We're going to jump back into our series,
going through the Gospel of Matthew.
And we're going to be in
Matthew chapter six this morning.
And I'll get there in just a moment.
Recap chapter five a little bit to set the stage, and we'll get into chapter six.
But I just want to, to say, happy 2026.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
2025 for me went by very fast and, and then they, they
I don't know who they are, but they say that the older you
get, time goes, you experience time faster.
So I feel like I'm 87 years old right now as fast as time goes.
So it, like it just flew by.
I can't imagine 20, 26 flying by, but it's going to.
So don't miss it.
But I do want to say, you know, thank you to our California state legislature.
They're taking such good care of us that they've decided that for our benefit
and the benefit of our cats, that it's now illegal to declare a feline.
Did you know that
illegal in the state of California.
Vets can't even do it?
Oh, I cannot imagine the time and money that our legislative branch
spent on deciding that it was should be illegal to declawed cats.
We can do a lot of things for a lot of people,
a lot of kids, but we can't be caught cats. So,
it's just crazy to me.
But hey, let me tell you this. Thank you very much.
I'm proud of you as a church.
Because we did church last Sunday on the 28th.
I'm proud of you.
You showed up because that's what we do
on Sundays.
I was amazed,
that just a few years
back, churches in California revolted
against the government telling us we had to shut our doors on Sunday morning.
Last Sunday.
Most of the churches with fountains and coffee
shops closed their doors to rest.
Just amazes me
that they would agree with the government that the best thing, to do on a Sunday
is to close the door. So thank you church.
I'm glad we don't have the fountain or coffee shop,
because we'd have to close our doors on a Sunday after Christmas, so
good for you.
I hope that
those who cancel church watch this message and hear me say that
they won't, because we don't have a fountain or a
coffee shop, so they won't pay attention to us.
But I had to poke the bear because I think it's ridiculous.
So thank you, church.
Good job.
Matthew five six and seven.
It's known as the sermon on the Mount.
The sermon on the Mount is
Jesus's message to his disciples.
It wasn't for the crowds. It wasn't for the populous.
It was for those who would call themselves his disciples.
And in this sermon, Matthew five six and seven, he is.
This is what he's saying.
He said, if you're going to say
that you're my disciple, this is my expectation of you.
That's what this sermon was all about.
If you're going to claim me and claim to follow me,
I want to be very crystal clear with what
I expect of you as my follower.
To be a disciple of Jesus means that our lives
must be very different from the world.
A disciple of Jesus is not a good person.
A disciple of Jesus is not someone
who as Jesus to their stuff to make their stuff better.
A disciple of Jesus looks like what we see in Matthew five six and seven.
And this is Jesus's explanation of what those of us
who claim to be disciples must live like.
And it is not.
Commonly taught
because it's tough.
And so I want to help you understand this as we go through these chapters.
Much of this will cut,
and much of it will hurt.
And it is very demanding.
And we've been through Matthew five already.
We're going to be in Matthew six today.
And I just want to we have to read chapter six in light of chapter five
and in chapter five, Jesus spent a lot of time with these words.
You've heard it said, but I say, and what Jesus was doing
was enumerating for us Old Testament law and the intent of it.
And he says this, that basically
religious people have paid attention to the activity
and the action of the law, but not the motive and the intent of it.
And so he says, you've heard it say,
and you have lived this way, but you missed the heart of it.
And he says in Matthew five, unless your righteousness
exceeds that of the Pharisees, the scribes,
you will in no way enter the kingdom of God.
And the people who heard that thought, well, we're out of luck.
How are we going to be more religious and righteous than the Pharisees,
the religious leaders and ruling class of the day?
And then Jesus followed
that up with the end of Matthew five and said,
unless you're perfect, like your heavenly father is perfect.
And we're like, well, there's there's no hope.
And the point of all of it was to say, listen,
if what Jesus is getting at is not the activity but the heart,
that's why he said, you've heard it say, don't commit adultery,
but if you've lusted, you've been adultery in your heart.
Who's were guilty?
You first say, don't murder, but if you've harbored
a grudge against somebody and hated them, you've committed murder in your heart.
Well, we're guilty over and over and over.
And the point was, this is not just about the external activity.
It's about the heart, the intent of it, the motive.
And there's something much deeper than the activity.
And the point is to realize we cannot live according.
We can't live perfectly according to the activity.
We mess up too much.
So we need a solution.
We need a Savior to save us from our failures.
And he just
continues that theme into chapter six.
It's not just about the activity, it's about the motive.
Underneath the activity.
And in chapter six he says, let's
we're going to talk about the actions of a disciple, but we're going to talk
really about the motives in the intense underneath the actions of a disciple.
And he's going to do a three spiritual disciplines in chapter six,
the three most popular spiritual disciplines
that the Jews of his day really thought were important.
They were the these were the three that they said, if we do these,
if we do these consistently will gain favor with God.
And so he's going to deal with the three that they considered most important.
They're the three Jesus considers, for us to deal with.
And they're the disciplines of giving and praying and fasting.
And what Jesus is saying in Matthew chapter six,
if you're going to be my disciple, here's my expectations
regarding your giving, regarding your praying, and regarding your fasting.
Now he makes three assumptions
regarding his disciples and regarding these spiritual disciplines.
So we're going to get into these.
But let me just tell you the three assumptions that he's starting with.
The first assumption is this is that his disciples are already doing these,
giving generously, praying and fasting,
and will continue to do these things.
He doesn't say, if you fast, if you give, if you pray, he says, when you.
So the assumption is he's that his disciples are already doing
these regularly, giving generously,
praying as it not, not the quick little, you know, God help me prayers, but the
but the but the planned time of prayer
and fasting.
Not for medical reasons though there's benefits that
but as a spiritual discipline for a deeper connection with God.
He said, my disciples are already generous.
They're already people of prayer, and they're already fasting,
and I expect them to continue. That's the first assumption
right off
the bat that should be convicting for some.
Secondly, his assumption is that his disciples
do these acts as devotions to God,
not as acts to draw attention of people.
These are done unto God himself,
not to look like we're religious people.
If we do religious work so that other people will think well of us
and think we're super religious, there's no reward for God in anything we do.
The third assumption is this
that these things will be rewarded
by God when they're done with the right motives.
God doesn't reward for activity for activity sake.
He rewards for motive,
and there's a motive behind all that.
And so here's the big idea for chapter six.
These this, this first portion of it here's go to that big idea.
Go backwards.
Where's the big okay. There it is.
Jesus calls us from performance in the presence.
That's the big idea from performance into presence.
The point is this
if what we do
needs applause in order to survive, it's
performance, not worship.
If we need some accolades by people
in order to survive like what we do, then it's just performance.
It's a religious performance. It's not an act of worship.
And God doesn't reward religious performance.
He rewards worship.
Many times, people's spirituality
is an external show.
That's oftentimes a result of an internal security that looks like spirituality.
And that's what Jesus is, is teaching against.
And so in chapter six,
verse one, here's the first verse.
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to.
But that's the key.
In order to be seen by them.
For then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven,
even though you're doing the right stuff.
If you do it so that you'll be seen by people, you get nothing from God.
Now that's
interesting because in in chapter five, verse 16, if you if, if,
if you remember when we talked about that chapter 516 says this,
this is Jesus talking in the same way, let your light, those religious,
the good, see the shine before others, that they may
see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven.
It sounds like it's contradiction.
It's not because talk about motive
is and so, so what we do for God
and for the kingdom will be seen by others out.
How can activity not be seen?
So it will be seen by others.
But when it's done in a way that makes them
be impressed with God, that's good.
But when it's done in a way so
that you will think better of me, that's bad.
That's what he's saying.
To get that you follow.
So there's no contradiction at all, he said.
What you do will be seen.
The point
is when you're doing it so they'll glorify God.
Good on you when you're doing it.
So think better of yourself.
You get nothing from God as a reward.
That's what he's saying.
And so he deals with he starts with these three disciplines.
And the first one is giving.
And then verses two, three and four, this is what he says.
Thus when you give to the needy, this is the assumption.
You're already doing it and you're going to continue
sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites are doing the synagogues
and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.
Truly, I say to you, they receive their reward.
But when you give,
I expect that you're doing this and you're going to continue to the needy.
Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
That's an idiom. He's not being literal
so that you're giving may be in secret, and your father,
who sees in secret will reward you.
He's saying, these are the implications.
You're going to call yourself a disciple.
The first implication is that you're generous with your money.
So what he's saying
you're not generous with your money so people will think better of you.
You're generous with your money
because you know
that all you have is come from God.
He's the supplier of all your needs.
And so you can hold what you hold with very loose hands
and be generous in giving it away.
And when you do that,
don't do it as the hypocrites, that word hypocrite.
It's actually a theater word.
And back in the day, and
it's like a masking, you would put on one mask and act as
a certain character, put on another mask and have the different character.
You saying that's hypocritical.
Who you are is not necessarily what people see.
You're putting on a mask. People will think you're somebody you're not.
And he's saying the religious people do this
with their generosity and they want to be seen by people.
They want to put on this mask.
Look how look, how righteous I look, how religious I am, look how generous I am.
And God says, if that if your desire is to is to be generous
so that people will think better of you, that's all the reward you get.
There's some people might think better of you.
That's it.
You get nothing from God as a result.
So don't do it like the
don't do it like the hypocrites.
Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing this
you need him to like.
You don't have to trump his stuff like nobody needs to know this stuff
between you and God for his kingdom.
And your father, who sees what's done in secret will reward you.
The the idea that that the father sees is
both terrifying and comforting at the same time.
God. One of God's Old Testament names is Elroy, which means the God who sees.
And so that's what Jesus is saying.
Elroy, the God who sees, sees what's done in secret.
And he'll reward you when your motives are right.
Now. That's terrifying and comforting because what's that mean?
That means that God sees you
right?
All that stuff
that you don't want anybody to see.
His name is the God who sees.
So nothing is hidden from him.
That's terrifying.
But it's also comforting
because there's the promise of God that when these religious act to these
spirituals are done with the right motives and nobody knows, he does,
and that father will reward you.
You don't need the applause of people.
And if you want the applause of people, that's the only applause you will get.
You will not get the applause of the father.
That's what he's saying.
And he's going to do more with this giving thing in a minute.
So that's all I'm going to say about it for now.
But he's going to come back to it.
So that's the first spiritual discipline.
Jesus disciples will be generous
without a fanfare about their giving.
You know, like
there are some
incredibly generous people in this church and you don't know who they are.
And we we've never done and we will never do it.
Top givers event like some churches do
and give out little, you know, crystal doves
and iron crosses for the people who give would never do that
one. I think it's ridiculous to I don't think it's in scripture.
And three, I don't want to steal their reward from heaven.
Now, as I know that
people are generous, I will definitely give them thanks.
But you will never know.
Through this Christmas
season, there was, you know, I asked for $20,000 to give to our
our church planters, six six church planters and network leaders, $20,000.
And then I realized I couldn't divide 20,000 by six very easily.
So transfer 24.
That was easy.
You gave 48,000, I know.
Yeah. Praise God.
And none of you know those who gave
someone, someone text me and said, hey, you will never know.
What about this about this couple?
They're real low profile.
You will never. You wouldn't even guess by the way they look.
They text me and said, hey, we want to, we want to.
This was when I was asking for 20 grand.
They said, hey, God has blessed us.
And we didn't see it coming, but he blessed us.
And so we want to we want to give you ten grand towards that.
It's amazing.
You would never know and I will never tell you who it was,
but it was just quietly in secret.
They don't win.
But you know, there's.
And God says, I saw that and I'm going to reward that.
Does that make sense?
So the first one is prayer and she's going to come back to it.
We'll come back to it later.
And then he talks about praying, verse five.
And when you pray, there it is again.
I expect you to be people of prayer,
not like those.
Now listen,
there's a time for the little shotgun immediate like, oh God, heal prayers.
I guarantee you, when Daniel
was being thrown in the lion's den, he didn't have time to get on his knees.
Oh, my father in heaven.
How you know is real quick. Oh, God help.
You know there's time for that.
But what Jesus is talking about is people of prayer
like, like and and in their day,
there were three times
that the Jews would pray at nine in the morning, 12 in the afternoon,
at three in the afternoon.
And they were these these set times were as people of God,
we will set these sites, these times aside to pray.
So we talk about so in your in your regular prayer life,
don't be act like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray
in the synagogues on the street corners, that they may be seen by others.
Truly I say to you, they receive their reward. Wow.
So apparently some of these people
would make sure that they were
in the public square on the street corners at nine, 12, and three,
so that in their righteousness they oh, I just I'm sorry.
Just I need to pray.
And the people like, oh, they're so religious. Look at that.
I mean, in the middle of it. And they're just stopping to pray
and Jesus like, well, fine, that's their reward.
Like they're not getting the answers from the press, from God.
You want to do it.
So you're saying, fine, that's your reward.
You're saying now God turns off his ears to whatever that prayer was.
Apparently. Oh,
so don't be like that can be like the hypocrites.
But when you pray, go in your room, shut the door and pray to your father
who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret.
Elroy, the God who sees you will reward you.
And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles, the ungodly,
apparently the ungodly pray.
For they think that they'll be heard because of their many words.
Don't be like them, for your father knows what you need.
Before you even ask him.
And so Jesus is saying, look, look, just be careful when we pray.
When, when, when religious people pray, be careful.
And if you're going to be my disciple, don't make a big fanfare of it.
Don't try to impress people by the words you use when you pray.
Just talk to God.
And and honestly, he says, he says,
here's what the hipper the hypocrites pray
because they want to derive their identity by how people view them.
Don't be like that.
And the ungodly pray
because they think that their prayers can control God, because
he use a lot of words.
Don't be like that.
And this creeps into to the church.
It creeps in the disciples.
Oh, very subtly, but very often
when Jesus says in verse seven, when you pray, do not heap up
empty phrases like the Gentiles and God.
That word literally is babble.
Don't babble when you pray, he says.
So what he's saying, like when we pray.
And this is one reason why I ask people to pray for communion,
because people are so uptight about praying out loud,
right?
Like most people, when I say you're like, think.
You know, like,
if I don't look at him, he can't see me.
So he is so uptight about.
And just like, would you just relax like, this is your father?
Don't try to impress people with how you talk to him.
And so many people, when they have to pray in public,
they get real super, you know, religious and hyper
spiritual and
and it's just to make themselves look spiritual only
just says you don't get anything with God and don't babble.
You've heard people babble when they pray, and we've probably done it all
too often. And it's just like filler words.
If you ever heard someone pray and they use God's name as a filler word
oh, Jesus, thank you father, that,
God, you, Father God are here.
Father God, thank you, Lord, that, father God that you hear us, Lord Jesus.
And thank you, Father God, that, that your presence,
Holy Spirit, it's like, what are you saying?
You don't talk like that to people.
Hey, Billy, I just want to ask William that, can use your truck.
Bill it don't you don't say stuff like that.
It just.
It's it's it your brain goes off.
Use blabber.
You've heard people who, when they pray, they want to use all the theological
and doctrinal words that they have.
You know, when someone says, hey, will you pray for my dog?
Like, well, father, thank you
that in the book of Genesis you created all the animals.
And then in Exodus you let us out of Egypt.
And then in Leviticus you give us a lot.
It's like that has nothing to do with praying for the for the poor dogs
puppy like
just quit it.
You understand
the Bible says in Psalms, The Father's in heaven, your on earth.
Let your words be few.
We don't manipulator control
God because they use a lot of words.
We pray like a disciple
and move from controlling God to trusting God.
Prayer is not designed so I can manage God person designed to
so I can align with God.
Prayer was not designed
so I can get God to answer my prayer.
Prayer was designed so I can align my heart with him.
That's it.
It wasn't to get God to do something
on our behalf.
And the father
who sees your prayers in secret will reward you.
Can you imagine
when we pray so we look good before other people are?
When we just babble?
The Bible says we don't get the reward from God.
Can you imagine God saying, well, I could, but
you're missing the whole point of it.
So no.
And so then Jesus says this.
He says, look, because I know you need help with your prayer life.
Prays in like this.
And what he gives us
is not what to pray, but how to pray.
And what we have here in verses nine through 13
is what we call the Lord's Prayer. This really isn't the Lord's Prayer.
This is the disciples for the Lord's Prayer, as in John 17,
but we call it the Lord's Prayer. So?
So what? We have Jesus pray like this.
He doesn't say, pray these words.
He says, here's the format.
Now there's nothing wrong with praying these words.
I pray these words every single morning.
And then I develop my prayer life after this format.
But when we say it just
as the rote memorization, you know it doesn't mean anything.
There's no heart behind it. It's just the words.
The words aren't the special thing.
It's like the, you know,
you were covering Catholic, so you used to pray the rosary
all the time and touch every little bead over and over and over and over and over.
It doesn't do anything.
It's just words.
And so what he's saying is, here's the format.
Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
That's the prayer.
It's the format.
And so he breaks it down for us.
So we'll know how to pray.
The model, adoration, submission, dependance,
confession, protection in our regular prayer life.
This is how every prayer should go.
I don't know if you'll ever hear me pray a prayer
that doesn't start with father, thank you.
I praise you because you are God.
You are good.
You're the God who sees.
You're our provider.
Prayer should always start with adoration.
Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
I praise you because of who you are.
You are God and I am not.
You're the Almighty God.
You're the sovereign. I am your slave.
I'm going to adore you for who you are.
It's adoring him for who he is and for his character.
Our father in heaven, hallowed be right.
That's what every prayer should start. Some some some about his adoration
and then submission.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Father, your kingdom first.
I have need, I got need. I'm.
And I'm going to bring them to you.
But I want to say right up front, the greatest need in
my life is your kingdom to come.
Father, I praise you because you are God.
You are holy.
You are a lion, the Most High and exalted God.
You're El Shaddai, the Almighty God, and our sustainer.
You are Adonai, the master and our Lord.
Your Jehovah nisi, our banner.
You are Jehovah Jireh, our provider. You're Jehovah,
our Shepherd, you're Jehovah.
I praise you because of who you are.
I just brag on you.
And the greatest thing you can do in my life is to establish
your kingdom in your rule.
And then dependance give us this day our daily bread.
God, I have some needs without a doubt.
I got a lot of needs.
And the Bible says make your requests known to God.
Absolutely, 100%.
So then you bring your request to God
with the caveat of God, these are my needs.
These are my requests.
But may your will be done.
This was Jesus's prayer in the garden.
Father, there's any way that this cup can pass from me.
Take it away, but not my will.
Your will.
So God hears my prayer.
But the greatest thing that you can do for me
is establish your kingdom in my life, in my family,
I have these requests of my kids,
but the greatest thing you can do for them is convict them of their sin.
Establish your rule in their life.
Your kingdom come, your will be done.
And then confession.
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
This is such a profound statement
because this thing knowledge meant that I have sinned.
God forgive me,
but your kingdom says that you will forgive me the way
I have forgiven.
Friends, the way we forgive those who trespass
against us is paramount.
That we don't hold grudges.
That doesn't mean we got to be best friends.
But it means I'm not going to live harboring
what you did.
Go on my life.
Go on with yours. It's all good.
I'm not going to hold you captive that anymore.
It's all right.
I forgive you.
Jesus is going to come back to this just minute, and then protection delivers.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from your Bible.
Prophecy says evil literally is evil. One.
And then how many of your Bibles have the little caveat at them?
For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.
Yeah. So that wasn't in the original text.
Probably that was written in the later by a scribe, as are translating
all this for future generations.
And they probably got so wrapped up in this prayer like, oh, little something.
Yeah.
And here's a hint of the glory forever.
He got so excited about it.
There's nothing wrong with tagging that on to this prayer,
but it probably wasn't how Jesus ended this prayer.
Go ahead and use it. Tag it. That's fine.
But Jesus probably ended with let's not do today, but deliver us from the evil one
because
we know that word lead temptation is, is is it
could really be translated testing.
Lead us not into testing.
But deliver us from the evil.
And it's in the acknowledgment of First Corinthians 1013.
There's no temptation that has taken you except for what is common to everybody.
God is faithful and just
and will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can handle
and will, with the temptation, make a way out
that you'll be able to handle it.
So, father, thank you that you are the one
managing both the testing and the temptation that comes my way.
And thank you that there's nothing that I'm going to face today
that's going to be too big for me because you've already determined it.
But protect me from the evil one
because he's a roaring lion that seeks only to devour me. So
I plead your protection.
Do you understand?
It's the model.
And that's the.
That's Jesus's model of prayer.
And then he comes down.
So for you in verse 14, for if you forgive others, their trash
passes, your heavenly father also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others their trespasses,
neither will your father forgive you your trespasses. Wow!
The only thing that notice is the only thing that Jesus comes back to
about prayer in adoration, submission, dependance, confessions, protection
is this issue of forgiveness.
It's that important.
And what Jesus is saying is you.
If you're going to be my disciple, here's my expectation.
You're going to be generous people,
and they're going to be people of prayer.
And they're going to forgive people
as part of your prayers.
You got it.
And all of this is done in secret, without fanfare. Why?
Because Elroy sees and will reward.
Verse 16.
And when you fast, don't look gloomy like the hypocrites,
for they disfigure their faces,
that their faces may be seen by others.
Truly, I say to you, they receive their reward.
But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may be seen,
may not be seen by others, but your father who is in secret.
Elroy. Your father who sees in secret.
Oh, reward you
the expectation
is that will be people who fast.
And just to be clear, a biblical fast is going
without food, not water, but without food.
And I know that the American church has kind of morphed this.
And, you know, I'm going to fast from
CNN and I'm certainly fast from that.
I'm a fast food Fox News. I'm a fast from social media.
I'm a fast from whatever those might be great things to take a break from.
But that's not a biblical fast.
A biblical fast is fasting from food.
And there's a lot of reasons for that.
The biblical fast is not done for medical reasons, though.
Fasting is a good medical advice for some,
but a fast from food is to deny
the body in order to reawaken the soul.
And a fast from food
is the most difficult fast one can do.
It's training the body to say no to cravings
so the yes to God get stronger.
The point?
One of the points that Jesus makes in fasting
is that if you can't say no to food, you won't say no to sin.
It's a discipline of the body.
That has spiritual implications.
And the point is,
when you do those things that are taxing on your body
in the service of the kingdom, don't look like it's taxing.
And the expectations of Jesus followers
is that we will be people who fast.
And Jesus doesn't say how long, how often.
He just says it will be a part of our life
to go without food so we can spend concerted time in prayer.
Our father in heaven, who are right
and in his word.
It's very similar to what happens, though, when we fast to not
let other people know that we're fasting and how miserable we are when we
do stuff at church and
even though we're really tired.
You know what that's like?
Come and serve.
And oh man, I'm just.
But I'm here.
Right.
Oh, and thank you for being here.
I know your, you know, week was really long, but, boy, thank you for being here.
I know you're exhausted.
Why do we have to know you're exhausted?
When are you.
You know,
you serve and do something for God even though you're just under the weather.
You make sure everybody knows you're under the weather.
I'm really not feeling well, but I.
You know, I'm. Praise God I'm here.
Shut up.
Like nobody needs to know.
I get it, you're tired.
Everybody is.
Or we're unbalanced.
I get it, you're sick.
Everybody is.
It's winter time right now.
Who cares?
You know, we don't all need an.
You make sure everybody knows that's the reward you get.
There you go.
Thanks for coming.
When you're tired and letting us all know. But.
And then Jesus gets back
to this treasures thing.
Verse 19.
Look at this.
1920 that let me just tell you,
this sermon on the Mount is Jesus expectation of his disciples.
And it ain't.
This stuff cuts.
And this is going to cut right here.
Okay.
Your you're ready.
Resounding
confidence that you do not lay up for yourselves
treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break.
And the IRS take it from you.
Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moss nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Don't lay up for yourselves.
Treasures on earth literally don't accumulate too much.
That's what he's saying.
And Americans are proficient at the accumulation
of stuff.
And American Christians
have so manipulated that
manipulated God's word that we think
because we have a lot of stuff, God's favor is on us.
When Jesus says, don't do that.
Did you know that Americans
spend $1.2 trillion a year on non-essential things?
I did some research
about the accumulation of stuff.
Home sizes nearly tripled it recently.
And yet 1 in 10 Americans rent offsite storage.
Why the accumulation of stuff?
Jesus said, don't do that.
25% of homeowners with two car garages
can't fit their cars inside.
Don't do that.
The average American woman
owns 30 outfits.
No gasp!
Americans throw away 65
pounds of clothes every year per person.
Don't.
U.S children own 40% of the world's toys,
despite being only 3.1% of the global
child population.
Don't do that.
There is so much roof
square footage of storage units the entire U.S.
population could fit under roof of the storage units
in this country.
Darrell, don't do that.
Do not store up
for yourselves treasures on earth,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
How do you lay up treasures in heaven?
You use what God has given you on earth
to invest in kingdom work
that will impact people for eternity.
You don't store up
the accumulation of stuff.
This is what Jesus says are
his expectations of his disciples.
This issue of giving.
Giving doesn't create your treasures.
It reveals what you treasure.
And when we treasure the accumulation of stuff, so much
so that we cannot be generous with our finances,
it reveals what we treasure.
I'm so thankful for this church.
Like I said,
being so generous.
I asked for $20,000.
You gave 48,000 because you're generous and nobody knows who gave it.
And let me just share with you one of the responses
from one of the pastors.
My wife and I are at a loss for words.
My wife cried and we both sat in shock.
Things have been getting really rough for us,
but we never stopped on our service unto the Lord
and we're in it to the very end.
We're grateful and in prayer.
Thank you church so much.
Store it for yourselves.
Treasures in heaven. You know how to get your heart more connected to God.
So what's the Bible say?
Where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.
Where your treasure is there.
Did you realize that your heart follows your treasure?
Your treasure doesn't follow your heart.
Let that sink in.
Your heart will follow where you put your treasure.
Your treasure doesn't follow your heart.
You know how to get your kids
hearts connected more deeply to Jesus.
Teach them to tie them.
Be generous.
I mean, if you take what
Jesus says literally, your heart will be where a treasure is.
I want my kids hearts connected to Jesus.
I better, at a young age, teach them to tithe and be generous.
So, dear parents, model it and teach it.
Your kids hearts will not be connected to Jesus
just because you bring them to church. That's important.
But Jesus makes a correlation
that our hearts are our follow our generosity.
So if I want my child's heart to be deeply connected to Jesus,
I have to get his heart to be generous beforehand.
I don't have any statistics.
I don't have any proof about this.
This is just my own.
What I've noticed through the years.
I've been around church a long time,
know a lot of families, a lot of parents on a lot of kids.
Seen a lot of those kids.
Love Jesus when they got out of the house, went to college and grew up.
Saw a lot of kids who didn't, both raised in the church,
both with parents whose hearts love the Lord.
There is a correlation between those kids
whose parents taught them to tithe at an early age, and those who didn't.
With hearts being deeply connected to God, older
while they get older in life, and those who are.
And it ought not be surprising
because Jesus said,
you put your treasure where you want your heart to be,
because your heart is going to follow your treasure.
To understand.
Let me just wrap up with this because there's there's this weird seems a weird.
Verse 22, the eye is the lamp of the body.
So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness
that seems out in left field?
But in the context of what Jesus is talking about, provision,
sustainer, find out.
Money, possessions, generosity.
You see and listen just as your eyes let light in.
When that's good, light your whole body comes to life.
And so in this context, when you
when what you let in is the graciousness of God
and the generosity of God, that everything you have comes from his hand.
So you can be very loose with what you have
and give it all the way, because you know your father in heaven
sees and will provide when that's the light that comes in.
Your whole life comes to life.
But when what comes in is dark
and you see yourself as your provider
and your life revolves around the accumulation of more stuff
and another lift kit and another golf cart and another vacation
and another wardrobe.
That's a pretty dark light.
And if that light is that dark, how dark is your darkness?
You understand?
And then wraps up verse 24.
No one can serve two masters for either.
He will hate the one and love the other.
He'll be devoted to the one to despise you, that you cannot serve God.
Money.
You can't do it.
Listen, please understand that giving is not God's way of raising capital.
Giving is God's way of raising his kids.
That's what Jesus is saying.
This is the way God raises his children to trust him
and to be like the heart of the father.
Listen, please understand this is not about guilt.
This is about alignment.
And if there's something in these three things that feels like he just feel guilty
because we've claimed the name of Jesus, we claim to be disciple.
But apparently we're not.
We're far short of Jesus's expectation.
Don't just stay and get like, bring that area of your life into alignment.
That's what this is about.
The truth is
that we cannot live for two audiences and maintain one heart.
We cannot say, God, your kingdom come.
But everything you've given me is focused on the accumulation of stuff for me.
You can't live for two audiences
and have one heart.
So Jesus and choose choose your audience.
See, many of us say that we love God,
but the use of our money shows we love ourself more.
That's what Jesus is saying.
And so regarding these three areas
giving, fasting and prayer, my suggestion
choose one of these and maybe you choose fasting.
Choose sometime in the next very near future
you're going to choose to fast one meal or one day
and use that to go without food
and pay attention to what bubbles up inside,
because that's going to be kind of the root of your sin area.
And use that time for prayer and Bible reading.
Or maybe it's regarding this giving thing.
Follow the money trail to your heart and identify one category
that shows your love for earthly treasures more than heavenly treasures,
and reprioritize.
Or choose a time of prayer first thing in the morning,
before the social media, before the news, before the anything else.
This is the time, father.
I'm going to set aside and start my day with you.
I praise your name because of who you are.
You are my provider today.
Your kingdom.
If God, if you could just work
your kingdom into my life today, that would be a win.
Here's my need. I submit them to you.
Protect me from the evil one.
Choose one of those three
and begin to realign your life as a disciple of Christ.
You get an instant
all right.
Listen, I love you.
I'm proud of you. The sermon on the Mount ain't easy.
It was. The sermon will be so easy if we didn't pay attention. What?
Jesus said.
But it's so profound,
convicting when we pay attention to what he said.
I want you to pray with me.
And I would invite you.
To say, father, cleanse my motives.
Reorder my loves.
Train my desires.
And be my reward.
I commit today to being your disciple.
And I trust you.
And I'll follow you.
Father, I thank you for your mercy
and your grace.
I thank you
that you give us high support, but you also give us high challenge.
By your grace, enable us to live according to your word,
to realign our lives as it needs to be realigned.
Some of us have gotten so out of alignment.
Ridiculous.
Thank you for your conviction and thank you for your mercy.
That calls us back, your grace.
That makes us right with you.
Even when we're like, it's amazing, father.
Thank you.
We love you.
We trust you.
May your kingdom come.
In the Ranchos
and Riverstone and Tesoro,
may your will be done
in this place as it is in heaven.
In your name I pray. Amen.
Good job, church.
Now next week we're going to finish chapter six and get into chapter seven.
And I just want to warn you, it's not going to be this easy.
It's going to get a little bit more like, oh,
but you're going to be okay.
You're going to be all right.
And so my encouragement this week read Matthew five.
Remind yourself, read Matthew six and read ahead in Matthew seven
and realize the
expectation of Jesus for his disciples,
and rely on his mercy and his grace
to get us there.
Blessing.