Listen to YouTube Living Hope lyrics
Praise my soul, the King of heaven to His feet thy tributes bring;
ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, who like thee His praise should sing?
Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise the everlasting King.
(H. F. Lyte 1793-1847)
Spend a few moments praising God for who he is and what he has done for you
We continue to read Jesus’ sermon on the mount Matthew 6: 16-24
That may have seemed like a lot of diverse topics Jesus is commenting on and once again there were some well-known phrases ‘don’t store up treasure on earth’ and ‘no one can serve two masters.’ But I think there is one phrase which connects together all we have just read as well as what Jesus has previously said and what he goes on to say: That phrase is in verse 21 where Jesus says:
Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
When we read the word treasure, we might initially think of a pirate’s chest - or at least piles of money but for most people their treasure - what is most precious to them - is their family. Now we are getting close to understanding what Jesus is saying when he uses this phrase. Jesus is asking us to consider ‘What do we treasure most in our life?’ and where does God come in our list of what is precious to us - is he in our top 3? Is he equal first with our loved ones?
Once again Jesus is talking about our attitude, our motivation revealing what is important to us. We can pretend to others that pleasing God is the most important treasure in our life, but God knows whether or not that’s the truth. But when we do make our relationship with God the thing we most treasure in life, then we will know the reality of Jesus opening comments in this sermon on the mount, where he said: ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – for they will be satisfied- made complete – whole!
Making our relationship with God, our most precious treasure – actually connects us with the start of our bible reading where Jesus comments about fasting. Fasting has little to do with giving up chocolate for Lent – that is just calorie control under a different name, fasting is about putting into action our good intensions that we want nothing to be more important to us than pleasing God – that him being our greatest treasure.
Twice as Jesus talks about fasting he speaks as though we will be doing it (v.16 & 17), but some of us will be remembering that we no longer live under the Old Testament law – where it says you have to fast - we live under the grace of God. YES, we do! - but there was a reason why fasting was made a law and so we need to think about the intension behind the instruction to fast.
The fasting which happened in Jesus time Involved missing at least one meal – often it involved missing 2 or more consecutive meals and sometimes included not drinking for sometimes as long as 24 hours. This was a lot of discomfort – why?
To show to God through our actions that our relationship with him is the most important thing in our lives – our treasure! The discomfort of the thirst and hunger reminds the person that their relationship with God should be more important than even food and drink.
In our bible reading Jesus is criticising those who fasted in such a way so that it made it clear what they were doing, their intension – motivation, was for other people to think they were really spiritual people. Whereas Jesus reminds us that fasting is to strengthen our relationship with Father God and he is the only one who needs to know we are doing it.
I want to challenges each of us to a fast we can all do, regardless of any medical conditions we may have – it will show God how seriously we want him to be the treasure of our life - and will help us grow stronger in our faith and understanding of him. I want us all to have a go at fasting from screen-time - TV programmes / Computer games / surfing the internet / Downloading films / watching YouTube. I would like us to fast for the minimum of 1 hour next week – perhaps two 30 minutes sessions would be the best starting point.
At a time when you would usually be sat watching something entertaining - switch it off - and do what? Develop your relationship with God – How? Read scripture and pray: Try reading the sermon on the mount. Matthew chapters 5, 6 & 7 and then carry on through the rest of Matthew’s gospel, pausing at the end of each section and asking ‘What does this tell me about God?’ and ‘How can my life reflect these characteristics of God?’
You could use the time to watch ‘The Prayer Course’ I credit you with the intelligence to see the difference between what you normally view and watching Pete Grieg teach about prayer. You could look at the BMS website or Open Doors website. Fast from your usual ‘screen time’ and show God where your treasure is – where your heart is.
The challenge to fast from screen-time leads us to the words Jesus said in v.22-23. They are not a sales pitch for Specsavers, Jesus is saying that whatever fills our minds through what we see and hear will affect our whole body, will affect our relationship with Father God.
So if we want our verse for this year “to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind’ to become a reality in our lives, then a good starting point is to fast from our usual viewing and instead fill our minds with information about who God is.
Listen to YouTube ‘knowing you Jesus lyrics’
Turn your eyes upon Jesus look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace
Jesus, to You we lift our eyes - Jesus, our glory and our prize
We adore You, behold You, our Saviour ever true
Oh Jesus, we turn our eyes to You
Original words (V1) and music by Helen H. Lemmel. Add. words by George Romanacce et a.
© 2019 Sovereign Grace Worship
I will write to you about the next section of the ‘Sermon on the Mount’, on Wednesday - Stephen