Matthew 6 Magna Carta of the Kingdom of God

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All persons subject to the law, and you underline that word all, including the king, made all persons subject to the law, including the king, provided due process for everybody, and promised a trial by jury. And that was what the charter was. It was for everybody. Everyone had an activity in which they would participate, and that activity, those activities that I just read you were for everybody. And so the charter, the magna charter, magna simply means great, charter means, you know, charter, charter, it's a magna carter, it's actually the great charter. And so they established it, and then they, in England, began, and by the way, our constitution, much of our constitution is based upon the magna carter. Based upon these, we have due process, we have process under law, we have trial by jury, that sound familiar? So all of that came from this 1215-1217 magna carter. Now, many biblical scholars call chapters 5, 6, and 7 the magna carter of the kingdom of God, because what Jesus does, he does not establish a law. In fact, he does not even establish a code of ethics. He also does not establish any kind of mechanical acts, which we are to do. And he doesn't establish a monistic law, where there's a lady on one side and there's religion groups on the other side, clergy. What he did was, he established several major life principles. And those life principles are what we're going to see in chapter 6 and chapter 7. And they're life principles, which actually were very ingrained and involved in the Jewish faith. Now, the truth of the matter is, in chapter 5, everything Jesus said, and Brother Jimmy did a beautiful job last week talking about the Beatitudes, do you realize that every Beatitude was exactly opposite what the Jewish people were practicing? Did you ever think about that? Blessed are the poor in heart, for they shall see God. Ladies and gentlemen, Jewish people thought that if you were poor, you were cursed of God. Poverty was God's curse on people. So if you were in any way poor, you were being cursed by God. And Jesus comes along and he says, hey, guess what? Blessed are the poor, for they shall see God. And so what happens here is, Jesus is taking what all the Jewish people had been doing for centuries, and he said, in my new kingdom, we're going to have a Magna Carta. We're going to have a group of activities in which all of us shall participate. And the interesting thing about that is, Jesus participated in them as well. That was why he had to come to earth. That was why he had to become a man. That was why he had to be just like us. He had to come here, first of all, because he came for the redemption of the entire world. And secondly, he came in order to show that a human being living here, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, can live a righteous life. Now, there's a great hymn that we don't sing anymore. Isn't it terrible we don't sing a bunch of hymns anymore? Hymnology, ladies and gentlemen, has the most beautiful poetry in the entire world. If you read some of these hymns, it will just stir your heart, because the people who were writing them were great poets as well as musicians. Now one of those hymns that we hardly sing ever again is, The Church is One Foundation. Now how long has it been since you sang The Church is One Foundation? Probably years. Let me remind you of what it says. The Church is One Foundation is Jesus Christ the Lord. She is the new creation by water and the Word. From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride, and with his blood he bought her, and for her life he died. Now watch the second verse and you'll understand what we're talking about here and what Jesus did when he gave us all of these magnificent activities in which we are to participate with him. You see, all of these activities that Christ is going to give us, all of these little ideas that he's going to give us of what we should do, he has already done it and he wants us to participate with it. Now watch the second verse. Elect from every nation, we've had people saved all over the world, elect from every nation but one or all the earth, we're one big church of those of us who've been saved. Elect from every nation, we're from every nation, but we're one all over the earth, the charter of salvation. One Lord, one faith, one birth. How simple is that? We participate with God the Father as he brings us to God the Son who redeems us and allows us to be filled by God the Holy Spirit. One Lord, God the Father, one faith given to us by Jesus Christ, one birth filling us with the Holy Spirit. One holy name he blesses, we partake one holy food and to one hope he presses with every grace involved. That's the church is one foundation. What he said in that last word, with every grace endued, what he was saying was every grace is an activity in which all of us with him and God the Father and God the Holy Spirit participate. He wants us to participate with him. That's why he came. That's why he filled you with the Holy Spirit. That's why he wants you to allow the Holy Spirit to live through you in order that you can have fellowship with the Father and also have fellowship with the Lord Christ and have fellowship one with another. That was why he came. Well, it's kind of interesting and I'm going to read this because I want you to hear it. It's on the first page and I'm going to read it. I'm sorry. I want to read it to you because I want to get it right. I wrote it and I want you to hear it, okay? You may not read my stuff, but sometimes I read it to you. I won't read any more of this, but I will read this. And on the other hand, the Sermon on the Mount is basically an instructional manual for the kingdom of God. It's not a code. It's not an ethics to follow. It's not a series of mechanical acts. It is not a monastic order in which the laity and the clergy are separated. What it is, is a way a group of people who are divinely redeemed believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who enjoy the embodiment of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, assisting them in the way they think and act daily, empowering them to live a life that has been completely changed through their relationship, there's the word. Christianity is not a religion, folks. It's a relationship. Through a relationship with Jesus Christ who understands completely that the Lord and that Jesus Christ is totally, that we understand completely that Jesus Christ is totally in control as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that He, Jesus, recognizes each one of us as an heir of God and a joint heir with Himself in God's majestic kingdom. That's what He developed. And He wants us to participate with Him. It is not a religion. It is not a set of laws. It is a Spirit-filled relationship. And since it's a Spirit-filled relationship, we are able to participate in it because of 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, not creature, he's a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things become new. That's kind of interesting, what begins to happen in this chapter. There are basically 3 major religious, and I use that word because they were spiritually religious, but the way the Jewish people handled them, they were more religion than they were spiritual. There were 3 major acts that every Jewish male was required to do. Now, pause just a minute, I understand something. Ladies, I'm not putting you down, but none of this was for the ladies. It was always for the men. Later on, King Herod the Great at least got an idea when he was enlarging the temple and he was making the great big front court, which was called the Court of the Women. Herod the Great, for all that he wasn't, had a great idea. He said, you know what? These women have a lot of money. Oh, really, John? If you want to find out, talk to John and me about whether or not these wonderful ladies who are widows don't have a lot of money. How do you think all of these organizations stay afloat? Herod was pretty smart, Jim. He said, I'm going to build a women's court because they can't come where the Jews are, where the Jewish men are, and they're in the Jewish court, and they can't come there. You know, I need to have them come. And I'll tell you what I'm going to do. We're not building them. I'm going to put four offering boxes in it. Smart man. So that the women coming to the court could put their offerings in it. So one of the major things that a Jewish male had to do, he had to give alms to the poor. He had to give an offering. He had to be a giver. The second thing he had to do, he had to pray. And there were certain times of the day of which we'll talk in a few moments, when he was supposed to pray. We'll talk about what the Pharisees were doing later. And the third thing, not only did they give alms, not only did they pray, but they also had to fast. And all three of these activities were major biblical Old Testament required responsibilities. They had to do them. And there were certain times during the day, certain times during the week, certain times during a year, certain times during a festival, they had to perform. So what's happened is, these Pharisees, when they came to the temple to pray, they always wanted to put on a show. Now these boxes that I told you about, I've seen some pictures of them and some drawings of them. They were a huge box, probably twice the size of this little stand here. And on top, there was a great brass bowl with a hole in it. And when you came to give your money, you dropped it on that brass bowl and it plunked into the container. Well, let me help you. Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Can you hear them falling? The only money you could put in those boxes was temple coins. You could not bring any Roman coins in with you. And the money that went in the box was a temple coin, and that's why, when you read about Jesus turning over the table of the money changers, got it? What were they doing? They were changing Roman coins for what? Jewish coins. So these people could go into the women's court and they could make an offering. They couldn't give Roman money, they had to give Jewish money. The Jewish coins were about the size of a silver dollar and they weighed about three times as much. They were huge. Most of them were made out of lead or some other kind of metal. They weren't made out of silver or gold. They were made out of some kind of metal. In fact, we'll talk about that later. And you'll see, and you may come to understand why one of these statements that Jesus makes in a little bit is why he makes it. So what would happen is, these Pharisees, because they loved the praise of men, and you know what Jesus was going to say to them about that, they would come to the temple and they would literally hire trumpeters, that blew trumpets. They'd hire a whole ensemble of them, six or eight of them. And these Pharisees would strut into the temple and they'd go to one of these four boxes. They had a big sack of these big old heavy coins. And when they got to the offering place, he motioned to the trumpeters and they started playing. Well, guess what everybody in the women's court did? It attracted everybody's attention, can you imagine? And then when he got, when the Pharisee got everybody's attention, because they knew how much each of those coins cost him out in the court, he'd drop one. Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, cl clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, cl clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, cl clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, cl clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, cl clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, cl clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, cl clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, cl clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, cl morning and noon. I thought it was morning, noon, and night. No, no. When does a Jewish day start? At sundown. So David says, I will pray at sundown. I will pray toward the noon hour. Now that doesn't mean exactly at twelve. In fact, most of them prayed at the ninth hour, at the sixth hour. At the ninth hour, they prayed at nine o'clock in the morning. They prayed in the evening, they prayed at nine o'clock in the morning, and then they prayed at three o'clock in the afternoon. Do you know why they prayed at nine o'clock in the morning and three o'clock in the afternoon? Because Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob told them to. In fact, I put in your paper some interesting names that you will see. In fact, on the third page, if you go to the first paragraph, and if you look down about the middle, you will see a Jewish man was expected to pray at least three times, morning at nine, the third hour, which was called Shacharit, introduced by Abraham. Hello. And at nine, the third hour, at three, the ninth hour, Minchah, introduced by Isaac. Yeah, it's in the scripture, folks. And at even Mariv, which was introduced by Jacob. Abraham said you need to pray at nine. Isaac said you need to pray between twelve and three. Jacob said at the beginning of a new, at the ending of a good day before the sun totally goes down in the evening, you need to pray. David, evening, morning, noon. Now, there's another interesting thing that's going on here. At the temple, during the time of Jesus, there were multiple times of sacrifice. You could sacrifice any time. You could bring your own animal. You could buy an animal. That's why all the money changers were there. You could buy an animal. You could buy a cow if you wanted to, or you could bring a cow if you wanted to, or you could bring a bird. But every morning at nine o'clock was a sacrificing service at the temple, when they came there to sacrifice animals and to pray. Nine o'clock. Got it? What did Abraham say? Pray at what? Nine in the morning. Oh, and there was another sacrificial system at three o'clock in the afternoon. That's what Isaac said. Three o'clock. He's there on Mount Calvary. They just nailed him to the cross. They just dropped the cross into the hole. Flesh tore. He was bleeding. And he said, nine o'clock, Father, forgive them. Jesus prayed at nine o'clock. Oh, yeah. And when the sun went away and started blowing and he didn't, this isn't a prayer. This is a question. At noon. God, God, why have you forsaken me? Go two hours. Almost three o'clock. What happens at three o'clock at the temple? It's another sacrifice. On the cross. Three o'clock. Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. It is finished. I guess that's just a coincidence, Brother John, that he prayed at three. He cried to the Father at noon. He prayed again at the third hour. And he died. Now, Jesus comes along and he says, the thing I want you to do is I want you to pray, not as the hypocrite. By the way, there's a Greek word in the very first verse of this book that I didn't tell you about. It's the Greek word that we get the word theatrics from. In fact, it's theatrics. It's a Greek word. And we get the English word theatrics. It means to play like. When you were a kid, did you ever play like? Yeah, you played like. And that's what these Pharisees were doing. They were praying like they were religious. They were praying like they were giving money. They were praying like they were praying. But they were praying great prayers in the street. Okay, here's a Pharisee walking down the street. It's three o'clock. What does he have to do? He has to pray. Here's another Pharisee walking down the street. What does he have to do at nine o'clock? He has to pray. Here he is in the temple giving money. What does he have to do? He has to pray. And he gets all the attention and God says, you have your reward. Well, it's kind of interesting what Jesus says. He says here now, but when you pray, verse seven, but when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as some do, for they think that they will be heard by saying many words. Therefore, do not be like them, for your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him. Oh, by the way, do you know why we need to pray? We need to pray because we need to tell God that we know what he knows. We know that you know what we need, God, and we want you to tell us also to help us. We know you know what we need. So, Father, do we know what we need? And so we pray. So Jesus said, when you pray, pray like this. Now, there's a statement in the middle of your page three that I want to read to you. A prayer does not have to be eternal to be immortal. How many times have you heard people just pray, Mark, and pray, and pray, and pray, and you're sitting there saying, dear God, please help them quit. We had an associate pastor that was an elderly man at our church at North Richland Hills years ago, and when he did the opening prayer, everybody was sitting there praying, dear God, make him stop, dear God, make him stop. He just prayed, and prayed, and prayed. Lots of words. Do you know how long the Lord's Prayer is? How many words? 65 in King James. It is 52 in the English Standard Version. Brother Jimmy, it's 50 to 60 in HCSB. Do you understand that one? The Holman Christian Study Bible. It's only 50 to 60. Oh, by the way, I looked in the original Greek. Do you know how many words it is in the original Greek? It's only 59. It's not a long prayer. It's a magnificent prayer. And Jesus said, when you pray, you pray this way. Now, I'm going to show you one other prayer that's most interesting. I want you to go with me, if you will, to 1 Kings, and I want you to go to the 18th chapter, and I want you to meet with Elijah on Mount Carmel. Now, Jezebel has been after Elijah's hide, and she has 400 Baal prophets, and all morning long, they've been yelling, and screaming, and cutting themselves, and trying to get their Baal God to send down fire on an offering, and he hadn't done anything. In fact, Elijah's sitting over there, and he's kidding them. He said, hey, maybe you're God's on vacation, or maybe he's asleep. Yell louder, maybe you'll wake him up. And he did this all morning while they were there yelling, screaming, and hollering. Nothing happened. They were yelling for fire. No fire came. About that time, Elijah said, okay. And it came to pass at the time of the offering, the evening sacrifice. What? What time? 3 o'clock. Evening sacrifice. 3 o'clock. It came the time of the evening sacrifice, 3 o'clock, and Elijah said this prayer. Now, he'd already covered the thing with water. He'd already covered it. He saturated it. I mean, if that thing would catch on fire, he would have to have a blowtorch to set it on fire. And here's his prayer. Watch. Guess how many words? 59 words. Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Israel, Jacob, let it be known that this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things in your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that you are the Lord God, and that you have turned their hearts back to you again. Fire fell. A prayer does not have to be eternal to be immortal. So, when we pray, you need to think seriously about your prayer. So, Jesus said this. Here's how you pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts or trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Sixty-five words. Jesus said, when you pray, pray like that. Now, do you realize that this prayer has four things in it? Verse 10, 9 and 10. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, is a prayer of God's preeminence. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your kingdom come, your will be done. And then in verse 10. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, which is providence. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Our Father who art in heaven, preeminence. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, prominence. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. What is against us is provision. Give us this day our daily bread. But deliver us from evil, and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever, is protection. Jesus said, you pray preeminence, you pray providence, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You pray for provisions, and you ask God to protect you. He said, that's how you pray. And then he said, however, if you do not forgive men their trespasses, then God cannot forgive you of your trespasses. In fact, in verse 14 he says, for if you forgive not men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also not forgive you. But if you do not, then your heavenly Father will not forgive you. So we are to forgive as much as we are forgiven. Jesus said, this is a little different than what you Pharisees have been doing. Then he goes to the third activity, fasting. And in fasting he says, moreover, when you fast, now, ladies and gentlemen, the Pharisees fasted, everybody in town would know it. They would put on their old shaggy clothes, they wouldn't take a bath, they wouldn't wash their face, they wouldn't clean themselves off, they had body odor, they stunk. And they were like that because if they came into the people like that, then everybody would know that they were what? Fasting. They were play-acting, theatrical. They were putting on a show. And so Jesus says, moreover, when you fast, do not be like the Pharisees. With a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to be fasting. But surely I say unto you, they have their reward. They did everything in order that people around them would know how religious they were. Now I want to make a statement, I want you to hear it carefully. We are not part of a religion. We are part of a relationship. Jesus wants relationship, not religion. He wants us to be related to him. And so he said, but when you fast, clean yourself up, put on your good smelling stuff, that you may not appear to men to be fasting, but your father who is in secret place will reward you openly. He said, when you fast, look like you look every day. Don't look like you're a shag bag. Don't stink. Comb your hair. Clean your face. Put on a smile. Put on your regular clothes. And go out into the people who will not know that you're fasting. But your father, who sees you in secret, that you are fasting, will reward you openly. Now Jesus pauses for a moment because he's getting ready to start into several little things. And these little things attach themselves to what he's been talking about in almsgiving and praying and fasting. And the first one is, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Okay? Now watch what he says. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, verse 19, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break through and steal. Okay, pause. What kind of money did they have? It was not very good money. In fact, most of it was made out of a very light metal. And they put a little bit of gold on it or a little bit of silver on it. It wasn't near as much silver as there was other junk. And after a while, as you were moving that money and dropping that money and clicking that money, it began to rust. Ladies and gentlemen, literally, their money rusted. And you'd pick it up and you could look at it and you'd see little sides were chipping off and it's all rusty. That's what Jesus was talking about. He probably had something to say. He said, look, don't put up money where it can rust. Don't put up treasures where this happens. And then guess what they had. They had a lot of clothing. They had a lot of tapestry. They had a lot of hanging stuff. They had a lot of moth. And a lot of their clothing and their tapestry was being eaten by moths. And that's what Jesus talked about. Jesus gave them a word picture. Look at your money. It's rusting. It's not worth anything. Look at your clothing. Look at the hole here that the moth ate. Look at your tapestries hanging in your house. The moth ate them. Oh, and by the way, you live in a mud hut and thieves can dig a hole through your wall. And they can get in there and they can steal. Now that's what Jesus was talking about. Don't lay up that kind of stuff here. Where moth and rust does corrupt. And where thieves can dig through the wall and steal. For where your treasure is, your heart will be there as well. It's interesting, isn't it? That which we treasure the most is where our heart is the most. And Jesus says, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Are you going to put your heart in rusty money? In holy holes? Clothes? Or are you going to put your trust in eternal heaven? Lay not for yourselves treasures upon earth, but lay for yourselves treasures in heaven. And then he moves another way. He says, oh, by the way, your eye. Your eye is the lamp to your body. All of us are in light because our eyes are working. If our eyes were blind, we would all be in the dark. And Jesus says, because your eye is available to let light in your body, he is identifying the eye with the heart. And he's identifying the heart as a spiritual eye. And the heart believeth unto righteousness. Remember? All the time when Jesus talked about the heart, he was talking about how you let the light in. If a man's heart is light, if the man's heart is open, if the man's heart is bright, his whole body is bright. But if a man's heart is dark, Jesus says, how great is the darkness in his life? So he's saying, you know, the eye of your body is your heart. And Jesus said, let the light in. And he went on to say, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be dark. Therefore, the light that is in you is darkness. And how great is that darkness? And then he stops for a moment and he says, nobody can serve two masters. These are all little activities in which Jesus is asking us to participate with him. You see, Jesus, with his Father, was participating in all of these activities here on the earth with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. And he's asking us now, since the Holy Spirit will come into us, he's asking us to participate. It's not a law. It's not a rule. It's not a code. It's a relationship. And Jesus on many occasions said, emulate me. If you see me doing something, you do it. If you see, hear me saying something, you say it. Do as I do and do as I say. And so he says here, nobody can serve two masters. If you try, you will hate the one. You will cling to the other. Therefore, if you hate the one and cling to the other, you cannot be loyal to both. He goes on to say here in verse 25, he says, therefore, I say to you, no one can serve two masters. For either you will hate the one, love the other. You will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and man. Now, what is mammon? Mammon is an Arabic word. Aramaic. It's an Aramaic word, and it means anything that relates to the unspiritual world around you. Anything that relates outside the kingdom of God. Anything that's up there, which men terribly desire, fight to get, enjoy for a while, and die in death. That's mammon. It's those things that everybody wants but don't need. It's those things that everybody cherish but can't get. It's all of those things outside the kingdom of God. And Jesus said, you cannot serve God and love mammon. You know what he really said? You can't serve God and love the world. You've got to get out of the world. You've got to get out of the world. Oh, by the way, you are out of the world. You remember the song, This World Is Not My Home? I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid out somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's open door. I can't feel at home in this world anymore. This world is mammon. And all of this world that you cherish, and all of this world that you get, and all of this world that you want, will die. It will be burned up. No good. But Jesus said, what? Seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things that you desire in Christ will be given to you. Now he comes to a spot that nobody likes to talk about. He comes to a spot that talks about worry. Have you ever thought about that? Worry. Somebody said, worry is not a sin, but it might cause sin. And if it causes sin, then it's sin. Somebody said that worry gives a small shadow a great space. And so Jesus said, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and body more than clothing? Look at the birds. Have you ever seen a hungry bird? Yeah. Have you ever seen a hungry bird? You may have seen a dead bird. Have you ever seen a hungry bird? Because if that bird's out there, if there's something around there that he can eat, he'll eat it. He'll eat a worm, he'll eat a bug, he'll eat a piece of bread. Barbara and I feed the birds every day at our house. In fact, we have eight crows that are our dear friends. And you ought to hear them in our backyard. When I throw the bread out there, here they come. And we have some little bitty birds also. We have some little sparrows and some little finches. But the beautiful thing is we have a little group of squirrels. And Barbara loves to feed Mrs. Squirrel. They didn't work for that food. They didn't toll for it. They didn't go to a job every day and make money. Yet every day, God uses Barbara and me to help feed them. And you do too. Many of you put birdseed in your yard. Many of you put food in your yard. Many of you feed the little animals in the field. Consider the birds. They do not toll, they do not spin. Yet they never are hungry. Are you not worth more than a bird who is here today and gone tomorrow? Does God not love you more than he loves the birds? If God loves you more than he loves the birds, he'll take care of you. Oh, he said, consider the lilies of the field. They don't work. They don't spin garments. They don't make clothing. Yet he said Solomon in all of his finery is not dressed up like one. And he probably has some lilies out there. They're dressed up like one of these lilies. Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these lilies. And he goes on to say now, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is today, and thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, clothe you, clothe you, of little faith. Are you aware of the fact that Jesus told his disciples on seven different occasions that they were little of faith? He said you have little faith. You have little faith. You don't understand what you're doing. He says so, now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more clothe you O ye of little faith. Therefore, now we're coming to the end. Therefore, do not worry, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear? For after all these things, the Pharisees seek and the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly father knows your need of these things. But, and here's your key verse, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be added to you. Oh, by the way, as I close, worry is needless. You know that. Worry is futile. Worry is faithless. Worry is pagan in the kingdom of God. So don't be anxious. By the way, do you know 40% of what people worry about never happens? This is a true study. This is a statistical study. 40% of what people worry about never happened. 30% has already happened and you can't change it. But you're still worrying about it. 12% of things worried about were not your business. Why'd you worry about it? 10% were about sickness beyond your control. Why do you worry about it? It's in God's control. Turn it over to him. 8% were situations over which the person worrying could have some control but didn't. So why do you worry? You see, Jesus said in the last verse, he said, because here's the way it is, don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow has enough worries of its own. Why are you going to pile up today's worries on tomorrow's worries and tomorrow's worries on the day after tomorrow? Don't worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has worries of its own. You have enough today on your plate. Don't worry. On our refrigerator is my little plaque. When I go in there in the morning in our utility room, it stares me in the face. Hello! This is God. I will take care of all of your problems today. I don't need your help. Have a good day. See, Jesus was trying to tell his disciples, my kingdom is not like this kingdom of earth. My kingdom is exactly opposite. Now, in chapter 7, we're going to see some more things that Jesus teaches him about the Magna Carta of God's kingdom. He's going to talk about judging and he's going to talk about other things. We'll do that next Sunday. I didn't get through with this one today. But just remember one thing. Prayer does not have to be eternal to be immortal. Go and read Jesus' prayers. They were all very short except John 17 where Jesus prayed for his disciples, where he prayed for the disciples to come because of his disciples and where he prayed for us. In John 17 is the Lord's prayer. Matthew 6 is the model prayer. Although we call it the Lord's prayer. So when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. Pray to your Father in secret and your Father in secret will hear you and he will reward you. Amen. Let's pray. Sovereign God, we thank you for all of these wonderful activities in which you have invited us with you to participate. You've invited us because you showed us how to do it and because you are planning to give the Holy Spirit to us in our lives to fill us with him. We too can do it. We just have to remember how to put ourselves in a place where it can be done. Thank you Father for this wonderful Sermon on the Mount and thank you for helping us to know all of these activities in which you participated perfectly and in which you would like for us to participate with you. Help us to take these spiritual activities bathe with the Holy Spirit and use them as we walk this world and as we participate in men who are lost and as we share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your Word is our prayer in Jesus name. Amen. See you next Sunday.