2/18/24 “The Sermon on the Mount - Part 4”

The Sermon on the Mount – Part 4

Matthew 6:1-15

As many of you know by now, back in the 90’s I used to sing in a country music band….our 5 piece group consisted of myself, a lead guitar player, a bass guitar player, a keyboard player…and, of course, a drummer…Oh….drummers.

Drummers are their own breed, aren’t they?...One could even say that they ‘march to their own drum’ much of the time…

The stereotypical drummer is that person who is always carrying a Red Bull in one hand and a fidget spinner in the other… they’re loud, they have crazy hair, and they live life in the fast lane.

 Remember “Animal” from the Muppet Show?...Yeah, kinda like that.

Because of this stereotype, there’ve been many a drummer joke pop up over the years….

A couple of my personal favorites go like this:

1)     What is the difference between a drummer and a savings bond?....One will mature and make money.

My all-time favorite drummer joke, though, has to be this one:

2)     How do you tell if the stage is level?....The drummer is drooling out of both sides of his mouth!

We laugh about the stereotypical drummer, but if I’m honest, most drummers (Or Percussionists as they prefer to be calIed) that I’ve met in my life have been fairly clean, well-kept individuals….Notice I said Most.

Sadly, some folks consider drummers to be less than real musicians…

I saw an ad one time that said: “Hiring musicians…and drummers too!”

It might surprise you, however, if I told you that learning to play the drum set is actually quite difficult.

The reason for this is that when a drummer is playing a full drum set, all four of their limbs must be trained to do something independent of each other.

This may not seem too hard…until you try it.

The next time you’re at a red light and you begin “dashboard drumming”, try using a different rhythm for each hand…yeah, it’s not as easy as it might seem.

Back when we had the music store, I could hear the drum lessons in the basement right below my office…

It would literally take students months – sometimes years – to learn how to play one rhythm with their right hand, and a completely different rhythm with their left hand….not to mention their feet, which might also be playing independently of each other.

It takes a long time to train each hand (each arm) to do something completely independent of the other arm…

To put it another way, they “Can’t let their left hand know what their right hand is doing.”

Does this sound familiar?...We read something very similar to this in our passage of scripture for today that deals with giving to those in need.

In verse 3 (Matthew 6:3) Jesus says “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”

In other words, give your gifts in secret…without fanfare…without needing recognition for your act of charity.

If we go back to verse 1 (Matthew 6:1) of our passage, Jesus begins with a warning.

He warns us not to do our “’acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them.”

You see, Jesus knows that within each of us lies the temptation to crave praise and accolades from other people when it comes to our benevolence – our generosity to those in need.

For instance, think about the last time you donated to a ‘Go Fund Me’ cause of some kind on the internet….have you ever done this?

After you provide your credit card information, it presents you with a choice to either list your donation anonymously – or to have your name published next to your donation.

It is extremely tempting to click on “Publish my name”, rather than choose the “Keep my gift anonymous” tab….isn’t it.

All of us naturally want to be recognized for our acts of kindness and benevolence…we want others to notice what we’ve done………we crave the positive attention.

But Jesus tells us in the 2nd half of verse 1 (Matthew 6:1) that by acting in this manner, we “Will have no reward from our Father in heaven.”

He tells us in verse 2 (Matthew 6:2) that “They have received their reward in full.”

How sad it is when we sacrifice heavenly rewards (Which, by the way, are FAR better than any reward this world has to offer)…How tragic it is when we opt for the praise of man over blessings from God!

In fact, in verse 2 (Matthew 6:2) Jesus goes so far as to label this kind of behavior hypocritical.

The Greek word for hypocrite (hupakrites) originally described a Greek actor who was playing a role…he was acting like someone other than who he really was.

This is how Jesus describes the scribes and Pharisees….they were hypocrites.

 They were just acting righteous, holy, and humble – but in reality – they were actually selfish, arrogant, and full of pride.

St Augustine once said that “The love of honor is the deadly bane of true piety. Other vices bring forth evil works but this brings forth good works in an evil way.”

We behave like hypocrites when we flaunt our giving in public, when that act of benevolence could have easily been accomplished in private…

This is one reason why we don’t “Pass the offering plate” here in our worship services…it’s just too tempting to crave recognition for that big check you’re dropping in the plate…

It’s also too tempting to judge someone else as to what they may – or may not be – putting in the offering plate.

Let’s allow everything about our lives to point – not to ourselves – but to Jesus.

I believe this can also apply to the kind of legacy we leave after we pass away.

I love the lyrics of the song “Only Jesus” by Casting Crowns:

The chorus goes like this: “I don’t want to leave a legacy, I don’t care if they remember me…only Jesus. And I’ve only got one life to live, I’ll let every second point to him…only Jesus.

Many people my age have told me that one of the things they are striving for is to leave a legacy for decades after they pass away…

They want to be remembered for some great accomplishment, or some large donation they may have given to a hospital…or a school…or a church.

Within the natural man is a desire to leave a lasting impact with the living after we are gone – to be posthumously admired, so to speak.

Someday when God calls me home…. I don’t want to be remembered for the things I’ve personally done – I want to be remembered for the things my personal savior has done for me…

I don’t want my name on a plaque in a sanctuary somewhere…

I don’t want my picture on a wall…

I don’t ever want my name or my image to be a distraction….If people think about me after I’m gone, I’d like for their thoughts to quickly turn to my savior…and meditate upon His goodness & His mercy & His love.

When believers gather together for worship, my prayer is that the focus will always be on just one name….

The name above all names…the only name that has the power to save our souls from eternal Hell.…and the name of that person is Jesus Christ!

Let’s look at verse 5 (Matthew 6:5) Here, Jesus transitions from the subject of giving to the subject of prayer.

These passages are some of the most well-known passages in the Bible as they contain the most famous prayer the world has ever known – generally referred to as “The Lord’s Prayer.”

Many theologians like to call the prayer in this passage “The Disciple’s Prayer” because Jesus was actually teaching his disciples as to how one should structure their thoughts when coming before the Lord in prayer.

What many people consider to be the true “Lord’s Prayer” is in John chapter 17 where Jesus comes before the Father shortly before his arrest in an intense and intimate intercession for his disciples – those individuals who will begin the church of Jesus Christ.

So, however one wants to title this prayer in verses 9-13, it is a beautiful prayer…and it serves to provide a very useful framework for our daily prayers.

… a template for how our prayers ought to be constructed.

Pastor & theologian John MacArthur has this to say about the Lord’s (Or the Disciple’s) Prayer:

“This prayer is not meant to be a set group of words to repeat. It is fine to recite it, as we recite many parts of scripture. It is certainly fine to memorize it and to rehearse it in our minds and meditate on it in our hearts. But it is not so much a prayer in itself as it is a skeleton which believers are to flesh out with their own words of praise, adoration, petitions, and so on. It is not a substitute for our own prayers but a guide for them.”

Before diving into this brief, yet comprehensive prayer, let’s back up and take a look at the beginning verses of this section on prayer…beginning with verse 5 (Matthew 6:5)

Here we see Jesus instructing us, again, to separate ourselves from the hypocritical Pharisees who wanted to be noticed for their long, pious sounding prayers…

They wanted to “wow” people with their mastery of impressive words & intellectual language while standing on the busiest intersection of town where they would be noticed by as many people as possible.

Do you remember the story Jesus told in Luke chapter 18 about the Pharisee and the tax collector who were both praying in the temple?

Full of pride, the Pharisee just prays about himself and how relieved he is to not be like those loathsome sinners…whereas the tax collector who was overcome with grief over his sinful profession pleads for God’s mercy.

Jesus tells us that it was the man of humility (The tax collector) who went home justified before God that day.

Our public prayers should be an outflow of our private prayers.

Have you ever heard the phrase: “Sing like no one’s listening”?...or…”Dance like no one’s watching”?

The same holds true for our prayers in public. Prayer is always meant to be a heart-felt conversation between us and God – and just because other people might be present, it doesn’t mean we should change our prayers to make them longer…or more impressive sounding…or more formal.

Jesus speaks to this in verse 7 (Matthew 6:7) when he says: “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”

Some of the gentiles of Jesus’ day would engage in long prayers directed toward their made-up gods in the hopes that prayers that went on for hours  would have a better chance of getting a response.

Jesus is telling us not to pray like this.

God isn’t impressed with your long prayers – or your ability to use big words….that’s not what he wants from you.

There’s a famous prayer in the Talmud (A famous Jewish compilation of ancient teachings) that includes 16 adjectives before God’s name is even mentioned…All-powerful, Holy, Righteous, Merciful, sacred, consecrated, venerated, hallowed, revered, divine….etc. etc. etc. (That was just 10)

God simply longs to hear what is on your heart – and He’s provided us with a beautiful template in verses 9-13 for doing just that.

Many of us (Including myself) have the Lord’s Prayer memorized in the King James translation, so the wording of the NIV that we are using this morning may seem a bit different than what you are used to.

…and you may notice that the epilogue “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever…amen” is also omitted.

This is because the earliest (And most reliable documents) did not contain an  epilogue – but there’s certainly nothing wrong with reciting it at the conclusion  of this prayer as it makes a beautiful benediction.

Jesus begins in verse 9 (Matthew 6:9) with “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

The first thing Jesus tells us to do in our prayers is to glorify God.

The word “Hallowed” is an old English word meaning:  ‘greatly revered’ or ‘greatly honored.’

When we say “Hallowed be thy name” we are reverently reflecting God’s greatness back upon Himself – and that is how Jesus tells us to begin our prayers.

How often we forget to do this!

When we pray – IF we pray at all – we launch right in to our daily requests and intercessions….

We tend to blow right by the most important part of coming to God in prayer, which is to - first and foremost - show proper respect and reverence to the almighty creator of the universe.

We sometimes forget that we are conversing with an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present entity…but this entity also refers to Himself as our Father.

It’s interesting that – when addressing God in prayer – Jesus almost always used the term ‘Father’

Since Jesus spoke primarily Aramaic, the word He would have used for ‘father’ would have been the word  “Abba.”….and the closest English translation for ‘Abba’ is our word…. “Daddy.”

Praying to God is such a beautiful paradoxical contrast.

On one hand, we are convening with the all-powerful God of creation deserving of our utmost reverence & awe – and at the same time, Jesus tells us call Him our daddy….like we are young children jumping up into His lap to talk things over.

Remember when I said that Jesus Almost always referred to God as ‘Father’ ?

Well, there was one time when He did not use the term ‘Father’ to address God in a prayer….any thoughts on when that might have been?

It was when Jesus was on the cross taking on the sins of the world.

In Matthew 27:46 he cries out “…My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

It is in this moment of death that Jesus takes upon himself the sins of the world – and these sins (Our sins) momentarily cause the Father to turn away from the Son, breaking the bond they had shared from eternity past.

It was in that moment of spiritual separation and anguish that Jesus could no longer call God his Father…his daddy.

Fortunately, for us, their relationship was forever restored on account of Jesus being the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

After being resurrected, Jesus again refers to God as his father.

He says in Acts 1:4 “….do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.”

The next phrase in the Lord’s prayer concerns how we ought to always remember to pray for the return of Jesus.

Verse 10 (Matthew 6:10) of our passage says: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

The idea of God’s Kingdom coming not only refers to the return of Jesus at the end of the Tribulation as he ushers in the Millennial Kingdom, but it also refers to the reign and rule of God in our lives today.

We need to pray that the Kingdom would come in the form of obedience in His children, as well as through many souls coming to Christ through conversion.

Verse 11 (Matthew 6:11) begins the second half of the prayer that focuses on our petitions and needs.

“Our daily bread” not only represents food, but is also symbolic of all of our physical needs in life….not our physical greeds – but our needs.

Things like clothing, shelter, a vehicle of some kind…all of these things are physical needs that we ought to be acknowledging God for graciously providing to us – AND to express our gratitude every day for these wonderful blessings!

Verse 12 (Matthew 6:12) expresses our greatest need – not food or clothing – but forgiveness.

Whether the wording is debts, or trespasses, or as in Luke’s account of the Lord’s Prayer, “Sins” (Luke 11:4) – Jesus is reminding us that we need to be asking God for forgiveness on a regular basis.

1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Asking forgiveness implies confession.

And to confess basically means that we are in agreement with God concerning His moral requirements, as well as our failure to live up to those requirements through our sinful actions or attitudes.

We agree with God that our sinful actions are wicked, and evil, and defiling…and have no part in those who belong to Him.

Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross once for all sins, but that does not exempt us from the need to come before God on a regular basis to ask forgiveness for those sins.

Not only does forgiveness flow on a vertical level with God, but also on a horizontal level with each other.

The second half of verse 12 (Matthew 6:12) says “….as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

We forgive others when they have slighted us, because we ourselves have been forgiven for sinning against a holy & righteous God.

This concept of horizontal-forgiveness was so important that Jesus spends more time explaining it before moving on to the next main topic in his sermon.

In verses 14 and 15 of our passage (Matthew 6:14-15) Jesus gives us a simple principle: If we forgive others, we ourselves will be forgiven – but if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us.

Do you remember the parable of the wicked servant in Matthew chapter 18?

The servant owed the King a large sum of money…he begged for mercy before the King, and the King took mercy on the servant and cancelled his debt.

The servant, however, then went to someone who owed him money and had him thrown into prison when it was revealed the borrower could no longer pay back the debt.

When the king finds out about what the servant had done, he had the servant tortured and thrown into prison until he paid back what he owed.

The king tells the servant in Matthew 18:33 “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”

The next time we are tempted to withhold mercy and forgiveness from someone, we need to keep in mind that God has graciously extended mercy & forgiveness to us – and He continues to do so.

Lastly, in verse 13 (Matthew 6:13) of our passage, Jesus tells us to pray for deliverance from things and situations that will tempt us to sin.

You know the environment – the people - and the places where you are most likely to succumb to sin.

Not only do you know where your armor is the weakest, but so does your adversary, the Devil….and he will do everything in his power to expose those areas of weakness – over, and over, and over again.

This is why we pray for deliverance from temptation….we pray for the strength to reject the things in life that so easily tempt us to sin.

Part of that answer to prayer is us using our two feet to move in the opposite direction of where the temptation is coming from.

At one of the ‘No Regrets’ men’s breakout sessions, the teacher was telling about one time when he was working out at the local gym – actually listening to praise music…everything was going great –

When suddenly this attractive, scantily-clad woman comes over and begins doing her stretches literally right in front of him.

At this point, he knows that a temptation to have impure thoughts has just landed on his radar, and he begins to get upset with God.

God, why would you allow this scenario of potential unholiness to come right in my path when I was being a good boy and minding my own business…?

Then, the Holy Spirit reminded him of a simple verse in Acts chapter 3 (Acts 3:19) “Repent then, and TURN to God….”

That word “Turn” was the key….

Deliverance from temptation in his case just required him to use his feet to physically turn himself around, and viola!...the temptation was no longer a factor.

Sometimes God is simply telling us that deliverance is as easy as turning around – to walk in the opposite direction of temptation, no matter what that temptation may be in your life.

In conclusion, Let’s do our giving secretly so as to collect a heavenly reward rather than simply doing it to obtain earthly recognition.

Also, let’s use the prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 as a framework for all of our prayers...Glorify God first, then progress to what else is on your heart.

…remember to confess sins & ask for forgiveness…remember to forgive others and turn away from sinful environments…

remember that you are a child of the most high God, and that your heavenly Father (your Daddy) loves you – and He longs to hear from you every day.

Let’s Pray.