Take Care Not to Practice Your Righteousness
First B Jackson
2022-01-16

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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If you don't, you'll cry. Alright. Good morning, everybody. How are you? Good to see you.

Good to see you. How about, how about we kick this thing off in song and we worship together? Would you stand with me? And and here's a verse from Revelation four eleven to kick us off in worship. It says, you are worthy, oh Lord, our God, to receive glory and honor and power.

Amen to that? Would we agree with that? For you created all things and they exist because you created what you please. Let's start by singing glory to God.

Alright. Before the world was made. Before the world was made. Before you spoke it to me. You were the king of kings.

Yeah. You were. Yeah. You were. And now you're reigning still and thrown above all things.

Angels and saints cry, yeah. We join them as we sing glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God forever. We sing glory to God.

Glory to God. Glory to God forever. Creator God, you gave. Creator God, you gave me a breath so I could praise. You're great and matchless name on my days all my days to let my whole life be all blazing, all for me.

All I could shout, Satan sings, the greatness of our king. Glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God forever. We sing glory to God.

Glory to God. Glory to God forever forever

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Few announcements this morning. A couple of extras that I don't have slides for, but Monday nights at first b. What's happening, Carl?

We are on tomorrow. A meal, a music, and a message. It's comfort food, variety night from Sysco. We're gonna have macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets and vegetables, all the things you need and love. And that's just the

meal. Alright.

Then we get into the word. Yeah. And it's John 16, and Jesus promises the Holy Spirit. It's gonna be so good. You need to check it out.

How's that? Wow. Yeah. That's the that's emphatic, man. I love that.

I'll be there. Awana is happening at the same time in this room. So bring the kids. It's a big kids club. We start off in this room, and they spread all over the church.

Pour in scripture into their minds to reach their hearts. And to give them a foundation, you know, residual biblical knowledge is just not what it used to be. People don't just know the stories. Well, this is a place where we can tell those stories. Tell them over and over to the point where we actually know them and keep them hide them in our heart so that we can walk that path.

We've got a way for you to sign up for weekly emails. If you would, go to firstbjackson.org if you want to get those emails. You can sign up for them yourself. Nick handles all of that sort of stuff. That's Nick's Darren right there.

If you're having issues with the website or whatever, you can talk to him and he'll he'll coach you through it. Today, in between services, congregational meeting, it's normal business meeting for each year. We do it on the third Sunday each, January, and that's happening. All of that stuff is happening. Jim Reed is up for election as a member of the Board of Trustees and Financial Secretary.

Steve Landis is up for a three year term as an elder, and we have the financial review of last year and the budget approval for next year. That's the norm for the congregational meeting. If you'd like to, you're welcome to stick around. If you're a member, you like, you're welcome to vote. That's the way that goes.

Sisters saved by grace. This is a women's evening on Thursday evening Bible study. It win women's Bible study on Thursday evenings from six to eight. It's a light meal provided for that too. In the fellowship hall, that is a good little group of people.

It's really, really good. And that's a part of our women's ministry here. And right now, we are hopeful, to be kinda getting some ideas about women's ministry. What do we need to do? What's the direction we need to head?

So, next week, this is not on a slide but next week, between services, if you are interested in any way in women's ministry, would you please join with other interested ladies in the library downstairs, the library in the church basement from ten to whenever it lasts next week, brainstorming women's ministry. So Nancy, would you wave your hand back there? Nancy said this morning, she has she is the leading the Sisters Saved by Grace study. She said she said, I'm about as administrative as you are, Ray. I need help with this.

And I agree with her. If she's administrative as I am, she needs some people to kinda gather around and to help with that other part of women's ministry. So if you would gather next Sunday downstairs in the library at 10:00. Hey, look at this. This is not I I asked for this.

If you are wondering how to get your phone to notify you when First Bee is doing something, like if we're having a gospel conversation and we have it on YouTube, we moved from Facebook to YouTube, and a lot of people knew how to use it on Facebook, but they don't know how on YouTube. There's a little bell up in the corner. If you go to 1st B Jackson, you go up to that little bell and click that, it'll let you know when something's gonna be happening live here. Thank you, Nick. And he can explain that like I said.

I stand amazed. Would you all stand with me? Be amazed. How marvelous is God's love for us?

God, you say there is nothing that can separate us from your love. Thank you for that love. It's not that we loved you, but that you first loved us. Thank you. Thank you for your pursuit, God, of us.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

I dare not trust the sweetest free, but only trust in Jesus' name. Rise the cornerstone.

Thank you, God. You, Jesus, are the cornerstone of our faith. God, if it if it weren't for your righteousness, there would be no righteousness for us at all. So, God, we boast in you. We boast in your righteousness, your rightness, God, that you you did what we couldn't do.

You lived a perfect life. You died a sacrificial death in our place for our sin so that we could be reconciled. God, thank you for this absolute wonder, this gift that you give us. We think of that, we meditate on it, we're thankful for it. In Jesus' name, amen.

I searched the world. It couldn't fill me. Man's empty praise and treasures that fate. They're not enough. And then you came along I show you my weakness, my failures and flaws.

Lord, you've seen them all. You still call me friends. Because the nothing. Better than you, Lord. There's nothing.

Nothing is better than you. It's the turn. You turn moaning to dancing. You give beauty for our shoes. You turn shame into glory.

You're the only seas into our race. You're the only one new day. You're the only one new day. Oh, there's nothing

Amen. You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service. I'll invite the ushers to come on forward, and here's a good word from Psalm 92 here. And we're gonna sing it too.

I'd like to be able to read the scripture and sing the scripture. It just matches so well together from Psalm 92. It's good to give thanks to the Lord to sing praises to the most high. It's good to proclaim his unfailing love in the morning and his faithfulness in the evening. So I'd love to sing that.

Oh, you know what? Ray Ray usually prays, and I just was like,

man, I'm so excited to sing this song. It

is good to praise you, oh Lord, and to sing to you night and day. I thank you, lord. Let everyone of us who has breath in our lungs, praise the Lord you say that, lord. I know right now that for the last eighteen, nineteen, twenty months, there have been a lot of us who have felt what it's like to not have breath in our lungs. I know we've got several down right now, lord.

I pray that you'd restore that air into their lungs, that it reached the deepest fiber they're being and what comes out of their mouth praises to you. In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that we would be looking to you always, but we'd be thankful for the time that we have. We're thankful for the day that we have in front of us. Lord God, almighty. Thank you for the gift that is today.

I pray, Lord, that as we come to this time where we put some of our resources back into your hands, Lord, into your continuing body on earth. We want, Lord, so badly for your righteousness to be what drives everything that we do. And we also, Lord, want for your good and glorious word to go forward and accomplish what You set out for it to accomplish. May we be good stewards of these resources, Lord, but may we also just be looking for Your Kingdom of heaven in the now to extend to the very uttermost parts. Would you do your will among us this morning, Lord, in your way?

In Jesus' name, amen.

Oh, most high. It is good to praise you, Lord, and make music to your name, or more. It is good to praise you, Lord, Lord, and make music to your name, oh, most high, to proclaim, to proclaim your love in the morning and your tonight. Oh, sing for joy. Oh, oh, I sing for joy.

At the sound of your

Amen. And it's time. Children's Church downstairs. I haven't heard any announcements this morning about anything different than normal. As far as children's church goes.

So, I think that's free reign for everybody. How are you this morning? How's everybody? Good. That's good to hear.

So, we are continuing in the Sermon on the Mount. I think this is the third, maybe the fourth sermon, third sermon I think that we've done from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and we're up to Matthew six one through 24 but I'm skipping the Lord's prayer for today, okay? I'm skipping it for today. We have heard the Lord's prayer a lot of different times. Would you agree?

For me, the time that every time I hear the Lord's prayer, I think of a basketball huddle where we all stood, we lean into a basketball huddle. Guys that knew Jesus, didn't know Jesus, and I'm not sure but we had to do that before the game. It was a normal course of events right before the game. And if we forgot it, before the game, it was a sum. Oh, we're losing because we forgot to say the Lord's prayer.

So, in between the first and the second quarter somewhere, we had stopped and we'd say, get back in the huddle and say it during a timeout. So, I'm skipping that for today and I I think I've got a reason to do that and I hope I hope I do but we'll come back to it. Steve, did you have something? Steve, did you have something? No.

Okay. Right. Just making sure. He was raising his hand back there. He's already amenning.

Sorry. Take care not. This is take care not to practice your righteousness. Wow. If you stop right there, that sounds terrible, doesn't it?

Take care not to practice your righteousness. I stopped right there because I wanna the the verb for to practice right there is the same one that I have mentioned many many times in we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, made in Christ Jesus. Poema. Poema. It's that word.

Take care not to work it, to do it, to make it, to make your righteousness. Take care not to be creating your righteousness in the sight of people. Now I stopped right there, and you just go, wait a second. I was here last Sunday and I heard him preach and it said this. It said, your light must shine before people in such a way that they see your good works and glorify your father who's in heaven.

That sounds like a contradiction, does it not? To say, your light must shine before people. Well, these people, that your light, these are his disciples and he's saying, this is God's plan a. God's plan a is for his people to act out of his righteousness, and they will do that in a way that people will recognize that it's God doing this, and they'll glorify God, not you. So if we keep going, I've already stopped you twice in a precarious position.

To keep going, we'll say, take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people. Why? There's a wooden translation here. I I like to do a wooden translation every once in a while. This is straight up, straight from the Greek in the order it was written, not kinda made to finesse in English.

Okay? The first word is beware. Look out. Beware now. Beware.

Be careful about this. The righteousness of you, your righteousness. Now Carl prayed a minute ago or said a minute ago, and I I have said a lot of times that our righteousness, if we are to actually have righteousness, is derived righteousness. It's something that is God's that he is practicing through us, that he is flowing through us. But beware now, the righteousness of you, your righteousness, not to do it before men.

Don't do it before men. And then it goes to what's even more emphatically stated, in order to be seen by them. That's the whole that's the motivation. If your motivation you can give the same exact gift with a different motivation and one of them is a good thing, one of them is really not necessarily a good thing. Now the the the person who receives the gift might not mean anything different to them because $100 is a $100.

Right? But if it's given with the right motivation, it makes a difference. So let's get back to it. Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people to be noticed by them. That's an improper motivation, but it is very much a worldly motivation.

There are plaques all over things, all over the world that people want to be remembered for having given a gift. There are huge statements of this person did this all the way back to, you know, Isomandias. Everybody. Everybody throughout the ages, it's a very worldly thing in every thing, in every culture. And I said last week, and I'll say again and again, that Christ's message is countercultural to every culture, every worldly culture.

And I had somebody text me during the week this week and said, even church culture, in a lot of cases, church culture is challenged especially by the Sermon on the Mount. He gets down to brass tacks, no doubt. Take care not to practice your righteousness or the righteousness of you in the sight of people to be noticed by them. That's an improper motivation. Otherwise, you have no reward with your father who's in heaven.

I'm not gonna get into rewards theology right now either. I think that the reward I think that the reward in heaven is to be with God, to be fully conscious of his goodness and to be glorified and to be able to understand him fully. I think that's absolutely a reward. Take care not to practice your righteousness inside of people to be noticed by them. Otherwise, you have no reward, your father who's in heaven.

So when you give to the poor this is also something I like. So when you give to the poor, it doesn't say if. It is presupposed that disciples, that's who he's speaking to, it's presupposed that disciples will be generous towards the poor. So when you give to the poor, do not sound trumpet before you, make a big deal about it, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues. That's the place of assembly.

That's church, basically, for them. As as don't sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites, those play actors are doing in the synagogues and on the streets, don't make a big deal about it like they do. Don't sound a trumpet. There are lots of folks who have tried to find a place where literally there was a trumpet sound whenever something was given, And there is some historical evidence for a trumpet sound blown when it's time to give alms, but I think that he's just saying don't make a big deal out of it. Don't don't ring a bell every time you do something good to draw attention to yourself So that they will be praised by people.

This is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets. They do it. Why? This is their motivation. So that they will be praised by the people.

And I I like this word too. So doxazo is to glorify. Doxazo. And this is the I'll do it again. Aorist, subjective, passive, third person plural.

So that is they, hypocrites, do this so that they might be glorified, praised. Actually, the word is to render or esteem as glorious, to be shown to be wonderful in a wide application, to be glorified, to be honored, to have glory bestowed upon, so that they might be praised. That is the improper motivation. But the gift still gets given. People perhaps still benefited, so that's I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but it's just a bad motivation.

So for disciples, he's saying, if you do it to be seen by men, you've already got the reward. You've already got the dopamine response you wanted from the applause or from the praise. Truly, I say to you though, they have their reward in full. There's nothing that goes forward from there. But when you give to the poor, again again, it is presupposed that disciples will be caring for the poor.

It's not something where it's an if or if it's your gift. If generosity is your gift, then you should give. No, it's when you are given, all of y'all. When you're given to the poor, you, disciples, when you are given to the poor, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your charitable giving will be in secret. I know the tax code goes against this.

Jesus is saying, Do it as a matter of course. Don't think too long about it. Go with the gut leading of the Holy Spirit. Give to the poor. If you have the resources to be able and you see a need and you can meet it, do that.

Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your charitable giving will be in secret. And your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. You know, there's a saying about character. Character is what you do when nobody's watching. Well, God's always watching, but character is what you do when nobody's watching, nobody, no people.

You're not gonna get a pat on the back, you're not gonna get any applause, and so your father who sees in secret will reward you. He'll do that. You have to trust that that's true. Sometimes it feels like, I've just been doing this for so long and nobody's ever noticed, but God only knows. Right?

God is the one who does know. And if we are doing it out of his righteousness, that's reward enough in itself. But he is watching and he will do the rewarding. And when you pray, again, the when there in English. It's presupposed that disciples will pray.

And when you pray, when you pray, you're not to be like the hypocrites. I talk to people and they say, what, you know, what's what's your beef with the church? What's the deal? It's all hypocrites. That's one of the first things.

Well, that was Jesus' beef too. Right? He preaches against it. We try to live a life that is free from hypocrisy, and it's not easy to do in the world. When you pray, you're not to be like the hypocrites, those play actors, for they love to stand up and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people.

When we were down in Mexico, we had work teams come in to build a school for the deaf. That's what we were doing for seven years down there. And when we would have people come in, we had people from all walks of life. We had some people that were construction folks that that knew what they were doing. They're really helpful with the building.

We had some preachers. We had some desk jockey type people, office people that didn't really know what they're doing, but they just wanted to tie rebar, you know, that sort of thing. So we had all kinds of different types of people, but we also had all maturities of Christians. So we had some seasoned seasoned people, and we had other people that got saved last week, you know. They had walked the aisle in some little church somewhere.

And they they said, yeah, I'll go. And they get down there, and they just got a fresh reading in the New Testament. And then in the morning, when we're about to start the work day, I'd say, alright, who wants to pray for the kids? Who wants to pray for safety on the work site? Who wants to pray for this?

Who wants to pray for that? We have five things we pray for every morning. And people would raise their hands. People who've been in church, you know, had all raised their hands. And then we're doing that one morning and a guy raises his hand, and he says, why is it that we're doing this out here in front of everybody?

And I went, oh, that's a good way to start the day. We it's what we always do. And he goes, but didn't Jesus tell us to do this, like, in in quiet and in secret? Do do we have to do it? I was like, no.

You don't have to do it. And for me, the hardest no. Maybe it's not the hardest part of my job. But one of the things that I'm most humbled by is when it's time to pray. When Carl looks over at me like he almost skipped a day.

And he says, you pray in front of this whole room full of people because you have to you have to really work at not doing it to be seen by men. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Lord God, I hope that that's not why we have why we do it, to be recognized. Truly, I say to you that they have their reward in full. They've gotten what they wanted by being noticed by people.

That's the same exact phrase as truly I say to you, they have their reward in full about the people who are giving to be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full and then there's a but. But as for you, disciples, you when you, disciples, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and and pray to your father who's in secret. And your father who sees what is done in secret, he'll reward you. There are some decisions that we have to make day to day to day to day to day that nobody will ever know we even were struggling with.

But God does know and he does answer. He does pay attention. He's listening all the time. As for you, when you pray, trust God. Trust I I I've heard this before.

So being on the mission field for a long time, there there are mailbox moments. Everybody talks about mailbox moments where you're destitute, you got a bill, you can't pay, and then all of a sudden in the mail shows up a check, and it's the same exact amount that you need. And I think most of us probably have experienced that at some point where God provided that through whatever. But it's a temptation when you're in that group prayer to say, Lord, if only we had a piano tuner. Oh, Lord, if we only had a piano tuner, we could get that piano tuned.

It'd be wonderful. It's about $445, Lord. That's the temptation when you're up and we don't need a piano tuner. I'm just I'm just using it as an example. To let go of it.

I I go to I go to fairly great lengths. I know what is given, and we're having a business meeting today. I know the amounts, but I don't know who gave what. I'm thankful for all of you for whatever you give. But I I try not to because it's a real worldly temptation to know where the money is coming from and who to lean towards.

Right? I'm I'm saying that all of us need to be leaning towards God who's leaning towards us. He's wanting to provide the needs. Do what you do quietly without ringing a bell and paying attention to him in a solitary moment, and he will reward you. He'll he will he listens and responds to prayers.

And when you're praying, oh, this is good too. I like the verb tense change there. So when you pray, it's presupposed that you will pray, but this is presupposed that you will be praying. Like, it's an active thing. It's an active thing, but it's a continual thing.

When you are praying, don't use thoughtless repetition as the Gentiles do. Dare I say, that's what we were doing with the Lord's Prayer and all those basketball games. Don't use thoughtless repetition as the Gentiles do. The Gentiles. Gentiles, whenever you see the word Gentiles, it's almost always some version of ethnos or ethnicoi.

Ethnicoi is a plural, but pagan, heathen, gentile. It's anybody that's not Jewish. It's all of the nations, everyone else, every other family on earth that is not descended from Abraham through Isaac. Gentile, heathen. It usually refers to non Israelites or a pagan, a non covenant person, someone who's standing outside of God's covenant salvation.

That's don't do it like the rest of the world. The rest of the world, this says, think that they're gonna be heard because of their many words. I've been a lot of different places and in in, you know, temples and other places where people are constantly standing and making some motion or spinning something and saying things over and over and over and over again to get to an enlightened state. Perhaps that's what they think they're doing, but they're also thinking that they're having some sway on the cosmos because of their many words, their devotion. That is righteousness of you.

That's something that's bound up in the heart of man, and it is not righteousness derived from God. I had a friend that said the best praying I ever did was when I fell in a well. God help me was this only prayer, and he did. He got out of the well. I think they'll be heard because there are many words.

We're thankful is a great blessing. We're thankful. Thank you, God, that you provided this meal. We're thankful. It doesn't have to be elaborate.

It does need to be sincere. It does need to be an acknowledgment. Actually, let me go forward. So do not be like them. Don't be like those pagan heathens, the nations, everybody else.

Don't be worldly in feeling like you can muster up some change in the universe in God because of the way you repeat things just right. Holding your posture just right, saying just the right things in just the right order, that is not a prayer. That is a spell. Don't be like them, for your father knows what you need. God, if he is your father, he knows what you need.

He knows what you need if he's not. For your father knows what you need, and it goes on. Actually, this is seven. I'm skipping the I'm skipping so right here, there's another part of that verse. I don't see it, Blake.

I don't know what happened to the slide. It got zapped. But for your father knows what you need before you ask, it says. And really prayer is an acknowledgment of God. It's an acknowledgment that he knows what you need, and it's an acknowledgment that you need, and he's the only one who can provide it.

It's alright. We'll skip right through it. So we skipped over the Lord's Prayer right there, and I'm doing it. I'll come back to it. I think it's beautiful, but I think it's a model prayer not to be copied exactly just because.

With the proper heart and proper motivation, I'm sure it's fine. But I had somebody one time this is funny too. I got a I got a car stuck pulling somebody out of a ditch. I'm not ringing a bell about it. I just did.

You know, I got stuck, and I was it was a mile and a half down a forest road. It was a long it's two days before Christmas a few years back. My wife couldn't get in touch with me because I was out of phone service, and I was stuck pretty bad. Ended up having to walk back to the highway, hitch a ride back with a guy who's a member of this church. It was ugly.

Called somebody else who had a tractor, somebody else who had a snowmobile. We all went back the next day. Carl Carl went back too, and we're pulling Tanya's Jeep, which is what I got stuck, and the other car, which was a rental car. Oh my goodness. And as we're pulling it out, we get hooked up to the tractor and a fellow who's been a member here his whole life, pretty much, he said, now that I've got both of my pastors here in kind of a compromised position, he had the chain hooked to the car but wasn't going to pull it out until I answered the question.

Why don't we say the Lord's prayer every Sunday all the time anymore? And I didn't really want to go into the theology of why not to. I said, we'll say it twice next Sunday. And he pulled us out and we made it. Everything's fine.

That's absolutely true story. Will get back to the Lord's Prayer. We'll come back to it. So whenever you fast oh, this is a good one too. Whenever it is that you fast.

It's a little different phraseology, but it is out there that this is something that disciples will do. Now he didn't go into exactly how to fast, but he says how not to. When you fast, don't make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do. Don't make a big deal about it. Have y'all and I'm not you might have done it out.

I don't know. You see people that are going off of social media and they let you know on every platform right before they do it? Don't make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do. Don't let it show. If you're fast and it's about something that you're really broken over and you want to be tuned in to what God is asking, what he's wanting, you want to listen.

And I don't know why that helps, but in several places it says it helps. So it's not for ascetic practice to starve yourself, but it is to get in tune with God. Do not make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do. Oh, Blake. We're all over the place.

Can you look and see what the what's going on? What are you looking for? I'm looking for the next verse or the same verse, actually. Six sixteen. Anybody got a Bible?

I'll just read it straight. Do not make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do. Okay. Cool. You got one right there.

You very much. I use big print on the screen because I can't see anything anymore.

All

right. He's got it? Thank you. Whenever you fast, don't put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly, I say to you that they have their reward in full.

Same exact statement as before. Don't make a big deal about it in front of other people when you are trying to discern what it is that God wants for you. When you're fasting, truly I say to you that they have the reward in full. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but it will be noticed by your father who's in secret. And your father who sees what's done in secret will reward you.

These are matters of the heart that I used to put up a lot, this little video of a little girl in her car seat, and it's just you worry about yourself. Right? You worry about yourself. You, in relationship to your heavenly father, have a direct relationship with him and try to have that be what is first and foremost. And then what people see, they see, but don't make a deal about being seen.

Right there, it goes into do not store up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, and actually the the for yourself. Do not store up for yourself treasures in heaven. Every asset that a disciple has should be available for use at the direction of the Holy Spirit. And I I know a lot of y'all feel that way and I know a lot of you have told me that and I believe you. Do not store up for yourselves if God has given you earthly possessions.

They are to be used as you understand and see fit for the kingdom of God. I don't go into this very much at all. It's just stuff all over the place. Where's it going, Blake? Alright.

When you fast when you fast, here we are. Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, thieves break in and steal. But otherwise, but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So there's a there's a little difference there.

For where your heart is is a present tense. It's active and indicative. Present, active, indicative. Where your heart is right now. Where your heart is.

Where your sorry. Where your treasure is. Where your treasure is. Where you are investing. Where your treasure is, that's where your heart is going to be.

Does that make sense? If you are investing in the kingdom of heaven, then that's where your heart is going to be. It it one leads the other, I guess is the way to put it. The next verses right here is 22 up there, Blake? Alright.

The eye is the lamp of the body. This is one that's so esoteric and psychedelic that whenever I would read it, I'd go, I don't know what that means. The eye is the lamp of the body. Okay. I I don't think of an eye as being a lamp because it doesn't cast light that way.

But it's the opposite of that. It takes in light and through the lens that is your eye, and the word there is ophthalmos. Ophthalmos is where we get ophthalmic or ophthalmologist, all that. It means the eye or figuratively the mind's eye. You could say the lens.

If the lens is clear and good, then that's good. Actually, the eye literally or figuratively, by implication, your vision, your sight. It's used one time in the NSV as a, to mean envy or jealousy, where you're given the sad glance to something somebody else has. Right? So the eye is the lamp of the body.

So if your eye is clear, if your lenses or your sight, if what you're seeing is clear, then your whole body is gonna be full of light. That eye is gonna let in the light that truly exists. But this is just oh, boy. Here we go. I rely on that a whole lot, it turns out.

If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. I want you to think about that. If you're considering this to be figurative, and I think it's figurative, especially based on what comes before and after that. It right before it is lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, not on earth, because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also the eyes of the lamp of the body. That's what it says.

It's figurative. The eyes of the lamp of the body. If your eye is clear, whole body is full of light. If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. And if that light that is in you is actually darkness, how great is that darkness?

What if your lenses are more cultural than they are Christian? That is a bad kind of darkness because you have cast over the darkness, you think that it's light. And how dark is that? When you think you think that you are walking the light, but what you're really doing is walking in darkness. How great is that darkness?

That's terrible. That's a state of affairs I think all of us can recognize in other people, but we can't recognize it very easily in ourselves, and this is a you worry about yourself kind of passage. Be careful about the lenses. I've been saying, maybe this is a good illustration here. Like these lenses right now have have they've been used, you know.

They're not nearly as good as they used to be. I put these lenses on, it brings things into a sharper perspective. I really think that we should be asking like the songs say, give me your eyes. Give me your eyes, Lord. I wanna see exactly as you see.

I don't want for it to be tainted by my cultural background. I don't want to be tainted by my historical background. I don't want for it to be something that I keep on tripping over all the time. I wanna see things as they are. The the eye is the lamp of the body.

The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, your eye is good. Your whole body will be full of light. If we're seeing things clearly, Lord, what we'll see is your light. But if our eye is bad, our whole body will be full of darkness.

If therefore the light that's in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? No one can serve two masters. That's the very next thing. And masters there is masters, like slave masters. No one can serve two slave owners' masters.

Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be devoted to one and he'll despise the other. You cannot serve both God and wealth. So I know that a lot of times we try to take masters and we say, that's your boss. You know, there's masters. That's your boss these days.

We don't have slavery these days, so master means boss, and we kinda take a little bit of the emphasis or the the of the hit off of it. No one can serve two slave owners. You are going to be a slave to something, and you can't be a slave to both things because I'm gonna read something for you. I thought this was well put. And it's on a page, so maybe I'll be maybe I'll find it.

A man may work for two employers. That's true. A lot of us in this economy, a lot of people have two or three jobs. They have gig kind of work where they work for a little bit and then come off of it. They're not expected to be absolutely loyal to both places.

They're expected to be there while they're there, get paid by the hour, get paid by the job. You don't get paid just to be. You don't get fed or have your needs met just because. No one can serve two masters. A man may work for two employers, but single ownership and full time service is the very essence of slavery.

He cannot therefore serve two slave owners either. God is served with a single eyed devotion or he's not served at all. Attempts to do at divided loyalty only betray. It's not partial commitment to discipleship, but a deep seated commitment to idolatry. Did that make sense to y'all?

You can read it afterwards if I didn't make sense with it. You can't serve two masters, disciples, so decide which one is it that you're gonna serve. If God has given you wealth, then he means for you to use it as he directs you. I'm not saying to give to first b. Please don't hear it that way.

He is saying, I've given you this to be available for kingdom work, whatever that is. I don't know what's coming up on those slides. It's over. It's over. Thank you, Lord, that it's over.

God almighty, I thank you that you call us into direct relationship, a direct accounting relationship, that you don't have a hierarchy that's built around each and every one of your disciples. Christ Jesus is our head. By your spirit, you let us know. And Lord, we it is possible for us to walk in righteousness derived from you by your spirit, by your son's sacrificial death, and it is possible for us to walk forward, Lord, in harmony with you, practicing not our righteousness but your righteousness in such a way that people will glorify you, but not because we did it to be seen. Lord God, that is a fine, fine line.

It is a narrow path that you're asking for us to walk, and I thank, Lord, that you are the way that we can walk it. I I pray sincerely. God help me. Keep me on the path. In Jesus' name, amen.

Would you stand with us?

Of God. Yes. I am. Free at last he has ransomed me. His grace runs deep.

Well, how was our stealthy's Jesus died for? Yes, he died for me. I'm a child of God. Yes. Am.

I am chosen, not I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I am.

Chosen, not forsaken.

I am who you say I am. I'm right for me not against me. I am who you say I am. I am who you say I am. Whom the sun sets free, always free indeed.

I'm a child of God. Yes, I am. In my father's house, my father's house, there's a place for me. I'm a child of God. Yes.

I

Amen. In Matthew 11, Jesus says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I'm gentle and I'm humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. Amen. Lord, may we do that.

Amen. Amen and there is a covenant ceremony. Is that what you're saying?

Maybe about a

Bible reading plan? I do have another announcement and we have a business meeting right after this. So, there's a Bible reading plan that is coming up. This is the way that we are hoping to go forward and get a congregation into God's word daily. So, we're hoping to have 20 people, 20 people, 20 of you that would write about one chapter and you'll know your assignment ahead of time.

You'll have a chance to study. You'll have a chance to think about it and pray about it in your prayer closet. You'll get a chance. If you would, it's gonna be kinda like this, an introduction. Hey, I'm so and so.

You may not know me yet. This is who I am. This is the chapter that we're gonna read. Here are a few thoughts about it and an application question down at the bottom. We're gonna try to do that in your inbox, in every weekday morning, but we'd like to have about 20 people that kinda cycle through.

So you have to write about once a month. Most of the elders have already said they would. So there are 10 of us. Most of us have already said that we would, and we have about 10 or 11 spots open. If you'd like to be a part of that, we would love to.

Brad, back there, would you wave your hand? So Brad Yates has volunteered to help do the administration part of that where if you'll send it to him, he'll put it in the same format and get it to the people. Okay? And we're looking for this to be kind of a rallying place where we can get in the word together, study it for ourselves. Carl always says, my favorite book of the Bible is the one I'm studying right now.

And if you all get on the same page literally, it really helps you get on the same page metaphorically. So, we would love that. Brad's back there in the back. You can talk to him. If you want to, you can talk to me.

Let the church office know. Let Nick know and that'd be good but that's it. The blessing is, God, thank you. In Jesus name, would you work in and through us this week as we go. Amen.

And if y'all want to stay for the business meeting, you're already in it. If you don't, skedaddle. You can head down the hall and get some muffins and coffee.