Accidental Encounters in the Sermon on the Mount S31e101 Matt6

You are invited to hear of

• your VALUE to God
• the "direct-ability" of your heart
• the courage of being a self-judger rather than an other-judger
• who you really sit in judgment over
• how the family of God should be asking of their Father.

Thanks for watching.  May this be of particular benefit to you. 

https://youtu.be/5nIILzlE2Fs

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

My brothers and sisters, welcome to some accidental encounters in the Sermon on the Mount. The concern is the welfare of your heart. The concern for the Sermon on the Mount is that your heart ends up going to the right place. So the passage to this desire is that you would have treasure and that would be beneficial for you. So we direct our financial treasure while we're not there yet. That is, we act in faith, we set our spiritual minds in a certain direction and trust the current and eternal provisions of the Lord. Now, yes, that heart is measured in dollars and cents. This is from Matthew chapter 6, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be. Now that passage teaches to put your treasure in the place that you'd like your heart to be. That is, your treasure can serve as an aim point for your heart. And if you want your heart to intentionally move in a certain way, then direct your treasure there first. So this passage asks for a directed intent of the wallet to help lead and keep on target a directable heart. So if you want a heavenly heart, then have a heavenly hand first. And your wallet can serve as a marker for your spiritual personal health and its direction. So if you are, if you are, as you sit here today, spiritually directionless, then direct your wallet. So spiritual sacrifices always cost you something. David said that first. He said, I will offer no sacrifice that does not cost me something. And if you want a heavenly heart, then have a heavenly hand first. So if you want a heavenly treasure later, direct your treasure, your earthly treasure there, direct it heavenward now. All right, so a second thought from the Sermon on the Mount is the value of you. Now, how do we know how valuable you are? Well, we know how valuable you are by what is exchanged in uh exchanged for you. Verse 25, 625. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body or what you'll put on. Life is more than food, the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow or wheat, reap, or gather into barns that your father in heaven feeds them. Are you not of, wait for it, more value than they? So what can I trust God about here? Seek for his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow. Tomorrow will be anxious for itself, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. So who can add a single hour to the span of his life? Now we may be in charge of food and clothing in our mind, but God is in charge of life. So let's let him do his job. And in the in the in the meantime, he knows what we need, and what should we be doing with the bulk of our attention? We should be seeking his kingdom. Okay, so next, there's this challenge about logs and specks in chapter 7.5. You hypocrite, take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be seeing clearly, just take the speck out of your brother's eye. So the scenario that's being uh portrayed is this wood fragment issue. So you we have perfect accuracy in seeing other wood fragments, specks, as it were, and poor accuracy in seeing the wood fragments in our eyes, in our own eyes. So this is the passage about judgment. Judge not that you will not be judged. This is in Matthew chapter 7, the most famous verse in the non-believing Bible. So that ship is already sailed. Why? Of course we judge. Rather than other judging first, which is what we're good at, the call is to a self-judgment. First, find the log that you're before you go spec searching elsewhere. So the first prob priority is log inspection. Looking in the mirror with the right eyes. So you may say, hey, I don't have any logs in my eye, in my own eye. Well, first of all, it's probably not true, and it's a very courageous prayer to say, hey, help me with this. Uh so to notice this big hawk and plank, this timber, because the passage says, first, take the log out of your own eye, and then second, clear your vision to the point where you can actually be of some use and help to others. So show me my logs, show me where I miss your holiness, show me my offense to you. Be ready for some log surgery, some self-surgery. So who do I sit in judgment over? And how do I sit in judgment? Jesus in this passage doesn't prohibit judging of any sort. It's uh we should be sober because the standards that we apply to others may apply to us. That's the main lesson. Uh I recently asked a person what their spiritual gift was, and they said mercy. That is, their first inclination was towards compassion and grace. And I think it's this beautiful picture that God gave them grace for the wood fragments and the specks and the logs that are in their eye as well as in others. And I think that is a a step towards holiness. All right, then the final passage I want to just mention today is from 7-7, Matthew 7-7, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock, and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds, the one who knocks will be open to you. Which one of you, if your son asks him for bread, will give him a stone, or a fish and will give him a servant? If you then who are evil know how to how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? So who's the guy in the passage? Well, he's a son, he's family, it's not his first day, they're in a relationship. And what's his attitude? He wants to be found, he inclines himself to give, and he desires to open this treasure for you. The prosperity gospel gets one thing right. We do indeed have a giving and finding and opening God, and his character is definitely one that you want to be in association with. Now, the the part that keeps stumbling keeps me stumbling here in this passage is what about this evil? You are evil. And I think compared to the holiness of God, that he is the holy father and we are his sinful children, and I think he's more holy than we see right now, and we are more sinful, more evil than we see right now. But be of good cheer. God's a good responder, he's in heaven. Um, and how much more will your father, who isn't set in heaven, give us good gifts? You are in heaven, you are father, may your reign increase. So dare I ask the Lord of things? Yes, he asks you to ask for bread sufficient for the day, protection for evil, and many other things. Go to the Lord's Prayer. May you give increased understanding of our trespasses, may you give passion and our desire for you, may it increase, increase our hunger for you. You are a good God, you give good things and you give the finding of yourself. You open this doors of relationship. So when we seek and when we knock and when we ask for where else we can go, let us find you. Thanks for listening.