The Secret to Praying

Introduction:

Four Marks of Real Prayer (Matthew 6:5–15)

1. PRIVATE. (Matt 6:5–6)

2. PERSONAL. (Matt 6:7–8)

3. PROPORTIONED. (Matt 6:9–13)

   Three Ingredients of Prayer:

   1. PRAISE. (Matt 6:9)

   2. PURPOSE. (Matt 6:10)

   3. PROVISION. (Matt 6:11–13)

4. PRACTICAL. (Matt 6:14–15)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 6:5-15

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. “Prayer is the screw that almost always needs to be tightened for the Christian.” Why do you think this is true? Why do you think prayer is so difficult for many Christians?
   

3. Explain Jesus' teaching in verse 6 in your own words. Why is secret prayer so important?
   

4. What are the 3 ingredients of prayer in “The Lord’s Prayer”? Which one do you need to work on the most right now? Why?

Breakout
How is your prayer life these days? What have we learned from this passage that we will apply to grow as pray-ers?

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Matthew chapter 6.

  Let's turn to God's Word together.

  I'm going to ask that you please pray for me to be faithful to communicate it clearly.

  I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive it.

  Father in heaven, we humble ourselves before you

  and ask that you would make us the people that you've called us to be

  so that you may accomplish the purposes you want to accomplish through us.

  Thank you ahead of time.

  The transformation that comes when we come under the authority of your Word.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  In all of God's people said, "Amen."

  Matthew chapter 6, are you there?

  Well, I was going to college in Ohio.

  I was working at Walmart, among many other places I was working.

  But at Walmart, I worked with this man named George.

  And I was trying to think of how I could describe George to you.

  But I think the only phrase that really encapsulates who he was

  was a phrase they use in the South.

  Bless his heart.

  You know what I mean? Okay, enough said.

  George, when I would go to work and we were on the same shift, George would always say,

  "I'm awfully tired today."

  He said, "I drove..." He drove truck. That was his other job.

  He goes, "I drove the rig down to Alabama and back last night."

  Like, you went to Alabama and back in one night?

  He's like, "Yeah?"

  So I'm trying to calculate. I'm like, "Is that possible? Are you driving a jet?"

  "Can you make it to Alabama and back from Ohio in one night?"

  I don't know about that.

  I'm like, "Wow, you must be tired then."

  He goes, "Yeah?"

  He goes, "My other job-driving truck, they got me working 200 hours a week."

  And he was not being hyperbolic, by the way.

  I said, "You work 200 hours a week driving truck?"

  He goes, "Yeah?"

  So how many hours you work in here?

  He goes, "40?"

  I said, "You work 240 hours last week?"

  He goes, "Yeah?"

  And bless his heart.

  I just couldn't tell him.

  I just didn't have it in me to tell him.

  But he was always telling me this story.

  But I'm somewhat of an armchair psychologist, I guess.

  But I wonder what was it in him that made him want to tell me that story every time we worked together?

  Because I heard it a lot.

  What would possess a guy to say something like that?

  And there really is only one answer, right?

  He wanted to impress me, right?

  He wanted me to be like, "Wow, George, you're such a hard worker.

  You work more hours than there are in a week."

  Like, that's what he wanted from me. He wanted my attention.

  And, church, what is it in us that we want the attention from other people?

  Why are we like that?

  Why don't we bring that mindset into the church where we encounter the words of our Lord when He says in Matthew 6,

  verse 1, "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them,

  for then you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven."

  Jesus very clearly warned us.

  Well, we are to do religious acts. I mean, that's a given.

  He talks about prayer. He talks about giving.

  And He talks about fasting.

  And you're going to see Jesus just assumed that His people would do those things, right?

  But the caution He gives is trying to do these things in a way to get attention from other people,

  to try to impress other people.

  That's a question.

  Pastor Taylor addressed last week. We'll look at this week.

  And spoiler alert next week too.

  Because it's the same question for all of these things.

  Giving, praying, fasting. Whose attention do you want?

  Do you want God's attention?

  Or do you want other people's attention?

  Excuse me. Today, we're going to talk about prayer.

  Why is prayer so hard?

  In the Christian life and discipline,

  why is prayer the hardest thing?

  Preparing for this message, that was the question that was just like

  constantly running through my mind this past week.

  Why is it so hard?

  I think there's three overlapping reasons that prayer is hard.

  One is we are bored with it.

  As one author put it, we're bored with prayer because we pray the same old things about the same old things.

  True. Boring. We're bored with it.

  That's why it's so hard.

  Number two, second overlapping reason why prayer is the hardest thing

  is we don't see God moving in our lives.

  Or, excuse me, we don't trust that He will.

  I mean, who wants to set themselves up for disappointment, right?

  We're on our face, we're crying out for something, and He doesn't do it.

  What fun is that?

  Third reason is we don't really know what to pray about.

  Again, these are all overlap. We just don't know what to pray about.

  Somebody's got a health issue, somebody's got a relationship problem.

  We're like, what exactly do I say about that?

  Why is prayer so difficult?

  I mean, here Jesus is talking about the religious acts that His people do, right?

  Giving to the needy.

  Pastor Taylor talked about last week.

  What do the pagans do that, right?

  People that have never opened a Bible in their lives

  will contribute when they see someone in need, right?

  Or next week we're going to talk about fasting.

  Let's talk about self-discipline.

  I know non-Christians that have much better self-discipline than me

  diet and exercise and time management.

  Non-Christians.

  And then I thought about preaching a sermon.

  There are a ton of people in this church, in this church, that can do that.

  I'm like the sixth or seventh best preacher in this church.

  In this church.

  Or whether it's preaching or leading a Bible study.

  People do that.

  But you know the question that really hits us is why is talking to God

  harder than talking about God?

  God wants your heart.

  And this is a tough pill to swallow, but swallow it we shall.

  Prayer is the test where your heart really is with the Lord.

  Do you get alone with God?

  I mean do you really spend time alone with God?

  When you do, if you do, do you have something to say to God?

  Well, prayer is the screw that always needs tightened.

  Christians, true or false.

  And you know what, a lot of times around the church we idealize prayer

  and we talk about prayer, but...

  Let's be people that actually pray.

  How about that?

  So on your outline, four marks of real prayer.

  And if you, like me, are an alliteration nerd,

  boy are you in for a treat.

  Four marks of real prayer, number one.

  Real prayer is private.

  Look at verse five.

  Jesus said, "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites,

  for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues

  and at the street corners that they may be seen by others."

  What looks like prayer often is not prayer.

  It's performance.

  See, Jesus was calling out the religious people of His day,

  praying on the street corner.

  And the picture here is, I just couldn't wait to get to the temple to pray.

  I just, my heart was so bursting with wanting to pray, I couldn't wait.

  So I'm just praying right here.

  And look how holy I am, everybody.

  And it's performance.

  And you're like, pfft.

  I'd never do that.

  Really?

  Let me ask you this.

  Have you ever been praying in a group?

  Like you're in a Bible study, you're in your small group,

  or you're in one of your little prayer groups at one of our prayer services.

  Have you ever been praying in a group of people and in your prayer,

  you know you're about to come up to a phrase in your prayer

  that's going to sound so good.

  So good, in fact, that you're planning for a little pause

  because you just know people are going to amen that.

  You know what I'm talking about and you're praying and here comes the phrase.

  We're going to ratchet it up.

  Wait for amen.

  Okay, and then we keep going. Have you ever done that?

  Or how about this?

  Have you ever complimented a person in your prayer?

  Have you ever done that?

  Oh, come on, you know what I mean.

  Like, we're praying.

  And I'm like, Father in heaven, I want to pray for my brother Chuck

  because Chuck is so handsome and God, he's such a great dad.

  And he's such a devoted husband.

  And God, I love Chuck so much. I just thank you.

  God, he's a fine figure of a man, Lord.

  Like, who is that for?

  But don't we do that sometimes?

  Have you ever given somebody a subtle rebuke in a prayer?

  I'm getting warm in here, isn't it?

  Partly the temperature of the room and partly conviction.

  Have you ever rebuke somebody in a prayer?

  That you're praying and you're like, you know, Father in heaven,

  Betsy asked for prayer for this relationship she's entering into.

  But Lord, I pray that you would teach her patience.

  Like shop-blocking people in their prayer.

  Have you ever made a need known in your prayer?

  Have you ever done that? You're praying?

  And you're like, oh Lord, I'm just praying You provide me $1,100

  to fix my 94 Honda Civic.

  And then you're looking around, seeing who's reaching for their wallet.

  Have you ever tried to turn prayer into teaching time?

  Like, I'm about to lay out some doctrine in this prayer.

  As if the Lord doesn't know.

  As if the Lord's like, wait, let me write this down.

  This is fantastic.

  Alright, here's the point.

  If you have ever said something in a prayer

  for the benefit of the other people around you,

  then you're performing.

  Jesus said you have received your reward.

  After the prayer, they're like, wow, that was such a great prayer.

  Wow, that was a powerful prayer.

  You know, that little, you know, half a second of warm fuzzies you get from that.

  There's your reward.

  Enjoy.

  The look at verse 6, Jesus says,

  "But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door,

  and pray to your Father who is in secret."

  Go to your room, shut the door.

  Private.

  You want the secret to prayer is?

  Praying is secret.

  It's private.

  It's shutting out other people.

  Now listen, this is not an excuse to skip prayer service.

  We're having one tomorrow night at the property.

  Talk about that in a few minutes.

  But don't like no show me.

  And I'm like, hey, didn't see it to prayer service.

  Well, you know, prayer is supposed to be private.

  Now, there are many examples of people praying in groups, the church,

  praying together in God's Word.

  There's power in praying with your small group.

  There's power in the elders coming together to pray before elder meetings.

  All right?

  But, all that said,

  Jesus here is specifically and clearly addressing private prayer.

  Because your secret prayer life is your real prayer life.

  I mean, you can say what you want about prayer.

  And you can get on Twitter's or X's or whatever it's called

  and tweet your pithy little sayings about prayer.

  Or you can get on the Facebook's and show a post, a picture of a pretty sunset

  and a duck and some verse about prayer.

  Here's the truth, my friends.

  What you really believe about prayer

  is proven when you pray privately.

  Because that's when prayer is real business.

  Because then it's just you and God,

  and no one knows what you are saying to God, except God.

  And there's no one around to be impressed by your prayers

  or to applaud your prayers.

  It's just you and God.

  And that is when prayer is pure.

  Because that is when you are proving by faith

  that you really believe that you're talking to God.

  Your secret prayer life is your real prayer life.

  Jesus said, verse 6, "And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

  Like giving, you have a choice.

  Do you want rewarded by man?

  Or do you want rewarded by God?

  I could guess most of us here would probably say I want rewarded by God.

  So the question is, well, what is God's reward?

  What do you think the reward is?

  What do you think is the reward that God gives?

  I think it's answered prayer.

  That's the reward.

  And you see, for some of you,

  the reason you haven't seen answered prayer

  is you haven't really been praying.

  When's the last time in your life

  you can point specifically to say,

  "I was praying specifically for this thing.

  Nobody knew about it.

  I was praying specifically for this thing.

  And then I saw God answered the prayer very specifically."

  When's the last time that's happened to you?

  Because if you're a follower of Christ,

  that should be happening on a regular basis.

  Some of you haven't seen prayer answered

  because you haven't really been praying.

  You haven't prayed in secret.

  Your Father hasn't seen in secret.

  So He hasn't rewarded you.

  Because it is the rewarded prayer

  who has faith-fueled private conversations with God.

  It is that person that sees prayer answered

  and you're like, "God, we were just talking about that.

  God, I specifically was talking to you about this very thing

  and I see what you did.

  Thank you."

  You want to see God move in your life like that?

  Then you've got to get with God privately.

  And you'll see how He rewards.

  Like, "Well, how do I do that?"

  I have to remind you again

  that the most important things in life

  are intentional, right?

  You've got to be intentional.

  You can't hope that it accidentally happens.

  That doesn't work with anything else in life, does it?

  You don't roll out of bed and say,

  "Well, I hope I exercise today."

  If you don't intentionally try to make that happen,

  it's not going to happen.

  You're not going to accidentally exercise.

  You can't get up and say,

  "Oh, I hope I stick to my diet today.

  Hope that Oreos and Funyons

  don't find their way into my mouth today."

  If you're not intentional,

  it's not going to happen.

  Parents, you can't say,

  "Oh boy, I sure hope I spend time with my kids today."

  It's not going to happen by accident.

  The most important things in life are done intentionally.

  Same with prayer.

  Carve out a time, get alone with God,

  and by the way, turn off all the electronic distractions.

  And pray privately.

  That's real prayer.

  Number two, for March of Real Prayer, it's personal.

  It's personal. Look at verse 7.

  Jesus says, "When you pray, do you know what?

  Heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do,

  for they think that they will be heard for their many words."

  Jesus here isn't talking about this need that's on your heart

  that you keep bringing before the Lord sincerely crying out.

  Jesus is talking about mindless repetition.

  That's why verse 8, he says, "Do not be like them."

  Don't be like them.

  In some churches, that is the thing.

  Can prayers.

  Oh, you've sinned?

  Well, what you need to do is recite this prayer ten times.

  And I've talked to people in those churches,

  and what they do is they go out and they just spin out the words

  as fast as they can, not thinking about what the words even mean.

  That's exactly what Jesus is talking about here.

  Empty phrases.

  Like, yeah, that's church, right?

  You know what I mean?

  How about this church?

  You know, sometimes we teach our kids to recite canned prayers.

  You know the first prayer I remember learning?

  "Now I lay me down to sleep."

  How many people know that?

  Raise your hand if you're familiar with it.

  "Now I lay me down to sleep."

  Okay.

  And then you get to that.

  I'll tell you how young I was.

  I learned the words to that before I knew what the words meant.

  Because I remember at a point in my childhood,

  when I was saying that, like, if I should die before I wake,

  I was like, "What?!"

  Like, "That can happen?!"

  Seriously, I was freaked out.

  My parents had to come to my bedside.

  I was like, freaked out.

  I'm like, "Well, what if I die before I wake?"

  I had no idea what was going on.

  Canned prayers.

  Here's another canned prayer that we teach before dinner.

  You know that one?

  "God is great. God is good."

  You know the rest of that?

  How many of that one?

  Okay, all.

  Okay.

  "Let us thank Him for our food. Amen."

  We always had to find out what mom was making

  before we thanked God for it.

  I'm not so thankful for this one.

  That's what Jesus talked about.

  Empty phrases.

  I mean, if you had an appointment with the Lord,

  if it was like in the spirit of the Zacchaeus event,

  that the Lord was like, "I'm coming to your house for dinner."

  And Jesus is sitting at your table.

  How would you talk to Him?

  If Jesus sat down and said,

  "What would you like to talk about?"

  Would you go,

  "Now I'll lay me down to sleep.

  I pray to the Lord my soul to keep.

  I should die before I wake."

  You wouldn't just go into some empty poem thing

  that you heard as a kid.

  Wouldn't you just want to talk to Him?

  That's what prayer is.

  It's conversation.

  It's conversation.

  God wants your heart.

  Have you heard?

  And private prayer is to be a very personal thing.

  Look, verse 8, he says,

  "Do not be like them for your Father

  who knows what you need before you ask Him."

  It's personal with God.

  He knows and He cares.

  Prayer is personal to Him

  and you've got to make it personal to you.

  But this part of the verse is troubling for a lot of people

  because your Father knows what you need

  before you ask Him.

  So why ask Him?

  Luke chapter 18, you don't have to turn there now.

  I'm going to paraphrase it for you for the sake of time.

  But you can look this up later.

  But the paraphrase, look chapter 18, Jesus is walking

  and there's a group of people following Him

  and there's this blind guy on the side of the road

  and he hears all the commotion.

  He's like, "What's going on?"

  They're like, "Well, Jesus is coming

  and there's a lot of crowd with Him."

  And the blind guy is like,

  "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

  And people with Him are like, "Shut up!"

  And he's like, "No! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

  And Jesus stops.

  He goes, "Bring that guy here."

  So they brought the guy to Jesus, the blind man.

  They brought the blind man to the Son of God

  and Jesus asks him the strangest question.

  Jesus says to him, "What do you want me to do for you?"

  Now, I've got to confess to you, I'm not proud of this,

  but I've got to confess there's a little smart alecky side of me

  that imagines the blind man going, "A pizza!

  That's what I want from you! A pizza! Do you have any?

  What do I want from you?

  I want the Pirates to Win the World Series.

  Can you make that happen?"

  Look, look, I'm not the Son of God.

  But I think even I, in ten guesses or less,

  could probably guess what a blind man would want from God.

  I said to Jesus, "I want to see. I want my sight."

  And I have to ask you, church, do you think Jesus knew that?

  I would suggest to you that Jesus saying,

  "What do you want me to do for you?"

  is not such a crazy question.

  I think it is infinitely profound.

  Because you see what Jesus was saying,

  you need to be specific.

  But Jesus already knows.

  Oh, yes, that stirs up the question,

  "Well, why do we pray if He already knows?"

  Right? Why pray? God knows, right?

  Why pray? Here's why.

  Like the blind man praying specifically,

  praying specifically is an act of faith.

  Praying specifically is an act of faith.

  Let's be honest, church. Can we be honest today?

  Can we be honest?

  Do you want to answer that one?

  Can we be honest?

  Don't we pray vague?

  Don't we pray vague?

  This guy prayed vague. Have mercy on me!

  What does that mean?

  We do the same thing

  when we do things like, "God bless grandma."

  "Bless grandma, how?"

  What am I asking for for grandma?

  Or another one we do is we say, "I pray for it."

  I caught myself doing that.

  I'm like correcting myself when I pray sometimes.

  Because I'm like, "No, God knows I'm praying for it."

  But we're like that. We're like, "I pray for Pastor Rich."

  "I pray for Bethany." You know, "I pray for Lord."

  Like, "Yes, you're praying for them."

  It's almost like the Lord's like,

  "I could tell you were praying for them."

  You're on your face and they're on your prayer list.

  Praying what?

  Do you know I think we do that?

  I think sometimes we don't have enough faith

  to pray specifically.

  I mean, if we say, "God bless grandma,"

  anything that happens to grandma,

  we can just say that was the blessing I prayed for.

  Grandma won bingo, her gout went away, whatever.

  I prayed for her.

  I think we're afraid.

  I think we lack the faith to pray specifically.

  Maybe you don't see answered prayer

  because you haven't received a specific answer

  because you haven't prayed specifically.

  Four marks of real prayer.

  Number three, write this down.

  Proportioned.

  In this section, the Lord gives us

  what we call the Lord's prayer.

  Look, this is a pattern prayer.

  There are principles that show us the right balance

  in how to pray.

  I'm going to go through this quickly

  because the truth be told, I can preach 10,000 sermons

  on this passage in 10,000 different ways.

  I don't want us to be so caught up in the individual trees

  that we miss the forest here.

  When you pray, our Lord is showing

  that your prayer should be proportioned.

  There should be balance.

  There should be three things in your prayer,

  three ingredients in your prayer.

  Take your prayer time, divide it up into thirds.

  These are the three things you should be going after.

  The first one is praise letter A.

  Look at verse 9.

  Pray then like this, our Father in heaven.

  "Hallowed be your name."

  "Hallowed." That's holy.

  That's praise.

  Notice that's first.

  Worshiping God for who He is.

  That's why I encourage you.

  We're teaching the youth group this.

  Praying God's word back to Him.

  Praying concepts.

  "God, you said this in your word.

  Therefore, I'm praying that back to you."

  When you do that, especially in the Psalms,

  you will find yourself worshiping God

  with concepts that you don't even normally think about.

  But your prayer time should start with praise.

  Secondly, purpose.

  Verse 10.

  "Your kingdom come.

  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

  We should be praying for purpose.

  Whose purpose? His.

  And therefore, ours.

  May your kingdom advance.

  Use Me, however you want to use Me,

  to advance your kingdom.

  Gospel purposes.

  Let us see.

  Third ingredient of prayer is provision.

  Provision. Verses 11 through 13.

  "Give us this day our daily bread,

  and forgive us our debts.

  As we also have forgiven our debtors,

  and lead us not into temptation,

  but deliver us from evil."

  Provision.

  And there's balance in provision, right?

  Balance in provision.

  Physical, right?

  Bread.

  Relational.

  Forgiveness.

  Spiritual.

  Lead us not into temptation.

  See the balance in that?

  Most of our prayer requests

  have to do with so and so sick pray for them.

  I'm not saying we shouldn't pray for them,

  but I'm saying it's concerning to me

  when that seems to be all that we pray for.

  Where's the praise? Where's the purpose?

  Where's the other provision things?

  Because usually when we pray,

  between praise, purpose, and provision,

  provision gets the most attention.

  True or false?

  Sometimes it's the first thing we pray,

  embarrassingly, sometimes

  it's the only thing we pray.

  God, I need. God, please provide.

  God, help me.

  Prayer is about communion with God.

  Prayer is not about getting things.

  I think too often in the church we treat God

  like mall Santa Claus.

  We show up, we tell them what we want,

  and then we leave and hope He caches in.

  That's not prayer.

  Look, if you're bored,

  if you're bored with prayer,

  maybe it's because you've been lopsided

  in the way you pray.

  Take these ingredients that the Lord has given us,

  incorporate these into your prayer life.

  Our prayers should be proportionate.

  One more.

  One more. Finally, Mark of Real Prayer is,

  it's practical.

  Look at our last two verses for today,

  14 and 15.

  It says, "For if you forgive others their trespasses,

  your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

  But if you do not forgive others their trespasses,

  neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

  Again, we don't want to get too deep

  in the weeds on the subject.

  I want you to see the overall point.

  Jesus is showing us that there is to be a connection

  between our prayers and our everyday lives.

  You see, too often we pray holy-sounding words

  that have nothing to do with life at work,

  at home, at school, wherever.

  We pray things like this,

  "Heavenly Father, I beseech Thee,

  hither to fore, to bestow on thine servants

  a bountiful haja protection."

  What?

  What are you even saying?

  Prayer isn't detached from real life.

  Jesus is showing us that prayer directly connects

  to real life.

  Prayer should be practical.

  For example, the example that the Lord gives us.

  Verse 12, "You pray for forgiveness,

  and you pray to be a person who forgives others."

  Jesus is showing us that when you do that business with God,

  now you're motivated and empowered to forgive others.

  Jesus was not saying that the basis of salvation is forgiving.

  Forgiving others isn't a plan of salvation;

  it's the proof of salvation.

  Salvation comes through God's grace alone.

  And that topics a whole other sermon series.

  Here's the point Jesus is making right here.

  What happens in the prayer closet

  directly affects what happens outside of it.

  Are you having trouble forgiving someone?

  How much time have you prayed about that?

  Maybe for someone else that's your temper.

  I just have a temper, man.

  It's just something I struggled with for a long time.

  How much have you talked to God about that?

  Maybe for somebody else that's anxiety.

  "Oh, you know what, Pastor Jeff, I'm just so nervous and anxious."

  I know I shouldn't, but I just...

  Have you really talked to God about that?

  Like really spent time in the presence of the Lord talking about this?

  For someone that's lost, like I just can't seem to figure out the self-control thing, Pastor Jeff.

  How much have you really prayed about?

  Because my guess is if you're still struggling in a particular area,

  you probably haven't been praying too much about it at all.

  Because Jesus says what happens in the prayer closet

  affects what happens to you outside of it.

  Our worship team would make their way back up front

  and say, "Prayer is the screw that always needs tightened."

  That's true for me.

  And I imagine that's true for a lot of you.

  Look, over the years I have read so many books about prayer.

  I've read so many blogs from so many amazing preachers about prayer.

  I have listened to so many sermons about prayer, podcasts.

  I've been to conferences where they've talked about prayer and taught on prayer.

  But you know what I've learned?

  That there's really only one way to grow as a person who sincerely prays.

  Do you know what that is? Do you know what that one way is?

  To pray.

  Today I just want to encourage you to take a few pointers from the one who did it best.

  Jesus Christ, who told us, "Pray privately.

  Make it personal.

  Keep it proportions.

  And make it practical."

  Let's pray now.

  Father in heaven, as we come to this teaching, you're worded,

  I know it really hits me between the eyes.

  And I imagine there's a lot of people in this room in the first service

  and they'll be listening to this later. It hits us all.

  I'm just asking Father that we would be a people who would in a fresh way be renewed in our prayer lives.

  Maybe we've been filling our time with lesser things.

  Maybe we've been discouraged or despondent.

  Father, bring a fresh conviction, bring a fresh enthusiasm, bring just a fresh excitement in all of us

  to privately and sincerely come before you.

  Father, I know you're going to reward when we do that.

  Let all glory and honor and praise be unto your name.

  We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

The Secret to Giving

Introduction:

Watch Out... (Matthew 6:1–4)

1. Because your MOTIVES MATTER. (Matt 6:1a)

   1. Wrong Motive – TO GLORIFY YOURSELF.

   2. Right Motive – TO GLORIFY GOD.

   Matthew 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.

   1 Corinthians 10:31 – So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

2. Because your REWARD IS AT RISK. (Matt 6:1b–4)

   1. Worldly Reward – THE RECOGNITION OF OTHERS.

      James 1:27 – Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction…

      James 2:15–16 – If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

      2 Corinthians 9:6–7 – The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart...

   2. Eternal Reward – THE RECOGNITION OF GOD.

      Matthew 25:23 – “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 6:1-4

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Why do your motives matter so much to the Lord?
   

3. In what ways do you see yourself struggling with self-glorification? How can you fight against this sinful trend?
   

4. Why isn’t the worldly reward of human praise worth pursuing after?
   

5. Why does the Lord want you to be motivated by eternal rewards? Explain why this motivation isn’t legalistic or self-centered.

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6 verses 1 through 4. Matthew chapter 6

  verses 1 through 4. You know 12 years ago my friends and I took a road trip down

  to the middle of nowhere Tennessee. My one friend promised us a free stay in a

  spacious cabin that his dad built right next to a scenic lake. Only one of those

  guarantees end up being true. This day was free but it was free for a reason. It

  was not a spacious cabin it was a glorified shack. It turns out we weren't

  even allowed to sleep in the beds we had to sleep on the floor because his dad

  didn't want us to mess up the beds. We were also not right next to the lake it

  was a mile walk through hilly woods and once you got to the beach this is the

  site that greeted you. Warning dangerous water because nothing says come on in the

  water is fine like a do not swim here sign in the foreground and a nuclear

  power plant in the background. You can't really see it but there was a fenced off

  area where dozens and dozens of people were swimming and splish plashing

  around without a care in the world. I kept thinking to myself what are you

  people doing don't you see the sign I mean can you even miss this sign is that

  even possible? It is unmissable. I guess people saw this sign but they just

  didn't care. They thought it was a harmless joke and not a serious warning.

  You know how you respond to warnings says a lot about who you are as a person.

  The waitress brings you your food and says hey be careful the plate is hot. What

  do you do in that moment? Do you believe your nice waitress or do you touch it to

  see if she's telling the truth? I don't know what's in it for her to lie to you

  about the hot plate or you pass by a wet paint sign and you think to yourself is

  this actually wet? You decide to touch it right? Or here's a new one I learned

  this week. Did you know in bold letters on the Q-tip box it says do not insert

  into ear canal. I was blown away. I've been doing it wrong for all these years.

  Now that you know are you gonna keep exploring your ear like it's a cave or

  are you gonna stop doing it? Or you come to a red light at the top of the red

  light says no turn on red. But you look both ways and there's no one coming so

  you go anyway. Let's move beyond these somewhat funny examples of something

  much more important. God's Word is filled with hundreds and hundreds of

  warnings that you can either ignore or take very seriously. This is the first

  week in a new section of our study of the Sermon on the Mount, the heart of

  religion. In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus gives a three-part warning of how you

  should and should not approach the spiritual disciplines of giving, praying,

  and fasting. According to Jesus these disciplines are not just external things

  that you can check off your to-do list. They are internal indicators of who you

  really are and who you are really worshiping. Because Jesus cares how you

  give. Jesus cares how you pray. Jesus cares how you fast. The how of these

  disciplines reveal if you are a religious phony or a religious follower of

  Christ who is faithful from the heart. This morning we're gonna dig into

  Matthew chapter 6 verses 1 through 4 and focus on the warning of our Lord when

  it comes to giving of our time, talents, and treasures. Before we get started I

  want to plead with you to not ignore this warning from Christ. Take it very

  seriously. Be on guard. Watch out for what he is cautioning you against. Do not

  close your eyes to your own sin. Do not think you have it all figured out

  because Jesus has a not-so-secret secret to share with you this morning that you

  often lose sight of. The secret to giving is giving in secret. So before we

  continue any further let's go to the Lord and ask for His help. Please pray for me

  and I will pray for you.

  Father we come to once again a very challenging and convicting passage in

  your word. We're once again we are being exposed not just on the outside but on

  the inside. I pray for every single person in this room including myself Lord may

  we truly listen to what your word has to say and take this warning with the utmost

  seriousness. We thank you in advance what you are going to do and we ask all

  these things in the name of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen. Alright so watch out

  number one because your motives matter. Watch out because your motives matter.

  Let's read the first half of chapter 6 verse 1. Jesus says beware watch out of

  practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

  It's important to note that Jesus doesn't say it's bad for other people to

  notice you practicing your righteousness or doing the right thing in public. What

  does he say? Watch out for practicing your righteousness and doing the right

  thing in public in order to be seen by others. In the original Greek that phrase

  in order to be seen it comes from the word for theater. You're putting on a

  show. You're pretending to be someone that you are not. You are putting on an

  insincere performance. So once again Jesus zeros in on the on the internal. He

  focuses on your heart's greatest desire. It's all about your motive. So let's check

  out the wrong motive first. So what is the wrong motive? To glorify yourself. To

  glorify yourself. I'm not proud of this but in the past I've done chores around

  the house in the hopes that my wife will notice my hard work. Is anyone else

  guilty of this kind of behavior? Jonathan Trent thank you so much. I am so

  appreciative. It's just you and me buddy. To be fair all the guys should have their

  hands raised as high as humanly possible whenever asked that kind of question.

  This is so lame to admit but I've done the dishes. Taken out the garbage. Lay

  down mulch. Cut the grass. Done long past due house projects hoping that my

  wife will see it and award me husband points. And husband points are a form

  of currency in marriage that aren't worth as much as you would hope and go as

  bad as quickly as unrefrigerated fish. All the husbands in the room know

  exactly what I'm talking about. In those moments my motive was not to honor my

  wife but to glorify myself. To show off how great of a husband I am. And when

  Kate didn't notice what I had done I began to pout and feel disappointed.

  I only felt that way because I had a bad motive. I wouldn't have felt that way if

  I had the right motive which is to be a loving husband who took

  responsibility for his own home. And this proves an important principle.

  Self-interest and self-glory always lead to self-deception and self-defeat. Without

  fail the most miserable person in every room is the most selfish person in that

  room. The more you make life about you the more unhappy you will find yourself.

  Maybe that is why you feel so depressed this morning. Maybe that's why you feel

  so empty right now. You want to be the son at the center of your solar system

  but the problem is nobody else cares about your desired position. No one wants

  to orbit around your preferences. And you may be wondering how can I tell if I am

  this kind of self-glorifying person or not. Well first of all you are this kind

  of person to some degree and so am I. This problem does exist within your heart

  at some level. You have to figure out how serious and far-reaching the problem

  actually is. Here are some things to be on watch for. Do you check out what other

  people share about their problems? Do you have a hard time being happy for someone

  else when they achieve a goal that you've always wanted to accomplish? When they

  receive a blessing that you've always wanted? Do you always try to one up

  people and have a better story than someone else? Do you always bring the

  topic of conversation back to you? What you've done in the past? What you're doing

  right now? And what you plan to do in the future? Do you get annoyed and even

  sulky when you don't get your way? Do you push away opportunities to serve and

  help if you don't see what's in it for you? Even though there are tell-tale

  signs it can be extremely difficult to spot your own narcissism because you are

  often blind to it. But other people around you are not. It would be a good

  exercise to check in with your family and your friends after church today to ask

  if they see any of these tendencies and how you speak and how you talk and how

  you act. And if you ask that question please shut your mouth and open your

  ears. Stop inserting your opinion. Stop justifying yourself. You will not grow if

  you are more interested in defending yourself than dying to yourself. Start

  dealing with your problem because I guarantee you that you do have a problem.

  Stop glorifying yourself because you are not worthy of this act of self-worship.

  So that's the wrong motive. To glorify yourself. What's the right motive? To

  glorify God. To glorify God. So Jesus provides the right motive for doing the

  right thing earlier in the Sermon on the Mount. Listen to what he has to say in

  Matthew 5.16. "Let your light shine before others that they may see your good works

  and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Compare that to chapter 6 verse

  1. "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by

  them." Do you see the difference? Instead of shining the spotlight onto yourself

  you shine on to the only one who is actually worthy of it, the Lord and Him

  alone. Because this is the reason for which you were created. You exist to

  honor God and show a watching world how awesome He truly is. This must be the goal

  of your marriage. This must be the goal of your parenting. This must be the goal of

  your job. This must be the goal of everything that you do. In 1 Corinthians

  1031 Paul says this, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the

  glory of God. Because any worldly glory that you collect for yourself will be

  snuffed out when you pass on from this life. But the glory of God is an unending

  fire that can never ever be put out." In 100 to 200 years from now you're gonna be

  long forgotten. No one is gonna be thinking about you. But the name of Jesus

  Christ will stand the test of time. His name will be forever high and lifted up.

  I'm not a betting man but I can guarantee you with a hundred percent

  certainty that you will be rewarded for throwing your chips in with the victory

  of God's name and reputation. That is the only motivation that will truly fuel

  you. That is the only motivation that will get you across the finish line of

  life. So watch out because your motives matter. Secondly, watch out because your

  reward is at risk. Because your reward is at risk.

  Jesus lays out the consequence for doing the right thing for the wrong reason

  at the end of verse 1. "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." If you were dominated by the desire to rob God of

  his glory as you do good deeds, you will receive a loud and clear message from

  God. It is the same message that Willy Wonka gave the Charlie and his grandpa at

  the end of the Chocolate Factory tour. You get nothing. You lose. Good day, sir.

  That may seem extreme, but that's what the text says. That may seem harsh, but it's

  even better than what you deserve. With that in mind, Jesus continues on with his

  warning in verse 2, "By revealing the emptiness of the worldly reward that you

  often settle for. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you,

  as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets, that they may be praised

  by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. The worldly reward

  that is most tempting to seek after is the recognition of others. The

  recognition of others. And notice that Jesus doesn't say, "If you give to the

  needy," he says, "when you give the needy." And he says that again in verse 3,

  "which means that you are expected to help those in need with your time, with

  your talents, and your treasures. You are expected by God to care for the orphan

  and the widow." James 1.27, "A religion that is pure and undefiled before God is

  this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. You are expected by God

  to not ignore the poor, especially those within the body of Christ." Once again,

  let's read what James has to say. James 2.15 through 16, "If a brother or sister

  is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in

  peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body,

  what good is that? It is worthless.'" You're expected by God to be generous with

  the money in your account, and not hoard it for yourself. 2nd Corinthians 9 verses 6

  through 7, the point is this, "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and

  whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has

  decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a

  cheerful giver." Harvest, you are expected to make these kinds of sacrifices. But as

  you make these expected sacrifices, you are also expected to not sound a trumpet

  before you, like the scribes and Pharisees did 2,000 years ago. Now, they

  didn't literally sound a physical trumpet. They didn't pull a Miles Davis and

  blast a physical trumpet whenever they did a nice thing or made a donation.

  Jesus is using an over-the-top and funny illustration to prove a simple point. Do

  not be an obnoxious jerk who draws attention to himself or herself whenever

  you do the right thing. You know, while you were doing whatever you were doing

  over the past week, I was racking my brain to think of a modern-day example of

  sounding a trumpet before you. And I came up short. So I'm going to ask you guys to

  silently brainstorm, because I actually have something I need to do in the meantime,

  okay? So just be using your brains to think about an example.

  Alright, don't mind me guys.

  [laughter]

  You know what? I don't want to interrupt your brainstorming time, but you know what?

  This sermon is going really well. And you guys are all just laughing at my

  stories. I guess really tell that you're dialed into my spot on teaching. I really

  think Facebook needs to know about this. Oh, by the way, have you guys had any luck

  with your brainstorming? Wait a minute. Maybe I did stumble upon the 21st century

  version of sounding a trumpet before you. What do you guys think? Alright, I guess

  I'll put this away then. You know, seeking after the affirmation and praise of

  others is the heartbeat of the virtual world. People put on a manufactured

  version of themselves. They put their best foot forward. You can post about your

  best day to accumulate the affirmation and adulation of others. Maybe you post a

  status on Facebook, a picture on Instagram or real on the TikToks as Pastor Jeff

  calls it, that highlights a mission strip, a service project or a charitable

  event that you took part in. Now, you can certainly do this in a godly way with

  godly intentions, but you can also do it in an ungodly way with ungodly

  intentions. You just bask in the glory of the likes and the comments and the heart

  emojis as human praise begins to pour in. You make a sizable contribution to a

  GoFundMe page. And instead of remaining anonymous, you put your name right next

  to the amount that you donated. And you don't do that to show support. You do it

  to show off. You want others to be amazed by your big hearted generosity. Some of

  you are feeling pretty safe and sound right now because you don't leave much

  of a digital footprint. You don't post anything anywhere. Well, let's move

  beyond the bounds of social media because I don't want to leave you out of all the

  fun. Maybe you can seal a prideful remark of something kind you did as a praise

  at a prayer service or at small group. Maybe you accidentally slip in or

  reference something nice you did while in conversation with someone else. And

  you inwardly hope that they'll take the bait. They'll ask a follow-up question so

  you can get the at a boy or at a girl that you are so desperate for. Maybe you

  like to brag about your family's accomplishments in the yearly Christmas

  letter. That's right. I went there. Because some of you may do that. You say that you

  want to keep everyone informed about your life, but you actually want to keep

  everyone impressed with your life. All of these examples are sounding a trumpet,

  pulling out the selfie stick so that everyone will notice you because you

  want to be the recipient of admiration. You know, whenever I was a full-time

  youth pastor for eight years, I went to a countless number of musicals, track

  meets, games, graduation ceremonies, graduation parties, and before, during, or

  after the event, I would track down my student and their parents to let them

  know that I was there. Because how could I bless them with my presence if they

  were totally unaware of my presence? It's kind of weird to admit, but if I

  didn't make myself known or receive credit, it didn't really seem to count.

  Does that make sense? Does that seem reasonable? But you often feel a very

  similar way when it comes to your acts of good works. To your acts of service. If

  others don't recognize what you did, it doesn't really seem to count, right? It

  may even seem like a complete waste of time if you do not receive immediate

  praise. Jesus says you can blow that trumpet, you can pull out that selfie

  stick if you want to, knock yourself out. If you do, you will receive the reward of

  human praise, but that's all you'll get and nothing more. You will get nothing

  from your Father in heaven because you know what? You don't really care about

  what He has to give you. What other mere human beings have to offer seems much

  more appealing. But that is so short-sighted because compliments, thank-yous, and awards

  feel good for about 15 minutes. And then you're just jones in for the next dose,

  right? Praise leaves almost as quickly as it arrives. And you so quickly forget

  how little it satisfies you the next time you desire it. In verses 3 through 4,

  Jesus warns you to long for that which truly lasts. He cautions you to walk the

  path of delayed gratification so that you can receive the eternal reward of the

  recognition of God Himself. So that is the eternal reward, the recognition of God.

  Let's read verses 3 through 4. "But when you give to the needy," there it is again,

  "not if, when, 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, and your Father

  who sees you in secret will reward you." As I said earlier, the secret to giving

  is giving in secret. Jesus says, "not even let your left hand know what your right

  hand is doing." I just want to give a warning up front. I don't want to offend

  all the left-handed people in the room with this explanation of the

  illustration. I love all of you just as much as the normal people in the room.

  Okay, so don't be offended.

  Moving on, about 90% of Americans are right-handed, not left-handed. Again, don't

  hate me, it's just the facts, which means that the majority of people use their

  right hand way more than their left hand. So just go with this over-the-top funny

  illustration from Jesus. Imagine that your hands can actually speak to each

  other. In that scenario, your right hand shouldn't constantly brag about all the

  things that it was used to do over the course of the day to the left hand.

  Instead, it should be quiet. It should be satisfied that it was used instead of

  broadcasting how it was used. Jesus is calling us to a very serious type of

  self-denial here. He is saying, "serve me, serve others, and then do your best to

  forget all about it." Don't keep track. Don't keep score. Don't manage your own

  personal scoreboard. Don't comb through your mental file of successes and think,

  "Yeah, I'm doing pretty good compared to most people at church, compared to most

  people in my small group." That is a complete waste of time and energy. It is

  not your job to keep score because you cannot accurately evaluate yourself.

  Only God can do that. But this kind of self-forgetfulness is so counterintuitive

  to us because we all live in a culture that tries to ram self-worth down our

  throats every single chance that it gets. Oh, your self-esteem matters more than

  anything else. If you don't put yourself first, other people will put you last.

  Don't forget to love yourself. Give yourself pep talks and tell yourself

  how awesome you are. Is any of that biblical? Why do we often fall for it? The

  Bible doesn't teach you to have high self-esteem. The Bible also doesn't

  teach you to have low self-esteem either. The Bible says to have no

  esteem, which means that you're not focused on your self-image. You're not

  obsessed with what other people think and say about you. Instead, you focus on

  what God thinks and says about you because his authoritative opinion matters

  the most. Listen, it does not matter if other people recognize and acknowledge

  your faithfulness. Let me say that again because I really need to hear it. It does

  not matter if other people recognize and acknowledge your faithfulness. What

  matters is you hear these words from the Lord when you stand before Him one day.

  Well done, good, and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master. That is

  the reward you should long and live for. Jesus says that if you give in secret,

  your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Jesus isn't saying that you

  can earn right standing before God or work your way to heaven. That's not

  possible. Salvation is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ and

  nowhere else. Forgiveness of sin and eternal life are gifts to be received

  by faith, not earned by works. Scripture is so clear on that. But scripture is

  equally clear that rewards in heaven are diligently earned, not automatically

  received. If you honor God in this life, He will honor you in eternity. If you

  reject temporary rewards that you cannot take out of this world, you will be given

  eternal rewards that can never be stolen away from you in heaven. What a promise.

  That is a heavenly check that will never bounce and it will clear every single

  time. So let God keep score because He will reward you. What are these heavenly

  rewards? I wish I could tell you but the Bible doesn't give us specific

  details. But I can tell you this, God has never given you a lame gift in the past

  and He will not give you a lame gift in the future. If God promises it,

  trust me, you want it and you will love it. Right now you may be thinking, okay,

  what do I do when someone else does praise me? This is going to happen at some

  point. Do you just shut them down and say, whoa, whoa, I didn't do this to be

  praised by you. You're going to make me lose my eternal reward. Is that what you

  should do? That'd be super weird and awkward for the other person. So please

  don't do that. You should humbly accept this person's compliment and then

  redirect their praise to the source and supply of your good works. The love of

  Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Point the complimenter to God Himself.

  And this kind of redirect will not lead to a forfeiture of heavenly reward. If

  anything, it will lead to even greater reward because you have rightly handled

  praise and you have put it in the place where it truly belongs, which is the

  hands of Almighty God. You know, compared to some of the weighty topics we've

  covered during the Sermon on the Mount, this passage may seem kind of light and

  inconsequential to you. But I can assure you that it's not because you're giving

  and serving in public speaks volumes of who you are in private. This is serious

  business. You have received a personal warning from Jesus Himself. He has warned

  you to watch out for the motive of glorifying yourself. To watch out for

  the worldly desire to receive worldly rewards. And there are only two responses

  to this kind of warning. Indifference or humility. Maybe you don't see any problem

  with your motives right now. You don't see any issue for the reward you're living

  for. So you just want to move on with your day. Well, you're free to make that

  choice if you want to, but it is the wrong choice. Because until the day you die

  and are in the presence of Christ, your motives will always be tinged with

  selfishness. Even as I stand before you to preach this sermon, there is selfishness

  in my heart. Your motives will never be 100% pure. And you will desire the wrong

  reward. So please do not choose ignorance because too much is at stake. And maybe you

  do see major problems with your motives and the reward you are living for. You

  know that you have to make a change, but you don't know how to make that change.

  Well, I have good news and bad news for you. Let's start with the bad news. You

  cannot change your motives and desires. Are you ready for the good news? God can

  change your motives and desires, but this will only happen if you humble

  yourself before Him. Admit that you need His help. Submit to the master motivator

  and the richest rewarder in the entire universe. Go to the Lord in prayer and do

  that right now. Spend some time in prayer.

  Father, we come to you to lay our motives before you. To lay down the worldly

  rewards that we are living for. What help us to remember the only thing that will

  truly last is your glory and your name. What help us to live for these rewards

  that last forever and not these worldly rewards that fade away so quickly. And

  Lord, there's anyone in this room who is not a follower of you and is just stuck

  in this cycle of glorifying themselves and living for themselves. May they for

  the first time submit to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That they can

  fulfill the purpose for which you've given them, which is to make much of you.

  And for the rest of us Lord, help us to remember that biblical goal. To remember

  who we are living for. To remember why we exist. And we ask all these things in

  Jesus' name. Amen.

Love Like God

Introduction:

Leviticus 19:18 – You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:34 – You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

I Love My Enemies... (Matthew 5:43–48)

1. ...because of WHO I AM. (Matt 5:45a)

2. ...by WHAT I DO. (Matt 5:45b)

3. ...because I Am CALLED TO BE DIFFERENT. (Matt 5:46–47)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:43-48

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What does it mean to be persecuted? When Jesus said we must pray for those who persecute us, what / how exactly should we pray?
   

3. Can you genuinely love your enemy if you don’t really feel like it? Why or why not?
   

4. Explain Romans 12:20. How exactly does loving your enemy lead him to repentance? See also Romans 2:4.
   

5. What did Jesus mean in verse 48 when He said we “must be perfect”?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Open up those Bibles to Matthew chapter 5.

  As we go through our series, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5 verse 43, Jesus

  said, "You have heard that it was said."

  Stop there for a second.

  This whole section that we're in right now, if you've been following this series at all,

  I'm sure you've noticed that that has come up.

  What is it like?

  Six total times pastor?

  Like, "You have heard that it was said, but I say to you."

  What Jesus is dealing with here is correcting some garbage beliefs.

  And I've shared with you before, that's my biggest concern for this church is the area

  of discernment.

  We live in a day that there is so much bad teaching out there.

  And thanks to the Internet, we have access, right?

  And look, I'm not saying it's all bad, but I'm saying probably for every good teaching

  you can find online, you can probably find ten other garbage teaching online.

  And my concern for the church is people not knowing the difference.

  And it gets back to what did Jesus actually say?

  It's the issue that He was dealing with in His day, lack of discernment.

  Last week we saw Jesus said, "You've heard that it was said, and I for an eye."

  And Jesus said, "No, no, no, no, no, no."

  Jesus, as I say to you, I'm paraphrasing, He says, "Do not retaliate."

  You can walk away from last week's message and say, "Got it.

  Don't retaliate."

  So I'm just going to ignore the people that I can't stand.

  Well, let's keep reading.

  Verse 43, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your

  enemy.'

  But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

  Oh, no, no, don't ignore your enemies.

  You have to look for ways to be good to them.

  You're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

  You're saying that I not only don't get to get even with them, but I have to proactively

  love them?

  Yeah, that's what He said.

  All right?

  It's a hard word.

  So I think we should just stop and pray right now, shouldn't we?

  I'm going to ask that you would pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word,

  accurately and clearly, and I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what our

  Lord is teaching us in this part of His Sermon.

  All right?

  So let's pray.

  Father in heaven, as we go through this sermon from our Lord, it's just wave after wave of

  things that really confront our selfish, sinful, fleshly tendencies.

  And I don't know of one that's bigger than this one.

  I'm asking, please God, please, by the power of Your Word, Father, by the power of Your

  Spirit that You would change our minds today, Father, change our hearts and that we wouldn't

  just leave here knowing some things, but we leave here deeply convicted and moved to do

  some things.

  For Your glory and honor, Father.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  And all of God's people said, Amen.

  All right, let's break this down here.

  Jesus says in verse 43, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor

  and hate your enemy.'"

  You have heard.

  You have heard.

  That's what we've seen in this series.

  The scribes and the Pharisees in Jesus' day did what's still happening today.

  They twist verses in the Word of God to justify whatever it is they want to justify.

  For them, Jesus called them out.

  They were justifying their lust.

  They were justifying their hatred.

  They were justifying their getting even with people.

  He calls them out again.

  You've heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy."

  That's what the scribes and the Pharisees said.

  And you're like, "Well, was that in the Old Testament?"

  Well, the first part was, kind of.

  Here's what I mean.

  Here's what's actually in the Scripture.

  Leviticus 19-18.

  Look at this.

  "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you

  shall love your neighbor as yourself.

  I am the Lord."

  So you see, with the way that they sort of restated that, they ran into four problems.

  Four problems.

  The first problem is the scribes and the Pharisees left out the "as yourself" part.

  Did you notice that?

  Well, I love my neighbor, but as myself, that's a bit too much.

  Let's keep it vague.

  Because if we keep love vague, then whatever we do, we can just say it was love, right?

  So keep it vague.

  God never kept it vague.

  That was their first problem.

  Second problem is the scribes and the Pharisees redefined neighbor.

  And their definition of neighbor was, "Those I choose to love."

  That was their definition.

  So do you realize...the reason I'm laughing is, do you realize what that made the command?

  God's command is, "Love those you choose to love."

  That's convenient.

  Third problem, the scribes and the Pharisees totally added the "hate your enemy" part,

  right?

  Totally added that.

  You're not going to find that anywhere in the Old Testament.

  My vague love is for my Jewish neighbors.

  What about the foreigners?

  Hate them.

  And that leads us actually to the fourth problem.

  Because that whole love your neighbor as yourself, that was in Leviticus 19, 18.

  But if you go down a few verses to verse 34, it says, "You shall treat the stranger who

  sojourns with you as the native among you.

  And you shall love him as yourself."

  For you are strangers in the land of Egypt.

  I am the Lord your God.

  See the scribes and the Pharisees, they thought that they were honoring God by hating foreigners.

  And we get asked this question a lot.

  "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait."

  In the Old Testament, didn't God tell the Israelites to exterminate the nations that

  were living in the Promised Land?

  And don't we have all these imprecatory psalms?

  Like what's up with that, huh?

  Well, it's like the eye for an eye thing that we talked about last week.

  The scribes and the Pharisees took a thing that was designed for Israel as a nation and

  they turned it into a personal thing.

  So the whole exterminate the enemies in the Promised Land.

  Yeah, absolutely.

  Israel's wars weren't personal vendettas.

  They were commanded by God to wipe out those nations because those nations did horrible

  things.

  And God says, "You are not going to pollute my nation Israel."

  So Israel, you're going to wipe them out.

  And if you have a hard time with that, I would just like to lovingly remind you that God

  is allowed to make those calls because vengeance belongs to Him.

  Okay?

  And God's whole purpose in that was to protect Israel as a nation in that land.

  That's why when you turn to your New Testament, you don't see any imprecatory language in

  the New Testament.

  It's for Israel.

  And individually, we're talking about personally now, what about the people that hate me?

  What about the people that are my enemies?

  Love them.

  Love them.

  Look at verse 44, Jesus says, "But I say to you," pretty clear, isn't it?

  Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

  You see the whole loving your neighbor command includes everyone around you, including your

  enemy.

  Now breaking this down, when He talks about enemy, He's talking about your personal enemy.

  Okay?

  It's not this collective group idea.

  It's somebody who personally hates me.

  And Jesus says our response is to love them.

  That's the word agape.

  That is the highest form of love.

  That's self-sacrificing love.

  That's the kind of love that we should have for our enemy.

  And the verb tense here is constant.

  It's continually.

  You need to continually love your enemies.

  And you're like, well, who is my enemy?

  Who is it that hates you?

  Who is it that you know that if you tried to call them, they wouldn't answer the phone?

  If you sent them a text, they wouldn't reply.

  Or vice versa?

  Who is it that has been slandering you, making accusations against you?

  Jesus says we not only love our enemies, but you notice He ratchets it up even more when

  He says pray for those who persecute you.

  Those who persecute you.

  Those are your worst enemies.

  Where Jesus is speaking about your enemies who they don't just hate you.

  They actively hate you.

  These are the people that make an effort to show you how much they hate you.

  And as we've been going through the Sermon on the Mount, we see that a true believer

  in Jesus Christ is someone who is defined by the Beatitudes.

  And if you were here for the Beatitudes here, do you remember what the last one was?

  The highest rung on the ladder of following Jesus Christ is when we're persecuted.

  And here's the part where we stop and ask, are we persecuted?

  Are we really persecuted?

  Because here's the thing.

  I think for a lot of us our knee-jerk reaction to that would be I'm not persecuted, but the

  reality is you probably are.

  But you just haven't realized it.

  Here's what I mean by that.

  Here's what I mean.

  Persecute doesn't just mean somebody physically attacks you.

  Somebody murders you.

  Somebody gets you arrested, thrown in jail.

  Yes, that is persecution, but those are the most graphic manifestations of persecution.

  The word "persecute" literally means to pursue.

  That's what it means.

  And listen, listen to this.

  Persecute means somebody is chasing after you to constantly criticize and condemn you.

  So I imagine most of you are being persecuted right now according to the true definition

  of persecution.

  Think about it this way.

  Was Jesus persecuted?

  If you're like, "Oh yeah, when He was crucified."

  Of course!

  But He was persecuted His entire ministry because what were they constantly doing?

  The proper definition.

  They were constantly - read the Gospels.

  They were constantly pursuing Jesus.

  They were - how would we say it?

  They were out to get Him.

  That's what persecution means.

  I mean, read your Gospels.

  They were constantly looking to criticize Jesus and assaulting Jesus, accusing Jesus.

  "You did this in the Sabbath and you shouldn't be doing healing this way and your disciples

  didn't wash your hands and what's up with the fasting?"

  They were constantly, constantly, constantly after Him.

  That's what persecution means.

  And if you really follow Jesus, you have people pursuing you in that way too.

  Don't shout out any names.

  But do you have somebody at your workplace, for example, that's always watching you,

  always looking to get their little remarks in, get their little digs in,

  always looking to criticize anything you say or anything you do.

  That's persecution according to the proper definition.

  They're pursuing you.

  Maybe you have that family member.

  Never approves of a thing you do.

  The bum just can't do anything right and they're always vocal about it.

  Getting their little shots in, their little passive aggressive comments, they're always

  out to get you.

  That's persecution.

  Maybe it's on social media.

  You know anything you post.

  You know that person is going to show up with their snarky little comment.

  That's pursuing.

  That's persecution.

  Jesus says we need to pray for the people to do that to us.

  The people that are out to get you.

  Jesus said pray for them.

  So when was the last time you did that?

  I don't know about you but I have a list of people that I regularly pray for.

  When was the last time that you loved your enemy?

  And you're like, why in the world would I do that?

  Well let's keep reading.

  Jesus says in verse 45, "So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven."

  Why would you love your enemy?

  Why would you pray for people that are constantly out to get you?

  It's not because of who they are.

  It's because of who you are.

  That's the sermon that our Lord gives.

  That you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.

  It's not because of who they are.

  It's because of who you are.

  We just confess that so much of our lives, our attitudes, our moods are determined by

  other people, good or bad.

  People have a way of just like governing our lives.

  Here's what I mean.

  Your service, you go over to a giant eagle and you run into an old friend that you haven't

  seen in years.

  "Oh, that puts you in a good mood.

  Oh, it was so great catching up."

  That's going to put you in a good mood for the rest of the day, right?

  Or somebody makes a really jerky comment to you at work intentionally wanting to get

  under your skin.

  Then that's just like wreck your day and you're in a bad mood for days over one jerky comment.

  And I would bet if you had a bad day last week, if you could point to a day last week

  or like, "Oh, that was a bad day," I would be willing to bet that it had something to

  do with people.

  You're laughing because it's true.

  And Jesus here is saying, "My people don't react to people.

  My people act according to the Word of God."

  So let's unpack this for a few moments, shall we?

  When you're outlining, I want you to jot some things down.

  I love my enemies.

  Can you say that?

  You're like, "Not now."

  You will in a few minutes.

  I love my enemies.

  Number one, we already touched on this.

  We're going to drill a little deeper here.

  Number one, I love my enemies because of who I am.

  Look at this again.

  This is Jesus' whole rationale.

  Why would I love my enemies, Jesus?

  Lord, why would I pray for the people that are constantly out to get me?

  So that You may be sons of Your Father who is in heaven.

  This is where Jesus starts Your identity.

  You love Your enemies not because of who they are, but because of who You are.

  Jesus is in essence saying, "You love Your enemies because..."

  It's a family tradition in our family.

  You have family traditions.

  You have family traditions.

  You know what I mean?

  Every family has on brand things that they do, right?

  Like some families, they're like, "We're campers.

  We go camping."

  Yes, we have a house, but for a while we like to pretend that we don't.

  That's just what we do in our family.

  We live in a canvas enclosure in the wildlife.

  Okay, but that's your family thing.

  For some families, it's like, "We're beach people.

  We love the beach."

  Our family loves the beach.

  We love the beach.

  That's our family thing, right?

  Some families are sports families like, "Oh, we're baseball.

  We're a baseball family.

  We love the box and we're on the church softball team."

  And we're like, "We love baseball."

  Every family's got their thing, right?

  I mean, I remember growing up, our family.

  Our family had our thing.

  I remember when we were teenagers, Aaron actually came over to our house for Thanksgiving.

  And they had the stuffing out and the turkey and all the dressing and all that stuff.

  And I just remember our family was passing around the table a bag of funyons.

  And I just remember Aaron sitting there going, she looked like she saw a ghost.

  I'm like, "What's the matter?"

  She goes, "Why are you passing around a bag of funyons?

  It's Thanksgiving."

  And I'm just like, "What's Thanksgiving without funyons?"

  Like, "We're not the weird ones here."

  And then I got older and realized that we were.

  Every family's got their thing.

  That's what Jesus is saying here.

  Like, "Hey, hey, hey, we're in God's family."

  He said, "You know what we do in God's family?

  Do you know what we do?

  We love like God."

  And God loves His enemies.

  You're like, "Who are God's enemies?"

  Everyone.

  Do you realize that?

  Literally every single person on the planet is an enemy of God until they are reconciled

  to God in Jesus Christ.

  That's what Paul said in Romans 5, right?

  "If while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son."

  See that's the glorious reality of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

  When you receive Jesus Christ by faith, when you believe that He died to take away your

  sin, when you believe that He rose from the dead to give you eternal life, when you turn

  from your sin and receive Him, God changes you from an enemy of God to a child of God.

  And now we are a child still living among enemies of God, child of God.

  Ephesians 4, spilling over to Ephesians 5, says, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,

  forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.

  Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children."

  This is what we do in our family.

  We love like God.

  And as His children, we imitate our dad.

  Do you ever notice that kids love to imitate?

  Do you ever notice that?

  Kids loved to imitate adults.

  It was made painfully aware to me, oh, many, many years ago, a couple decades ago at this

  point we had foster kids.

  Before we had any of our own kids, we had foster kids.

  And I remember, one little boy, he was five years old, his name was Walter, and we'd be

  playing the PlayStation.

  We were sitting there, playing the PlayStation, and look, I was a perfect gamer back in the

  day.

  But sometimes the stupid game would glitch or something, and my guy would get killed.

  And when that happened, I remember I'd put the controller down, and I'd be like, "Oh,

  for Pete's sake!"

  Well Walter would be playing video games with me, and I remember he'd be playing a video

  game, and he'd just randomly throw his controller down and go, "Your pee stinks!"

  Like no, no, no, no, no, no.

  No, it's for Pete's sake.

  But he was...

  It never clicked with him.

  He was constantly commenting on the smell of urine.

  Your pee stinks.

  Why did he do that?

  He was just imitating me.

  Right?

  Kids love to do that.

  And as a child of God, we naturally, we supernaturally want to imitate him.

  So when that guy at work is constantly out to get you, and you love him, and you repay

  his nastiness with kindness, and then somebody else comes in and says, "Well, what are you

  doing?

  You love that guy?

  That guy's a real jerk to you!"

  And your response says, "Yeah, I get that from my dad."

  You see, I see people as dad-season.

  Lost.

  Blind.

  Slave to sin.

  Heading to hell.

  You know what my heavenly dad taught me?

  He taught me that I don't need to retaliate.

  And my heavenly father taught me I don't need to ignore them.

  My heavenly father taught me that people like that need compassion.

  And I know right now somebody's thinking, "Yeah, I love your enemies.

  I see it.

  I hear it.

  Pastor Jeff, you don't know what this person said to me.

  You don't know the horrible things that they said to my face.

  You don't know the horrible things they said behind my back.

  Pastor Jeff, you don't know this person for years has been just out to get me."

  Look.

  You're right.

  They don't deserve it.

  You're right.

  They've been miserable.

  But you, you love them not because of who they are, but because of who you are.

  You're a child of God.

  And your heavenly father, he loves his enemies.

  Right?

  So I love my enemies because of who I am.

  Secondly, number two, write this one down.

  I love my enemies by what I do.

  I love my enemies by what I do.

  And you might be sitting here going, "Ah, yeah, this love your enemy thing.

  I ain't feeling it.

  I ain't feeling it."

  And I would say, "That's okay.

  You don't have to feel it."

  But you do have to do it.

  Because look, when the Bible talks about love, agape love, it's not an emotion.

  Listen, you don't have to like them.

  But you do have to love them.

  And biblically, love is an action.

  Here's what I mean.

  Love is an action.

  First, John 5.3 says, "For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments."

  Jesus said the same thing.

  What is it?

  John 14, 15.

  Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

  John 15, Jesus said, "Abiding in Him is keeping His commandments."

  Notice the Bible never calls us to stir up some kind of emotion.

  Loving God is a choice.

  And yes, we worship God with our emotions in song and worship, yes, but that is the

  fruit of a choice to love God.

  The proof that you love God isn't based on your feelings.

  The proof that you love God according to our Lord is based on your actions.

  And listen, church, love works the same way with your enemies.

  You are not called to love your enemies by conjuring up gushy feelings.

  You're called to love them by your actions.

  You're called to love them by actively blessing them.

  Why?

  Because that's what God does.

  Look at verse 45, the rest of it.

  He says, "For He makes His Son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the

  just and on the unjust."

  God is so kind to sinners.

  Did you ever stop and think about that?

  Have you ever stopped to just marvel at the glorious truth that somebody can live their

  entire life and completely ignore God?

  And they can still have a pretty good life on the earth.

  Isn't that astounding?

  Isn't it amazing that somebody can live their entire life hating God, speaking against God,

  speaking against God's people, speaking against God's truth.

  They can live their whole life and do that, and they can still have a good life on the

  earth.

  In God's kindness, He still lets them have sun and rain and a million other good things.

  You can hate God, still have food and friends and laughter and family and health.

  And yeah, the heart hearted may refuse to be thankful or acknowledge this, but regardless,

  God does it anyways.

  God's kindness says little about them, but it says much about Him.

  And Jesus says, "Take note, children of God, you show love for your enemies by what you

  do for them.

  You show love for enemies by actively seeking their good."

  Like, well, what does that look like, Pastor Jeff?

  What does that look like?

  Okay, so you've got a nasty, older family member who's always hated you.

  Go do your yard work.

  You got a jerk co-worker always looking to get their little shots in on you?

  Look for ways to sincerely and genuinely compliment their work.

  You got a nasty neighbor?

  Find out what they like and treat them.

  Hey, I saw your garden, and the other day I was at the store and I saw that there was

  this magazine about gardening, and I picked it up for you.

  I thought you might be interested.

  I don't know.

  Just get on your face and ask God to show you how you can show kindness to your enemy.

  Romans 12.20, Paul quotes from Proverbs 25.

  He says if your enemy is hungry, feed them.

  If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

  For by so doing, you will heat burning coals on his head.

  When I was a young Christian, when I read this, I had this idea that if you do good

  to people that aren't good to you, like if you meet their needs, they're going to have

  this like mini Sodom and Gomorrah experience on their head.

  Like I'm going to be nice to you, and it's going to rain lava on your head.

  I'm burning!

  Like that will show them.

  And then I learned that that's not what that means at all.

  It was actually an Egyptian symbol that they would put hot coals in an insulated pot and

  carried around on their head.

  It was a sign of repentance.

  See, Israel had the sackcloth and ashes.

  Israel had the pot of coals on their head.

  And that's what God's Word is driving us to.

  Because no one's ever been one to Jesus because a Christian matched their pettiness.

  No one's ever been one to Jesus because a Christian just flat-out ignored them.

  It's kindness that leads to repentance according to Romans 2-4.

  Show love to them.

  Actively show love to them.

  Why would I do that?

  Because it's not about who they are.

  It's about who you are.

  And one more.

  I love my enemies because of who I am by what I do.

  In Romans 2-3 we get to another because I love my enemies because I'm called to be different.

  Look at verses 46 and 47.

  Jesus says, "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?

  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing

  than others?

  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

  Stop there.

  If you're like, "You know what?

  I love the people that I like.

  I love the people that I like."

  Well, then you do what people who don't even know Jesus do.

  And our Lord here is saying, "What's so special about that?"

  Oh, so you think you're great because you do what's normal.

  Well hang on a second.

  Let me shine up your participation trophy.

  Why is it that we want applause for doing what's expected?

  Here's an example.

  Well Aaron and I, we always look at each other and kind of laugh.

  When we hear a dad say, "Yeah, I had a baby sit my kids last Monday."

  Do you hear somebody say that?

  You're not going to say it anymore.

  I had a baby sit my kids last Monday.

  I believe that's called being a father.

  You didn't baby sit your kids.

  What did your wife pay you $10 an hour?

  Like look, I'm not giving you a cookie because you did what was expected.

  That's what our Lord is saying here.

  You're expected to be different because Christians have something that no one else in the world

  has.

  Do you know what that is?

  Like the Bible?

  Not everybody has that.

  Like compassion?

  No, a lot of people have that.

  Christians have something that nobody else in the world has.

  You know what that is?

  God living in them.

  In other words, you should be different.

  I mean, anybody can go one mile.

  That was the law.

  That's expected.

  Anyone can give up a shirt that they lost legally in a lawsuit.

  That's expected.

  And here our Lord is saying, "Anybody can say hi to their friends."

  That's expected.

  But God expects and empowers us to do more, to be like Him.

  So do you do what the world expects?

  Or do you do what God expects because God's called you to be different than the world?

  Do you have a heart like God?

  We'll find out.

  We'll find out because it's revealed not in how you treat your friends, it's revealed

  in how you treat your enemies.

  You love them.

  Not because of who they are, but because of who you are.

  Oh yeah, there's one more verse.

  One of the most deeply convicting and challenging verses in the whole Bible.

  Jesus says, "You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."

  In the context of this teaching, obviously, he's talking about the way we love, right?

  You must love perfectly the way your heavenly Father loves perfectly.

  That's what Jesus is saying here.

  And look, you and I, we look at that verse and we say, "I failed.

  I failed."

  We all have.

  And actually, remembering the beatitudes, step one and two of the beatitudes was recognizing

  that you failed.

  And you're like, "Man, I'll never be perfect."

  But God says you must be perfect.

  You know what that means?

  It means I always have room to grow.

  And today we're talking about loving your enemies.

  And maybe right now you're saying, "You know, I knew that.

  I knew that, but today I'm encountered by this calling in a fresh way and I realize

  now I need to grow.

  I want to grow in this area."

  It's grace.

  It's grace.

  God has made us perfectly righteous in Jesus Christ.

  God has adopted us as His children, and He is constantly changing us.

  We don't deserve anything, but God has given us everything, even though we were His enemies.

  It's grace.

  You get that?

  Then like your Father, give it.

  In just a moment, we're going to be gathering around the Lord's table as a church.

  And it is the Lord's table that reminds us that we are grace people.

  Because in essence, what we are remembering, what we are celebrating, what we are declaring

  when we take the Lord's supper together is the Lord is saying, "I saved you."

  Not because of who you are, but because of who I am.

Thou Shalt Not Resist

Introduction:

How Do You React... (Matthew 5:38–42)

1. ...When you are INSULTED? “Eye for an Eye” or REFUSE RETALIATION? (Matt 5:39b)

   1 Peter 2:23 – When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

2. ...when people are HEARTLESS? “Eye for an Eye” or GRATUITOUS GRACE? (Matt 5:40)

   Romans 12:21 – Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

3. ...when forced to OBEY? “Eye for an Eye” or DOUBLE Your DUTY? (Matt 5:41)

   1 Peter 2:16 – Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

4. ...when someone wants your STUFF? “Eye for an Eye” or RELEASE Your RESOURCES? (Matt 5:42)

   1 John 3:17 – But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

   Philippians 2:5–7a – Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant...

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:38-42

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Tell of a time you were offended and retaliated. Why did you do what you did? What would you do differently if you had another chance?
   

3. Why do you think “eye for an eye” (revenge) is our natural default response?
   

4. Why do you think how you react is a good gauge of where your heart is?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  And before we dig into God's Word together, let's just pause.

  I'm going to ask you just take a moment and please pray for me to be faithful,

  to clearly communicate God's Word.

  And I will pray for you to have your heart open to receive what it is

  that the Lord wants to teach us today. Let's pray.

  Father in heaven, your Word challenges us and convicts us and we thank you for that.

  We didn't come in here today looking for a stamp of affirmation on how we already are.

  We've come in here to encounter you and allow your spirit and your Word to conform us into the image of your Son.

  That's why we're here.

  So Father, I pray to that end you would open our hearts.

  Your spirit would speak to every heart, the wisdom that you have recorded in your Word.

  That we walk out of here different people than how we were when we walked in.

  Thank you Father for the promise of your Word.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  And all of God's people said, "Amen."

  I have a nonverbal Son, as many of you know.

  But years ago, I was with a group of pastors and one pastor was commenting on the fact that I had a nonverbal Son.

  And he said, very compassionately, he said,

  "It must be very difficult for you to not have a conversation with your Son."

  And I said, "It is."

  But the way I look at it, we'll have all of eternity to catch up.

  And a different pastor said, if he's elect,

  and I said, "I feel like you're predestined to take a weapon."

  And I was a prophet that day.

  Okay, I made that last part up.

  But I still think about that.

  I still think about retaliation.

  Getting even.

  Why are we like that?

  Why are we like that people, that there's something in all of us that makes us demand respect?

  Hey, you can't talk to me that way.

  You know I am?

  You can't treat me like that.

  There's something in us that we demand our rights.

  We say things like, "I don't get mad. I get even."

  And you're not going to get away with this.

  You're going to pay for what you did.

  Our hearts are naturally, sinfully retaliatory.

  I was listening to a sermon about a month or so ago from one of my favorite preachers, Ron Don.

  It was a sermon on meekness.

  And he reminded me of something that I loved when I was a kid.

  He was a little comic book.

  Do you remember the Charles Atlas ads in the old comic books?

  Do you remember those?

  It was a little one page, it was a little comic strip in the book.

  Well, in this little comic strip, there was this little weakling, like a little skinny guy,

  on the beach and this bully was like kicking sand in his face.

  And all the girls were like, "Tee hee hee hee."

  And the kid takes Charles Atlas course.

  The skinny kid.

  And in 90 days, he was kicking sand in the other guy's face.

  And there's something innocent.

  We're like, "Yes! Yeah!"

  We love that stuff, don't we?

  Don't we love that revenge stuff?

  Oh, come on.

  Don't you leave me up here.

  Don't we love that revenge stuff?

  The getting even stuff?

  Yes, you do.

  Yes, you do.

  There are many of the plot lines of movies.

  Like, and your soap operas and your westerns and your superhero movies.

  I was thinking about this this week. It's everywhere.

  That's what Popeye is.

  Popeye is nothing but a cartoon about a guy that gets even.

  We love that stuff.

  We love the guy that is not going to take it.

  Payback.

  Because the guy that gets the sand kicked in his face

  and belittled and humiliated and he just takes it.

  Well, that guy is a coward, right?

  Weak.

  It's like, dude, punch that bully in the trot.

  Don't take it.

  Right?

  There's biblical precedence for this, isn't there?

  An eye for an eye.

  Right?

  An eye for an eye.

  Oh, I like that.

  Because that's in the Bible.

  You know what that is?

  Eye for an eye.

  That is biblical permission to get even.

  No, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry.

  That's a biblical command to get even, isn't it?

  Well, the scribes and the Pharisees thought so.

  And many people sitting here even and watching this

  and listening to this podcast later, still believe

  that an eye for an eye is our biblical mandates to get revenge.

  Well, let's see, shall we?

  Look at verse 30.

  Why don't we say verse 38? Yes.

  Jesus continuing the Sermon on the Mount.

  He said, "You have heard that it was said,

  an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."

  Yeah, that's a real Old Testament quote.

  Yes.

  100%.

  And it's also one of the most misinterpreted

  and misused verses in the entire Bible.

  Because the scribes and the Pharisees

  and we take this verse way out of context.

  Is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth?

  Is that our charge to get even?

  No, it's not.

  All right, then what does it mean?

  I'm so glad you asked.

  Let's get biblical, shall we?

  Mark and I shows up three times in the Old Testament.

  Three times.

  It's in Exodus 21, it's in Leviticus 24,

  and it's in Deuteronomy 19.

  Don't look now, but you look later,

  and you're going to see in every one of those passages,

  every single one of them,

  the context of that verse are

  it's God's instructions for Israel's courts and judges.

  Eye for an eye, that was for Israel's courts,

  not for personal vendetta.

  And eye for an eye was a guideline for Israel's judges,

  not for Batman, okay?

  So what's the purpose?

  Eye for an eye.

  What does eye for an eye mean?

  Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

  What does that mean?

  It just simply means this.

  The punishment should fit the crime.

  In court, justice demands being fair.

  So judges in court, God's instruction for Israel,

  when you punish someone,

  the measure of punishment should fit the measure of the crime.

  That's what eye for an eye means.

  And God is saying an eye for an eye

  must be determined by the courts.

  The courts determine that. Why?

  Why did God leave that up to the courts?

  Why? I'll tell you why.

  Because when we're wronged,

  we, by nature, want to retaliate

  way beyond the level of the offense.

  Here's what I mean.

  Our mindset is this.

  You dinged my 93 Toyota.

  You owe me a new car.

  Fair is fair.

  We take it way too far.

  We say things like,

  "Hey, we were messing around.

  We were playing basketball

  and you accidentally elbowed me in the mouth

  and broke my tooth.

  You owe me a set of grills."

  Justin, do the kids still wear grills?

  Do they still wear a thing?

  The cool ones.

  You are right.

  You could not be righter.

  But that's the point.

  We take it too far.

  You owe me way more than

  you should have to pay.

  So God's like, "No, no, no, no.

  Leave that to the courts."

  So here it is. Here it is.

  If a crime has been committed against me,

  if I've been wronged in any way,

  I'm not going to take the law into my own hands.

  I'm going to take the courts to be fair

  in the way God commanded the courts to be fair,

  which is an eye for an eye.

  A tooth for a tooth.

  Be fair.

  So in Jesus' day, the ascribes and the Pharisees,

  and again us, we take this way out of context

  and we take it out of the courts

  and we take it as our command,

  our personal responsibility to get even.

  But look at verse 39.

  You probably saw this coming.

  Jesus says, "But I say to you,

  do not resist the one who is evil."

  Do not resist. What does that mean?

  It literally means this.

  When someone wrongs you,

  when someone offends you,

  when someone is against you,

  Jesus says, "Do not set yourself against him."

  Now let's be clear.

  Jesus is not saying,

  He is not saying,

  "Do not protect yourself.

  Do not protect your own."

  He's not saying that.

  If you break into my home,

  my dog will shoot you

  and my wife will bite you.

  Wait.

  No, no, that's right.

  He's not saying, "Don't protect yourself."

  He's not saying, "Don't protect your church."

  Jesus isn't preaching passivity here.

  Like, "Okay, go ahead.

  Go ahead. You can sin,

  and you can abuse me all you want.

  I don't care because Jesus said not to resist."

  That's not what He's saying.

  He's also not saying,

  "Don't confront sin."

  He's not saying that.

  Because the Bible is clear that sin must be confronted.

  It must be addressed and dealt with in the church.

  Here's what Jesus is saying

  by this statement.

  And it's going to be crystal clear

  because Jesus actually illustrates

  what He's teaching here.

  But here's what Jesus is saying.

  He's saying,

  "Don't start a feud.

  Don't try to get even.

  Don't try to get even.

  If you think that your rights were violated,

  you don't need to fight about it."

  That's what Jesus is saying.

  We are not to be a people

  whose knee-jerk reaction

  is to be retaliatory.

  That's what Jesus is saying.

  In the Sermon on the Mount,

  we've seen it over and over.

  Jesus is saying, "My people are different."

  My people are different in how they act.

  They're merciful. They're hungry for righteousness.

  They're salt and light. They're influencers.

  They reconcile with broken relationships.

  They cut off lust and they take marriage seriously.

  And they keep their word.

  My people act differently.

  Because when Jesus Christ enters us,

  when you receive Christ,

  when you turn from your sin and believe

  that He died for your sin

  and He rose from the dead to give you eternal life,

  when you believe that the Bible says

  God's Holy Spirit lives within you.

  And when God's Spirit lives within you,

  you are called to something greater.

  And you demonstrate that you belong to Christ

  by how you act.

  God wants your heart.

  And your heart is revealed by how you act.

  But perhaps more so,

  your heart is revealed by how you react.

  You can show me what a man is made of

  by how he acts.

  And I can show you what a man is made of

  by how he reacts.

  So let me ask you,

  how do you react?

  How do you react when you have been personally offended?

  How do you react when you've been insulted?

  How do you react when you've been disrespected?

  Do you react in kind?

  As your mind said immediately,

  "No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

  You're not getting away with this.

  I'm getting even."

  As your mind said,

  "An eye for an eye."

  Wrongly interpreting it like the Pharisees.

  Or do you not resist?

  As our Lord said,

  do you refuse to emotionally react

  and retaliate in the flesh?

  And I'm sure there's somebody here,

  self-deluded, that's like,

  "Oh, my pastor's got to hang it along with everybody."

  I never respond negatively when I'm offended.

  I just bake them muffins.

  Okay.

  But I think there's something here for the rest of us.

  Because Jesus elaborates

  on how His followers should react

  to difficult people

  and difficult situations

  by giving four scenarios.

  So that's what we're going to ask ourselves today,

  a little self-examination.

  We're going to ask ourselves, "How do you react?"

  How do you react?

  Number one, how do you react

  when you are insulted?

  When you are insulted, how do you react?

  Eye for an eye?

  Or do you refuse retaliation?

  Look at verse 39.

  Jesus says, "But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek,

  turn to him the other also."

  Stop there.

  To the Jews,

  this was the absolute most insulting thing

  to be slapped.

  In fact, I read this past week that a slave in those days,

  a slave would rather be whipped than slapped

  because a slap was utterly humiliating.

  And you know the worst was the backhand slap.

  That's why Jesus said, "Right cheek?"

  Sorry about that.

  That's why Jesus said, "Right cheek?"

  Because when you get a backhand with a right hand,

  it's going to hit you in the right cheek.

  That was the worst insult in their mind.

  We get it.

  Nothing's really changed there. We get it.

  If somebody walks up to you and just...

  That's just total disdain.

  It's like you're nothing to me.

  You're not even worth arguing with

  because you're nothing.

  It's just a complete, complete insult.

  And all the moment I'm insulted,

  I want to retaliate.

  Eye for an eye, right?

  Oh, okay, now I get to slap you.

  And I bet I can slap harder.

  Wait, wait, wait, wait. What does Jesus say?

  He says, "Turn to Him the other also."

  You're like, "Aha, okay. That's very gracious."

  He gets two slaps in on me and then it's go time.

  No.

  If you're believing that,

  then you completely missed the point that Jesus was making.

  Because here's the thing.

  It's not even about the slap.

  It's about being insulted.

  That's the point.

  How do you respond when you're insulted?

  Because look,

  unless you're Chris Rocket and Smacked by Will Smith,

  you're probably not going to get a slap.

  You probably are not.

  But you're going to be insulted in other ways, aren't you?

  Verbally.

  How about social media?

  All these keyboard warriors out there?

  Because they know they won't get slapped in the teeth.

  They're real strong and brave throwing out their insults at you

  from behind their keyboard.

  Maybe that nasty text or email that you get,

  you're going to be insulted.

  It's all the same application here from our Lord.

  At the same point, Jesus says, "Turn to Him the other."

  He's saying, "You're insulted?

  Have you been grossly insulted?"

  Jesus says, "Let Him do it again."

  You.

  You refuse to retaliate.

  Like, "I shouldn't be insulted.

  Don't you know who I am?

  I should be respected."

  Yeah.

  I agree.

  You should be respected.

  But you won't be.

  Someone is going to insult you.

  So you can react the world's way.

  "I" for an "I"?

  Like, "Oh, you're going to insult me?

  I'm going to go full-dawn wrinkles on you."

  You have brought a knife to a gunfight, my friend.

  That's "I" for an "I."

  Or you could respond the kingdom way,

  which is refusing to retaliate.

  And right now, somebody's sitting there going,

  "Oh, okay.

  So you're saying, when people insult me,

  I should just take it?"

  Now you're thinking like Jesus.

  Because 1 Peter 2, 23, he says,

  when He was reviled,

  He did not revile in return.

  When He suffered, He did not threaten,

  but continued in trusting Himself to Him,

  who judges justly.

  How do you react when you're insulted?

  Number two, how do you react when people are heartless?

  How do you react when people are heartless

  and "I" for an "I"?

  Or gratuitous grace?

  Look at verse 40.

  Jesus said, "And if anyone would sue you

  and take your tunic,

  let them have your cloak as well."

  Okay, Jesus isn't saying,

  "Everybody consume me for everything."

  Now, He's obviously,

  He's talking about being sued

  where there is some justification in the lawsuit.

  That you went to court and legally,

  you were sued and lost your tunic.

  Like, what's a tunic?

  Well, in those days,

  the tunic was the long undergarment.

  It was like a long, basically, the shirt.

  It was your shirt.

  And look, they didn't have a closet full of them

  with a bag of them for the good will sitting in the garage.

  Most of them would have had one or three at the most.

  And this was more than just your shirt.

  It was also your blanket.

  That's the thing that kept you warm at night.

  So I think this is quite a shocking thing

  for our Lord to say that someone

  would sue you for the shirt off your back.

  And look, in court,

  if someone sues you for the shirt

  that's on your back that you're wearing,

  that's a little more than I for an I, isn't it?

  That's pretty heartless.

  The reality is, people do sue heartlessly.

  It's like suing a Christian school.

  Like, why would you do that?

  Unless there was a real egregious crime going on.

  But a lot of times, it's just spite.

  And I believe that's what Jesus is saying here.

  Perhaps Jesus was being hyperbolic,

  like saying even if somebody sues you

  for the shirt that you're wearing.

  Well, you could react the world's way, couldn't you?

  Like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

  I'm not giving you the shirt that I'm wearing.

  That's unreasonable and it's unfair.

  And I will fight you all the way up to the Supreme Court

  over my shirt.

  Or you could react the kingdom way,

  which is, did you lose your shirt in a lawsuit?

  Well, show them you're really sorry for whatever the offense was.

  And give them your coat too.

  You know, it's an interesting way that Jesus worded this

  because in Jewish Old Testament law,

  you were not allowed to sue a man for his coat.

  That was illegal.

  Do you think Jesus is making a point?

  Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

  Okay, so you're saying it was illegal to sue a man for his coat.

  So if somebody sues you for your shirt

  and you give them your coat,

  that would be awfully gratuitous.

  Now you're thinking like Jesus.

  Romans 12-21 says, "Do not be overcome by evil."

  But overcome evil with good.

  Don't retaliate.

  Show them that you're willing to give even more than they asked for.

  So how do you react?

  How do you react?

  Number three, when forced to obey.

  Eye for an eye or double your duty?

  Look at verse 41.

  Jesus, next illustration.

  He says, "And if anyone forces you to go one mile,

  go with them two miles."

  Now the Romans had a law.

  And that was actually a variation of an old Persian postal law.

  But here is the Roman law.

  An official could on the spot recruit a citizen

  for official duty to perform a task.

  You know the most famous example of this?

  This commissioning Simon of Cyrene to carry our Lord's cross.

  That was law.

  Specifically here, what Jesus is referring to was legally,

  legally a Roman soldier could recruit a citizen

  to carry his pack, his gear, one mile, and no further.

  You think about it from a Jewish standpoint,

  that's, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm.

  You mean my enemy, a Roman soldier,

  is going to make me carry his stuff for a mile?

  So Jew, that would have been very degrading and disgusting.

  I think here our Lord is speaking to man's natural resentment

  towards the demands of the government.

  Does anybody remember COVID?

  Well, you can react the world's way.

  Right?

  You can react the world's way.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  You can act the way you want.

  The entire way.

  Give me your stuff.

  Baby shark doo doo doo doo doo doo.

  Baby shark doo doo doo doo doo doo doo.

  Never mind, I'll carry it myself.

  That's the world's way.

  Or you can react the kingdom's way.

  What's according to our Lord is what?

  Go two miles.

  Did you carry his stuff for a mile and you're like,

  "You know what? I'm just getting limber.

  I'm just getting warmed up.

  I'll go another mile."

  It's like giving the cloak, right?

  Same principle.

  Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

  So you're saying,

  "I should give more than the law demands.

  I should give double of what's required of me."

  Now you're thinking like Jesus.

  Because 1 Peter 2.16 says,

  "Citizens, live as people who are free.

  Not using your freedom as a cover up for evil.

  But living as servants of God."

  Don't just do what's demanded.

  Go beyond.

  Force them to ask,

  "Why in the world is she acting like that?"

  And then you have the opportunity to talk about grace.

  Number four.

  How do you react when someone wants your stuff?

  How do you react when someone wants your stuff?

  Eye for an eye?

  Or do you release your resources?

  Look at verse 42.

  Jesus says, "Give to the one who begs from you

  and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you."

  Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

  It just got real, didn't it?

  My money?

  My possessions?

  Bless you.

  We get so...

  We get so possessive

  over things.

  Jesus is saying if somebody begs,

  if somebody wants to borrow,

  He's not talking about beggars along the side of the road.

  This implies a real need,

  a need that's known and a need that's verified.

  That's what Jesus is talking about.

  And again, we have the two options before us.

  We can react the world's way.

  Someone comes to you with a real need.

  Eye for an eye means...

  All right, look, look, look.

  I'm going to give this to you, but you owe me, okay?

  And you're... Listen, you're going to pay me back

  every cent that I'm giving you.

  Do you understand me?

  I want it in writing.

  That's the world's way.

  And when we have that attitude,

  it just demonstrates that we care more about things than people, right?

  Well, why are you entitled to my stuff?

  Go get your own stuff.

  Where you can react the kingdom way.

  Jesus, what's the kingdom way?

  He says give the one who begs and do not refuse.

  The one who would borrow.

  What's the kingdom way?

  Self-sacrificing generosity.

  He's like, "Oh, you need something that I have?

  You know what? Here, take it.

  You know what? I'll buy another one,

  or I'll learn to live without it.

  No begs, whatever. Go ahead.

  Looks like you need this more than I do.

  If God thinks I need it,

  He'll make sure I get another one, all right?

  That's the kingdom way.

  Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

  So I should just give away everything that I have?

  Now you're thinking like Jesus.

  First John 3 verse 17 says,

  "But if anyone has the world's goods,

  Jesus' brother, Anid, yet closes his heart against him.

  How does the love of God abide in him?"

  It's just stuff.

  It's just stuff.

  It's eventual garbage, right?

  Release your resources. Bless people with it.

  Look, in Jesus' four scenarios here,

  in every case, your heart is revealed.

  Not in how you act,

  but in how you react.

  And you're like, "Man, man, how can I live like that?"

  Right now, I guarantee you,

  every single person here is looking at us going,

  "I agree that this is right!"

  But I don't know if I can actually do it.

  I mean, to do this,

  I would have to not insist on my rights.

  I would have to deny myself

  and I would have to act like a slave.

  Now you're thinking like Jesus.

  Because, oh, by the way,

  not insisting on your rights and denying yourself

  and acting like a slave.

  Philippians 2.

  Have this mind among yourselves,

  which is yours in Christ Jesus,

  who though he was in the form of God,

  did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

  He didn't insist on his rights.

  But emptied himself.

  Denied himself by taking the form of a servant.

  He became a slave.

  When you leave here today,

  someone's going to offend you.

  Someone's going to insult you.

  And somebody's going to stomp all over your rights.

  What you need to do right now

  is decide how you're going to react.

  Let's pray.

  Our Father in Heaven,

  we thank You for Your Word,

  because this is contrary to how we think.

  There's something in our hearts

  that demands retaliation.

  That would say getting even is the way to go.

  We teach our kids that.

  When Your Son very clearly taught us

  that we're to be a people

  that act opposite the way the world acts.

  Father, I pray right now that

  decisions are being made

  as we sit in the fellowship of the congregation,

  as we sit under Your Word,

  as we're sitting in a setting of worship.

  I pray right now, Father,

  that we are making decisions

  when we walk out this door.

  We are not going to be people who retaliate.

  But instead,

  we're going to follow the example

  that Your Son gave us,

  and we're going to trust in the power of Your Spirit,

  whom You put within us.

  To Your glory and honor, Father,

  grab our hearts and minds.

  We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thou Shalt Not Lie

Introduction:

The Trustworthiness Test (Matthew 5:33-37):

1. Do I Need to CONVINCE OTHERS of the TRUTHFULNESS of what I say? (Matt 5:33–34a)

2. Do I Look for LOOPHOLES to GET OUT of what I say? (Matt 5:34b–36)

   Matthew 23:22 – And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

   1 Peter 2:22 – He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

3. Do I Always FOLLOW THROUGH on what I say? (Matt 5:37)

   James 5:12 – But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

   John 8:44 – You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:33-37

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. How can you strengthen your reputation when it comes to honesty and trustworthiness? How can you weaken it?
   

3. Do you ever make excuses or look for loopholes to get out of what you say?
   

4. Do you struggle with being a “yes or no” person? How do you fail to be reliable and follow through on what you say?
   

5. What does it look like to truly repent of deception and make things right with those you have lied to?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Return your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5 verses 33 through 37.

  Matthew chapter 5 verses 33 through 37.

  Is it safe to say that trust is in short supply in 2025?

  We are constantly bombarded with lies, conspiracies, fraud,

  lame excuses, propaganda, cover-ups.

  With each passing year, we become less and less trusting

  as others seem less and less trustworthy.

  I was going to use an object lesson to prove this point,

  but for the sake of unity, which you'll see in a minute

  why I'm not doing this, I'm going to have you use your imaginations instead.

  Imagine with me that a bunch of images are from the screens behind me

  of famous individuals, politicians, billionaires, tech gurus, celebrities,

  social media influencers, world-renowned doctors,

  and popular preachers who you see pop up on Spotify, YouTube, and television.

  And with each image, with each person, I ask this very simple question,

  is this person trustworthy?

  And with some of these famous people, the answer would be a decisive yes,

  while others would be a resounding no.

  But some examples may prove to be a bit controversial and divisive.

  It may be a bit of a mixed reaction, which could lead to some frustration,

  heated debates, and strained relationships.

  Hence my unwillingness to show these images in service today.

  What if I were to close out this slideshow with a picture of you?

  And for the final time, I ask this very simple question, is this person trustworthy?

  What would be the response?

  What would your family members, friends, and fellow church members say about you?

  Maybe you don't want to play along with my made-up scenario,

  because you're afraid of what other people would say about you.

  But you cannot be oblivious in this area of life, because your reputation,

  when it comes to honesty and trustworthiness, is not a throwaway issue.

  Your credibility with others on the outside speaks to your integrity before the Lord on the inside.

  We've been studying the Sermon on the Mount for the past few months,

  and now this is the fourth week of our latest section, "The Heart of the Law."

  And throughout Matthew chapter 5, Jesus doesn't lessen the Old Testament law.

  He elevates it. He doesn't abolish it and throw it away.

  He digs down deep into our hearts to show how it applies at the deepest levels of who we are.

  Jesus proves that obeying God's commands and displaying true righteousness are matters of the heart.

  Jesus cares way more about the internal than the external,

  because who you are internally shapes all that you say and do externally.

  So far, we have covered what Christ commands and expects when it comes to anger,

  sexuality, and marriage.

  In Matthew chapter 5, verses 33 through 37,

  the Lord turns your attention to what he has to say about making promises and keeping your word.

  To help you gauge your own personal credibility, Jesus assigns an important test

  that you cannot afford to skip or to fail.

  And this test is the trustworthiness test.

  Before we dig into the first question, let's go to the Lord in prayer.

  Please pray that I will faithfully proclaim God's word.

  While I pray that you will faithfully and joyfully receive God's word.

  Father, we thank you for the gift of your word.

  It is a mirror that you hold up to our hearts to show us what means to change.

  Lord, this morning you're going to show us some very challenging and difficult things about ourselves

  that we do not want to see,

  but we must recognize them and we must make changes by the power of your Holy Spirit.

  So may you do the work that only you can.

  We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

  All right, who is ready for the trustworthiness test?

  Well, we're going to take it anyway. So the trustworthiness test, question one.

  Do I need to convince others of the truthfulness of what I say?

  Do I need to convince others of the truthfulness of what I say?

  Let's read verses 33 through 34.

  Jesus says, "Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old,

  'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.'

  But I say to you, do not take an oath at all."

  This is the fourth time in Matthew chapter 5 that Jesus repeats the same verbal pattern.

  "You have heard that it was said, but I say to you."

  So let's cover what was said in the past.

  "You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn."

  You will not find this exact sentence word for word in the Old Testament

  because it is a mashup of three different passages about keeping oaths.

  With the Nicos 19-2, Numbers chapter 30 verse 2 and Deuteronomy 23-21.

  In the Old Testament, oath taking was serious business.

  It wasn't something to be entered into lightly or carelessly.

  Vows were reserved for important matters.

  And God put them in place as a first line of defense against dishonesty.

  I find it helpful to view Old Testament oaths like spiritual speed bumps.

  Why do speed bumps exist?

  To cause you to slow down and keep pedestrian safe.

  Let me ask you, do speed bumps always do that?

  No, we've all seen maniacs treat speed bumps like challenges and jumps instead of warnings.

  And maybe you've been that maniac from time to time.

  Oaths were set up by God to curb the natural tendency to be deceitful and unreliable.

  They were like speed bumps.

  By taking an oath, you were saying,

  "God, you can bring judgment and cursing upon me if I do not keep my side of the bargain."

  But these spiritual speed bumps could not stop all dishonesty.

  It couldn't do away with people being deceitful.

  So vows help provide accountability, but they could not change the human heart,

  which is seen most clearly in the lives of the religious leaders of Jesus' day.

  The rabbis, the scribes, the Pharisees misinterpreted the Old Testament commands about vows

  and twisted God's word to advance their own dishonest agenda.

  They believe that you shall not swear falsely, only spoke to perjuring yourself in a court of law.

  We'll talk about this in even greater detail in a few minutes,

  but they also believe that the instruction you shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn

  left some room for coloring outside the lines when it came to keeping your word.

  If you weren't in a court setting or you didn't make vows directly to God

  and in His name there was some wiggle room to tell some lies.

  It wasn't ideal, but hey, not a big deal.

  As long as you said the right things and as long as you kept their man-made rules.

  Once again, the religious leaders are taking God's word, taking His commands

  and putting it into their own man-made box.

  Their standards were shallow and their righteousness was phony.

  But Jesus calls His followers to a greater righteousness, to a higher standard

  when He says, "But I say to you, do not take an oath at all."

  This command brings up an important question that we have to answer.

  Is Jesus saying that it's always sinful to make a promise or a vow of any kind at any time?

  Well, some Christians, some scholars and pastors certainly think so,

  but that's a really hard stance to defend from the rest of Scripture.

  The Apostle Paul kept and he made and kept a vow in Acts 18-18.

  In Revelation chapter 10 verses 5 through 6, the Apostle John records an angel swearing enough.

  In the Old Testament, God made oaths to show the seriousness of His covenant promises.

  God didn't do that because he had a shaky reputation.

  He lovingly did that to give His people a rock-solid confidence in His trustworthiness

  and the certainty of His purposes and His plans.

  God's vows were like exclamation points that highlighted His credibility

  because we so often do not trust Him even though His track record is flawless.

  The Lord established the Old Covenant with Israel and He has established a new covenant with all who believe

  in the life, death, and resurrection of His Son.

  And at its core, a covenant is an oath-bound relationship that is built upon promises being kept

  and the Bible is crystal clear that God always keeps His promises.

  And speaking of covenants, the Bible describes marriage as a covenant relationship

  which means that as a good and godly thing, you swear your devotion to your spouse.

  You know, 11 years ago, Pastor Jeff married my wife and I

  and when he asked me to repeat my vows to Kate after him, I didn't say, "Whoa, wait preacher boy,

  I don't make promises or take vows. Don't you study the Bible for a living?

  Shouldn't you know that? Pass." Did I do that? Jeff, do you remember that? I don't think I did that.

  Let's move from the marriage ceremony to the courtroom.

  I'm called to testify in a very important case and the judge tells me to raise my right hand

  and he asked me, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?"

  What should I say?

  Sorry, judge. I'm a Christian. I can't do that. You may as well call the next witness. I'm out of here. Deuces.

  Is that going to go very well with the judge?

  Listen, Jesus is not condemning vows in the context of a courtroom or a wedding ceremony.

  Jesus is forbidding the practice of taking frivolous oaths and making pointless promises in everyday life situations.

  He's saying, "Do not be the kind of person who needs to swear on something or someone to be believed.

  Do not be the kind of person who needs to clarify that you're not lying.

  Who needs to clarify that you're telling the truth.

  Be so trustworthy that your word can be taken at face value without jumping through hoops.

  As a follower of Christ, you shouldn't need the spiritual speed bumps of promises, oaths, and vows to be taken seriously.

  You should be a person of such great integrity that promises are unnecessary because your past performance speaks for itself.

  Others should trust you implicitly because you have proven yourself explicitly.

  Your heart should be so full of the truth that lying doesn't even register as a valid option to choose or path to take.

  For the Christian, honesty is like breathing.

  You inhale the truth of God's word and then you exhale the truth in every situation.

  You don't tell white lies because you understand that there are no such thing as white lies.

  Every lie, no matter how small, is a huge deal to the Lord.

  You don't embellish your stories or add on extra details to impress people because who cares what other people think about you.

  What matters most is what God thinks about you.

  And He knows what you're saying is not true.

  You don't cut corners at work because you ultimately serve the Lord of all creation who sees everything,

  not the human boss across the hall who cannot see into your heart.

  You cannot control much in this life, but you do have the ability to deepen your credibility or destroy it,

  to strengthen it day by day or to willingly weaken it.

  You have no right to be offended when someone doesn't believe you if you have a shady history of saying things that are not true

  and making promises that you didn't keep.

  You are simply reaping the consequences of what you have sown.

  You are receiving the label of untrustworthy, which is a title that you have repeatedly earned.

  The trustworthiness test.

  Move on to the second question.

  And it will not be easier than the first.

  Do I look for loopholes to get out of what I say?

  Do I look for loopholes to get out of what I say?

  So Jesus pulls the rug out from underneath the religious leaders and exposes their ridiculous schemes in verses 34 through 36.

  But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,

  or by the earth, for it is His footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.

  And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.

  As I said earlier, the scribes and Pharisees were experts at looking for loopholes and creating escape patches to get out of what they said,

  especially if what they said wasn't made in a court setting.

  So instead of swearing in God's name, they would swear by heaven, they would swear by the earth, the city of Jerusalem, or even their own heads.

  In their minds, swearing on these things was not binding like swearing in God's name.

  This is the verbal equivalent of crossing your fingers behind your back whenever you make a promise.

  They thought they were so clever. They found their own get out of oaths free card.

  But Jesus shows them that this line of thinking is childish and dumb.

  He destroys their loopholes and he closes their escape patches.

  Let's follow his logic.

  Jesus says, "Do not swear by heaven because who does heaven belong to?"

  All right. I know it's early. I'm going to ask that question again.

  Who does heaven belong to?

  It is His throne.

  And Matthew actually reinforces this later on when Jesus says,

  "And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it."

  He also says, "Don't swear by the earth because who does it belong to?"

  Once again, I'm going to try it again. Who does the earth belong to, everyone?

  It is His footstool. God is so awesome. He is so big.

  The earth is like a teeny tiny ottoman where He puts His feet up.

  The earth belongs to God, so don't swear by it.

  It's also not a great idea to swear by Jerusalem because who does it belong to?

  Great job, everyone.

  The king of Jerusalem, the king of the earth, and that is God.

  You swear by Jerusalem. You swear by the one who created and rules over Israel.

  And He also says, "Don't swear by your own head."

  It seems kind of weird, right? What does that even mean?

  Well, it means this. "If I don't keep my word, let me be decapitated."

  A modern day equivalent of this would be, "Cross my heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in my..."

  These words mean nothing and they control nothing.

  Jesus says, "You cannot make one hair white or black."

  Back in those days, people could not control their hair color with hair dye like we can today.

  Once your hair started going gray, there was no going back.

  But even today in 2025, you can't speak a change of hair color into existence, right?

  You can't say, "Let my hair be black. Let my hair be blonde again."

  You cannot do that.

  So Jesus is saying, "If you cannot even control the color of your hair with your words,

  your words definitely cannot control if you're decapitated or not."

  God is saying, "My words certainly control that."

  Which means, "I own you. I own your head. I am the one who controls all things.

  So do not swear by heaven, by earth, by Jerusalem, or your own head."

  Jesus even exposes the other things the religious leaders swore by in Matthew chapter 23 verses 16 through 22.

  They would swear by the gold of the temple instead of the temple itself.

  They would swear by the gift on the altar instead of the altar itself.

  Jesus doesn't actually commend them for their shrewd thinking and their creative brainstorming.

  He calls them blind fools who cannot see the stupidity of their own actions.

  He labels them as blind guides who have fallen into a sinful pit

  and are calling the rest of Jerusalem to join them in the darkness.

  I know what you may be thinking at this point.

  Taylor, this is an interesting history lesson at all.

  I just don't see how this relates to me.

  I haven't sworn by anything or anyone for a long time.

  I haven't said, "I swear on my mother's life. I swear on my grandma's grave.

  I swear by my life that I'm not lying."

  So how does this relate to me? I haven't done that for many years.

  Well, here's how the text relates to you.

  "Don't be a sneaky word ninja like the scribes and Pharisees.

  Do not be a sneaky person.

  Do not look for escape hatches and loopholes to get out of what you say,

  because that does not honor the Lord."

  Let me give you some examples that may hit close to home.

  Husbands, you're supposed to carry out a task for your wife, but then you forget.

  Yeah, stretch your imagination because that never happens, right?

  Then your wife calls you on it and to save face you say, "Oh, I was just about to do it.

  You didn't give me enough time. That's sneaky. So don't do it."

  You commit to a small group, but on one particular night, you don't really feel like going.

  So you call your small group leader, "Oh, man, I'm really under the weather.

  I don't want anybody else to get what I have. So I'm not going to make it tonight."

  That's sneaky. So don't do it.

  Someone texts or calls, someone texts or emails you

  and really annoying message that you do not want to respond to.

  So the next time you see that person, you pretend like you accidentally missed it.

  That's sneaky. So don't do it.

  You get invited to an event that you desperately do not want to go to.

  So what do you say? "Yeah, maybe that might work. Let me get back to my calendar and get back to you."

  You ain't getting back to them about nothing. You are going to ghost this person.

  That's sneaky. So don't do it.

  Unfortunately, you do get sucked into that event that you do not want to go to.

  Instead of biting the bullet and attending, you call that person the day of,

  "I really wanted to come, but something came up."

  But nothing came up.

  That's sneaky. So don't do it.

  And I know what some of you are saying to yourselves right now.

  "Taylor, this seems like really small potatoes in the grand scheme of things."

  Shouldn't we move on to something a bit bigger?

  I mean, come on. These kinds of excuses are harmless and they hurt no one.

  Actually, these kinds of excuses are harmful and they hurt everyone, including you.

  You are numbing yourself to the deceitfulness of sin.

  And you are paving the way to lie in bigger and bolder ways moving forward.

  Listen, no one starts out as a pathological liar.

  It starts with one compromise that you get away with.

  And then it's way easier to make another compromise.

  You cross the line, you get away with it,

  and then you make a habit out of pushing boundaries and testing the limits.

  If you keep this up, you will end up saying and doing things that you never thought you were capable of.

  Sneakiness is a way of slipping into your heart and taking over if you're not on guard against it.

  But most importantly, these kind of devious excuses are sinful and sinning against the Lord.

  And that alone should give you pause and cause you to cut this behavior out of your life.

  It is not wise, it is not right to walk in the sneaky footsteps of the scribes and Pharisees

  who rejected and murdered the Son of God.

  Instead, walk in the footsteps of the one who committed no sin.

  Neither was deceit found in his mouth.

  Jesus always told the truth even when it cost his own life.

  Jesus never made excuses to get out of his mission of dying on the cross.

  You must always tell the truth even when it gets you into trouble.

  Never make excuses even when it seems like everyone else around you is.

  The final question of the trustworthiness test.

  Do I always follow through on what I say?

  Do I always follow through on what I say?

  Jesus wraps up by showing the alternative to being an undependable and sneaky person in verse 37.

  Let what you say be simply yes or no.

  Anything more than this comes from evil.

  Well, according to our Lord, being an honest person is not a complex concept.

  Say yes if you'll do something. Say no if you will not do something.

  That's super easy, right?

  Not really.

  It is so simple, but it is also so hard to live out.

  It isn't convenient to be a yes or no person, but it is the freest way to live.

  It is so stressful to not keep your word.

  It is so stressful to have all those deceitful plates spinning in your mind

  because at some point one will come crashing down and you will have to deal with the consequences.

  It is exhausting to put on a mask and pretend to be someone who you are not.

  It is painful to not be the person who you project yourself to be.

  It is embarrassing to be unreliable

  and to have the reputation of being a constant flake and not an unshakable rock.

  When I am closing things down in my office for the day and packing things up,

  I often text my wife to let her know that I am on the way home.

  But sometimes I get distracted with other things after I send that text.

  Writing down a sermon thought that I don't want to lose,

  wrapping up a task that I forgot to complete, or talking to Pastor Jeff.

  That never happens, right Jeff?

  Several months ago I arrived home way later than I told Kate that I would.

  And I profusely apologized and I will never forget her blunt response with a loving smile on her face.

  "Oh, that's okay. I always add an extra 15 minutes to your arrival time when you text me."

  Ouch!

  That loving burn really stung my conscience.

  My wife gave me some extra wiggle room

  because she was aware that I often missed the target of my stated arrival time.

  Do people need to give you wiggle room because they know that you often missed the target of keeping your word?

  They know you'll be somewhere off on the board but way off-center,

  or maybe you'll miss the board completely.

  You mean well, you have good intentions but your follow-through fall short.

  Maybe you feel very discouraged by your unreliable reputation.

  You're thinking to yourself, "I don't want to be this way. I want to help everyone.

  I want to be there for everyone but I can't seem to keep all of my commitments."

  Well, it sounds like you have a no problem.

  You say yes to everything because you don't want to let anyone down.

  But in the process, you let everyone down because you cannot equally serve everyone.

  If you say yes to everyone, your word will not carry weight with anyone.

  And to be clear, saying no can be wrong and sinful.

  Some of you in this room say no way more than you should at home, at work, and even in this church.

  God may be calling you to step up more, not step back less.

  But at the same time, saying no can also be right and productive.

  Because you have to recognize that you are not God.

  You cannot be everywhere all the time and you cannot do everything at the same exact time.

  You are a limited person.

  You need to count the cost of what you are committing yourself to before you say yes or no.

  It takes great wisdom and discernment to say no to good things.

  So that you can say yes to the best things.

  And Jesus is so direct at the end of verse 37 and says that anything beyond being a yes or no person is evil.

  It is wicked.

  And this is recapt in James 512.

  Some translations of Matthew 537 say that this kind of behavior beyond being a yes or no person is from the evil one.

  Meaning if you live this kind of deceitful lifestyle, you are way worse off than just being like the scribes and Pharisees.

  You are also like their spiritual father, Satan.

  Listen to what Jesus says to religious leaders in John 844.

  You are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires.

  He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

  When he lies, he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies.

  My kids bear a family resemblance to Kate and me.

  They have my eye color and thankfully they have her good looks.

  After service, you see them running around.

  It shouldn't come as a surprise that they belong to Kate and me because they look just like us.

  There are two spiritual families and it's obvious which one you belong to based on which father you resemble the most.

  Do you resemble Satan who lies, cheats and steals or do you resemble God who tells the truth, does the right thing in the right way and selflessly serves?

  Which father do you resemble the most?

  We've reached the end of the trustworthiness test.

  How did you do?

  Did you pass or did you fail?

  Did you stick the landing or did you crash into the runway?

  Maybe the Lord has encouraged your heart and revealed to you that you have a strong and solid reputation that is well deserved.

  If that's you, keep up the good work, keep your foot on the gas pedal and keep moving forward by the grace of God.

  Maybe you're convicted that yes, you are in the family of God, but you sure aren't acting like it right now.

  Instead of hiding away and keeping your lies a secret, be honest about your dishonesty to God and to those you have betrayed.

  It is not enough to just stop lying from now on. You also have to uncover the lies that you've already told.

  I know that's hard. I know that feels shameful.

  But remember, if you are a true believer in Christ, there is no condemnation for you.

  You can be honest about your sin and ask for forgiveness from others because the penalty has already been paid by Jesus Christ.

  We can share openly about our failures because they're no longer held against us.

  Maybe you've come to the realization that you resemble the evil one and belong to the wrong family.

  For years, you've unapologetically told bold-faced lies. You've shared half truths.

  You've led people on. You've been underhanded and you've covered your tracks so you can avoid getting in trouble.

  You may feel crushed under the weight of your own dishonesty right now.

  If that's you, please do not try to do better or be better on your own.

  Do not try to clean up your act because that will not solve the problem.

  Self-improvement and self-help are fools errands that lead straight to hell.

  Those worldly methods will not solve the problem that is truly within you, which is the problem of your heart.

  Please come clean and confess your sins to the Lord.

  Turn from your deceptive ways and throw yourself at the mercy of Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again to save liars like you and me.

  If you do that, the Lord will give you a brand new heart that loves the truth, that desires the truth.

  A heart that is overflowing with a desire to share the truth with everyone.

  Only the most trustworthy one in all of existence can truly turn you into a trustworthy person.

  Let's pray.

  Father, I am a man of unclean lips who dwells among the people of unclean lips.

  Lord, we have sinned against you with our deception and our lies and our half truths.

  Lord, on our own, we are so helpless. We are so hopeless.

  But we thank you for your redeeming work.

  We thank you that you have cleansed us.

  You've cast our lies away from us as far as the east is from the west.

  Lord, help us not to be sneaky anymore.

  To not be deceptive anymore. To not make untrue excuses.

  Lord, help us to be people of our word who don't need to make promises.

  Help us to be people who have a solid reputation because our reputation impacts your reputation in this world.

  Lord, there's someone in this room who does not know and love you.

  May today be the day where they finally make the most important decision of their lives

  and are transformed and changed forever.

  We thank you for your goodness. We thank you that you are unchanging even though we're constantly changing.

  We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.