"When You..."

So last week, we went into chapter 5 and finished the fifth chapter of Matthew, which is laid out for us as a sermon on the Mount. And I ask you this week to read Matthew 6, being it is a right smack in the middle of Christ's sermon on the Mount. Right smack in the middle of divine instructions. And he teaches us, one, in this chapter 6, or he tells us, let's put it that way, he tells us how to act, how to pray, how to fast, and why we must absolutely, positively not worry. This was laid out for us. And as we went through, now this is part 4, I believe, of this sermon on the Mount series. It's interesting here, because last time we saw that in chapter 5, he said, but I say to you. But as he is in this new dialogue with his servants who are there, his disciples who are listening, he does something, he uses another term this time. He doesn't say, if you pray, if you fast. He doesn't say, if you. He says this time, when you. When you. I want you to recognize that in the 6th chapter, verse 2, verse 3, verse 5, verse 6, verse 7, verse 16, and verse 17, he puts in there, when you. So anytime our Savior, our Messiah, God, says something repeatedly, I think he expects us to listen. He's making an emphasis for us. It's the greatest sermon ever given. But he says, when you pray, when you fast, when you, when you, when you. Which means what? You're supposed to. He's saying, wait a minute, it's not that, oh, I wish you would. It's like, if you're going to be my disciples, this is what you're supposed to be doing. That's why you find, even in these writings here, at least twice, maybe three times, he used an emphatic pronoun to bring that emphasis to us. Which he expects his followers to do certain things and live life a certain way. If you join the military, you're expected to follow their rules and their laws. If you belong to a club, you belong to even a sports organization, and you're a part of that organization. They lay out the rules, regulations, and how they expect you to conduct yourself. If you're a school teacher, and we've had school teachers in here, guess what? They lay out what you're supposed to do and how you're supposed to do it, right? Your wife is a school teacher. Christ is saying, if you're going to follow me, you're going to be one of my disciples, and I'm not calling the whole world. This is a special calling. This is what you are supposed to do. So, when you, brethren? When you? There's a title of the sermon today, so I'd like you to go to chapter 6 of Matthew, verse 1, lesson 1. Hopefully you read it. For those of you that have not, we will touch base on it. But what is the first lesson he wants to teach us? When you? Because he says in verse 2, When you?

His lesson is, don't make a big deal out of helping people. Make sense? Obviously somebody was. It's like, don't look at me. For something that I do voluntarily. Because that's not how Christ came to set the example or pattern for us.

He's saying, don't say, he said, look at me, I'm so righteous. Don't we see that everywhere today? People want to let you know what they've done? Well, I've given this. I've done this. Of course, usually they want their name on the side of the building, or say, on the side of a bridge, or wherever they have donated money, or they want everybody to know. That's not Christ's way. That's not God's way. His followers will be different. Let's go there. I'll read from the New King James. Matthew 6, verse 1 said, Take heed that you do not do your charitable or voluntary deeds before men to be seen by them, otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say unto you, they have their reward. So obviously, the hypocrites, Pharisees, leaders, the teachers at that time, made a big deal out of helping people. We're not to be that way. Obviously, what he's saying here, they made a big deal in the synagogue. Oh, brethren, brethren, I went over and I helped this person this week. And if it wasn't for me, they'd have been laying there still in their bed. And then I went and did this. Then I saw a homeless man on the street and I gave him food. Look at me. Obviously, this is what Christ is talking about. He says in verse 3, When, uh-oh, here we go, verse 3, but when you, who's talking who's you? You. You. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

A humorous hyperbole. Because how do you do that? He gets their attention. Wait a minute. What's he talking about? Left hand know what your right? How? How do I do that? It's almost humorous. Now your left hand can go, Chuck, you were so great today. Yes, you were. I want to see you do it again. Well, I will do it again. See what Christ was doing? What a wonderful teacher. That's why this is the greatest sermon you will ever read or hear. You see, don't get caught up in how great you are, right? Oh, wow. Isn't this... Oh, wow. Isn't this... self-congratulations? And I'll say this, and I don't think I'm misspeaking here either. We've all done it. We've all done something and then kind of thought about it later, didn't we? You know, I'm glad I did that. That was a pretty good thing I did. This is what Christ is saying. We're not to have that mindset. We're to be... it's just a part of us. When we help somebody, it's just us. And we don't think about it. We don't have to sit there and go, we're under what I can do today to make myself congratulate myself. But you see, a lot of people do. And this is what he's saying, don't be like them. Be like me. He would even heal people and say, just tell them, don't say anything to anyone about this.

Wonderful teaching. Verse 4, that your charitable deed or your voluntary deed may be in secret that your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. You let Him do. The applause. You let God take care of it. You just do what you're supposed to do, and that means to act like your Savior as much as possible.

And then he says in verse 5, But when you... what? Pray. When you pray. Not if you pray, but when you pray. When you pray.

Don't make a big deal out of it. He says, when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. We know that's a Greek word for actor. Don't be acting. It needs to be sincere from the heart. Because here's what was happening at that time. But when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogue. And that standing isn't just posture.

The word actually means more than posture. It means a posture that is seen. You see how religious people like to look so pious? Oh, yes. Oh, I don't pray. And Solomon did when he raised his hands, when he dedicated the temple times. And you see that. But you... I've seen it. I know other than I see it on television. You see it in these things. They do it to be... act... look religious. Oh, God! Oh! Oh!

Now, is there a difference between public prayer and personal prayer? Let's say this. There better be. A public prayer is not about grandizing yourself. It's not about making... Oh, what a... Man, can that guy pray. He loses the whole thing. Is there a time to be emotional with God? Yes. Is there a time to show that and tears or weeping or all these various things that we do with God? Yes! And Christ tells about it right here, doesn't he? Go in your room and close the door. Oh! Simple. If you want to cry to God, you want to yell to God? You want to be upset with God? You want to thank Him, praise Him? That's where you do it! It isn't in front so everybody can see. This had to make Christ so sick to see this. It had to be nauseous. Well, he wanted to just vomit. Because here, all these fake leaders were doing all this and the people were going, oh wow, they're so religious. Oh, I wish I could be more like them. Is this why he's given the sermon? He said, no, don't be like them. Please!

Here it says, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues on the corner of the streets. Well, why? Because more people could see them. Oh, wow! See, you have to understand, the Pharisees, especially in Jerusalem at the time, and they also did in some of the smaller cities, okay, but the bigger cities, the Pharisees would have public prayer at 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock, and 3 o'clock. Four times they would go out, stand on these street corners. Oh, God!

He says, don't be like that.

He said, but you. And notice this in verse 6. This is the first emphatic pronoun. Infatic pronoun, it emphasizes, it's emphatic, it also makes a point. It's also a pronoun that, if you take that pronoun out of the word, the sentence stays the same. Basically, it doesn't change the sentence, okay? But it's used for real emphasis. So, whenever you see an emphatic pronoun and Jesus Christ uses it, He knows what He's doing, and He intentionally does it to get our attention. But He says, but you, when you pray, no doubt who He's talking about, but you, when you pray. I mean, you better be praying. You're His. He's yours. But you, 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. Eight times you are yours is used in one sentence.

I think He got His point across to them. Hopefully He can now get it across to us.

But He says in verse 7, But when you pray, do not use vain repetition, as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Any of you seen it on TV? All the... Oh, yes, and Father, and they do all this kind of... and they use the same thing, they use the same chance. As a matter of fact, He just tells them, don't use this. The Apostles' Creed.

Get your little rosary out. Saying these same things over and over, chanting. There's religions that teach you very young age how you all say the same thing at the same time, at the same everywhere. This is what He says, don't do. As a matter of fact, He says, He has it. He says, But when you pray, do not use vain repetitions, as the heathens do. And then He goes and says, When you pray, pray like this. And what do people do? Let me put this, what do false Christians do? They use the same prayer, an example prayer that He gives, and they just use it time and time again, and they say it all the time. And God should be thanked, but it shouldn't be every time. God is great, God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. I was taught that in Sunday school class. What did you say? Our Father always in heaven, how be thy name? Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on it. You know, when you pray, this is an example of prayer. An example, not the example. Okay? This helps us to reference, and we're not going to go through that today. We're not actually going to go through because I've already completed a couple of sermons actually on prayer, on the model prayer, because that's what it is, a model prayer. He's trying to teach them, don't act like these hypocrites. Don't follow their example, because it's interesting. Even in the Old Testament, the word Father is mentioned about 14 times, depends on the translation. 14 times in the Old Testament, entire time. Sermon on the Mount, 17 times, just in one sermon. And he starts out with, our Father, our Father. Something the others didn't do.

What I'd like us to go down to verse 16, Matthew 6, verse 16. Here we go. Moreover, when you. Has he got your attention? When you. Who's he talking about? You. Who's he talking about? Me. Do we get it? When you. When you fast. Do not be like the hypocrites with a sad countenance, for they just figure their faces that they may appear to be fasting. Assuredly I say unto you, they have their reward. What's he saying? When you fast, don't look like it. Can you imagine these same people who like to stand on the corners and do all this prayer, when they did their charitable deeds? Because interesting, if you gave money, which Christ also condemned at the temple, actually in temple at that time, Herod's temple in Jerusalem, it actually had 13 different little containers to put money into. Scattered around, and they had a little funnel-like apparatus that you would put the money into, so you couldn't get your hand down and get it out. Okay? But they had 13 of these, and you would find that the Pharisees and those are one to make an impression, because the funnel part was metal. So, you could actually ring it a little bit as you're putting your coins in it. Draw attention. Then they can say these prayers. So you can imagine if they would do this when they actually do something good or give an offering or even to pray, imagine what they're going to do when they're fasting. Oh, oh, oh, oh. I'm just so close to God. I'm fasting. I've been fasting two or three months in a row. And He said, what? Don't do that! When you fast, don't do that.

He said, but you...wait a minute, what did He say? But you, when you... Emphatic pronoun. But you, when you fast anoint your head and wash your face. Don't look like a homeless guy. Don't look like, oh, wow, I am just so righteous, because I am just so poor. Just so close to God. And He says, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting. You're fasting to draw closer to God.

It is about God. It is about your relationship with God. It has nothing to do with man, men. You see how important these things are? He's telling us how to live a righteous life, to walk with the Father, and to walk in His footsteps. People have never heard this before. They were looking at these hypocrites, these Pharisees, these scribes, to see how what righteousness was. And that's why Christ said, no, stop that! They're trying, they talk about God, they don't know the Father.

I came here to reveal the Father. I came here to reveal how to live, have life, and live it more abundantly. Don't follow these frauds. We have to watch the same thing with ourselves. You can catch yourself watching TV or hear a radio, or you see somebody that, you know, wow, that was a good message about, you know, good religious message. But yet, they don't follow the commandments. They don't follow God.

Beware. Do I cover that this afternoon? About those who say, Lord, Lord. I could put it in Christ's words. He's going to say, shut your mouth! I don't even know you. You frauds. You fake. Say, brethren, that's why it's so important. We cannot be that way. We're to be religious people. We're to be devout Christians. But we're not to be what people would look at as the rest of the world. We don't need to stand on a corner. Say, repent your sinners. You swine-eaten, Sunday-keeping pagans. No. We're to live as Christ came and lived 33 years as an example for us.

And we have to leave it in case we leave this whole world. We have to leave an example for others to follow. Verse 19. Let's go down to verse 19. He says, Do not lay up for yourself 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 is or will be also. Where's yours? Is it towards God? Boy, you know, if I didn't tithe, if I only tithed half a mount, I could make a boat payment. I could be out on the boat. You know, when you're out on a boat, you're around God's creation, I could actually draw closer to God. Hmm, that might be something to do. Right? Where's your heart? Where is it? Is it about God and not about us? That's hard. That's hard for some people to see.

I mean, lay up. You see, when he says that, you have to understand that at that time, you might remember people would travel with multiple clothing because they could sell the clothing. Clothing was valuable. See, you could set aside clothing, especially really good apparel. You could trade. It was like money. And so he's saying here, let's put that up. Let's add more to that. And he said, well, moths, get in there and eat it up. Lay up for you with me.

Treasure. I own everything. Invest in me. Invest in this company. Right? You want to see some dividends come out of here? I got a plan. No financial planner can even dream of. And it starts with me. So where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. And then he jumps down into verse 22. And he says, 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? And when he mentions eye here, it's singular. It's not plural. Your eyes. What's he talking about? Have you ever read that and thought, well, what's...wait a minute. And as we try to explain when Christ is teaching, or teaching through any parts of the Scripture because it is a living word, you will sometimes need to read the context. The verse before and the verse after. So we know what he was talking about earlier, about wherever your treasure is there, your heart is also, right?

But if we jump down past that verse, we come to 24. What's he saying? No one can serve two masters, for he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot love God and Mammon, our riches. So he's talking about riches and riches.

So what do you think that verse in the middle is talking about? Your eye. Your eye's bad? Well, it used to be a roofer back in Tennessee, and his name was Bad Eye LeMay. The reason he was a bad eye is because he had one bad eye. He had this patch over it, and everybody knew Bad Eye LeMay, the great roofer. Is he Good Eye Harrison? Or is he Bad Eye Harrison? How do you explain this? Because the biggest thing that I wanted to do in this series on the Sermon on the Mount is for you to be able to explain anything and everything to someone who asks.

Because I always tell someone when they go, I've never really read the Bible, I don't know where I should start in. Read the Beatitudes, then start in the Sermon on the Mount, and read it, and read it, and read it again. It is life-changing, and I hope you can do that too. And I hope you can tell someone then, well, if you have any questions, call me, and talk to them.

Be able to explain that to them. Exactly what these incredible words are saying. So I'd like you to remember a story. It's in Matthew 20. Jesus Christ gives a parable, and I have to tell you that I do not think I know anyone in this room or that I have known anyone in the past that says, oh, I buy into that 100 percent.

But everybody I know had an issue or a problem with it. What Christ is teaching? I did, but now I don't because I understand. But in this incredible teaching that he does in this parable, he mentions, he goes back to what he talked about on the Sermon on the Mount. And he talks about the eye. The eye. Now, before we turn there, let's go back there. Let's go ahead. Go with me to Matthew 20. Go with me to Matthew 20.

And my title is a parable of the workers in the vineyard. So here, Christ is giving the example that I get hired to do a job, and he says, guess what? Chuck, I'll pay you $100 to come and to work eight hours for me. And I say, okay. So I go and I show up there. Nine o'clock. And so at five o'clock, I'm going to get paid my $100. But then somebody else working right beside me comes in at noon, and they're working. And they're going to work till five o'clock. But they're getting the same money I'm getting. And then somebody shows up at four o'clock, and this jerk boss of mine is going to pay him the same as he paid me. I'm going to pay him $100. What's fair about that? Isn't that what most of us would say? Whoa, whoa, whoa! No, no, no, I'm not going to do that. When we agreed, when we agreed, what's happened to us when we have that attitude? See, because it sets a precedence. Before Jesus Christ returns, what about those that God calls and brings into the church? Oh, wait a minute. He's calling them at the last minute. I've been faithful all these years. I've been faithful all these years.

Wow.

But then something happens. Let's go Matthew 20 and verse 12. Let's go to 10. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more, and they likewise each received a denarius. And when they had received, they murmured against the landowner. Who's this representing? God. Okay. Saying, these last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as I to you. Remember how Joseph had to kind of find that out with his brothers when his brothers came in, and finally his real blood brother Benjamin was sitting there. And what did he do with Benjamin? He gave him fire. He just loaded up his stuff, gave him more food, gave him all this to see if his brothers had finally began to grow to maturity both mentally, spiritually, and even physically. In verse 15, is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things, or is your I evil because I am good? You see, when our eye, our focus, our thought goes off of what our relationship is with God, you know, can we look at it and say, wow, somebody here next week gets some gigantic reward they didn't even expect, and all of a sudden Ampe gets a half a million dollars. Are we going to go, wow, God, that is such a blessing. Oh, thank you, thank you for her, thank you for her. She is so deserving. I know, father, how much she means to you, or would it be more like, she don't need it. Why, why should she get it? Well, why didn't I get that? You see the difference between a good eye and a bad eye? It's what your focus is, what you begin to see. It's just like these vineyard workers, they're like, instead of working, oh wow, I'm blessed that, you know, I made that deal, he's going to pay me a hundred dollars and I'm going to work. No, they started looking around, well, wait a minute, what are you? And I've seen more arguments at companies where employees get off and they're standing down in the parking lot and they're going, what are you paid? What are you getting paid? And when I had employees, I actually had people that came and said, well, you know, I know you're paying him more than me and I'm worth more than him. And if I'm not paid what he is, I'm going to quit. I said, bye-bye. And this is kind of what God said. He didn't have to give an answer. Why he calls someone, why he doesn't call someone else, why he blesses someone, that's his call. Our focus is a relationship between God and us and we should be thankful for everything. If we're so thankful for what he's given us for to walk and to talk. I had such a bad back this week, just, you know, and it's hard for me to focus, but I had to think, man, I've got a back. I can walk, I can talk, I can read, I can see, I can do all this. How could I complain to God about, God, can't you just give me some relief on my back? When your focus is so much on what's good, that's where your eye is good. And you're not looking, you're not greedy, you're not looking about what I don't have, but what you do have. That's the mind of Christ. That's what he wants us to do. Let's go back to Matthew 6 as we finish this up. Matthew chapter 6.

Oh, and I love this one. Because now he's going back to, but I say to you. But I say to you, verse 25, therefore I say to you, who's saying it? God's saying it. So when God says something, I take it, this is pretty important. He's about to tell us that we need to not be doing something that we all do. And he spends not just one verse, he spends many verses trying to get us to understand. Stop it. Quit. Worry. Because we all do it. We all do it. We do it about work, we do it about jobs, we do it about relationships, we do it about taxes, we do it about politics, we do it about religion, we do it about everything, don't we? And he says, don't do it. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Hmm, that's hard to focus. Wait a minute, is it? What am I going to do? Well, he says, don't worry, right? Don't worry. Yeah. Then he goes on to say, look, look at the birds of the air. They don't build barns. They don't worry about this, but yet they're fed. And then he goes into some lilies, some flowers, and says, they neither toil nor spin. They don't have to work hard. They just come up. And he said, even Solomon was not a raid as one of these. When you see a field of flowers, you see how beautiful it is? And he said, about the birds, about the flowers, about everything else, aren't you worth more than they?

Have you ever walked down the street and saw a dead bird? Now, you have to understand, God said what? There's not a sparrow that falls to the ground that He doesn't know about. He also says, there's not a hair that falls out of your head that I don't know about. He knows everything. And yet, what does He care about? What is His focus? Where is His focus? Us. We are His focus. We are so important to Him. He was willing to give up the greatest gift anyone could ever give. His Son. And watch Him suffer. Then He's willing to give the greatest gift ever given. The actual essence are part of Him, the Holy Spirit, to us. His eye is good. We have to make sure that our eyes are like His eyes, that we know what to focus on and why it's so important.

Verse 30, now if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow will be thrown into the oven, because after the millennium and the Great Resurrection and the change, there ain't gonna be any grass. There ain't gonna be any earth. It's burned up.

And New Jerusalem is coming now, and God will set His throne in the place where earth used to be. But He said, if He so clothed the grass of the field, which today and tomorrow is thrown in, how much more will He clothe you? And then He says that incredible word that I hope you never, ever forget. O you of little faith. Because isn't that the crux of it all? This whole teaching about not worrying, it's all about faith. I had such faith in my parents that I never really worried that I was gonna have a bed to sleep on. Food in my mouth wasn't always the food I wanted. Faith. O you of little faith. So He's asking us, please have faith in your Father. Because that's what He did earlier when He said, He could have said, what? Go up to verse 9. In this manner, therefore pray, My Father in heaven. He could have said that. But He didn't. He said, Our Father. That's where it's at. Our Father. He wants to remind that He's not just mine. He doesn't just take care of me. He's going to take care of you. Our Father. How powerful. And then He says, O you of little faith. Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? And what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For after these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. He knows before you even ask. He wants us to ask, but He already knows.

Do we want to be compared with the Gentiles? The world, you might say, when that television commercial comes on, says, You deserve, you deserve this new jaguar that's coming out. You've worked hard all your life. Now it's time that you get one of these beautiful cars because you deserve it. And God knows what we need. Because you see, our eye must be different than the world's. When we see something, we should define it by these scriptures. We should take it apart by scripture. When we want something, we should do it by the Word of God. Because that's who we are. We have the faith in God, and now, brethren, let's show it. Let's prove it. You walk out of here today.

You walk by faith and not by sight. This is what Christ is trying to get across to us. For the next seven days, let's walk by faith.

Now he's going to finish up in verse 33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things, right? All these things shall be added to you. He's taught this whole lesson, and now he's coming down to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. We know what it takes to seek the kingdom of God, right? Is there anybody here that does not know? We need to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He put the end in there. It's not just one, because guess what? You're not going to get the first without the second. And then he says, therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. Anybody worried about tomorrow? How about next week? Wait a minute. First of August coming up, bills are due. Uh-oh. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Sufficient for the day. These are powerful words that can be rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed by us. When we start to worry, when we have something that begins to bother us, go back to these. Because he says, when you start to worry, you are becoming little in faith, and he doesn't want us. It is impossible to please God without faith. Hebrews 11, the faith chapter.

These are incredible verses, brethren, we are so blessed with. I wish I didn't, because I wanted to do Bible study on chapter 7 so bad I could taste it, because it's just such powerful words in there. But Dwight's going to carry it on and have it this afternoon and empower you to where, man, you just don't think about the sermon on the Mount. You own it! You know it! You own it! Because when you own the greatest sermon ever given, you can give the greatest sermon ever given. You can pass it on.

So I want to leave you today with what we started at. When you, brethren, when you seek, and you will seek something, when you seek, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and carry on the incredible words that Jesus Christ gave to His followers. And so many cannot understand, but His followers do, because He says you are to have the mind of Christ. So when you live the next seven days, grab onto this and live every day with it.