Day 16

Chase: Hello and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Point Church Podcast here with Pastor Sam as we're working through the Book of Matthew for 40 Days, 40 Podcast. ⁓ we're grateful for you to be here. And today we're starting in chapter six. We just finished up chapter five yesterday. And so now we're getting into more of Jesus ⁓ talking here ⁓ starting in chapter six. So starting in that verse one, it reads Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your father in heaven. Mm-hmm. Yeah, just saying like again, you if you're self-righteous, you're you're self-righteous for a purpose, and your reward will be that others know you're righteous by you basically telling them. And so he's like, Yeah, avoid all that. ⁓ to be again the kind of person that we talked about in the Beatitudes. Happens in secret, it's a hidden thing. It's not something you go around bragging about. Yeah. And verse two picks up so whenever you give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. So again, it's kind of going in. Yep. Their reward is the peoples. Yeah. Like everyone's like, Wow, they're special, they're amazing. Like, here's your acolytes like. That that's that's their reward. And Jesus like if that's what you want, that's all you'll get. Like no reward from the Father coming down. Exactly. verse three again, Jesus talking, but when you give to the poor, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. So that your giving may be in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. Mm-hmm. So let's pause there because now we're talking about secrets. Yeah. ⁓ secrets, but even before that, Jesus says when you give to the poor, not if. He's assuming that like to be a follower of his means you will give to the poor. Yeah. Like it's a must. It's not a maybe. It's a must. So ⁓ like give anonymously in secret. now that doesn't mean like you can't sign a check or get tax breaks, you know, because You know, you can even go so far as to say like charitable giving is rewarded because it is such a benefit to our society. But Jesus is like, But don't go around at dinner parties being like, you know, I wrote a thousand dollar check last week. You know, don't do that. Like give out of the overflow of your heart of again being someone who's transformed. And like you give in secret, it's just between you and the beneficiary or the organization, like a church, a non profit, and your father sees that. You're Doing it anonymously. And we're gonna see that word win. ⁓ yeah. A lot more. Because he says it again right here ⁓ in verse five. Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, but they because they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly, I tell you, they have their reward. Yeah. He's just being consistent, like consistent teaching over and over. Don't do it for the applause of people, audience of one. Audience of one. Mm-hmm. And again that whenever. Yeah, it's assumed you will pray. Yeah. Yep. And picking up in verse six here, but when you pray, again that when, yep. Go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your father who is in secret. So you know, if someone's reading this for the first time, they're gonna s you know, you could read that and say, Pray to your father who is in secret. So he's in the secret. So maybe Yeah, so it it doesn't mean like God is a secret. It just means that getting alone with God, almost like it's one on one, very intimate, very private. ⁓ there's language called ⁓ the hidden place, like ⁓ idea of like it's just an intimacy between you and God. This is why it says Jesus often retreated to the wilderness to be alone with his father. We're called to do the same, like that where you're Formed where you're forged, where your heart is transformed is in the hidden place. It's not in front of everyone, maybe delivering a sermon or something like that, but it's when you're like, God, search me and know me. That's an intimate thing. It's a it happens in a secret place. Like Yeah. And and Jesus continues, and your father who sees in secret will reward you. When you pray, don't babble like the Gentiles. Since they imagine they're They'll be heard for their many words. Don't be like them because your father knows the things you need before you ask him. I'm gonna stop there. Mm-hmm. Because if your father knows what you need before you ask him, why pray? Yeah. That's ⁓ that's always a big question is why pray if God knows our needs? Well, it it has multiple answers. The first one is God gives us what we need even when we don't pray for it. Like you need oxygen right now. Did you pray for that breath just then? Mm-hmm. But he gave it to you anyway. Right. He knows you need food. You probably didn't, you know, wake you know I mean like he gives you these things, even the the things you don't realize you need. So that's part of it. But the other thing is that prayer reminds us that God is relational and not just transactional. Like he's not a genie that we we need to spend time in prayer to develop that relationship with him. And and there are times when we ask for things we think we need and we get a no. Yep. That it's a reminder, he knows what we need more than we know what we need for ourselves. ⁓ and kind of the last thought on that is prayer changes us. there's a beautiful scene in the movie Shadowlands, which talks about C.S. Lewis ⁓ processing the death of his wife, and he's talking with another professor. I don't think it's Tolkien, but someone's like, So you're still praying, you know, like even grieving. And he says, Yeah, of course, like because. I don't know if my prayer changes God, but prayer changes me. So again, it it's like that prayer is multifaceted. And God knows what you need, but it reminds us that God's more than a genie. Mm-hmm. True, true that. And then we we're going down to nine, and this is the Lord's Prayer. Mm-hmm. I just this is so important. I just want you to s speak on why it's so important. Yeah. And helpful. Yeah. Yeah. So The Lord's Prayer is probably the most famous words ever said. Like of this sermon, this is the most famous words. Like ev almost everyone's probably heard the Lord's Prayer in some form or fashion. But ⁓ I i it could be its own podcast, like its own sermon series for a year, going set like word by word through the Lord's Prayer. But I would just say if you're new to prayer, this is a great place to start. If you're new to memorizing scripture, this is great scripture to memorize. Just get this into your vocabulary and get this into your soul. Yeah. Yeah. Because it reads here in verse nine, therefore, you should pray like this, our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forget. Also have forgiven our debtors and do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. And you know, different versions of the Bible will say different things. So if you're a person that's read the Bible for a long time, you're gonna be like, That's not what I Yeah, again, it's it's a translation from the original language, but it the message is exactly the same. Like again, it's putting your heart in tune with the heart of God, his kingdom first. ⁓ that he'll provide everything you need and then go and forgive others as you've been forgiven. So again, you're reflecting God's love all throughout the passage. And going into that forgiveness, we're gonna pick up in verse fourteen. Yep. For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly father will forgive you as well. But if you don't forgive others, your father will not forgive you or forgive your offenses. Yeah. Yeah, it's a it's a it's slightly confusing because it makes it seem like it's conditional that God will forgive us if we forgive others, but in fact it makes it seem like we're the first movers. Yeah. But in fact, when you read the Bible, you realize that ⁓ there's a line in Romans five that says, In view of God's mercy, this is like be merciful. So like we are not the ones who ultimately are the Primary forgivers. Like God is the one who forgives us. And what Jesus is saying is if you really understand the forgiveness you've been giving, it will flow out of you to forgive everyone. But it's almost like he's working conversely. But if you don't forgive others, it really makes you question how much you understand you've been forgiven by God. And if you don't really understand you've been forgiven by God, how can he forgive you if you don't really understand it? So if that kind of makes sense, it's like he's working it logically and he's working it back. Like the genius of Jesus is incredible. But again, he's saying as much as you understand God's forgiveness of you is how much it should be evident to others. Yeah. And if it's not evident, it's kind of like, you know, ⁓ if the water tap isn't turned on on the spigot, yeah, but you're going to the sink to get water and there's like drops coming out, you're like, there's no water here. But if the water's turned on and you turn on the faucet, that would make sense. Yeah. So if there's nothing coming out, clearly there's a disconnect somewhere else. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you know, forgiveness all the time has been told to me from people of counseling or anything that that is the hardest thing that they grapple with. Yeah. Yeah. And then when, you know, you're seeing this and it's like you're gonna forgive everyone. Yeah. Your enemies. Because when you were God's enemy, he forgave you. And so again, it has to start with that. Yeah. If it's just from your own strength, it's it's gonna fail. It's gonna fail. Yep. And we and we dive into the ne this next section. ⁓ in verse sixteen, again, starting with the whenever, whenever you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites. So I wanna stop there because you know, we you ⁓ people out there might have heard of fasting and Some know the fasting that Jesus is talking about, but some, you know, they the big diet trends now is all these different fastings. But when Jesus is talking about fasting, why is it different than what we see now? Yeah. So like fasting has multiple levels of benefits. Like there's physical benefits to fasting. Obviously, yeah. You lose weight, it cleanses your ⁓ body. I think the it the state is called ketosis that you go into after several hours where it's basically like cleansing of Old dying cells from your body. That's why if you go for a day, you actually feel better. ⁓ now there's of course different fasts, like you have ⁓ Jesus was just in the wilderness, 40 days fasting. That is a fast, you know, he was talking about that. ⁓ you look at Daniel, seven or fourteen days of only fruits, vegetables, and certain kind of nuts, and then water. Like that's a different kind of fast. And then You see times where God calls for a fast of his people, and maybe that's different because it's a holy day versus a weekly fast, and a weekly fast would be like 24 hours. But either way, Jesus is communicating that fasting is yes, it's physically good for you, but it's spiritually good for you because it reminds you of your dependence on God. That, like Jesus said earlier, man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. It is a way to remember the hungry amongst you. So it keeps you humble to say, okay, this is why I give to the poor, because I know what it's like to be hungry. So again, Jesus is like, it's an expectation that you're gonna fast. Yeah. But when you do it, don't be like that. Don't be that guy. And I mean everyone's like, ⁓ I wish I could have a brownie, but I'm fasting. Or like or it's like you know, I just can't do it. I'm fast. Yeah, like the like a place you work at like buys, like Pizza, let's say. Yeah. The guy like he comes all the way up and he's like, can't have to Just to like throw a guilt trip on everybody, basically. ⁓ we're just eating Yeah. When you can just so much easier say, ⁓ no, thank you. I'm just not hungry. Exactly. Yeah. Like just be like, ⁓ I'm just yeah, like you can come up with something. Like, ⁓ maybe don't say I'm not hungry because it's a lie, but just be like just find a way to not guilt trip everybody. Again, your righteousness is not in front of others, it's to be seen by your father in heaven. Audience of one. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Because he goes on to talk about those hypocrites and he he says, For they dis disfigure their faces so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face so that your fasting isn't obvious to others, but to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will we will reward you. Yeah. Just go about your day. Basically. Take a shower, comb your hair, brush your teeth, like don't look all gaunt and things like that. And the other thing about fasting is again, it comes back to that pure motive, pure heart. Like it doesn't have to be necessarily a solo act, but you can maybe reach out to someone and say, Hey, I'm going to do this. I'd like it to remain a secret, but at the same time, there's strength in Maybe encouragement, a fellow brother or sister that's praying for me, yeah, checking in on me, you know, like those kind of things. ⁓ I I don't think that disqualifies anybody by any means. You know, Jesus is not like suffer because of this. It's like, no, I'm going on this journey because I want to become more like Jesus. I want to hunger for him more. Yeah. So he's like, But there's a certain way to do it and there's a certain way not to do it. So Amen to that. And you know, with that we're gonna close out today. We thank you for tuning in and we'll be back. Be back tomorrow starting in verse nineteen. So thank you everyone.