cited as immediately preceding Matthew 6, containing 'your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven'
1 Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.
15 Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house.
16 Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
17 “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.
19 Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
21 “You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’
22 But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.
23 “If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.
26 Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny.
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’
28 but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
30 If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’
32 but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’
34 but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
35 nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black.
37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’
39 But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.
41 Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
42 Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,
45 that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
47 If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
the main sermon text, the Sermon on the Mount passage covering giving, prayer, and the Lord's Prayer
1 “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
3 But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does,
4 so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
5 “When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.
6 But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
7 In praying, don’t use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.
8 Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him.
9 Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
10 Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
13 Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 “Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;
18 so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
on not sounding a trumpet when giving to the poor as the hypocrites do
2 Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
on not praying like hypocrites who love to stand in synagogues and street corners to be seen
5 “When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.
go into your inner room, close your door, pray to your father in secret
6 But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
referenced as a reminder of hallowed be your name, tribes tongues and nations gathered around the throne saying holy holy holy
9 They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book, and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood, out of every tribe, language, people, and nation,
the shorter form of the Lord's Prayer, five petitions, prompted by a disciple asking Jesus to teach them to pray
1 When he finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message walked through Matthew 6:1-15 and Luke's shorter parallel version of the Lord's Prayer, set inside the larger Sermon on the Mount. Pastor Adam's central concern was motivation: why we give, why we pray, and whether our acts of righteousness are aimed at God or at an audience. He also drew on the twelve-step tradition and congregation members' own answers to recent homework assignments to press the point home.
What was said
The sermon opened by returning to the previous week's homework, in which people had submitted their answers to the question "What is the gospel in ten words or less?" Pastor Adam read through many of those responses, from "Here's the way home" to "Softening and saving stubborn hearts since the cross," and noted that the common thread was God's action toward us rather than anything we clean up in ourselves first. The reminder that "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" set the tone for everything that followed: you do not get better to come to Jesus; you get transformed when you come to Jesus.
Moving into Matthew 6, Pastor Adam pointed out that Jesus presupposes his disciples will give to the poor and will pray. The question is never whether but how, and the determining factor is motivation. The Greek behind "beware the righteousness of you" was held up as a warning against self-righteousness: any righteousness that does not derive from God and operate under his authority is really just glory-hogging. The hypocrites in the synagogues and on the street corners were not wrong to give or to pray; they were wrong to do it so that they might be glorified in front of people.
Jesus' instruction to go into a private room and close the door is not a blanket prohibition on public prayer. Pastor Adam was honest about the tension he feels praying out loud before seventy-five people, and he told the story of a young man on a mission trip to Mexico who called him out on exactly this point. His answer was that motivation can shift based on who is in the room, and closing your eyes is partly about removing that distraction. The prayer chair that the Mexico team used, where one person at a time sat alone under a shade tree with no other responsibility except to pray, was the practical illustration: by the end of the week, nearly everyone who had thought it was a waste of labor understood why Jesus says to get alone and pray.
On thoughtless repetition, Pastor Adam was careful to say that liturgical, spoken-together prayer is not automatically the problem. He recalled praying the Lord's Prayer in basketball huddles as an amulet against losing, and contrasted that with the beauty of a congregation praying it together and meaning every word. A church member once challenged him about how often First B says the Lord's Prayer, and did so while pulling his truck out of the snow in December. That story landed the point: the issue is not frequency but whether the words are alive when you say them.
He then walked through all seven petitions in Matthew's version in sequence. The first three, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, are directed entirely toward God before a single personal need is mentioned. "Your kingdom come" is not about a cataclysmic end-times event; it is about being a willing and humble citizen of heaven right now. "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" took him to Jesus' prayer in the garden, where the same surrender is on display. The petition for daily bread draws on a proverb he cited about asking God for enough, not so little that you steal and not so much that you forget Him. The fifth petition on forgiveness was flagged as the hardest: Jesus ties God's forgiveness of us directly to our willingness to forgive others, and then repeats it in verses 14 and 15 to make certain no one misses it.
Luke's version of the prayer is shorter, with five petitions rather than seven, and it appears in a completely different setting: Jesus has been praying alone, a disciple watches him and simply asks, "Lord, teach us to pray." That context mattered to Pastor Adam. The omission of "your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" from Luke's version is notable, and he suggested that Matthew's fuller form is what churches tend to use precisely because of that petition, since a humble and prayerful posture before God is what makes any extension of the kingdom possible in the first place.
The sermon closed by setting Step 11 of Alcoholics Anonymous alongside the Lord's Prayer. Step 11 describes seeking through prayer and meditation to improve conscious contact with God, "praying only for knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out." Pastor Adam pointed out that if you sit in a sermon wishing someone else were there to hear it, you have already lost the thread. The prayer is personal before it is anything else, and the benediction from Luke 17 brought it back to earth: the kingdom of God does not arrive with spectacular observation; it is already in your midst.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Nathan shared several congregation members' attempts to sum up the gospel in ten words or less. Which one stuck with you most, and what does your own ten-word-or-less gospel look like?
Jesus says in Matthew 6 that motivation matters when we give, pray, and fast. Can you think of a time when you caught yourself doing something good partly to be noticed? What does it look like in practice to check your motivation?
Speaker 1Good morning everybody. How are you? We had a membership meeting in the office in between services, that was good and it took me a little while to get out of. Would you stand up and we will sing Love Lifted Me, what a great song.
Speaker 2I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within sinking to rise no more but the master of the sea heard my despairing cry from the waters lifted me now safe am I? Love lifted me, love lifted me when nothing else could help. Love lifted me, Love lifted me. Love lifted me. When nothing else could help, love lifted me.
All my heart to him I give ever his in his blessed presence live ever his praises sing love so mighty and so true merits my soul's best songs. Faithful loving service to to him belongs. Love lifted me. Love lifted me. On the last, souls in danger look above.
Jesus completely saves. He will lift you by his love out of the angry waves. He's the master of the sea. Lilies, his will obey. He, your savior, wants to be be saved today.
Love lifted me. Love lifted
Speaker 1Amen. It took a miracle. I took a miracle. It's true too. But it took a miracle is the song, I think.
So here we go. If you know it, sing it out.
Speaker 2My father is omnipotent and that you can't deny a god of might and miracles is written in the sky
Speaker 1I'm sorry. Sorry. Sometimes we just trust the Internet on things. It says, though hear his glory has been shown. I think it said through her his glory has been shown.
Sorry about that, but it cracked me up and I just couldn't keep going. Sorry. Let's go to the third verse if we would, Blake.
Speaker 2Bible tells us of his power and wisdom all the way through and every little bird and flower are testimonies too. It took a miracle to put the stars in place. It took a miracle to hang the world in space. But when he saved my
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Note note to self, Blake. Monday nights at first be are happening. It's on.
So, we're having meal, music, and a message tomorrow night, Monday night, 06:00 down the hall. That will be fun. Carl is in the gospel of Mark. I think he's up to Mark seven. That happens at the same time as Awana is happening in this room.
So Awana is a kids club where we pour scripture into the minds and hearts. They play games. They hear counsel time, but it's to reach their hearts. Connect hour and Monday night kitchen volunteers are always needed. If you want to sign up, you can do that in the fellowship hall.
There is a men's retreat coming up called the Word Retreat. Men's retreat is $200 There are scholarships available if you'd like to go February 23. So it's coming really fast. It's not this week, but next week that that starts. I think it's '23 through the '26.
It will end here actually on Sunday morning. They'll come everybody will come back from Ryrie, and we'll end it together here, in the sanctuary here at the 09:00 service. So, if you wanna know more about it, contact Matt Litzerman or call the church office. Ladies fellowship. This is a Bible study, a book study or Bible study.
It happens every Thursday night at six down in the fellowship hall. It's, all ages are welcome, they say. It's sisters saved by grace. It's a homegrown ladies fellowship that prays together, eats together, studies the Bible together, and loves one another. It's really good.
If you would like to be a part of a women's retreat, so the plan is for it to be March 16 through the nineteenth, any or all of the days. It's the same lodge where the men's retreat, the word retreat is going to happen different time, March sixteenth through nineteenth. It's one hundred and fifty dollars you can bring a dish to share. You can sign up with Nancy T. If this does not make, because you have to have a certain number for it to make.
If it doesn't make, then we'll come up with an alternative plan. Student ministry for high school students is called Ascent. Ascent is taking place on Thursday evenings at 06:30, and that is for high schoolers. It meets at the Tribe Ministry Center. Tribe is another church here in town, and we have found that what works best is not to divide ourselves, but to gather the youth, together and let them know that they've got friends who are believers.
And some of them that are coming are not yet believers. So would you be praying for the high school ministry Ascent that meets Thursday evening, 06:30 at the Tribe Ministry Center? There's also a young adult Bible study that bounces. They have no permanent dwelling place, so they go to different folks' houses. If you'd like to host one of these events, let us know.
But 06:30 in the evening, Erin Anderson is the contact person for that. And that's good too, young adult Bible study. The If gathering, I do not see Natalie who made this, announcement in the first service. But if you would like to know, March third and fourth, that's a Friday, Saturday. JH Women's Bible Study, there's more information there.
Jhwomensbiblestudy.com. The If gathering is possible if you just want to do Friday nights, you can just go for Friday night. But that's an event that's happening. And it happens kind of simulcast all over the world in 30 different countries. That's a lot of people taking part at the same time.
It should be a good time. Would you like to make the announcement, Nick, or is it good enough? All right. So church prep briefings for an upcoming Will Graham lookup is what it's called in Idaho Falls. It's basically a tent revival.
It's kind of like Billy Graham's tent revival. It's like his grandfather. Church prep meetings, there will be one happening here, March 3 from 10AM to noon, and that'll just help us to prepare it, know how to pray. And if there are people who'd like to be counselors or be someone on call to follow-up with people after the event, That's possible. Christian Life and Witness, May the fourth, eleventh, and eighteenth from seven to nine, and the classes will be right here at First B.
There's more to that and you'll know more about it, later. The musical guest that at the event will be Crowder, formerly known as David Crowder. Don't know why he dropped the David, but Crowder, the band will be there. And I think that's it. It won't click anymore.
Does anybody have anything I need to add or take away? No. I got a couple I wanna take away last week. So if you stand up, I will hopefully lead us in song. Holy holy.
Not to be confused with holy holy holy.
Speaker 2Holy, holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty and we lift our hearts before you as a token of our love. Holy, holy, holy. Gracious father, gracious father. We're so blessed to be your children, gracious father. And we lift our heads before you as a token of our love, gracious father, precious Jesus, precious Jesus, We're so glad that you've redeemed us, precious Jesus.
And we lift our hands before you as a token Hallelujah. We lift our hearts before you as a token of our love. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Speaker 1But his name is wonderful. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward. Would you pray with me?
This operatory prayer. God, I pray that I thank you, lord. First of all, that you have called us into your congregation, the congregation of Lord. You removed us from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of marvelous light. And we gather in your name to say thank you, Lord, to say that we praise you, to lift up our hearts as we've sung several times in our heads and our hands to serve you.
Lord God Almighty, we pray that you would be in our thoughts, on our minds, filling our hearts, and coming out of our mouths. We pray, Lord, that you would do your will among us in your way, whatever that is, and that the resources that are given by the people here, Lord, would be used to advance the kingdom of God. In Jesus' name, I pray your blessing and your multiplication on the resources placed in the plates. But Lord, on the time and the talents that are given as well. In Jesus' name, amen.
Full version of that song. Thank you, Judy. In the garden. So where are we? What was the homework assignment last week?
Okay. The homework assignment from a couple weeks ago actually was what is the gospel in 10 words or less? And so last week, I shared from a sermon done seven years ago where I crowdsourced it and let y'all write in. And a lot of y'all wrote in this week. You took this sermon seriously.
You texted me or you called me or you wrote filled it in on these little cards. I didn't give you instructions with what to do for the cards, so some of them showed up in the offering plate in the first service. But I wanted to go to share with you what you said, from last week. I don't have as many of them as I had, last week, but I think they're good, and I think they need to be shared. So here it is, man's search for meaning.
What is the gospel? In 10 words or less. Man's search for meaning comes to rest, his truth. It's centered on his truth. Now that doesn't tell us exactly what it is, but it tells us what it does.
It tells us what it answers for sure. The gift of salvation and how to receive it. That's the gospel. My sins exposed. His grace poured out.
Though I don't deserve it, his unmerited favor is poured out, and my soul is saved. Very individual, which is good. The story of how we became more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans eight thirty seven, sorry, it's more than 10 words. God is holy, I rebel.
Jesus reconciles his bride, Joy. That's pretty good. God incarnate, Jesus sacrificed his life for my sins. Hallelujah. Receiving and living under Jesus Messiah's acknowledgment of our worth.
You know what? I forgot one. I saw somebody's face, and it reminded me I forgot it. I'm gonna get to it. Here's the way home.
Amen. Three words. Going back to John fourteen six. Excuse me. One moment.
Because it was so good. I don't wanna miss it. God Almighty calls. Jesus saves. Holy Spirit transforms.
Believe. Follow. Isn't that good? This one I got from a young lady who I met twelve years ago at Old Faithful Christian Ranch. After I had interned here for the summer, I went up to Old Faithful and did a middle school camp.
I was scared to death. And this gal was gathered around the campground afterwards and said, I've got somebody that I feel called to pray for, and it just feels weird. I said, well, if you've been called to pray for them, you keep praying for them until God gets them. Right? And she contacted me about two or three years ago and said, I'm still praying for that person, but you probably have more access than I do being that you're the pastor of the church there.
And I said, alright, I'm praying with you now. So I'm praying for the salvation of one somebody that she was praying for. And she says this, softening and saving stubborn hearts since the cross. The heart she's praying for is pretty stubborn too. Hashtag one way Jesus.
Hashtag if he did it to Paul, he could do it to you. Hashtags count as one word, she let me know. Pretty good. And then this was one of y'all that said they had adapted a song that they know pretty well. They adapted it just a little bit.
Ain't nobody that Jesus can't save, even me, what about you? That's good. That's both for us and then for the others. I like that. Looking outward.
And then this one's really important. This is Romans five eight. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were still or while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's important.
I think that in the church, sometimes we think that somebody ought to clean themselves up before they come before him. But that ain't the way it works. If you tarry till you're better, the song says, you will never come at all. You don't get better to come to Jesus. You get transformed when you come to Jesus.
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Don't be so holy and sanctified that you look down on people that don't yet know him. So those were the gospel in 10 words or less. And the homework assignment of how will you live out the gospel. Some of y'all emailed me those.
I'm not going to share those, but that was really good and helpful, I thought. And how will your life reveal God's righteousness? I want to kind of start trying to do a couple of application points or questions mainly to think about and dwell on the sermon, maybe in small group. One of the small groups shared their 10 word or less gospels and then talked about these two questions among themselves. It was really, they said fruitful.
So here we go. Lord's prayer. Would you stand with me? And we're going to say the Lord's prayer this morning. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Thank you.
So that's what we're going to cover today in a minute, but Matthew six one through 18 is the Matthew portion of the sermon today, including the Lord's prayer. Now I did Matthew six one through 24 a year and two weeks ago, year and three weeks ago, 01/16/2022, but I did it minus the Lord's prayer. I was holding out to save the Lord's prayer for when we hid it in Luke. They are similar, but not exactly the same. There are seven petitions in Matthew, and there are five in Luke.
But I preach this section. If you wanna go back, you can listen to it. I think it's important to consider the context in both. So the context of Matthew six is the Sermon on the Mount. And so Sermon on the Mount is greatest sermon ever preached.
It's hard to live up to. It's really hard to live up to. We will grapple with this sermon for the rest of our lives. But this time, I'll be including Lord's Prayer. We'll ramp up to it using six one through 12 to get to 13 where the prayer is.
And then we'll go over Luke, which is a shorter, less familiar version. Almost always in churches when you recite the Lord's Prayer, almost always, it'll be Matthew. So we'll go with the shorter, less familiar version after we get to it. Since context is king, let's refresh our memory with what leads up to it. I just said that.
So here we go. This is the beginning of chapter six, Sermon on the Mount. Lot of people are gathered. A lot of folks, mostly folks from a Jewish background. It was fairly early, comparatively speaking, much earlier than we see it in Luke.
So take care, Jesus says, not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people. Now wait a second. I pray every Sunday for people to see Jesus in us and reflect we reflect his glory and we think about it. Why would he say take care not to do it in front of people? I mean, he said in Matthew five, which is immediately preceding Matthew six, your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.
He's careful to say, you do need to be doing the works, and they do need to be seen by other people, but they don't need to be seen because they could be seen by other people. Actually, he'll go on. Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people to be noticed by them. Motivation matters. What motivates you to do good deeds and walk out the steps that God has prepared for you in advance is God, not people.
Does that make sense? Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people to be noticed by them. A good wooden translation, straight up wooden translation from the Greek of Matthew six one a is this, beware now. Watch out. Beware now.
The righteousness of you. Think about that. The righteousness of you is self righteousness. Okay? The righteousness of you are your righteousness.
You you don't have any real righteousness unless it is derived from God under his authority. Beware now the righteousness of you not to do before men in order to be seen by them. There is something about us that we are glory hogs. We want the credit for doing something good. Beware now that the righteousness you not to do before men in order to be seen by them, to be noticed by them.
Otherwise, you have no reward with your father who's in heaven. God cares about you, and he cares about how you live your life. And you're living your life in front of people motivated by him is different from motivated by their attention. So when you give to the poor, he starts out very next, verse two. So when you give to the poor, it is presupposed that disciples of Jesus will be giving to the poor.
It is a part of what we do. So when you give to the poor, not if, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you make a big deal about it as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets. My goodness, that's the church people of his day in the synagogues, right? That's the assembly. Don't make a big deal about it when you give as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and out on the streets so that they will be praised by people.
We don't do it for recognition by people. When you get to the poor, don't do it to be praised by the people. This is an interesting verb. Doxology is a word about God's glory. Doxa means glory.
And the term here is aorist, subjunctive, passive, third person, plural. So that they might be praised. So that they might be praised by men. This is rendering or esteeming as glorious. People that do this, the hypocrites in the synagogues and on the streets, do this so that they might be praised.
So that they might be glorified. Glorified in front of people so that I am wonderful. Don't you all acknowledge it. I have given to these people that don't deserve it so that I might be praised. That's not that's not the reason to do this.
Motivation matters. Truly I say to you, if they give in that way, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, when you give to the poor, when again, not if. It's presupposed. When you give to the poor.
When you, you equals disciples, you're here gathered at the Sermon on the Mount, you're listening. When you give, if you're doing it the way that I'm doing it, you're giving. Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your charitable giving, loving giving, will be in secret. And your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Motivation matters.
And when you pray, again, presuppose disciples will be praying. When you pray, you're not to be like the hypocrites. Hypocrites are play actors. They have a face on the outside, but it covers the real face of what's on the inside. When you pray, you're not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand up and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people.
That's hard, since I just did the operatory prayer in front of approximately 75 people. It's hard in a way to be in front of people and praying to God. That's one of the hardest things that I do actually because you have to always check your motivation. You don't think, I'm doing this to be heard by these people. It changes based on who's in the room.
Part of the reason for closing your eyes, for crying out loud, is to get rid of the thought of the other people in the room, right? They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Motivation matters. Truly, I say to you, if that's the reason they're doing it, goodness gracious, they have their reward in full. Same exact verbiage is, Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. Motivation matters. Don't do what you do so as to be seen by other people. When we were in Mexico, each morning we'd gather up and we would pray for five different things. We prayed for safety on the worksite.
First of all, that the deaf would hear and understand the gospel. Right? That they would be safe. That we would be safe on the worksite. We prayed for five different things every morning.
Big circle, we'd gather up. Who wants to pray for this? Who wants to pray for this? And we'd pray first thing before we started the day. And then we had prayer chairs sitting there that people for thirty minutes at a time during the day would take apart from our work crew and have somebody sit individually in a little rocking chair up under a shade tree.
Their job was just to pray during that time. When we did that circle up for prayer thing, I had a guy afterwards that said, Hey, I just, like, got saved two weeks ago when I came on this trip. I've read the New Testament. It says, when you pray, go in your closet. Don't let anybody know what you're doing.
And yet, here we are. We're all out front people. I was like, I think that motivation matters. If you're doing it to be seen by people, it really is about your heart condition and what why you're doing what you're doing. But we have to be careful not to allow our motivation to change based on where we are.
Jesus says it right here, and that's what the guy was calling me out on was, but as for you, when you pray, you go into your inner room, a solitary place. You close your door, and you pray to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. It's a simple but intimate relationship with God. It is ridding yourselves of the motivation caused by who's around you.
The prayer chair is actually at the end of the week when we had share time at the end of the week. Almost everybody that came down said, Sitting in the chair where I had no other responsibility except to pray felt like a waste of labor at the first part of the week. But by the end of the week, I understand now why Jesus says, Get alone and just pray. In secret, nobody else was there with you. Close your door, pray to your father.
Motivation matters. And you equals disciples. So as for you, disciples, when you do pray, go into your inner room, close your door, pray to your father who's in secret, and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. He will. In Spanish.
God will repay. That's pretty cool. And when you are praying, again, presupposed, disciples will be praying. Disciples will be looking to God for direction. Do not use thoughtless repetition as the Gentiles do.
Gentiles here, the word is ethnikoi based on ethnos. Ethnos is a noun ethnikoi as an adjective. It's an adjective meaning pagan, heathen, or gentile. It is a gentile, a non Jew. It is somebody outside of the fellowship of God.
So heathen, it usually refers to non Israelites. It comes to refer to people outside of the gospel. People who are outside of not the gospel, outside of having accepted the gospel. They're outside of God's covenant salvation relationship. It's ethnikoi, the heathens, the Gentiles.
So this implies Jesus is mainly speaking at the Sermon on the Mount, mainly to Jewish background audience of people who are disciples. They showed up. They came in. So backing up just a second. And when you are praying, do not use thoughtless repetition as the Gentiles do.
Now I had you all all stand at the beginning, and we all joined in with the Lord's Prayer. Was that thoughtless repetition? How many times have we done that in church? Some of us did it every single Sunday all the time. My most common way to pray the Lord's Prayer is this.
Speaker 2It
Speaker 1was in a basketball huddle. After the warm ups, before the game or if we forgot it before the game, at halftime, we would get together because it was the amulet against losing. I probably know why we're getting our behinds beat out here. No. With a bunch of heathens, to be honest.
It was just the what we did. And it was in that way kind of thoughtless repetition. It was something we needed to do. Right? But as an amulet, that that's what he's saying.
Don't do that. And now right here, a lot of Baptist preachers would say, like they do at the Catholic church. It is possible to be repetitious and thoughtful at the same time. If you believe the liturgy, it's beautiful. Oh, it's so good and should be heard and should be proclaimed, and we should do it.
And I like saying the Our Father with a bunch of people. It's just great. It's beautiful. It does not have to be thoughtless. It can be, though, if it's just a thoughtless repetition.
Actually, old recipes used to say, stir the broth for three our fathers. And when you're praying, do not use thoughtless repetition as the Gentiles do, For they think that they'll be heard because of their many words. If I just say this enough times with my mouth just right, it'll it'll win and curry some favor with God, and he'll have to do what I want him to do. No. That's not the way.
When you're praying, don't use thoughtless reputation as the Gentiles do. For they think that they'll be heard because they're mean words. So don't be like them. Don't be like that. Your relationship with God the father needs to be intimate through Christ, but it needs to be an intimate one.
For your father knows what you need. He knows every hair of your head. He knows everything about you. He knows your needs. He knows what you need.
Prayer is you acknowledging your need for God. Your father knows what you need before you even ask him. So are you gonna sneak up on God with a request that he doesn't know about? No. He already knows what you need.
Prayer is you acknowledging your need for God. So that gets us to the Lord's Prayer. Pray then in this way. Our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Now, if you're going KJV, or New King James, or a couple of the older English translations of the Bible from Tyndale forward, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. That is appended at the end.
If you have one that's based on the So it's Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus, and there's a lot there. If you're going with the Textus Receptus, it has this appended on the end. If you're going with what they consider now to be earlier manuscripts, it does not have that. I just wanna throw it out there because if you're reading in the New American Standard, you're not gonna see for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
That doesn't mean it's not true. It's just not there in the modern translation, so there it is. It does actually call back to a couple places in the Old Testament. Kingdom is not in there. Power and the glory are.
But this was added within the first hundred years. The Didache is like the first life application Bible almost. It's kind of commentary on the Bible and how then should we live. It was added for that. And it was added in church services that early too.
So within the first one hundred years for sure. I like it. I still feel like it needs to be in there. But it's just helpful. Because what you're saying when you say that is, Lord, you are the mighty king.
You are the one who has all of the authority and all the how to to get this done, and you deserve glory for getting it done. I like it. Lord's Prayer. There it is. That's the way we usually say it when we say it here.
I put it back up here to remind me of this. One time, December 23, several years ago, someone had gotten a car stuck the night before down Forest Road, whatever it is, four miles from Bondurant, and they got the car stuck. I heard when the person asked me, Could you help me come get a car unstuck? I thought, Well, sure. I was in Tanya's car that day.
It's a Jeep. Should be able to do it. Took a rope, went down there. I thought it's just going to be in the ditch. No big deal.
I'll stay on the road. Snatch her out the ditch. No big deal. Got down there, Forest Road 30 Fivethirty. It was a mile and a half down that road.
And it was stuck. I mean it was stuck. And so I got Tanya's Jeep stuck multiple times. And then when I abandoned actually, I was riding with the person and I said, Wow, there was quite the kerfuffle right here. She said, Yeah, that's where the tow truck got stuck last night.
I brought a knife to a gunfight. This was not going to happen. So I decided to get out of there, turn around, and I come back out. And I got the jeep stuck off the side of the road. And we walked out of there about a mile, got back to the highway, and Johnny Walker picked me up.
Johnny, a member of this church, picked me up and brought us back to Jackson. My wife was worried to death because it was December 23. She thought I was supposed to be at a luncheon that she was at. I wasn't there, and I was out of phone service, stuck, literally. So the next day, I had called a member of this church and another member of this church, and they met me down there.
One of them had a snowmobile, the other one had a skid steer. Carl went with me, and we went a mile and a half back to get to the other car. We got to Tanya's car. We were getting Tanya's car unstuck first, because we came to it first. We had the chain hooked to the car and hooked to the tractor, and it was going to get the job done.
And this fellow looked at me and said, now that I've got both of my pastors here in a compromised position, why is it we don't say the Lord's Prayer every Sunday? I like that. And I said, We'll say it twice this Sunday. And he pulled us out of there, and we said it twice that Sunday, but I still feel like there's a bit of a hesitation within me that says that we don't need to just do it out of automatic rote repetition, thoughtless repetition. It needs to matter to us.
So I'm going go into the petitions. There are seven of them in Matthew, and then we'll carry on from there and get to Luke. But the first petition, think about this. Our father who is in heaven, it's acknowledging that you're above us. Your ways are above us.
You are incomprehensible to us in a lot of ways. We can know you in some ways. Our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. My desire is that everyone would honor and respect and hallow your name. It starts with that.
I want for everyone to hallow it. That reminds me just seeing hallowed be your name. It reminds me of Revelation five nine where all of the tribes, tongues, and nations are gathered around the throne saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. Hallowed be your name. Reminds me of Psalm 67.
Psalm 67 is the one where bless us, oh God, so that we may be a blessing to the peoples, the nations. Hallowed be your name is the first petition. It starts with God. Actually, the first three petitions are about God and then it gets to our own needs. Hallowed be your name.
Second petition, your kingdom come. Most often when we hear the phrase kingdom come, it's like, man, they blew that thing to kingdom come. Is it not? That's the way we hear it outside of the church, outside of this prayer. Kingdom come is a cataclysmic event at the end of the ages where the church is raptured and everything burns.
I think your kingdom come is not about that. Your God, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. I want to be a part, a willing and obedient citizen of the kingdom of heaven. I want to be humble before you, my king.
I want to I want for you to know that I'm a part of your kingdom, and I bow the knee, hallowing your name, recognizing your rule, and wanting to do what it is that you want for me to do. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom, Lord, come. Though yeah. Democracy's great.
Whatever. Your kingdom is what matters. Your kingdom come. As a part of that, the third petition is, Your will be done. Oh, Jesus' prayer in the garden, does it not take you right there?
This is tough. Not my will, but yours be done, Father. Your will be done means in order to be a humble and obedient citizen of heaven to have your basileia, your kingdom, your rule, your reign matter, I am praying that your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Is his will carried out perfectly in heaven? It is.
Is it on earth? It is not. Can we be a part of bringing the kingdom to people? We can. And it starts with our heart.
It has to start with our hearts. Your kingdom, Lord, is what I'm looking for. I want for you to rule and reign in my life, have absolute sway, as the song says, so that it will be on earth as it is in heaven. Your will be done. I want to do your will, whatever it is, Lord, on earth as it is in heaven.
The fourth petition gets to our needs now. Now, we do have to eat to survive. We do have to have resources to go forward. So this petition is, give us this day our daily bread, our epiosios bread. Epiosios is the subject of some controversy.
It's used only twice in the New Testament. It's used just here and in Luke's version of the prayer. Give us our daily bread. Give us above essence bread. Give us what it is that we need is what it's saying.
Give us what it is that we need for this day. It's trusting God one day at a time. Give us this day our daily bread. Now, I say controversy. I don't mean controversy like it's something that's gonna get people Well, people fight about everything.
But daily bread. There are some people that see an epi usias the Eucharist. There are some people that see an epi usias above the essence. It's more than just physical bread. It is all that we need to be able to survive.
I think that's good. Daily bread can be bread for today or it can be bread for tomorrow depending on how you look at it. Give us this our quotidian bread. Our quotidian or quotidian bread is another translation of it. Give us this day, our daily bread.
It reminds me of the proverb that says, Lord, give me enough that I'm not tempted to steal, but not so much that I forget about you and trust in my resources. Give us this day our daily bread. This is where I mean, it's all difficult, but this is where it gets really difficult. And this fifth petition is this, and God, forgive us our debts. It says our.
Jesus is praying as a model prayer for other people. And when we pray this in public and we're praying it together and we mean it, it's not thoughtless repetition. We are saying, we want to be a part of your kingdom coming to Earth. Lord, forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors. We said trespasses a little while ago.
Forgive us our trespasses where we step over the line as we forgive people who step over the line with us. Forgive us our sins, some translations say, as we forgive those who sin against us. Forgive us our debts. Now, this is important. He it says, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
This is a decision when we trusted God that we would be forgiving people. So if you're holding on to something, Jesus is gonna repeat it. This is verse 12. Verse 14, he says it again. Verse 15, he says it again.
Makes it absolutely crystal clear. If you're holding on to an offense, let it go. Let it go. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And Lord, don't lead us into temptation. You know us. You know us. You know my heart, Lord. Please don't lead me into a place where I would abandon you.
Don't lead me into a place where I would fall. Lead us not into temptation. I know you can deal with me after the fact if I do, But Lord, I don't want to go there anymore. I've fallen enough. I want to just look to you.
Don't lead me into temptation. James says that God does not lead us into temptation. But prayerfully, don't lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. So this the word evil there can be either in the Greek form, it can be either neuter or masculine. So it is either evil in general or the evil one, Satan.
So you might hear translations, don't lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. That's a perfectly valid translation. But when it comes right down to it, general evil or specific evil, what's the difference? Deliver us from the evil one by delivering us from evil in general. When we have an opportunity to make a decision, would you show us what is good and what is bad?
Would you lead us away from things that would cause us pain and cause others pain and cause us difficulty because it's sinful and wrong? Would you lead us into a place that is far from evil? So the KJV adds that for thine years, Lord, is the kingdom. You are the king. Thy kingdom come says, I want to be a part of your kingdom.
For thine is the kingdom and the power. You have the resources to get it done And the glory, you deserve fame for what you do. You're above us, Lord, forever and ever. Amen. Now, thoughtless repetition.
I I wanted to say all of those things. Just slow down and think about what you're saying. We we tend to fall into that pattern of It's thoughtless, but it can be thoughtful. Just take a moment and consider what you're saying. That's the Lord's prayer in Matthew.
He goes on. I'm gonna go through three or four more verses here. For if you forgive other people for their offenses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. He's tying his forgiveness of us to how we forgive other people. And if you miss it in verse 12, and you miss it in verse 14, he says it again in 15 in the other way.
But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive your offenses. Your forgiveness is tied to the way that you forgive. And some of y'all have a hard time forgiving people. And some of y'all, some of us, find it easy to take offense. So we need to be careful about holding onto an offense.
God, help us. Let go. If you need to forgive somebody, if you're thinking of a particular person right now, let it go. Let that sin go. Actually, all of that's green.
I usually highlight the greens the green stuff is highlighted for a reason. All of that's green right there. Here we go. Whenever you fast. I'm going skip this part because we got five minutes left.
And it's uncomfortable, whenever you fast. So not really. I'm just kidding. It is expected that at some time you would fast. But since context is king, I wanna consider the placement of the shorter form in Luke.
So the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan was a story a few weeks back that we covered, and the Good Samaritan three weeks ago talks about someone you should be able to trust, the high priest. A bigger group that you should be able to trust, the Levites. They should know better. They should be trustworthy.
But both of those guys walked by the guy who was injured and bleeding on the ground. Right? But the Samaritan, somebody that they hated. And I passed out cards before you knew what the sermon was about, and I asked you to list a group, a person that you trusted, a group that you trusted, and then somebody that you thought was the most hopelessly antithetical to the gospel. And y'all responded, and I brought the stack out, and I shared them with you, that we had some folks that said the left, the left, the woke agenda, the LGBTQ, Hollywood types.
And then others said Christian nationalists and right wing extremers. We had a balance there. We had both wings, right and left wings represented. And we also had the majority of the responses were hypocritical Christians. People who say that they believe in Christ that don't act like it.
That's the most antithetical to the gospel. I think that's closer to the truth. But the Good Samaritan says, you can be a neighbor by acting neighborly. Okay? So a good Samaritan.
And just so you didn't think it's all about works, the very next story is about Mary and Martha, where Mary just sits, according to Martha, lazily, at the feet of Jesus and listens to what he says. And Martha's working, working, worker. She's distracted by many things. And Jesus says, Martha, Martha, lovingly. Martha, Martha, you're distracted by so many things.
Your heart is pulled in so many different directions. It's not about what you do. It is about what proceeds out of the mouth of God. And she has found the better thing that she's listening to what God is saying, what Jesus is saying. So it's Mary and Martha.
And then it hits the Lord's Prayer. This is the way it starts in Luke. It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place so this is not the sermon on the mount. It's a different time, different place. When he had finished, so Jesus was practicing what he preached.
He was out by himself praying. One of his disciples saw him and then thought, man, I wish I could pray like that. So when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray. Like John taught his disciples to pray. And Jesus said to them, When you pray, say, Father.
It doesn't say our Father in this case. Some people say that that might have been because this has been protected in a Gentile community, and Matthew's gospel is protected in a more Jewish community. I don't know. But it just says, Father, not our Father. Father, hallowed be your name.
First petition is the same. We pray that you would be recognized for who you are amongst all peoples. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Exactly the same verbiage.
It does not say, Your will done your way, basically. Will on earth as it is in heaven. It gets right on to the third petition here is, Give us each day our epi usias, quotidian, daily, normal, sufficient bread. And forgive us our sins. For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and don't lead us into temptation.
Doesn't say anything about the evil or the evil one, but it's implied in temptation. This is the shorter form, just the facts, cliff notes version maybe. But it has five petitions there. It leaves out the your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Leaves out deliver us from the evil or deliver us from the evil one.
Still really good. The reason that we say Matthews, I think, is because it's more inclusive. And I really think the reason is because of that on earth as it is in heaven. If you are humble before God and prayerful before him, he can effect positive worldwide change and extend the bounds of the kingdom of God. So homework assignment.
How will you live out the gospel? That's always going to be the same. But I want to look at one more thing before we close. We're right straight up on the hour now. We have sought through prayer.
This is step 11 of Alcoholics Anonymous 12 steps. It's so good. Probably the greatest spiritual undertaking I have tried to do for the last five years is this, is walking through these 12 steps. Not necessarily of alcohol, but I mentioned the first, second, third, and fourth steps all the time from the front because they're so good and that's a way to start. But step 11 is very helpful.
It says, we have sought through prayer and meditation. So this is about prayer. The Lord's prayer is about prayer. We have sought through prayer and meditation. Lord, teach us to pray.
We have sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood him. That as we understood him as a statement of humility, that God is infinite, and he is in heaven and he is above us and his ways are above ours. But we can understand him in some ways and in our limited fashion of how we understand him as we understood him, praying only for knowledge of his will for us. If you're listening to a sermon and you think, man, I wish so and so had been there. You're missing the point.
Okay? Lord, show me what you would like for them to do. Praying only for knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out. Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. You've got the resources.
Lord, I'm asking for the resources I need to do what you want me to do. Transform my life, Lord. So how will you pray? And how will your life promote heaven's influence on earth? Remembering that God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.
I think a repentant, contrite spirit about what we have done and a recognition that God has forgiven us as soon as we agree with him about it, and that that forgiveness empowers us to forgive others is really good. How will your life promote heaven's influence on earth? I think that's the last one. So the last song today, Judy, would you jump up here? Sorry, jump, jump.
Have Thine Own Way, Lord is the last. Would you stand with me and we'll sing Have Thine Own Way, Lord. What a perfect closing song for this message. On earth as it is in heaven.
Speaker 2Have thine own way. Thou art the potter. I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will while I am waiting, yielded and still. Have thine own way, Lord.
Have thine own way. Search me and try me, master today. Whiter than snow, Lord. Wash me just now as in thy presence, humbly I bow. Have thine own way, Lord.
Have thine own way. Hold absolute sway, fill with thy spirit till all shall see Christ only always living in me. Amen.
Speaker 1And for the benediction today from Luke 17. Now, when Jesus was asked by the pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them and said, the kingdom of God does not come with observation nor will they say, see here or see there. For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you, amongst you. It's in your midst. The kingdom of God is possible now.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
