Secret Prayer

Preached at Clevedon Baptist Church – 25-jul-2010

Matt 6:5-15

We continue our series from the Sermon on the Mount. We are looking at Matthew Gospel 6:5-15. Our subject this evening is a very large one; that of prayer, Christian prayer. What is prayer? How should we prayer? Why should we pray? What is the purpose of prayer? Unfortunately the subject of prayer is so large that no one sermon can do it justice; most probably a hundred sermons could not do it justice. So I shall say just a few things, I will not cover the whole subject today.

I believe that it is vital for the church today to understand the work of prayer more fully. For when we as Christians, and when we as a church drift away from a life of prayer we drift away from the power of God. When the power and purpose of prayer is abandoned by the church we are in danger of becoming just like any other religious sect, social group or society. We are in danger of becoming just like any group of like-minded people meeting together to do stuff we want to do. You see when the power and purpose of prayer lessens in a Christian fellowship they are in danger of missing the power and purposes of God. The life of prayer is the internal dynamic of the church. It is God’s planned internal combustion engine for the Christian church and for the individual.

One of the problems with prayer is that it is easy to slip into a wrong understanding of prayer; and remember no-one is an expert at prayer. We are not and the apostle Paul reminds us we are in good company: in the book of Romans [8:?] he says ‘we do not know how to pray as we ought’. If Paul was humble enough to say he didn’t understand prayer fully, let us also be humble enough to recognise that we can still learn a thing or two about prayer.

First and foremost Christian prayer is a secret mystery; it is carried out in that secret place of our hearts. It is our communication with our Lord and God. So our prayers define our secret life as Christians; our prayers define how we relate to God.

It is very easy to think that prayer is just requests, spoken words; words said in the right way, at the right time, with the right theology and with the right passion. In public prayer it is easy to think that our prayer must sound right to the ears of people listening. This is what the some of the Scribes and Pharisees practised at the time of Jesus. They loved standing up in front of people making a big show of prayers spoken for all to see and hear. They made a show of praying to God but really they were praying for others to hear.

Jesus says true, honest Christian prayer is not like this; it is not just words spoken at God or man. In fact true, honest, Christian prayer may not use any words at all. It may be just waiting with open heart for God to speak to us. As David said is psalm 37:7 ‘Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;’, Isaiah said [Isaiah 8:17] “I will wait for the LORD” and Jeremiah said [Lamentations 3:24] ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ And I believe that God still speaks today; for those who have ears to hear what the Spirit of God is saying.

It is also very easy to think that if we go on and on and on, babbling, working ourselves up into a passionate state, that God will be more likely to hear us and grant our demands. It is easy to think that the more we speak the more likely we will get heard by God. It’s easy to think if we put a shift in, an all night-er, that God will do what we want.  

Remember that story from 1 Kings 18:25 where the Old Testament prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal had a face-off, in fact it was more literally a ‘pray-off’. The people of Israel were tempted to abandon their God and follow another religion. Who had the right ideas about prayer and God? Elijah and the prophets of Baal had this competition to see whose God was more powerful and whose prayers were more effective. Listen to the account,

²⁵Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire." ²⁶ So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

I love this next bit, the prophets of Baal had been praying and shouting and dancing all morning.

 ²⁷At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or travelling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." ²⁸So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. ²⁹ Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.”

They shouted, they danced and prayed all day, from dawn to dusk. They were so keen, they even spilt their own blood to try and get the attention of their ‘god’. Prayer was magic for them; if you just say the right words, in the right way, at the right time, in the right place for long enough you can invoke the power of god to get what you want. Prayer for them was like a slot machine, a one-armed bandit, if you pull the lever enough times you’re bound to win.

It is easy to laugh at these prophets of Baal but is there any danger that we share some of their thinking? Do we sometimes think that our God is deep in thought, or busy, or maybe sleeping? Are we tempted to believe that to get his attention we must wake God up with our efforts in prayer? I hope not; Listen to what our Lord Jesus says in Matthew 6:

 ⁵"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

The word in this passage that would have shocked the Jews listening to Jesus was the word ‘father’ literary ‘daddy’. Our Lord Jesus tells us this, and we should know it if we are truly born again; Jesus says God is our loving and caring father and by implication we are His cared for and loved daughters and sons.

Let us rest with this idea for a minute. God the all powerful one, the creator and sustainers of all things, the weaver of the fabric of the entire universe, the architect of the laws of nature itself, is our dad. God the most honourable one, the most Good, the most holy and perfect; the One who sits outside space and time; who sees all that was, and is, and is to come, is our dad. And He is our father in more than just name. For He genuinely loves and cares for us, wanting only what is best for us. The apostle John put it (1 John 3:1) “¹How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

He is on our side. Don’t ever think He is against us, for scripture teaches again and again that is He on our side. No matter what your struggles are in life, we must understand this more deeply. Pauls teaches this in Romans [8:28,31] “²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ... What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Our God is neither aloof, nor uncaring. He is not busy deep in thought or asleep or hard to get hold of. He is closer that our closest friend and dearer to us than the dearest member of our family. Remember that prophet, who went through so much suffering and disappointment, the prophet Jeremiah. He put it (Lam 3:22-24 [Message]), like this “God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left.”

ehehhhsddasd

So when we pray, we do not go to a distant God, one who is so far from us, one who neither knows us nor cares for us. No we do not need to persuade Him or cajole Him into being on our side. He knows our situations; He knows our weaknesses and failings. He knows us through and through. There is nothing we can hide from Him. He is closer to us and understands us better than we do ourselves! Listen again to David’s prayer in Psalm 139

¹ O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. ²You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. ³You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. ⁴Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

Our Heavenly Father knows what we want and need, even before we ask Him. He knows our position, our worries, our hopes and fears. He knows where we’re at and what is going on inside our heads and hearts. Believe this, He still loves us and will always love us. – Wow and Amen! 

Knowing all this, why should we even bother to pray? If He knows what we want, even without us asking, and He loves us; why must we pray at all? Well this question goes to the very heart and purpose of prayer. What is prayer for?

The incarnation, the coming of Jesus, was for many things, but fundamentally it was about three things: forgiveness, reconciliation and fellowship. God wanted and still wants to restore relationships between his children and himself. Mending broken relationships has a cost attached. Wrong things done have to be put right. By his death on a cross, Jesus paid the price for putting things right; so that all fairness and Justice was satisfied. So how can we make amends for our sins? We cannot; but Jesus death on a cross was all the amends we will ever need. When we come to Him and accept that He took the punishment that should have been ours; we are able to receive His forgiveness and so enter into fellowship with God.

Paul summaries this is a wonderful text, in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Yes we can come before God with a clean and new slate.

 ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

God is in the business of forgiveness and reconciliation; bringing a world to himself in Christ. And as a church this is our chief message. We should be a people of forgiveness and reconciliation. We must believe and trust that what the word of God says is right and true.

So what is prayer for? You see God is not satisfied with just knowing us but he wants us to know him; He wants us to know him. God wants fellowship, friendship with us. There cannot be a one-side friendship. Friendship and fellowship always must be two-way; the affection must flow from both sides.

Like with Adam, in the Garden of Eden, God wants to walk beside us in the cool of the day. God doesn’t want us to run and hide ourselves from him. God wants us to share our life with Him. As I have said, God is our father and we are his children. So we pray, first and foremost, to dwell in his presence and live lives in sweet fellowship with Him. The things we ask for in prayer, our supplications and petitions are simply a part of this dynamic fellowship with God. They are not the main purpose of prayer.

We should make our requests know to God, for God in His word asks us to. But remember this; God already knows what we need and He already wants to help. So don’t let your prayers be just a shopping list of requests; it is a dialogue with God not a monologue. I believe that Evangelicals today have much to learn about God’s part in prayer; I mean listening to God, waiting in his presence and sharing sweet fellowship with our God.

This intimate fellowship with God is done in secret; in that secret place in our hearts; for who else can see it, just you and God. As David said is Psalm 91 ‘He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall live under the shadow of the Almighty’. When we go to that secret place of God’s, that place in our hearts, we shall know true life; the new and full life that God has for us.

For prayer is the language of love between the believer and their God. So Jesus recommends that we do this humbly, in secret, withdrawing from the worlds view; closing the door of your room, and dwelling in his presence.

Prayer is sometimes full of our words as we try and express our feelings, our hope and fears before God. As Peter says [1 Peter 5:6-7] “⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”. Prayer should also sometimes be a quite waiting, without words, in God presence. As the Lord said through the Prophet Isaiah [Isaiah 30:15]“This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” We should wait in quiet trust for God to reveal His plans, for His Kingdom, His plans for the people we know, His plans for us. 

It is true that God’s revelation of truth is complete. All wisdom and teaching necessary for salvation is found in the pages of Scripture. I do not believe God has new additional teaching for us. However, God would have us understand more completely what He has already revealed in His word. God, the Holy Spirit speaks to us today, reminding us, teaching us, encouraging us, with power and compassion, within our hearts. This dialogue with God is prayer. God can and does still give us advice for living this life. Prompting our hearts, our believing hearts, to stay the course, to trust that what He says he will do.   

Coming back to our requests in prayer, He knows what we need and He is willing and able to help us. So when we ask, and we should ask, we learn to believe and trust that what God is really like. Our requests and God’s answers, this two-way communication, can be a means by which we understand His ways and purposes more. In our prayers, we do not move the almighty God to actions that He would not have done. No, No, we join with Him in the actions He has already planned to do. We learn to understand Him in His ways. We learn to say Your Kingdom come; yours, not my, will be done.

You see God is living and active, bringing about His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. He does this with or without us; whether we are aware of it or not.  If draw close to him, in prayer, listening and waiting we start to see a living and active God. When we pray along with the Holy Spirit’s prayers, as Paul says in Romans 8, we pray in harmony with the will of God.

In conclusion, let as us as the prophet Hosea put it [Hosea 10:12]

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unploughed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you. 

Break-up the unploughed ground of our lives by opening up our hearts again in prayer to our Father who is in heaven. Let us worship and honour his name. Let us be concerned with praying for his Kingdom to come. Let us pray that His work of forgiveness and reconciliation extends to all the people we know. Let us recognise our own weakness and confess our failings to him, accepting the forgiveness He offers us. He will protect us from evil and guide us through all of life’s troubles and temptations. So let us hide ourselves in the Lord, in quietness and trust, in that secret holy place in our hearts. Amen.

Deacons Devotions

To Leadership at Clevedon Baptist Church

What defines the health and strength of the church? Is it the size of the congregation? Is it the newness of buildings? Is it the number and range of various groups and activities with in the church? Is it the liveliness of the worship?  Is it the presence of youth work? Is it the presence of children’s work? Sometimes we many be tempted to think that the church is just some activity group, some social organisation of similarly minded people who meet together to do stuff that they enjoy. Perhaps this is how people who are not Christians think of the church. They do not think they need to come to church in the same way that I do not think I need to joint a golf club!

I was struck by that preacher from open doors, how he described the persecution of Christians across the world and my heart wept for their suffering and loss. But you know what came across even more, was their steadfastness, and the risks they were willing to take to just to meet together and know the Lord. To my way of thinking there was health and strength in their churches, in very difficult situations.

So what defines the health and strength of the church? My contention is this, you cannot judge this with human eyes or human thinking. Only spiritual eyes can see the work of God. What matters more than anything else is closeness to the Lord. And this can only happen in our hearts, in that secret place. For the Lord is our rock, our strength, our health, our fortress,  our past, our present and our future.   

Psalm 127

1 Unless the LORD builds the house,

   its builders labor in vain.

   Unless the LORD watches over the city,

   the watchmen stand guard in vain.

2 In vain you rise early

   and stay up late,

Closeness to the Lord should be our benchmark, our yardstick, our litmus test. In all our activities we should ask this question,  “will this bring us and our fellowship closer to the Lord?” Much of our activity is noble and good, but does it bring forth this kind of community? A community of believers, who encourage one another to draw close to God?

For God has this mission, “to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house, .. I will bring the blind by a way they did not know, I will lead them in paths they have not known, I will make darkness light before them, and the crooked places straight, these things I will do for them, and not forsake them, .... fear not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name; you are mine.” Isaiah  42. And I believe God chose us to share this blessed mission with him; we are to encourage one another to be filled with the spirit of God and draw close to him. This is and must be our core activity.

Pentecost

Acts 2, Preached at Chew Magna Baptist Church – 23/5/2010

Our text today is a very well known one. It is from chapter 2 of the book of Acts; and it describes how the early church was baptised with the Holy Spirit. This filling with power and fire was the beginning; it was the start of the church’s witness; from this point on they spread the good news of Jesus. We all should remember from chapter one of Acts that Jesus tells his disciples just before he ascended

“Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. … in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. … ⁸ you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” [1]

You see the disciples needed something more than they already had. They were fearful and didn’t know what to do next, they still didn’t quite get it, even after the resurrection. But listen to what Jesus says to them in the upper room in John 20; ‘²¹Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." ²²And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit".’ So, they all had received the Holy Spirit much earlier than the day of Pentecost.

I take it that the work of the Holy Spirit is more than just regeneration and re-birth. You cannot be a Christian without being born again by the Spirit of God, so to be a Christian means to have the indwelling Spirit of God to some measure. But the work of the Holy Spirit is more than just regeneration and re-birth. The Holy Spirit provides power for the great work of witnessing. For the early church this came through a further experience of the Holy Spirit.

Now, some of you may be thinking ‘that’s all well and good; the Church needed a good kick start, at the beginning, but that event was a once only affair and surely it doesn’t apply to us. I don’t need any such help and nor does the church today’. But look, take a good look at the church today, and look at us, dear brothers and sisters, are we not in desperate need of the power of God. Is our witness shining brightly as it should; are we really shining forth the light of Godly love in this world?    

‘Ok’, you say to me, ‘so we may have a problem, but this Pentecost immersion into the power of God, only happened that once. So what can we do?’ Well are you so sure that it happened only once? Yes, Pentecost was the first time, a very special time, but not the only time. Read Acts 4 ‘³¹After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.’ [2].

And read Acts 10 when Peter is preaching at the house of Cornelius. “⁴⁴While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. ⁴⁵The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. ⁴⁶For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.” [3].

And read Acts 19 when Paul prays for twelve men in Ephesus. ‘then Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied’ [4].

It is clear to me that this immersion, this filling, this baptism, call it what you like, was not a one time deal. It happened again and again and again in the book of Acts. Miracles, powerful witness, and persecutions, were the common currency of the early church. They walked close to God, in step with the Holy Spirit, listening to His voice and were filled with his power. This is the norm of the New Testament and the early Church. Paul says to the Church in Ephesus ‘¹⁷I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, ²⁰which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms…’ [Eph 1:17-19]. Paul prays that you have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you know the power, the resurrection power of God that is for us who believe.

The problem is that this early church norm is not what we often find in our churches today. The reasons for this are many, but simply let me say this ‘do you put a limit on what God can do with your church? Do you put a limit on what God can do with you!’ Some of us are saved, yes, we are born again but we become increasingly deaf to the Holy Spirit. We have let the fire of our first love for God, that fire from the Holy Spirit; die out. Unfortunately it seems that for some this fire has never burned that brightly in the first place. The decisions we have made, the life we lead has nearly puts out this fire; we have quenched the work of the Holy Spirit[5] in our souls and resisted God’s work in our hearts.

I do not stand here preaching in judgement of any in this church. For the Lord Jesus say ‘Judge not lest ye be Judged’. Brothers and sisters, I preach here as much to myself as to you. So I do not even judge myself; for I do believe that we have been truly and totally forgiven if we trust in Jesus. But simply let me put it like this; some of us, at some periods of our lives, do not walk forwards. We lose our way; we step backwards from a deep commitment to God.

You see living the Christian life is not easy; it is not easy and God understands this. We are not people who are naturally attuned to the way of love, self-sacrifice and putting other people first. We are born in a world that seeks to pull us towards its own ways. And we fear standing out from the crowd. We can get worn down by the stresses and strains of this life. We fear what people will say, we are worried that there will be many consequence in our workplaces, in our friendships, in the places we live, if we are too public, too overt in our allegiance to Christ.

We can also fear God, but in the wrong way. Is there anyone here who fears being swept away, being overwhelmed by the love of God? Strange as this sounds as I say it. Is there anyone here who has a secret fear that God will ask us to do things that would just turn our lives upside down? These kinds of fear are debilitating for Christians. They hold us back, they can rob us of the blessing and help that God has for us.

You must understand, this is a spiritual battle we fight in; we have the world, our own human nature and the devil pulling us one way and God’s Holy Spirit and our spiritual nature pulling us the other. Even the apostle Paul recognised that it is a terrible position to be in[6]. But be thankful to God, be thankful to God; He is always on the wining side. 

This is why He has provided the Holy Spirit. In the book of Romans we read ‘For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship’[7]. God doesn’t want us to fear what the future may bring. Trust in His sovereign plan, in His perfect will. ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ [8]

He calls us his true daughters and his true sons; we are part of his family. And the Holy Spirit helps our hearts, our minds and our spirit to understand that God is our true father, our “Abba, father”, our dear heavenly dad.

The Apostle John simply put like this “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear”[9]  If we have a deep experience of the love of God, we will be released from all our fears and worries. If we will not be filled with the Holy Spirit, we will not know or understand the love that God has for us. We will remain trapped by our fears and worries. Its this simple.

A.W. Tozer[10], that great American pastor and preacher from the last century put it like this

“We are safe only when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, only when our intellects are indwelt by loving fire that came at Pentecost. For the Holy Spirit is not a luxury, not something added now and again to produce a deluxe type Christian, once in every generation. No, he is for every child of God a necessity, that he fill and indwell his people is more than a languid hope. It is an inescapable imperative!”

Love casts out fear. Experiencing the overwhelming love of God is the only thing that will help our limited minds understand God’s ways and want to follow them. And we experience this love by the power and presence of God, the Holy Spirit.

And what is this “inescapable imperative” that Tozer speaks of, at the end of my quote? Well it is the Apostle Paul’s command to the Ephesians “Be filled with the Spirit”[11]. The Greek tense that Paul uses is the present imperative. So the force of what Paul is saying is this: “Go on and on being filled again and again with the Holy Spirit” So it is not a one time experience; it is a processes of continually being filled afresh with the presence of God.

If I have convinced you that this is necessary, you may ask ‘How then do we go about being filled with the Holy Spirit?’ The answer can be summarised by four words: Repent, Obey, Thirst and Ask[12].

Repent

Peter preached to the Jerusalem crowd on the day of Pentecost: “Repent ... and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’[13] . You see there are no short cuts, no easy fixes. We must mean business with God before God will do business with us. We need to make a clear, ruthless break will all known sin. We must have a determination to put right everything that we can, with the help of Jesus. All that has been wrong in our life; those wrong attitudes, those wrong relationships especially with other believers, those wrong priorities, the wrong use of our time and money, our wrong ambitions; all self-sins in our life must go. You must not compromise with sin.

Obey.

“We are witnesses to these things” said Peter, “and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him”[14] The context of this verse is this: the first Christian where to obey the Lord’s command to tell others about Jesus. And when the Apostles were told not to preach, not to talk about Jesus, Peter simply replied “We must obey God rather than men”. So God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. We must be willing for God to do what he likes with us, to use us as he wants, to send us where he chooses, to transform us into what he has planned us to be.

The late and great Anglican Preacher, David Watson put it like this: “unless I really desire to glorify God in my life, at whatever cost and in whatever way, I do not want to be filled with the Spirit. I may want comforting experiences, but I do not long for the Spirit of God to possess and control my life” Wow, what a challenge.

Thirst

Jesus said; near the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” In the preceding verses Jesus makes it clear what will lead up to such a hunger and thirst. First we must face our utter spiritual poverty in the sight of God. We are poor clay pots, we often fail to do what we should do and do the things we shouldn’t. We are spiritually bankrupt, weak and poor. Jesus says that this should lead to sadness and humility. Let us be truly honest with ourselves and with God. From this honesty before God comes a true spiritual thirst; a great longing to be right with God, to be filled with His love and power. Jesus promises that such a person will be blessed and filled.

Ask

One of the clearest passages on this is in Luke 11:5-13. Jesus describes the story of a man who is embarrassed by a hungry visitor at midnight; something a little more common then that now. The man welcomes him, but promptly goes to his neighbour and bangs loudly on his door and says ‘A friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’. At first glance we may think that this is a parable about hospitality. However, Jesus tells this parable to help us to understand the work of the Holy Spirit.

You see it is only when we are sufficiently aware of our own state, our own spiritual needs, that we honestly realise that we have nothing whatever to offer the hungry people around us; those who come to us for help. Jesus encourages us that God shall provide what we need, by the power of the Holy Spirit. He will do this not just for our own sakes, but also for the sake of others.

And Jesus anticipates two very common stumbling blocks to being filled with the Holy Spirit. The first is unbelief: we say to ourselves ‘this will not happen to me’ Therefore Jesus said, and underlined it six times, “And I tell you, Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” Jesus promises that that we can be filled with the Spirit; trust that God can do this.

The second stumbling block is fear: ‘what will God do with me? I’m not sure that I’m ready for this and what happens if I experience something that is not from God?’ So Jesus goes on to say “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹²Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”

Don’t be afraid! God will not deceive us or hurt us. We can trust Him. Come to your heavenly father with this one desire: namely to glorify His name and you have nothing to fear. Jesus concludes “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

This is the nature of the spiritual life. We must take hold of the promises of God, believe that they are true, claim them humbly yet confidently, and start praising God for what he has done and what he can and will do. We should wait patiently, in trust and hope, and we will be filled by the Holy Spirit in God’s timing. Jesus says “whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it and you will”[15].

Please never worry about the exact nature of the experience. Leave that to God. For some people the experience of being full with the Holy Spirit is sudden and dramatic; for others it is gentle and gradual. Don’t worry about this, only believe, just trust God can do more immeasurably and more abundantly than we can think of or even imagine.

It is from the abundance of the heart that mouth speaks. If I carry a full glass, and I am jogged and jolted, what will spill out? Whatever is in it of course. As we are jogged and jolted in our daily lives; as we are given opportunities to speak about Jesus, what will ‘spill out’ of our mouths? That which is filling your heart. When we are full of the Spirit of Jesus, filled with the love of Jesus, we will naturally and spontaneously tell others about Jesus.

In conclusion, let me encourage you by saying this. Be filled with the Holy Spirit and go on being filled with the Spirit, day by day. Watch out for the Spiritual battle that you may soon understand more clearly. Be honest and humble. Be free from fear, for the love that God has for you is so great that you have nothing to fear. Listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Obey our Lord’s command to witness and lean on the Holy Spirit for guidance and help. Don’t place any limit on what God can do. When you have nothing to offer others, call on God, our God can supply what is lacking in us.

Choose the right way, God’s way, Look, ask and then continue on the way, that path of God’s that leads to life and peace.

Amen

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[1] Acts 1:4-8

[2] Acts 4:31

[3] Act 10:

[4] Act 19:31

[5] 1 Thessalonians 5:19

[6] Romans 7:7-25

[7] Romans 8:15

[8] Jeremiah 29:11

[9] 1 John 4:18

[10] The Divine Conquest , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiden_Wilson_Tozer

[11] Ephesians 5:18

[12] One in the Spirit, Pg 71-74, David Watson

[13] Acts 2:38

[14] Acts 5:32

[15] Mark 11:24

Sermon on the Mount (Overview)

Preached at Clevedon Baptist Church, 9^th May 2010

This is the first in our new series on our Lord’s sermon on the mount. I will be giving a summary and overview of this sermon this evening. The text of Jesus’ sermon is found in just three chapters of Matthew’s Gospel starting from chapter 5. You could read it in just ten minutes, but it could take you ten years, even a lifetime to inwardly digest and fully comprehend.

Some people have called it a Christian manifesto, our political dogma; but to view it this way I believe would be a mistake. Jesus is not laying down a sermon for persuading people to follow him or to join his party. Our Lord’s purpose here is not Evangelism or gaining followers; it is not primarily intended for non-Christian ears. It is for those who are already born again, for those who have already accepted the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Some parts of the sermon may be attractive to those who would not call themselves Christians. However understanding and accepting the challenges of the sermon cannot be done without first believing. First you must believe that it is true. Second you must believe that God’s ways are the best ways. And thirdly you must trust that God, who began that work of faith in your hearts, can provide all the grace and power that you will need to live a transformed life.

Today, in our media driven, rich, western world we can live a life that is far away from God’s ideal way and never really understand that we are doing anything wrong. If everything you see, everything you read, everything you hear tells you to follow that way of the world, that wide broad path. ‘Just go with the flow, follow the crowd, just do what you see others doing, if others get away with it so can you’. 

But let me ask you this question: what is the meaning and purpose of your life? Is there any higher calling on your life, does God have a plan for you? Or does God want you to just follow the crowd? Do you even know what God wants from you? As a believer, a follower of Jesus, a person who is born again by the Holy Spirit of God, I hope that you understand, at least in part, that God has a path, a way for you that is not the same as the world’s way. It is a narrow way, a completely different way to that obvious and wide way of our culture and country.

This is the message of the Sermon of Jesus. We have God’s way on the right and the way of the world on the left; which path do you follow? However, the problem is that we live in this world, we are born in this world, we are immersed in this world and all the messages we hear are from this world. We have been shaped, by this world, into thinking and living a certain way.

The message of our Lord Jesus, is so radical, so alien to our natural thinking, so challenging to our way of life that our response can be either to reject it outright, or to try and ignore it. But know this that way leads to spiritual death. Ignoring or rejecting the ways of God leads to spiritual death.

We must, must embrace the purposes of God. We must seek first His will, His ways, His purposes and plans; we must first seek His Kingdom and His right way of living if we are to be fully and truly His followers.

The sermon deals with many themes, but I shall focus on just three: first a Christian’s character, second a Christian’s right way of living, and third a Christian’s resources.  

1.  A Christian’s character, Matt 5:1-16

These first sixteen verses of Jesus are well known, but little understood. Blessed are you poor…., Blessed are you meek … etc. Some people can read these verses as if Jesus was some kind of benevolent but ineffectual preacher; a preacher who was just trying to give some over-simplified and worthless drivel to his followers. No, no, this is not Jesus, let us get our thinking caps on, and open up our hearts to receive the challenges and truths that Jesus is putting before us.

But Jesus is saying something at the beginning of his sermon that is the bedrock of His Gospel message. A Christian’s actions, what they say, what Christians do, the way they live life starts with character. If underlying a Christian there is the right stuff, a true and right character within, then everything good starts from there.

And what is this right stuff within? Well it is honesty, humility and a hunger to live life the right way. It is not self-deception, not pretending inside that you are something that you are not. It is not saying one thing and thinking another, not saying one thing and doing another. It’s being sincere, first and foremost to yourself and to God. It is being undivided within, being whole. There should be no hypocrisy or self-delusion. Know that you have placed yourself in God’s hands; all that you were, all that you are, and all that you will be. God has us in his grasp. When we seek to purify our interior life, with true honesty and humility, God is happy with us and we will be happy in Him.     

If this internal character is true then it must be shown in our outward life and in our concerns for others. The great challenge of the Jesus is not just for your inner life, it is for the whole of your life. There should be no division, no difference between what we think and what we do. So God’s light that is inside will shine in our dealings with others. Jesus says we should be like light and salt. Our light should illuminate the good in our country and our saltiness should seek to preserve the good in our communities. Our politics flow from our character.

In case you are getting worried that you are not living up to the mark, let me ask you this: when we fail to live up to the challenge of God do you know what God does? He shows us mercy and forgiveness. When we show ourselves to be imperfect God gives us an example, He shows us His lovingkindness; He always allows us to say sorry and return to the right way. Because God keeps on giving us chance after chance after chance we should be willing give people another chance: forgiving all wrongs done to us. 

Jesus has shown us how we can be at peace inside; we should seek to bring peace to people who are not at peace. We are called by God to be peacemakers, reconcilers, bridge-builders, repairs of broken relationships and lives.

Unfortunately, even our best efforts at peacemaking can fail. Sometimes it is like swimming against the tide, it’s like running uphill or it’s like sailing directly into wind. Jesus reminds us that there will be opposition, and troubles, and maltreatment because we are trying to bring light and peace into a world that is seeking to go its own way. Christianity is not a soft or easy option, it is not for the faint hearted or weak willed. Jesus says it is a narrow way that few find. 

2. A Christian’s right way of living: Matt 5:17-5:48

The problem with some religious people is that they have given the impression that faith is first and foremost about obeying the rules of religion. Conforming to these rules, at least in the eyes of other religious people, is the most important thing. If you want to be well regarded by your brethren you must show you are sticking to these rules.

At the time when Jesus was preaching, the religious people, the Scribes and the Pharisees were like this.  However, the rules that they were trying to follow were a fusion of eccentric traditions and various historical interpretations of God’s law. They thought they were obeying God’s law but they had completely misunderstood the spirit of God’s Law.

So when Jesus preached you might have thought He would just say “this law stuff, it’s a bit of a problem, we need to scrap it and start again” but Jesus didn’t. God never makes mistakes and God’s law is no mistake, not one dot or comma was to be replaced. Jesus, showed that only when your heart is right, your inner attitudes and character are right, that you understand the purpose of God’s law.

The law was originally given as a blue print for right living. Jesus, say plainly, look lets go back to the beginning. You must understand the true intension of God. The whole of the law can be summarised by one word, Love. We should 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And Love your neighbor as yourself.' [1]

                                                                  

Jesus goes on to talk about real applications of the law of God. He considers the problem of anger, lust, divorce, lying, and the difficulties of building relationships and peace. I cannot cover all these today; I encourage you to read them for yourselves. But I want to talk about few briefly.  

Jesus starts with the commandment ‘thou shall not kill’ I think we can all pretty much agree with this one, but then Jesus goes on look at the spirit behind this law. Murder stems from an angry heart; and it is the things that are in your heart that are just as important as the things that you do.

Listen to Jesus ‘²²But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.  … But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell’[2]. Anger at other people so damaging to relationships, it destroys peace, that it’s a killer! It’s just like literal killing. If you think you can come before God and praise Him with anger in your heart think again. If you have had a falling out with someone especially in the Church go and sort it out. Be that merciful, kind, humble, honest peacemaker that God wants you to be. God doesn’t want isolated individuals to praise Him, He want reconciled families to praise Him.  

Later on Jesus gives us the greatest challenge of the sermon, the ultimate expression and unique message of Christianity. Our gospel, our good new is the message of God’s love for us and we should show love for others, even those who we don’t like and who don’t like us. But the love that Jesus talks about is not some platitude; it is not the kind of ‘love’ that in practice looks like indifference or carefully masked hate! The kind of love that is expressed through gritted teeth. Jesus, is calling us to something quite different.

When you fall out with someone you know. They upset you, or offend you, or hurt you, or even come up to you and slap your face! I mean they literally slap your face. What do you do? What do you do if someone imposes on your good nature and tries to take advantage of you? What do you do if they just make up lies about you, and wind you up so much that any normal person would get really mad? What do you do?  Jesus, what do I do, must a love them, surely not.

Jesus, says you love them. You take the insults, the hurt, the upset and love them back. You seek what is best for that person; you try to be kind and helpful, merciful and peaceful. When they slap your face you offer up your open face to be slapped again! No, no, Jesus, hang on a minute, surely that’s not right, that’s not fair. Surely that’s not possible. That person has been nasty and horrible to me.

Here we have the very heart of Christianity. We have a God who went to the cross, literally died for us; and why? Not because we are good, not because we are lovely, not because we are living lives that please God, No. We were enemies to God’s way of thinking and living, self motivated creatures. We were happy doing things our own way. There is nothing in what we say or do or think that made Jesus die for us. He sacrificed himself for us because of who He is, not because of anything good that we have done.

He chose the cross out of His love for us. Simply this, God saw a way of reconciliation, a way of bringing us back into His loving family and He recognised that the cost was great but He believe it was worth it. This is the message of Christianity, love sacrificially, love without counting the cost, love in response to that great love that Jesus has shown us.

     

3. A Christian’s resources.  Matt 6:1-7:29

This way of living, this right way is not easy. It can be hard and difficult. At times it is opposed to our nature. So how can we who are imperfect attempt to show perfect, Godly love? Well Jesus gives us some answers to this question in the later part of His sermon.   

Jesus says your resources are found in God, simply asking for help. Your resources are found in having the right way of thinking, simply not worrying about your needs but looking to God’s purposes. Your resources are found through good, firm foundations, simply doing what you know to be the will of God. 

Jesus said we are resourced through true prayer, honest, humble simple prayer. Asking things of God and receiving; seeking out the will of God and finding it; knocking on that door of God’s and letting God open up that door in our hearts. Jesus says your heavenly father God will give you good things if you ask. In Luke’s account Jesus says God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask. The indwelling spirit of God is our resource, our helper, our guide, our counsel, our prayerful wise comforter.

In this final section Jesus, asks us not to be worried about food, money, clothing, etc. Our needs are already known by God, and he has promised to provide what we need. We are to worry about the kingdom of God, perhaps worry is the wrong word here, we are to seek God’s will and plans first and foremost and God will provide all the rest. We are to transform our thinking and refocus our ambitions. We are to believe that heaven is calling us, that we have a future and a hope, and when all the things around us pass away, we shall remain in the arms of a God who loves us. 

Epilogue

In conclusions, our Lords sermon on the mount is the heart, the centre of Christianity. It is for those who accept Jesus’ word and trust what he says. Jesus urges us to have the right Christian character, humble, trusting, honest, hungry for God, merciful to others, peaceful and peace making, patient in enduring hardship, light and salt to others, showing Godly love to everyone we encounter. Jesus urges us into right living, free from anger and malice, free from lustful hurting of others, free from lying and deception, ready to go the extra mile in forgiving, ready to lay aside all self ambitions and plans for the sake of showing sacrificial love, Godly love. And in the final section Jesus reminds us that our greatest resources our found in Him, our God shall supply our needs. If we can live life like this with solid firm foundations, wise foundations, we shall understand the calling of God for our lives. We shall know God as we are known by God. We shall understand the meaning and purpose of life.

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[1] Matt 22:36-37 [NIV]

[2] Math 5:22-24 [NIV]