WE come now to chapter 6 in our study of our Lord’s great sermon given to his disciples on the mountain side. We have a knew section here. In chapter 5 Jesus described the true character of the disciple in the Beatitudes. He then talked about the purpose of a disciple’s life. The disciple must be salt and light in the world. In the rest of chapter 5 Jesus dealt with the right understanding of the Law of God, which the teachers of the Law amongst the Jews had corrupted. Now Jesus deals with the Christian’s life in this world. Verses 1-18 is where Jesus deals with the religious life of the disciple, that is our approach to God. Then in verses 19-34 Jesus speaks of how the disciple deals with the problems he or she has to deal with in ordinary life in this world. The teaching Jesus gives is very straight forward, but deeply searching, and because of this a true disciple finds that what Jesus teaches here is disturbing and searching. In fact Jesus deals with attitudes which search out the true nature of our discipleship.

Reading through this chapter, two phrases I have found repeated again and again. The first is ’do not’. Jesus deals with the matter of our living by tackling the very things which mar the disciple’s life, and sorts out the quality of discipleship. The second is ’your Father in heaven’. By this we can plainly see that Jesus is speaking to disciples and not to the world as a whole. However good the sermon is to everybody, the fact is that only disciples of Jesus can begin to appreciate the real understanding of what Jesus is saying, and are the only ones that can begin to live as Jesus describes, and this is because it is the disciple only who has been born again and raised to that new life which comes from God, and so has become a child of God.

The first verse which we are looking at particularly today has both of these two phrases. Jesus says “Be careful not to do” in the opening of the verse, and ends the verse with the words “no reward from your heavenly Father”.

This first verse seems to be stating the whole of the matter which Jesus is dealing with in this chapter, at least in the first 18 verses. The AV anchors this first verse in the matter of giving to those in need which Jesus deals with first, but all authorities on Matthew agree that the translation should not be ’alms’ but ’acts of righteousness’, so encompassing all our religious activity.

Again certain propositions help to crystallise what Jesus is teaching. The first proposition is this. In our religious life we must not do things before men, but before God. The second proposition is that we must not do things in our religious activity for the approval of human beings or self glory, but for God’s approval. We give, fast and pray to God, but not to gain praise for our piety in society. The third proposition is that in our religious activity we look for reward and approval from God, and not from human beings.

I personally find this tremendously challenging, searching and convicting. Examples are helpful here so I will give you one which is particularly relevant to me. It reveals how easily we can be wrong in the way we live before God, and how difficult it is to know what the right way is and act as we should not only outwardly but inwardly in the way we think and in the attitude of our heart. Although I am speaking of one problem in my life, it is illustrating something that is similar in all branches of our religious activity.

The problem for me is in my preaching. This is a good and righteous activity. It is the work of God. It is what God requires ministers to do - to preach the good news of Jesus. The minister should seek to do his or her very best; to know the message which God wants to be declared, and faithfully proclaim it. In my spiritual self my concern is to glorify God, and to do good to souls, but I find my concern centring on my own image. I find myself thinking of what people will think of my preaching. I find myself hoping people will think well of me because I have preached a good sermon. In this way I am seeking the praise of men rather than God. In this way I am earthly minded, and seeking earthly reward. This devastates me and crushes me, for these worldly emotions are always crowding into my mind. My reaction to this is to hide away in the vestry after a service, and seek to get away without speaking to people, but this is not the answer, for my human selfishness follows me in my mind even as I do this. And if I do this I shut myself off from people who may want to be further helped to understand the word God has spoken to them, and want to ask me if I can help them further in some way.

The problem does not end here. A minister that is not concerned that the word preached should be made by God to have a blessed effect on peoples minds and hearts, is a minister who will probably not be caring for the lost and the well-being of the saints of God. With this in mind a minister has to know whether God has given the blessing, for correction and improvement in ministry, and more earnestness in prayer, is lost.

You can see how difficult I find the searching words of Jesus here, and it stretches to every aspect of my spiritual life and religious activity. I comfort myself with the thought that because I am concerned about being a true disciple of Jesus, and taking to heart in mind and action his precepts here, that at least I am showing something of true spiritual life, and that I am a child of God, and not like the Pharisees who were concerned about their image before society, and were seeking praise from society.