Worship call 0726

are you listening? James 1:19-20 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. President Franklin D. Roosevelt got tired of smiling that big smile and saying all the usual things at those White House receptions. So, one evening he decided to find out whether anybody was paying attention to what he was saying. As each person came up to him with extended hand, he flashed his big smile and said, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." People would automatically respond with comments such as "How lovely." or "Continue on with your great work." Nobody listened to what he was saying, except for one foreign diplomat. When the president said, "I murdered my grandmother this morning," the diplomat responded softly, "I'm sure she had it coming to her." It's a funny story, but how often do we do the same? It seems that we have lot's to say but we are not very good at listening. Think about it -- how many language, speech, and speaking courses can you find in your college course book? But can you find even one class on listening?? There is such a lack of good listening skills in this day and age that we have to pay someone a lot of money just to listen to us! More importantly, God has many things He desires to reveal to us -- but we're always talking, talking, talking! Robert, let's strive to do less talking and more listening today. Let's give the Lord and others a chance to be heard. Your family in the Lord with much agape love, George & Obadiah (in Baltimore), Baht Rivka (in Israel) and Elianna (in Texas)

And this is another fine day in the Lord

Matthew Henry commentary

As we must do better than the scribes and Pharisees in avoiding heart-sins, heart-adultery, and heart-murder, so likewise in maintaining and keeping up heart-religion, doing what we do from an inward, vital principle, that we may be approved of God, not that we may be applauded of men; that is, we must watch against hypocrisy, which was the leaven of the Pharisees, as well as against their doctrine, Lu. 12:1. Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, are three great Christian duties—the three foundations of the law, say the Arabians: by them we do homage and service to God with our three principal interests; by prayer with our souls, by fasting with our bodies, by alms-giving with our estates. Thus we must not only depart from evil, but do good, and do it well, and so dwell for evermore.[1]

Beware

27.59 προσέχωa; ἐπέχωa: to be in a continuous state of readiness to learn of any future danger, need, or error, and to respond appropriately—‘to pay attention to, to keep on the lookout for, to be alert for, to be on one’s guard against.’[2]

Be on guard of self. The S E L F program as we all know that it loves to sneak up us with it’s own agenda, to horn in on the credit that belongs to the Lord.

Yesterday on the Lord’s day we emphasized the fact that ours is to lift up the banner of the Lord He is

Yahweh Nissi

The believers’ thoughts must be those that would bring attention not to him or put one in the spotlight, but it is to bring all attention to our God and our savior. None of us can save one person. Ours should direct attention to the one who can.

Matthew 6:1 (NASB95) — 1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

To do in order for the benefit of others was a strange concept. Especially in a world that asks, “what’s in it for me?” The Romans and even the Scribes and the Pharisees did nothing if it did not have some immediate return or potential advantage.,

This will set this new sect apart from the world when the Church makes its debut into the world as the followers of the way would do much in regard to the practice of doing or practicing righteousness not only where there was no apparent return on their efforts, and even at a loss as they would sell their properties and give it to local body of believers to meet their needs.

“well, that wasn’t so secret”

No, sometimes what we do as a Church body is observed by the world. When a believer does an act of righteousness and it is witnessed by man, it is not for the purpose of bringing attention to oneself. And when asked why we do what we do then the door of evangelism comes open as we share the reason for our behavior to others directing our attention to the Lord.

Matthew 6:2 (NASB95) — 2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

You see, what we do as Christians in the way of approving work by God begins with the heart. That is a heart that is directed to God, filled with his word a soul that is set on God’s glory.

That which the believer does is the response to God’s love.

And is accepted by God.

The Scribes and the Pharisees made it a big show of their righteousness. They made sure that there would be observers on the scene when they gave and when they prayed and when the fasted. Otherwise in their unbelieving hearts what benefit would it be to do so out of the limelight. And even if seen, what would one’s attention be turned to?

Maybe the Law but not to God.

Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

Three times the word for Rewards is found in this passage

Matthew 6: 4,6,18

38.14 μισθόςb, οῦ m: a recompense based upon what a person has earned and thus deserves, the nature of the recompense being either positive or negative—‘reward, recompense.’[3]

To the wicked, Recompense is payout by God in the form of his wrath... Eternal condemnation.

To the righteous in the form of blessing and reward… eternal reward.

Matthew 6:20 (NASB95) — 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;

That which we do, small or great that brings glory to God, that is directs attention to the character of our God in heaven, becomes an investment in our heavenly bank account.

We might also say, for the believer, so is the dead works stored there for a time until they are judged at the Judgment seat of Christ at which point the works that do not meet God’s righteousness standard will be burned up.

The Lord is the paymaster. When the Lord returns, he will settle his account with both

Matthew 16:27 (NASB95) — 27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.

2 Timothy 4:8 (NASB95) — 8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Revelation 22:11–12 (NASB95) — 11 “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” 12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.

Earlier in our passage Jesus said to his disciples that their righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees or they will not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

There is the point that while Salvation is a free gift by faith, it is the life that proceeds from the point of Salvation that incurs a payment.

While the unbeliever only stores up wrath it is the believer that stores up a recompence for work that is acceptable to God.

All work can be classified as good and dead works.

Dead works are those works that does not meet God’s standard of righteousness. It is recognized as those works that are performed out of wrong motives or intent. In such any work that is performed with a secondary purpose it may be a blessing to others, feeding the hungry, building hospitals, giving. God does not grade on the effort or the apparent short-term results that bring praises of men. But if the intent is not to the glorify God, it does not meet the Righteousness of God.

Great examples are the Shriners.

Shriners is an organization that began in New York city in 1870 and is connected to Freemasonry. The Shriners are known for their generosity in the world and are best known for the Children’s hospital. And because of the people they help they are above reproach.

But from the website of reformed masons (ex-masons for Jesus) we have an insight on the belief system

Freemasonry requires its members to believe in the existence of a Supreme Being and also to believe that there is only One God. Freemasonry refers to its god as the Great Architect of the Universe. It teaches that all men, of all the various religions, worship the one God, simply using a variety of different names. It is on that basis that Masons may be Hindus, Moslems, Buddhists, or men who profess to follow Jesus. Freemasonry requires a belief in the existence of A Supreme Being, but does not define that being.

Any god will do.

Point is, because of their social work in the world, the truth of their rejection of the one true God and his son is overlooked.

The Shriners are known and respected for their work in the world to care for the needy. But they do nothing to direct one’s attention to Jesus Christ the way the truth and the life and who is the resurrection.

In like matter when the Believer does his righteousness in such a way to bring attention to oneself receiving praise and adulation, He did the work. It benefited others. And for his reward he received their praise. Account is settled.

But when our work is performed in secret as the idiom not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing, there is no earthly return leaving the account to be settled when the Lord returns.

I know Andy Lewis who had an online ministry teaching bible doctrine. I spoke to Andy off and on and even had several meals with him. In our conversation he did not tell me anything about himself or his ministry what he was doing for the Lord. Andy was a very quiet and unassuming individual. At Andy’s memorial people actually came from all across the country to be there. Many other from across the world attended service online.

Recompense can be good or for evil. Here it is the Loss of prospective reward because one’s work fell short with, the motive of Glorifying God.

[1]Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1636). Hendrickson. [2]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 332). United Bible Societies. [3]Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 490). United Bible Societies.

Related Media

Related Sermons