Matthew 6:19-24: We Become What We Worship

Introduction

Jesus continues his teaching regarding hypocrisy (6:1-18)

We give, pray, and fast because that is what our savior did!

Jesus does not condemn wealth; he condemns idolatry. (Proverbs 13:22)

Proverbs 13:22 ESV

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.

We Love What We Worship (v. 21)

“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is;...to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. . . . The Scotch catechism says that man’s chief end is ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” C.S. Lewis Reflections on the Psalms

What do you love?

When my daughter was little, I used to take her to her preschool each morning on my motorcycle (the standard means of economical transport for middle-class people in Sri Lanka). I would often see a lady who brought four or so little children to school in a passenger van. They would get off the van with her and then hold on to her, each one holding a finger, as she led them to school. I often think that this is the way I would like to go to heaven—taking along with me several people in whose lives I have invested.

Ajith Fernando and Robert E. Coleman, Discipling in a Multicultural World (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019).

We Become What We Worship (vs. 22-23)

Psalm 115:1-8 “1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! 2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” 3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. 8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.”

Exodus 20:4 “4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

2 Corinthians 3:5 “5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,”

Cheeseheads and Cowboys

Connor McGregor and MMA