 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! As Jesus continues with his sermon on the mount, we can see how he addresses the issues of his day and brings them all together. Matthew 6 begins by talking about the practices of the hypocrites (Pharisees) in regards to fasting, praying and doing good deeds in public. He notes that they do all these things to be glorified within themselves. They did not do any of these things for God at all.
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 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Immediately after the verses above, Jesus talks about the hypocritical ways of the Pharisees. He spoke of their love of being seen doing good deeds, praying in public and their need to let everyone know they were fasting. When we take Matthew 6:1-34 into context, it is easy to see that Jesus' message to us is to place our trust in God alone. He is our treasure.
Our relationship with God should be more valuable to us than any other relationship. The Pharisees emphasized what the people saw them doing - good deeds, praying in public and fasting. They wanted the people to see how great they were. Their treasure was to receive admiration and praise from others. Their reputations were more important to them than their relationship with God. So the verse above isn't just above money. It's about what we value most in this life - our jobs, our reputations, our appearance, our "things," our family or friends. So how do we "lay up" treasures in heaven? What should those treasures look like? They should include daily time in the Word of God because time spent reading God's Word is well-invested. We get to know Him through His Word, and our relationship grows and deepens. We learn how to abide in Him, and through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, He abides in us. And that is our greatest treasure.  Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Matthew 6:16-18, NKJV Did you ever wonder who the hypocrites were that Jesus was talking about or why he called them hypocrites? In most cases, he was talking about the Pharisees. There were regular fast times (Leviticus 16:29-31). However, the Pharisees added two fast days God did not command. Monday and Thursday were designated to allow for public display and piety. Luke 18:9-14 even mentions these two days of fasting. The Pharisees regarded the practice of fasting as praiseworthy and appeared in the synagogues with sad looks on their faces and wearing mourning garb. They did this to show the people that their “righteousness” and piety were far superior to everyone else.
 Read Matthew 6:9-13Continuing with Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, we now come to the most famous prayer in the Bible - The Lord's Prayer. Jesus has just explained that we are not to be like the hypocrites who make a great show of the fact they are praying to God (Matthew 6:5) and encourages us to pray to God privately. While there are many examples of how Jesus prayed (Matthew 26:39, Mark 1:35, John 17), the Lord's Prayer gives us a template for the correct way to approach God and what our prayers should look like. If you are new to prayer The Lord's Prayer is a good example to follow. But, as you grow in your faith so will your prayers and your relationship with God. You will find that you are praying "without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and your prayers will be more specific. But the basic approach to prayer that Jesus' gives us in Matthew 6:9-13 is a good one to follow.
 Read Matthew 6:5-8Did you know that the word hypocrite in Greek means an actor, stage player or pretender? In other words, someone is pretending to be what they are not. In the matter of prayer, Jesus said these types of people, "Love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men" (Matthew 6:5). In other words, they made a show of praying to God so that people would think they were righteous. But Jesus said, "When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly" (Matthew 6:6). Does this mean that all public prayer is wrong? Not at all. It is clear from scripture that corporate prayer was practised (Acts 12:12). But to understand what was going on, we need to look at the culture of the day behind Jesus' statements.
 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, In Matthew 5:16, Jesus said, "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Yet, in the verses above, it seems Jesus contradicts himself by telling us to do our charitable deeds in secret. So what did he mean? Was he contradicting himself? Not at all! In fact, when we read the verses above in context, we can see they come after Jesus has discussed loving our enemies. The main reason he admonishes us to love our enemies is the same reason he tells us to be a light to the world – so that others may see our good works and glorify God. It is the intent of the heart that is the message here. If you are doing good deeds to make people think better of you, you are doing them for the wrong reasons. If you volunteer to help those less fortunate because it looks good on your resume, your heart is in the wrong place. Jesus would call you a hypocrite because you want praise from others for your volunteer work.
 Read Matthew 5:43-48Continuing with our study of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus once again says some tricky things. Love your enemy? How is that even possible? How are we supposed to love those who murder innocent children? How are we supposed to love those who persecute us for our faith? How could Jesus ask that, and how do we reasonably implement it? Fortunately, by digging into Scripture, we find our answers. More importantly, we discover that the NIV leaves out crucial verses that would have made what Jesus said about loving our enemies so much easier to understand.
 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. Have you ever noticed in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount how he gently prepares his audience to accept something new? He lets them know who is blessed and why (Matthew 5:2-12). He then points out that if they follow Him, their behaviour will have to be different from those around them (Matthew 5:13-16). He enforces this by letting His listeners know that He is the fulfillment of the Law (Matthew 5:17-20). He then begins almost every topic with a variation of this set of words: "You have heard that it was said...but I tell you," referring to the laws of the Old Testament (Torah). In fact, for the rest of Matthew five, that is how he begins each topic. He did this to contrast the Pharisaical interpretation of the Law with His fulfillment of its intent. Jesus gets to the law's intent and, in the process, shows us what grace is all about.
 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Continuing with our Bible Study of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, today, we take a closer look at oath-taking and its implications for Christians. Are we, for example, forbidden from swearing on a Bible in court?
In Exodus 20:7, we find this verse: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. So what does it mean to take the Lord’s name in vain? And what does that have to do with swearing an oath?  Read Matthew 5:27-32Continuing with Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, today, we look at what Jesus had to say about adultery and some of the strange things he said regarding that topic.
When you look up the word "adultery" in Strong's Concordance, you get the standard definition: "to have unlawful intercourse with another's wife." But you also get this definition, "A Hebrew idiom, the word is used of those who at a woman's solicitation are drawn away to idolatry, i.e. to the eating of things sacrificed to idols." In other words, you aren't just cheating on your spouse. You are cheating on God as well. |
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