Matthew 6:19-24

Yesterday I was driving behind a very swish, brand new sports car with ‘P’ plates, and very lovely pink personalised number plates. This was obviously a present from parents who deeply loved their daughter and wanted to give her something special. My first reaction on seeing this car, and the pretty, little, very well dressed blond behind the wheel, was of disgust at the filthy rich, spoiled little girl driving the car and making assumptions about her attitude towards the people I serve in my counselling work, the have-nots of this world. What right did I have to make that judgement and why did I make it? As I reflected on this I concluded that a tiny part of it was jealousy that I had never had such loving parents, and I wasn’t able to buy my children cars. Then I considered that my children had worked hard and proudly bought their first second-hand cars and felt such a great sense of empowerment and accomplishment at achieving that aim. So had this girl’s parents served her well by buying her this gorgeous car? A former colleague of mine believed a parent should buy their child a car and did so for her son. He proceeded to drive the car through toll roads without paying, racking up a four figure debt, and failed to maintain the car so that it broke down. What had he learned about what he could achieve, and about personal responsibility? Sometimes, giving our children what they want does not help them. Instead, supporting them while they achieve for themselves helps them far more effectively. So then I thought about God and how He often does this for us. We want and get annoyed with him, and yes, angry, because He doesn’t give. So I thought of the dreadful time when we returned to Australia, leaving behind our European House we could not sell. I wanted the security of owning a house. I didn’t want this nightmare world of renting. My husband and I had always owned our own home and now we were facing losing it and any chance of every owning a house again. To me this was terrifying. I told God I was angry with Him, I demanded He fix things. He didn’t. We lost the house and are still living in rented accommodation after eight years in the rental wilderness. In denying us the house I craved, God has shown me that true security lies in trusting Him, not owning a house. That living in rented accommodation means He can move us as often as He wants, and to completely different areas, according to His will. I don’t know what the future holds but I have learned that my god is not the security of owning a house. My God is God and the security of His love, and His complete trustworthiness. My treasure is in Heaven, not in home ownership, not in a flash sports car or an expensive outfit and hairstyle.

In verse 24, Jesus tells his disciples that they cannot serve two masters because they will love one and hate the other. We can own things, but must not make them the thing we worship. I can own a house and worship the security I believe home ownership gives me, but it is a poor master compared to God. And this brings me to the rest of my feelings over this posh car. It is not wrong to be wealthy and have possessions. What matters is your attitude to those possessions and how they are acquired. Has your pursuit of money and possessions involved treating other people unfairly, or exploiting them? If you own such possessions what is your attitude towards others and towards how you use the possessions God has given you? Are they there for your own delight, or are they available, if needed, for those God directs you to help? When you vote in elections are you voting for the political party that has a social conscience and cares for the “widows and children” or are you voting for a party that will protect and increase your wealth?

Remember who you serve because you can only have one master.

Matthew 6:16-18
These verses speak of the need to give our worship and service to God without seeking glory from others. If there was one word to sum up these verses it would be “humility”. We are to be humble. We are to carry out our acts of worship and service in privacy, where only God can see. We are not to think ourselves better than others, or expect praise for what we do. It is very hard to do something and not be acknowledged. In our imperfect lives we often suffer rejection and disapproval so the need to receive an acknowledgement for what we do is very great. But God knows this. He will arrange for us to receive acknowledgements from others when we really need the encouragement. But He wants our worship and service to be done out of love for Him and a desire to serve Him. Jesus hated the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Their one thought was for acknowledgement, for the prestige of their positions and to be made to feel important. In their pursuit of such things these things became their gods and they gave them the attention and energy, instead of God. Once they did that, they ceased to serve the people they were meant to serve.
Remember, no man can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). It is important to ensure the master you serve is God.
 

Matthew 6:5-15
These verses are so important and something that most of us neglect terribly. It is so much easier when it is busy to just put the prayer time aside and never pray. But that is not helpful. When I had one very young child I had a wonderful prayer life. I would wake up at six and say goodbye to my husband then spend a glorious hour in prayer. How wonderful! Then my daughter grew older and did not want to sleep until 7, and she had a sister who thought sleep was something other people did and then there were another two, and part time work and no time for praying. I tried praying before I went to sleep at night but sleep was stronger than my need to pray. So prayer time was snatched in small segments. After all that is what John Wesley’s mother was reported to do. Some years ago, God started waking me in the early hours of the morning and I would pray until I fell asleep again (sometimes an hour). I still pray like that and I still pray those short prayers throughout the day. I don’t think it is ideal but I know it is better than nothing and God will not hesitate to wake me during the night and direct me to pray for a particular need. I do not think it is ideal because I do not think I spend enough time just being in His presence. I seem to spend my time praying my petitions before I fall asleep again. Getting up to pray doesn’t work, I can fall asleep anywhere! This is something I know every other Christian struggles with. In our busy lives there is little time to allow prayer time, just as non-believers find it hard to find “meditation” time. It is about being willing to make the sacrifice and trust that that hour or half hour we spend will not be wasted time. That God will give us the time for the things we need to do. Remember, prayer is not about praying through an impressive intercession check list, it is about being in conversation with God, about sharing your life with Him. That is why I like the small prayers, the odd sentence here and there, the moments spent praising Him because of a beautiful cloud formation, or a happy child. The quick prayer after hearing a news item about an accident, or disaster, or even praise for something wonderful.
Prayer also has an important aspect we often overlook. It is here that we can come to God to help us forgive. It is here we can spend time in His presence being influenced by His wonderful example and being transformed in our minds to be more like Him. It is here we gain the strength to surrender self, our rights, our need for revenge and truly forgive others. It is here we remember God and our place with Him. We remember that all His children are precious and we join in that true Ekklesia, the spiritual unity of all who sit in God’s presence. It is here that we truly belong and some day we will be able to spend eternity there.
 

Matthew 6:1-4
Although this verse is on the face of it about giving, praying and fasting, it is about so much more. It is about that generosity of love that reaches out to others in need, even when the giver’s own need is so great. It is about giving comfort to one who is hurting, it is about welcoming the one who thought she was unwelcome, it is about comforting the disappointed when you are screaming in the pain of a greater loss, it is about reaching out to forgive those who have hurt you terribly and doing it quietly and persistently. It is about those struggles we make in the dark and the faith and trust we put in God. We don’t seek to wear hair shirts or put our battered hearts on our sleeves (unless God asks us to), we seek to reach out to others. We also seek to receive love and comfort freely given by others. We do things out of the love God places in our hearts and we do them for the glory of God, for the comfort of those God seeks to comfort. We don’t do them to glorify us or to get noticed. We don’t talk about them to others. We just humbly thank God for using us to give His love, His comfort and His glory to a needy world.
What more beautiful way to serve our glorious and wonderful God.