?

Jesus is clear on this account:

Look back at our text where He says in verse 44, “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Have you ever heard of a little child that didn’t want to walk in his dad’s footsteps?

This is the point.

If we are God’s children then we will naturally want to be like him.

Do you remember from the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

Since God is a god of peace, we too will want to make peace?

Do you want to be a child of God?

Do you want to be like God?

Then be a peacemaker.

Why should you love your enemies? Because your heavenly father loves his enemies.

Jesus is not saying that loving our neighbors makes us become the children of God. Jesus is speaking to followers who already call themselves children of God.

Jesus is telling them that if they call themselves children of God then they better act like it.

Our heavenly father gives us the example of what it means to love without giving a thought for getting anything in return.

He pours out his rain and he causes the sun to shine on his whole creation. He sustains his creation. He gives and gives and gives.

He gives of himself without measure.

He gives us an example that we should follow.

Let me quickly address the important question of Why does God give of himself?

Why does God pour out? We’ve talked about why we pour out, but why does God pour out?

He doesn’t need to, but He chooses to in order to be in relationship with his creation and, in particular, with us.

  • There is a common misunderstanding that God’s AGAPE love is an unconditional love with no strings attached.
    • It is commonly thought that if love has any strings attached to it or if it has any conditions, then it is somehow an inferior love.
    • But God loves and gives of himself in order to establish a relationship.
    • He gives his love as a gift and seeks to thereby establish a relationship.
    • Just as taking a fresh pie to new neighbors establishes a relationship with them, God gives of himself in order to establish a relationship.

But finally, how can WE be like our heavenly father?

How can we, like God, pour out love on our enemies?

How can we have the strength to give without measure?

How can we be perfect in love like God?

The answer is that we can’t. We honestly can’t?

But that is a problem with a lot of Christians. Too often Christians think that sanctification is a journey that we have to do. God saved us and gave us the Holy Spirit, now its our turn to put in the hard work to be more Godly.

But that’s not what sanctification is about.

Sanctification and the Christian walk is about dying to ourselves.

It’s about dying, not trying harder. It’s not about having the right techniques or reading the right books or anything.

It is about dying to the world. It’s about dying to ourselves.

Listen to the words of Paul in Gal 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

It is not about what YOU or anyone else can DO to become more like Christ. We must die to ourselves and by the power of the Holy Spirit to live in Christ.

Humble submission to the Holy Spirit is the way to do this.

Only then, when it is no longer up to you to love your enemies, but Christ who is doing it, can you pour out continually and be perfect in love.

Christ already loves your enemies and died for them.

When we die to ourselves and live our lives “in Christ” then we can love perfectly, because it is not our love that is flowing through us, but rather God’s love.

Do you get it? Let’s not misunderstand the Christian journey. It’s common for Christians like us to think that we are saved by Grace through Faith, but then to practically live as though now that we’re saved we have to stay saved by living by works.

We are not sanctified by works after we are saved by Grace.

We are saved by grace, by grace we were sealed by the Holy Spirit, and by God’s grace we are sanctified by daily dying to ourselves and living out the reality that we are “in Christ.”

Sermon: Matthew 5:33-37

01 Monday Jun 2020

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“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.”

Perhaps you’ve heard this verse before. It comes from the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah.

And it’s written to the people of Judah.

Judah had not been faithful to the Lord, and the Lord was sending judgment upon his own people in the form of the Babylonian invasion and the deportation and scattering of the southern kingdom of Israel.

Shortly after Jeremiah utters these words, the temple of God will be destroyed and the inhabitants of Judah will be scattered.

But let me read that verse in its context, as it will help lead us into our theme for today.

5       Thus says the LORD:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man

and makes flesh his strength,

whose heart turns away from the LORD.

6       He is like a shrub in the desert,

and shall not see any good come.

He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,

in an uninhabited salt land.

7       “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,

whose trust is the LORD.

8       He is like a tree planted by water,

that sends out its roots by the stream,

and does not fear when heat comes,

for its leaves remain green,

and is not anxious in the year of drought,

for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

9       The heart is deceitful above all things,

and desperately sick;

who can understand it?

10       “I the LORD search the heart

and test the mind,

to give every man according to his ways,

according to the fruit of his deeds.”

 

The heart, Jeremiah tells us, is deceitful.

Our hearts try to steer us away from the Lord.

When we do this, when we allow our hearts to lead us, we lose the sure foundation of a faithful God.

Turning away from our faithful God, we become like a dried up shrub in a dry land.

Just as a Tumble Weed gets uprooted and blown by the fierce West Texas wind, so is the one who trusts in man rather than a faithful God.

On the other hand, those whose trust is in the Lord are like a large tree planted by streams of water. They flourish, they bear fruit.

In other words, the one who trusts in God and remains faithful to Him, is LIKE him. The one who maintains his trust in God, is exhibiting the kind of faithfulness that is a defining trait of God himself.

In other words, we become like the very thing we worship:

  • If we worship the faithful God, we become more and more like Him…Faithful.
  • If we follow our deceitful hearts and worship things that are not god, we will become like those things that are twisted and distorted by sin.

Maybe you’re wondering how God can be faithful if he allows Judah to be destroyed and deported by the Babylonians. Surely a faithful God would prevent this from happening.

But here’s the thing…God had told Israel that this was part of the deal.

This promise of destruction was part of the covenant that they agreed to.

He would be their God and they would be his people.

He would provide for them as a mother hen provides for her chicks, and Israel would remain faithful to the covenant they made with him at Sinai.

But if Israel was disobedient to the covenant they had made, if Israel did not fulfill their portion of the covenant, then God promised to punish Israel.

That promise of punishment can be read in Deuteronomy 27 & 28.

But ultimately, this punishment was meant to be for Israel’s good.

God did not abandon Israel…no.

Through the exile, God showed Israel HIS OWN faithfulness to the covenant even though Israel had not been faithful.

God is still faithful. He is still fulfilling his promises.

In fact, today is Pentecost.

Pentecost is the day the disciples were hiding for fear in the upper room in Jerusalem. And the tongues of fire come upon the disciples.

And in Acts 2, after the tongues of fire have come down on Jesus’s disciples and they are preaching Jerusalem, Peter in his sermon notes how God’s promises to Israel are still coming true.

That God has sent his Holy Spirit just as he has promised.

So you see, the exile, the return from exile, the sending of the Messiah to preach redemption, etc., etc., etc. all show us the faithfulness of our God.

And this is the focus of the sermon today: The faithfulness of God and our role in testifying to God’s faithfulness.

The point of the sermon (and I’ll repeat this later) is this:

We are to be faithful and steadfast people of God, because God is steadfast and faithful.

And with that,

Let me now pray for us:

O Lord, our God, we confess that we are often guilty of searching for meaning and purpose in this world apart from You. We confess that we often choose to live according to our old sin natures. We confess that in thought, word, and action, we often do not live faithfully. We confess that in our unfaithfulness we do not represent you well. You are a faithful God, help us, we pray to be faithful.

 O God, who on this day, Pentecost, taught the hearts of your disciples by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen

 

Today we are continuing our series in the Gospel of Matthew and we are continuing to allow Jesus to be our discipler.

This is now our seventh week in the Sermon on the Mount, and Pastor David and I finished the scheduling for the remainder of the Sermon on the Mount. In the end, we will be in Matthew 5–7 for 22 weeks.

In other words, we will be here for a while at the feet of Jesus learning from him.

Jesus is discipling us. And this is good. He is our lord and master. He is our great High Priest. He is our Good Shepherd. He is our sure foundation, the Author and Perfector of our faith.

As we come to him on that mountain near the Sea of Galilee, he is teaching us about life in his kingdom.

And don’t forget that that is exactly what he is intending to do. Don’t forget how all this starts.

Jesus has been ministering to the sick and needy around Galilee and one day, he sees the crowds of needy and desperate followers and he sits down and begins teaching.

And although Jesus is sitting there and we can imagine that he sees the Scribes and the Pharisees over there and there are the sick and the lame over there…there’s a large crowd and everyone can hear him.

But Matthew the Gospel writer notes for us that Jesus is addressing his disciples.

Now that word “disciple” connotes anyone who is a follower of Jesus.

In Matthew 10, Jesus will pick 12 of them to be called apostles, those who are sent out into Israel as his representatives, able to speak on his behalf.

But Jesus is speaking to those who are intent on being his followers.

And now let’s open our Bibles and read our text:

 

Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now let’s skip down to v. 31.

Divorce

31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Oaths

33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

 

It’s important to understand as we’ve noted before that one of Jesus’s key motivations is to give his disciples true teaching, not like the teaching they were getting from the religious leaders.

Jesus is making clear to his disciples that they have been getting a bad diet of teaching.

In Matthew 23, Jesus will address the Pharisees directly and point out directly the many ways in which they are misunderstanding God’s law, but here he is speaking to his disciples and is indirectly correcting many false things they have heard.

In Matthew 23, Jesus will say to the Pharisees:

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

 

You immediately see the connection to our text today, don’t you?

 So… at the end of his ministry, Jesus will address the Pharisees directly about the subject of making oaths. And here at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus addresses his disciples directly about the issue of making oaths.

You see, the teachers of the law misunderstood the law and so were giving the people a bad diet of teaching.

And Jesus, here in his Sermon on the Mount is helping those who are willing to listen to understand the law as it was meant to be understood and applied.

Our text today is about making oaths, but the heart of the matter is about reflecting the unwavering faithfulness of God by being people of unwavering faithfulness.

And as I said already, The point of the sermon is this:

We are to be faithful and steadfast people of God, because God is steadfast and faithful.

When we understand the text this way, we can immediately see how out text today is connected to the passage last week about divorce and the passage from two weeks ago on the sin of lust.

Divorce without biblical warrant results in the breaking of that covenant.

A covenant has been made before God and it is being broken and God’s name is being tarnished in the eyes of the world.

From God’s perspective, the issue is a matter of faithfulness and steadfastness to a covenant relationship.

Marriage is a covenant made in the presence of God.

God’s name is attached to that covenant.

That covenant has two parties, but there are three signatories.

Husband  _________________________

Wife  _________________________

Witness              YHWH         

That is why divorce is such a big deal.

Because marriage is a big deal.

After listening to Jesus teach about marriage in Matthew 19, his disciples say, “If this is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

They are so struck the weight of the covenant of marriage, that they respond by saying, “maybe it’s better to not even get married.”

I wonder…

Do we take the covenant of marriage this seriously?

Do we take the New Covenant that we are in through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection this seriously?

Do we take our promises this seriously?

Do we take our oaths this seriously?

Do we take anything this seriously?

I’m not so sure.

But I think we should.

Jesus is instructing his listeners to keep their promises.

Jesus lived in a day when people made oaths all the time about anything.

Historical records show that people would make oaths about even really mundane thing:

Things like this:

“I swear by the Temple that I will go fishing tomorrow.”

“I swear by heaven above that I will buy a new tunic.”

These are just some possible examples.

But the evidence is clear that people took this kind of thing very lightly.

And Jesus is saying to them, “Don’t do that.”

People would say this kind of thing to give seriousness to what they were saying. But what this actually does is lessen the value of the thing that you are invoking.

If you say on Monday, “I swear by the Temple that I will go fishing tomorrow,” but then it rains on Tuesday and you don’t go, what you have done is to lessen the worth of the Temple in the minds of those who heard your oath and saw your break that oath.

But Jesus is saying that the real damage is to the reputation of God, who dwells in the Temple.

You see, God is a steadfast and faithful God, but he has been attached to a vow that was broken.

God’s name is being slandered.

God’s name is being taken lightly.

And this is the text that was being misunderstood or ignored by the people in Jesus day.

Deut 23:21–23:

“If you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.”

 

This passage, we must understand is firmly situated within the second commandment:

        “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”

What does that mean?

It means, don’t treat the name of God lightly.

Don’t attach God’s name to something that you’re not going to take seriously.

The world is watching, and as God’s disciples, we are endlessly communicating.

Through our behavior, we tell the world what kind of God we serve.

Let me tell you a story to illustrate:

Many years ago, I was serving in ministry to university students, and the ministry had interns.

And of course in their interviews for becoming an intern they all communicated how they believed the Lord was leading them into that particular ministry.

But there was a serious problem as the year progressed.

You see, the problem was that although they had told the leadership that they were led by God to serve as interns for the ministry, and although they had made an agreement to do certain tasks, there were some interns that were not taking that commitment seriously and as the year progressed, they all but vanished.

I tell you this story because this was the first time in my life that I remember making the theological connection between the issue of God’s reputation and manner of my life.

Beth would, I think, tell you that I’ve always been someone who aims to keep my commitments, but this was the point at which the theological dots were all connected in my mind.

I was horrified at the realization that God’s name had been attached to a broken commitment.

That someone had said, “God is calling me to this position” and then developing a habit of not living out that calling.

The dots connected in my mind that this behavior damages God’s reputation.

Because, here is the thing, we need to consider what our actions say about God when we don’t keep our commitments.

Is God steadfast and faithful?

Is God dependable?

Does God keep his covenants?

Is God’s word sure?

Then we should reflect that to the world.

God is a steadfast and sure.

He is faithful.

He punished Israel through the exile because he cannot break his covenant.

He told Abraham to go sacrifice Isaac so that when he stopped his hand from coming down and slaying the son of promise, Abraham could learn that his covenant with God was sure. Not even God could break the covenant. It was sure. It was guaranteed because the God who made the covenant is sure.

He is steadfast.

He is unchanging.

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Now let me make some points of application for us.

I know that the topic of this passage is probably not one that we think about often, so I hope these will be something of an encouragement to you.

  1. First, meditate on God’s faithfulness.
  • God is glorified when we meditate on His faithfulness.
  • Join in with the generations of God’s people in meditating on God’s faithfulness
  • One way to do this is to write out our testimony and practice sharing it with others.
  • Another way to do listen to each other’s testimonies.
  • Another way to meditate on God’s faithfulness is to study his word and participate in it. Go read Psalm 136 out loud.

 

  1. Secondly, meditate on God’s promises to you.
  • God has been perfectly faithful in the past and will be perfectly faithful in the future.
  • Study his word to learn about his promises to his people.
  • These things will come true.
  • The saints in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11 lived by faith and so testified to their hope in God’s faithfulness.
    • Hebrews 12:1-2 then encourages us to be motivated by their faithfulness and live lives of patient endurance with our hope set on Christ.
  • We will be delivered from this present world of darkness.
  • We will dwell with King Jesus forever.
  • He will never leave us or forsake us.
  • Here’s my point, you can’t be encouraged by promises that you don’t know about. Part of the responsibility is on your elders to teach you, but much of that responsibility is on you to study God’s word.

 

  1. Thirdly, ask the Spirit to increase your public testimony to God’s faithfulness.
  • Jesus says to simply let your “yes” mean “yes” and your “no” mean “no.”
    • This does not mean that you can’t sign a contract, or take an oath to tell the truth in court, or make a promise.
    • What it means, though, is that we need to be people of integrity that represent the Lord well, because the people around us are watching us and are making conclusions about who God is.
      • This is why Paul will tell Timothy that elders have to be men who have a good reputation with people outside the church.
    • So let me ask you:
      • Are you dependable?
      • Can you be taken seriously?
      • Do your colleagues at work trust that you will do what you say you will do?
        • What about your friends inside and outside this church?
        • What about your children?
          • Take a moment to think about this point.
          • If you say you are a Christian and can’t be trusted by your children to do what you say you will do, what will your child learn to think about your God?
          • Now take that thought and apply it to your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues, etc.

This is why this is a serious issue.

This is why Jesus addresses it.

Jeremiah understood this when he spoke for God that destruction was coming.

Jeremiah understood that we become like the very thing we worship:

  • If we worship the faithful God, we become more and more like Him…Faithful. We become like a tree firmly planted by streams of water. Our faith becomes steadfast and immovable.
  • If we follow our deceitful hearts and worship things that are not god, we will become like those things that are twisted and distorted by sin. We become like a Tumble Week, blown and tossed by the wind.

Let us meditate on God’s character and let us set our eyes on Him. Let us humble ourselves and become more and more like Him.

A Prayer for Justice and Righteousness

31 Sunday May 2020

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Christ in the desert

Christ in the Wilderness
Ivan Kramskoi , 1872

Oh Lord, creator of the universe, giver of all good gifts, I pray to you for justice. I pray to you for your righteousness to rule and reign on your earth and in our hearts. I take the words of Isaiah upon my lips and make them my own cry to you:

The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
and he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure. (Isa 33:5-6, ESV)

Lord, I am in despair at the injustice that is being done. I am in despair at the silence of your church. Rule in the hearts of your people. I pray for your church that it would live out its calling to be a light in the darkness. Would your church reflect your beauty in a world full of sin. Would that we repent of our own sins. Would that we honor your image in our fellow humanity. Would that we stand for justice and righteousness wherever and whenever we see injustice and unrighteousness. Would that we strive with you to bring your creation into subjection to you.

Come Lord Jesus.

Amen