WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:06.719 Well, we are making our way through the core of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:14.320 So we are into Matthew chapter 6 as Jesus begins to teach us about spiritual practices. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:24.160 And he's helping us get beyond just our behaviors, our practices, and actually get to our motives behind those practices or those behaviors. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:25.519 So let's just jump right in. 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:27.039 Matthew 6, verse 1. 00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:33.359 Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:38.479 For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:44.719 So when Jesus says practice practices of your righteousness, he's talking about those practices of faith. 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:50.880 Now specifically, he begins with alms giving or generosity giving to the poor, to the church. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:58.799 But the conversation then extends throughout the text into prayer and fasting, as you heard it as Al read, verses 1 through 18. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:00.000 So our first point is this. 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:07.200 Point number one, generosity, prayer, and fasting does not seek the approval of others. 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:13.359 That's a probably kind of pretty easy point for us to begin with, having heard the entire passage. 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:21.760 So let's just imagine you are parent of a wonderful 15-year-old daughter. 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:28.640 And five years ago you were promoted to chief marketing officer of your company. 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:30.640 Incredible opportunity, incredible job. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:33.599 I mean, you got a huge raise and you love your job. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:35.840 You're good at your job, you're respected at your job. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:39.359 You get to travel the world, you get to go to great places. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:43.040 You are you are somebody in the world. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:53.680 And you can finally wear the clothes you wanted to wear, you can finally join the club you wanted to join, you can finally, you know, when you walk in a room, when you walk in a room, people know. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:56.319 Like people know you you have shown up. 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:06.719 But along the way, along the way, even though you're so capable to do so much at work, you're even running the even running the PTA, right? 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:10.719 Like, even though you can do all of that, you can do all of that. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:16.080 And you're subtly making sure everybody knows you're doing it online, just real subtle, right? 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:19.120 In your social media post, just real subtle, just a little bit, right? 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:20.240 Just a little bit. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:28.319 Along the way, you've just step stopped checking in with your daughter on any heart-to-heart level. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:31.439 But her 16th birthday is coming up, right? 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:32.400 A big one, right? 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:33.680 I mean, this would be the perfect moment. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:36.159 It's gonna be the perfect moment to celebrate her. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:39.840 You're gonna gather all her friends and all your friends together. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:46.719 And so the party, the night of the party, you're there, but she's off with her friends and you are with your friends, talking about your great job. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:50.319 You've barely spoken to her on any meaningful level, right? 00:02:50.639 --> 00:03:01.919 Because at the core, because at the core of your being, everything is really about everybody out there seeing you. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:04.080 But a big moment's coming. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:06.719 And you bring everybody outside. 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:08.400 Everybody outside. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:16.240 And you give your daughter a brand new red BMW convertible with a red bow on it. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:18.960 Kelly from 90210 is what I'm talking about, right? 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:20.479 That's what I'm talking about. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:22.719 The whole crowd cheers. 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:25.199 I mean, what a how generous you are. 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:25.919 What a parent. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:29.360 Like you and your daughter must have the best relationship. 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:33.280 I mean, this must be such an incredible relationship that you have to. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:36.000 Now your daughter's gonna take the car, okay? 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:38.560 Like your daughter's all up in that car. 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:45.520 Five years into therapy in her 20s, she's gonna realize that car was never a gift. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:46.960 Right? 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:50.240 It was a payment of your own guilt. 00:03:51.199 --> 00:04:12.719 Because listen, you or I in the story, any of us, any of us, we can care more about everybody else's approval and finding it everywhere else in the world rather than the goodness of the reward of a heart-to-heart relationship. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:26.000 And we can become so preoccupied with everybody else, everywhere else out there, then miss the meaningfulness of the reward of a heart-to-heart relationship. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:29.839 And we can be around someone all the time. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:37.680 But if the motive is off, the reward of the relationship is threatened. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:43.040 I mean, do you hear it in the in the text when Al read it over and over again? 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:45.600 Reward, you'll miss your reward, you'll miss your reward. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:56.720 It's like you can be around the heavenly father all the time, but when the motive is off, the reward of the relationship itself can be threatened. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:05:03.600 This is what Jesus is just beginning to hammer into these people here at this context, but also to us. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:04.319 Verse 2. 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:12.399 Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:15.519 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:16.720 So you got your reward. 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:18.319 Everybody cheered for you. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:20.000 You got it, you got it. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:26.560 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. 00:05:26.720 --> 00:05:29.920 And your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:32.959 Now, I don't think you're gonna win the lottery on Tuesday. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:35.600 I don't think it hasn't happened to me yet. 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:37.680 I don't think it's gonna happen to you. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:43.439 I think what it means is the reward of the relationship we can have with God. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:51.279 Like, don't threaten it, don't diminish it and give it away to get a few cheers and pats on the back. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:52.319 I think that's what it means. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:57.920 Now, this is also interesting because in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus said, Let your light shine before all men. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:05:58.959 Isn't that interesting? 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:04.480 Matthew 5, we have that, and then in Matthew 6, he says, hey, do a whole bunch of stuff, do most of your stuff in secret. 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:06.399 So theologian A. 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:06.639 B. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:07.680 Bruce, he said this. 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:17.040 He said that we are to show when we are tempted to hide, and then we hide when tempted to show. 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:25.839 Now that's a clever way to say we are called to brave witness in the world, and we're also called to brave secrecy. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:27.920 We're called to both. 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:31.680 Show when tempted to hide, and hide when tempted to show. 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:37.519 Here's what author Priest Henry Nowen, Henri Nowen says about people pleasing. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:43.120 For as long as you can remember, you have been a pleaser. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:46.399 Depending on others to give you an identity. 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:50.319 You need not look at that only in a negative way. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:55.040 You wanted to give your heart to others, and you did so quickly and easily. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:07:02.480 But now you're being asked to let go of all these self-made props and trust that God is enough for you. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:08.160 You must stop being a pleaser and reclaim your identity as a free self. 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:10.879 This leads us into point number two. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:18.079 As we come alive to God's satisfying love, we are freed from the approval of others. 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:24.160 At first, maturing in faith has all this development of spiritual practices, right? 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:46.480 You come to faith, maybe teenager, young adult, maybe recently, and then there's this development of spiritual practices, going to church, giving to the church, prayer, fasting, reading the scriptures, maybe you journal, all this development of spiritual practices before you know it, before you can blink, your flesh will love the religious pride that comes with the spiritual practices that develop. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:58.000 And those very practices are threatened by that sinful nature that's still in us, of being seen. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:07:59.600 Trust me, I know. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:01.439 Trust me, I know this. 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:12.000 And then the furthering of the growth and grace is to let go of the need for anybody to see those practices. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:25.120 Just to walk in the presence of the one who always and already welcomes you, affirms you, accepts you, forgives you, deems you righteous, justifies you. 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:28.160 Now I wrestle with this text. 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:31.040 I mean, I think about this text. 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:32.799 I get paid. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.600 I get paid to pray in front of people, right? 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:41.120 Like I get paid to be spiritual. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:41.679 Right? 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:44.960 Like all of you come to church out of your own volition. 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:46.879 I get paid to come to church. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:49.600 I don't even know what I would do if I didn't get paid. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:50.480 Who knows? 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:51.440 Nobody knows. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:54.799 I've been getting paid to do this for like 20 years. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:57.200 That's crazy, right? 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:03.360 That's a crazy reality when you come into this text and you go, like, oh, you're not even supposed to let anybody see you do it? 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:07.600 Well, like I'm I'm walking up here every morning letting you see me do it, right? 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:21.679 And so I'm just reminded there has to be a space between, and even you, if you lead a small group or you have some leadership in your life, there has to be a space between what is private and what is public. 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:25.440 What is private sacred and what is public sacred. 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:28.639 Now, these two relate, but they are different. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:30.559 They have to be different. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:39.679 And there should be parts of your private sacred that I don't get, and your cousin doesn't get, and your friend down the street doesn't get, right? 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:42.879 And there should be parts of my private sacred that you don't get, right? 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:46.240 Like, and then there's public, we come together communally. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:48.720 They relate, but they're not the same. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:10:02.399 We have to be willing to have parts of our lives, our spiritual practices that go unseen, so that we receive the fullness of the reward of the relationship with God without it being threatened by all the pats on the back. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:04.080 Oh, you're so great. 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:05.120 You're so great. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:05.919 Look what you're doing. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:08.639 You're maturing so much, you're growing so much. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:18.080 And Jesus is just hammering home relationship with God in spiritual practice is to have spiritual practices that nobody sees. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:22.399 And then you'll have a reward you never imagined. 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:27.360 Matthew 6, we're going to read verses 5 through 8, and then skip to 16 through 18. 00:10:27.519 --> 00:10:33.840 It's a section about prayer and a section about fasting, and then we're come back and look phrase by phrase at the Lord's Prayer. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:34.960 Uh verse 5. 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:38.639 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:44.799 For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:48.320 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:56.159 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:04.080 And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:09.840 Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:12.080 So you say, Well, like why should I pray? 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:13.840 Because of the relationship. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.799 It's not a transactional getting everything you ask. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:21.919 You're praying because of the relationship itself, the goodness of it. 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:24.639 Jumping to verse 17. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:32.000 But when you fast, so that would be to break from a meal in our context today. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:39.759 It could be breakfast, it could be break from your phone, it could be break from television, certainly not college football on Saturday, but something else important in your life, right? 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:53.919 To break from it in order to use that time to come before God and prayer, scripture, quietness, to feel the hunger of the missing of that, and then to realize what really matters in life. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:12:01.039 And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:03.919 Truly I say to you, they have received the reward. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:14.960 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your father who is in secret, and your father who is in secret will reward you. 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:23.919 Point number three, our practices, our faith practices solely birthed from a heart that longs to be for God alone. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:35.840 So when we talk about prayer, we're talking about relationship, we're talking about surrender, not transactional, you know, like put a coin in the vending machine and get out the three things you ask for. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:38.559 It's never worked for you, and it won't in the future. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:40.000 It doesn't work that way. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:41.039 It's a relationship. 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:47.120 You're praying for the relationship, the goodness of connection and abiding with the Father. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:54.559 In Matthew 6, 9 through 15, Jesus gives us this great prayer model, the Lord's Prayer. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:56.080 Some of us grew up saying this all the time. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:12:59.360 Almost when Al started to read it, like I started reading it. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:02.320 I don't know if you felt that you're like we were supposed to, right? 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:06.399 Because we're so used to the words of this prayer, and that has such goodness for us. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:18.240 This prayer for us gives us a framework of how to pray, and then it also can give us actual word for word to pray, what to pray. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:25.840 At times when we're so tired we don't know what to pray, or we're so numb, or we're so hurting, or we're so apathetic, we don't care. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:29.039 But we could pray that. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:33.200 And so at times it's a framework for us, and at times it can be word for word. 00:13:33.279 --> 00:13:34.240 It's a gift either way. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:41.200 We're gonna go through it phrase by phrase so we understand it whether you use it as a framework for prayer or whether you use it word for word. 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:43.440 Verse 9, our Father in heaven. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:45.200 So this is to address God. 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:50.399 And in it is us addressing God as the loving Papa, the Heavenly Father. 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:56.639 This is the dominant New Testament image for us to understand God and to embrace. 00:13:57.279 --> 00:14:03.679 And as we understand Him as loving Papa, that automatically puts us as beloved child. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:06.879 That's the positioning for us to begin with. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:10.799 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:16.000 So that's ancient language to say, may your name be sanctified. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:21.039 This is an affirmation of God's holiness and his majesty. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:28.559 So we've positioned ourselves, loving Papa, I'm your child, your holy, and you're majestic. 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:31.039 Verse 10, your kingdom come. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:35.759 This is about God's influence in our lives and the world, Him making all things new. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:41.360 Now, the kingdom in Matthew, the book of Matthew, is never spoken of as something we do. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:51.919 We may seek the kingdom, which is in Matthew 6, 33, or we enter into the kingdom, Matthew 12, verse 25, but the kingdom is coming. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:56.720 The kingdom overcomes us, Matthew 12. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:05.039 It's likened to God's forgiveness, Matthew 18, and it grows of its own accord, Matthew 13. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:07.519 Here's what Carl Barth said. 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:12.960 The coming of the kingdom is totally independent of our powers. 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:18.639 We are as incapable of doing something toward its coming as creation itself. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:26.639 So this is not a shifting of responsibility that you gotta go and make everything in the world happen for God. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:32.559 We join into the coming of God's kingdom into our lives and into the world. 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:40.480 So this is a prayer of confession, a prayer of surrender into God's plan, a petition, a petition for this. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:43.360 Your kingdom come, your will be done. 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:48.399 Now, this is a release of the attempt to control our world and our lives, the people we love. 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:55.759 For me, I'm like way, I'm super deep into U-10 girls' soccer as I'm coaching again this year. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:58.480 I've got two assistant coaches now, which really helps. 00:15:58.559 --> 00:16:02.559 But yesterday on the soccer field, it's like prayer or explosion. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:03.919 Prayer or panic attack. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.000 These are the only options. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:12.960 When my midfield left player, sweet little Cindy Lou, will not hold her position. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:20.000 It's like either God, your will be done here, or it's gonna be panic attack on the sideline for the pastor. 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:22.240 That's the only options that are gonna happen. 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:25.440 Your will be done, it's a prayer. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:29.200 It's a freeing of the fight, right? 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:31.120 That's a silly example. 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:32.399 There's much bigger examples. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:34.480 It works pretty much exactly the same, though. 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:36.559 It does work exactly like that. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:47.039 It's a freeing of the fight of our wills to try to be sovereign over a circumstance and to say your will be done. 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:53.600 Like there's I'm I'm a participant, I'm I'm responsible, but I am under. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:58.879 I am in this relationship, I am underneath your sovereignty. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:05.119 Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, a confession that things are not right in this world. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:07.759 Things are right in the world to come. 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:14.400 But we are praying and asking God to come into the hurt and the sorrow we experience here. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:18.000 Verse 11, a transition occurs over to our concerns and needs. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:21.039 Verse 11, give us this day our daily bread. 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:28.400 So daily bread is us asking for God to come into the provision of the basic needs of our lives. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:40.799 If God is big enough to care about the huge macro level stuff going on in the world, he is also big enough to care about your life in Marietta. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:41.680 Right? 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:44.240 That would make him even bigger. 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:48.000 If he only cares about the big stuff, he's not really that big. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:53.119 He's big because he can care, and he does fully care about both. 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:59.359 Verse 12, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:08.960 Now, this can sound like, especially verses 14 and 15, as we heard him read, it can sound like our forgiveness is contingent upon us forgiving others. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:13.119 I mean, it really sounds like that at times in this text, but it's not. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:15.440 That's not the language, that's not the point. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:17.839 At least that's not how I understand it to be at all. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:24.400 For me, this is language connecting, being forgiven, and being a forgiving person. 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:27.039 And Jesus saying, This is the same person. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:36.079 This is the same person, a person who is forgiven is learning to become more and more a forgiving person. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:43.440 Verse 13 lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:50.480 So this is a prayer to say, God, help me resist the temptations that will destroy. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:54.559 Destroy the good stuff in my life. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:19:01.200 And then also help me resist the temptations in me that will destroy the good stuff in my life. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:05.680 Help me resist the temptations of the lies that are in my heart about who I am. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:06.960 And they're not true. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:10.160 That I would need other people's approval, even in my faith practices. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:11.200 What a lie. 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:12.240 What a lie. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:15.839 What destruction over something that should be so good for us. 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:28.400 The context of this entire passage is Jesus talking to a group of people, the Pharisees, who just fell in love with other people approving of them. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:30.640 To be seen and approved. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:33.599 And here's the key, as you heard it over and over again in the text. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:43.440 In verse 2, and verse 5, and in verse 16, that kind of person is being a hypocrite. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:51.759 The imagery, the context at that time, when Jesus used this word hypocrite, he's saying, you're like an actor. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:57.039 You're like an actor on a stage who wears a mask. 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:03.279 You've probably worn a mask before, right? 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:06.640 To scare somebody, you're gonna wear one a couple weeks for Halloween. 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:10.400 Or maybe you wore a mask to have your pores cleansed. 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:13.039 I did that once as a separate sermon illustration. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:16.160 Masks are always uncomfortable, right? 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:19.839 They're just uncomfortable because it's not you. 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:23.759 They itch, dig into your scalp, can't breathe. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:26.480 It's an exhausting life. 00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:28.000 That's what Jesus is saying. 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:32.319 This is an exhausting life of seeking the approval of others. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:40.400 And you and I, we don't have to live out our faith or live our lives like we're on a stage with a mask on. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:44.160 We're already accepted by God and Jesus. 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:54.880 So we don't have to use our giving and our prayer and our fasting for other people to see us and congratulate us and approve of us. 00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:59.519 Over the past month, I've been listening to this song by Mission House. 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:01.599 We sang it a couple weeks ago. 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:02.799 I don't have much. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:05.440 And over and over again there's this line. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:08.640 I was thinking about it this week, thinking about this text. 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:13.759 I don't have much, but I have a heart that beats for you. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:22.000 And the question that comes to me, I think it comes to you this morning, is that enough? 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:25.359 Is that enough in your faith? 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:29.039 Just to have a heart that beats for God. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:35.680 Nobody else's admiration, approval, affirmation. 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:41.039 Is your heart beating for God alone enough for you? 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:43.039 And it's all good news this morning. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:44.400 It's all good news. 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:46.799 That can be that can be really challenging. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:49.680 It's all good news because Jesus is saying it is. 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:51.599 It's enough for you. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:56.880 Trust me, he's trying to reveal that in these people to say that he is enough. 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:08.720 And that there is a wealth, there is a wealth of reward of relationship with the Heavenly Father waiting for us as we practice our spiritual practices and we have them in place in our lives. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:10.799 Just with God. 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:18.480 Because what you'll discover, what you'll discover is that He has a heart that beats for you. 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:19.920 Let's pray together. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:22.480 God, thank you for this good news. 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:28.000 Thank you for teaching us that you are enough for us. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:39.359 Forgive us for all the ways that we try to use even our spirituality to be seen, affirmed, accepted, approved, applauded. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:59.920 Thank you that we are not condemned by that in Jesus, but we are certainly convicted, and we certainly get to repent this morning in your grace and joyfully, joyfully fall back into your arms of love and say how silly, how silly I am, and how good you are. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:19.759 Help us discover more and more the wealth of the reward of the relationship we have in you, to know you as a Father, and to understand ourselves as your beloved children, fully secure, forgiven, and righteous in Jesus alone. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:22.079 In his name we pray. 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:23.039 Amen.