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Tag Archives: Sermon on the Mount

Emails to God – Hypocrites (Matthew 7:1-6)

05 Dec

1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

Dear God, it is interesting that judgment and hypocrite are used in the same paragraph. I guess they do, indeed, go together, but I find it interesting nonetheless.

I certainly have a problem with judging others. I judge how they raise their children, do their job, treat their wives, represent you, represent themselves, etc. I judge a lot. And one of my son’s favorite criticisms of me is that I am a hypocrite. The biggest one he points out is when I call others insecure, because he says that I am incredibly insecure myself. I can see that. I mentioned a few days ago how I am still like a little kids a lot of the times and say, “Look at me, look at me, look at me.” I like attention. One time I took a personality test that said, in essence, “Confident, but needs compliments.” I interpreted it as, “Arrogant, but it needs fed.”

Father, I don’t want to be insecure because you are the source and the provision for all of the self-confidence that I need. I don’t want to draw attention to myself because I must decrease as you increase in my life. I don’t want to be judgmental because people need to feel your grace through me and not your judgment. I don’t want to be arrogant because then people will be repelled from me and not drawn to you through me. Help me to give grace and walk humbly in your love.

 
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Posted by on December 5, 2011 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Consider the Lillies of the Field… (Matthew 6:25-34)

03 Dec

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Dear God, I wonder if this was a new concept for the Jewish people to hear—God cares about the details. I can’t think of any other teaching before this in the Old Testament that indicated that every God-fearing person should look to you for the little provisions in their lives. Sure, you showed interested in special people in the Old Testament, but I don’t remember that everyone should have faith for these things.

I often struggle with how much to expect of you. As Rich Mullins put it once, “We all have it better than we deserve.” Is asking you for anything asking too much? Is it too much to ask for health for my children? Is it too much to ask for safe travel? Is it too much to ask for provision for the organization where I work so that we can serve our patients and our staff (including me) can be paid?

I think your answer to all of these questions is, “No, it is not too much to ask, but don’t get mad if, in My will and My wisdom I say no.” That is where we get hung up some times. We start expecting too much of you not realizing that it might fly in the face of the overall plan you have in mind. I always go back to the generations and generations of Israelites who lived in slavery in Egypt. I am sure that they prayed for freedom, but your answer was, “No, not yet.” You had a greater purpose, and their lives were part of the sacrifice for that purpose. I suppose that can be hard to hear for someone—that you need their life to be laid down for the greater good—but it’s what we sign up for when we submit ourselves to you and call you our Lord and Savior.

Father, help me to live in this peace. Help me to pray for all, and then accept all of your answers. Help me to pray with great faith and no expectations. Help me to truly believe that you can do anything you wish, whether naturally or supernaturally, but not expect you to do everything I want. And help me to completely submit my life to you.

 
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Posted by on December 3, 2011 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Storing Up Heavenly Treasures on Earth (Matthew 6:19-24)

02 Dec

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Dear God, what exactly are heavenly treasures? My tendency when I read this passage is to focus on the love of money, but I want, instead, to focus on the flip side of that (according to this passage), which is the love of you. I cannot serve both you and money, so I am supposed to choose you. So what are the heavenly treasures I store up if I choose you over money? Do I really need treasures when I get there? If I get there and someone else has more treasures than me, will I be regretful that I didn’t store up more? I always kind of figured that when I die and end up in heaven, I will be so deliriously happy that I won’t have any cares, regrets, jealousies, etc.

Frankly, I’ve always kind of looked at serving you and not money as reaping the benefits of treasures in heaven here on earth. I don’t know if that is right or not, but that is kind of my motivation as I serve and love you. I am not looking for the heavenly benefit. I am looking for the earthly benefit. I am looking for the peace, patience, love, joy, gentleness, faithfulness, kindness, self control, etc (Galatians 5:17) that comes from a relationship with you. I am looking for quality relationships with others. I am looking to make the lives of others around me better. So I don’t think about the treasures that await me in heaven, but about the treasures you have for me on earth when I submit myself to you and love you.

Father, help me to fully embrace you. I still love material possessions and find myself longing for them sometimes. Please help me to turn loose of this, and fully cleave to you. I guess my biggest fear in death is that I will look back with regret on the things I failed to do. Please help me to recognize the things you have me to do today, and then give me your peace over the things I end up failing to do. Help me to pursue purely your treasures here and ignore any earthly treasures.

 
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Posted by on December 2, 2011 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Not Drawing Attention to Myself (Matthew 6:16-18)

01 Dec

16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Dear God, there are times when I can be like a little kid and want others to “look at me!” I don’t fast that often (I should probably fast a lot more), but there are other things that I see myself doing that I think drive me to be the center of attention wherever I go. When I am in a Bible study it is hard for me to remain silent and let others speak because I think I have such a great answer. Even last night, my wife and I were in a Bible study and I seem to find it necessary to come up with a clever line here and there for everyone to hear. Somewhere along the way I never outgrew that need to be noticed.

I can see that tendency in one of my children, and it, frankly, gets annoying. I can’t imagine how my wife puts up with me in this area except that she has just gotten used to it and tunes it out. But I think earlier in our relationship and marriage it was, indeed, a hard part of my personality to get used to. I think she was thinking, Does this guy ever get enough of my attention? Can I ever do enough to satisfy is ego?

The sin in this is that I am supposed to be trying to decrease as you increase. I am supposed to be humble so that others might be drawn to you through me. I am supposed to give you the glory for my accomplishments instead of bragging on myself to others. I am supposed to be at peace in myself, knowing that you are my provision for love, acceptance, peace, and joy.

Father, I learned this simple song about 30 years ago at an FCA conference, and I have never forgotten it. I have gone long stretches without living it, but I have never forgotten it. I will make it my prayer to you today: Make me a servant, humble and meek. Lord, let me lift up those who are weak. And may the prayer of my heart always be, Make me a servant, make me a servant, make me a servant today.

 

 
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Posted by on December 1, 2011 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Praying in Secret (Matthew 6:5-15)

29 Nov

5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10 your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.’

14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Dear God, this verse always gives me pause when I consider the fact that I am publishing my prayers to you for others to see. My original motivation was to inspire others to take scripture and apply it to their daily lives. But does any pride sneak in here as I write these and publish them for others to see? Do I hope people are reading them and impressed with my spiritual insights? Do I hope they think more of me because of it? The answer to all three of these is yes. Yes, there is a part of me that gets some amount of pride through the responses of others. But I can honestly say that that is not my motivation for posting them. My motivation is to try to show other Christians that it is possible to take scripture and allow it to transform your life on an almost daily basis.

I actually stopped publishing these altogether for a while. In addition to publishing them online each day, I also have a few close friends, including my wife, to whom I email them. But earlier this year I stopped doing that. I wanted to spend some time writing to you and praying to you in complete private. I found that it wasn’t as much about not letting them see me pray as much as it was about feeling like I was changing what I was praying because I knew others were reading. I was letting the publishing impact the praying and that is where I cross the line.

Father, I want to pray to you with all earnestness, and then show others my failings and not my strengths. I want to be vulnerable and transparent in my life so that they will be able to better come to peace and complete submission to you. I also want to continue in my path of complete submission. Help me to decrease as you increase in my life. Help me to deny myself, take up my cross, and follow you. Help me to do it all for your glory’s sake.

 
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Posted by on November 29, 2011 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Giving in Secret (Matthew 6:1-4)

28 Nov

1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Dear God, since I have a professional career where I minister to the needy, it is hard for me to do the things I do in secret. At least, it is hard to do ALL of the things I do in secret. I do suppose that there are a number of things my wife and I do that others don’t know about. We support causes that others aren’t aware of. We give money that others don’t know about.

I can say that I feel rewarded for the things that my wife and I do. Not that we are wealthy and living in luxury, but we do live a nice, middleclass life. You are good to us and you provide for our needs. We appreciate that. We really do. The rewards I feel, however, come in the areas of joy and peace. I feel peace whenever I am able to turn loose and give some of my resources (time as well as money) to others. I learned a long time ago that you want me to turn loose of everything I own and offer it all to you as sacrifice. I learned that there is joy in giving. There is peace when I deny myself things for the sake of others.

On the other side of things, I see different kinds of donors through my job. I see those who want no recognition and I see those who clamor for it. I always feel sorry for the clamorers, and I do my best to respect the privacy of those who wish it.

Father, help me to joyfully give of myself to you. Help me to give of my time, my thoughts, and my resources. Help me to be willing to deny myself little luxuries and toys for the sake of others. Help me to be satisfied with what you have given to me and my family. Help me to embrace all that you are for your glory’s sake.

 
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Posted by on November 28, 2011 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Marriage and Oaths (and a little Thanksgiving) (Matthew 5:31-37)

24 Nov

31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Dear God, I want to take the part on divorce and the part on oaths and put them together. First, I have to say that I am a product of adultery since my father married a divorced woman. I know there was physical abuse involved in my mom’s divorce. I can’t remember if there was sexual immorality on her husband’s part or not. But I know that it is something that, after my dad became a discipling Christian, really kind of stuck with him. Where did he stand in this area? Was this something for which he needed to repent? What about the person who gets an “inappropriate” divorce? Is Jesus simply making the point that they need to be more humble about it and ask your forgiveness?

Anyway, I think it is interesting that Jesus follows the marriage paragraph with the oath paragraph since probably the biggest oath we take as Christians, beyond our oath to follow you, is our oath to our spouses. We even put, “So help me God.” At the end of it. Now, we aren’t going, “I swear by God that I will…,” but we are taking our “vows”. Are we doing something wrong there?

I guess I have always treated the passage on oaths to be that I need to be a person of integrity whose word is not doubted by others. I need to be known as a handshake kind of person. I need to be known as someone who is true to his “yes” and his “no”.

Father, it is Thanksgiving Day, and I thank you for more blessings than I can count. My tendency is to look at the frustrations in my life and dwell on how my life can be better, but the truth is that I don’t deserve a better life. I deserve less than what you have already given me. I heard Rich Mullins say once that we all have it better than we deserve. That is true. So I thank you on this Thanksgiving Day. I thank you for my wife, my children, my job, my parents, and all of the normal things. But I also want to thank you for peace. Thank you for joy. Thank you for patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control (Galatians 5:17). I appreciate that you care enough to develop fruit in us as we pursue you. So help me to be faithful to my wife, be a man of truth, and to bear the fruit of your love for me.

 
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Posted by on November 24, 2011 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Repentance (Matthew 5:27-30)

22 Nov

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Dear God, you know the sad thing about this passage is that I committed adultery long before I ever met my wife. Most of us men probably have (and not a small number of women either). This is an awfully high standard, not only in remaining sinless in this area, but also how we should remedy it if we do sin in this area. I know I have been disobedient on the first one, and I have obviously been disobedient on the second part since my eyes and hands are still intact.

When I read this passage it almost makes me think that you are simply showing the people in the crowd that they cannot live up to your standard, regardless of how self-righteous they are. Do they hate? Guilty! Lust? Guilty! Divorce? Guilty! Swear oaths? Guilty! Avenge wrongs? Guilty! This isn’t just, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.” This is, “You might not think you have to repent, but you do! So repent, for the kingdom of God is near.”

I guess one question I have is, How often do I repent? How often do I examine myself and truly beg for your mercy? How often do I find my faults and tell you that I will never do it again? I have been learning more lately about Catholic confession to a priest, and I think, frankly, there might be something to it as a discipline. I don’t believe that it gives us any more absolution from our sin than just straight confession to you, but there is probably something healthy about getting in front of a priest and consciously going through my sin.

Father, help me to examine my heart and repent. Help me to find the areas where I am harsh with my children, negligent of my wife, lustful, vengeful, dishonest, etc. I can think of examples of all of these and more even as I sit here and roll them around in my head. So forgive me. Forgive me for failing you. Forgive me for failing my family. Forgive me for failing my friends. And again, forgive me for failing you.

 
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Posted by on November 22, 2011 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Modeling Reconciliation (Matthew 5:21-26)

21 Nov

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Dear God, these are some very high standards. I can understand the part about hating someone being the same as murder, but being angry with them and not having it resolved? Wow, that seems pretty harsh.

Reconciling with people can sometimes be hard. Our lives have so many relationships. There are relationships with our family of origin, our spouses and children, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and just people we know about around town or on the news. Within each of these relationships is the potential of anger. Frankly, as a father I experience anger a couple of times a week. I wish it weren’t true, but it is. And sometimes it is difficult to reconcile because you have a kid who is just as angry. On the other side of it, however, is my responsibility to model reconciliation to the child so that when they grow up they can know how to handle the relationships in their own home.

Father, I think one of the most important parts of reconciliation within families is the aspect of modeling. We need to model for them. We need to help them to know how to reconcile with their spouses and their children. The results if we don’t model that for them can be catastrophic for their future relationships. So help me to model it for them, and help them to learn from my mistakes when I don’t model it from them. Make this a lesson that I live as I really do earnestly try to be the man you need me to be.

 
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Posted by on November 21, 2011 in Matthew

 

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Emails to God – Practicing and Teaching the Law (Matthew 5:17-20)

20 Nov

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Dear God, there is a part of verse 19 that caught my eye: “…whoever practices and teaches these commands…” It could just be a matter of translation, but the idea that “practices” is listed here before “teaches” reminds me that I can speak with the tongues of angels, but have not love then I am nothing (paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13). I can talk, and talk, and talk, but my example is so much more important than my words. James would later call it “faith without works”.

The problem I can run into sometimes is that I can be tempted to focus on the works. I can try to make sure that the works are there for others to see, but what is my motivation? Is my motivation to pursue you, or is my motivation to impress others?

I went to a wedding and a funeral yesterday. Why did I got to them? For the wedding, the motivation was purely to show love to the bride because there was nothing in my attendance for me. Perhaps some standing is the eyes of some of my staff who saw me there, but I would say that they are not why I went. I went to show love. The funeral, on the other hand, did have some political motives. The funeral was for a dear man who used to volunteer where I work. I would have gone to his funeral regardless, but I have to admit that there were some political benefits to people seeing me at the funeral. I was also grateful that the family designated our Center as a beneficiary of memorial donations on his behalf, and I wanted to show them that I didn’t take his loss for granted.

Father, I guess my point is that I will always have a mixture of motivations for every “good deed” that I do, but I want the core of every motivation to be my love for you and my decision to submit my entire life to you, regardless of what the submission costs me. There is a part of the play I saw last night where a one girl is manipulating another, and ultimately gets her to swear an oath of servitude. It is chilling and awful, but that is the kind of relationship I have freely and willingly entered into with you. And I do it because I believe that your plans are greater than my life. Your will is more important than my success. In short, you are God and I am not.

 

 
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Posted by on November 20, 2011 in Matthew

 

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