"Sermon on the Mount - Part II"_Matthew 5_Aug 15 2021

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

The Authority of Jesus

28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Matthew 6:1

English Standard Version Chapter 6

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

(Pray…)

Outline of the SOTM:

Chapter Five

1-12 Beatitudes

13-16 Salt & Light

17-48 True Meaning of the Law

Chapter Six

1-34 Our Obedience to the Lord, As We Walk Closely With Him: Good Works, Prayer, and Spiritual Disciplines

Chapter Seven

1-6 Avoid Hypocrisy

7-14 How to Behave In This Close Relationship with God - It’s a Narrow Gate

15-23 Warnings

24-29 The Contrast of Obeying Christ vs. Not Obeying Him

As we study the SOTM, Jesus uses the words:

“Kingdom” 10 X

“Heaven” or “Heavenly” 23 X

He is saying, “This is my Kingdom - this is what it’s all about. Are you willing to be a “kingdom person”?

These are the hallmarks of being a kingdom person - does your life show those hallmarks?

Are you an authentic kingdom person? Does your life possess the seal of the king?

Last time: Chapter 5

This week, we’ll look at Chapters 6-7 - but I will mostly focus on the main idea of Chapter 6:

Our Obedience to the Lord, As We Walk Closely With Him: Good Works, Prayer life, and Spiritual Disciplines

I have felt a good deal of pressure the last several weeks to correctly preach on this sermon of Jesus

After all, he himself preached this wonderful sermon

The question comes to my mind - “How can my sermon add anything to his sermon?”

But I’ve felt a prompting by the Spirit - to preach encouragement and application to you

In some ways, I’ve approached the SOTM just like any other sermon I hear:

What is the preacher’s main point? What is he driving at?

We could spend weeks - delving into the depths of what Jesus preached

But I want to focus on one of the sermon’s main points - how do we walk in close obedience to the Lord?

How do we practice righteousness? How do we practice good works and spiritual discipline?

We’re going to talk a lot about good works today - or spiritual disciplines - or practicing righteousness - or obedience to Christ - however you want to put it

[Illustration:]

Question:

In our age of grace, why does the New Testament talk so much about good works

Years ago, this really confused me - is salvation about grace? Or are works part of our salvation?

Ephesians 2:8-9:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

One day, I discovered that verse 10 comes right after 8 and 9:

English Standard Version Chapter 2

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Let me put it another way, we don't live in a vacuum.

When you got saved, you weren’t shoved into a giant Tupperware container and put on the shelf - you still went on with your life - your new life in Christ

In other words, before you met Christ, you lived and did things for yourself

You still do things in your life

Now that you are a new creature in Christ, you live and do things for him

Most of us don't die immediately after being saved, so the life we live we need to live for him.

We still go on living. But, we're already saved, so our works are a response

You still gotta live and breathe - so live and breathe for him

The theology of the Bible is perfect - it never waivers

We’ve been saved by grace through faith. Period.

Good works always follows salvation - good works have nothing to do with our salvation

But good works - obedience to Christ - has everything to do with our new life for him

Before I get into Chapter 6 - I want to take a quick detour into the beginning of Chapter 7

As I was reading the SOTM over and over, I found that the first 6 verses seemed out of place in Jesus’ sermon

He gives us the Beatitudes - he says we are salt & light - he lays out the true meaning of the Law - and then how we should obey him

And later he talks about this close relationship we have with him - and that he is our true foundation in life

But he seems to shift gears starting at 7:1 “Judge not”

English Standard Version Chapter 7

Judging Others

7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

What he’s really saying is don’t judge the record of others, based on your own record

That’s what makes you a hypocrite

When you’re walking in Christ, but you blow it from time to time - that doesn’t make you a hypocrite

You become a hypocrite when you rely on self-effort and you try to outdo others

Please note, there is a general theme of Jesus instructing us about hypocrisy throughout the SOTM

He mentions, “hypocrite” or “Gentile” or “pagan” six times in his sermon

You become like them when you do good works on your own effort - for your own benefit - and judge others by what you do

God wants you to do everything for him

When you truly serve the Lord based on your love for him, it’s impossible to compare yourself with others

Because your motivation is God’s glory - not yours

Spurgeon describes hypocrites as spiders spinning their webs

That they hope to catch reputation, praise, advancement, and other flies in their webs

But then Spurgeon points out - the web of a hypocrite is very frail - their webs are beautifully made - but they don’t endure

The first verse of Chapter 6 sets the theme to good works:

Practicing spiritual disciplines “Before other people” should be avoided at all costs

In Chapter 6 Jesus lays out a list of top disciplines:

Practicing righteousness (v. 1) - : “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people” - a general discipline which covers everything

Giving to the needy (v.2) “sound no trumpet” like the hypocrites

Praying, but don’t pray like the hypocrites (v. 5) “you must not be like the hypocrites”

Praying without meaningless words like the Gentiles (v. 7) “do not heap up empty phrases”

Forgive others (v. 14) - there’s a warning if we don’t forgive others

Fasting - make sure you don’t look like you’re fasting - clean yourself up and keep it private (v. 16)

Don’t lay up treasures on earth, where everyone can see - but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven (vv. 19-20)

Don’t be anxious about anything earthly (v. 25-34) - your heavenly Father knows your need (v. 32)

Most of these disciplines - is a private affair between you and the Lord

Jesus is saying, “Don’t show off. Don’t show off like the Gentiles and the hypocrites”

But we have a problem here

In the first part of the SOTM, in Matt 5:16 - Jesus said, “…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works”

At first, Jesus is commanding us to display our good works

And when we get to Chapter 6, he says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people...”

Let’s look at these verses in context:

Matt 6:1 Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people IN ORDER to be seen by them...

In other words - do not make that your motive...

Let’s contrast that to Matt 5:16

English Standard Version (Chapter 5)

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

The purpose of our good works is to bring glory to the Father

To my knowledge, no other religion teaches this

All other religions teach you to do good works openly

Doing good deeds to get accolades from others is tiring - if you’ve been doing that, you’re participating in religious legalism to show off your credentials

You’re trying to show off to other people

And what’s worse, you’re trying to show off to God

Stop it

Allow Jesus to build that intimacy with you - your good works need to be done out of your love for the Lord - and nothing else

The SOTM removes all legalistic motives

Think about it

If there were no God - and if the Bible weren’t true - just a bunch of myths - then there would be no reason to practice these disciplines

No reason at all - because in this sermon, Jesus took away all the religious fanfare

If the Bible were written by man - first off, man would never come up with the concept of grace

But if the Bible was written by man - then you would expect all good works to be in full display - just like every other religion

Mormonism, JW, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism - those religions are all about putting your good works on display for everyone

Good works in other religions are there to advance yourself

Jesus comes along and says to not draw attention to yourself

Jesus says, “I want your motivation to be your love for me - and to glorify the Father through your works”

Every other belief system tells you to do good works for one of two reasons:

1 - Do good things to please your god

2 - Do good things to give yourself an advantage in life - like Karma

All false religions have - on some level - things you have to do to prove to others that you’ve done them

All false religions have you go on record with your good deeds to gain favor with your god and with others

That’s not how it is with doing good works for Jesus

The purpose of good works in your life is not about you proving to the world what you’ve done for the Lord

The purpose of good works in your life is about proving to the world what Jesus has done through you - so he can get the glory

I hope you got that

There’s a huge difference

I’ve known Christians who stand in a Thanksgiving soup line for homeless people, just so they can get a selfie of themselves to show what they’re doing

Please stop doing that, if you do

That’s being a hypocrite - because you’re looking for others to applaud you

No problem taking a selfie - I want to see your selfies - but the selfie should be about what the Lord is doing, not you

A selfie of you doing good works can bring glory to God - if you’re not concerned getting the glory yourself

Have you ever been on a missions trip - or helped with some major church-related outreach?

And when you get back - and the church plays the slides of what the group did -

And you didn’t get the credit for all the work you did -

And there were hardly any pictures of you up on the church screen?

If it bothered you - then you were after your own glory

But if the slideshow gave honor and glory to the Lord - then I hope you were smiling and happy inside

Here’s the real reason Jesus said to do these things - so that you will develop communication, dependence, and a relationship with the Lord

So that you will begin to depend on the Lord - and begin to really trust him

Look at these verses

Matt 6:1 - says to not practice righteousness before other people because you’ll lose out on your reward from the Father

Verse 4 - “Your Father who sees you in secret will reward you”

Verse 6 - says the exact words as verse 4

Jesus repeats this exact phrase in verse 18 about fasting - “Your Father who sees you in secret will reward you”

Three times it says this

Verse 20 promises us treasures in heaven

Verse 32 says that the Father knows all of our needs

Verse 33 says that if seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things will be added to us

Do you see the deep relationship the Lord desires to have with you - and the eternal blessings he wants to give you?

“The Father who sees you in secret will reward you,” is deeply personal - and it’s far from being anything like legalism

In the SOTM, there are no self-benefits listed: clear your mind, aim for success, good karma, become a better person, become a better you, etc

We don’t do good works to gain God’s favor - but because we love him and we want him to receive the glory

But critics could say we’re only doing good works to gain rewards from him

Imagine saying, “Okay God, I did three good things for you today - how many rewards does that add up to?”

That sort of thinking goes against Matt 5:16, where the whole point in giving, is to glorify the Father. The motivation is not our rewards

Do you see how consistent this theology is with the rest of the Bible?

His love for us and his grace came first

We responded to him in repentance and faith

He redeems us and changes us

We respond to his wonderful grace - we love him because he first loved us

Our good works are an outpouring of our faith and love we have for him because of what he’s already done for us

And we’re not even really good at it - but God loves us and accepts our good works because we do it out of love, not self-gain

Have you ever been to the house of parents of young toddlers? What do you notice on their refrigerator?

Artwork from their little adorable kiddos

But the artwork is basically scribbles

You can’t tell if little Johnny’s drawing is supposed to be an elephant or supposed to be his mommy

To you, it’s meaningless, worthless scribbles

But to mom & dad, it’s priceless - that’s why it’s up on the fridge

It’s priceless because the love the mom & dad have for little Johnny - and the love Johnny has for his parents

Little Johnny is so eager to give mom his drawing because he loves her

The scribble drawing is Johnny’s response - it’s an expression of his overwhelming love for mom & dad

In one sense, it’s really bad artwork - but to mommy and daddy, it’s priceless

That’s what happens when you worship the Lord and serve him out of love - you’re not even really good at doing good works

But God sees your love for him - and puts your good works up on his fridge

It’s now priceless to him because of the love and intimate relationship you have with the Lord

He puts your good works on his fridge because you are a kingdom person

But your scribbles for the Lord are meaningless if the only reason you did them was to get something out of them yourself

Your good works are an expression of what God has done through you - and how he’s changed you

And it brings him glory

But your righteousness doesn’t make God love you any more - it’s his righteousness anyhow

Let your light shine because in reality, it’s his light that’s shining

The SOTM is actually about having a close relationship with the Lord - and the Lord’s prayer is the most personal prayer in the world

Our God is a personal God, amen?

There is nothing like a personal relationship in other religions

The SOTM screams out: The Lord wants to relate to you on a personal level!

Just listen to how the Lord wants intimacy with us - and a close relationship with us:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. - Psalm 23

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - John 1

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends - John 15

If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him - John 14

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you - James 4

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. - Rom 8

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. - Luke 11

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. - Psalm 27

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. - Deut 6

This is the farthest thing from legalism

This is the farthest thing from trying to earn God’s love

In John 21 Jesus has a conversation with Peter - where he essentially qualifies Peter to serve him & follow him

And in this conversation, Jesus asks one question - he asked this same question three times in a row

Jesus didn’t say, “Peter are you qualified to serve me?”

Or, “Peter, are you sanctified enough?”

Or, “Peter, have you gone to seminary?”

What Jesus asked Peter over and over was, “Peter - do you love me?”

The one requirement Jesus had for Peter was for Peter to truly love the Lord

Your relationship with the Lord is the the only foundation on the rock - when the rains fall, and the floods come, and the winds blow on your life

All other ground is sinking sand

This is exactly what the Lord is seeking from you - do you love him?

Do you love him enough to serve him and him alone?

Are you done trying to impress others like a hypocrite?

Are you ready to serve him out of the adoration you have for him - to see him receive the glory?

I want to challenge you this week - every day this week - when you wake up -

You pray to God and tell him you love him and that you want to serve him this week

Ask him to give you those opportunities to serve him because you want him to receive glory

I’d love to hear how this message spoke to you

Leave a public comment on the YouTube video - or send me a private email

pastortim@redemptionchurchnashville.com

(Pray…)

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