MATTHEW 6:19-24 - LAY UP YOUR TREASURES IN HEAVEN

 

From the teaching on prayer (6:5-18) Jesus moves on to the matter of dealing with our view on material things in 6:19-24. 

Let’s face it. There are few matters that worry us more than the matter of material security. An unknown poet once wrote, “possessions weigh me down in life, I never feel quite free. I often wonder whether I own my things or whether my things own me.”  I say this as Marcelle and I are on the verge of leaving the security that a salaried life affords. One of the greatest anxieties for people facing retirement is this question, “Will I have enough money to make it through my last years“?  But, material worries are not just the domain of pensioners; many if not most people struggle with materialism.

Now, remember again, that the Lord Jesus was talking to disciples - to Christians. We sometimes assume that Christians shouldn’t be anxious about possessions or money. That is  why the next  part of the sermon deals with anxiety over material things  (6:25-34), and this because Christians do struggle with anxiety. And so our Lord makes a point about this in His sermon on Christian discipleship.  It is clearly a relevant subject for our day. Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones preached a sermon on this text, entitled “God or Mammon?”, and he says  in his introduction, “ … there is nothing  so fatal and tragic as to think that words like these have nothing  to do with us  because we are Christians. Indeed, this is perhaps the most urgent word that is needed by Christian people at this very moment. The world is so subtle; worldliness is such a pervasive thing, that we are all guilty of it, and often without realizing it.”[1] 

What is it then that  we need  to hear concerning the matter of earthly treasures,  which tend to absorb so much of our energies?  What do we as Christian people here at Eastside need to hear about our money and possessions or perhaps lack thereof?  It is this: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in  and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”   [Matt 6: 19-24].

We need to hear 3 things!

(i) Earthly treasures are  temporal:  We need to hear that  these things decay (moth and rust destroys everything); these things disappear (thieves break in and steal). From an investment point of view, the hanging of our hearts on to earthly treasures is therefore not a sound investment.    

(ii) Treasures should be laid up in heaven. We need to hear this. We need to have our attention drawn to the fact that our ultimate destiny is not our pensionable age. Our ultimate destiny is heaven. This means that we  should invest  NOW  in our eternal future. We are assured that this is a good investment. Heaven is a place of safe returns where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in. 

(iii) Earthly treasures are heart consuming. We need to hear what Jesus says about the terrible danger of having your heart in the wrong place with respect to our ‘treasures’ (6:21). Many of us start with ideals of not being possessed by material things. But then slowly, as life’s happens and as  the attractions of the world begin to lure us  and as  peer pressure begins to mount, our resolutions dwindle away. We get enslaved. Our hearts get captured.   Perhaps we own a lot of property, or perhaps we have a lot of debt.  These things bring worry. Worry in turn enslaves our hearts, so that we cannot live as the Lord’s free people. Paul laments the fact that Demas,  in love with this present world has deserted him (2 Tim. 4:9). The Lord Jesus warns us, ”Watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life…” (Lk. 21:34). Anything that grips our heart, mind and will, absorbing us to the point that we lose perspective on our true, eternal, ultimate goal and treasure and any undue concern for material things to the point of an enslavement need to be watched. And in 6:24 Jesus  says that we cannot treasure both God and money on the same level. We need to hear this, and we need to take these things to heart.

6:22,23 How  we get trapped  by our treasures

Where does it all begin? Hear this: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! [6:22,23]

For many people these 2 verses make very little sense at face value. But if you consider the context, it makes very much sense. Where do our wrong priorities begin?  When and  how is our heart taken captive by treasures? These two verses provide the answer. They begin with the eyes - the eye gate - the way we look at treasures! Oh be careful little eyes what you see! According to Jesus, there are only two ways in which you can look at treasures. A consideration of the original Greek text helps us here. You look through a good (Gr. haplous lit. ‘to look through a single eye’)   eye, or you look through a  bad eye (Gr. poneros literally, evil eyes). 

The first man looks at “earthly treasures” through a single (good) eye. He sees things for what they really are. He sees them from God’s point -  the biblical point of view.  For him, earthly treasures are gifts from God to be used for God’s glory and for our enjoyment.  The other man has an evil eye. His vision is affected, but not by  God’s view - a biblical world view.  His vision is  coloured  as 1 Jn. 2:16 says,  “by  all that is in the world -  the desires of the flesh  and the desires of the eyes and pride of life“. He loves and desires these things for themselves , and not with a God centred world view.  There are so many illustrations of this in the Bible.

Judas’ evil eye is seen in that he does not ultimately look to the “Lord of glory“, whom he professed with the lips; but he looks to the thirty pieces of silver that he may gain for himself. We have already noted  what Paul said about a former co-worker, Demas in 2 Timothy 4:10 , “ who,  because he loved this world, has deserted me …”  Paul also exposes the  evil eye in 1 Timothy 6:10 when he says: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. “

One more illustration from the Old Testament will help us.  In Joshua 7 we find the first negative incident in terms of the conquest   of the Promised Land. There is always  someone  in Israel  (or  in the church)  who does not think that God’s commandments  are  to be taken   seriously.  Israel was expressly warned by God not to take anything  from Jericho (see Josh 6:18). Everything was to be devoted to the Lord, since Jericho represented the ‘first-fruits ‘of Israel’s conquest into the promised land. But what does a man called Achan do?  He takes some of the devoted things. As a result God was not pleased and so Israel suffered her first defeat.  What happened?  The anatomy of his sin is well described in Joshua 7: 20 – 21: “I saw … I coveted … I took!” Where did his sin begin?  With the evil eye - with what he saw!

So here’s the heart of the matter. Jesus says that wrong thinking about material things begins with our eyes. If our eyes are good they are full of light, meaning that they are committed to do God’s will. But if the eyes are bad (evil), then this will issue in darkness. In this case it means that our “treasures’ will become  our god, and therefore we descend into darkness.

6:24  God and money?

Now the specific question about treasures arises in 6:24. Can one perhaps not serve both, God and money/possessions? No! Says Jesus – you cannot serve two masters. There will ultimately only be only one master – money or God. The problem with earthly treasures is that they demand our entire devotion. They want us to live for them in an absolute way. But so does God!  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength…” (Mk.12:30).

And your heart will make a choice.   

And anything that places earthly treasures before God is called idolatry in the Bible. And God must always have the priority. “I am the Lord your God … you shall have no other gods before me…”  (Ex. 20:1,2). The Creator is always greater than the things that He created for our use and pleasure.  We must remember that the way in which we look at these created things ultimately determine our relationship with God. And if these earthly treasures control us, then we  are essentially God- less, whatever  we may say to the contrary .

Here’s a sobering  thought: The man who puts  his treasures  before  God  but  thinks  that he is godly because he  believes in God, occasionally  talks about God, gives his offerings,  goes to church once on a Sunday  when he’s in town,  may actually be even in greater danger, because in his heart he is  simply religious and not really devoted to God.  Now look at what Jesus says in the second half of 6:23: “If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness“. Do you see what Jesus is saying here? Here’s a man who claims to be a Christian. He claims to be in the light. But his heart and deeds deny him. He loves his possessions, time, and even his family (see the warning in Matthew  10:37) more than God is in danger of losing God, and if you lose God, then you lose heaven and eternal life. Such darkness is very great, says Jesus, because this man is doing this in the  light!

Conclusion

Dr Lloyd Jones tells the  story of a farmer who joyfully  announced to his family that their favourite cow had given birth to twin calves- one red and one white. And he said to his family, “I really think that we must dedicate and give one of these calves to the Lord.  When it is grown up, we will sell her and give the proceeds to the Lord‘s work.” His wife asked him which one he was going to dedicate to the Lord.  He said that he wouldn’t bother about that right now. One day, after a few months, the farmer came home, looking very sad and dejected. He said to his wife that the Lord’s calf was dead.  She said, ”But  you had not yet decided which one was the Lord’s.” He said: “Oh I had always known in my heart that it was the white one that belonged to the Lord!  The Lord’s calf is dead!“

We may laugh at the story - but we may be laughing at ourselves. It is most often the Lord’s calf that dies. When money becomes tight, the first thing that goes is the Lord’s money.  When time is tight, the first thing that disappears is our private and public  worship– spending time in God’s presence, loving Him, serving Him, doing  good for His sake , and all because we love Him who loved  us first  so much.

When we begin to constantly make excuses as to why we cannot be found in His presence,  and  when we constantly substitute our  earthly treasure for Him,  who is  our greatest treasure, then it is time to ask  whether  we will not perhaps   be those  of whom He speaks  7:21-23- “I never knew you”  

So I must ask you: What does this ultimately tell about  you? Who do you  really serve?  God or earthly treasures?

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[1] Martyn Lloyd Jones: Studies in the Sermon on the Mount (IVP), Vol 2, p.86 

MATTHEW 5:17 – 20 CHRIST AND THE LAW; The Christian and the Law

 

 SUMMARY OF  PREVIOUS  GROUND COVERED IN THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 

1. The Beatitudes (5:1-12) reveal the essential characteristics of the Christian.

2. The Salt and Light metaphors of  5:13 - 16  exhibit the nature of Christian influence in the  world, acting as it were  as preservatives  to a decaying society and as  illuminators  to a world in darkness  and thus with no sense of direction.   

5: 17-20: Christ and the Law; The Christian and the Law

This is an important topic. Many Christians are confused about the function of the OT law. 

Views on this topic generally range between two extremes:

(i)         The law is nothing. It no longer applies to the Christian.   Therefore the law has no place in the life of a believer. Such people say that the law is no longer relevant since Christ has died to redeem us from the curse of the law. This is of course true, but it ignores the true function of the law.

(ii)        The law is everything. The keeping of the law is necessary for salvation.  This is essentially the view of the Pharisees.  But what does Jesus say?

5:17-18 CHRIST AND THE LAW

Here Jesus firmly asserts in 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets” – by which He means the whole O.T.  This may be a response to His perpetual critics, the Pharisees, who were thinking that this popular teacher, Jesus had come to abolish the law, the Torah. This is the impression they perceive in the incident of the plucking of corn on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1), and the healing of a man's shrivelled hand on that same Sabbath (Matt. 12:10).  Let’s consider this for a moment.  The OT Scriptures nowhere forbid either activity explicitly. So where then did they get this idea from? The Pharisees got this from their ‘commentaries’ on the OT – the Mishnah and Talmud[1]. Jewish scholars looked at the Torah - the law of Moses, and determined that it contained 613 commandments: 248 positive and 365 negative. The next step they took was to create a hedge around these commandments, so that nobody could possibly break these holy laws intentionally or accidentally. And so for instance, concerning the breaking of the Sabbath[2], they had created 39 prohibited acts in relation to the Sabbath alone.

We find that Jesus does not overrule the Torah – and in particular the heart of the Torah -  the moral law, the 10 commandments.  But Jesus  does overrule the additional applications and interpretations of the Pharisees.  That is why you will find Jesus questioning a good number of their interpretations with these words, “You have heard it said … But I say to you…”  (e.g. Matt. 5:22,28,32,34,39,44). To the common people this seemed like a new teaching, because they were so used to hear what the Pharisees had taught them. "What is this? A new teaching with authority!” (Mk 1:27). In truth it was the plain, old, purest form of the teachings of Moses. 

All this raised big questions concerning the relationship between Jesus’ authority and the authority of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, who claimed to stand upon the traditions of the elders. As such they thought of themselves as the custodians of the law, interpreting the law for the people.  And now here was a man who spoke with His own authority, "Truly (Amen) I say to you..." (5:18,22,26,28,32,34,39,44 etc.). 

Was He setting Himself up as an authority   against the holy Law of Moses, the Word of God?

Jesus immediately lays these thoughts to rest in 5:17. He is not abolishing the law. Quite the opposite will be true. In fact, He will give the law an even profounder status - far higher than the Pharisees! We shall see this in the coming “you have heard it said… but I say” passages to come in Matthew 5. Here is an example. The law teaches, “You shall not commit adultery” (Matt. 5:27 cf. Ex 20:14) - the 7th commandment.  The Pharisees limited this to actual acts of adultery.  Jesus raises the standard in 5:28, “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart!” Here Jesus enters into the area of motives – the starting point of all sin – the heart, making the matter of sin  much deeper and darker. The law is profounder  than we would care to believe.

Now notice what He says about the law: “I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill[3] (literally to fill) them.” Jesus did not come to set the law aside but to fill it up, to give it proper application and perspective. Do you see?  There is no implication here that the OT moral law is in any way obsolete. How can it be obsolete? The law is holy because it is first given by a holy God.  It is perfect (Psalm 19:3). Psalm 119 teaches us to have a high regard for the law of God.

The problem then is not with the law, but what fallen sinners do with the law.  This has been the problem ever since.  In our hands the law of God is easily manipulated, misinterpreted and misapplied. In the hands of Jesus it is fully clarified. That is why the New Testament is really the key to a proper understanding of the law. Without the New Testament - without Jesus’ clarifying words on the use of the law,  the plain Old Testament is easily abused. 

Let’s settle a few things about the importance of  the Old Testament:

The OT is the source of all doctrinal teaching. The OT was the sourcebook of Jesus’ and the apostle’s teaching. The OT instructs us about the doctrine of God, man, sin and salvation. All the great biblical doctrines are there. And yet in our sinful condition we cannot understand the significance of these until Jesus comes and ties all the knots together in His person and work.  The person and work of the Lord Jesus are the interpretational  key  to the OT. Bishop J.C. Rile summed it up like this: "The O.T. is the gospel in the bud; the N.T. is the gospel in full flower." Martin Luther put it like this:  “The gospel (Christ) is in the O.T. concealed and in the N.T. revealed.". And so we find that  O.T.’s   predictive prophecy looks forward to the days of the Messiah (e.g. Isaiah 53)  or  by  foreshadowing  Him in type (e.g. the  Passover lamb  Exod.12   or  Abraham’s substitutionary ram  in Isaac’s place Gen. 12).  All these were the anticipation of the true fulfilment, which Jesus fulfilled it in His first coming, death and resurrection. The OT also contains our ethical precepts - the moral law - the 10 commandments, all affirmed by Jesus, without which civilization can just not exist.

So we see that Jesus does not abolish the law, but He comes to reveal the depths of the meaning of the law, disposing of all superficial ideas, and instituting the radical demands of the righteousness of a holy and just God. He came not to abolish, but to fulfill in the fullest sense. That is why He says in  5:18,  not  an iota (the “yod” in Hebrew) -  the smallest letter of the Greek and  the Hebrew alphabet; not a dot  “keraia”, which distinguishes  some Hebrew letters from others, will fall away – not until heaven and  earth pass away. Jesus says  that  the law is as enduring as the Universe.

Jesus could not have stated His own view of the Old Testament more clearly than this. And therefore this should end all our arguments about the law. Now that Jesus has shown us in 5:17 & 18 that He is the fulfilment of the law, He now helps us as Christians to “live with the law”.

2.  5: 19 & 20 THE CHRISTIAN AND THE LAW

The original Greek text in  5:19 begins with a “therefore“  [correctly translated by the ESV  but not the NIV] “Therefore, if anyone shall relax (lit. loosen)  one of the least of these commandments…”. By means of this conjunction Jesus connects His own high regard for the law to  what He would expect of His disciples to do  with the law: “Therefore whoever  relaxes one of the least  of the least of these commandments  and teaches others to do the same  will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever  does them and teaches  them will  be called great  in the kingdom of heaven .”

Whatever we do with the law, we teach others - some through poor example, and others by good example.  Please take note that greatness in the kingdom of God will be measured by our obedience and conformity to the law.  Jesus says that even the least of the commandments should be obeyed – precisely because it is a commandment of God our  King. To break or relax the least of the commandments is to loosen its hold on our conscience and authority in our life. That is when we sin against God. That is when we lose spiritual power. That is when we teach others wrongly. So the consequence is that if we downplay God’s laws and commandments we may find ourselves at the bottom of the ladder in the kingdom.  Please note that the keeping of the law does not earn us our salvation. Our salvation is rooted in the finished work of Jesus.  His Name is Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins (1:21). He is the One who baptises us with the Holy Spirit. But our disregard or regard of the law   will earn us ‘ least ‘or ‘great’ in the kingdom of heaven. 

In 5:20 Jesus now turns our attention to the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. Jesus  says  that “unless  your  righteousness  exceeds that of the scribes and the  Pharisees, you  will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” What does he mean? Well, clearly the Pharisees had a very high outward regard for the law.  Sadly though, it was a defective understanding of the law, precisely because it was merely focussed on outward behaviour.  Once you peeled the outward away this is what you saw : In Matthew 23 Jesus had  a number  of charges against the Pharisees. Here are some...

They preach but do not practise. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, whilst being unwilling to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others… (23:3-5).They shut the kingdom in people’s faces (23:13). They neglect the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faithfulness (23:23).  They are concerned with externalities, but inside are full of greed and self -indulgence (23:25), full of hypocrisy and lawlessness (23:27). 

The ultimate goal of the Pharisee was to not to obey God from the heart, but to impress Him with outward displays that looked impressive (and unattainable to the ordinary man and woman).   We now understand that the Pharisees had outwardly high standards, which anyone would find hard to keep. But we also understand now that   the Pharisees did not keep the standards  of  God either , because Jesus  standard,  which is God’s law,  is  even  higher than theirs! How then shall we be saved? Certainly not by works of the law!

Here’s the answer and conclusion: Get your centre right! Jesus says, “You need a righteousness not  based on the law  or derived from the law, although the law is holy and righteousness in itself. But you can’t keep it, and all your attempts will fail (and the Pharisees tried harder than all not to fail). So,  look to me,  receive my righteousness.  The imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is that RIGHTEOUSNESS ALONE WHICH  BY FAR EXCEEDS THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE SCRIBES AND THE PHARISEES.

It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ the Righteous One in whom we must be clothed if we were to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is that righteousness of Christ, which in the closing words of Jude 24,   "...keeps us from falling and which presents us before His glorious presence with exceeding joy..." AMEN.

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[1] The Talmud is a collection of writings that covers the full gamut of Jewish law and tradition, compiled and edited between the third and sixth centuries  BC. Written in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic, it records the teachings and discussions of the great academies of the Holy Land and Babylonia.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_(Talmud)

[3]  Greek : plerosai  - to fill

Matthew 5:13 - CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE #1 - You are the Salt of the Earth

Here is a question.  Do you believe that our lives can make or should make a difference in this world? 

We have previously  considered  Matthew  5:3 - 12 (The Beatitudes)  in which our Lord Jesus teaches  us   concerning the essential  (and very counter cultural) character  of  a  Christian. The salt and light metaphors which now follow in 5:13-16 indicate that our lives should be an influence for good in this world.

A word about our context is in order. The opening verses  of  this Sermon on the Mount (Chapters 5-7)known as the “Beatitudes“ (5:1-12) are  seminal, for here the Lord Jesus  teaches us concerning the essential marks of  Christian character. So, you say you are converted? You say that you have repented of your sin and turned to Christ?  So, how do I know, how does anyone else know that you and I are a Christian?  What are the essential marks? Who are those that are truly considered blessed by God? Jesus taught the following (5:2):

• A Christian knows  their own poverty before God and therefore their need of Him (5:3). 
• A true Christian mourns because of the sin that is in the world (5:4).
• Because of this  a Christian is a meek person (5:5). 
• A Christian hungers and thirsts after righteousness – the righteousness of God (5:6). 
• A Christian is merciful (5:7). 
• A Christian longs for purity in heart –for godly holiness (5:8). 
• A  Christian is not a troublemaker,  but a   peacemaker (5:9), 
• ...and yet paradoxically  because of their Christ-like attitude  they are often  persecuted for righteousness sake (5:10-11).

These are the typical actions and attitudes of the true Christian. They are not known primarily by their words, but by their fruit (Matt. 7:20).

And now, following the Beatitudes, Jesus proceeds to show us how a Christian life ought to affect or influence our surroundings. I am answering my question:  Do you believe that our lives can make a difference? ABOLUTELY YES!  In order to illustrate this influence Jesus  makes use of two metaphors: Salt and Light!

There is much to say about these two metaphors  and therefore I will divide this subject into two sermons.  Today  we shall simply consider the first metaphor, SALT  in 5:13 : “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. “

3 Observations from this text…

 

1.                  The Christian life is meant to be lived out and expressed in this earth (world).

2.                  The effects of living the Christian life are comparable to the effect that salt has on its environment.

3.                  ‘Salt-less’ Christians are contradictions in terms and useless for God’s kingdom purposes.

1.         The Christian life is meant to be lived and expressed in the earth

The context of our Christian life, lived out in the spirit of the beatitudes (5:3-12), is this   earth, this world.  This is the world into which we are born into, and this is the world in which the Spirit of God causes a Christian to be born again. In this world a Christian is called to live out their   faith.  The Christian shares a common humanity with all the people of this  world, but through the new birth, and by the sanctifying power and work of the Holy Spirit the Christian has received power and desires to think and act  differently to the norms of this world. The contrary nature of their thinking and acting has already been explained in 5:2-12. In this world, Christians must be nurtured and raised to the glory of God. What a challenge! 

When you become a Christian, God does not transport you to another planet. Neither does He place you into a protected environment. Christians are not given separate cities to live in. They are not given a Christian country for themselves. Christians are called to live by God’s power and standards, and they must often  do this  living in the midst of ungodly, atheistic, agnostic  and idolatrous societies. 

It appears to be a strange paradox by which the Christian must live in this world. The Christian is told that he must live in this world, and yet he is not of this world. He is ultimately not a citizen of this world. Jesus, in His High priestly prayer (Jn. 17) prays to the Father concerning His disciples, says on the one hand, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it" (Jn.17:16) and yet He prays: "...take them not out of the world, but protect them from the evil one." (Jn.17:15)

Biblical logic  is  very counter-cultural and very unusual.  What lasting influence can the poor, the mourning, the meek, the merciful, the pure, the peacemaker have in this world?  Will they not simply be trodden upon or persecuted, as indicated 5: 11-12? How will they survive in an aggressive, self- centred world, where things can seemingly only get done through  assertiveness, brutality and selfishness? 

It is evident, that Jesus does not share my scepticism. He tells His disciples that they are to be "salt and light" in this world despite the fact that it may not go well with them. So, how can Christians, with such, humanly speaking  weak influences exert a powerful influence in  this world? In this text we have an answer to this question.      

 2. Salt has an  Effect  on its Environment.

"You are the SALT of the earth".  Here Jesus says two things. Firstly, He describes  the effect that living a Christian life  has on this world. Secondly, He also tells us something by implication what the world is like.

Jesus uses  the salt metaphor  to  describe  Christian influence. When Christians live   in the spirit of  5:3-12 they  act  like salt.  We know that salt is a preservative. When used as a preservative it keeps food from rotting.   Christians are the preservatives of the earth. This implies that the earth without the presence and influence of Christians rots. 

Since the fall in Genesis 3 death and decay is  written into the DNA of this earth. Every living thing grows and dies.  We die. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).  Nothing lasts for ever.

The Bible teaches us that man is not naturally tended towards good. Leaving a child to grow up by itself will not make it better. Life needs a restorative power. That restorative  power  is provided by God through the gospel of  Jesus  Christ. But the gospel  of Jesus has been put into the hands  and mouths  of  Jesus’ redeemed people.  And so we can say that  Jesus’ people, the church of Jesus, has been given for the healing of the nations. The church stops the rot!  As the church  preaches the gospel, and  as people are saved  through the  life –giving Word of God,  and as  the Holy Spirit  opens ears, eyes and hearts so people  are plucked out of the fire and they  are now  justified  before God by grace through faith. They have eternal life. But that is not all. Now they must be discipled.  That is the process of sanctification.  They must grow out of their sin and out of the rot,  and  they must grow up into Christlikeness. Men and women   learn to put off the rot by  being  godly men and women , better husbands and wives, leaving their respective societies in a better shape than they find them. The church, that is the sum-total of all  Christians,  must  do the preaching that leads  sinful men  and women away  from  damnation  to justification, and the church  must also  do the preaching that leads to sanctification.  The great work of the church is to worship and to work.  Working  for Christians  means, acting like salt. 

From worship on Sunday we go into the week meeting, praying for, encouraging, helping  broken sinners -  broken by personal sin  and broken  by being sinned against.   Daily Christians go to work , working against  the strong satanic  tide of destruction, bringing  the salt of Christ’s gospel  into every situation.  We leave people in a better shape than we find them. In this way we see that  Christian people are the salt - the preserving agent of society.

The encouraging fact is that  a relatively small amount of salt makes a huge difference to the preservation  of meat.  A small church   filled with true disciples of Jesus, with the heart of a Christian described in  5:3-12,  can have an amazing influence  upon their society. Christians do not have to be a majority in order to control their ever decaying  society.

Christians that are truly salt  i.e. “that have salt in themselves” (Mk. 9:50)  can make a huge difference, even  though they are in the minority.  Simply think of the influence which a Christian has when they enter into a room in which people are blaspheming and   gossiping.  Their presence has an immediate effect. The Christian does not say a word, but   people begin to modify their language. He is acting like salt; she is controlling their decadent language.  In the same way, a honest God fearing Christian begets an ethical work environment. A holy pastor begets holy church members. 

From this perspective it would also be unimaginable to think what would happen if you took Christians out of this world. The world would bite and devour one another without the influences of the men and women of the statue found in 5:3-12.  Imagine there was no one mourning over sin, no one having mercy and no peacemakers. If you take Christians out of the world, it is just as good as saying that you take God out of the world, for Christians are the means through which God acts as salt.

The stress is also on the individual – on you to be salt. All too often we hide behind an organization, without having salt in ourselves. We can see  this  chronic ineffectiveness in these large humanitarian organizations managed by  people that do a job but they have no  motivation to be there,  except to get their salary at the end of the  month. And then  take an exceptional  man  like  George Mueller of Bristol  who in his life time  led an orphanage which  cared for, clothed,  fed and educated  over 10 000 orphans. Think of a man like  C.H. Spurgeon whose church had 66 societies (including an orphanage)  for the biblical upliftment of humanity

3. ‘Salt-less’ Christians are useless for  kingdom purposes

Finally, Jesus speaks about ‘salt-less salt’.  This is really a contradiction in terms. It is unimaginable for salt not to be salty. And that is precisely the point here. Salt-less salt is useless. Jesus uses this terminology to describe the paradox of a Christianity that has no effects upon its society. It is useless.  He uses  very strong language,  “ It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men …”  

This is  the same as  what Jesus  says in  Matt 25:30: “Throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…”.  

Salt-less Christians are like fruitless trees. They are   a contradiction in terms. Therefore such will not be found in heaven. This is no idle threat. This is a warning!  Jesus is not interested in you being a mere member of your Church. Dead branches are also attached to a vine and they will be cut off.  The question is this.  Are you a productive, preserving agent working together  with the "Eastside   Baptist  Church Saltworks" for the  preservation of our  corrupt society ? Are you exercising a healing ministry in this rotten world?

Don’t hide  behind the church, and say: "I'm a member of such and such a church, and my pastor says...". NO! “Have salt in yourselves!”  (Mk. 9:50) Stop the rot!  All the acts of parliament will not stop the rot. Newspaper articles will not arrest the decay. Obedient Christians – Christians in keeping with  5:3-12 will! This and nothing less will preserve our society from decay, for this is God’s plan for the church.   Be salt!

MATTHEW 5:4 BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN

 

The Sermon on the Mount in general, and the Beatitudes in particular, are truths spoken 
to Christ's disciples (5:1). This is not an evangelistic sermon. This is all about the application of the gospel which. It is a discipleship lesson. It is the exposition  of  the  Christian worldview. Francis Schaeffer called this  the Christian Manifesto. This is the faith that we are called to live out before the world.

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 – 7) begins with 8 characteristics of true Christian discipleship (Matt 5: 1-12).  These are unusual characteristics. They are out of character with the world in which we live, but they carry God’s approval. The Lord calls these that bear these characteristics as blessed or happy. To be blessed or happy is surely the desire of every man and woman in this world.  Here is God’s way to ultimate happiness in this world!

Our world at large and the Word of God have fundamentally a different set of values.  The Beatitudes in particular make that very clear.  This is obvious as we now consider the second beatitude - “Blessed are they that mourn”. At face value this is an absurd statement.  How can one that mourns be blessed? The biblical logic here evades the mind which is governed by conventional thinking. Conventionally our world doesn’t deal well with pain and suffering and ultimately death, which produce this state of mourning. Entire industries have been established to deal with this problem of sadness and mourning - pharmaceutical and medical and psychological.  A lot of money is spent on escaping pain, be it physical, emotional or of a spiritual nature. And generally we avoid conversations that cause us sadness and mourning. Have you noticed that when we meet someone and ask, “How are you?”, they will generally  answer, “Fine, thank you”, despite the   fact that   they might be screaming inside – “I am not ok - would  somebody help me please!”. We are so conditioned by our world to look good, feel good and to speak positive thoughts  into life so  that thoughts of sadness or mourning are desperately excluded. We see this particularly in the Western attitudes to death and mourning.  Western funeral services are generally short, they avoid coffins and burials and try to get things over and done with in a hurry. Healthy grieving is a rarity.  We want to get away from mourning over the harsh realities that govern our  world.

But Jesus says here that those who mourn are the ones that are ultimately blessed or happy, and they will be comforted. In the parallel account in Luke 6:21b there is an even more striking statement of this truth: “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.”  What does He mean? What is He getting at?

Jesus statement  goes beyond thoughts of  conventional  mourning.  He is not referring to those who mourn  or weep in  the most common  sense e.g. the loss of a loved one, the loss of health or the loss of material possessions and the like.  He goes far deeper. He is going to the root of the problem- the ultimate cause of all mourning. The profoundest problem which this world faces is the problem of sin, and the way in which this adversely affects all people. Jesus is speaking about a sense of mourning which is induced by the knowledge of what sin is and does. 

Similarly, in the previous verse we see that poverty of spirit does not refer to economic or intellectual poverty.  He goes deeper, to the root of the problem. He speaks about our spiritual poverty – our inability to see the world as God sees it – a world so disfigured and marred by sin.

And so when Jesus is speaking to His disciples, He is speaking to them and to us about an understanding of our own sin and the sin of our world. He speaks to us on the basis of having been redeemed from the awful, eternal consequences of that sin. He speaks to us about our new relationship to this world. That is why these beatitudes are followed by the statements on being the salt of the earth and the light of the world (5:13-16).

And so Jesus is calling those blessed who have an insight into their poverty of spirit. He is calling those blessed  that grieve  and  mourn – who see sin for what it is  and what it does. Only when we see the world as God sees it, and only when we see God’s  solution  to the world’s problem  will we be comforted.  

BACKING THIS UP WITH THE TEACHING OF THE N.T. IN GENERAL

When we seek an example of one who was grieved by the state of the world it was our Lord Jesus Himself. Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones drew my attention to the fact that we never read in the Scripture of the fact that Jesus laughed. We are told that He was angry, that He hungered and thirsted - but there is no record of laughter. Recognizing that an argument from silence is a dangerous one, we must nevertheless pay attention to that fact. The prophecy of Isaiah 53:3 portrays Him essentially as a "man of sorrows and familiar with suffering".  Jesus wept over godless Jerusalem in Lk 19:41-44. He was grieved and angered when he saw the temple abused (Mk. 11:15-17)

In applying this Jesus is calling His disciples to take a good look at themselves. Self- examination in spiritual matters is important.  We see this in Romans7.  Any thorough, honest self- examination will prove the reality of Rom 7:18, "I know that nothing good lives in me....". The Christian says, "For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do...” (Rom.7:15). To mourn is thus something which essentially follows from the first beatitude - being "poor in spirit".  As I contemplate the life that I am   meant to live, I see myself; I see my utter helplessness and  hopelessness, and I must mourn about the fact that I am like that. If we never subject ourselves to that  self- examination  we will never mourn, and therefore we will not be the people that  are ultimately blessed (happy). I need to point out that Paul’s solution, having cried out in 7:24 , “Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”, was the gospel, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

So then, with respect to this second beatitude it is really important that we develop an understanding of the biblical view of sin.  How does God see our world? The Bible describes man as totally depraved and alienated from God (see Romans 3:10-18).  Man is in a sad state, and there is nothing to suggest, that our condition is improving.  Evolutionary theory has suggested that we are evolving –that we are getting better. Based on this assumption modern Psychology (the study of the psuchē- the soul) treats man as basically good. Psychology ignores  the  biblical doctrine of sin, and says that   the basic problem is ignorance and that this can be cured by education. Unfortunately the facts of history stand against that sort of argument. Rulers and governments, with exceptions, have not improved the common lot of mankind over time. They may start off well, but they quickly deteriorate. From Scripture (mainly the OT) we learn that if the common grace of God  did not intervene from time to time we would have no civilisation  left. Unaided, we do not get better. We get worse. It is the doctrine of the common grace of God that keeps us and restrains us from destroying ourselves and others.

And so Jesus says, "Blessed are those who mourn!"  Blessed are you when you mourn and weep and lament over what sin  does in this world. Blessed are you  when you weep  over the sad state of your souls, the state of your  families and homes, your cities, your country, your continent and indeed – your world. Oh, dear people how we must lament, mourn  and weep, because of these things the wrath of God is coming.  And we must ask – what hope is there for us?  This is an important question, for this  introduces us to the need for the gospel.  

 FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED

An understanding of the Sermon on the Mount is so important. 

The Sermon on the Mount starts with negatives. We have to confess our poverty of spirit before we can be filled with the Holy Spirit. We must mourn   before we are comforted. CONVICTION must precede CONVERSION. A real sense of sin must come before there can be true joy of salvation.  Those that know that they have been forgiven much will love much (Lk. 7:47).   Once a person has grasped the awful nature and consequences of sin, and have reached out to Jesus and said , “Lord save me” – these  can never be the same again: They  will mourn, they will cry out, they will be comforted .

UNDERSTANDING THE TRUE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN JOY.

In what sense is the Christian blessed or happy? The Christian is happy because

(i)           they know  that they have their sin forgiven!

(ii)          The Christian knows that even now in all things they are more than  conquerors (Rom. 8:37). They are not slaves of sin.

(iii)        A Christian is  happy because  they  know  the  outcome -  our ultimate joy  will be the hope of glory (Rom 8:18). Paul writes, "we fix our eyes not on  that which is seen but on that which is unseen.” (2 Cor. 4:18) That is the basis of Christian comfort and therefore our joy.

We see he inseparable connection between godly sorrow and godly joy. And the outcome of that is  that a  Christian mourns but is not morbid. The Christian mourns but is not miserable. The Christian can have ‘gravitas’ – a seriousness, but they  are  not cold and prohibitive. There is warmth.

The Christian is a person that looks at life seriously, groaning because they understand the fact and nature of sin, but they are not in the hands of sin. They are in the hands of the Saviour, and therefore they are happy and blessed. They are fundamentally serious and fundamentally happy.

Here then, in this verse,is a high doctrine of sin and a high doctrine of joy. This knowledge taken together, produces the blessed, the happy person.

Biblical Christianity teaches us to look at the world and to weep; And we are called to look to our Saviour  and  we are comforted, both now and forevermore. Amen.

 

Matthew 25:31-46 "The Final Judgment "

 

We have come to the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount of Olives, as contained in Matthew 24 & 25. It contains Jesus’ most succinct teaching on the end times. From here follows a further plot to kill Jesus, His anointing at Bethany, the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the betrayal and arrest, the crucifixion and resurrection, ending with the Great Commission in Matthew 28.  

Today is Palm Sunday, the day on which the church remembers the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Normally we would focus on Matthew 21:1-11, but in the providence of God we can look to the greater fulfilment of that triumphal entry.  The ultimate triumphal entry will be the second coming of the Lord Jesus, and the ultimate event associated with that 2^nd coming is the final judgement, our focus for today.  We have seen the Lord Jesus speaking about His triumphal coming in 24:29ff. This was followed by 2 parables.  The parable of the 10 virgins (25:1-13) is an exhortation to be prepared for His second coming, and the parable of the talents (25:14-29) deals  with the matter of giving a personal account to  the Lord  for the  investment that He has made  in us. The closing words of the parable of the talents (25:28-30) lead us to the words on the final judgement (25:31-46). So, what we now read from v.31 onwards, builds on what Jesus has said before!  These are solemn and heart searching words.

Our text contains a description of

1.      His ultimate triumphal entry (v.31) “When the Son of Man comes in his glory…”

2.      The gathering of  all the nations (v.32a) “Before Him will be gathered all the nations”

3.      The great separation (vv.32b-46) “And he will separate people from one another…”

 

1.      THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY (v.31)

V. 31 The judgment of the whole world (all nations) begins when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with him…”. We will comment on the role of the angels later. This same Jesus who first came in the form of a little baby- supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary, born in humble circumstances, taking on the form of a servant, despised and rejected by men, nailed to a cross, suffering the punishment that was due to the worst of criminals - this same Jesus now comes in His true glory – the glory He had before the world existed (Jn.17:5).

“He will sit on His glorious throne”. God is on the throne of the Universe. This is the God whom Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6:1ff. The throne is a place of authority and judgement. God is the Supreme Judge.^[1] God the Father has submitted all judgment to Jesus (Jn. 5:22). He and the Father are one, and they are united in their judgement.

2.      THE GATHERING OF ALL THE NATIONS (v.32a)

“Before Him will be gathered all the nations…” – these are all people, created in his image, from all times, since the beginning of the creation of man, from Adam and Eve to the last one born before the coming of Christ. All will be gathered before Him who is seated on His glorious throne.

3.       THE GREAT SEPARATION  (vv.32b-46)

This is what constitutes the main part of our text. These are Jesus’ closing comments   of His teaching on the final things. The key word  is  separation[2]: “And he will separate people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats“.

In the first place we need to ask, “What gives Him the right to separate the peoples of the world in this way?” The people of the world may now say, “but, I never belonged to this Christian religion! I was a Muslim, a Buddhist, or an Atheist. He has no right to judge me.” The Bible however maintains that this YAHWEH, the LORD, this JESUS  whom they have denied  and despised  is in fact  the sovereign ruler of the earth. The Bible steadfastly maintains that “the earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all those that dwell therein” (Ps.24:1). Since then He owns all people, He has the right to judge all people/ nations.

Secondly, we need to ask, “How will he judge all people, seeing that many have returned to dust?” Now we need to remember that the second coming of Christ will be associated with a general resurrection of the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15).  Note that the righteous dead will be resurrected first (1 Thess. 4:16,17). All this is in accordance with the prophecy of Daniel:  “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt“(Dan.12:2). The Bible insists that at the end of the ages there must be a righteous judgement, and we are glad, for there is so much unfairness and injustice   in this world now.  So, He must judge all! This teaching is strongly represented in the apostolic message. Peter, when called to speak to the household of Cornelius, said in Acts 10:42: “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead”. To the Athenian philosophers Paul said, “he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). To the Corinthians  he wrote,  “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”(2 Cor. 5:10) 

Associated with the coming of Christ will be the angels. They do not only accompany Him in an impressive dazzling splendor at His triumphal return, but we note that they have a specific job to do. Their work is to gather the evil doers. In Matt.13:41-42 (Parable of the weeds) we read  “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and  throw them into the fiery furnace.” But their work will also be to gather the elect (Matt.24:31). “And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” So we see then that the world (the nations) – the just and the unjust, the wicked and the elect are both spoken to by the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole world is accountable before God (Rom 3:19).

Now follows the teaching on the great Separation:  “… and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”  (25:32b-33). The parable of the wheat and the weeds teaches us that sheep and goats, Christ’s people and non- Christians live together in this world, until that day when the Great Shepherd comes. On that day He will make an accurate distinction between the two.  But what will be the criteria by which He separate them?

25:34- 46  A  Commendation and a Condemnation

Here we find the basis of Jesus’ acquittal and judgment, respectively on the righteous (25:34-40) and the on the unrighteous  (25:41-46). 

1.  The commendation (25:34-40) with respect to the sheep comes first.  V.34 is a crucial text. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom  prepared for you from the  foundation of the world.  Why is this verse important? It forms the basis of a true believer’s justification before God. Now look at vv. 35 & 36. If you read this without first considering v.34,  you might come to the conclusion that  the  commendation of the righteous is primarily based on their good works! “I fed the hungry; I welcomed strangers; I clothed the naked; I visited the sick; I visited the prisoners….”. The tempting conclusion is that since I did these things,  therefore I will inherit the kingdom.  But NO! The justification of the righteous is established on the basis of their election in eternity… ”from the foundation of the world” (v.34). This matches Jesus own teaching in this sermon, here (see Matthew 24:22,24,31) and elsewhere. The basis of God’s salvation is rooted not in our works but in His mercy.  The Bible teaches that God’s sheep are justified before the beginning of time.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ; for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love He predestined us …  (Eph.1:3-4)

“God … who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.“ (2 Tim. 1:9)  

Nobody is ever justified on the basis of their works before God. We are always justified on the basis of God’s sovereign  grace ALONE, which is based on the atoning death of Christ for sinners ALONE. He ALONE is the ROOT of our salvation. 

Having said that, what then about the strong emphasis on the good works (or the absence of them) that the Great Judge, the Lord Jesus Christ sees, (or fails to see) here?   They are the FRUIT, or the lack of FRUIT which demonstrate our salvation. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING – FRUIT BEARING CHRISTIANS

You will remember that throughout His ministry on earth, the Lord Jesus had stressed the importance of showing mercy to the poor, the hungry and the naked and the sick and those that were imprisoned because of righteousness.^[3]  He commands each believer to do the same. What is of significance here is the fact that in each case, a little need is met in the lives of the least of my brothers (i.e. those of the Christian household- who should be always first à Gal. 6:10). Serving the members of Christ in this way honours and serves the Lord Jesus Christ (v.40). Jesus is most honoured in the daily, spontaneous, random little acts of Christian compassion. They are daily moved by the love of Jesus to do these things, and they are mostly not aware of the good that they do to their brothers. These are called the ‘blessed’ here. Wonderful!

By way of contrast we find the proof of absent works in vv.41-45.  Christ’s words to them begin with a condemnation (v.41):  “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels“.  Notice - their judgment rests on the proof of absence of love for the least of these members of his household.   Notice that not a single mention of the really bad sins, murder, idolatry, adultery, theft etc. is mentioned! The Bible is clear that these will not inherit the kingdom of heaven (Gal. 5:19-21). Jesus is here focusing on the subtle sins and signs of absence of grace in the heart.  Notice that the wicked express surprise at the fact  that they are  judged  for  their lack of caring  for these ‘ little things’ (v.44). But in truth their lack of care in these matters shows that they have an unbelieving heart. They have no ROOT and therefore no FRUIT. The result  product of unbelief is eternal punishment (24: 51; 25: 30 41, 46)

CONCLUSION

Jesus’ teaching on the end-times in Matt 24 & 25  does not only reveal  the destruction of the physical temple,  and  the deception  of  many by  the anti- Christ, and the subsequent  victorious  coming of Christ –  and the destruction  of the universe as we know it.  He draws attention  to our readiness to receive Him. He draws attention to the fruitfulness  of our lives in the parable of the talents, and in particular our daily  fruitfulness in the ordinary  things that flow out of our hearts in particular to our brothers and sisters in  Christ. He concludes His teaching by speaking of your and my commendation or condemnation  at the end of days! 

It begs us to take a good look at ourselves and  the great question therefore is this: WHERE WILL YOU SPEND ETERNITY?

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[1] Genesis  18:25; Isa 30:18 ;  Psalm 75:7

[2] Greek:  aphorizō  lit. to mark off by boundaries or  limits (apo- from; horizo –to determine /mark out)

[3] E.g.  Matt 5:7 ; 43-48; 8:17; 9:36; 11:28-30; 12:7,20-21; 14:16,24-36 ;  15:32; 18:1-6, 22,35 ;  19:13-15; 20:28; 22:9,37-39 ;  23:37)