Sermon on the Mount Part 2 Jewish Trifecta

In this Biblically Wired podcast episode, Barb discusses three teachings of Jesus during his Sermon on the Mount: giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting. Jesus emphasizes doing these things in secret, without seeking approval or recognition from others. He warns against being a hypocrite and highlights the importance of the motive behind these practices. Giving to the needy should be done freely and without expecting righteousness in return. Prayer should be done in a secret place, where one can connect with God and express their needs. Jesus also introduces the Lord's Prayer, emphasizing the importance of praying for the community. Ultimately, these actions should bring glory to God and draw people closer to Him. Hello, welcome to the Biblically Wired podcast. My name is Barb. I'm your host. I'm out of Minneapolis. We are going to get right into the next three teachings of Jesus during his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. We're looking at chapter 6, verses 1 through 18. We've already gone through six teachings that he had on the Christian life. That is in a prior podcast. So these three, I wanted to talk about together because these three traditionally were the practices of righteousness in the Jewish faith. They would call these three things, they're pillars of their faith, giving to the needy, prayer and fasting. They associated all of them together, so it's not surprising Jesus taught them in a row. He talked about six things that help us today with Christian living, and for the original crowd was eye-opening. And now he's going to talk about these three things, and this is mostly going to center on the Pharisees and the Jewish people. He's going to bring warnings as he does in the other teachings, and this is to avoid a cycle of seeking approval of men and recognition, this wanting to be seen, to be noticed, to be raised up. And it's one of those dichotomies, I don't even know if that's the right word. Have you ever heard the saying that a humble person would never say they're humble? It's kind of like that, where they were being recognized for their piety, even though it was false. So what is the imperative here from Jesus? What is the better way, so to speak? The better way, according to Jesus, is to do these things in secret, and your Father in Heaven will reward you. If you look throughout these 18 verses, Jesus calls God your Father. They're not positive, but they think this is the first time in the Word that Jesus uses your Father, depending on when things were written. So what is Jesus saying? He is saying your Father, one, sees what is done, two, knows what you need, and three, he is in secret, he will forgive you, and again, he sees what is done. So this is what Jesus' emphasis is with the Father. So what do they need to avoid? They need to avoid being a hypocrite on all three of these things. A hypocrite back in this day in the Greek was an actor. Without a play, he would wear different masks, so you never knew who the hypocrite actually was. So that was the word for hypocrite at that time. All three things, giving to the needy, prayer and fasting, are practices. They are the way that believers shine the light of God, and when people see this light, it brings glory to God. So we want this, or Jesus wanted this done correctly. Of course, he wanted it done correctly. These actions are to be used to draw someone closer to God, not to raise someone up in appreciation of men. All right, so we're going to start out with Jesus talking about giving to the needy, and a couple of cool nuggets with this. Jesus says, Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them, otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. So what is he saying not to do? He's saying not to give to the needy to gain righteousness. And the Jewish people believed these three things brought atonement for sins and righteousness, that giving to the needy gave me some gain. When I gave to the needy, I gained righteousness. I gained being made right with God. The more someone gives to the needy, the more they get from God. And it was turning into kind of a way to show off. So what was the root of this? In Deuteronomy 5.11, here's the verse, God tells Moses, the poor will never cease in the land. Therefore, I command you saying, you shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in the land. So God was telling them, when you cross that river and you go to the promised land, just so you know, I have set up a lot of laws and rules so that people will be treated fairly and things will be just, but there will never cease to be poor in the promised land. And I don't think this is because God purposely made certain people poor. No, this is because humanity and sin crept in. So you would have a father who got into gambling and drinking and lost a lot of money and then he had to then sell his land and then he became a servant and this happens time and time again and then you get these servants and God gives rules for that. But the bottom line is sin was going to create oppression. Sin was going to give people the opportunity to oppress people and God knew this was coming. So what did he say? Freely give to your brother, freely. Like let it easily flow through your hands like water. But what happened is they misunderstood and they paired their giving with a blessing of atonement to the point the Pharisees literally replaced the word alms or giving with righteousness. So the motive changed from benefiting the poor to benefiting myself. Okay here's a cool nugget. So talking about sounding the trumpet, when did they sound this trumpet? Well that comes from these containers that collected the money for the needy during the feast, during the time of Herod's temple. There was a treasury during the feast and the rich would come and let's say they had $10 bills for an example here now in America. They would go to the bank and make that all quarters or if they had a dollar maybe they would get a hundred pennies and there were 13 of these collection boxes that were shaped like a trumpet, smaller on top where the money would go down and fill up this bottom portion. So what the rich would do is they would come with all these coins and so that it would rattle and it would make a ton of noise going down the trumpet shape top of this collection box. I mean can you imagine this? Just pouring coins down that thing and they were getting and gaining credit and seen as righteous because why? Because they felt giving to the needy was paired with becoming righteous. Okay so what does Jesus say to do instead? So when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving will be in secret and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Now the verbs in this portion point to a long-term reward. We know there are always rewards for being obedient and having a heart for what God has a heart for and we know things come into our life because of obedience but the actual reward for this kind of giving is eschatological reward. That is future reward in heaven or under the reign of Christ. Okay so now we're going to talk about prayer and Jesus gives them a lot of goodies here and this is the portion of the word that is probably the most memorized because it includes the Lord's prayer which is so good. Alright so when you pray you are not to be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that why? I usually circle the so that because this gives us the conclusion they may be seen by men. Jesus is saying they already have their reward if they want their reward for men they have it in full. Alright so here's the deal the Jewish people the Pharisees prayed three times a day 9 a.m. noon and 3 p.m. they prayed an 18 part portion prayer and this is in a different teaching I have on the Lord's prayer and you can find it in my podcast it's really really full of some cool nuggets but what at this time these people saw is that the Pharisees would find a particular place to accidentally quote unquote come upon at noon for their noon prayer and they wanted to be in a public place so they would time this because they wanted to be seen. So where does Jesus tell us to pray? He says when you pray go to your inner room close your door and pray to your father who is in secret and he that knows what's done in secret will reward you. This Greek word for room I have inner room here this Greek this ancient term room was the personal store room in a house they didn't all have closets loaded with clothes but they had a store room and that's where they kept their treasures maybe their canned goods or crops things that were handed down from families candlesticks stuff like that and I love how Jesus says to go to that store room where the treasures are and pray because when you're sitting in a store room full of the treasures that God has given you how grateful you must be. So not only are you in a secret place but you're in a place where God has brought some abundance your way and also I think Jesus is saying that when we pray in secret there are treasures waiting for us. I just think it's super cool. So how to pray? Jesus goes on to say don't get into these lengthy babbling repetitious prayers that the Gentiles do thinking they're going to be heard if they just pray long enough because of course they're praying to gods that aren't even real but God knows what you need. Jesus is saying so much about the father here. God knows what you need. It is good for us to come to God to ask for those things. God knows what you need. Charles Spurgeon says Christian prayers should be measured by weight and not by length and I just think that's so good. Say what you need to say. God knows what you need to say. God knows what's on your heart. Say it. He's your father. So I love how Jesus and a few tidbits on the Lord's Prayer he goes on to show how to pray and what Jesus brings I think to our Western faith here is his prayer is focused on community. When is the last time I sat down and prayed our father who art in heaven? I'm not saying I haven't said the Lord's Prayer but when have I last just prayed for our and we as in the body of Christ? I can't remember the last time and that's embarrassing but I want to say when I've been working with the persecuted church this is how they pray. They use we and our like we use I, me and my and I think it was such a huge lesson for me when I was in Iraq to see that and it's something that I know we need here in the West. So Jesus is saying that here. So he starts by declaring who God is that he is holy and then asking for God's will your kingdom come your will be done and give us our daily bread. He is asking for our daily provisions that is something we pray about and forgive us our debts and we also have forgiven our debtors and do not lead us into temptation. So Jesus talks about bread forgiveness and giving us strength. So remember all past present and future sins are forgiven in no way shape or form as Jesus saying here that we will not be forgiven if we do not forgive this is before he died on the cross and I think the emphasis for us today is to remember that when we're living in bitterness or unforgiveness we find that bitterness corrupts it divides it destroys it's contagious it can take over a house it undermines our ministry and this root of bitterness can grow into a tree and take over our life literally Hebrews 12 15 it says watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you corrupting many so when Jesus is talking about forgive us our debts or our sins and in verse 15 and 14 and 15 here in chapter 6 for if you forgive others for their transgressions your heavenly father will also forgive you but if you do not forgive others then your father will not forgive your transgressions Jesus is giving us an imperative here to forgive and I think that a lot of people can get tripped up on this wondering is their salvation based on now who they forgive feeling like unless I forgive maybe I'm not even going to heaven anymore and that's not what this is about one Jesus is in the old covenant still so the crowds sins past present and future sins have not been paid for two we know Jesus paid for all our sins we get a down payment of the Holy Spirit our resurrection has already been paid for and we are adopted as a daughter or son of the king so Jesus is not saying that you will not be saved you will be saved your sins are forgiven and they're taken outside the sight of God but if we are not living in forgiveness for others I think then we do get stuck in bitterness it's kind of interesting you guys because what kills bitterness in food salt salt kills bitterness in food and who's the salt we're the salt so guys we can go after our bitterness when we are stuck in unforgiveness there is a few tips I have because I've been through a lot of therapy on this so first of all when you're feeling really bitter about something what is the real cause of your hurt can you claim it can you name it is your hurt possibly the fact that your dad left your family 25 years ago so now when your co-worker got a new job you're super hurt but it doesn't really have anything to do with the co-worker it just starts to scratch the wound you have about your dad so is your current issue actually rooted in the past these are things we have to pray through as we're trying to get out of bitterness because bitterness is painful and gross anyways and we need to know that forgiving them does not mean you've come to terms with what they've done you've accepted their sin it is not giving them some great pass that is not what forgiveness has to be it can in some situations forgiving them might make us feel unsafe maybe it'll make me feel like I'm letting my guard down but that is not true either you can still protect yourself from people that are violent, argumentative, toxic you can still protect yourself and forgive them also we might have a wrong belief about forgiveness that we've got to spend time with these people if I forgive them and I've seen this in a lot of people's lives they feel like you know what I need a break for a while I can't work on forgiveness but you don't have to see this person I also know that I know I know that forgiveness is a process there's certain things that are going to look impossible to forgive impossible if someone who is angry with you peels out of your driveway and runs over your three-year-old on his trike that is going to be a lifetime an ebb and flow of forgiveness and God knows that he is not going to be withholding you blessings from you because you're in a process of forgiveness that will probably take until you go to heaven so if you don't feel like you're ready take those baby steps have grace for yourself forgiveness is not like some final destination it can ebb and flow so I wanted to go through that today another thing I'm going to backtrack here and say if people find out that you were giving to something that does not mean you lost your reward if your heart was that this be kept between you and God or you and your husband and family and God or whatever it's about your heart it's about your motives letting what God's blessed you with to easily roll off your back to someone who needs it more gladly it's okay if other people find out it doesn't mean you can't ever tell someone oh my gosh we give to this ministry we we really like to support it it's placed on our heart it's a real big emphasis in our life that's that's fine if your heart is right I don't want anyone to think that if anyone finds out I'm giving that God's going to take the reward away it's not about that with God it's always about the heart all right so the last thing now is fasting fasting I'm a terrible faster I'm just going to put that out there I fast usually by having a small lunch every day and making it 24 hours again it's hard for me I just I find myself lightheaded it's it's just brutal so on the day of atonement historically if you read in Leviticus 23 29 and 32 the whole nation fasted to the point that if you do not fast you should be cut off fasting was a big deal the idea was not to gain anything but to have a singular focus this day of atonement was the day the high priest enters the Holy of Holies and the sins of the nation are atoned for for another year this is the day the big day in the Jewish culture throughout their history so nothing should matter more than this day on the heart of a Israelite or a Jew this is the day my priest is going in to meet with God to atone for my sins nothing else matters so fasting was a big deal fasting can be corporate where the whole nation fasted they also had personal fasts Moses fasted 40 days focusing on the presence of God we know Jesus did that too and what fasting was supposed to do is draw you closer to God just like giving to the needy and the prayer it should allow a complete focus on God and just that drawing closer that really good focus the best example we can see of fasting it's actually not all over the New Testament but Anna was an example in the synagogue she dedicated her life to prayer and fasting all her days talk about incredible so what does Jesus say whenever you fast do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting truly I say to you they have their reward in full can you imagine all the Pharisees in the crowd right now this is like a wap wap wap and yeah yeah be crazy but you when you fast anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men but by your father who is in secret and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you so very similar to the prayer and the needy just this theme of God who is in secret he is in our life he is in our hearts he is in our midst he is constantly seeking the hearts that are for him he knows our intentions he understands our thoughts and our ways and for us to step away pray in that inner room that storeroom and for us to fast without telling everybody and without looking like a big fat mess is super cool I think it's crazy because Jesus is talking about these men putting on a gloomy face so guys this is kind of funny to me because Jesus has already been on earth for 30 years so he's seen all these characters doing all this and he knew what they were doing I mean that would be embarrassing right to realize this whole time Jesus knew this so you can see why the Pharisees got so mad at him he is telling the truth he's absolutely telling the truth and it is the kind of love that they need and the push they need but it is definitely calling them out for their crap so what did they do when they had their faces look gloomy well some people think they just figured their faces and they put ashes on their face like a literal mask some of them literally did this and this is what someone might do when they're grieving put ashes on their face so they were really trying to look gloomy and put black ashes on their face and literally look like they have a mask like a hypocrite anointing their head with oil is similar to saying use shampoo look fresh look fresh shower look a little peppy and if you can't stay home stay home don't do that for your reward and again if one of us is fasting and we are kind of pale and weak it's about the heart again it's about the heart someone might notice hey whoa do you need some water I mean you don't look so good and it's okay and it's about your heart your intent is to do this to draw closer to God and to be in union with him and God cares about our intentions and he knows our heart and he knows what's done in secret so let's let that settle in and realize now as we're moving through the Sermon on the Mount the radical kingdom Jesus was bringing about this is upside-down stuff this is inside-out stuff later he's going to talk about the Pharisees caring so much about their outside appearance they're like whitewashed tombs what were whitewashed tombs tombs outside Jerusalem were whitewashed so that when people came on a pilgrimage their gowns or their scarves or whatever would not accidentally touch a tomb or a dead body so tombs were whitewashed this is a tomb don't lean on it don't eat a picnic by it this is a tomb we're gonna wait whitewash it so you can avoid it on your way into Jerusalem so Jesus is saying you guys are whitewashed tombs you look good but you're dead inside you are dead inside Jesus was basically calling a spade a spade right so these farmers and servants and slaves and fishermen and Romans and all these people were understanding what Jesus is saying they were understanding that Jesus was basically calling the Pharisees dead zombies people who wanted men's approval and didn't care about God's Wow so the Sermon on the Mount is an incredible incredible historical speech inside Christianity outside Christianity there's nothing like it Jesus the truth was bringing the truth thankfully because of Jesus when I stand before Jesus and he tells me the truth thankfully Jesus because of his death sees me as blameless I can't imagine facing Jesus without his death and I'm so grateful today so so grateful as I picture this crowd I can't even imagine well thanks for joining me thanks for taking part in my biblical detective work as I call it my passion my hobby my ministry and I sure look forward to talking to you soon I'm planning on putting out the rest of the Sermon on the Mount and maybe two more parts so join me then and until then keep your chin up guys we are sons and daughters of the king and that is a good thing