Hunger for God

Hunger for God Matthew 6:16-18

Big Idea: When we fast before God alone, we are rewarded with freedom and a deeper intimacy with God.

John Piper is a pastor in Minnesota. During the summer before his senior year in college John was dating Noel (the woman he would eventually marry). And during that summer John was working as water safety instructor at a summer camp and Noel was working hundreds of miles away as a waitress.

In the late morning just before lunch at the camp there would be a mail call. When John heard his name and saw a lavender envelope, his appetite for food was swept away. Or perhaps more accurately his hunger for food had been eclipsed by the hunger of his heart.

Often instead of eating lunch with the campers, John would take Noel’s letter to a quiet place in the woods and sit down to a different kind of meal.

John tells how he was able to “feed” on the color, the smell, the script, the message, and signature.

There are times in our romance with God, when we will say no to food or something that satiates a legitimate appetite because God takes that place, God becomes our food of different kind.

Jesus assumed that his followers would at times go with out food or something else in order to feed more fully on the bread of life, the living God and this is part of the reason why he addresses fasting in his Sermon on the Mount.

If you have your Bible please turn to Matthew 6:16

(When I was church planting in Orange County, California, a colleague of mine and I were mapping out a preaching series on the spiritual disciplines. My colleague did not want either of us to preach on fasting because in his view it too negative, too ascetic for California. But fasting can be a great gift, particularly when done in the spirit that Jesus commends in our text today.)

Jesus says, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do (literally play actors) for they disfigure their faces to show men and women they are fasting.”

I tell you the truth they have received their reward in full.

But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face so that it will not be obvious to men and women that you are fasting, but only to your father in heaven. Then your father who sees what is done secret, will reward you.

Many of the listeners in Jesus’ audience would have been Jewish and in response to the law given by Moses they would have been in the habit of fasting at least once a year on the day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

In addition to this, the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, fasted twice a week on Monday and Thursdays.

Jesus in Matthew 9 clearly teaches there are time when it’s not appropriate to fast, e.g. during the joy of a wedding celebration, but in that same passage he points out there will come times when it is appropriate to fast… such the time a when the groom is taken away, i.e. a time of loss, mourning, and longing.

So Jesus assumes that his listeners are fasting or will be involved in fasting and thus we see that he says in vs. 16 not if, but when you fast… and in vs. 17 not if but when you fast…

Now in all likelihood, most us here have probably never really thought much about fasting. We have likely thought about prayer, we’ve reflected on giving, but for most of us fasting is probably not even our on radar.

So why might to we want to fast?

We might want to fast when we need to seek God for a clear sense of direction.

In the book of Acts we read about the church in Antioch. While the community was worshipping and fasting they discerned God saying to them, “Set apart Paul and Barnabas as missionaries.”

A number of you would know how I sensed God leading me to come to Tenth Avenue church.
In late 95, after serving as a church planting pastor in Southern California, I returned back to Canada and lived in White Rock, British Columbia. While spending five days fasting and praying, on day three the words “Tenth Avenue Alliance” came clearly to mind. On the fifth day of the fast, the impression “senior pastor” came to mind. I visited the church and I thought I must have “heard” wrong. I discovered church already had a senior pastor. I noticed there were a high percentage of senior citizens. I had just been involved in planting a church with a median age of about 22 and I thought I was too young for here! But, Looking back I see how clearly God guided me through that time of fasting.
Fasting can heighten our capacity to discern God’s will. During fasting because the digestive organs are in a state of rest, our energy which would have been used to metabolize food can be re-directed to focus on God. During fasting we also have literally more “space” to listen to God, as shopping for food, preparing, eating it and cleaning after meals takes time and energy.

We might fast so we can create space in our lives to listen to God.

Another reason to fast might be to overcome temptation. Adalbert De Vogue, a 20th century Monk in France writes about how fasting can really help in the area of sexual temptation. He points out that ancients established a clear connection between gluttony and lust…and the ancients taught that there was also a correspondence…between fasting and chastity. Adalbert De Vogue, as a veteran monk who’s mentor many younger entry level monks across the years, testifies that fasting is a great help in aiding young monks to overcome sexual fantasies.

Dallas Willard, the USC professor and writer on spiritual life, was cited in an article carried in the Vancouver sun. He said the will is a like a muscle. If you for example the develop the capacity to say no to food (through fasting), you are more likely to be able to say to no in other areas in your life.

We can fast to mourn and enter into grief, discern God’s will, we can fast to overcome temptation, and for other reasons as well.

When we hear the word “fasting” we tend to think of fasting from food, but we can also fast in other areas of our life.

The late Martin Lloyd-Jones was a very gifted expositor of the Scripture who pastored for many years in London, England. In a sermon on this passage Lloyd-Jones argued that fasting should not be confined to merely food, but to any activity which we might abstain from for the sake of some spiritual purpose.

Some people choose to fast from television. I know of someone who during a season where he felt he need to seek God in a greater way decided to fast from his favorite TV. show.

Martin-Lloyd Jones is right to say fasting should not be limited to just food, but could be extended to any legitimate activity we might refrain for some spiritual purpose.

I also want to point out as we think about fasting options that fasting from food per se is NOT for everyone. There are some people who because of their physiological makeup cannot go long periods without food and they should NOT fast. Women who are pregnant should NOT fast. Someone has said pray as you can, not as you can’t. Fast as you can, not as you can’t.

Having said, there are likely many of us who think, “The thought of going with out a meal could ‘kill me!’” could in fact become accustomed to fasting. There’s a particular day of the week when I fast and my body is used to rhythm and it’s no sacrifice, it’s a Sabbath for my body, I have a greater clarity on that and I love it. If I am traveling or have a series of ongoing commitments or if I’m sick and I’m prevented from fasting and come back after some weeks, it’s hard at first, but when I am back in rhythm, I love it.

We can train our bodies to fast.

Jesus in these passage assumes that will fast and this is why he says, not if, you fast, but when you fast.

As he does with the whole area of giving to the poor and prayer, he teaches us the spirit in which we are to fast.

And Jesus says, “When you fast do not somber like the hypocrite for they disfigure their faces to show people they are fasting. I tell you the truth they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to God who is unseen. Then God who see what is done is secret will reward you.”

Or as Eugene Peterson paraphrases, 16"When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don't make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won't make you a saint. 17If you "go into training' inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face.

The Pharisees had a habit of fasting twice a week, on Monday and Thursday. Monday and Thursday were market days when people would be out shopping. On these days the Pharisees put sackcloth and sprinkled ashes on their heads to demonstrating to people that were fasting. People likely approach and say, “Are you okay?” “Not really, I don’t feel very good when I fast this lonnngggg.”

They received the admiration of people for their piety, but according to Jesus that would be All the reward they would get.

Jesus says, if we fast (or prayer, giving to the poor, do some other kind of spiritual discipline) to WOW people, Jesus says you’ll be rewarded by applause and respect, but that’s ALL the reward you’ll get. God will consider you paid in full.

As I said 2 weeks ago, it seems like a good deed is only rewarded once, so if we do a good deed to been seen by people and we get their applause, God considers the good deed already “paid for in full.” No further reward from God.

So Jesus says, when you fast (or do any other spiritual discipline), look normal; don’t try to win an Oscar, but fast (or do that other spiritual discipline) before an audience of one and God who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

BTW, when Jesus is encouraging us to fast in secret, God is not condemning very public fast of conscience like Mahatma Ghandi’s peaceful, political protests of fasting done to shame people who were oppressing his country.

I don’t think God is against the public 24 World Vision fasting for famine victims that our youth haven involved in. In a world in which half the children go to bed hungry, in a world where one in every 7 children is starving, in a world where every 3 seconds someone dies of hunger, a powerful ways to stand in solidarity with those people is to fast.

In these passages I don’t think Jesus is so much condemning participating in either a public fast (or a public pray or even public giving) but he challenges to do these things for the right motive. To these not for our glory but for the glory of God.

(T) When we fast or pray or give as kind of performance for people, we are applauded but that’s all the reward we’ll get. So Jesus says don’t to you acts of righteous to be seen by people, if you do you’ll have no reward from God.

These words can sound hard for us because, everyone one us here wants to be noticed in some way…even the shy…

We want to be seen, particularly when doing something good!

God is not denying that, he’s simply redirecting that desire by telling us to do our spiritual disciplines not so much before an audience of people, but before God.

In Psalm 139… David talks about how we can never flee from God’s presence, he says if I go up to heavens you are there, if rise on the wings to the dawn and settle on the far side of the sea you are there…

If I say surely the darkness will cover me and the light become night around even the darkness will not be dark to you, the night will shine like the day… for darkness is as light to you…

Everywhere we are God, is. At times that’s annoying and disturbing, but for those who are seeking God how comforting.

How comforting that he sees and knows all.

Jesus says that when give, fast, or prayer or even simply offer someone cup of water, Jesus says the father sees that act done in secret and will reward us.

Jesus command not to do our acts of righteousness to be seen by people may sound restrictive, but it is so freeing.

So many of us are consumed by what people think.

Thomas Merton as a young man and as young Christian wanted to be an esteemed writer for the New York Times, he talked wanting so desperately in other people’s opinion…

He says, it curious that we human beings need to live in the opinions of people.

Needing to live in the opinions of others, can be such a trap, such a burden…

There’s something incredibly freeing about Jesus’ call to live before an audience of one, before the one who’s yoke is easy.

A few years ago, I was with a minister of the large Presbyterian Church in New York City. Tim had battled with cancer and I asked him, “How has coming through cancer shaped you?”

Tim said, I don’t want to do anything in life in many just because it’s an honor. I asked to speak in certain prestigious church, it’d an honor to do it, I’m to write this book on this subject because I speak on it a lot, it’d be a honor, but if not part of the vision that God has given me, I won’t do it.

He’s free.

When learn to live by Jesus words these words not as actor before people, but realize we can live before an audience of one, we’re free…

And Jesus says when we do some before an audience of one we’re rewarded with that one. According to the grammatical structure of Matthew 6:1 the “reward” which Jesus is speaking of in this context seems to God himself.

The Bible is not as embarrassed in talking of rewards in this life and the life to come.

But the Bible rewards of which the Bible speaks are typically organically connected to the activity we are doing.

So it is with our reward here. Our reward for fasting before God is not something tacked on in fasting…our reward for saying no to food or something else legitimate in our lives to connect with God is a deeper, fuller, richer connecting.

Our reward for seeking God through fasting (in prayer, in giving) is God himself.

Basil Pennington, in his wonderful book Centering Prayer, tells about a Monk who share with hom how during his afternoon work shift at the monastery he look forwarded to the time in day when he could lay down his tools and go to his little house, his hermitage he had in the garden to meet God in prayer. And when the time came, he would literally run there. He found that if, on a particular day he was feeling dry and not eager to pray, he would still run there and by the time he arrived the run would have restored his eagerness to pray.

Fasting saying no to food or something else can be a way of running to God.

It’s a way saying, this is how I want you God and or this is how much I want to want you God.

When we run to God, we discover that God is a reward of those who diligently seek Him and that reward is Himself.
Prayer… Is there something you want to give up something to say yes to God? If so open you hands to God with palms facing as a sign to you want to give this to God…)? Hymn Himself.

Big Idea: Final Version

Meeting God through acts of Mercy Matthew 6:1-4

Share the vision idea:

Big Idea: When we give to impress others we have received our reward in full, when we give before an audience of one we are rewarded with God.

A person went to a concert at a beautiful old theatre. At the end of the concert, this person noticed two ushers standing near his seat who were applauding harder than anybody else in the whole place.
The man said that he was thrilled with this particular concert because of the extraordinary talent of the musicians. He was even more thrilled to see these two ushers standing there applauding more vigorously than all of the other concert goers. His joy was somewhat diminished, however, when he heard one usher say to the other, “Keep clapping. If we can get them to do another encore, we get paid overtime!”
In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount He taught that what we do is important, but our motivation for what we do is even more important. Action is important, but our attitude behind the action is even more important.

Jesus in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount speaks of three spiritual disciplines that contribute to a healthy spiritual life: Giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting.

But he talks about our motivation for practicing these disciplines.

Today we’re going to look at giving to the poor and what Jesus teaches about our motivation in doing this (next week Jade will teach prayer and the week that after that, God willing, we’ll look at fasting saying no to say yes).

If you have your Bibles please turn to Matthew 6, Jesus says:

1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men and women to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do (hypocrites literally means “an actor who wears a mask”) in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men and women. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
In this Jesus is assuming that his audience is or at will be involved in giving to the poor so he says, in vs. 2 when you give to the needy… again in verse 3. when you give to the needy.

Jesus is addressing an audience of primarily Jewish people here, and he would have known showing mercy to the poor would have been considered an important part of their spiritual lives.

In fact to the Jews giving was considered an act of supreme piety. Teaching of the law taught that giving to the poor was considered, greater than offering a sacrifice.

Jesus is assuming that people in his audience are either in the practice of giving to the poor or as they are exposed to his teaching will become people who give to the poor.

Jesus serving the poor in ministry was central part of his ministry. Jesus said, in describing his mission statement said, “I have come to proclaim good news to the poor.”

Someone has pointed out that in the Gospel of Luke one every 6 lines deals directly or indirectly with the poor.

And from earliest part of Christianity, followers of Christ have become people committed to serving the poor.

For John and James, very close disciples of Jesus, loving people was a kind of test to see whether a person had truly come to follow Christ.

In James 2 we read, James asks, “Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, "Well, eat well…stay warm, God bless you" but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good is that?” How can the love of God be in you?

An author in the 2nd century penned an Epistle to Diognetus in which he said, Christians live in cities like everyone else, they’re not eccentric in their lifestyle, they marry like everyone else, but don’t throw away their children and they share their bread, but not their marriage bed.

As the Gospel spread throughout the Roman Empire in those first centuries A.D. what happened was people who had a habit of being generous with their marriage bed and stingy with their money became the exact opposite because as they became people who were sexually exclusive (that is sexually involved only with their marriage partner), but generous in their giving.

They became who didn’t share their marriage bed, but people shared their daily bread.

Throughout the ages, who people have heard the call follow have also, responded to his call to love the poor.

Amy Carmichael was born into a well to do family in North Ireland in 1867. She was beautiful and intelligent and a gifted writer.

When she was 24 felt called by God to become a missionary. Her “adoptive father” Robert Wilson was against he going, saying that would be a waste of your life and gifs. She ended up first going Japan and almost had a nervous breakdown and then onto India to serve as missionary and stayed there for 55 years.

The work for which is she most well was rescuing children from temple prostitution (parents in India had a habit of selling their infants into life-long temple prostitution to make money); Amy Carmichael ended up rescuing over 1000 of these girls and boys across the years. With help of Indian Christian women she rescued them, clothing and feeding them, and shared the Gospel with them, and educated them.

She was criticized by conservative Christian missionary colleagues, who said, “You should just stick with the word sister,” and she said, “One cannot just save souls and pitchfork them to heaven they are more or less fastened to bodies.”

Christianity has a had blemished history, but Christians have had a proud history of serving the poor by starting orphanages, schools for the poor, feeding lines and shelters for homeless, hospitals and hospices.

This is not a liberal practice, there a Christian practice.

When we volunteer in ministry through a ministry like Out of the Cold or Oasis, when we sponsor a child with an organization like World Vision, or adopt a child through an organization like International China Concern started by David Gotts who is a member here or help build a house with Habitat for Humanity or help rebuild the roads of Afghanistan as Chris Thoreson has done, when provide people with job training and/or give them some start up capital or when give to Tsumani relief or when we sign off on the ONE Campaign also called Make Poverty History campaign with supporters like U2’s Bono (the idea of campaign is to get governments to give 1% of their budgets to eliminating world poverty you sign a petition online), we are expressing the heart of Jesus who said in his manifesto, “I have come to proclaim good news to the poor.”

Jesus in Matthew 6 assumes his listeners are or will be involved in giving to the poor and he teaches us the spirit in which we are to give:
T.S. Eliot said the last temptation is to do the right thing for the wrong reason, and Jesus here helps us avoid that peril.
When we give to the needy, Jesus says:
2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do (hypocrites literally means “an actor who wears a mask”) in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men and women. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Eugene Peterson’s says in his paraphrase The Message: “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself.”
That’s hard to do because we all want be noticed (even the shy), especially when we’re doing something good.
John Ortberg says, “I know I’m supposed to be humble, but what if no one notices?”
A person can pretend to care, not because of they have genuine love for something, but because they want to improve their image in the eyes of someone.
When I was trying to win over Sakiko, I knew she loved animals. So I was, like uh, I like animals. My siblings, were like what are you talking about you’re not an animal lover, I am NOW!”
Our “loving something” can really be about loving ourselves.
When I was living in California, I remember someone saying, “Volunteering with the Peace Corp is great way to bolster your chances of getting into medical school. If a person is volunteering in some good cause only because it will look good on their resume, that’s not act of loving service freely given, its exercise of prudent, enlightened self-interest!
We can give because we will look better to others.
Or we can give because we look better to ourselves.
When I was in high school, I remember a girl who was in the popular set tell me how wonderful felt about herself because she was talking to a girl in the hallway who was clearly lower on the “coolness” scale… she was giddily impressed with herself about the fact that she such was such a noble person for be willing to talk to someone who was below her in social status….
We can be humble so that we can be proud of being humble!
We can give to impress others and we can give to impress ourselves.
Jesus says if we give to “impress” and then receive applause we have received rewarded in full, meaning that’s ALL the reward we will get… the expression that Jesus uses here in text that is translated “rewarded in full” is word from world of commerce and it means “paid in full.” If we give to impress others, we may well be rewarded with what we desire: the approval and respect we desire. but Jesus says that will be All the reward we get. We will have been paid if full.
It’s if Jesus a good can only be rewarded once. If do what you do for the applause you of people, you will not also be rewarded by God.
When media mogul Ted Turner announced that he was giving a billion dollars to the United Nations so they could help the extremely poor with food, clothing, and shelter—wonderful, great! And he made sure his huge donation was seen by everybody. Before he made the gift, he notified talk-show host Larry King so he could start circulating the news. And then, Turner made his announcement in a New York ballroom filled with tuxedos, evening gowns, reporters and cameras. He received well deserved applause for this generous act, but that’s all the reward he’ll get. He’s been paid in full.
A little closer to home if we give away your income or volunteer in some good cause in order to impress someone, we may well impress that person because generosity is an attractive quality but that’s all the reward you’ll get “Paid in full.”
Jesus is saying when we give to the poor or the needy he says figuratively “don’t blow your trumpet,” we might say when we you give, “Don’t toot your horn.” Don’t try to draw to attention to yourself. Give in a way that is as self-forgetful as possible, as if your right hand does not know what your left hand is doing… then your father in heaven who sees what is done in secret will reward you…
I don’t know that I’ve ever done anything with 100% pure motive and I don’t if you have either.
Sometime it’s not possible to give in a way that totally secret, sometimes it’s not appropriate to give anonymously. The main issue is not private or known giving, but our motive for giving. Jesus is calling us to resist calculating. Jesus is calling us in so far as possible to not let our right hand know what our left hand is doing, i.e. to be self-forgetful when we give… and when we give in this way God will reward us.
When we give to impress others we have received our reward in full, when we give before an audience of one we are rewarded with God.
What is the reward?
Vs. 1 says "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men and women to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
The preposition as Darrell Johnson pointed is the preposition para in the Greek which means “with.” The New American Standard which tends to be a more literal translation renders the preposition with your Father in heaven.
And the Bible speaks unabashedly of rewards from God in this life and in the life to come for the things we’ve done. Jesus says God will give to each according to what she or he has done. So we do get rewards from God, but in this text the most literal reading is reward “with God.” And greatest reward we can get through our giving to the needy before audience of one and the poor is that we can get is a richer, fuller, deeper encounter with God.
In Matthew 25, Jesus gives a kind of sneak preview of our final exam, come judgment day.
In Matthew 25 Jesus says to the righteous I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
36I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'
37"Then those "sheep' are going to say, "Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? 38 -39And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' 40Then the King will say, "I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me--you did it to me.'
And the righteous when did we see you hungry and gave you something to eat, thirsty and you gave me something to drink, a stranger and invited you in… needing clothes and clothed me…
Jesus will say when you did to the least of my brethren you did it for me…
The great gift of giving to the needy, the poor, the oppressed… when done without the motive of being honored or advanced, is that it is as though giving directly to God.
Someone has said… we Christians imagine that the poor and the stranger around the world are waiting for us to bring them Jesus when in fact--it is in the poor and the stranger where we are most likely to see Jesus face to face, disguised in the face of the poor.
One day a young man named Francesco was riding on horse through the countryside of Italy. He was son a wealthy merchant, who loved beautiful clothes and pleasure, came face to face with a leper. Repelled by the appearance and the smell of the leper, Francis nevertheless felt compelled to jump down from his horse and embrace the leper. As the leper returned his embrace, Francesco felt great joy! As he rode off, he turned around for a last wave, and saw that the leper had disappeared.
The young man is known today as Saint Francis of Assissi, till the day he died, he saw this a holy moment in which he had encountered God.
A friend of mine had the great privilege of meeting Mother Teresa in India. He asked, Mother what enables you to keep giving and giving?
Mother Teresa responded, we do our work for Jesus, with Jesus, and to Jesus.
When we give to impress others we have received our reward in full, when we give to poor before an audience of one we come face to face with our maker.
-----------------
We have not come to be place to be shield from the pain, but be healed by God and redirected by God so that we see the world as he sees it and love it as he loves it…

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;where there is hatred, let me sow love;where there is injury, pardon;where there is doubt, faith;where there is despair, hope;where there is darkness, light;and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;to be understood, as to understand;to be loved, as to love;for it is in giving that we receive,it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Matthew 6:1-4 (05-5-15)

Meeting God through acts of Mercy Matthew 6:1-4

Big Idea: When we give to the poor, without an ulterior motive, it leads us to a healthy spirituality because it connects us to God.

Two of weeks ago while in Boston, I was with Joe Viola, a physician trained at Harvard. He mentioned that in order to maintain a certain level of health you must eat certain kinds of food, the right quantities of that food, and then get regular exercise.

Of course, you don’t need to be a Harvard trained doctor to know that. Many of us could list the basic building blocks that foster good physical health.

But what are the basic building blocks of a healthy spiritual life?

Jesus, in Matthew 6 in the middle of his famous Sermon on the Mount speaks of 3 spiritual practices that serve as building blocks for a spiritual healthy life.

What are they? Almsgiving (which can be translated: showing charity, giving to the needy, social justice, doing something that serves people), prayer, and fasting.

All three of these are needed in developing a healthy spirituality.

In order to be spiritually whole we need to have a kind of outward oriented spirituality, where we are serving the needy and the poor.

We also need to have an upward spirituality where we are communion with God in prayer and the Word.

We also need an inward spirituality of fasting, where we say NO to certain things IN ORDER TO SAY YES.

If you were raised in a more conservative branch of Christianity, chances are what was emphasized was more of an upward and inward spirituality, where your personal relationship with Jesus was emphasized, where teaching on Biblical morality was stressed, but not social justice.

Ronald Rolheiser describes listening to a radio program, where a Catholic Bishop was being interviewed. In this bishop’s view churches should clearly be involved in pressuring governments and corporations and people to create a more just and humane society.

An irate woman called in and said, I can’t understand why people like you and churches would get involved in economic and political issues like health care issues, poverty, human rights which are not really the concern of religion. A few radical social-justice type of Christians, get all bothered and worked up about these things and try to impose these on everyone else!

The bishop said, I will answer your question, if you answer mine.

What would you do if you were bishop, and some very sincere woman called you and said, our priest refuses to preach about having faith in God, in prayer, and on issues related to private morality.

He just dismisses these things by saying there are a few radical-contemplative-types who are really into prayer and spirituality and they’re just trying to impose their monk-like hang-ups of the rest of us!

What if your priest were to say God is not interested in our personal spirituality and morality, he’s only interested in social justice for the world.

The woman snapped, I would suspend that priest person on the spot!

The bishop responds to the woman and asks, “What should I do when someone calls me about their priest and complains that he refuses to preach what the Gospel demands about social justice?” He says it’s just a hang up of a small group of liberation theologians, who are trying to foist their agenda on the rest of the church? This priest says what Jesus said about justice and the poor are not important, as long as you pray and keep the commandments.

What should I do then? I ask this because the Gospel demands us to help create justice for the poor is as clear and as nonnegotiable, as its call to pray and keep our private lives in order…

Both social justice and personal devotion to God are needed for a healthy spirituality.

The person who says, “All you need is your relationship with Jesus, you and Jesus in prayer… and social justice isn’t important is going missing something essential in their spirituality.

On the other hand the person who says, “God’s doesn’t give damn about, whether I pray, hold a grudge against someone, sleep with someone I’m not married to… What God cares about is the fact that half of the world went to bed hungry!” Will also be missing something essential in their spirituality.

The fact is that God cares for both, cares about our seeking him in prayer, he cares about our personal lifestyle, AND he cares about our giving to the poor and in social justice.

If we want to grow into spiritual wholeness, we will seek to have this combination of prayer, fasting, saying no to say yes, and giving to the poor and social justice.

This is by the way is the reason why in our statements we talk about how we want to be a community that worships the living God (upward spirituality), a community personal transformation (an inward spirituality), and a community of outreach, particularly to the poor (an outward spirituality).

Now in our text in Matthew 6 Jesus is assuming that his audience is involved in giving to the poor so he says, in Matthew 6:2 when you give to the needy…

Jesus is addressing an audience of primarily Jewish people here, and he would have known that it would have been part of spirituality would include showing mercy to the poor.

If Jesus had been addressing a primarily Roman or Greek audience, I don’t think he would have started with the words when you give to the poor, he would have called the people to give to the poor.

In fact there are many places in the Gospels where Jesus teaches on how we are to bless the poor. In fact, someone has pointed out that in the Gospel of Luke, which is written with a Gentile audience in mind, 1 in every 6 lines deals directly or indirectly with the poor.

And from earliest part of Christianity, followers of Christ have been committed to the poor.

An author in the 2nd century penned an Epistle to Diognetus in which he said, Christians live in cities like everyone else, they’re not eccentric in their lifestyle, they marry like everyone else, but don’t cast off their children and they share their bread, but not their marriage bed. What the soul is to the body… Christians are to the world.

As the Gospel spread through the Roman Empire in those first centuries A.D. what happened was people who had a habit of being generous with their marriage bed and stingy with their money became the exact opposite because as they became people who were sexually exclusive (that is sexually involved only with their marriage partner), but generous in their giving.

In words of the epistle to Diognetus, they didn’t share their marriage bed, but they shared their bread.

Throughout the ages, who people have heard the call of God to follow Jesus, but have responding by been seeking God in prayer, by fasting, saying “no something to say yes,” and also being involved in ministries of mercy.

Amy Carmichael was born into a well to do family in North Ireland in 1867. She was beautiful and intelligent and a gifted writer.

When she was 24 felt called by God to become a missionary. Her “adoptive father” Robert Wilson was against he going, saying that would be a waste of your life and gifs. She ended up going to India to serve as missionary and stayed there for 55 years.

The work for which is she most well was rescuing children from temple prostitution (parents in India had a habit of selling their infants into life-long temple prostitution to make money); Amy Carmichael ended up rescuing over 1000 of the across the years. With help of Indian Christian women she rescued them, clothing and feeding them, and shared the Gospel with them, and educated them.

She was criticized by conservative Christian missionary colleagues, who said, “You should just stick with the word sister,” and she said, “One cannot just save souls and pitchfork them to heaven they are more or less fastened to bodies.”

Amy knew that our call from God was to read and pray, but also to serve the practical needs of people.

Christianity has a had blemished history, but Christians have had a proud history of serving the poor by starting orphanages, schools for the poor, shelters for the poor, hospitals and hospices.

This is not a liberal practice, there a Christian practices.

When we volunteer in ministry through a ministry like Out of the Cold or Oasis, when we sponsor a child with an organization like World Vision, help build a house with Habitat for Humanity or when we sign off on the ONE Campaign also called Make Poverty History campaign with supporters like U2’s Bono (the idea of campaign is to get governments to give 1% of their budgets to eliminating world poverty you sign a petition online), when we give financially or in some other way to the poor, we are expressing the heart of Jesus who said in his manifesto, “I have come to proclaim good news to the poor.”

Jesus in Matthew 6 assumes his listeners are or will be involved in giving to the poor and teaches us the spirit in which we are to give:
T.S. Eliot said the last temptation is to do the right thing for the wrong reason, and Jesus here helps us avoid that peril.
When we give to the needy, Jesus says:

1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men and women to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do (hypocrites literally means “an actor who wears a mask”) in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Eugene Peterson’s says in his paraphrase The Message: “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself.”
That’s hard to do because we all want be noticed, we all want to live in someone else’s opinion, especially when we’re doing something good.
John Ortberg says, “I know I’m supposed to be humble, but what if no one notices?”
A person gave give the needy not because of genuine love and care, but they want to be noticed, they want to elevate and improve their image.
When I was trying to win over Sakiko, “I knew she loved animals.” So I was, like uh, like animals. My siblings, were like what are you talking about you’re not an animal love, I am NOW!”
Our loving something else, can really be about loving ourselves.
When I was living in California, I remember someone saying, “Volunteering with the Peace Corp is great way to bolster your chances of getting into medical school. If a person is volunteering in some good cause only because it will look good on their resume, that’s not act of loving service freely given, its exercise of prudent, enlightened self-interest!
We can give because we will look better to others.
Or we can give because we look better to ourselves.
When I high school, I remember listening to girl who was in the popular set telling me how wonderful felt about herself because she was talking to a girl in the hallway who was clearly lower on the “coolness” scale… she was giddily impressed with herself about the fact that she such was such a noble person for be willing to talk to someone who was below her in social status….
We can give to impress others and we can give to impress ourselves.
Jesus says if we give in this kind of way, we’ll have a kind of temporal reward, but that’s ALL the reward we will get… the expression that Jesus uses here in text that is translated “rewarded in full” is word means “paid in full.” If we give to impress others, we may well be rewarded with what we desire: the esteem, approval, respect, etc. but Jesus says that will be All the reward we get. We will have been paid if full.
If a company, gives money away to some “good cause” to as part of their PR strategy they may well be rewarded with greater respect which translates into more business. I eat a breakfast cereal mostly because I really like the cereal, but on the box they write 10% goes of profits goes to world peace. I don’t think the company is Christian—no fish sign on the box. I am impressed! That makes me more inclined to buy to it. If you have as part of your strategy gain better business reputation you give money away to worthy causes and le that be know, you’ll be rewarded through respect and more business. But that’s all the reward you’ll get. “Paid in full.”
If you give away your income or volunteer in some good cause in order to impress someone, you may well impress that person because generosity is an attractive quality but that’s all the reward you’ll get “Paid in full.”
Jesus is saying when we give to the poor or the needy, when we serve, do in a way that is as self-forgetful as possible, as if your right hand does not know what your left hand is doing… then your father in heaven will reward you…
I don’t think that we ever do anything with a completely pure motive.
But, Jesus is calling us to resist calculating. To in so far as possible be self-forgetful when we give… and if are Jesus says God will reward us.
What is the reward?
Vs. 1 says "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men and women to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
The preposition as Darrell Johnson brought to my attention is the preposition para in the Greek whose most common translation is “with.” The New American Standard which tends to be a more literal translation renders the preposition with your Father in heaven.
And the Bible speaks of rewards from God in this life and in the life to come for the things we’ve done. So we do get rewards from God, but in this text the most literal reading is reward “with God.” And greatest reward we can get through our giving to the needy and the poor is that we can get is a richer, fuller, deeper encounter with God.
In Matthew 25, Jesus gives a kind of sneak preview of our final exam, come judgment day.
In Matthew 25 Jesus says to the righteous I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
36I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'
37"Then those "sheep' are going to say, "Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? 38 -39And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' 40Then the King will say, "I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me--you did it to me.'
And the righteous when did we see you hungry and gave you something to eat, thirsty and you gave me something to drink, a stranger and invited you in… needing clothes and clothed me…
Jesus will say when you did to the least of my brethren you did it for me…
The great gift of giving to the needy, the poor, the oppressed… when done without the motive of being honored or advanced, is that it is as though giving directly to God.
Tolstoy said to love another person is the see the face of God.
Someone has said, we Christians imagine that the poor and the stranger around the world are waiting for us to bring them Jesus when in fact--it is in the poor and the stranger where we are most likely to see Jesus face to face, disguised in the face of the poor.
A friend of mine had the great privilege of meeting Mother Teresa in India. He asked, Mother what enables you to keep giving and giving?
Mother Teresa responded, we do our work for Jesus, with Jesus, and to Jesus.
We understand that that prayer and fasting enable us to commune with Jesus, but so does giving to poor and working for justice and this why almsgiving central part of healthy spirituality--because brings us to the face to face with the living God. Benediction:
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;where there is hatred, let me sow love;where there is injury, pardon;where there is doubt, faith;where there is despair, hope;where there is darkness, light;and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;to be understood, as to understand;to be loved, as to love;for it is in giving that we receive,it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Genesis 22:1-14

Ultimate Test, Ultimate Trust Genesis 22:1-14

BIG Idea: God tests us show we can show Him what is in our hearts, but he also so he can show us how he provides.

Jon Krakauer in his harrowing book Into Thin Air tells the story of how he as part of a team of people attempted to reach summit of Mt. Everest 1996 and how they became engulfed by a deadly blizzard.
Krakauer not only describes the physical challenges of climbing Everest, but he also shows us how the expedition revealed people’s character.
He describes how Rob Hall a world-class climber from New Zealand is stranded in the blizzard with his client near the top of the mountain. Hall’s client runs out of oxygen, but Hall refuses to leave him. Hall ends up dying with his client on the mountain.
Krakauer describes this woman named Sandy Pittman, a socialite who goes on this venture to a dispatch pictures and information to NBC for broadcast.

She requires the native Sherpas to drag up a bunch of heavy equipment up for her the including her fax machine and Expresso maker. She seems to always needs to be the first person get a access to life-saving equipment. She ends up living, but she faced with danger on the mountain, she screams at the top of her lungs, “I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”

Beck Weathers is a doctor who not really respected initially by Krakauer, but as the climb progesses Weathers displays more and more character. Weathers ends up getting buried under snow for 22 hours. People see him, scrape the snow ice of his face and leave him for dead. In an astounding feat of strength and spirit, Weathers stays alive. He gets up, walks and finds his way eventually to his team.

Climbing a mountain like Everest, will test you and reveal what’s inside you.

When we respond to God’s call to follow him, we too at times will experience “tests” that will reveal what’s inside us.

This morning, we’re going to be looking at Abraham’s greatest test.

God’s call to Abraham and Sarah is clearly into a truly “blessed” life, but that does not mean they will not face difficult tests along the way.

And God’s call to us sometimes involves challenging tests. If our relationship with God was an unbroken stream of “blessings” and perks we might only relate to God because of what He can do for us and that would be a pretty shallow relationship. Have you ever had someone relate to you ONLY because of what you could do for them? That was probably pretty a superficial relationship.

In the story we will look at today, we’re going to see how God leads Abraham into a difficult test? Why?

Because God wants to know what’s inside Abraham, he wants to know if Abraham really trusts him.

The test that Abraham is about to face involves his precious son, the only one born to his wife Sarah.

If you have your Bibles please turn to Genesis 22:1

God calls to Abraham. "Here I am," he replied.

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied.
2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.
Abraham’s son Isaac, likely now a teenager (he’s at least old enough to carry all the wood needed for a sacrifice), was a priceless treasure to Abraham and Isaac’s mom Sarah.

For maybe 70 years or so Abraham and Sarah as a couple have been infertile…

In this ancient near eastern culture, NOT having a baby would have been a huge social disaster.

And Abraham and Sarah also had this deep personal yearning for a child… When Abraham was 75 and Sarah was 65 God promised them a child, but they wait and wait… When Abraham is about 85 and Sarah about 75 they are so desperate to have a child that they take matters into their hands and decide Abraham will sleep with Sarah’s maid-servant Hagar and they have a baby through this surrogate mother.

But then God reiterates His promise to Abraham and Sarah and tells them that it is through Sarah’s body, that they will have a baby. They both laugh in disbelief, but then sure enough when Abraham is 100 and Sarah is 90 they have a baby boy… They give their son the name Isaac which means laughter… Laughter was first associated with their disbelief of God’s promise… but now laughter was associated with joy of having their baby….

Sarah, says God has brought me laughter and everyone who hears about this will laugh with (or as the Hebrews can read “at”) me....

Can you imagine Abraham at 105 taking Isaac to Kindergarten with a perma-grin… Some 23 year old woman, asks you must “Grandpa?” Nope, “I’m the dad.”

Isaac, brings joy to his parents…

But, not only did Isaac bring laughter and joy to his parents, he would played a very important social function for his family.

Isaac would have been the one who would have been in line to inherit all of his parent’s estate. In our culture, if you come from a family say of 3 kids, the inheritance tends to be divided equally among the three.

But in this culture, the eldest son would get ALL the inheritance, because if the parents divided their wealth among all their children, then the concentration of the family wealth would be diluted and the family would lose their social position on the community. So the eldest son would be the sole inheritor of the estate, to maintain the family’s social position, and he would be a benefactor for the rest of the family.

And God had promised Abraham and Sarah to not only bless them, but God had promised that through Isaac all the nations of the world would be blessed…

So this son who brought joy was the one in whom they were placing hopes for the well being of their family and for the world.

But, God calls Abraham to sacrifice his son…

This would be like you getting a call in the middle of the night and the person of on the other line begins with the words “We regret to inform, you.”

Your heart sinks…

When God called Abraham to sacrifice his son, his one and only son with Sarah, his beloved son, his heart must have just sank.

And so he begins this long and lonely walk with Isaac. The writer slow motions this part the text is verse 3…
3Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants and his son Isaac. He had split wood for the burnt offering. He set out for the place God had directed him. 4On the third day he looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5Abraham told his two young servants, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there to worship; then we'll come back to you."
6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and gave it to Isaac his son to carry. He carried the flint and the knife. The two of them went off together.
7Isaac said to Abraham his father, "Father?"
"Yes, my son."
"We have flint and wood, but where's the sheep for the burnt offering?"
8Abraham said, "Son, God will see to it that there's a sheep for the burnt offering." And they kept on walking together.
Abraham is being lead into this hard test, because God wants to see what’s in his heart.

She how Abraham responds to this call from God to sacrifice his son.
9When they arrived at the place where God had told Abraham to go, he built an altar and placed the wood on it. Then he tied Isaac up and laid him on the altar over the wood. 10And Abraham took the knife and lifted it up to kill his son as a sacrifice to the LORD. 11At that moment the angel of the LORD shouted to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Yes," he answered. "I'm listening."
12"Lay down the knife," the angel said. "Do not hurt the boy in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld even your beloved son from me."
Abraham passes with an A+.
Abraham son Isaac was his price-less treasure… the son on who his and his Sarah’s affections and hopes were placed. So, what enabled Abraham to obey God’s commandment to sacrifice his son?

The text tells us that he deeply feared, i.e. reverenced God.

And according to Hebrews 11, Abraham believed that even if he killed his son, God had the power to raise him from the dead.

Abraham so trusted in the goodness and power of God that he was willing to sacrifice his son believing that God could raise Isaac from the dead.

But God provided in another way….

As Isaac is bound up, lying on the wood, Abraham lifts his knife, but an Angel of the Lord shouts out Abraham, Abraham, lay down the knife…. Do you not hurt the boy, now I know you truly fear God!

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide.

There are times when God tests us to see what is in our heart, to see if we trust him about all else, but when we respond to his test he always provides.

There will be times when God will test us to see if we truly do trust God above all else. As we respond, he will provide.

God will, in all likelihood will not ask you or me to literally sacrifice a child or someone we love, but He may ask us to make a kind of relative sacrifice of them so that he can see what is in our heart, so we can know that he provides.

For people who have children, there’s a lot of pressure in our culture to make them #1.

Moms today is your day, happy mother’s day! But for the other 364 days your life revolves your kids, especially when they’re young. It’s good to value our children, but when our culture encourage us to put our kids at very centre of our lives and in effect worship them, our culture has gone to far.

There are times when God will ask us to make a relative sacrifice our kids so we can show Him who is first in our hearts, but he also so he can show us how he provides.

I remember when my parents committed themselves to Christ when I was an adolescent; a number of things began to change for them.

One of the most concrete things that changed for them was that they responded to God’s call to tithe their income, i.e. to give away at least 10% of their income to God’s work.

Growing up, our family didn’t have a lot of money. I grew up as one of 5 kids in a single income family. My dad worked in a quasi-government job, as a journalist with the C.B.C. I think an outsider could have looked at what my mom and dad were giving to the Lord and thought they’re sacrificing some of the interests of us 5 kids… reasoning that because their giving to God, they are not be able to provide materially as much as they would otherwise be able to for their kids…

But what my parents have said, after about 25 years of honoring God with their income is this, “Before we began to tithe, we never had quite enough, we were always falling a little short. But since we began to honor God in our financial lives, we’ve always had enough, sometimes it’s been tight, but we’ve always had enough.

And my mom and dad’s example of generosity has been an extraordinary legacy to me, that has shaped my attitude toward giving.

In a sense, God was tested my parents hearts to see if he was more important to him than their income and what their entire income could do for theirs kids or God and they responded and God has provide for their/our family in some extraordinary ways.

When God seemingly asks to sacrifice our kids in some way for HIS sake whether sometimes we find as was the case with Isaac, there is no real sacrifice involved, either because what we thought he was asking us, he doesn’t in the end require of us or when he does require the sacrifice of us, he provides through some others means for us and kids to be blessed.

God tests us (not so much because he wants a particular thing from us) but so show we can show Him what is in our hearts, but he also so he can show us how he provides.

It may be that God asks us to offer our child or some other kind o relationship to God that so he see what is in our heart and so he can show us that he provides.

Or it may that he asks us to offer be willing up our career to God.
Sherron Watkins is a, wife, mother, and a former vice-president of the Enron Corporation, which was one of the world’s largest corporations in North America. Watkins had begun to recognize that the accounting processes at Enron were moving from irregular to creative to fraudulent.
After doing some research Watkins discovered that Enron's financial statements had been inflated profits over 1999 and 2000 by $800 million, which in turn inflated stock prices and put stock holders at great risk.
Watkins initially hesitated about confronting her superior about the fraud, afraid that she’d be fired. She was the primary breadwinner for her family and her family depended on her income, but her faith in Jesus Christ did not allow her to stay silent.
Watkins had spent all spent a couple of decades struggling as a woman to climb the corporate ladder in a male dominated world, now God seemed to be asking her to sacrifice her career to honor him. She was understandably nervous, but she stepped forward put her career “on the altar” and told the truth to her CEO and later before congress…
Doing the right thing eventually cost Sherron a six-figure Enron salary… but she passed the test, demonstrated to God that her relationship with him was important than her career…
But the God the God who provides, resurrected her in some then unimaginable ways. She went to be named by TIME magazine as a person of the Year 2002, described by the media as a bright light of courage in corporate black hole. She’s been given a platform to speak on integrity she would never, if she would have caved and stayed silent or quietly transferred to another r company.
Her test revealed that God, not her career, not even her family’s financial stability was her true and that God provides.
God in our journey may lead us places of hard testing because he wants what’s inside, he wants to know whose we are, do we belong first to a human being, a company, ourselves…or God? It’s so not much our kids or our relationships or our money or our careers that he literally wants, but it’s our heart.
He asks us offer things up to him because he wants to know what’s in our hearts and when we respond to God and give him these things, he either as in the case of Isaac “resurrects” the sacrifice and gives us back our Isaac or he resurrects something else because God not just the God who tests, but he also the God who provides…
So, how do we become people like Abraham? By looking to the one he was looking forward that Abraham was looking forward to. In John 8:56 Jesus said that Abraham looked forward to my day. Somehow, Abraham in a dim kind of way, Abraham knew that one day God would offer himself as kind of a sacrifice for the world. Abraham seemed to be able to discern God’s willingness to offer himself wholly to him and was thus able to offer God his beloved son Isaac to God…
And hundreds of years later, on a Mountain not far from Mount Moriah where Abraham prepared to offer his beloved son as a sacrifice, God offered his son, also a child of promise with a miracle birth, but that time God did not hold back the knife, he allowed his son to be pierced and killed so that moral debt of our sins before God could be paid.
It’s as we understand that God who did not spare his one and only son, Jesus Christ, but freely gave up him for us and then raised him from the dead, that we will become like Abraham, people who can offer up to God all that he asks of us, knowing that he is the true center of our lives and believing that can he provide.
Benediction:

20Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ken Shigematsu