June 22, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are going to spend the next two weeks together as a church reading Jesus\u2019 teachings in the Sermon on the Mount! The Sermon on the Mount is the first of Jesus\u2019 major teachings recorded in the gospel of Matthew. In it, Jesus explains the ethics and values of the kingdom of Heaven as opposed to the ethics and values of the world. The values and principles that are to govern our lives as followers of Jesus and citizens of the kingdom of Heaven are wildly different from those that govern the various cultures of our world, including the culture in which we live. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the next two weeks, allow the words of the Lord Jesus to challenge the way you think, expose the worldly and idolatrous values and desires of your heart, and transform you to live in the new way that He has laid before us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this passage Jesus continues to give instructions to His followers which expose their hearts. There is a lot there in this passage that we could hone in on, but the overall thrust of the passage is this pattern we see where Jesus warns his followers against \u201cpracticing your righteousness before people in order to be seen by them\u201d (v.1). Doing so forfeits the reward that the Father extends towards the righteous!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are three areas of life that Jesus addresses here: giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting. In each of these areas, Jesus instructs His followers that they \u201cmust not be like the hypocrites\u201d (v.5). The religious leaders of the day practiced these righteous acts in very public ways in order to draw attention to themselves, to make themselves look very pious and religious. Jesus assures His audience here that the attention they get from doing these acts is the only reward they will receive!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, Jesus says, these acts should be done in ways that are inconspicuous. The issue here is that, while it is very easy to get caught up in an act that is outwardly righteous, God sees through our religious fa\u00e7ade to the heart and motivation behind our actions. It is very possible for us to come to church on Sunday, raise our hands in worship, amen the preacher, and look like the \u201cput together\u201d, outwardly religious person, but God knows what is really happening in our hearts; there is no hiding from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we do in secret, when nobody else is watching, is what truly reveals who we are and what is in our hearts. When we choose to do acts of righteousness in ways that are not attention seeking, where only God will ever know we did them, it shows that our hearts are motivated, not by seeking glory from people, but by the glory of God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n