biblestudy: Matthew (Part Eight)

Matthew 6:1-9
John W. Ritenbaugh
Given 04-Nov-81; Sermon #BS-MA08; 69 minutes

Description: (show)

Reward has an important place in a Christian's life, contrary to some views that we should be good just for goodness' sake. Jesus spoke of rewards for His followers. We should not seek material rewards under the New Covenant, though God may sometimes bless us physically. Our focus should be on spiritual rewards. Two great spiritual rewards from God are: 1) Peace of mind and satisfaction from knowing we are on the right path, 2) More understanding and vision of God's plan and purpose. In giving and prayer, we should have the right motivation focused on God, not on public prestige or show. Otherwise we may get some lesser physical rewards but miss greater spiritual rewards. The "Lord's Prayer" is not really the Lord's prayer but an outline from Jesus on how to pray. It establishes our relationship with God as our Father and covers present needs, past forgiveness, and future guidance.




Matthew 6 introduces a subject that I think is exceedingly interesting. I think that before we actually go into a verse-by-verse expounding of the things in there, we are going to first of all cover a question that is brought up several different times in Matthew 6. And that is, What place does reward have in Christian life?

You will see that at the end of verse 4 it says, ". . . and your Father which sees in secret Himself shall reward you openly." In verse 6, and your father which sees in secret shall reward you openly. And in verse 18, your father which sees in secret shall reward you openly. Obviously from those verses that there is a reward from God for the right kind of service. Some people say that rewards should have no place in Christian life, they follow the line of thinking that we should be good just for the sake of being good. Now that sounds good, you know, it sounds pure that we should be good just for the sake of being good. But Jesus did not think that way and the offering of rewards for his to his people for loyal and faithful service. The right kind of service Is something that is very, very prominent in the scripture. Let's go back to Matthew five, I just want to give you a few in Matthew five And in verse 11 it says blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven. Now obviously, uh for a person who patiently endured the persecution that comes upon him as a result of this way of life, Jesus said there is going to be great reward for that person. It's just not reward. It's great reward. And he actually puts the person on the level of the prophet because they had to go through those things. And let's go to chapter 10 In Chapter 10 of Matthews. And the thought actually begins in verse 40 where he says that he that receives you, receives me, talking to the apostles, whom he was going to send out and he that receives me receives him that sends me and he that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a profits reward. And he that receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink until one of these little ones a cup of cold water. Only in the name of a disciple verily, I say unto you, he shall have, he shall in no wise lose his reward. It's very plain that Jesus is offering rewards based upon certain kinds of service back in Matthew, the 25th chapter Almost the entire 25th chapter is about reward. It was the parable of the talents and I'm not going to go through the whole thing, I just want you to to uh you know, mark it down in your mind that that that uh parable is at least partly about the offering of rewards. And then he got done with that parable and he went right on into another one. In in chapter 25 verse 31, talking about when the son of man shall come in his glory and all the Holy Angels with him and then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And he's going to separate the sheep from the goats. And then he's going to uh tell these people who were involved in loving service for those who were in prison, to those who were naked to those who were strangers, those who gave a drink to the thirsty and a meal to the hungry and he's going to give them rewards for that kind of loving service. But because the others did not do those works, then they do not get the reward. We could go on and on. There is many areas that show very plainly. And clearly, that reward was definitely a part of this way of life and that we should not neglect that. In our thinking that God is not about to offer us a way of life that does not have reward. Now, why why does God offer rewards? Well, the first reason is because any action that achieved nothing is meaningless. Now, if there is no reward, then why do it? You say it's meaningless life. Life does not have meaning. If there is not a system of reward and punishment. Now we are very well we are very well aware of the fact that we get punished for doing wrong, but we do not tend to think positively enough of the fact that we get rewarded for doing well. Yet that's what gives meaning to life. It is a system of rewards. I quoted somebody here, I do not know who it is, it's anonymous, but it says that unless an action is good for something, it's good for nothing simple, easily understandable, but unless an action is good for something, it's good for nothing. Okay, now if you apply that principle then to Christianity, that is that unless an action achieves something it's meaningless then unless Christianity as an aim or a goal that is a joy to achieve and it means and so reward actually gives meaning to Christianity. Okay, now let's look at the other side of that point. If we banish every system of either reward or punishment, then the end result of anything is injustice. You see, there is no reason for being either good or bad. You see, there is no reason to like. And so actually a system of rewards gives meaning to life and it's very good that we that we have that because if there was no reward, it would mean then that both good and bad were the same thing, it would be equal, there will be no justice. Everything would just be confused. So it reward is very definitely a part of God's way of life. And so it gives reason, it gives a point to living and it gives sense to life. So it's very important if we have it okay now, it's obvious that reward is a part of God's system I think, but I think we need to understand more clearly what kind of reward or what ought to be our attitude toward reward and appoint one under. Under this would be that the Bible shows very clearly in the in the New Testament. Under the New Covenant that we should not seek material rewards, that we should not seek material rewards. Under the Old Covenant things were different, Everything was physical, It was a physical covenant and the reward for doing well were physical. It was money, position, authority, wealth, power or whatever. I think that one of the major reasons why the Book of Job was written was to help us get this straightened out in our mind about what we as spiritual Israel under the New Covenant have to understand about this actually, we could go into quite a quite an in depth study of the Book of Job and all the arguments that were going back and forth between job and these three men. But the basic premise of those three men was job, you have done something evil. Therefore you are being punished jobs argument was no, I haven't done anything evil. You people are leaping to conclusions, I haven't done anything wrong. Well, the end result of it was that it was not that job had done something, it was something that he was, that was the problem. He had not done evil. And the argument keeps going back and forth, flowing from one, you know, just like a tide in and out and nobody really nailed it down. But it does show very clearly the thinking under the Old Covenant, that there was a definite system of physical rewards or punishments directly related to a person's obedience. Okay, now that the New Testament makes it very clear that we should not strive for things that are material and we will see this, we will see this very clearly. I think as we begin to go through Matthew the sixth chapter now turn with me back to Matthew 16, we are going to see as we go through Matthew six, that the receiving of material rewards, it's not evil, you know, having the blessings of wealth is not an evil thing, but it should not be the uh main effort in our life. Now, this in in Matthew 16, beginning in verse 24 is about as clear as a set of scriptures that I think that I can come up with, with the underlying principle regarding the way of thinking for the attitude that Jesus wants his disciples to have. Now then said Jesus unto his disciples. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, that is whatever comes upon him as a result of this way of life and follow me, for whose whoever will save his life shall lose it. You see life is very physical and he is talking here about a person who makes every effort to pander to himself physically, for anybody who is going to turn his attention to physical things, he's going to end up losing his life and whosoever will lose his life. That has become a living sacrifice. If I can interpret it, give himself totally and completely to God, for my sake shall find it. He's talking about those two ways of life to get way and to give way Verse 26, for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or his own life or what shall a man give in exchange for his life? For the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels and then he shall reward every man according to his work. Now, when Christ comes to whom is he going to give reward to? He's going to give reward to those who are resurrected. He is going to give rewards to those who are spiritual. Now, is it going to be good to give physical rewards to spiritual means? Of course not, he is talking about that a man should make the main effort in his life to achieve the things which are spiritual rather than physical and so even though God is very willing to give reward, we should not ever have the idea that there is a direct connection between wealth and righteousness, Between prosperity and righteousness. It doesn't mean a thing because I'm going to show you as we go to the Chapter six, it doesn't mean a thing as a as a way of judging a person's character, of judging his spirituality. Okay, let's go back to uh well, hold, keep the finger in Matthew the sixth chapter. Now, an additional thought that we might connect there too, Matthew 16 and this whole principle that's involved here is this the New Testament shows that the reward comes not to those who are seeking it, but rather to those who are giving. It doesn't go to those who are seeking rewards, but rather to those who are given. Because the secret word is essentially selfish, it's part of the get way of life. And so even though God is willing to give reward number one, we should not think that they are material. And number two, if anybody has the idea that they are going to consciously seek after reward, they are not going to get you see, it's the denial of one's self, that is going to lead to the reward. And so the person who is giving is the one who is going to get the reward, not the person who is seeking reward. So that's two very important principles. One we should not connect physical things with it and to those who are seeking rewards are really doing so selfishly. Therefore it is not those who are seeking rewards. That those who are serving and giving, who are going to receive it. Now go back to Romans the eighth chapter. Now we will just attach this principle to this and you'll see how it sits at the Sikh reward in terms of that which is physical is nothing more than carnal. It's carnal thinking. It's physical thinking. That's what the word carnal means. Physical. And so Paul said in Romans eight For they that are after the Flesh, verse five do mind the things of the flesh. And so if a person is seeking after material reward, the chances are great that he's going to get them. But he's Colonel, he's not thinking spiritually, he's thinking carnally that they that are after the spirit they seek after the things of the spirit. That is. Those who have the mind of Christ are not going to be seeking after material things forever, Paul says to be carnally minded or physically oriented. His death. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 16, that if a person spends all his time and effort seeking after wealth, all he's going to do is die. What will a man give for his life? I'll tell you some men will give anything for their life for for a sense of physical well being or to be carnally minded is death. But the spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. So. Then they that are in or after the flesh or seeking material things. Can I please God? Okay, back to Matthew the sixth chapter. Okay, now, with that in mind, what are the rewards that God gives? No, it's obvious that he does want to reward us in this life. It's not absolutely necessary for him to do so because we have to approach him with the idea that God doesn't owe us a thing. You know, when you were baptized, you should have repented before God unconditionally. You enter into an agreement with him, but you have nothing to offer except yourself. You see your life you have nothing to bargain with because all you've done is since you might have had a great number of great magnanimous charitable work that you had done before conversion. Good things. But once we send the wages of sin is best. Okay, that's really all that God owes us is to carry out the death penalty. We have nothing to bargain with at all, nothing to offer him that is of any value at all. Remember. Mr Gross's sermon down there, how can you, how can you make a deal with God. When you have nothing to bargain with, we have nothing to bargain with. So we have nothing to offer him all he owes us is the death penalty. And so by his grace, he offers us the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. So how can he reward? Actually, there are many rewards that he can give us. And I I really think the two of them, maybe all the three that I have written down here are really when we come to understand it, spectacular. Now he can of course reward us physically. And some of us, some of us he has a tendency to do that with and that's fine. But he is far more interested in spiritual things, things that had to do with people's attitudes. People have things that have to do with people's motivation with the way they do things with the way they think, how they feel about themselves, the relationship with him and with other human beings, those are the kind of things that he's interested in. I'll tell you the first way that he can reward you. Maybe you do not think this is very much, but I'll tell you it's a great gift. The first thing he can reward you with, it's satisfaction or a piece of mind that you know, and you know, that you know, that you are on the right track that you are doing things that are right and approved by the great God, who is the ruler of everything. You know, this world is in constant turmoil. There is no peace. We just read that in Isaiah 59 there is no peace in the world, There is no justice, There is precious little light or truth understanding or wisdom. And yet God graciously gave that to you and me. But we know where we are headed. We know why we were created, we know why we were born. We know where we are going. We know how we are going to get there. Our sins are forgiven. We know we are on the right track. We know the purpose of life, Jesus said in one of his parables. What would a man give for the pearl of great price? Well, you've got it. Okay. The second thing that he can give you, how can he reward you? Let's see if you can think of a way, how can he reward you? What is what is a very normal way that God rewards if you're doing well Yes, say that again, good health. Well he can certainly do that. But remember that's physical. Oh you're on the right track, he says more understanding, you're on the right track. Yes. Mr query, Okay, that's that's a good one. Now. The way I have it written down but I think it's essentially the same thing is he gives you more vision. You see he helps you to understand what he is. Mr Armstrong has been trumpeting for the last couple of years that one of the major reasons that this world is in such confusion is that they do not know God and they do not know what he is. They do not know what he's doing okay now what he can do to us is give us an understanding of what he is now. How does he do this? You see as we grow and become more like he is. We begin to experience the way he thinks we begin to experience life the way he experiences and we begin to get that that general sense of well being. The things are right and good and on the other hand positiveness and you know, our lives become filled with what he is. Hey that's a tremendous gift and if it's coming to you it ought to make you strive all the more to be more like you Hey now What's what's another one try to get one more, what's another reward that he can give? Yes. Okay now that's an end and really that's a gift mary, okay, that that's certainly right. He gives you more of the spirit which makes you more like he is. You see that's really part of the other other point there, Mr Sullivan. Okay now I think that's a part of the first one, you know the satisfaction of knowing that you're doing right and uh hip uh yes that will that will approve to you that he will give you that character. You'll be building that character. This is an interesting one. Yes. Well I think Mr Troy that would be a part of the vision of God. You see he keeps filling our minds with what he is like and gives us more and more of that purpose. More faith that would also be part I think of this vision of what God is like and more wisdom. Uh that that would be part of that yes. More love. I think that would also be part of this, you know more of what he is. That's the 1st 1. A long life now. That's a physical one. Okay. What happened in Matthew 25 when the men were given the talent and they did well what did he give them more responsibilities? You see that's the reward. More responsibility as a person grows. It doesn't get any easier because he keeps adding to your responsibility really. That's very wonderful because if you grew only to a certain part, do not say a certain stage a certain level after you reach that part for that stage or level you know what you do. You start treading water, that's the very best you could do, you probably start slipping backwards. So God ensures that you continue to grow by continually revealing more to you that you need to be responsible for. And so when you do well he heats responsibility on top of you. If you want to get anything done, what do you do? You give it to a busy man God follows the same principle. You know they do that same thing in business if a guy does well, they elevate him in the company and give him more responsibility. Well that's what God that says, he gives more responsibility to those who are doing well. Okay, let's go back to Matthew six and verse one take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise you have no reward of your father, which is in heaven. Therefore when you do your arms do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have the glory of men. Um barely I say unto you, they have their reward. Okay, first of all, let's understand that arm's giving, which is something that is done. Let's say with love in mind, with charity in mind with doing good in mind. But there is nothing wrong with mom's giving, Jesus is not castigating people for doing wrong, but what he is concerned about for you and me is more that we will do it in the wrong motivation. Now there is a certain motivation to know that there are rewards and God is willing to give reward. But the person who has the wrong motivation loses most of his rewards. So I want you to notice that even though a person has the wrong motivation, it is possible for him to receive reward. We'll see that very clearly in just a little bit and a like how could a person give with the wrong motivation? Actually, the verses tend to show what they are. First of all, a person may do it in order to uh demonstrate his generosity. And so he blows the trumpet. That might be one reason he's going to demonstrate it to everybody that I am a giving man. Now, here is the person actually giving. But if he seeks publicity in doing it, the motivation is wrong. That there might be a reward. Now, what would be the reward that people would take notice that he was a generous man? You see he has gotten a physical reward for what he has done, He did get rewarded for his giving. But what Jesus is pointing out to you and me is that he is missing the greater reward. So, I want you to see that there is a distinction here that a person can give and still be doing it wrongly and he will get a reward, but it will not be the reward that Jesus said that a person really should seek after. Okay, a person may then give just to demonstrate his generosity. He may also give to get the praise of man, to get publicity advertising or whatever he may do it uh, in that attitude, what he would be doing would actually uh let's see now, that doesn't fit there, It actually fits down in verse verses five and six, the thought that I was having And that is that in verses five and 6, he is talking about praying in the public uh and in a case like that, even though the person would be praying, which is something that we ought to do, he may be doing it to demonstrate his piety before men rather than actually praying to God. and in down in verse 16, when he gets to talking about fasting, a person may fast not to really humble himself before God, but to show his fellow man what a discipline character he is. And so in every case there is a reward, he may get praised, you may get prestige uh in what he is doing, but the reward in those cases is physical. Now there is a big principle that Jesus is talking about here, that is kind of hidden, it's implied it's there, but nonetheless it needs to be brought out and that is this, if you want to or if anybody wants to, you can bend your efforts to achieving what this world has to give, you can give your time, your energy, your talent and abilities to achieving money and all things being equal. If you're willing to pay the price. If you're willing to sacrifice the time and energy and efforts in order to make money, you will be rewarded, You will make money if it's fame that you want as a rock star as a singer movie movie star, you know, you name it and you wanna you wanna bend all your efforts in that direction. You will probably be rewarded. You will achieve some of those things if you want to turn all your efforts to athletics and become a big, you know, star before people. And you have the ability to carry those things off, you'll be able to do it. You'll be rewarded if you want to be a politician and go that route, spend your time and energy that way, you'll be rewarded. You can't have those things. Now, we have a choice. That's what Jesus is pointing out. We have a choice because we can spend our time and effort and energy working for material reward, or we can divide our time rightly make enough money to get ourselves by enough to eat on enough to house ourselves comfortably enough to clothe ourselves well, you know, work hard enough in that direction and at the same time not lose the spiritual rewards that God can give. Now that's our choice. You realize that we are the we are the only people in the world. We can do that. That's another one of those gifts that God has given to us. Now, Jesus admonition of course to us is. But if you decide to go the way of the world, you will probably be rewarded. But it is very short sighted, you know, that, that some of the men who have left the church, some of the ministers have done very well in the business world, you know why? Because we taught them how to make money and they are doing very well. So you see, it's it's no it doesn't equate with righteousness at all. But God through Mr Armstrong taught them how to make money and they are making it. They see we have that choice, they decided to go that way. We still have that choice in front of us. And so what Jesus is pointing out is do not be shortsighted. The Kingdom of God may be invisible to us, but it's right over the horizon and those rewards are going to last for eternity. Okay, beginning in verse uh three, he says that when you do your arms, let not your left hand, know what your right hand does. That your arms uh may be in secret and your father, which sees in secret himself shall reward you openly. Okay, now, how can you give give of your time? Give them your energies, give them your of yourself, Number one. You can do it out of a sense of duty. Now, doing something out of a sense of doing is a mixed bag, because obviously, Jesus says that we should pay attention to our duties, our responsibilities, our obligations, and whenever you have the opportunity to volunteer or to give of your time, your effort, your energies or whatever it's very possible for us to give simply because it's an obligation. Now, that is not really a good way to do it. It's really very shortsighted because I can guarantee you that if you give with that in mind that it is merely an obligation or duty. What's going to happen is that the fruit of that is going to be, that you are going to feel that you're giving is a burden. You're going to feel self pity, you're going to feel sorry about giving up your time, You're going to grip your teeth and feel somewhat resentful about doing it. If you are doing your giving merely as a result of an obligation or obligatory idea or process, then the fruit is going to be burdensome. Now again, picking up The theme here in the 1st 5 or six verses, Jesus shows that we can give from a motive of prestige. Now, we can all see very plainly, I think that that is not right. But if you do give from a motivation of prestige and you are not recognized for what you did, which very often happens that somebody may give and give generously and then after they gave of their time for their energies or money after they gave, Nobody noticed, nobody thanked, nobody announced it. You know, from the pulpit, nobody came over and shook their hands. Nobody put their arm around them and said, boy, what a good job you did. I'm really thankful for the sacrifice. You know what's going to happen if the person did it to be seen, they are going to get very discouraged. Disgruntled upset, angry, you can feel a great deal of self pity boy, I'll never do that again boy, you will not catch me volunteering my time. I'll tell you if that is what is produced be admonished brethren, you're doing it from the wrong attitude. And so if you feel that you're giving us a burden, you're doing it out of a sense of obligation and that is not a good way. And if you feel after giving and not receiving praise that you are disgruntled and discouraged, then just know very well that you did it for the wrong reason. You're doing it for the praise of men. Okay now really there is only one clearly good way to give that is because you have to you just can't help yourself in other words. You are so generous, so kind, so loving, so giving that it just bubbles right out of you and you have to do it. You see that's all the other difference in doing it from a sense of obligation because you see that kind of what giving is being driven by an outgoing concern for the other person. That's what love is it serves. It gives with no thought at all of rewards, no thought of prestige, no thought of all of it being a burden just gives. I do not think I haven't reached that yet. Sometimes I do it when it's real convenient. But then am I really sacrificing giving Oh my OK back to Matthew six in verse five and when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites are for they love to stand praying in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets uh that they may be seen of men barely, I say unto you, they have their reward, but you when you pray enter into your closet and when you have shut your door great to your father, which is in secret and your father, which season secret shall reward you openly. But when you pray use not vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking be not therefore like unto them for your father knows what things you have need of before you ask. Okay, again, notice the approach just as he expected us to give on. That is to be generous in the giving of our time, energies, talents and abilities. He also expects us to pray. So he doesn't warn us about the pitfalls of the lack of prayer or neglected prayer. Instead, he warns us of the pitfalls of misdirected or misguided devotion. Okay, now we take it for granted that you are devoted to God that this way of life is the way that you are following following. And are there any pitfalls in that? Well, yes, there is now perhaps the example that he used here is not one that is as common to us as it would have been to those people there because what he did was that he gave first of all the example of praying publicly, not for the Jews. Uh, that was something that was reasonably common. And the reason being is that church and state were one that the only religion that they had basically was Judaism, that every village had its synagogue and anybody that attended church went through the local synagogue. They all shopped at the same market. They all did things that basically the same time. In other words, they were pretty much an enclosed community where everybody was basically doing the same thing. Now, the church is not the same way the church is scattered all over the face of the earth. We are surrounded by people who have all kinds of customs and practices that are different than we have. And so we do not have the opportunities to do the same kind of things that they did. Now, Judaism just seem to lend itself to what we would call today ritual is um, or formalism where they had ritual prayers. Maybe the one that uh, you hear most often is this one, they call the shema or the shema. I think it's the shema is the way it's pronounced and that's the one that begins hear O Israel, the Lord, our God is one Lord and they went on with a couple of more verses out of Deuteronomy six and then I think there was a verse out of exodus and in a verse out of numbers, The Jews, the devout Jews were supposed to say that three times a day now in addition to that they had uh A prayer that they called the 18. Now that's the literal translation, they called it the 1818 and it consisted of 18 prayers and I have read some of those prayers are very beautiful, meaningful prayers And they were also the devout, you was supposed to say these 18 prayers three times a day, morning, noon and night. He was supposed to say these prayers. In addition to that, you've probably seen in the 10 commandments, uh that the Jew had a little plaque on his door post and when he went in he would touch this little plaque that contained on it, the 10 commandments or whatever I forget what they call it. In addition to that they had hours of prayer and those hours of prayer even mentioned in the book of acts that the disciples went up to the temple at the hour of prayer. And I can't remember the context whether they actually went up there to pray or whether they were up there simply because they knew that the Jews would be gathering together there and that they would go through certain rituals and that after those rituals were over that they would have an audience that they could preach the gospel to those people. Okay, you see Judaism became made up of all kinds of ritualistic observances that these people went through and they all as being a part of one community, all kind of went through them together and so when the hour of prayer would come, I think one of them was three o'clock in the afternoon and all business was stopped for a while. If you happen to be in Jerusalem you might be able to make your way to the temple, but business would stop during that hour, but that was what Jesus was getting at in this thing about, okay, first of all it was very easy for a Jew to pray in public and attract attention to himself and they made a big deal out of it. Normally what they would do is walk to the top step of the synagogue and they kept leading up to the synagogue, they get to the top of the steps and they hold their hands up, stretch, you know with their palms up in the air and file their heads and talk in a loud voice, Everybody would know that they would, no, that kind of a prayer dies on the person's head, that's not what God wants and neither does he want the vain repetition of prayers that are thoughtlessly others, you know, just going through a routine like the Catholic hail Mary mother of God, you know, whatever is very high, I do not even remember what it says sometimes I think that you worry about every day, you pray basically about the same thing, the astro rod to send Jesus Christ to establish his kingdom on earth. If you ask for strength for Mr Armstrong you ask when you feel the people that you know respect, you ask them to supply your daily needs and to forgive your family and their there he is a that to the prayer that we do it every day. Now that is not the vain repetition that is talking about, he is talking about the repetition of formalized crews that have been written by somebody else and our other by memory every day. Like we used to doing great every morning we salute the flag and say our father who art in heaven hallowed Tommy was just a ritual a form that we went through, that's the kind of thing that he was talking about, vain repetition after all what is a friend, there is really nothing more and a possible heart cell talk with God that's all. Certainly there is some point here with a heartfelt and now when a person is making vain repetitions, he's not thinking about what he is saying, his heart is not involved, there is no stealing, no empathy, no sympathy, there is nothing that is intelligent that is involved in what he was saying. His mind is not in here, he's not really thinking about what he's saying, not really stressing his mind for the words to say, that's what God has happened. Somebody who is I mean in prayer is somebody who is thinking deeply about what he's saying that he feels and he was using his mind to search to buy the things that are right and good to be prayed to buy and of course we will see that they will put into a general form and so that's what he's worrying about here, that we do not make friends that are not possible in one begin to say the same thing without any type involved in how would you like it if your child every day, 10 years they said our father who art in heaven hallowed designer inviting and that's the only thing they ever said to you that be kind of stupid wouldn't it? And it says no progress, no development of the mind and I know no thinking of the way broad thinks at all so well, well actually I do not think I need to develop that anymore. Okay, just a couple of principles, one I already began to talk about is number one, the prayer must be offered to die again. This comes from the context that when a man is praying in public, I mean the kind of situation is describing here, that's not afraid of being made to God, that's saying a prayer, that's a prayer that's being made for the sake of the Now our prayers here, maybe we need a little bit of instruction here. Those prayers really can only be about a minute, minute and a half long. There is, there is no need in those prayers to give a sermon at. You know, sometimes the players almost developing for the first time in the last minute that they are simply to be hard self and possible. Uh thanksgiving to God for him, giving us the opportunity to be here before him after his inspiration upon the meeting, guidance and direction of it helping us to understand they are just leaving it like that. Certainly there can be some variety. Uh huh You know, with this man using his, his personality somewhat but they should not be in any any way ostentatious and turn indeterminate. Where was I? Oh, very face. A principle that flew out of there because he's not. You therefore like unto them for your father knows what things you have need of before you ask them. I think the idea here is, yes, we have to understand we are not before God who needs to be, he needs to be battered by many words. We need to test the graph or toast. Now that is not the same as persevering in prayer for us. I'm in the guard office for the things that that you know the petitions that we desire. There is a difference in attitude between the words that I use pattern. The approach is somewhat or whining murmuring approach complaining of but rather than coming to God knowing that he's very well aware of our needs and just presenting it, doing it in a logical and heartfelt way giving him your ideas about things. What do you think your needs are and what other people and just have to wonder there again, try to try to put yourself in the position of a parents. But he asked my attire is not it far better if a child comes to you and so bad, I'd like to have this and this is why would you rather have it done that way or would you rather have it right, learning just a few minutes coming back and doing a little bit more of the same thing and then a little bit more just coasting, pulling in, pulling it for you know, whatever it is that you know, God doesn't do that. He wants you to report him and present your idea properly in a heartfelt way. It's not murmuring or complaining is great because you see the whole idea is God God is willing to get, he's not willing to give us but we already give guys. So he suddenly wants to get okay verse nine after this manner. Therefore, pray our father would start in heaven. How do your name by name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for yours design with the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Okay now I went to the street back in Luke 11, just one verse where it says In Luke 11 and verse one and it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place. When he speaks one of his disciples said unto him, Lord teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples and then he said, come to them when you pray say our father, which art in heaven. Remember I told you earlier that the Book of Matthews has been group probably according to subject and that when Matthew arranged this, that's what we call the sermon on the map. It was not a sermon that was given at any one time at any one place, but rather it is a collective the of the sweepings of Jesus Christ. And so as we see this presented in Matthews, yes, uh as it does in the book of Luke because in the book of Luke it is presented as it occurs. It occurred when one of his disciples asked him a question about how to press Matthew arranged a little bit. Now that has interesting uh, I think aspect, because of the way people tend to look this crap and some of these things, we tend to carry over into our thinking here in the church. Now, first of all, I do not think that it can honestly be called the Lord's prayer if I will never call that the Lord spread with anything the disciples spread because it was one with the Lord gave his disciple. There is also a tendency to look upon it as either a child's prayer, something that he kneels down beside the bed and does each night before he goes to bed something that is uttered before the school day begins. And it can also become uh to look, he looked upon as some kind of a family prayer. Never notice it. You get a movie where there is kind of a religious element in and there is a little bit of trouble. The first thing you know, somebody's saying our father was uh, it happened so often. Okay, now look in verse nine he said after this manner. Therefore pray you, he did not say pray this prayer, he said yeah, right you, so what I did is looked up the word manner in the dictionary. It's very clear manner is a ray or style of doing it is a way or saya in other words what he is giving here is an outline. A style that is not wrong to follow. It is very good to follow. It is an outline. Now when you examine the whole thing by itself, you will see that it is even arranged in outlying form. You know, you make an outline before you're going to write uh a story or a report or something for school to make an outline. No, the numeral why and then so many points underneath it, Roman numeral, two, so many points under it. And maybe each one of these points over here, we will have a couple of subdivisions under under them. And so when you go to write out your reports, you start out with your name Roman numeral one and that'll be a paragraph and you just start writing and connecting the thoughts that are given in the outline. Okay, we have an outline here that has to be Division # one Campaign 3 Petitions to Drive. There are three petitions to God and his glory. That's really the way things ought to be because its powers, The two Great Commanders, we have to love God above all things and then we love our neighbor as ourselves. And it was only when God is truly pushed first that all the rest this right place, the right perspective. And so the approaches from the very beginning is that we begin by praising and honoring the great God to whom we are praying and so do it is implied that the rest of our mind that in addressing God and concentrating on really great that tried to send him to our will. That's very important and how you approach to God. You never make an attempt to try to send him to your will. It is one thing to present ideas to him as we used to write a line of reason, but it was never like a lawyer with this. It is never a performance object, the dead or the jury. That was real. But rather as a prayer can be that God saying this is the way I think that it ought to be done and the fact that are at my disposal. I think that this would be a good way to go. And so the broader approach it was the first and praise God so that we have the right perspective then the second part with with our needs and they are very neatly divided Notice in verse 11, give us this day our daily bread Now verse 11 with that petition has to do with the present, take care of our present Verse 12 and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. There is an aspect there of the past. If we are in death or if we have and we are particularly him to forgive us. It is obviously something that has already occurred. Therefore it is in the past. And then in verse 13 it does lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. We are petitioning him for the now again look at it. The first level we are approaching God with the understanding that he is our provider. In verse 12, we are approaching him that he is our savior in reducing now verse 11, half and half first very obvious physical and spiritual aspect there the supply of Chinese physically our bread And bread of course is used in the Bible as the type of the word of God, we are going to be asking him to supply us with experience as well to be provided in verse 12 we are we are approaching him as our regime and as our saviors And in verse 32, uh we are approaching him as our guide And I comforted back to verse nine again and you will concentrate on this for the rest of the I want to concentrate on the word our father. I wonder, I do not know this, but I wonder if there is any other religion God looked upon bringing his eyes as product in the same way that we do. I have to understand that this prayer was put together, you know, by a divine deal, who understood man and what his needs were or are Yes. And here he is giving an outline for prayer and he has arranged everything in order of enforcement. Now, obviously the most important to establish the right relationship between us on the wall. We are. So what words did he do you see? That's that's the perspective for our relationship with him and really our relationship even with ourselves and with others as well. Because first of all, who is our father, then we should begin to understand what are you going? Other things ought to begin to come to our minds if we are in the room of the church, which is our mother, that we are looking forward to. These being born into his family by means of a resurrection. That right at this present time that we are begotten by him. We were gigantic fundamental principles that are possibly died too. I think really set the tone for your life. Actually set the tone for your entire day. If you are beginning every day by establishing your relationship with your God, we are partners can't be a closer relationship than that one can have with this. Now, if we are begotten by his spirit, we are literally at this time. That's the implication. All the way back in Genesis, you know, the animals reproduce after their time, Implication in Genesis 1 26 is that God is reproducing after his. And so this has a great deal to do with our thinking about ourselves. Sometimes I'll tell you, we just laid down in the we are so low on the self esteem, but if there is a bottom we must be the last. You know, God doesn't want you to think about yourself that way. Who wants to the humble you work so much. He gave his train for you and you are, That's a great friend, awesome things. And that's why you just started this thing off the way he did. I think that he wants us to think as we are praying of every good fatherly attributes that we could possibly think of and apply it to this one to whom we are friends, terribly unfortunate, but many of us do not know what a good father is. I tell you your relationship with God is severely stressed and severely damaged because have not had a good product for a good relationship with our problem, you have no model by which to go. And as a result we can't imagine the way God is really, you know, a real practical way. So that's the right case. The current, we are not talking to somebody who is so far above us, the hero, we are talking to somebody who is in our family. He's the head of the family. Sure he is God, but he is also our father. I read a story one time again, I do not know whether it's true, but it's a good start and illustrate this point. You never you know, whatever the room is for the country, uh they would bring their armies back to round and uh the emperor we are holding and we had we would have the generals of the army out there with all of their troops and they would go by with the fans and with all of their their uh glittering stores and skills and everything. And uh at the very head of this great entourage through the emperor. Now, you know, whenever we hold a parade, they put placement along the side of the road in order to teach the people who are watching the parade from coming out into the midst of the phrase, Well the Romans were no different. They would have their legionnaires lining the route that the parade was going to take. So it's the story goes, at one time, this emperor was leading the triumphant Roman armies with all the displays that they captured and all the booties and you know the prizes they brought back from the war that they had just had growing through the streets of Rome and they were approaching the emperor's box. Now the emperor of course, is leading the parade. He was being carried in the canopies, uh sort of like a little cherry. And uh he was approaching the box where the emperor's wife and his children were sitting. One of his children, a boy saw his father coming and he jumped down out of the box and he muscled his way through the crowd and he was just about ready to break through the line of legionnaires and to go out into the parade to get to his dad and one of the leading heirs grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him back. Of course the legendary did not know who the boy was. He just thought he was, you know, somebody was going to try to break in and uh he said to the boys, do not you know who that is, that's the emperor and the boy said that he may be the emperor to you, that he's my father. That's the way it is with driving on that. He may be the great God who is the Creator of and he has awesome and majestic power, He has tremendous intelligence. He has lived for all eternity. He is wise beyond belief, he has all inside and understanding, we have a guy out in Norwalk, uh I forget how he said it, his prayer was addressed to his dad, you know like our dad in heaven is something let's get yeah, I wonder is that right? I understood what the guy is getting, that he just felt close relationship that way and that's the way that he expressed it, right? Addressing of God is our father is intended by Jesus Christ to put everything in its proper perspective for you to be able to deal with yourself first of all, to deal with your relationship with God and often even to this perspective and sense, it was very cruel and hostile and painful world that we live in because really it's only an understanding of God and what he was doing and our relationship with him and play with us the world expansion perspective, I'll tell you without it, it just just like the rest of the world running through and throw having no no goals and this God is so close now that he is our father. Okay, I think I'm going to start well, it's not going to work anyway, Going to stop right there and we will pick it up in verse nine the next time. Oh, hey, I have something to read to you just be taken for one more minute, that was from Mr Blackwell when we were out on on the respect, it has to do with prayer. Remember we were talking earlier about how the Jews became very formalized and became very concerned they had to do everything a certain way, very concerned about how they pray, so listen to this. This is called the Player of Brown the car. The proper way for a man to pray and the only proper attitude is down upon his knees. May I could say the way to pray that reverend Doctor Wife, it's standing straight with outstretched arms and black and cold eyes. Oh no, no, no, that elder snow. A man could pray with high fast clothes and head slightly by. It seems to me his hand to me clearly class with post on pointing towards the ground that reverend doctor last year I fell in west at first that Brown with both my heels was picking up my head pointing down and I made a prayer right then and there best prayer I ever said the prayer I ever pray standing on my head

JWR/aws/












 


 
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