Go Pray

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18 (day seven)

But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father. Vs 6

Go pray. There is intentionality in the “Go.” Jesus both taught and demonstrated the importance going off to pray. By going and getting away, it removes the temptation of it becoming a showcase of our righteousness, but it also removes the distractions that might interrupt our connection with the Father.

When you were a teenager, do you remember taking a phone call from a friend and going as far away as possible so others couldn’t hear? In today’s age, that is a little easier with cellular phones, but some of y’all reading this had to get really creative with those calls. You didn’t want to showcase your call for the whole house to hear, nor did you want anyone interrupting that call. When was the last time you made that type of effort to connect with the Father in prayer? How often are there distractions around us that interrupt our time with Him? If Jesus, who is One with the Father, made intentional effort to connect with Him, how much more effort should we be putting forth?

Doctor’s Orders

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:1–8, 16–18 (day six) 

Notice what Jesus doesn’t say in his prescription for overcoming spiritual fraud.  He doesn’t prescribe waiting until your heart is in the right place or ensuring the right feelings precede the right behaviors.

Can you imagine if we only did the right thing when we felt like it?

Jesus’ prescription for overcoming spiritual fraud is to go home, embrace spiritual integrity, be honest with God, and practice your spiritual disciplines in private whether you feel like it or not. It is there, in your private spiritual pursuits, that you may discover God reshaping a heart into one that is wholly his.

Man’s Heart and God’s Glory

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:1–8, 16–18 (day five) Anyone else notice the possible contradiction in the preaching of Jesus?  Just a few verses before, He says, “Let your light shine before men.” And yet in our Re:verse text, He says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.” Why would He seemingly be saying two different things?  One is commanded and the other is prohibited.

If we look more closely, we realize that Jesus is confronting the sinful tendency of the human heart. He is calling out two particular sins- cowardice (in the earlier passage- that would keep our light from shining) and vanity (in this week’s text- that would cause us to want to be seen and get recognition). So, how do you know which is which?  What is the litmus?  I believe the telling issue is the Glory of God. We must answer the question that comes from both passages, “Who gets the glory?”  Is it God or man?  Our heart’s desire should always be that by what we do and where we do it, that God, not man, be glorified. This discerning ability demands constant communication and engagement with the Lord- a vibrant personal relationship with Him. Perhaps a worthy resolution for the new year.

Pure in Heart

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18 (day four)

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8)

Pious actions can have impure motives. When we pray, fast, and give with the hopes of creating the right social reputation for ourselves, Jesus says we’ll get what we’re after – but we’ll still be missing out. We’ll be so busy looking at our admirers that we won’t see God. But when we do these things as Jesus instructs us too – with anonymity, humility, and sincerity, in the secret place we share with him alone – then we shall see God. Outward appearance matters much less to us after we’ve had an encounter with the God who created humility.

This is what we celebrate at Christmas – the fact that God came down, condescended into human form, humbly taking the form of a child so that we might see him, know him, and be reconciled to him. When we allow our piety to make us prideful, we’ve missed the point.

Let’s pray Psalm 139 this week, “Search me, O God, and know my heart…” that he may continue to create a pure and humble heart in us, just like the heart of Jesus.

Intimate

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:1–8, 16–18 (day three)

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.”

How would you like to be seen by others? That very image is exactly what you will want to announce about yourself – both in direct ways (trumpet blast) and in nuanced ways (gloomy face). “I am devout.” “I am generous.” “I am disciplined.” These are good things. And you want good things. But good things are hard to find and learn and practice. So you’ll settle for people thinking you want good things. Who hasn’t experienced this? We’re all Pharisees now. It’s not merely that living this way is a bad look. It’s that living this way isn’t devoted or generous or spiritually disciplined at all. There are some things so intimate that the only place to keep them without destroying them is between you and God.

Boxing Day

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18 (day two) 

So when you [a]give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Vs. 2a

Happy Boxing Day! This second day of Christmas tradition dates back to the Middle Ages. In more recent times it has been associated with aristocracy presenting gifts, or boxes, filled with food or other things to their servants who had worked hard the day before to make sure Christmas Day was properly celebrated. Before that churches and other charitable institutions had collection boxes for the poor and needy which would be distributed on December 26.

Thinking about Boxing Day with regards to these verses, I realized this is a picture of the Christ child. He did not come with fanfare. He, for a time, was weak and helpless, not mighty and authoritarian. His beginning was quiet and humble. And he came for the poor. Those who were broken, and those who were in need. Regardless of your station in life, he came for you. Happy Boxing Day.

Re:Verse Blog – 12/25/23

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18 (day one)

Join us as Senior Pastor Chris Johnson, Associate Pastor Aaron Hufty, and Associate Pastor Bryan Richardson walk us through Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18 in our Winter Re:Verse Series: “The Sermon on the Mount – Living Kingdom Values.”

Love

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 5:33-48 (day seven)

Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Vs 48

If Christians were to live exactly as Jesus lined out in this sermon, we would be perfect. Why then are we not? Why are there unhealthy churches? Why are “Christians” often the hinderance for non-Christians finding Christ? The reason lies in the midst of the sermon. We do not love others as much as we love ourselves. Self absorption is at the root of all sins. It invades our heart and impacts how we interact with the world. It becomes “What’s in it for me?” instead of “How does this bring glory to God?” The truth is we can’t be perfect on our own. This self absorption always finds a way to rear its ugly head at the worst time.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us […] made us alive together with Christ […] it is the gift of God.  Ephesians 2.

The gifts we receive in the coming days pales in comparison to the Gift God sent us. With that Gift, we can be perfect. Only with the love of God can we overcome the love of self to show the world true love.

Merry Christmas!

Pure in Heart

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 5:33-48 (day six)

May the words of my mouth
    and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
    O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

God cares about your inner life; your thought life and love life are of grave concern to him. He cares about your business dealings, how your heart handles your enemies, and your thought life when bad things happen.  He cares about the integrity of your inner life.

That’s why the whole law can be reduced to one command: love.  That’s what Jesus is getting after in his greatest sermon.

Loving with Words

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 5:33-48 (day five) ”But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,“
Jesus is teaching a complete perspective of what loving really is, and who our neighbors really are. Certainly loving through our deeds is a natural and understandable application. “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,” Luke 6:27. Jesus modeled this for us.   See Romans 5.

Jesus also preaches, we are to love with our words- our prayers. Maybe the more difficult assignment. “This is the supreme command… through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer  And didn’t Jesus model that very same thing on the cross?  “Father forgive them…”  Oh that our words and prayers would shape our thoughts and hearts to love all of those around us.  

“It is impossible to pray for someone without loving him, and impossible to go on praying for him, without discovering that our love for him grows and matures. We must not, therefore, wait before praying for an enemy until we feel some love for him in our heart. We must begin to pray for him before we are conscious of loving him, and we shall find our love break first into bud, then into blossom.”- John Stott