VANTAGE POINT: MATTHEW

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1 INTRODUCTION: We are continuing with the Sermon on the Mount Remember, this isn t a set of rules or a standard to live up to This is a picture of what true Jesus people look like that is a community of people who are surrendered to Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit to live in fellowship and communion with God the Father Towards the end of Chapter 5, Jesus is specifically addressing the righteousness taught by the Pharisees Something you will notice in Chapter 5 is Jesus will say you have heard that it was said and then responds by saying but I say Jesus isn t being arrogant or disrespectful but Jesus is correcting the wrong view of God that the Pharisees have presented to the people We continue in Chapter 6 with giving Matthew 6:1 4 (NKJV) 6 Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. When the Pharisees wanted to give something to the poor, they would go down to a busy street corner in Jerusalem and blow a trumpet On the surface, it looked innocent they were simply calling the poor and needy to come and receive gifts But the way they did it brought attention to themselves I had someone give me a large check, but instead of dropping it quietly in the offering they made it a point for me to know that it was coming from them to bless me. I personally don t want to know how much someone gives because I don t want it to influence me. So I told this person, you re not giving this to me, you re giving it to the church. People think when they give to the church that they are giving to me or they are giving to some cause or a project.

2 They aren t giving to the Lord, they are giving so they can point at something and say hey I did that not look at what the Lord did There s a lot of giving in the church that isn t for God at all When Jesus People give, it s to bring attention to Jesus only Next Jesus teaches on prayer Matthew 6:5 7 (NKJV) 5 And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Notice the key phrase that they may be seen by men Jesus is not saying that it s wrong to pray standing or that it s wrong to pray in public What Jesus is addressing is the motive of the heart to be seen by men When I see a person who is more interested in being on a stage than in a prayer meeting I wonder why that person wants to do ministry Pastor Chuck always noticed what pastors came out to the 7 am prayer meetings at Calvary Chapel Most people don t know this, but the real secret of Calvary Chapel wasn t the gifted teachers or the hip worship Pastor Chuck always believed the real power was in the prayer meetings Jesus then addresses how they pray not like the heathens who just repeat a phrase over and over The Eastern Religions say the same phrase over and over again until it puts them into an altered state of consciousness Their goal is to empty their thoughts But God doesn t want us to empty our thoughts, He was us to fill our minds with His Word, to meditate on His Word and for our prayers to be the overflow of His Word prayer is intelligent So Jesus teaches us how to pray Matthew 6:8 15 (NKJV)

3 8 Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and 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 do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. I want you to notice a key phrase your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him so why do we need to ask? I think the deeper question is why do you pray? For most, prayer is mostly for the communication of information or to say it bluntly, a technique to get things from God But Jesus was teaching the disciples to relate to God based on Sonship with the Father and so they begin by saying Our Father If you miss the first two words of this prayer you miss the entire prayer Jesus is saying that real Jesus people are God s sons and daughters That is the basis of our relationship with God the Father He is our Abba our Daddy that s what a son or a daughter calls their dad Next we move into worship o There is no other name like Your name o There is no other Kingdom like Your Kingdom o There is no other Will like Your Will o Let it be all about You Finally we move into our requests after we acknowledge our Sonship with the Father, after we worship Him then we ask o Meet our needs for today because we depend on You o Forgive the sins we will do today in the same we forgive others because You have forgiven us o Fight our battles today because you alone have the power o Because you alone have the power, you alone deserve the glory o I think it s important for us to note that Jesus broke down our needs into these 3 categories these are the 3 areas that matter Then Matthew goes back to the issue of forgiveness

4 The fact that Matthew goes back to this area of forgiveness shows how important it is to Jesus so much so that Jesus says that only the forgiving will be forgiven Why? Because the forgiveness of sins is at the heart of His mission So how does this message of conditional forgiveness tie into the unconditional message of grace? Again, in order to understand what Jesus is saying we have to remember that He is describing what true Jesus people look like The natural overflow of a person who has received God s forgiveness is a willingness to forgive they are free from condemnation But a person who is unwilling to forgive is one who has not received the gift of no condemnation so they do not experience forgiveness They are self-condemned and so they continue to condemn others Next Jesus addresses fasting often practiced while praying Matthew 6:16 18 (NKJV) 16 Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. The Pharisees used fasting as a way to impress others with the extent of their religious devotion and it occurred on 2 levels First, the person fasting was impressed with themselves they really believed they were more devoted because they fasted Second, the person fasting was seeking to impress others they put on a sad face so people would see them suffering But Jesus says, when you re fasting don t let anyone know, take a bath, get dressed up and do all your praying in secret so no one knows you re fasting and God will reward you openly Real Jesus people fast for one reason only. Relationship with the Lord He s the only One that matters so attention from others isn t needed Next Jesus hits us where it really hurts in our wallets Matthew 6:19 21 (NKJV) 19 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves

5 treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. This is a spiritual principle for Jesus people We invest in what we love Jesus says invest in heavenly things, not earthly things because earthly things don t last heavenly things do What is eternal? People are eternal invest in developing people How do we know we love something? Does it catch your eye? Matthew 6:22 23 (NKJV) 22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Here s second spiritual principle You love what you look at and what you look at will fill your whole body with light or darkness The word good means whole or healthy The word bad means unsound or evil So here s how this principle works if you re filled with unsoundness, darkness change your focus and start focusing on things that bring health or wholeness to you which of course is Jesus It s that simple and I just saved you thousands of dollars in therapy Jesus gives one more spiritual principle and then applies them Matthew 6:24 (NKJV) 24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is the demon of excess, not the demon of money or wealth God isn t against you having money or wealth God is against you bowing down to a demonic power Mammon demands that its worshippers strive toward excess, surplus, extravagance, to exceed the limits, to go for too much, too big, too fast

6 The word mammon originally came from the Chaldeans where Abraham came from and the root word for mammon means confidence and the drive for excess breeds a false sense of confidence Those who have an excess of wealth and power often believe they can do and say anything without consequences they are the law makers They do not acknowledge God s law, but invent their own That is the problem with serving mammon So Jesus says you can t serve 2 masters this is the spiritual principle It can be any 2 masters, but you can t serve them both You will love one and resent the other and then He applies is specifically to serving mammon With these 3 principles in mind Matthew 6:25 34 (NKJV) 25 Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Here Jesus reveals the heart of the problem worry Worry is the enemy of faith because it is rooted in the belief that God does not care for His own Because God won t care for me, I have to care for myself and this lie that stems from unbelief opens us up to being ruled by demonic powers

7 Then Jesus gives the solution for worry seek first God s Kingdom and God s righteousness and everything you re worrying about will be handled Simple make God s Kingdom the focus of your life Live according to His righteousness, not self-righteousness which is rooted in a lie of unbelief that says you can be good enough without God God will take care of you In Chapter 7 Jesus shifts away from matters of the heart to matters of relationship Matthew 7:1 6 (NKJV) 7 Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, Let me remove the speck from your eye ; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother s eye. 6 Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. This is a principle of relationship that separates Jesus people from the world that of not judging This is confusing, because does this mean that we don t make judgments? Doesn t wisdom require that you make decisions that require wise judgment? Some would say a nation suffers from poor judgments so what does it mean that we are not to judge? Jesus is NOT saying that we are not to make wise decisions or judgments What He is saying is that we are not to judge so what are we to do? We are to talk with each other, relate to each other and understand each other this requires relationship. Sometimes we don t know why someone does something so rather than judge them we need to talk with them first to understand their perspective But another key is to understand why I am so bothered by something that someone does Take the log out of my eye first so I can see them properly

8 (Vs. 6) is an interesting verse that doesn t seem to make sense in the context Jesus is speaking but it actually does The Pharisees where quick to judge based on the law There are many Christians who are quick to judge based on what they believe the Bible says I know of a local church where a couple went in for counseling and the pastor responded by saying bro you re out of line with God s Word and you need to get right with God. What he said was technically true, but he never took the time to hear both sides of the issue so he hammered down the law. The guy got up, decided God s way isn t for him and divorced his wife. I believe if the pastor would listened to the guy with compassion the marriage could have been saved but he was a legalist and the law kills. Jesus says don t give what s holy to dogs or cast pearls before swine because they will just walk all over what God says because they aren t ready to hear it. In fact, they ll turn against you so when I counsel I don t judge I let the Holy Spirit judge Next, Jesus talks about how we are to relate to the world Matthew 7:7 11 (NKJV) 7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! What does this have to do with relating to the world? Jesus instructs His Jesus People to not ask for anything from the world We are to ask God for our needs to be met I don t turn to the world to meet my needs, I turn to God (Vs. 9) Jesus addresses why we don t turn to God because we don t believe He will take care of us so we turn to what we see the world When you take this to it s ultimate conclusion man is evil in comparison to God and yet we know how to give good things to our kids How much more will God give good things to us

9 When it comes to the world, we are bless not to beg Matthew 7:12 (NKJV) 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Jesus explains the intent of the Law and the Prophets justice Justice is you treat me the way you want me to treat you that s just Grace goes beyond, but the law is all about fairness and justice Matthew 7:13 14 (NKJV) 13 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. One of the ways this is often taught is Jesus gives you a choice narrow gate or broad gate choose wisely But that is not what Jesus is saying He is describing how Jesus people relate to the world He describes the way in terms of a funnel You can enter in the wide end, but it keeps narrowing down until you come to death, destruction and hell That s the way of the world everyone is welcome love wins But Jesus said the way in is narrow I am the Way and no one comes to the Father but through me And as you walk with Jesus, the way gets wider, more abundant, more full of life it gets better every day That s the difference between the Jesus Way and the World s Way Matthew 7:15 20 (NKJV) 15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

10 Israel was warned against false prophets and Jesus people are warned against false teachers and this is the confusing part Both types of people look like sheep on the outside the difference is what s on the inside Jesus uses 2 word pictures ravenous wolves and bad fruit Ravenous wolves take advantage of and feed off of their prey Bad fruit makes you sick A ravenous wolf will take a ministry and make it about themselves, their career, their radio ministry, their worldwide influence, their gift see what I m doing for the Lord and how you can pay for my jet plane so I can pray as I m flying to the various places where God is using me I can t get myself ready to minister if I m flying in coach When you look at the people under a person s ministry are they getting healthier and more liberated to serve the Lord or are they getting sucked in to supporting the man of God as He serves the Lord that s bad fruit A good shepherd equips the people so they can do the ministry and that s what we re about at Calvary Chapel Matthew 7:21 23 (NKJV) 21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? 23 And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! The key word in this passage is lawlessness Jesus is making the distinction between those who are surrendered to the will of God and those who believe they are above the law It s unnerving to think that a pastor can stand in a pulpit and say Lord, Lord and yet live their life as if they are above the law Their desires, vision, whatever you call it is a law unto themselves and they could care less how their actions affect the Body of Christ They can even do things that appear holy, even spiritually powerful. Prophesying in Jesus name, casting out demons, performing miracles And yet they lacked the most important thing relationship with Jesus Even their relationship with Jesus was only a means of getting people to support their own personal efforts Jesus will say I never knew you

11 Matthew 7:24 27 (NKJV) 24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall. Jesus is exposing the difference between those who are true Jesus people and those who are not True Jesus people build the foundation of their life on Jesus, those who are not build the foundation of their life on the sand of human effort and goodness The test comes not in the good times, but in the storms of life Jesus people turn to Jesus during the storms and they make it through The ones that aren t their faith falls apart and they fall away Bottom line, that s when you know what you really believe when what you believe is tested that s called a trial And in every storm there is one of two outcomes there are storms of correction and storms of direction Storms that expose and area of unbelief that needs to be addressed and storms that move you into a new course that you wouldn t have considered otherwise both are tests of faith Until your faith is tested, it s just a theory But when it s tested, you get to see what is built on Jesus and what is built on your own self effort Matthew 7:28 29 (NKJV) 28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Notice the difference between what Jesus said versus the scribes The scribes would quote other more respected teachers, commentaries, the Talmud Jesus simply taught God s Word with the original intent that God gave it with love, compassion, mercy and grace