Study of Matthew |
||
Matthew Chapter 6
Giving is very important to the work of God. It shows our care one for another. We are to give to the poor, give to those that left secular jobs to give themselves wholly to the work of God like missionaries, pastors and other that labor for the Lord, and give to whoever or whatever cause the Holy Spirit lays upon our hearts. Without giving to support a local church and the pastor, we could not have a central place of worship or could not send workers out into the mission fields to save the lost. Yet when we give we must examine our motives. Motive here is what the Lord is referring to. While we should try to give in secret, sometimes we do have to set an example to our families however, so that they know also to give but we are never to give to be praised or seen as one who gives. Our reward will not be from the Lord because we already have the reward of the praise of men. We are not to give so that others will think we are a good person. We give with joy to help the work of God or help the poor. It's no one's business how much or how often. If one wants to put it in an envelope for income tax purposes, that is between them and the Lord but for those that do not itemize deductions, I think giving secretly is a great way to give having no one seeing except family or spouse so they can share in the joy of giving. I also believe that we are not to give out of fear of the Malachi curse neither are we to give to get rich and increased with goods. What is wrong with giving just because we love God and love our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord?
We need to take these verses very seriously. There is a place for public prayer but first examine the motives. Are we praying to impress the audience? Are we praying to appear to be holy or holier than the ones not praying? Are we trying to impress God with our great swelling words? To avoid praying to be seen of men if that is our weakness, it is better to pray when alone where no one hears except God. Even praying in the Spirit like Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians 14 should never be done to show off our spirituality but to edify the body and glorify God. God deserves our worship and praise. It's not wrong to worship Him by praying publically but our motives need to be pure and that we are praying to glorify Him. The attention must be on Him and not focused on us as a great person of God who can pray. Public prayers do not need to be long because we are not heard by our much speaking but we should pray with awe and respect for the Lord in faith believing He hears us because He said that He will hear us. The thing to avoid is turning our worship and prayers into rituals. God gives us a model prayer in the next few verses but that doesn't mean that we recite it word for word all the time because we can get so ritualistic that we can even be thinking of something else entirely and not even be aware that we are praying. We worship in vain if we are not worshipping in sincerity and "for real". We may impress those that hear us, but God sees our hearts and knows whether or not we are for real. My favorite type of praying in public is where everyone prays out loud at the same time. We do not hear much of that type any more except in some foreign countries. I miss it though because we are not praying to be heard but praying to God only. Sometimes we are so afraid of getting out of order that we try to control everything and nothing is spontaneous in our worship and praise and can get too ritualistic. We need real fervent heartfelt prayer when we pray.
Accept in emergency situations where we have to cry out to the Lord for help fast, we should address the Lord first. We address each other for instance. by name before speaking except in emergency situations where we cry out a help command or something. Still I want to be careful here because I don't want to make set rules and get legalistic or ritualistic about praying. Just pray from the heart crying out to God in sincerity and always with respect and reverence.
My dad always encouraged me to pray for the Lord's will. There was a time when the church went through a period of name it and claim it, where some taught it was unbelief to say, "if the Lord will", yet we see here that we are to be concerned that our prayers are the Lord's will. We can get to the point where we actually pray in the spirit whether in a tongue unknown to us or our native language and we begin to pray as the Holy Spirit gives us utterance. It is wonderful if we have the will of the spirit in our hearts as we pray.
We ask for our daily spiritual food as well as food to nourish our bodies. We ask for understanding as we study God's word.
Another place says trespasses. If we don't forgive, we will not be forgiven. That is why Jesus shows us that we ask forgiveness based on our willingness to forgive others who sin against us.
Our prayer should always be that we are delivered from evil and we never yield to temptation but live and walk in the spirit. This is the type of prayer that the Lord shows us as a model to pattern our prayers after. We don't have to say the exact words or repeat them over and over to get God to hear us since He already hears before we pray. We need to pray without ceasing. Pray continually without going long periods of time without praying. How would our marriages work if we never talked with our spouses. Talking to the Lord helps us. It reminds us of His presence. It along with the study of the written word increases our faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Prayer is not vain continuous repetition or great long prayers to impress people but prayers should be straight from our heart to God's, in sincerity, truth and with love.
I know these verses may trouble those who may believe in the eternal security doctrine but we can't change the words of Jesus. In fact I listened to an avid eternal security teacher teach on this chapter and he even refused to explain away these words of Jesus. Jesus said that if we do not forgive, neither does our heavenly Father forgive us.
Sometimes we tend to hide the fact that we are fasting. Not too many are guilty of doing this to be seen of men, while the praying and giving is still done in public. So with fasting, prayer and giving it is the motive that be need to examined. I don't want to imply that we examine someone else's motive for doing things though. We need to examine ourselves. At times we may have to tell those close to us that we are fasting but we don't have to make a public announcement about it. As with prayer and giving sometimes we have to set examples to our families by showing them what we do. We need to be careful though because we can easily get into doing things to be praised of men. There is a place for letting our good works shine to glorify God and there is a place to do it secretly so only the Lord knows. It's the motive. All we do needs to be done in a way that glorifies God and not self. Giving God all glory is not always easy. Human beings tend to give credit to someone they can see. This can be a mistake. When we get our eyes on a person instead of God, when that person makes a mistake, sins' or gets into doctrinal error, we easily follow after them thinking mistakenly that if they do it or say it, the thing has to be true because of their good reputation. Wrong. We need to keep our eyes on God and His word giving Him glory and honor. Suppose someone preaches a dynamic message that stirs the crowds. Our goal should be and his or her goal should be that when people leave after the message, they are giving praise to God not the messenger that represents God. This is sometimes hard to do but necessary to keep people's eyes on God and not on a person who later may fail and lead them astray. God never makes a mistake, people do. There has to be a way to lead people to Christ for instance, teach them God's word but in a way that we can stand aside and see them seek God and depend on God and not on us. That doesn't mean that we never listen to another person's teaching or preaching for God ordains those that teach and preach but we are never to idolize them to the point that we take their words as truth without question and making sure they are teaching truth as recorded in God's word.
Where our treasure is, our heart will be. If we are only mindful of earthly wealth and treasure, that is where our heart will be. If our wealth is in this life only, the moment we leave the body and go to meet our maker, we lose all we have accumulated on this earth. Its gone, left to another. If our treasure is laid up in heaven, we will not lose anything. If we are busy seeking the things of this world and this life only and neglect our souls, we lose everything at the point of death. Laying up treasure in heaven is when God is put first in our lives. We trust Him for our salvation. All we do is to further His word and His calling upon our lives. Our reward will be waiting for us.
If our eye be single that means we have our eyes on the right thing following after that which is good. Our goal is the things of God and we are concerned with what He is concerned with.
Evil is not just bad things or serious sin even though those things are really evil but evil is neglecting our souls, the things of God and doing His will. Knowing to do good and doing it not is evil even if we never kill anyone, steal or do something against the law of the land we live in. Just neglect of God's word and not seeking God for salvation is evil. It's evil because we not only harm our own eternal souls but we influence others to do likewise and lose their souls in the process. If our children see us neglect God and we never speak of God or tell them of the way of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, we not only lose our souls but cause our children to be lost.
We can't be consumed or wrapped up in this life and be mindful of the spiritual eternal things at the same time. We will either love one or the other.
This doesn't mean that we don't make a living and support our families because there are other scriptures that call such a one an infidel if they don't take care of their own family or relatives that are suffering hardship. Of course this would mean, if we had the means to be able to do that. We are to take care of our families and support them. This is the will of God while we abide on the earth. What is meant here is not to be anxious, overly concerned about what we are going to eat or drink but continually trust in God to provide that which we have no control over. A lazy person who doesn't show up on the job and do what he is committed to do is not being a faithful servant of God. He or she is setting a bad example if they do that. There are things we have no control over though and have to trust God for the outcome and we are not to be anxious thinking our life is so wrapped up in what we are worrying about that we are in despair if we lose it. Worry and faith is opposites of each other. If we see someone hurt, we do everything in our power and expertise to help but beyond that we have to trust God for the outcome. We pray of course and then trust God. We don't just pass by them, saying, "Be ye warmed and filled, or be ye healed" and do nothing to physically help. Once we help either by ministering to them ourselves or dialing 911 and getting medical help, or the police if a crime has been committed, then we have to leave the outcome to the Lord. There are things we can do and there are things that our out of our control. We are not to be anxious and troubled but to trust God for those things. Worry never changes anything anyway. If worrying had power to change the outcome then we could worry, but it does not help. It is the opposite of faith.
The main point I believe the Lord is trying to tell us, is to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Notice that He never says to seek to be righteousness in ourselves but to seek His righteousness. We could never be righteousness by ourselves or by our own works. We can't even become righteous if we decided to stop sinning and never sin again. The righteousness of Christ has to cover us. We receive this by believing in His words to us and believing in Him to save us from our sins. The blood He shed at His death on the cross, covers our sins and then are we made righteous but it's His righteousness not ours that covers us. We seek this first and then we do not have to be anxious about what we eat, drink and what we wear. We can earn a living but not be anxious and troubled, thinking we are going to lose everything because our hope is in the Lord and in eternity, not in this life. Some may gain possessions here and some may have very little but the Lord is our source and our provider if we allow Him to be. Most of my prayers are answsered if within my heart, I say I'm just going to trust the Lord. If in my heart I actually leave it up to Him, He never fails to work things out. Seeking His righteousness is the new birth, the living water and all the things that cause us to inherit eternal life and the kingdom to come. When we trust in the sacrifice that Christ did on our behalf, we are born again by His spirit. We are then made righteousness, not by our own good works but by receiving and being covered by His righteousness. DC
|
||
|
HOME |
SITE MAP |
BIBLE STUDY INDEX
|
||