The Sermon on The Mount – Part Two

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The Sermon on The Mount – Part Two

If you missed the introduction to The Sermon on The Mount please tap on this link.

You will reach Part One here.

Matthew 6:1-34

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We read in the introduction that Jesus, moved away from the crowd, up the mount and sitting down, taught his Disciples. In other words, this teaching was only for them.

Today I would start by saying, the twelve disciples chosen by Jesus were all Jews and raised under the law of the Jewish Torah. The basis of Jesus’s teaching was not to set aside this law but expand it so as to express the heart of God.

In part one we said the essence of Jesus’s message is the setting of a lifestyle for His Disciples. His message was not aimed at changing laws, but rather a change of heart.

He begins, in Chapter six by saying they must never show off their Godly acts in public. These, He continues, saying, when they give it must be done in secret. A warning is issued here; if they make public their Godly acts, there will be no benefit for them. They must carry out these in secret and God will bless them in secret.

Likewise, in terms of prayer, these must never be a public performance, but in private. Likewise, their prayers must come from their hearts as if they were in intimate conversation with God. (when we are in conversation with one another, we do not double-talk.) The prayer pattern he gave them was only a guideline and not to be prayed repetitively. Praying as such would bring results.

Jesus enlarges the words, “…forgive us our debts..” Saying forgiving others is of critical importance. As they forgave others it would unlock the door of freedom for them.

It was a practice of the day for fasting Jews to look unkempt and painful. Jesus explains; to receive benefit from fasting, they must behave in the reverse.

He goes on by saying they must not be materialistic. Every person that dies takes nothing but relationships with them. Those that live a Godly life build up benefits in the afterlife. Jesus cautions that their heart desires will determine their rewards in the afterlife.

Jesus now reveals the importance of the fact that their eyes are the windows of their soul. (It is a scientific fact that 55% of our emotions are projected via our eyes.) Their heart condition must be Godly, in order to project Godly power from within themselves.

He warns His Disciples that they will not be able to be in an intimate relationship with God and be slaves to materialism. They must choose one or the other, no other options.

Finally, Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Worry is a powerfully destructive emotion; it blinds the mind to Godly thinking and peace. It blocks the release of miracles and many opportunities.

For those that are committed to living by faith, worry is a primary obstacle. I found in my life; worry was caused by listening to thoughts in my mind. I should rather believe that my Father knows what I need, and will he not provide?

Until next Sunday then.

Blessings

Peter.

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“…time with the Master…”

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A Privilege to be Used

Have you ever wondered why it is that we find ourselves in the daily situations and circumstances that we do?

There are a number of answers to that question but one answer is that we are used by God as vessels to bring salvation to others as well as presenting situations before Him. What an exciting thought – to be used by the almighty Father! Is it possible the Lord would need to use us as ‘agents’ here on earth? Well, yes it is!

Give Us Our Daily Faith

In my life, I try to find simple practical solutions in my walk with the Lord. When I was young in the Lord, I found myself praying, asking for things and situations to be resolved according to how I thought they should be sorted out:, as if God needed a helping hand!

When I found that my prayers were not being answered the way I would like them to be, I began to get a little disheartened and wondered why the Lord was apparently not listening to me. I did a bit of reading up on the topic and sought counsel from various quarters. The majority of the answers seemed to point to the fact that my faith wasn’t strong enough….I had to believe more….the more my faith strengthened, the more answers I would get from the Lord and the more ‘successful’ healings I would be able to perform. Somehow, this counsel didn’t sit well with me.

As I do, I asked the Lord to please teach me and show me more about this situation. Time went by and the Lord opened my eyes to some interesting things.

First, there is a faith which we receive by hearing the Gospel. This is believing that Jesus died on the cross, where He took take away our old sinful nature and released us from our wrong doings. This is a saving Faith. When we read the scriptures  it is difficult for us to understand in our minds, that our old natures died with Jesus some 2,000 years ago! However – by believing, in our hearts, the word of God, we will accept this truth.

Second, there is a faith which comes as part of the personal gifts we receive when we have the Holy Spirit abiding in us. This is what I call a supernatural imparting of belief or trust and is experienced when the Lord wishes to exalt himself or encourage the body of Christ in a given circumstance. Peter and John’s example in Acts 3:2-13,16 is a wonderful testimony of how the Lord imparts the gift of faith for His glory. In that instant, they believed that healing would take place (imparted by the Holy Spirit). In verse 16, Peter acknowledged that it was faith in the name of Jesus that healed the man. Once again, it is for the exaltation of God or the encouragement of His body – never for our own glory!

Third, there is a faith or TRUST in the Lord, which grows in us on a daily basis. This is how we learn to trust the Lord more and more on a day to day basis. Often we will have no doubt believing that God has the power to do something (heal, bless or change a situation), but we do not trust Him to do it at that particular time for us. The only way we can grow in this faith (trust), is to get to know God. The more we know God (not just know about Him) and the way he does things, the more we are able to trust Him. Think about your own life – the people you trust the most are the ones you are closest to, the ones you know well. The scripture is a nice illustration of a lesson in learning to trust the Lord in a given circumstance.

We should remember when praying in a given circumstance that Jesus taught us how to pray. He requested us to say “let your will be done…” If we learn to pray like this, we have no need to be discouraged if God doesn’t answer according to our desires. It is because He is answering according to HIS will. We need to believe in  Him for the outcome and our trust in Him will grow.  After all, He is not wiser in all things?  Sometimes God allows suffering so that His will can be made complete.

So…. let’s not be condemned because our ‘faith is weak’. Let’s realise that we do believe with all our heart that God can do anything He wants to do at any time He wants to, and lets allow the Lord to use our daily circumstances to build up our trust in Him. As we do this, the Lord will give us our daily faith (trust)!

From: “time with the Master…”

Please send this link to others, Writings are meant for people, not for dormant files in our computers and very often when we share them, it results in positive changes in the lives of individuals and communities.

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