Matthew 7:1-5 Remove the Plank!

 Matthew 7:1-5  Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye," when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

As bruised vessels ourselves, we do judge.  Of course, we consider our judgments and criticisms rational, appropriate.  But most of us humans are not completely perfect or sound.  We are like some apples: we look good in a quick once over, but somewhere we have been bruised.  This mar makes us rather unpredictable in our behavior and judgments of others.  As with bruised apples, we definitely are not number one quality.  We have shortcomings that might not be detected on the outside, but inside we are bruised.  Visibly bruised apples are undesirable, sold last or not at all in the marketplace.  Sadly, most people have bruises somewhere in their souls, the judging and criticism of others sometimes originate from these imperfections.  If we put down others with our words, we lift ourselves up in our own eyes and maybe in the eyes of others.  By pushing others aside with our words, we feel we can shoulder our way to the front of the line in acceptability, using words to garner recognition as wise, stable, and healthy.  But Jesus candidly says, be careful about judging for in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  In other words, if you let your soul judge other people’s failures, imperfections, be careful; for God can bring your bruises, your shortcomings, to the surface.  God knows everything about you.  He knows when you are phony; He knows when you are hiding your true identity; He knows the dark spots in your life.  Therefore, avoid showing off by criticizing others, for in the same way, God can judge your life.  It is much better to give grace and mercy for the other person’s failings, just as you would want grace and mercy for your own weaknesses.  A major problem with judging or being hypercritical of others is that we often do not know that we ourselves have been permanently bruised by events and words in our past.  We think our judgments come out of a healthy place, but they might emanate from  unhealthy experiences in our own lives.  Sometimes people who seem very stable under normal circumstances, change radically in environments that threaten or diminish them.  People might seem healthy and calm in situations where the water is not rough, where everything is quite predictable, but when conflict arises or when interactions become soiled with harsh, threatening words, the bruises in the souls of people rise to the surface.  The milieu of calmness and self-control disappears; the orderliness and predictability of their demeanors fade into emotional reactions and words.  The bruising in the souls spills out quickly with criticisms and judgments of others.  Often, these negative, reflexive attitudes toward others are indicative of people’s own failings and struggles, flowing from bruised egos acquired early in their lives, from negative words and actions directed towards them when very young.  Negativity and neglect bruise little ones; harsh discipline hinders the human spirit.  For most people, lost in their consciousness are the bruises in their souls.  Consequently, Jesus says beware, Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  Often, we carry planks in our eyes unaware that our vision is clouded by hurts and bruises.  God wants us in communion with our fellow Christians.  John wrote, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have FELLOWSHIP with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  (1 John 1:7)

When we know our wholeness, completeness, and perfection come from the Lord, we are healthy in our perspective of ourselves and others.  We know He holds us in his hands.  We are like words in parenthesis.  He is the parenthesis around our lives; we are IN HIM, totally enveloped in his life and will, not ours.  He hides us within himself.  Therefore before God, Christians are perfect, for we are IN HIS SON.  As the Bible says, For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  (Colossians 3:3)  If we do not consider that true, we have a salvation made up of works, but if we know that in Christ, under his mercy and grace, we are complete, we do not judge others.  We are not made complete by our own works.  Consequently, if we say let me help you with that speck in your eye, beware, for we might not be aware of the planks in our own eyes.  We might not understand who we really are without the perfection of Jesus Christ.  In our journeys on Earth, we are still fully human even with Christ as the center of our lives.  We make mistakes and our perspectives can be very human and ungodly; therefore, if we attempt to judge others, we are moving in the fleshly domain not in the Spirit.  Christ brings perfection, we cannot.  All of us carry planks in some way or the other.  In ourselves we have egos built on experiences that build up a false sense of self-sufficiency.  We must understand this reality or we end up in the land of the hypocrites.  The world often labels Christians that way when we are too ready to judge, lacking understanding of how our words and deeds might sound and look to others.  We must be careful when we are too ready to tell the world, Let me take the speck out of your eye.  We are saved, yes, but still fleshly beings, with the common desires of this life pressing on us from all sides.  We might have a big plank in our own eyes, either visible to the world or within our secret lives.  Recently, some of our Christian leaders have been exposed as hypocrites, telling the world about its specks, but at the same time having planks within their own eyes, pursuing fleshly sins.  Jesus says, You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.  We are all in the same boat, subject to rumor and gossip, living lives that are not necessarily healthy, viewing things on our televisions and computers that are not good and wholesome, passing on information that has not been verified.  We are willing to take the speck out of other people’s eyes, but we have a plank of obstruction in our own eyes.  Humans are human, the wilderness life is the wilderness life!  How can we Christians avoid falling into this trap of fleshly pursuits and thinking?  Of course, the answer is within the parenthesis: live Christ’s life for his purposes, be his ambassador in this world, be servants to all, extend grace and mercy even to our enemies.  By setting yourself up each day to do those things, you have a chance to avoid negative judgments of others, knowing that your dependence is upon the mercy and grace that God gives to you every day.  We agree with Paul when he wrote: I can do all this through him who gives me strength.  (Philippians 4:13)

When we are incessantly critical and judgmental, we need to consider the law of grace.  Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.  Mercy triumphs over judgment.  (James 2:12-13)  James understood that grace has freed us from the strictures of the law of Moses.  The law of Moses pointed out our wrongdoings, but the law of grace is laden with freedom and mercy.  When we deal with others and their shortcomings, we should deal with them in the land of grace and not law.  The land of grace is where we found rightness with God, and that is where we want to be when we view other people’s lives.  As said earlier, all people have experienced the rough edges of this life.  Many have been bruised by others; many are not even aware of their bruises that happened to them in their early lives, but they are still there, and their reaction to circumstances and to others might come from those hurts.  Why judge others?  Consider God’s mercy to us; look at the price Christ paid to make us acceptable in every way to him.  Gossiping about others is sometimes an extension of judging, placing ourselves in a “know it all” position.  Other times, gossiping can be nothing more that elevating ourselves within a group.  The tongue can be destructive, turning the whole conversation within a group to negativity.  The Bible says, no human being can tame the tongue.  It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  (James 3:8)  This is not good—such power can harm the subject or subjects of the gossip and the source.  In everything we say or do, we must consider the mercy of God towards us.  If we do not, we fall into the category of hypocrite, for God knows our lives, and someday He will judge even the secrets we hold so tightly to ourselves.  If our lives do not line up to the purity that we claim, we will be judged harshly as hypocrites, especially when we fail to forgive others for the same faults that lie within us.  Let us strive to see clearly through the lens of mercy and grace.  When we do, we will see clearly to remove the speck in others after first attending to the planks in our own eyes.  By giving God’s grace and mercy, we have an avenue to heal the inner part of a person’s soul.  If we push them, they will push back, but if we love them regardless of their faults, healing has a chance to change their hearts from fleshly actions to devotion to God.  Breakfast companions, all of this is easy to say, but as Paul said,  And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.  (1 Corinthians 2)  God’s spirit in us wants to give the world his abundant love, not to constantly look for specks so that we might judge the world.  Christ made us whole, the cross cleansed us.  Let us pray that others will be made whole, perfect before God’s eyes.  We close with these wonderful words penned by John, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  (1 John 3:1)  

Matthew 6:25-34 Do Not Worry!

Matthew 6:25-34  Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?  And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the flowers of the field grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The words above are beautiful, for they tell us the Father is with us at all times.  Of course, for us who are finite with a definite end on this earth, this a primary concern.  Will God take care of us if we trust completely in him?  Is He that much with us and in us that we can place all our trust in him to take care of us as a good father would?  We know the Bible says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.  (Proverbs 3:5-6)  Jesus tells us that we are more important than the birds of the air: Are you not much more valuable than they?  Do we believe this or do we need to worry about what is happening today or might happen tomorrow?  Worrying is the operative word in today’s focus.  WE ALL WORRY!  If we were going to cross an eight lane freeway during commute time in a major city, we would worry about crossing to the other side without getting hit.  We would plan how to get safely to the other side.  If we went into the forest to hunt mushrooms for our dinner with little knowledge of mushrooms, we would worry about picking the wrong mushrooms.  If our child did not come home from school at her regular time and is still not home at midnight, we would worry.  Jesus tells us that Each day has enough trouble (worry) of its own.  Definitely, people worry.  Life can trouble us so much that our days and hours can be spent in thinking about what might happen in the future.  Our problem as Christians becomes very serious when we lose faith in God’s everyday presence, picking our way through life by our own strength and ability.  The burden of life becomes too much for us under those circumstances.  In fact in certain situations if we are inundated with worrying, we can become catatonic, unable to think, move, or plan.  Worrying can stress us to the point of deep depression, making us seek our bed, finding comfort only in inaction, afraid that any move might be the wrong one.  Jesus in the above focus recognizes our humanity with the fears of life, but we should trust that God knows our circumstances.  If our refrigerators are full of food, we can appreciate that we should not worry about food.  If our closets are crammed with clothes and shoes, we accept Jesus’ words that we should not concern ourselves about clothes.  If shelter is assured for us today and for many years ahead, we gladly accept what Jesus said about not worrying about tomorrow.  When our assets are plenty, we can sing the song that God’s eye is on the sparrow with others who are well supplied by God.  Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  (Matthew 10:29)  We have songs that we sing passionately on Sunday morning about placing everything on the altar before God.  Of course, our clothes are cleaned and pressed, the morning shower has made our bodies clean, and our hair is just right for others to see us.  Why take thought for tomorrow, for we have all the food, clothes, and shelter that we need.  But our minds and situations deceive us, for we think we are living by faith, but in reality, we are living more by our senses than faith.  Older Christians remember the hymn, “I Surrender All."  But do we surrender all or just what we know is backed up by the realities of our lives, giving what will not hurt us.   Our work schedules, our recreation time, our freedom in life is spent more for ourselves than for God’s agenda.  We press in as much as we can to get the most out of life for our personal benefit.  We labor or spin for our benefit, not for others.

In today’s scriptures, Jesus focuses us on living for God by faith rather than as at the pagans live.  For the world runs after satisfying their wants and needs as they journey through this life with little or no thought for others or spiritual realities.  They do worry about What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  These concerns are satisfied by their reason for living: eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.  When Jesus talks about the foolish rich man’s life, he relates how tragic a life is when it is lived for selfish reasons.  Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do.  I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years.  Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’  But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.  Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’  “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”  (Luke 12:18-21)  If we realistically analyzed our lives, how far from the fool’s life are we in our existence?  Are we living today for God or are we considering tomorrow, storing up as much as we can for ourselves so that we do not have to worry?  Do we work for retirement or are we working today for God because we are rich for God’s agenda?  Do we really believe our heavenly Father knows what we need?  Are our thoughts today fixed on God and on his reasons for us to be alive?  Do we daily seek first his kingdom and his righteousness?  Of course these are difficult questions for us to answer, for the world is pressing in on us from every side, but this is what Jesus is getting at in the above focus, Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life; Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.  We should not live our lives following the world’s patterns.  Without Christ, people focus on fleshly pursuits on eating, drinking and being merry, but our lives should be centered on God, bringing glory to him by serving him daily, believing his provisions for our lives will be enough.  We should heed John’s words, For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  (1 John 2:16)

Understanding the pressures of the world, trusting in God does not mean that we do not plan.  The Bible is full of planning.  Paul’s planned his trips; Jesus’ journeys were planned.  God planned every part of their lives, and also gave them wisdom and reason.  As children of God with the mind of Christ, we also plan but with the thought, not my will but yours, Lord.  God has given us the ability to plan, to reason, to seek out what is best for us or conversely what is not best for us.  Eve planned to eat of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.  As Jesus sends his disciples to the communities of Israel, He warns, Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.  (Matthew 10:16 KJV)  Jesus had a plan for them, but they needed to make good decisions.  Some people believe that God will just take care of us without any planning at all; our cupboards will be full; our clothing will be adequate; our shelter will be enough.  We believe God can do all of that, but God gave human beings the ability to choose.  We are not automatons, robots, maneuvered by the Master of the Universe.  We are people who can think, understand, plan, and choose rightly.  We have been made in God’s image to follow his will and word the best we can.  But we are not just puppets on a string.  The glory of humans is that they are free to choose God’s agenda or they can choose their own way.  Our scripture passage tells us that God will take care of us if we wholeheartedly follow him.  He tells us that this present life is not really that important.  The things that the pagans strive for in life are not eternal.  Those who reject God fool themselves by living careless, self-serving lives.  God has something greater for his children who live lives of generosity and self-sacrifice—a place prepared for them in heaven.  A believer’s life might not look very attractive to the world, but it is a life worth living.  Paul said of his life that he had learned the secret of contentment in Christ as he yielded his life to him.   I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.  (Philippians 4:12-13)   As Christ lived, as the apostles lived, we also should strive to live in the land of faith.  They were mistreated, thirsty, hungry and homeless many times, but God was always there for them.  They felt anxiety, fear and hopelessness.  We see Peter’s fear in the courtyard of the High Priest; we see Paul as he said in 2 Corinthians 6 with sleepless nights, hunger, hardships and distresses; we see John the Baptist beheaded; James killed by the sword; Jesus crying out on the cross: About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,  lama sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)  (Matthew 27:46)  These people lived with the love of God in their hearts by the will of God, by faith.  As Paul said about his life, known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.  (2 Corinthians 6:9-10)  We who are living IN CHRIST and FOR CHRIST live in the center of God’s will, always before his eyes.  We are his children, and for us life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes?  IN CHRIST, we do not labor or spin.  And as Jesus said about his followers, Peter, John, Paul, and all the rest of us, we are dressed in splendor that Solomon could not even imagine.  God bless you today.  

    

Matthew 6:22-24 The Eye Is a Lamp!

 Matthew 6:22-24  The eye is the lamp of the body.  If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  “No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and money.

How can an eye be a lamp?  A lamp generates its own light, an eye just takes in light.  Jesus in the above words is nailing down his teaching on where our treasure is stored.  Is our primary purpose in life to fulfill our fleshly desires or to know God?  Our way of living connotes very well with Jesus’ metaphor of the lamp.  What is primary in our lifestyles; what is central in our thinking and actions?  Is our lamp healthy?  if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If our lives are dedicated only to ourselves, gleaning the most out of life for our self-centered reasons, we will lose the real purpose for living.  By seeking our self-interests, we actually lose our lives.  We are storing up treasure here on Earth, where moths and vermin destroy, where thieves can break in and steal as we read last week.  If our treasure is of this world, there is no servanthood in that life, for our lamps are dark.  Jesus says, that existence is exceptionally dark, so dark that we cannot fully understand the depths of such a condition.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  The prophet Jeremiah expresses it this way: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?  (Jeremiah 17:9)  A life centered on self is a desperate life.  The Bible clearly states that it is dead to God.  Mammon cannot be the purpose of our lives or we are not really living.  We might deceive ourselves by emphasizing the goodness in our lives, but the eye is still unhealthy because it is not totally committed to a LIVING GOD.   We are like the rich who give to the temple treasury that which is the excess of their lives, that which is not really needed to sustain their lives.  But the widow Jesus told about who put in everything—all she had to live on is living with a good bulb in her lamp, illuminating her whole existence.  (Mark 12:44)  She is completely sold out to God.  Her treasure is not on Earth, but in heaven.  She trusts the God of heaven to take care of her needs.  The rich men at the temple trusted in their self-sufficiency.  Their bulbs were opaque, not able to display God’s light to the depths of their souls.  How dark is that kind of existence?  Who can know it?  Realistically, only God knows every thought, intention, nanosecond mulling of our hearts.  To please the God of creation, we must have healthy eyes to cleanse our hearts, our inner souls.  We must have THE LIGHT generating in our lamps.  In him was life, and that life was the LIGHT of all mankind.  (John 1:4)  He is the one who lights up the hidden creases in our souls.  He eradicates the sickness of our hearts that brings eternal death.  Jesus, The Light of the World, makes us acceptable to God, white as snow.

When we trust in Christ as the way to live, our treasure shifts from this world to the next world.  Our master shifts from us to him.  We no longer serve our own needs, but his desires.  We know Jesus is completely pleasing to God, and eternal life exists only IN HIM AND THROUGH HIM.  Therefore, we trust in Jesus Christ and not our self-sufficiency.  No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and money.  God sent Jesus into the world to heal our eyes, changing the lamp of the body.  By making the eye healthy, the lamp makes the whole body full of light. The inner recesses of the soul will be new, created in the newness and healthiness of Jesus Christ.  Without this power of God to generate health to every part of our souls through his light, we are still lost in the milieu of the self-centered man with our treasure still here on Earth.  But the Holy Spirit in us is at work within our spirits, encouraging us to place our treasure in heaven where Jesus abides.  The Spirit encourages us to feed our souls the Light, to live for him and not ourselves, to place our affections on the things of heaven and not on this earth.  He teaches us to be true to God, to serve God with our whole heart, to love him and to love others.  Paul tells us how to think, how to live in our minds as new creatures with a new Master.  Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.  (Philippians 4:8-9)  If our treasure is truly in heaven, we will think and act differently.  We can evaluate where we are in the inner recesses of our lives if we desire to dwell only on the positive things of life.  The light of God should make us weary of the lifestyles and actions of the world.  Rather than emulate the celebrities and elite of the world, we should desire to imitate the lives of the apostles, who gave everything for Christ.  They endured hardships and trials of all kinds to propagate the Good News throughout the world.  We should look at them for their treasure was in heaven, not on this earth.  We accept Paul’s prayer that our eyes may be full of light,  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.  (Ephesians 1:18) 

Our inheritance in Christ as God’s children will lead us on wonderful paths.  Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.  Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!”  Immediately the tree withered.  When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.  Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”  (Matthew 21:18-22)  In these verses, Jesus tells the apostles what happens if their treasure is in heaven.  The Light in their souls will cause them to do mighty deeds because of God’s power and light.  As Jesus and the apostles walk to Jerusalem, He seeks fruit from a fig tree.  Finding none, He curses the tree.  Immediately, the fig tree withers.  Jesus did not pray that the fig tree grow stronger and bear an abundance of fruit—He curses it.  The fig tree did not provide provisions for Jesus.  Are we the fig tree—lacking fruit for Christ?  Are our treasures or the intentions and actions of our lives focused on ourselves, not on Jesus and eternal life?  There is no purpose for a fruitless fig tree.  A fig tree should generate fruit, not just exist.  Jesus used this event to tell the disciples that they should have faith to bear fruit.  If they have faith, they can change the landscape in their lives: remove mountains.  They can change what always has been to something new.  They can change the very purpose of their lives, not living for themselves, storing up treasure for themselves; instead, bearing fruit, generating life, changing reality for themselves and for others.  If our eyes are full of darkness, our opaque lamps will fail to sensitize our souls to the Eternal Light.  If our lives are fixed on THE LIGHT because of the healthiness of our eyes, trusting in Jesus, our whole purpose of life will change.  Jesus will find figs on our trees.  With fruit in our lives, we will be capable of feeding many.  We are mountain movers, changing people’s lives, feeding their souls.  We are the movers and the shakers of the world.  Nothing is safe when the mountain movers move in, but Jesus told the disciples that faith is what changes the landscape.  With faith anything is possible, but without faith the tree will just provide a little shade and temporary beauty.  But with faith unlimited, nothing can withstand that kind of power, even the landscape of people’s dead souls.  They will be changed eternally from death to life.  The mountain has been moved.  Of course, Jesus is the ultimate mountain mover; but as followers of Jesus who trust in his power and authority, we can move mountains too as did the apostles.  We will provide people with new eyes, new lamps; so when Jesus evaluates their lives, He will find abundant fruit in them.  But serving the flesh will lead to a darkness so great, who can know it.  There is no positive outcome or destination in serving the flesh. The treasure of this world does not last or satisfy the soul.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  “No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”  You cannot serve both God and money.  People without absolute faith and trust in God will abide alone throughout eternity because of their alienation from the only true Master.  On Earth, they established their personal treasure, fulfilling their bucket lists; but when their lives end, their money, their treasure will be as worthless as Monopoly money.  The Lord, the evaluator of all earthly journeys, will burn their worthless treasure.  The silver and gold of Earth will disappear in smoke.  Only that which endures the testing of fire will exist eternally.  Beloved friends around the breakfast table, mountain movers’ fruit endures the test of fire.  God will say to them, “Enter into the place I prepared for you, my good and faithful servants.  You changed the landscape for many in this world.  Christ found an abundance of fruit in your lives.”  Praise God!   

Matthew 6:19-21 Treasure In Heaven

Matthew 6:19-21  Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Do we really believe these words of Jesus our Lord and God?  We tend to tamp down many of Jesus’ words in our spirits, not letting them come to the surface, such as take no thought for tomorrow, love your neighbor as your love yourself, when forced to go one mile go two, love your enemies, lend money without expecting a return, fast without a show, visit the sick and the prisoner, and so on.  In all of these demands on our lives, we either push them aside or pacify our responsibility to those in need with simple acts such as giving twenty dollars to a man begging on the street.  This gift will probably be mentioned in our next Christian gathering.  Other Christians in the group may look at us with praise for such a generous gift or they might share their concerns about giving to the deadbeats, the non-producers in our society.  But Jesus is still the Lord!  As believers, we should stand on a position of faith, knowing God is real, and He rewards those who follow him with an honest, dedicated heart, without reservation or rationality.  As we saw in last week’s breakfast, Jesus said that we should fast without notoriety, believing the GOD WHO IS WILL REWARD US.  We should fast in secret, knowing that God sees our earnestness, our sincere hearts, in our petitions to him.  Do we really believe that God hears us, do we really believe that He exists, that He has a complete inventory of our lives, what we have done, thought, or said?  Do we believe He has an inventory of all that we possess, our bank accounts, our closets, our garages, our attics, and the like?  If He knows the number of hairs on our heads, He also knows what we possess; He knows our lives from the inside to the outside—nothing can be hidden from him.  We know, without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.  (Hebrews 11:6)  In the above verses, Jesus tells us that our treasure, what we consider vital in our lives, should be stored in heaven.  Everything we are should be in God’s vault, not ours.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  Of course, we cannot literally store all our physical possessions or bank accounts in heaven.  Heaven is an existence that we are not privy to as of now, but heaven is an attitude of the mind: dedication to God and his purposes wholeheartedly, without reservation or tendency to live as the world lives.  Is our home only a tent, our possessions light and few?  Are we ready to move on quickly in this wilderness if God calls us to do so?  If we are, our treasure is in heaven.  Often though our lifestyles are constructed in a different way.  We establish an oasis life, a life centered on our needs, not God’s needs.  No need for manna every day, for we have made sure we have enough provision for every day and many to come.  No need for the Spirit to hover over us during the day or to brighten our nights with his glow, for we are tuned out of his direction in our lives.  We have pounded our tent pegs down deeply in the oasis of our existence.  There, where our treasure is, every entertainment will be ours; every tantalizing experience in life will be ours.  We will fulfill our lives with our bucket list, not God’s.  We count our personal attainments, not God’s blessings.  If our lives are oriented toward self, we are away from God’s direction in our lives; where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

Do we in the Christian world have more of a religious spirit than a belief that God is Lord of our lives?  A religious spirit says maybe it is a good thing to think that God exists; we will serve him in our constructed temple, visiting the temple once a week, maybe gather with others for a Bible study once in a while.  For us these are positive activities, identifying our households as Christian, but often we do not want God invading our personal lives with demands on us, such as telling us to store our treasure in heaven.  We will have a spiritual agenda to appease God: we will include Bible study, prayer, reflection on him, but we ignore his demands to give to the poor or to care for the needy or to look out for our neighbor.  God can be very convenient for some of us as long as our commitment is surface deep; we will even pray for others, but we avoid the more onerous task of caring for others.  Rather than alleviate some of the problems our friend in need has by action and maybe disposing some of our earthly treasure to meet his need, we can use God as an offramp, to get away from actually doing something for him.  How easy it is to say, “I will pray for you,” while not picking up the cross and providing the necessary help for the hurting individual.  Do we actually believe God is real, and that we should not store up for ourselves treasures on Earth where moths and vermin destroy, where thieves break in and steal?  Or is Jesus just a concept, a good idea, a loving Lord who never asks anything from us, but a spiritual devotion?  Is the cost too high if we really pay attention to his words?  What about our personal security, our own welfare?  Treasure is needed if we get sick or lose a job.  If we have given all our earthly treasure to others: to the poor, the indigent, the widows, the helpless, the infirm, what happens to us if we fall into one of those categories?  What if?  The questions for believers are many as we experience the vicissitudes of life.  Do we truly want to be spiritual without others knowing it?  Do we want to store up our wealth in heaven?  What if there is not a heaven?  What if this world is the only life we have?  But as true believers in Jesus Christ, we believe we are encased IN CHRIST, for we have died in him and now we find our lives IN CHRIST for we have been resurrected by him.  The Bible says, For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  (Colossians 3:3)  Our lives are destined for heaven because the Holy Spirit that is resident in us will resurrect us to life ever more, for Jesus is the RESURRECTION.  Because of that, we who are in him possess eternal life as children of the Most High.  God will take care of us—the promise is to us and to the generations that follow us as Christians.    

We are new creatures; we ought to live as new creatures, trusting in the goodness of God.  He knows our bank accounts, our treasures, the clothes hanging in our closets, the stuff piled in our garages or attics.  He has a precise inventory of everything we have.  If He knows the hairs on our heads, He knows where all our goods and money are housed.  Someday we will be reminded of the inventory we possessed as we journeyed through life.  We cannot hide anything from God, even our thoughts.  Where your thoughts are, where your heart is, there is your treasure.  People will destroy their families by seeking after the treasure of sex, status, happiness, security, entertainment, self-gratification.  WHERE YOUR HEART IS THERE IS YOUR TREASURE!  What do you love; what fulfills your day?  How many hours are you on a media device, looking at things, some even harmful to you, AND YOU KNOW IT; but you will protect your treasure fiercely, going after people who disagree with your treasure, your ideas, your lifestyle.  Your treasure has become your life, what you desire in life, how to spend your day.  The treasure you have stored up is appeasing your flesh.  Dear friend, your daily thoughts and the activities that consume you are your treasures.  God knows your treasures, and He knows how possessive you are of them.  But all that you stored up on this earth, thinking they were so important and necessary for you to live happily will someday mean nothing to you.  When you die, what you held so dear here on Earth will not matter.  What will matter will be what you stored up in heaven.  You will realize in your last hours on Earth that much of what you did, the hours you spent with your earthly thoughts, words and activities was a waste of time: where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  You will ask, why did I waste time with this treasure?  Recently Mom’s aunt died.  Her life was spent living for others.  She modeled what Jesus taught, By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.  (John 13:35)  She adopted eleven orphans, some from other lands.  All of these little children were castoffs from the societies and families where they were born.  But Eddie loved them, gave them a home and did the best she could for them.  She also took care of seventy-seven foster children during her time and always had a household full of children.  For many decades she wrote a monthly letter to many missionaries around the world; she also sent this letter to her family and friends.  Every month Eddie’s letters would come with antidotes from her own life as an encouragement to others.  There are many more things she did for children around the world: sending hundreds of shoes to people in other lands, shoes that she bought at discounts from Walmart.  She knitted hundreds of hats and gloves for children around the world, and many more things.  WHERE YOUR HEART IS THERE IS YOUR TREASURE.  Her heart was in heaven, trying to please the Lord by helping people.  All her years, she wanted to please God.  My friend, is your heart in heaven or are you so caught up in the world’s thoughts and ideas that your heart is fixed in this world.  Jesus said emphatically, categorically, for us to avoid the things of this earth and to store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  Eddie and her husband Phil stored up their treasure in heaven, may we all do likewise.  

Matthew 6:16-18 Not My Will!

Matthew 6:16-18  When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting.  Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

How contrary this focus is to the nature of people.  Leaders in every institution and in every cause sometimes desire for people to recognize their importance.  In religious circles, many times the heads of the group must dress in a certain garb.  They are to be recognized as leaders of a religious community by how they dress.  Of course, there can be some good reasons for them looking different from the lay people in their congregations, but there are also some bad reasons in being different from the general parishioners or followers.  Of course, one negative outcome is that religious clothing can do what Jesus said about fasting for show: special clothing separates and points out the “spiritual superiority" of the wearer.  When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting.  Truly, neither fasting to be seen or wearing religious clothes indicates spirituality, for pious character comes from the heart.  Rather than displaying dedication to God, such behavior may indicate a person’s concern about what people think of them.  Fasting so others notice, wearing  special clothing,  even engaging in religious activities for others to see, might be a means of manipulating people for your own purposes.  In today’s verses, Jesus faults the priests of his time.  They want to be seen, identified as  spiritual, but they were not true shepherds of God’s sheep, for they made a show of themselves to garner admiration.  Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.  (Matthew 23:5-7)  We might consider these errant, deceiving priests of Jesus’ times as an aberration, something that existed only in his culture.  But sadly, corruption and deception by leaders in every time and in every culture is part of the condition of mankind.  Not all leaders are corrupt, not all leaders serve others for their own benefit, but endemic to mankind is the desire to be recognized.  People do not want to go through this world nondescript, part of the dust of mankind; instead, every man or woman has a desire to be precious, considered to be of value to other people.  This basic desire to be loved, to be considered as important, is part of being human.  But, when this innate desire becomes manipulative, problems can arise.  Over the years, we have seen a trend in Christian broadcasting for some of the leaders to become more and more outlandish in their attire until the men are wearing white suits with gold epaulets and shiny buttons with golden badges of honor.  The women wear designer clothing with elaborate hair-dos and everything else a copy of a worldly standard of beauty.  Jesus rejected the idea of people fulfilling their roles in society or religion primarily for their benefit.  He cried out: Woe to you, scribes, and Pharisee, hypocrites!  (Matthew 23:15)  People who show a sign of religiosity by fasting, who do not fast for the right reasons want others to recognize their efforts to please God.  But this recognition will be their only reward, for God knows the true reasons for their fasting and supposed dedication to God.  Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  Man’s desire for praise from men should not enter the domain of serving God, for God reads the heart, not actions.  God well understands an unclean heart, a deceptive heart.  We join with the psalmist: My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.  (Psalm 51:17)

True spirituality in appearance or action comes with honesty from intimacy with God.  We move away from the crowd, to bow or kneel before the King of kings in our prayer closets.  He alone needs to hear us.  He alone needs to know our petitions, the concerns of our hearts.  Everything that we do such as fasting, we do for him, not for others to see.  He will reward our efforts.  Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  When we see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see him moving away from the three apostles: John, James, and Peter.  He goes into the inner part of Gethsemane to petition God alone.  There in the Garden, He pours out his heart.  They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”  He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”  Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him.  “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you.  Take this cup from me.  Yet not what I will, but what you will.”  (Mark 14:32-36)  Here we see Jesus before God, probably crying, maybe even sobbing, for his soul was deeply distressed and troubled to the point of death.  We picture Jesus as tearful, emotional, sorrowfully speaking to the Father; but He was alone, not acting a part for show, not functioning as the Son of Man before the world.  No, He and God were sharing this time of preparation and agony.  God’s heart must have broken to see Jesus before him, imploring him to provide another way to fulfill his purpose for coming to Earth.  Jesus knew He must die for the sins of man, but ahead of him lay the suffering to endure before the death.  He anticipated the humiliation, his nakedness, cruel men playing with him as a cat with a mouse caught in his piercing claws.  The Roman legions would torture Jesus until they tired of the ordeal.  Jesus knew this was ahead of him, so he prayed, if possible the hour might pass from him.  We see Jesus on the ground alone with God, beseeching the Father with tears.  My friends this is how we should be before God, not necessarily beseeching him in tears, but in sincerity and honesty, caring about our words, not using perfunctory words as if He is not there, but believing God hears us.  Jesus knew God was with him, listening.  With the fulness of the Spirit in him, Jesus heard God answer him.  He must have communed with God for some time because the disciples fell asleep—they could not stay awake even knowing Jesus’ great distress.  If your friend was greatly stressed, you probably would not fall asleep; but they did, so Jesus must have been in his closet with God for some time.  At the end as his tears dried, Jesus said in the faith that comes from intimacy, Yet not what I will, but what you will.  Do we stay in the closet long enough to end our petitions with, not my will but yours?  Or do we go away with our will strongly imprinted on our souls and minds.  We must hear God to know and to accept his will.   

Are we saying in this breakfast, Why fast, why do any spiritual activity in the name of the Lord?  No, certainly not.  The Bible speaks of fasting and praying, and we do so to help us know God’s purpose and will in our lives.  Jesus said, For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  (John 6:38)  Without a spiritual orientation, we become sheep without a shepherd.  Without the leading of the Holy Spirit we suffer confusion and harassment in a world steeped in wickedness and selfishness.  We become disoriented, unable to know the reason for living, not understanding that there is a God, One who will make life worth living and lead us as his dear children.  Rather than becoming servants to the world, we will wander the hills of life seeking our own wills, trying to the mine the world for our good and not for others.  When Jesus saw the crowds, he saw people without direction, without a purpose in life, caught in the hands of the Evil One.  Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  (Matthew 9:35-38)  Fasting orients us toward God, placing us in the right frame of mind so that we can become servants of the Most High.  Prayer and meditation also draws us toward God.  Confessing Christ and his goodness puts us in right relationship with God and his purposes on Earth.  Spiritual activity such as giving to the poor, helping people who are in need, caring for the weak and disadvantaged makes us God’s servants.  All earnest spiritual work and worship identifies us as children of God, not of man.  But anything that we do in our relationship with God should be wholeheartedly, totally involved with an all-seeing, almighty God.  Anything done without that consideration will be fruitless and useless in the heavenly realm of God.  He rewards those who are intimate with him with a sincere heart.  Jesus was warning the people not to fast for other people’s recognition.  This kind of attitude leads to sin, self-will, lust, and selfish aims.  Fasting for other people is at best considered hypocritical, but it is also at worst lining up with the devil’s intentions: to lead people away from God, not toward God.  In all we do, our plans and goals for God should begin in the closets of our hearts, a place where we dedicate everything to God.  Not our will, but yours be done, O God.  When we begin in the Spirit, He will lead us to the end as we trust in him and not in ourselves.