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Matthew 6 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

by Heritage Press · 2,520 words · 364 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Beware of practicing your righteousness
0:02before men to be noticed by them.
0:05Otherwise, you have no reward with your
0:08father who is in heaven. So when you
0:10give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet
0:13before [music] you as the hypocrites do
0:15in the synagogues and in the streets, so
0:19that they may be honored by men. Truly,
0:21I say to you, they have their reward in
0:24full.
0:26But when you give to the poor, do not
0:28let your left hand know what your right
0:29hand is doing, so that your giving will
0:33be in secret, and your father, who sees
0:37what is done in secret, will reward you.
0:41When you pray, you are not to be like
0:44the hypocrites, for they love to stand
0:46and pray in the synagogues and on the
0:49street corners, [music] so that they may
0:51be seen by men. Truly, I say to you,
0:54they have their reward in full. But you,
0:57when you pray, go into your inner room,
1:00close your door, [music] and pray to
1:02your father who is in secret. And your
1:04father, who sees what is done in secret,
1:06will reward you.
1:09And when you are praying, do not use
1:11meaningless repetition as the Gentiles
1:14[music] do, for they suppose that they
1:16will be heard for their many words. So
1:20do not be like them. For your father
1:23knows what you need before you ask.
1:27Pray then in this way. Our Father, who
1:31is in heaven, hallowed be your name,
1:34your kingdom come, your will be done on
1:37earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
1:40day our daily bread. And forgive us our
1:43debts as we also forgive our debtors.
1:46And do not lead us into temptation, but
1:49deliver us from evil. For yours is the
1:52kingdom and the power and the glory
1:54forever. Amen. For if you forgive others
1:59for their transgressions, your heavenly
2:02father will also forgive you. But if you
2:04do not forgive others, then your father
2:07will not forgive your transgressions.
2:12This first part of chapter 6 is a
2:14continuation of the sermon on the mount.
2:16Jesus has not stopped preaching. And in
2:20the previous sections, we saw that God
2:22gave the attitudes that mark the
2:26progression of repentance and growth in
2:28righteousness. Then we saw that he gave
2:32us the courage to let our light shine
2:34even when we're persecuted.
2:36Then we saw that he began to focus on
2:39what prevents the kingdom in terms of
2:42our friction with one another. He our
2:46anger, our grudges, our lust, our
2:48dishonesty. So he focused on our
2:51relationships one another with one
2:52another because we can't have a kingdom
2:54of one. It's a community. It's a
2:58network. It's a unity among people. And
3:01then he focused on how we respond to the
3:04state and evil people and told us not to
3:08become like evil in our fight against
3:10evil, but to be like our father and give
3:13kindness and forgiveness and greeting to
3:16people who don't seem to deserve it. And
3:19now in this section, he's going to focus
3:22on one of the most powerful tools that
3:25ruins human behavior,
3:28our motivation. We want the praises of
3:32men. We do what we do for the wrong
3:36reason. And this hearkens back to the
3:39persecution question. When we start
3:42doing the right thing, we don't get the
3:44praises of men. But when we start doing
3:47the wrong thing, we often times do get
3:49the praises of men. So he says, "Here
3:52are all the things that you do that look
3:55godly and righteous, but you do them for
3:57the wrong motivation.
3:59When you give, you give to be seen. When
4:02you pray, you pray to be heard by by
4:05men. You want what others you want
4:08others approval. And as Paul would later
4:11say, if I am still trying to please men,
4:13I am no longer a servant of God. This is
4:16what ruins the church. This is what
4:19ruins the community. This is what gets
4:22us off the track of real righteousness,
4:25of real transformation in becoming more
4:28like God. The world doesn't like it. Our
4:32neighbors don't like it. And we're not
4:35going to get the best praise from the
4:39world and from the flesh if we do what
4:42is right. So we have to resolve in our
4:44hearts why we are doing it. And Jesus is
4:48saying you've got to be doing it for
4:51your father who is in heaven. You've got
4:53to be doing it because you want the the
4:57reward and the praise and the acceptance
4:59of he who sees in secret. You cannot
5:04walk out the repentance transformation.
5:07You cannot become a kingdom person, a
5:11kingdom citizen, if you are still
5:14controlled by peer pressure, by public
5:17opinion. You just cannot. Whenever you
5:21fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the
5:24hypocrites do, for they neglect their
5:27appearance, so that they will be noticed
5:30by men when they are fasting. Truly, I
5:34say to you, they have their reward in
5:36full. But you, when you fast, anoint
5:39your head and wash your face. So that
5:43your fasting will not be noticed by men,
5:46but by your father who is in secret, and
5:50your father who sees what is done in
5:53secret will reward you. Do not store up
5:57for yourselves treasures on earth.
6:00So now he's going to tell us another
6:03motivation that human beings are
6:07investors and they are hoarders.
6:11They don't want to lose the value of
6:14what they worked for yesterday. They
6:16want yesterday's efforts to help out and
6:19make today's efforts easier. That's the
6:22principle of investment. That what I
6:24worked on yesterday is still working for
6:27me today. But is it working for me in
6:30the bank of public opinion? Is it
6:33working for me in the opinions of my
6:35peers? Or is it working for me in the
6:38bank of God's opinion in secret? Is it
6:42working for me in how he views me? So
6:45this motivation of where our treasure
6:47is, of where our value is, is another
6:51powerful tool. And this works hand in
6:53hand with the wrong motivation of peer
6:56and public opinion. [snorts] Do not
6:58store up for yourselves treasure on
7:01earth where moth and rust destroy and
7:04where thieves break in and steal. But
7:08store up for yourselves treasure in
7:09heaven where neither moth nor rust
7:12destroys and where thieves do not break
7:15in or steal. For where your treasure is,
7:18there your heart will be also.
7:22Whatever you designate as valuable,
7:25whatever you give your time to most,
7:27your emotions to most, your attention to
7:31most, your training to most, your
7:33efforts to most, whatever, wherever your
7:36treasure is, there your soul is going to
7:39be forever. There your heart will be
7:42also. The eye is the lamp of the body.
7:46So then if your eye is clear, your whole
7:48body will be full of light.
7:51But if your eye is bad, your whole body
7:53will be full of darkness. If then the
7:56light that is in you is darkness, how
7:58great is the darkness? No one can serve
8:01two masters. For either he will hate the
8:04one and love the other, or he will be
8:05devoted to the one and despise the
8:07other. you cannot serve God and wealth.
8:12So in this section, he's telling us that
8:15there's another motivation. There's the
8:17currency of human opinion and there's
8:19the currency of money and money is
8:22power.
8:24Money is what you put down on the table
8:26when you want something and somebody
8:28said no. And you said, "Well, how about
8:30now?" And suddenly you can have what you
8:32want. Money is power.
8:36And so he's telling us that
8:39the way we look at money and people, our
8:44eye is our lamp. It's not just our
8:46window. It's our lamp. Our perspective
8:51turns the light on. And through our
8:54perspective, we see the world. And if
8:57our eye is bad, meaning if if we have
9:00division and more than one purpose,
9:04then our body is going to be full of
9:05darkness. But if our eye is good, which
9:08means single here, if our our vision is
9:12single, we're only going to have one
9:14purpose. Now, James talks about this. He
9:17says, "A double-minded man receives
9:19nothing from the Lord."
9:21So when we are double-minded, we have a
9:23bad vision. We are trying to serve God
9:25and oursel.
9:28We are trying to put the first priority
9:29of love and the first priority of money.
9:32And those two do not agree. That's a bad
9:35eye. And when our eye is divided, when
9:38our vision is divided, that's called
9:40division.
9:42It's called duplicity. It's the opposite
9:45of simplicity.
9:48And that's what brings darkness into our
9:50life. That's what brings dishonesty.
9:52That's what brings fog, unclearlarity.
9:56That's what brings confusion. That's
9:58where we don't know where we're going.
10:00And in that darkness, we stumble. We
10:02make the wrong choices.
10:05But the eye can be good. Meaning, it can
10:08be of a single purpose. To be like our
10:11father, to be noticed by him, rewarded
10:14by him, and express him to others. That
10:18is single focus.
10:20Verse 25 he talks about anxiety. Now
10:26this is another thing that derails us
10:28from the attitudes derails us from the
10:32love from the sacrifice from this new
10:35repented way of living. It's our fears.
10:38It's our anxieties.
10:40He says for this reason because he
10:43doesn't want our eye to be full of
10:45darkness and our life to be full of
10:47darkness and because we cannot serve two
10:49masters. He says, "For this reason I say
10:52to you, do not be worried about your
10:55life
10:58as to what you will eat or what you will
11:00drink, nor for your body as to what you
11:04will put on. Is not life more than food,
11:08and the body more than clothing? Look at
11:11the birds of the air that they do not
11:14sow nor reap nor gather into barns and
11:18yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are
11:21you not worth more than they are? This
11:25taps back into his prayer when he says,
11:29"Don't pray like the Gentiles. Pray with
11:32the conviction that your heavenly father
11:34knows you and what you need." Well, now
11:36he's come into this idea that worry and
11:39anxiety,
11:41like money and like peer pressure is one
11:44of the primary disruptions of the
11:46kingdom in our life.
11:49Don't do that. Get back to trust that if
11:53God cares for the little bird, he cares
11:55for me.
11:57And he uses this word worth. He says,
12:01you are worth something.
12:03You're not forgotten. You're not
12:06neglected.
12:08God made you. And he made you in his
12:10image. And if he knows how to care for a
12:13sparrow, he knows how to care for you.
12:15In God's eyes, you have worth. And
12:20anything that tells you otherwise is not
12:22the voice of the father. It's the voice
12:24of his enemy.
12:26And then he asks this question. And who
12:30of you being worried can add a single
12:34hour to his life? He's saying, "How does
12:37that worry work for you? Have you ever
12:39actually improved anything through
12:42anxiety?"
12:44If you if you could answer Jesus and
12:46say, "I added two hours to my life." He
12:49might think that your worry was worth
12:50something. But he says, "You never
12:52changed anything for good by even one
12:55hour." So he's telling us, not only is
12:57worry a distrust in God, it's a waste.
13:01You don't get anything by it.
13:06And then he says, "And why are you
13:08worried about your clothing? Observe how
13:10the liies of the field grow. They do not
13:13toil, nor do they spin. Yet I say to you
13:17that not even Solomon in all his glory
13:19clothed himself like one of these. But
13:22if God clothe the grass of the field
13:25which is alive today and tomorrow is
13:27thrown into the furnace,
13:30will he not much more clothe you? You of
13:32little faith.
13:35So now he's brought in fashion. Because
13:37when people worry about their clothes,
13:40they're not worrying about the physical
13:42necessity of protection from the
13:44elements.
13:45They're worrying about identity. Your
13:48clothing gives your identity. especially
13:50in the Bible. Of course, it's just as
13:52much today. And so, you're saying, "Am I
13:56content with my father's approval of my
13:59life? Am I content with my reward that
14:02he gives me in secret? Am I content with
14:05being his child? Or do I need the
14:09acceptance of men?" The same acceptance
14:12that the Pharisee sought in his long
14:14prayer. The same acceptance that the
14:17showy rich man sought in giving to the
14:20poor where others saw. The same
14:22acceptance that he's been talking about
14:24this whole time. It can come into the
14:27way we dress. And if we're dressing in
14:30order to get the approval of men, we are
14:33neglecting the approval of God. Then he
14:37goes on and he says,"Do
14:39not worry then, saying, 'What will we
14:42eat
14:43or what will we drink or what will we
14:46wear for clothing? For the Gentiles
14:49eagerly seek all these things, for your
14:53heavenly Father knows that you need all
14:56these things.
14:59But seek first his kingdom and his
15:01[music] righteousness,
15:03and all these things will be added to
15:06you. So do not worry about tomorrow, for
15:10tomorrow will care for itself. Each day
15:13has enough trouble of its own. In these
15:17last verses of chapter 6, Jesus is
15:20reminding us that everything he's saying
15:23is a constitution, a road map for
15:26[music] the kingdom.
15:29Everything he's describing are the
15:32things that pull us away from the
15:33kingdom. And they must [music] be put on
15:35the scales. Kingdom life or all these
15:39other things. And if we're going to
15:41chase after these things, we will not
15:44know the life, the the reality of God's
15:48kingdom in our time, the righteousness,
15:51peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit that
15:54defines his kingdom in our daily lives.
15:58So, we're either going to have all these
16:00things like the Gentiles or we're not
16:03going to be a Gentile. We're going to
16:04come into the covenant of his kingdom.
16:07We're going to come into his family.
16:09We're going to belong and we're going to
16:11know that our [music] reward is coming
16:13from our father. That is our identity.
16:16That is our provision. That is our
16:19protection. And all the things that used
16:22to bend us out of shape and derail us
16:24from our purpose, they don't have to
16:27anymore because God is freeing us from
16:31the core
16:33slavery that lives inside of all of us.
16:36It's not a slavery of turning the cheek
16:38to a Roman [music] soldier or giving him
16:41a cloak or carrying his pack. It's the
16:44slavery of living for our self. It's the
16:48tyranny [music] of self-will and
16:49self-preservation.
16:51And that fear of dying, that fear of
16:54selfpreservation
16:55is how the devil controls our lives. And
16:58Jesus is trying to unbind us from those
17:01tentacles of fear and control and
17:05anxiety and pride that prevent [music]
17:08the kingdom.

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