Heads up…China, 11/23, etc. PRAY

Ch. 6: Two main pitfalls/things that will block or hinder a life of constant interaction with God (=healthy, consistent growth in the Kingdom) Chapter can be divided into two sections: vv1-18 deals with the first and vv19-34 with the second.

The first pitfall: Desiring the approval of others (more than God, alongside God) Mt 6:1 ““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.” What follows: 3 examples of current practice to illustrate the point and three directives to avoid this trap. (Giving, Prayer, Fasting)

The second pitfall: Seeking Security through material wealth. Discuss in detail over the next two weeks. For now: Mt. 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Think about how much time and money you spend trying to be/feel secure…physically…emotionally…financially (insurance)…etc. How about spiritually? Eternally? How much do we really trust God if we spend so much time/money to be/feel secure?

Mt 6:19-21 ““Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” As we see in these verses (and in life in general), when we seek to find security in something, we often place ourselves in bondage to whatever provides us with our sense of security. For example, we can exchange our freedom for the security we desire and feel from wealth. Who wouldn’t FEEL more secure with an average balance of $100,000 in your checking account? Problematic with money/wealth. We become a slave to it and develop a FALSE sense of security. We exchange our freedom for a counterfeit security…nothing like a stock market adjustment/crash to reveal whether or not we have sought security from wealth… When we look to God for that sense of security, He not only provides us with the only true/authentic/genuine security available, He actually gives us more freedom than we have ever known in exchange for trusting Him completely. Paul: bondservant/slave of Christ over and over. Gal. 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

Treasures: things we keep because of the value we place on them. May have no value of themselves or to anybody else, but we can treasure them for a variety of reasons. Not always material goods: reputation, people, relationships, etc. #1 Commandment in OT/NT: treasure God with all that we are…above all else. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. When we do that  will see (& treasure) our neighbors as He does. Also: proclaiming our love of God, inviting accountability. Paul restates this in the NT context in Acts 20:24 “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”

Jesus uses a common sense argument: the things of this world are perishing and can be taken by force or deception. Does that sound like the things of the Kingdom, though? Illustration: John D. Rockerfeller…richest man alive @ death…how much did he leave behind? All of it. If we are focused on doing things to be successful and attain goals in the worldly realm, we will as Jesus says early in Ch. 6, receive our reward. DW: we are focusing instead on making a difference in the realm of spiritual substance sustained and governed by God and investing our lives in what He is doing, those things cannot be lost, destroyed or taken. They will endure…as will our inheritance. Sowing and reaping…Gal. 6:8-10 “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Is it in a bank account? Is it your house? Is it parked outside in the parking lot? Maybe you’ve moved beyond all that…Is your treasure “in heaven”? i.e. up in the clouds somewhere? Is it something you don’t get to experience until you die? Mt. 10:7 “As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’” Near = at hand, within reach (primarily to distance, not necessarily time) Heb. 12:18-24 (22) “ You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”[c] 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”[d]  22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” If you believe, YOU HAVE COME…into heaven, into eternity, into everlasting fellowship with the eternal, living God.

Mt 6:22-23 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” How clearly do you see spiritual things? Are they brightly illuminated or are the darkened, cloudy or fuzzy? Do you see them clearly or do you suffer from nearsightedness (focusing on yourself)? Windows to upstairs shell storage…

When we truly treasure the things that lie within the Kingdom (order/authority or “The effective range of God’s perfect will”), we will see ALL things in their true worth and relationships to each other. Just as the eyes are the lamps of the body, the Heart is the lamp of the soul & spirit. If the heart is bad, the whole soul/spirit will be darkened. If the heart is good… Jn. 3:21 “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Rom. 1:18-23 (21)  The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (21) For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

1 Jn. 1:5-7 “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” The heart that treasures and pursues the things of the Kingdom, is full of light and will live in the light of the Kingdom and the glory of God. Our lives are to be IN Him…everything about them and when we choose to live and move and have our being IN the Kingdom, we will be living in the light, not the darkness…

Jesus concludes this section with the declarative that: Mt 6:24 “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.” Nothing could be more clear and we should be equally clear which we are serving—God or money.

This is a case where it is either/or, not both/and. There are many examples where it is wise to approach things as both/and, but this is not one of them. We may think that we can love & serve God AND the things of this world, but it just isn’t possible. Eventually, one must be subordinated to the other and it is in those moments that we find out which we have been serving all along. As the old hymn goes, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full on His wonderful face, and the things of the world will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” Have the things of the world grown strangely dim for you? If not, perhaps you are not “looking fully on His wonderful face.” There is to be no conflict of interest in our lives regarding our service to God…we must make the choice every day to serve Him above all else…

And so this becomes a living sacrifice as… Rom. 12:1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a]act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” As we lay our lives daily, hourly, minute-by-minute at His feet, we will find ourselves transformed completely—mind, body, spirit—and then we will know, understand, test and approve His will, which is good and pleasing and perfect. No longer a system of continually offering sacrifices to God in order to atone for our sins become acceptable to Him once again. (Heb. 10 blood of goats and bulls…) Now a system of Justification by Faith in Christ and the opportunity to offer ourselves to Him continually as a living sacrifice—an eternally living sacrifice.

And so, if we tie this all together, if we have chosen to serve God, not money, and have eyes/hearts filled with light because our treasure is 100% in the Kingdom of Heaven, then we will see our resources as tools to accomplish Kingdom purposes. We will look with Generous eyes, eyes that see opportunities to give and to serve generously for the upbuilding of the Kingdom. We won’t need to hear sermons on tithing and we won’t dread a stewardship campaign. We’ll simply see things the way God does and respond by giving and serving as we are able. We see an example of this in 2 Cor 8:1-4 which we considered a few weeks ago… “And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.” NT Generosity vs. OT Tithing (+ Sacrifices for atonement, etc.)

How clearly do you see? Where is your treasure? What do you value most? Are you trying to serve God and __________. Not a list of things to do, but changed people do things differently… Who can you share this with? To whom would it be Good News?

Featured Resource? New People…run through website slides that follow…

Two Main Pitfalls to Avoid (Mt. 6:1, 19)

a. Desiring the Approval of Others

b. Seeking Security Through Material Wealth

II. The Bondage of Wealth (Mt. 6:19-21)

II. a. What Do You Treasure?

II. b. Moths & Rust & Thieves, Oh My!

II. c. Where is Your Treasure?

III. Distorted Vision (Mt. 6:22-23)

III. a. Eyesight and “Heartsight”

III. b. The Darkened Heart

III. c. Living in the Light

IV. The Impossibility of Serving Two Masters (Mt. 6:24)

IV. a. It’s Either/Or, not Both/And

IV. b. Offering a Living Sacrifice

IV. c. Looking with Generous Eyes

What is YOUR next step?

Questions???