Matthew chapter 6 tonight.
We're just flying through this sermon here.
Already in chapter 6.
Take heed that you do not do your
alms before men to be seen of them,
otherwise you have your reward of your father
which is in heaven.
Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not
sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and in the streets,
that they may have glory of men.
Verily I say unto you, they have their
reward.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy
left hand know what thy right hand doeth,
that thine alms may be in secret.
And thy father which seeth in secret himself
shall reward thee openly.
Father, we want to thank you again for
this sermon.
Lord, we just thank you how powerful it
is.
What a wonderful, practical, in-depth, Lord, message
this is on living and walking before you.
So many of the practical, real issues, Lord,
that are before our lives day after day.
Areas, Lord, where we struggle and if we
but learn your word and what it is
that you have to say, the liberating experience
it can be to us.
So we just open our heart and we
ask that your word would just set us
free.
Even in areas of our life tonight that
we didn't know why we struggle.
The Lord may you minister to us in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, remember, of course, as we now going
through here, the Sermon of the Mouth, that
this is obviously all, all of his sermons,
of course, are tremendously spiritual.
But the message here is a tremendous message
of the Lord giving to, given to us,
essentially to the soul.
The human soul that longs for a deep
relationship with Jesus Christ.
For somebody that wants a living, abiding, continuing
relationship with Jesus Christ.
For somebody that wants to see him enthroned
within their life, that is poor in spirit,
mourns over their sin, mourns over their own
self, their own arrogance, their own pride, their
own self-sufficiency.
They vacated the throne, turned their life over
to Jesus there in the Beatitudes as we
went through them.
Seen to it that he, that he's being
enthroned within our hearts through that.
And then the sermon goes on to tell
us now once you give him the throne,
here's, it's one thing to get the throne
for the Lord to get it, but it's
another thing for him seemingly to maintain it.
Now in chapter five, it's really a section
of the sermon unto itself in the sense
that it's really a, it's a powerful message
of course all by itself, but it is
one that is primarily in chapter five, it
is all about me and my relationship with
God.
It's just the two of us essentially in
the room, you might say.
It's just the Lord just wanting to talk
to me about my heart, my life, my
thoughts, and, and things there that under my
own skin and my own human experience that
once Jesus is really Lord, I put him
on the throne, the things that can happen
in, in my own heart, under my own
skin that dethrone him.
Where my flesh comes back and it takes
the throne.
That's why after the Beatitudes and, and my
life is given to him, a transference of
authority essentially is happening in there.
But then he goes on and he said,
now there's some things you're gonna have to
look out for because if you don't, under
your own skin and your own heart and
your own thoughts, uh, he'll drive me right
off the throne and you'll take it over
again if you find there where, you know,
if a man, you have, you've heard that
has been said by them all time, thou
shall not kill, but I say unto you
that whosoever is angry with his brother, he
said, if you're under your own skin, if
you have the luxury of being angry at
people, if you think anytime you want, you
can just take off and your hostilities, your
anger, he says, you want to know me
how to get me off the throne, that'll
do it.
But then he goes on and he says
in another area, you drive me off the
throne of people's lives all day long.
He says, you have heard that has been
said by them all time, thou shall not
commit adultery, but I say unto you that
whosoever looks at a woman with lust after
in his heart has already committed it.
He said, you want to get me off
the throne, you're, you want to let your
flesh take over, there's where he'll do it.
That's how he'll get right back on when
you decide under your own skin, in your
own heart, and then you can, you can
take over and you can do, you can
think what you want to.
You can run your own heart, run your
own life, you'll be amazingly lonely rather rapidly
and wondering what went wrong.
Then he went on and he talked about
marriage, he talked about the commitments in life
and maintaining a vow, in a sense, maintaining
a heart that is pure towards the relationships
we have.
He said, you don't, you don't keep those
relationships pure and You'll find once again, you're
shoving me off, you're taking on, on again
and Jesus is such a gentleman, he won't
fight us for it.
You want your own flesh over me, you
can have it, but then you gotta live
with the consequences of it too.
The loneliness of it, the struggles of it,
the burdens of it, the guilt of it,
till you find yourself running back to me,
getting it right.
If you make an oath, then keep it.
And there he says, you, you, you give
somebody your word and you don't intend on
keeping it in your own heart, your own
life, you're going to have trouble.
You'll find me once again being shoved aside.
And so, thus in chapter five, as he
goes and he deals there with, you know,
walking a second mile, churning the other cheek.
If you've got pride, if you've got that
ego that just has got to be in
control.
These are areas, he says, you've got to
deal with these.
These are the great battlefields of the Christian
life.
These are the great areas that, that the
Spirit of God longs to rule and reign
in.
And when you see a Christian that is
having victory in their life in these areas,
you're seeing somebody that God has done some
rather, you know, awesome and wonderful things within.
And where there's also been quite a few
battles in order to get there.
And, uh, but they've, they've fought them and
they've longed for them and they've prayed and
they've sought and said, Lord, I want you
so much on the throne of my life.
I'm willing to give up anger and to
keep you on the throne.
Now stay here instead of letting my anger
drive me away.
I want you on the throne so much
of my life instead of going off and
coveting and living lustfully.
I want you now here, set up your
throne instead of being distracted.
These are all under our skin.
But now when he gets to chapter six,
he's now moving into a new area, essentially
another area of matters, you might say.
And now, uh, areas you might see outside
of our skin, I suppose you say, public
matters.
And, uh, he says a whole new area
in a sense there, things to be aware
of that now when we are in society,
when we're living with other people in chapter
five, again, it's just me and the Lord.
But now it's as if, okay, he says,
now I'm going to take you out in
public.
Now I'm going to try out some of
these things in you and I'm going to
take you out and I want to see
how you learn to live and see if
you still want me on the throne that
bad.
If you still want me to be Lord,
because here are some of the areas where
you're going to have some struggles, you're going
to have some, some, some battles.
And here in a sense there, there's some
public, you might say, pitfalls that happen that
now they're to, uh, that we've got to
deal with.
If I want to stay in a wonderful
communion with my Lord.
And that's what it's really all about here
in chapter six.
Let me just run through a few of
the verses to give you a general idea
of what we're going to be seeing as
we go through it.
But it's all about maintaining a relationship with
God.
Notice in verse four, and I'm just going
to run through, you'll catch the drift of
it.
It's all about it with God.
But in verse four, that thy norms may
be in secret and thy father would see
it in secret.
In verse six, he says, and when thou
prayest enter into thy closet and when thou
hast shut thy door, pray unto thy father,
which is in secret and thy father would
see it in secret will reward the openly.
Verse eight, be not therefore like unto them
for your father knoweth what things you have
need of.
Verse nine, and after this manner, therefore pray
our father, which aren't in heaven.
Uh, verse 14, if he forgive men, their
trespasses, your heavenly father will forgive you.
Verse 18, that thou appear not unto men
to fast, but unto thy father, which is
in secret.
Verse 26, behold, the fowls in the air,
they sow not, neither do they spin nor
gather into barns, yet your father feedeth them.
And then verse 32, for after these things
did the Gentiles seek, but your heavenly father
knows that you have need of these things.
Here, Jesus over and over here in chapter
six, he's going to look there and he
says, we're going to deal with some issues
in life, but all behind it, it's going
to be a clear choice between you and
your father or you and another world.
Do you want to maintain?
You really want that living relationship that you
could have privately, personally, wonderfully under your skin
with your father.
Now, do you want it in public?
How do you want it in the rest
of the areas of your life?
And the first, and this is what he's
talking about here because he lays it and
then in opposition to a whole nother force
there in verse two, he says there, he
says, therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do
not sound a trumpet before thee as the
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the
streets that they may have glory of men.
Verily, I say unto you, they have their
reward.
Verse five, he says, when thou prayest, thou
shall not be as the hypocrites are, for
they love to pray standing in the synagogues
and in the corners of the street that
they may be seen of men.
Verily, I say unto you, they have their
reward.
Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the
hypocrites of sad countenance, for they disfigure their
faces that they may appear unto men to
fast.
And verily, I say unto you, they have
their reward.
You see here, Jesus in this chapter, he's
saying, okay, in chapter five, in your own
heart, your own life, the battleground under your
own skin, in your own heart, in your
thoughts, in dealing with anger and with lust
and with your, your word and with honesty
and integrity and your pride and other matters
as we looked at in that chapter there,
he says, we deal with that.
But now in chapter six is saying he's
taking us out in public where now he
says, I want to know is it still
you and your father that's really important to
you or is it being seen of men?
Is it how you look?
You see, Jesus knows as well as anything
and is better than even we do ourselves
how much we love to be seen.
How much we love recognition.
We seem to love it as much as
anything I suppose in all the world.
We just love recognition.
We love to be seen of men.
One time years ago, my boys were young
and we were off on a vacation somewhere
together and where we happened to stay, they
had this little par three pitch and putt
course and they were off doing something.
And so I had a couple of clubs
and I took my clubs out and early
in the evening and no one was there
and I just started shooting around.
I teed a ball up on about 120,
130 yard hole and I took a shot
and think, man, it went off wonderful, just
a beautiful shot.
Went right up on the green, rolled up
on the green and then next thing I
know, it disappeared in the cup.
And immediately, I was immediately, two things, I
was absolutely thrilled to death and absolutely frustrated
at the same time.
I took a couple steps, I was so
excited and then I just stopped right there.
My hands literally dropped down, I'm holding on
to the club.
And there as I'm just thinking about this
thing and as this is happening, off in
the distance, a fella is over there and
he actually saw me do the shot and
knowing exactly, he could read my countenance.
He knew exactly what was going on and
over there, there's a and he said, I
saw it, I saw it.
He knew exactly what I needed.
I did something and nobody saw it.
I mean, there was nothing so pathetic in
all your life when you're a hole in
one and nobody saw it.
And as soon as he said it, I
lifted up the club and victory and yeah,
like, yeah, just another hole, you know, or
something as if, you know, but on how
we love that.
It's our nature and to have the opportunity
to be seen.
It's something that is so much a part
of the, of the Adamic nature, of the
fallen nature, of our own self, our own
pride, this whole thing that we spent an
entire chapter wanting to see destroyed and obliterated.
We're tired of its anger.
We're tired of its lust.
We're tired of its inability to make and
maintain a relationship or keep its vows or
we're sick and tired of its pride and
its ego and its lack of care or
concern for anybody else.
And we spend an entire chapter wanting to
be done with it and now the Lord,
he wants to take us out in public.
Realizing there, he says, now listen, when we're
out here, I want to know what's important
to you.
Is it your relationship with God, your Heavenly
Father, who knows what's going on, who sees
in secret, or is it being seen of
men?
Is it being noted?
Is that what is important?
And the great tendency is that this is
what we have, the fallen nature, this pride,
this ego, there's something there that he'd give
it a chance to come back and get
on the throne, give it any opportunity to
take over and that's, that's its nature.
Desperately wants to find a way, once it's
been driven out, to get its ugly head
back in and stick it up and say,
here I am.
And in chapter five, again, we saw the
fundamentals of the living quietly before Jesus.
And now in chapter six, we see some
of the fundamentalities, fundamentalities, some of the basic
stuff about living quietly with Jesus in public,
about maintaining that quiet experience in that quiet
life.
And to where, you know, hopefully in chapter
five, it was just, Jesus, I just want
you, I'd please anything to have you take
over my life, to have you be enthroned.
I'm tired of all this stuff and I
can't stand it, I'm so exhausted, please come
and take over and rule and reign.
But here in chapter six, now after all
this has, you know, been, been dealing with
it through chapter five, now he says, let's
take a public, you know, check of some
things.
Let's go out here in public and see
how you do now with all of these
other egos and all this other vain and
corrupt and selfish and conceited and, and angry
and lustful and lying or whatever else.
Let's take you out there in the midst
of all of this other thing and now
let's see if what you chose in private,
you still want in public.
If you really want an end to self
and an enthronement of me, that's essentially what's
happening here in chapter six.
Years ago we had a dog, a Doberman,
I said little things about the dog, but
one of the things, anybody ever takes a
dog and you want to train it, one
of the first things you do, you'll take
it in the backyard, you'll take it away
from everybody else and then you'll sit there
and you'll go through, you know, sit down,
you know, roll over, stay, you know, and
you put it through and give it some
rewards and it's just you and the dog
and just keep it there while it's simple
and then you go through the fundamentals of
obedience just there, but just doing it and
then you go over it and over it
and over it until it's kind of got
it and then once you think it's got
it, the next thing you do is you
do what?
You take it out in public and now
you let the thing there with all the
other, you know, things around.
Now it's got the distraction and it's got
other dogs and it's got kids and it's
got noises and it's got all this other
activity going on around it and then you,
you say, tell it to sit when nobody
else is sitting, it to stay when nothing
else is staying anywhere.
When you say, you say it down, when
nothing else is down, it's looking around, it
sees the kids and other dogs, everything else
is doing it, then you're up here trying
to get attention.
Here I am, look at me, but you're,
the dog's looking, well what about nobody else
is sitting, you know, and what's going on
here?
Everybody else gets to run and play, this
isn't fair, this isn't right.
And this is what's happening here, essentially in
a broad strokes of what Jesus is doing.
It's kind of like, you know, here we
come to church and we sit here in
church and we're just quietly, hopefully just before
him, his face and ours, we're just looking
up and it's so simple, it's so easy
to be a our hearts drawn to him
and we pray and we open our heart,
we take communion.
We get this wonderful experience with him and
our love is fresh and his touch is
there and it's real and oh Lord, this
is how it ought to be.
And it's so wonderful, the love.
We love him, we love each other.
You probably all look around here and say,
can't you just feel the love?
It's so wonderful.
I love you, a bushel and a peck,
bushel and a peck and hug around the
neck or whatever, you know, and we get
all, we can, in church it's so easy,
hi brother, hi sister, and we can hug
and do all these things.
And then we get in our car and
he says, now let's try all this stuff
out in the real world, where instead of
hugging you, they have other gestures for you.
You know, there's other noises, the song isn't
the same, the feeling, everything is different and
now you're sitting there and he says, now
sit down, roll over, roll over, heel, sit.
What about attack, you know, kill, you know,
you know, we're looking there, come on.
I mean, I like that those words are
fine in church, but then when we get
out and in the rest of the world
and this is what he, when Jesus is
saying there's a world there, do you want
to live before me?
Really, and truly, and when we realize these
here in this chapter, these are the pitfalls,
these are the things, the life that we
tend to live before men.
And these three things that we'll be seeing
here in the next few weeks, one of
them is giving, another is fasting, and these
are broad strokes, I think have much deeper
meaning than just the obvious initial one there,
there are whole areas of our life and
of prayer, but there's something there that when
essentially, if I'm going to be living my
life before men, to be seen of men,
and there when I would go to give,
God has done something to me, I become
his child, he bought me, paid for me,
died for me, he took me through the
Beatitudes, he loved me, redeemed me, he forgave
me, he comes into my heart in life,
he takes over the throne, wants to make
me salt in life, he helps me get
victory over anger and over lust and over
all these other things, and what's the response
of the heart, you're going to want to
give back to him, you're going to want
to respond, there's going to be something that
the heart's going to happen, have happened within
it, but then if I begin to respond
to the Lord in a public way, what
I'm doing, I do before men, Jesus said
here, if what you do when you respond
to me, and then you're putting yourself where
you're, you can be immediately in trouble again,
I may go do something, but, and nobody
sees it, nobody responds, nobody likes it or
something, all of a sudden I'm hurt, my
service, my gift, my labor, my effort, my
ministry, and it wasn't appreciated, and God, I
poured my heart into that thing, and the
next thing you know, I'm in trouble, and
I'm angry, and I'm hurt, and I'm wounded,
and I find myself there, to where, you
know, and then worst of all, Jesus said,
not only you're that, you're hypocritical too, that's
what he says here, some three times, notice
verse two, he says, therefore when thou doest
thy norms, do not sound the trumpet before
thee as the hypocrites do there in, as
he said in the synagogues, in verse five,
and he says, and when thou prayest, thou
should not be as the hypocrites do when
they pray, down in verse 16, moreover when
thou fast, be not as the hypocrites, Jesus
said, if you allow yourself to respond to
me, and my lordship, and my life, in
you, in a public way, you do it
before men, to be seen of men, not
only you're going to get hurt, not only
you're going to be frustrated, not only you're
going to feel slighted and ignored or something,
you're also a hypocrite, you're allowing yourself to
do it for the wrong reasons, it's like
Jesus saying, I thought it was me you
loved, I thought it was me you were
serving, I thought it was me who took
you through the beatitudes, I thought it was
me that was changing your heart under your
skin, I thought it was me you wanted
to respond to, then respond to me, don't
do it for others, and for the benefit,
and for the sake of others, otherwise it's
hypocritical, like most any other real precious relationship,
like a marriage, if I find, you know,
that with Jean, if Jean, she wants me
to do things to her, for her, privately,
and I mean, imagine that, can't figure that
out, but she does, I mean, but if
I'm only nice to her in public, if
I'm only warm and loving, you know, in
public, and caring towards her in public, and
then I ignore her, in private, she's got
this nasty little way about her, she'll get
upset, and she thinks I'm a hypocrite, so
I'm nasty to her everywhere, so, and you
know, I'm, but, but the thing is, is
in a relationship, it's, if I'm really the,
if this whole business is me before God,
if it's really my life before God, here
Jesus said, then let's keep it before God,
because one of the things that'll sidetrack it,
is that when you find yourself doing something
for another reason, there's another motive, and you
allow that to happen.
You see, there's two sides, I suppose, in
balance to things.
Back in chapter 5 and verse 16, Jesus
did say, he said, now you let your
light shine before men, that they may see
your good works and glorify your Father which
is in heaven.
And now here in chapter 6 verse 1,
he says, take heed that you do not,
you do your alms before men to be
seen of them, and now those can appear
somewhat, I think, to be in conflict, I
don't believe they are.
On one hand, he says, let your light
so shine, let them see, let everybody know,
you know, what's, what's going on, but here,
and then in chapter 6, he says, now
don't do things before men, but essentially, what
I believe here, Jesus said, is that anything
that Jesus has done for me, let it
shine.
That's what's happened thus far in the Sermon
on the Mount, when he said, let your
light to shine.
Anything of his love and of his mercy
and of his grace and of his goodness,
of his benefits towards me, shout it out,
let it shine, let the whole world know
who he is and what he's done for
you.
In chapter 6, though, he says, now however,
what you do in response to what he's
done for you, you keep that between you
and him.
You let that be something there in your
own intimacy, in your own love, in your
own affection.
Lord, this is that which I want to
do for you because of what you've done
for me.
I don't do it for them.
I do it for you.
And I think there's a number of reasons
that it ought to be for him.
Number one, it's all of him anyway.
You'll notice there in verse, uh, 2, when
it says, therefore, when thou doest thine alms,
that word thine is in italics.
In other words, it wasn't there in the
original, they just dug it in.
It's just alms.
We don't have any alms.
We have nothing.
What does a man have?
Paul says that he hasn't received it from
God.
And if he's received it from God, why
do we boast as if we haven't?
Everything that we ever have came from God
in the first place.
And so anything I give back to him,
it's always less than he gave to me.
You know, you can't outgive him.
Can't give more than I've received.
You can only give up to, and then
he never asks us even to come near
to up to what we've received.
But he does say, you can respond out
of what you've received, and you can serve,
and you can give.
But it isn't yours.
It's all his.
All of our life, you know, belongs to
him.
And it's something there that when we realize
there that God, he's merely looking at us
now, wanting to take us out in public
and let us live.
And for me to think I have done
anything, even when I give, is foolish anyway.
On Wednesday morning, we have a staff meeting,
and this morning John was sharing with the
staff a little story about how that when
his son Peter John was young, and he'd
go out to mow the lawn.
And there that Peter John, who could kind
of almost at the time reach up to
the lawnmower handles.
John would mow the lawn, and Peter John
would reach up and grab on.
And John was doing it all, but Peter
John would hold on and kind of hang
on and dragged around the yard.
But you know, but at the end, Peter
John helped mow.
So we thought.
But in reality, as John pointed out, John
mowed the lawn and dragged Peter with him.
You know, or something.
I didn't say that, but that's pretty, any
of us that have taught our kids, that's
how we all learn, isn't it?
But that's exactly the way that God is
anyway.
Anything that he ever allows us to do
that we may even think for a moment,
I mowed a lawn, you know, or something
there to realize, no, the Lord did it
and just kind of drug us with him
and let us walk along with him while
he was doing it and share fellowship.
That's honestly what the Christian life is all
about.
The fact that Christ so loves us, not
only loves to do things in our heart,
but he also loves then to say, here,
while I'm mowing, I'll let you here, if
you can reach up and just hold on
to the bar, you know, I'll drag you
with me and in spite of you, we'll
get this thing mowed for the most part.
I mean, but the tragic thing is if
after it's mowed, I go and call the
neighbor and, hey, come see the lawn I
mowed.
Then at that point, as when I think
the Lord says, you know, we need to
have a little chat in the backyard, you
know, and sort of a thing because we've
got some things way out of order.
And the worst part of this whole thing
is, is that we're putting our own flesh
right back on the throne.
The very thing that we spend an entire
chapter wanting to be rid of.
The thing that we ought to hate in
all the world more than anything.
You know, a lot of the world today,
we look at, you know, Saddam Hussein is
some great error, you know, a great enemy,
great, you know, somebody we ought to hate.
And I, or hate what he is or
what he does or whatever you want to
do with it.
And I, I suppose there's a lot of
feelings that could be directed that way, but
I don't think there should ever be any
stronger hate or distaste that anybody should ever
have in all the world than, than for
themselves.
Whatever Saddam Hussein has ever done to my
life, I can tell you, he has never
messed it up as much as I've done
it all by myself without even knowing the
guy's name.
Isn't that true?
Pick anybody.
Pick anybody in the world that you could
ever be unhappy with and what person has
ever messed with your heart and your soul
more than you.
And when we sit there and then decide,
I don't want to rule, I don't want
to reign.
And then Jesus said, well, now I want
to take you out in public and I
want to use your life to serve me.
I want to use your life to represent
me.
I want to use, I'm going to give
you capacity.
It may be alms.
It may be ministry.
It may be service.
It may be one thing or another, but
for one moment, if you think it has
anything to do with you, and if you
allow that to be something where you think
you're somebody, you're wrong.
And the tragic thing is, is that Jesus,
he's not going to compete for the throne.
If we want it, he says you can
have it.
But if you really want me on it,
then when we go out in public, then
you got to want me to be on
the throne there.
And I think one of the great tragedies
in the church today, even in the church
world, in church, a lot of church teaching
sometimes, is that the very thing that we're
trying to destroy, we actually enthrone many times
in ministries.
Sometimes, you know, you see churches, you know,
they got their thermometers out there.
Who's going to give so and such and
such?
Because the people that give the most are
the most spiritual, obviously.
That's the way, I mean, if you say
that, you know, and, you know, and who
will give and who will do?
And there's just something about, well, you know,
I'll do something.
And we make the flesh a very motivator.
We almost motivate the flesh.
We almost tease it and say, come on,
come on, take over the throne, pull out
the big bucks and let everybody think you're
spiritual.
And the very life that we've vowed when
we came to Christ that we, that we
wanted to see destroyed, oftentimes in the church,
it literally coddles it, comforts it.
You know, it's sort of a thing, you
know, I go to churches sometimes, they'll be,
have you ever seen in a church bulletin?
And the lovely flowers this morning on the
altar were donated by Sister Hilda, you know,
in memory of her dog Fluffy, you know,
or whatever, you know, sort of a thing.
And something there, wouldn't you like to donate
next week in memory of your dead dog
or whatever, you know, but something there that,
that people, you know, wow, I want to
give flowers all of a sudden and it
appeals to somebody.
And we want to thank Brother So-and
-so who gave us the organ and his
name is on a little plaque here in
loving memory of his mother, you know, or
somebody, you know, but on, on all these
things in there, they're designed for people that
the very life that we ought to look
there and say, Lord, I don't want to
rule.
And otherwise, you know, we'll be right back
and hear Jesus simply saying, when you give
and when you love and when you serve
and when you minister to people, don't do
it to be seen.
Don't do it for recognition.
How many times in our life, how many
times in our, in our marriages, how many
times in our home, how many times with
other people do we do something and we
don't get the recognition for it?
Here you went and you got your wife
that stone there and that ring and you
took her out and you even took all
your buddies and hey, look at this, look
at this, look what I got, Matilda, you
know, or whatever.
And you're pulling your wife and her hand
over there and, you know, and say, what'd
you get her?
Well, here, here, you got to get in
the light, turn over here, just okay there.
See, now you're looking, see there, there's a
stone there, you know, or whatever.
Wow, what a guy, you know, and then
you go do something and your wife says,
you know, you got to give me a
bigger pair of glasses to see it, you
know, or something.
And all of a sudden you're crushed.
You gave or you did something and you
didn't get a response you wanted back.
You did something and you said something or
you helped or you, in some way, something
was motivated to come out of you and
when it didn't get a response, you're angry
and hurt.
And all of a sudden the very nature
that we buried in the last chapter, we're,
you know, we're giving artificial respiration to in
chapter six to revive it and say, I've
heard, I know you poor thing.
I don't know why you did it.
Don't ever do that again.
No siree, they'll use you and abuse you
and kick you out.
That's what you get for loving them.
And how many people, that very thing happens.
Sometimes it's interesting to me, I mean, it
can happen in all sorts of service.
I ministered in church one time.
There was a pastor and there was a
fellow in the church who loved to sing.
He loved to sing.
And the problem was he loved to sing
too long.
Every service, we'd, this guy, everybody would sing
and when the notes stopped, he always, I
don't know whether you call it a beat
or what, you know, it was, he felt
beaten when he did it anyway, but there
was another beat.
He always, you know, you could always hear
his voice just a little every, after every
little thing, there would be, you know, him.
You'd hear his voice.
Carrying on.
You know, and the people, you know, they
were wanting to worship, but then it's hard
to worship.
I mean, we'd, we talked about committees and,
and how we, you know, and Christian vigilantes
to go rip his lungs out or something,
you know, I mean, things, but the, and
you were somebody, there's something, you just got
to do it.
And next thing you know, it's a distraction
to others around.
And so there's something about our nature when
in some form of service, we love recognition.
I never understood, but sometimes, you know, people
come in the service here and then we'll
have a wonderful service.
Then somebody will stand up.
They just stand up.
And now they've never been here, maybe they
just think, well, I just love God and
I just want to stand up and they'll
stand up.
And the next thing you know, the worship,
I wish everybody could have a turn sitting
up in front, because anytime somebody stands up,
everybody else stops worship and they're looking over.
What's he doing?
Well, he's standing.
He's singing.
He likes to sing.
I wonder if he's good or whatever you're
thinking about.
And the whole thing, but it's something there
with the nature of our flesh.
We want to do something.
Instead of Lord, I want my service unto
you to be unto you.
Otherwise the flesh, otherwise the pride.
And then we can get into this thing
where this unending battle, you know, where as
soon as you get into that realm, you,
you, the flesh is back.
And then you never can get enough.
You never get enough recognition.
When somebody wants recognition from man, they'll never
get enough.
Just like pride, they'll never be satisfied.
No matter how proud somebody is, there's always
room for more pride.
Have you noticed that?
And however proud we are, I like the
story of the fella who bought himself a
brand new Rolls Royce Silver Cloud.
And he knew this was the most beautiful
car in town.
He had the greatest car in town and
he paid a lot of money for it.
I think I'm supposed to be done by
now, but anyway.
But, uh, he got that thing and he's
going home and he is so excited about
this Rolls Royce Silver Cloud.
He just thinks he's the cat's meow going
home boy.
And as he's going along though, he comes
up to a stop sign and there's this
beautiful little sports car with tinted windows that
pulls up next to him.
And the window comes down and he figures,
well, he's eyeing the car.
But the guy looks at him.
He says, I bet you think you're pretty
neat in that.
He says, you're not so cool.
And the guy looks over at him and
he says, no.
And he says to him, he says, do
you have a cell phone in that car?
And he said, yes, I have a cell.
I have a cell phone in my car.
Do you?
He says, yep.
Do you have a fax machine?
He said, yes, I have a fax machine
in my Rolls Royce.
Do you?
And he says, yep.
Yep.
Do you have a TV?
He says, yes, I have a TV.
Color TV.
Do you?
And he says, yep.
And he says, do you have a bed?
A bed?
No.
He said, I told you.
The window rolls up and off he goes.
Well, all of a sudden this guy is
so upset.
He turns right around.
He goes back to Rolls Royce.
He says, I want a bed in this
thing.
I got to have a bed.
You make a bed somehow or another in
this thing.
And so they did.
They went and built a bed in this
thing for him.
And next thing you know, he's driving all
over town looking for this guy.
He's going to find him.
You know, let him know he's got a
bed in his Rolls Royce.
And finally, after a few weeks, he sees
the car in a parking lot and he
pulls in and he goes over and again,
does that smoke windows, but he could hear
music.
So he knew the guy had to be
in there.
He goes over and he starts banging on
the window.
He didn't let him know.
And he hears nothing.
He bangs another little longer.
And finally, the guy comes, the window comes
down a little bit.
The guy says, yeah, what do you want?
He said, do you remember me?
And he says, who are you?
I'm the guy with the Rolls Royce.
He said, oh yeah, I remember you.
He said, I just want you to know.
I got a bed in my Rolls Royce
now.
The guy looks at him and he says,
you mean to tell me you got me
out of the shower to tell me that?
But so often, that's our nature.
We get something and then as soon as
somebody has more recognition or more something, we're
depressed.
We're upset.
That's the nature of the flesh, isn't it?
And here, Jesus said, live quietly before me.
When you give to me or you serve
me or you give, do it to me.
When you do it, whether unto another, you
do it unto your wife, you do it
unto me.
When you give a cup of cold water
to somebody in my name, it's to me.
When you serve your wife, when you serve
your children, when you minister to other people,
do it to me.
I'll reward you.
I'll work.
But if you're going to sit around and
wait for recognition, then hypocrisy is getting in
and your heart is going to be in
trouble.
And as we close tonight, maybe some of
us, we realize, Lord, this is no small
thing with any of us.
How often are we hurt?
How often are we, you know, I don't
need this any longer.
I'm tired of this woman.
I'm tired of this man.
I'm tired.
I do this and I do this and
I serve and I give and what do
I get for it?
Nothing.
But when we determine, Jesus, I want to
live before you.
I want to serve before you.
I want what I do because of all
that you have done for me.
As you tell me to give it, as
you tell me to pour out my life
or my energy or my efforts, I want
it to truly be for your glory and
I want to be able to live quietly,
continuously before you.
Amen?
Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for your love and your
desire, Lord, to help us, Lord.
And I pray that as in this chapter,
you kind of take us out in public
and then you put other people around us.
And then you tell us and you give
us opportunities to say, do you love me?
We'll serve them and help and give.
And as you serve, make sure it's me
you're serving.
And do it as unto me.
And I'll help you mow the lawn and
I'll drag you with me.
We'll stay in fellowship all the way through
it.
It won't be you doing these things anyway.
Everything you've got, every accomplishment, I'm doing it.
Every blessing that's in your life.
And so when you take something out that
I've given to you and give to another,
don't use it as an opportunity to think
or anything.
Lord, I pray that we would value more
just walking across the grass, cutting the lawn
with you more than anything that's accomplished by
anybody walking down the street.
That we would look and say the great
thrill in life is living in communion with
Jesus Christ.
The great thrill in life is the fact
that he has so loved me and blessed
me and has changed places with me and
is giving me victory over my own heart
and my own life and my own weaknesses,
my own flesh and my own carnality.
And then as I learn to give back
and respond, Lord, may I now, with other
people in the room, so to speak, may
I now live quietly before you still, Jesus.
May it be before my heavenly Father who
seeth in secret.
Teach us these profound and yet so simple
lessons.
We ask it in Jesus' name.
Amen.