Authority

And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. – Matthew 7.28-29

When Jesus was done speaking and sat down we read that the people were ‘blown away’ by His teaching. He was nothing like the scribes who they had heard before. He spoke with full authority.

I love that image. I can’t imagine anyone will ever preach like Jesus, but we can be assured that we can preach with the same authority. The only way we can have that authority though is if we preach only the word of God. It has its own authority. It was God-breathed though the Holy Spirit and it is alive a powerful. When I preach on my own authority or wisdom I am doomed to fail.

But when we stand in the pulpit or sit at the table over a cup of tea or gather in the sitting room or in the break room at work and clearly proclaim the word of God it comes with all the authority that Christ had. I don’t need to make apology for it. I don’t need to feel bad. I am not preaching on Roger’s authority, but in Christ’s full authority.

The wise man and the foolish man

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. – Matthew 7.24-27

(Mat 7:24-27)

Here is yet another passage of scripture which has become part of children’s work culture. It is as popular with kids now as it was 40 or so years ago when we first started working with children.

Here it is for any who may not know it:

The wise man built his house upon the rock

The wise man built his house upon the rock

The wise man built his house upon the rock

And the rain came tumbling down

Oh, the rain came down

And the floods came up

The rain came down

And the floods came up

The rain came down

And the floods came up

And the house on the rock stood firm.

The foolish man built his house upon the sand

The foolish man built his house upon the sand

The foolish man built his house upon the sand

And the rain came tumbling down

Oh, the rain came down

And the floods came up

The rain came down

And the floods came up

The rain came down

And the floods came up

And the house on the sand went "splat!" [clap hands once]

So, build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ

Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ

Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ

And the blessings will come down

Oh, the blessings will come down

As your prayers go up

The blessings will come down

As your prayers go up

The blessings will come down

As your prayer go up

So build your house on the Lord

This children’s son, like so many of those songs, has a great eternal message. The wise man built his life on the one Great Foundation, the Rock, and that Rock is Jesus Christ. There is no other foundation that has eternal benefit. It is the foundation that will stand no matter how bad the storm.

The other option is the foolish man’s choice. It is okay, but when the storm comes the foundation will wash away and everything will collapse. All the stuff we build our lives on today will pass away.

There is no other foundation that can be laid than that which is laid in Christ.

So ‘build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ.’

Not everyone

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.  – Matthew 7.21-23

A lot of us have grown up in cultures that we might well call Christendom. The US and much of Europe, especially Western Europe, have lived in societies that are culturally Christian. If you asked people, even in recent history, if they were Christians most would have answered ‘of course. I am not a pagan.’

It has been kind of nice because Christendom tends to be kind to Christians. It tends to have laws which are at least friendly and maybe ever supportive of Christian values and morals. The laws of Christendom are very often based on Bible teachings.

The problem with Christendom is that many people think that because they are part of a ‘Christian culture’ they must surely be Christian. If their family is ‘Christian’ they must be too.

Jesus says here that there are many who are going say ‘Lord, Lord, have we not done many good works in Your name?’ and are only going to hear ‘depart from Me.’

Only those who ‘do the will of God’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. Doing the will of God starts with accepting God’s free gift of salvation. Salvation does not come by osmosis. God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son that whoever puts their faith in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

Those who are trusting in Christendom instead of Christ will one day here those fateful words ‘depart from me.’

Beware

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. – Matthew 7.15-20

False teachers and false prophets have been a major problem since the very beginning. We might even say that false teaching started it all when subtle Satan caused Eve to doubt God’s word and fall into sin. The word of God is full of false teachers. While Moses was receiving the Law false teachers led the nation to make a golden idol. Some Jewish leaders kept adding man’s traditions to the Law imposing burdens on the people that God never intended. The prophets of Baal drew many to forsake the Lord. The Gnostics and the grace robbers were rampant in the early church.

False teachers have harried the church all though church history. They often have been wolves in sheep’s clothing looking good, but with the goal of destroying God’s work.

We are still living in a day that abounds with false teachers. Our defence against them is to examine their teachings in the light of God’s word and to see the kind of fruit they bear.

The key thing for us to do is to be Bereans. Every time we hear or read teachers lets us ‘examine the scriptures to see if these things are true.’ The Bible is the one standard that we can compare all teachers and all teaching to. If they can’t stand up to that standard then we must reject their message. That is why we need to be studied and prepared and ready to compare teachings to the Bible. In order to compare teachers and their teaching we need to know our Bibles.

Don’t be fooled. Don’t be deceived. Check our teachers with the word of God and examine their fruit to see if it is godly.

Two ways

"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. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.  – Matthew 7.13-14

From the very start of time life has been a story of choices. Eve could eat from the tree or not eat from the tree. Cain could have loved Able or hated him. Joshua and his family could have chosen God or pagan gods. Elijah challenged the people to choose God or Baal. Jesus had just talked about serving God or stuff.

But here we have the most important choice of all. This choice results in either life or destruction. The choice is made difficult because one choice is through a broad gate with an easy path and the other is a narrow gate leading to a rough path.

There is a choice for life.

Sadly most of the world would rather just go through the broad gate, down the easy path, and not think about the destruction at the end of the road. It all looks so easy and, really, no one likes to deal with bad news so they would just rather not think about it.

But there is a tight and narrow gate as well as the broad and easy one. This one is fraught with trials and hardships and difficulties. The gate is such that few find it. This is the gate that leads to eternal life. It is the life that is entered by turning from sin and turning to Christ. Few find it in part because the labourers to show the way are few.

Everyone starts down the path to destruction. That is the default path. It is our task to direct others to the straight and narrow path. Life is still going to tough on this path. We are going to suffer pain and heartache and sorrow. People are going to get sick and die. We may even face open opposition. But at the end of the road is an eternity of peace with God.

It will be worth is all when we see Christ.

The Golden Rule

Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. – Matthew 7.12

As much as people know ‘judge not that you be not judged’ in a critical way people all over the world also know this verse. Jesus refers to this as the sum of the Law and Prophets. It fits right with His summation of the Law with ‘love God and love others.’

‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ is a universal standard that virtually everyone can accept. It is called the ‘Golden Rule’ for a reason. If the whole world would treat everyone else the way they want to be treated themselves the world would surely be a better place.

Here Jesus specifically applies it to His people. He is telling us how to live in a world where we were never meant to be on the inside track. It is a way that we can show ourselves different in a ‘me first’ world.

We all want to be treated well. We want fairness and good treatment and kindness and charity shown to us. We want forgiveness and understanding. We want patience and longsuffering. We want to be loved.

Knowing that, we need to take it into consideration when we think about how to treat others today. Whoever we encounter today not matter what the situation we need to think about how we would like to be treated if we were in their shoes. That, not our emotions, should determine how we should treat people in every encounter today.

Do unto others exactly what you would have them do to you were the roles reversed.

Asking, seeking, and knocking - with confidence

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 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! – Matthew 7.7-11

Ask and it shall be given. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open. If you ask you get and if you seek you find and you knock the door will open.

What a blessed prayer promise. It looks like if we want something all we have to do is keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking.

In a general way that is true. As we keep asking and seeking and knocking God does hear and answer our prayers. But the passage does not end there. It goes on to say that this is based our Father knows what it going best for us. He knows how to give the good things to those who ask Him. The good things.

We can keep asking and seeking and knocking with full assurance that God will keep giving and keep allowing us to find and keep opening according, not to what we think is best, but according to what He knows is best. That ought to give us great joy to know that he will not give what will harm us, He will not let us find which is bad for us, and He will not open doors that are dangerous for us in response.

So we can pray for what we need or want with full confidence. If it is the right thing for us He will give it, if not He will spare us.

Beams and motes

And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 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? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. – Matthew 7.3-5

These verses are a perfect follow on and illustration of verses 1-2 that talk about judging. They describe a wonderful illustration that I wish I was artist enough to illustrate.

‘Why do you look at and judge your brother for the speck of dust in his eye when you have a wooden beam sticking out of you eye? You can’t see well enough to judge hum until you deal with your own sin.’

That really addresses the judgement issue doesn’t it.

We are happy to judge others for their sexual sins but ignore our pride.

We are happy to judge their anger but ignore our lack of faith.

We are happy to judge their evil tongues but ignore our gossip and backbiting

For some reason we tend to think that our sins are not as bad as theirs.

So while this massive railroad tie is sticking out in our eyes we are searching the next guy for a speck of dust. Something is seriously wrong here.

Judging others is a dangerous road to go down. I think we are better off to share the gospel and stand for what is right and love others and leave the judgement up to God.

Judge not

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  – Matthew 7.1-2

If I could think of one verse that people who don’t know or care about the Bible would know this would probably be it. If you get into a discussion about nearly any sinful activity the person will say something ‘even your Bible says ‘judge not lest you be judged’ so you better not judge me.’

‘Judge not’ is not an excuse to cover up or hide sin. It does not mean that Christians should never speak out against sin or point out sin.

The problem here is one of attitude. The kind of character described here is the guy who comes up and tries to judge someone’s sin while not taking the time to deal with their own sin.

It is easy to judge and condemn others with our attitudes. I wonder if we would like to have every aspect of our lives judged by the same standard.

More tomorrow. 

Tomorrow

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.  – Matthew 6.34

This idea of not worrying must be important. Jesus talks about it over and over trying to make sure that we get it. Here He repeats the phrase ‘don’t take any thought for tomorrow.’

It’s a little different context here. In the other verse Jesus talked about God knowing all of our needs. Here He is saying, in essence, ‘don’t borrow trouble from tomorrow.’ It is important that we deal with things that are going on today. Take care of these things. If we are too focused on what might or might not happen tomorrow we are not going to get anything done for today.

The reality is that we have no idea what tomorrow will bring. It could be full of its own troubles or its own joys.

Of course we need to be responsible and not be foolish and we need to take care of daily needs and concerns, but as far as worrying about tomorrow?

Let’s just deal with today and see what God brings us tomorrow.

Seek ye first

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  – Matthew 6.33

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) are words from the previous verse.

There are things that we need not worry about seeking after. It is all those earthly things. Dismiss that, God knows what we need. He knows what I am going to need all the way through because He is already there.

Instead, seek the kingdom of God. Set your affections and desires on things above. God says here that our primary goal in life is to seek to promote and expand and build the kingdom of God.

Once again we need to hear Paul’s words to the Corinthians. He said that though living with a need for all the visible earthly things which are passing away we need to seek the invisible eternal kingdom of God.

May God give me the grace to seek Him and His kingdom and His righteousness first and then trust Him to take care of all the rest. It is only me and my flesh that get in the way.

We need no other pursuits because if we seek His way the rest will fall into place.

God knows what you need

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. – Matthew 6.31-32

Several verses before this stress the importance of not worrying about what we are going to do or how we are going to get by. You can’t make yourself any taller. You can clothe yourself any better than the lilies of the field.

This is a verse which convicts and challenges me every time I come across it. Don’t take any though to what to what you are going to eat or drink or where your clothes are going to come from. These are the things that the nations worry about.

The Lord knows exactly what you need. He already knows what I need tomorrow and the next day and next week and next year and ten years from now.

Jesus knows my needs. He knows how to take care of my needs. He loves me. He knows what is best in the long run. There are things I am often tempted to 'take thought' about. But God knows.

I may think I know what I ‘need.’ I may think I know what is best. I may fret because I can’t see what I want to happen happening.

But God truly knows what I need every day and all the time. He already knows what I need today. Since He knows I don’t have to worry about knowing. I think I know, but after all He is God. Who is going to know better and be better able to do with it?

Two masters

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.  – Matthew 6.24

We live in an unusual situation. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God while we live in a world that is not really our home. We can get caught up in a battle of two loyalties. It is easy to get trapped in following this world because it is right there in front of us. The problem with God’s kingdom is that it is invisible and we only can follow it by faith.

So there is the danger that we try to balance two masters. We think we can serve God and serve the world at the same time. We like to think that we can serve God while playing games with the world.

It is however impossible to serve two masters properly. You are going to eventually serve one and ‘hate’ the other. One master must have our supreme loyalty. We can’t have the ‘best of both worlds.’ Elijah confronted the people of Israel when they were mixing their worship of Jehovah and their worship of Baal. ‘If Jehovah is God worship Him, if Baal is then worship him.’

Joshua challenged the nation with ‘choose today who you are going to serve.’ But for Joshua and his family it was ‘we will serve the Lord.’

We must face the same choice. Is our master the Lord or is it the world. We need to know who our master is. We need to trust, follow, and obey our master and not be distracted by the world.

Choose this day who you will serve.

Be careful little eyes what you see

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! – Matthew 6.22-23

It is amazing how many times the songs we use for children would be helpful for us as adults if we could learn to apply them ‘Jesus Loves Me This I Know’ is one of those. ‘Obedience in the Very Best Way’ is another.

Another is ‘O be careful little eyes what you see, for your Father up above is looking down in tender love.’

Here Jesus lays the foundation for that song – ‘the light of the body is the eye so if we use our eyes properly the body will be full of light. But the eye can also bring in terrible darkness and when that happens the darkness can be a terrible darkness.

We must be careful that we constantly fill our eyes with the light and not walk in darkness. We can’t survive spiritually if we just keep filling our eyes with darkness. We can’t prosper with Christ if we are stumbling around in darkness. We have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s perfect light. Why then do we keep looking back into the darkness?

Be careful little eyes what you look at. Fill your eyes with the light of the gospel.

Love

Let all your things be done with charity. – 1 Corinthians 16.14

It’s Valentine’s Day. It is the day when, to some degree, much of the world focuses on love. I realise that perceptions of love cover the gamut from self-giving love to brotherly love to erotic love, but I want to take a positive tack on the day and look at what God says about our love.

I have reading and studying about love in the scriptures A LOT lately. God has  been working on my own heart to get a grasp on what is means to really love with Christ love.

We could talk about Bible love all day. The verse above says ‘do all you do in love.’ Jesus made it clear that we could summarise the entire Law with ‘love God with everything you have and love your neighbour as yourself.’ We also read ‘let there be no hypocrisy in your love.’ Love overcomes all fear because ‘perfect love casts out fear.’

Love of course started with God because ‘God is love’ and because of ‘for so loved the world that He gave His only Son’ and we can only ‘love Him because He first loved us.’

A recent favourite love verse is ‘the love of Christ compels’ us. The point is that everything we do should be motivated by the love of Christ. Every word we speak, everything we do, every response to difficulty, every social media post, and every other action should be motivated and compelled and driven by the love of Christ. That only happens when we see people, not according to the flesh, but according to the fact that Jesus died for them.

I like Valentine’s Day. I always get a gift for my wife and my daughter. But I want the day when the world talks about love to remind me of how vital it is that I love God and love others.

Treasures

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. – Matthew 6.19-21

Our world’s philosophy seems to be to grab all we can while we can. It is all about the biggest house and the fanciest car and the newest phone.  It is a true rat race I think best illustrated by a 1960s film called ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’ which is all about a group of people in an insane race to be the first to get to one million dollars hidden beneath a ‘big W.’ All sense, all reason, and all logic flies out the window in this madcap comedy. At the end no one gets the money as it literally floats away and they all end up injured in a prison hospital.

The movie was more than goofy, but it did picture a world in vain pursuit of riches which eventually just fly away.

Nothing here in life will last forever. Nothing. No matter how much it means to us or what it took to acquire it. All of our most precious and prized treasures are only ours for a while.

Why is it then that this is what we are in constant pursuit of? Why are these things our priorities and our cause for worry and concern?

The treasures we ought to be concerned about are our heavenly treasures. Are we loving others with the love of Christ as we strive to draw friends and co-workers and neighbours and family to Him? Are we seeking eternal treasures? Do our lives focus on building up treasures on earth, or are they focused on others and eternity?

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Don't worry about the mad, mad, madness of earthly pursuits. 

When you fast

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.  – Matthew 6.16-18

I am still relatively new to the whole concept of fasting. I have to sadly admit that before I came to Ireland I had never fasted in any way shape or matter. I had not fasted on my own and no church I had ever been in had preached on or practiced fasting. It just wasn’t a part of the circle that I knew.

I still look back with a bit of amazement. The word of God talks about fasting like it talks about prayer and worship and giving and everything else that is a part of the lives of God’s people.  All though the word of God we find God’s people fasting. Now, in Jesus’ great sermon he says ‘when you fast’ and then he goes on to say that when we do so we ought to just carry on with our normal lives.

We have plenty of examples of God’s people fasting as a group, so it is not to be a big hush hush secret, but it is not to be a big deal either. It is to be just a part of what we do.

Fasting is not a time for us to draw God over to our point of view. Fasting is a time for us to draw close to God and to listen to Him and His word. We have seen God do great things through prayer and fasting, but the greatest things He does is to work in my heart when I spend those special days with Him.

Forgiveness

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. – Matthew 6.14-15

Back in the Lord’s Prayer we read the word ‘forgive us our sins, and we forgive those who trespass against us.’ We can see right away that there is a connection between God’s forgiving us and us forgiving others. Then there is the parable of the forgiven ruler or won’t forgive his servant for a much smaller offence.

We have no room to not forgive others when we consider how much Christ had forgiven us. I think not only about how much he forgave me for when I got saved but how He forgives me today 40 some years later.

I understand that there are situations where it can be very hard to forgive. I hope by the grace of God that I could forgive is those situations. It is not always easy. But when we consider of our offenses toward offences against us should pale.

Most of the time, however, it is the little things that we have a hard time forgiving. It is that little word or thoughtless action or careless incident that we have a hard time forgiving. Those little things can wreck our relationships with other. If we can’t forgive others we need to really examine our own forgiveness with Christ.

Deliver us

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.  – Matthew 6.13

Evil is everywhere. I don’t think any of us could ever doubt that. It is nothing new, it has always been there, it is surely here now, and it will be here till Jesus comes. Since day one, literally, temptation to evil has been a factor. Satan used temptation to draw Eve to the fruit. Cain couldn’t withstand the temptation to punish his brother so he killed him.

Sin has not loosened its ugly grip since the very beginning. Sin is still there and the evil one is still pushing it to the fore. We can’t beat it by ourselves. We can only defeat temptation is by the power of God in our lives. We live in this present world but we live as a part of His kingdom.

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Our flesh cries out for attention. Our flesh says ‘feed me!’ and too often we do. We face plenty of situations that tempt us to sin. There are all kinds of trials and testings and temptations. We can’t win by ourselves. Only our Heavenly Father can deliver us in those days because His, and His alone, in the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.

Dear Father, deliver me from evil.

Our daily bread

Give us this day our daily bread.  – Matthew 6.11

To be honest this is one of things I don’t like to pray. I really want to know that I have more than my everyday needs met. I want to know that I am covered tomorrow and next week and this summer and next year and ten years from now. I want to know it’s all comfortable and safe and that there is nothing to worry about.

Jesus tells us here through that we need to be content to pray for our day by day needs. That seems like a mighty hard way to live. Imagine the kind of faith that gets up every day trusting God to meet our needs for that very day.

But if we really and truly trusted God we ought to be able to do that. Our children do that, don’t they? They don’t worry if there are going to be cornflakes in the bowl tomorrow morning.

Oh for the faith to trust God that way. I do believe Lord, but please help my unbelief.

At the end of the day all we need is our daily bread. Anything beyond that is a extra blessing.

Your will be done

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.  – Matthew 6.10

I don’t think there is anyone who does not like to get things their way. It starts long before children can even talk – they want their way. It goes beyond food a comfort. When they are very young they figure out what they want and will roar the house down until they get it. We hopefully know enough that we don’t give them what they want because at times what they want will do more harm than good.

As we get older we really don’t change much. We still want our way. We are strong willed and aren’t happy unless we get what we want. The worst thing is that when God’s ways don’t match up with ours we still want our way. We think nobody is smarter than us at dealing with our problems.

It is an act of faith says ‘Your will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.’ When we pray that with honesty and sincerity we are taking our hands off of the situation. We are saying that we are totally, completely, and absolutely handing the situation off to God and trusting that His way is better than mine. It is trusting all into His care knowing that He cares for me.  

It can be really hard to say that in difficult situations. It can be hard to trust that God will sort out things that I can’t see the answer to.

God’s will must be done. It is always going to be best.

Our Father

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  – Matthew 6.9

This passage starts Matthew’s rendering of what we commonly call the ‘Our Father’ or the ‘Lord’s Prayer.’ It seems to be a basic teaching on how we should pray because the disciples had just asked Jesus ‘teach us to pray.’

It is too easy to read quickly over the first couple of words ‘Our Father’ but they must be some of the most powerful words of scripture. Talking to God Himself, the I AM, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and Jesus says to start the prayer with ‘Our Father.’

It is a mind boggling concept that the One who said ‘Let there be light’ is my Father. It is even more astounding that when I put my trust in Christ I was adopted into His family with all the rights and privileges of being His child.

Me. Adopted. Into God’s family. As His son. How is that even possible?

I have to say that I don’t understand how I can literally and truly be adopted into God’s family and how I can call Him my Father, my Abba, my Dad.’ My Heavenly Father is not bound by time or space or any kind of lack of power. God is my Dad and He can take care of me. My Dad loves me and knows that is best for me.

What a way to start the day, looking up to and trusting my Dad.

When you pray

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. – Matthew 6.5-7

Prayer is another of those things that Jesus just says we are going to be doing. Prayer is going to be a part of our lives. There may be times when we are called on to pray in public and from things I have seen those times may present a temptation to use that as a chance to show how ‘spiritual’ we are.

But Jesus talks about prayer as a matter between a child and his Father. It is not a religious exercise or ritual. It is not a chance for a religious spectacle.

In a proper relationship children always have access to their father. Nobody can get in the way. Thus it is with proper prayer.

When we pray with go to our prayer room with awe that we we get to pray to our God, but we go with the calm confidence that we are talking to our Father. It’s not a bunch of religious words that we spout off and repeat with some kind of vain hope. Our God sees us and He knows us and our needs.

How to pray? Just go talk to Him. That’s all it takes.

Alms

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. – Matthew 6.1-4

First I have to admit something. When I have preached this in the past I have been mistaken. I have equated alms to just general giving at church. There is some merit to that because the church is supposed to distribute to the poor, but what Jesus is talking about here is not tithes and offering, but giving to and doing charitable deeds for the poor. To those who may have heard those messages I apologise.

The alms Jesus talks about here are actually charitable deeds. They may be money given to pay for charitable deeds, or they may be charitable deeds themselves. But the point is that God’s people are to be doing for those who are less fortunate than we are.

When we do such deeds we are never to make a big show about it. We just do these deeds or give our resources quietly and go on our way.

True faith is not lived out with lights and fireworks and flashing lights and loud pronouncements. It is the everyday loving works that we do for others.

Let’s just go out today praying that God will show us some deed to charity that we can do for someone who has a need. And keep it to ourselves.

Love your enemy

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; - Matthew 5.43-44

Everyone knows you ought to love your neighbour. That’s grand. You see them all the time, you help each other out. You help start their cars or watch the house while they are away or water the plants or all those kind of things. It’s a relationship which mutual benefits.

Great.

But how about this? Love your enemies. Bless people who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who hate you and persecute you.

How does that sound in this terribly divided tribalistic society we live in today? How would we impact our world if we loved those who oppose us? What if we loved our religious enemies? What if we loved our political enemies? What if we loved the Muslims? What if we loved the hate mongers? What if we loved the extremists?

Do you think we would make a difference? What about if you stop to help the guy who just cut you off in traffic?

God wants us not only to preach about the love of God, but live it out. Jesus loved me while I was still His enemy – can I do that for someone else?

The extra mile

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. – Matthew 5.38-42

The Law was so clear. In some ways it was so self-satisfying. If somebody did something to you you could pay them back by doing the same to them.

That seems fair enough, doesn’t it?

Jesus though has something different to say. Jesus says ‘don’t respond to evil. If you are attacked be ready for more. If someone wants you coat give him your cloak as well. If someone asks you to go a mile with them, go two. If someone wants to borrow your stuff let them.

This is the birth of our phrase ‘be willing to go the extra mile.’

Christians, if we are going to make a difference, are never going to be able to just do the bare minimum. We are here to follow Christ’s example and Christ’s example was to serve. We need to always do more than what is to be expected be it at work, at home, at play, at church, or wherever else we are asked for help or to give a hand. We can’t do things with an attitude or with reluctance. If we can practically do it we do it and anything else we can do to improve the situation.

Let me close with an example of what this means. I was watching an episode of ‘Motorway Cops’ or a show like that. I don’t have any idea if these police were Christians, but what they did is a clear example of this ‘extra mile’ idea.

They stopped on a motorway because a car had been clipped and was undriveable. The driver was a WW2 veteran parachutist who was on his way to Belgium for a reunion and jump (yes, he was close to 90). It was going to be an extended visit.

He was crushed when the police told him he could not drive on. But then they decided to do something about it. The loaded all of his stuff into their police car and drove him to a nearby town to see about hiring a car. The place was obviously hesitant to hire a car to a 90 year old to take to Belgium for several weeks. The police stepped and talked this guy into hiring the car to the veteran and they took responsibility for any problems.

Then they loaded the guy’s car and gave him an escort to the ferry port where he made his ferry.

These guys had several chances to justifiably say ‘okay mate, we’ve done our bit, best of luck’ and kept going and going and going.

By the way, the veteran passed away among his friends in Belgium.

That challenged me. I wonder how far I would go to help someone. Would I go that extra mile?

Let your yes be yes

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. – Matthew 5.33-37

Sometimes the lessons of godly living are not deep and profound and theological. Sometimes they are just are common sense.

This verse is taken by a lot of folks to support the notion that no Christian should ever take an oath to God about anything. I tend to agree with that, but that’s not what I want to focus on. I want to focus on the very simple fact that in this world of lies and hypocrisy and deceit and guile we ought to be different.

Jesus says simply, ‘You don’t need to take any oaths of pledges – just let your yes mean yes and your no mean no.’

Isn’t that great? Just think about how different we would be if we just simply dropped all pretence and made sure that our word was our bond. Imagine being the kind of person who, if you said something, no one would think to question the veracity of it.

Imagine being so well trusted that no one ever said ‘really?’ or 'are you sure?’’

That’s the kind of man I want to be. The only way to do that is be a man of my word. I should never intentionally say anything to mislead anyone.

Can you imagine what a difference we could make in this world if we always – ALWAYS – were people of our words in a world full of lies and deceit?

Nip it in the bud

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. – Matthew 5.27-28

The Law said ‘you shall not commit adultery.’ That’s pretty clear. It doesn’t take much discussion. Adultery, being unfaithful to your spouse, is sin.’ I think most Christians could fairly say ‘I have never cheated on my spouse.’ I think we mostly take out marriage vows seriously.

But this is a bit like the murder we looked at recently.

Jesus said refraining from the physical act of adultery was not enough. ‘Whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.’

That’s a pretty strict standard. It’s the reason we are told to keep our hearts with all keeping, for out of it are the issues of life. We can’t afford to let lust takes its place in our hearts. Instead of letting it grow and fester there it is imperative that we nip it in the bud before it takes root and bears its ugly fruit in our lives.

With all of the visual stimulus around us it is easy enough to let lust take root. Our flesh likes it and it is easily accessible. We must be constantly on guard against it. It is nothing to take lightly or play games with.

Nip it in the bud.