Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: Sermon on the Mount

  • Martha’s House as a Temple

    Martha’s House as a Temple

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, October 15, 1989.

    About this sermon

    The Transfiguration, just before this in Luke, recalls the Exodus and anticipates the glory to come, and it reframes Martha’s ordinary hospitality in chapter 10. Her house becomes a temple, and her distraction shows the wrong kind of service. Busyness for Christ and right service of Christ are two different things.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our Father, we are hungry men and women. We may not even understand the nature of our need. We may not comprehend the seriousness of our hunger. yet Lord in the midst of those things that may well be turned to to satisfy us we ask that you would push from us all those things that shall in the end prove empty we covet your word to hear the clear sound of your voice May it be, Lord, that with your word you speak to us today. We ask, Lord, that if there be no faith, that in keeping with the promises of your gospel and its power, faith may come. And where faith is weak, may it receive strength. And where faith is strong, May it be joined with deep and abiding humility.

    For Jesus said, Amen. The field on the mountain. startles. It startles because of the description given here of Christ in his transfiguration. Not only they flashed with light, extraordinary. and opening up of the regions of glory. Heaven touches down on a mount in Galilee. But not only is the account extraordinary for that reason, also for what is added here for us by Luke in his accounting of it. For Moses and Elijah have appeared. They are speaking so they are told to Jesus, thus transfigured. about his imminent departure.

    The King James uses the word deceased. But the liberal translation would be exodus. There is a great exodus. An exodus anticipated by that former Exodus spoken of in the Old Testament. The Exodus, in view now with respect to this one Christ, brings into view the goal. There had been a former exodus in which the goal was a plot of ground in a corner of the Mediterranean world.

    But in this latter and greater exodus, the goal, the end, is glory itself. beyond boundaries of territory past the markers that divide property beyond mere milk and honey from this creation something infinitely greater That is where Jesus is going. Here then is the pilgrimage, the sojourn, that has in view the ultimacy of that destination, glory itself. Now with faith face set like flint, Jesus is setting out to Jerusalem, for this new exodus will be accomplished, not from that pagan land south and to the west. This new exodus will be accomplished from Jerusalem itself, as if now, before our eyes, passes a fuller and deeper form of slavery and bondage, a greater purity than that purity bound to flesh, a tyranny of soul, a tyranny due to sin and the terror of death, a tyranny presided over, ironically, by the law itself.

    So then those who boast in the law and their performance with regard to it have become new pharaohs in the scenario set for this new and greater Exodus. Jesus then by his ascent to Jerusalem is descended that he may know there in this latter day Egypt the seriousness the depth of the slavery from which he must deliver us he sends out his ambassadors who go before him, avengers with respect to his cause, keeping in view now, he understands the end, he understands the goal.

    They don’t comprehend. Bring it all to conclusion now, they plead. If there are those that resist you, end it for them. Invoke judgment. Wipe them out. Visit them with your wrath. You don’t know what spirit you are of. You don’t understand the pilgrimage. You don’t comprehend the exodus in you. You lose sight of the goal, the end.

    There are distractions, even from those who would be closest to him. There is one who comes to him and says, I’ll follow you wherever you go. Even now, the control of that end which I have in you dominates my life to the point that I have nowhere to lay my head. The creatures of creation have places to bed down, but not I. And that’s because of the goal, that’s because of the goal and the end in you, that for the sake of the Lord. He will speak to another, follow me he says, I will in a while.

    But please, let me secure things well here at home first. Then I will come. Let me take care of matters on the home front. Let me bury my father so as to ensure my plot around here and my place in the will. That’ll help. I’ll follow you, Lord, but let me go bid farewell to those who are at home.

    Surely etiquette demands, propriety demands, If you’ve seen the kingdom, nothing must detain you. If you understand the goal, no distraction can entrap you. The hand is on the cloud, and you dare not look back. In another setting there was one who looked back. She became a pillar of salt.

    The emissaries, the harbingers, The messengers are sent out, seventy in number, two by two ahead of him to proclaim his entrance, to announce his coming. They are like patriarchs of old who went before, they are like prophets who went before, they are like apostles who go before. But please understand that Jesus would have them keep in mind that end, that goal of glory! The glory that had been unveiled on the mountain previously, the glory that had accompanied the appearance of Moses and Elijah. That glory is our home. That is where we are going. That is why it is appropriate to sing the hymn that we did at the opening of our service today. We are pilgrims here. We are sojourners here.

    But how these messengers and ambassadors rejoiced while we were into the towns, and the spirits, the demons were subjected to us in your name. even religious how even that religious spirit overlaid with conviction about the supernatural is distracted so that it doesn’t see the goal and the end is obscure Jesus says to them, placing things well in perspective again, don’t marvel that spirits were subjected to you, but glory in the fact that your names are written in the regions of glory in heaven above.

    Then there comes one who asks him that most important of questions, verse 25 of the 20th chapter. What must I do to inherit eternal life? Ah, now there’s one who is interested in the goal at the end. How do you read the law? The law is rehearsed for you, Jesus, by this lawyer who has come. Jesus responds, do this and you shall live, for who is my life? So Jesus tells a story, one that will teach things again, well in perspective and in focus. A priest and a Levite legitimately this practice.

    Here is something that will detain them, this man along the side of the road, this unfortunate fellow who fell among the thieves. Our activity is set upon the proper goal and end. We are the servants of the law. We know how to keep our appointments. We know how to keep it scheduled. on time.

    But that which appears to be a distraction to them is actually the way of the pilgrimage according to Jesus. And the things with which they are preoccupied are the distraction by which the end and the goal For this Samaritan, this nobody who stops and cares for the one who has fallen among the thieves, demonstrates that though the world, and even the religious world, can’t afford this sort of distraction, this is the kind of thing of which the King is composed.

    For in his action he is Christ-like, he gives himself. And only in this form of action, with this pattern of behavior, is progress made along the road to glory. Only if you stop do you move ahead. Only if you stop do you move ahead. It is the cross that’s coming to expression here, is it not? At risk to himself, he stops. He gives of who he is, of what he is, for the sake of this other one. Is that not what Christ does himself? Go thou and do like that.

    But then to a certain village, verse 38, to that particular home and house. And here we have moved, as it were, from a survey of controversy between Samaritan and We have moved from an analysis of the way things are in Israel to the way they are in the Church. The house is the house of a friend.

    Martha’s home is transformed. by the presence of Christ into more than just a domestic edifice it’s as if it now is refurbished it’s becoming a temple for the presence of the Christ and in this temple there is a drama worked out for you in which the end and the goal will again be set before you.

    There is, Martha, one very much concerned with detailed There is Martha who is very much concerned with service. In the church there are those who have made a complete life out of the kind of service that is reviewed here. The kind of service that you see in Martha But yet, as you now scrutinize the passage and review Jesus’ response, it becomes plain to you that service in this fashion simply is not adequate. There is a service in the Church that is frenetic. There is a service in the church that is frantic and filled with energy and the expenditure of energy that he’s always doing.

    There is a spirit alive in the church that is overlaid with A heap of activity but beneath the surface it is filled with anxiety and distress. Always worried about how someone will think of them. Always concerned about the details of the service rendered. Always keeping score. Who’s helping? Who isn’t? Who’s doing what? Who isn’t?

    Building, as it were, a network through which then justification will in fact be by work. Martha is distracted. She’s distracted with all of her preparations. But that which is a distraction for her is actually distracting her from the goal, the end. The story is not given to you so as to provide excuse to those who always want to sit around and think about things, want to sit around and talk about things, and never do anything. But the story is given to you so that you would understand what the goal, the end, is all about. The end and the goal is glory. The end and the goal is sitting at Jesus’ feet and receiving the word from Him.

    That’s the place from which you must start. How many churches have now disintegrated with regard to their spiritual life because they’ve given themselves over to a schedule that is more skilled with the propriety of etiquette than it is the principles of holiness. How many churches have turned into community affairs where the activity itself is the God, is the religion, and the word is short shrifted, if not shoved out the door.

    It will be that word that keeps your eye focused. It will be that word that informs you with respect to the end and the goal. Only if you sit at Jesus, only if you are instructed by Him as Mary was, will you choose the best part, the principal part, the indispensable part, the part that will not be taken from you. and I’ve also said it is not without reason that Martha is portrayed as one overcome by anxiety and Mary is portrayed as one at peace at peace If we want peace, even in our holy activities, we must sit at the feet of Jesus, the one who will continually emphasize and re-emphasize the goal, the end. I’m going to Jerusalem, there a greater exodus will be accomplished and beyond mere inheritances of this creation there will be procured the eternal inheritance for those who trust in me and follow me sins forgiven death vanquished The better, greater abiding point.

    Ours. Ours. You’re on a journey. You’re on a journey. Is it going to end well? In glory. How magnificent, Lord, your word, how wonderful Christ is as he gathers us to his seat that we may receive instruction from him with regard to the end, the goal, glory itself and an unbreakable, uninterruptible communion and fellowship with you eternally. May we in this pilgrimage press on and while we would be active for you, serving you diligently may it be true of us as it was of merit that we have chosen the better part that thing that is utterly indispensable absolutely necessary your word from your side as our sustenance Truly Lord, the great things will not be taken from us. We abide with Jesus. And Lord, if our lives are filled with anxiety and worry, if we are overcome by a fretfulness, may we return to the Savior who beckons. And may we receive peace at His feet.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Seeking the Kingdom of Heaven

    Seeking the Kingdom of Heaven

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 24, 1989.

    About this sermon

    Matthew 6:33 stands at the center of Christ’s gospel. The passage draws its hearers upward and inward at once, toward heaven and toward the heart. Christ gives ‘seek’ and ‘kingdom’ a meaning that ordinary usage falls far short of.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we begin our scripture reading with Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. This is 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Then we will move over to Matthew chapter 6. Here is the word of God. and Timotheus, unto the Church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father Knowing brethren beloved your election of God For our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.” For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God is spread abroad, so that we need not speak anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from who he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” Therefore, take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?

    For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, All these things shall be added unto you. So you can go. Our Father, we would starve if it were not for your word.

    And let us be then as those who understand that our satisfaction is found with you. And may we rush then, Lord, to have your word, to have it declared in our presence, to have it presented to us for our understanding. Day by day, our God, may we read your word, take it up and reflect upon it, meditate upon it. But at the beginning of the week, on a day such as this, may we rush to hear your word and to receive the profit that you have for us in it. So train us, Lord. And we being blessed will be a blessing, a blessing unto you to be sure, but to many others as well.

    We pray this through Christ who is himself the living word. Amen. Jesus is making assault on anxiety. Jesus is making an assault on anxiety. He is in the verses we have just read this morning, delivering his second blow. The first is found in verses 25-30. Verse 25 is the occasion for his first assault. For this reason I say to you, don’t be anxious. And now verse 31, Therefore, take no thought, for do not be anxious. The third assault will follow in verse 34. But it is this second assault that is before us this morning, and this second assault Most important.

    Central, if you will. Strategic. Just how strategic it is, is proven by the way in which it is constructed. We reviewed its construction last week and marked its uniqueness But just by way of reminder, it is in this section, with respect to this specific assault against anxiety, that Jesus delivers his lone positive statement. You have him in this section repeatedly saying, and you may well be waiting for him to give you a positive corollary to that negative statement.

    You don’t want me to be anxious, well then what do you want me to do? You find that positive thrust in verse 33. Don’t be anxious, rather, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Throughout this section of the Sermon on the Mount then, verses 25 through 34, there is this one lone positive statement or thrust. so as to concentrate the power of Christ’s own positive message. There are those who underline in their Bibles, and I expect that there are those who would double-underline verse 33. But even a double underline is not adequate. You need big spaces between the lines to adequately underline this verse. So important, so strategic is it.

    For it not only stands at the center of this section of the Sermon on the Mount, It stands at the center of the Sermon on the Mount as a whole. As if to say, remember this word, and you have it. Remember this line, and you have it. You can go even further. Not just the section, not just the sermon as a whole, but I would say the gospel. Here it is. For you. Above all else, seek first God’s kingdom, the kingdom of your Heavenly Father and His righteousness. Understand what I mean when I say those things.

    And if you do, gospel is yours. Salvation is within your grasp. And don’t be dismayed about the world and the things that occur in it. Everything else will take care of itself, and all the things you need will be supplied. The second assault on anxiety, the central assault, with its lone positive statement, and that for you.

    That all of the energies of your piety and devotion, all the energies of your understanding might be concentrated there. If you haven’t memorized the verse, stop listening to me this morning and spend your time profitably memorizing this verse. For it’s better for you to listen to Jesus than to listen to me.

    Here then we are brought to the heart of things. You are brought to the very heart of biblical religion. For this passage draws us upward. This passage draws us upward. heavenward to face God. It draws us upward and heavenward to a station from which we can survey the storm and stress, the uncertainties, the insecurities of life in this world. Here it is.

    Do you want a place to stand? After this past week, can you be confident that there is any place in this creation secure? A place that is literally isolated and insulated from every form of threat Be assured, there is no such place in this creation. But that does not mean that there is no place of security for you. There is a place.

    In this passage, you are drawn upward, heavenward, to face God. to a station from which you can survey the storm and stress, the uncertainties and insecurities of this world. This passage provides you the only standing place above the world. But not only does this passage draw you upward It draws you inward, and I mean that in the very best sense of that word. I know there’s a lot of discussion about inwardness and going in and finding your inner space these days. But in the very best sense, you see, sublime, biblical religion takes you not only up, but in. And here is an irony. By going up, you go in. By ascending to face God, you go in and face Him. For the one you will indeed see one day above, you shall see God, so says Christ. you presently behold by journeying inward in your soul. It is an hidden affair, you see.

    We are speaking of things invisible. Those things only grasped by faith. the means by which you grab hold of the unseen. So then, we are drawn inward as we know our hearts. as we survey our souls, as we learn and admit the truth about ourselves, and are confronted by the truth concerning what drives us, what motivates us, what we are all about. God’s righteousness?

    Take a trip inside. See if it’s true. Have the courage to take a trip inside and see if it’s true. And if it’s not, repent. Turn around. Well, this passage then will focus, obviously, on verse 33. But it does begin with verse 31. It is in 31 that we are presented with the connective. The connective. The word is therefore. That’s a connective. Binds the present passage with what has gone before. Jesus is building on what he has said in those previous verses, verses 25 through 30. The argument goes like this.

    Hold on. Since there are two essential approaches to existence, since in the one life and body are externally, I’m sorry, since in the one life and body are eternally preserved by God for those bound to him through his son. body and life in the other approach are reduced to mere meat and raiment, to the level of the mere temporal. Since the temporal serves the eternal, the provisional serves the permanent, as birds and flowers prove. Since God who gives eternal life, namely the greater, gives also the necessary things for the temporal life, namely the lesser, therefore do not be anxious.

    There it is, verses 25 through 31. So you not only begin with the premise in verse 25, you end with it in verse 31. That’s why you have the connected pairs. Therefore, do not be anxious saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drain for? With what shall we clothe ourselves? But now we move on from the connective to the conjunction. Verse 32. The conjunction is the word for.

    Jesus’ words here have a consequential and conformational force, as if he were saying, with this conjunction, After all, don’t you know? After all, don’t you know? The Gentiles, eager to speak, always After all, don’t you know your Heavenly Father knows you have need for this? This then provides his rationale. His argument continues.

    You are not to be anxious for these various things that have been listed. because the pursuit of these temporal, provisional things is truly the center of Gentile, that is, pagan existence. Jesus here is providing his own sociological analysis, his own cultural assessment. his own course in the study of the history of religion. What is Gentile existence all about? What is at the heart of pagan life?

    It is the pursuit of temporal, provisional things. That one of whom the Gentiles, the pagans, are ignorant, namely the Father in heaven, is well aware of your temporary, provisional needs. And do you not know, He loves you. And He will give you what is necessary. Maybe not what you want, but what is necessary. Now these words of Jesus in this 32nd verse need a little bit further explanation. He has mentioned the Gentiles. But the mention of the Gentiles brings to mind the subject of the Jews.

    For isn’t that how humanity is divided? Jew and Gentile? And is that not especially how humanity was divided according to those who lived in Palestine in the first century? But is Jesus here excusing the Jew? Is he suggesting the Jews don’t seek after the things that the Gentiles seek after? Does he not know the problems peculiar to the Jews? Is he holding out the Jews here specifically as immune to this kind of threat and imposition? Not at all.

    What Jesus is saying here is something actually quite profound. He marks out the Gentiles and does, by inference, call attention to the Jews, because he wants to set before his disciples the objective for Israel from time immemorial. And that objective for Israel, despite what theologians may say, despite what the rabbis may say, despite what men now may think, despite what they are saying presently in Tel Aviv, the objective for Israel was the higher life of a kingdom above where the Father in Heaven dwells. It was never a plot of ground in the world. The objective was the region above, and the righteousness of that region. The glory of it. So Jesus here speaks in such a way so that by inference he can place before his hearers, who were themselves Jews, the true objective of Israel. Not a life consumed by the things of this created order, and anxiety with regard to them, but a world that is higher above, an eternal world, a world in which there are treasures, treasures that are never diminished in glory or value, and treasures that can never be lost.

    It was the intent of the covenant. The entirety of the history of redemption. But you know the irony, don’t you? So there is coming that day in which the statement which Jesus makes here will be reversed. when he will say to Gentiles coming out from all the nations, pagans who are face-to-face with the light of the kingdom of heaven, don’t you know, after all, all these things the Jews seek after eagerly? But you are not to be like them. You, by grace, Our Gentiles, pagans, say, as were those Thessalonians, who turned from idols to the true and living God, and who wait for his Son from heaven. 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10.

    We come then to verse thirty-three. We have moved from connective to conjunction to conclusion. The positive, wonderfully positive imperative. But seek ye first your Heavenly Father’s kingdom and his righteousness. Here, Jesus balances the negative statement of verse 31. Instead of living a life given to the anxious pursuit of temporal provisional things, those who are his are to live a life given to the earnest pursuit of the kingdom, the eternal kingdom, of the Father in glory. the earnest pursuit of his righteousness, with the confident assurance that subsequently all temporal provisions necessary will be given. Now there are two questions that arise with respect to Jesus’ words at this point. First, what does he mean by the word see? But seek first. The father’s king.

    Some have approached his words as if he meant a quest. As if we were to be spiritual religious explorers. who are on an expedition to discover the kingdom of God, wherever that may be, whatever dimensions it may have. That approach to this verse has been very popular in this century. The mood and method of Eastern mysticism has driven us in that direction. Jesus means quest, so that we might discover the kingdom according to our personal interests and estimations.

    But Jesus doesn’t have in mind a quest that has an indefinite and even insecure end, for how do you know you’ll find? Rather, he has in view something else altogether. The seeking in view here has in mind the attitude of heart and the disposition of affections. When he says, seek first the kingdom of heaven, he is saying, set your heart and your affections upon the kingdom, that kingdom which is revealed in and through me.

    I cannot say this without speaking about your love. What do you love most? That’s what Jesus is asking you. What do you love most? Do you love Him? Do you love the Kingdom? Do you love His Father’s righteous rule above all else? That’s what He’s asking you. But set your affections upon the kingdom of heaven first. Love first the kingdom.

    Love it. That isn’t understand it. That isn’t argue about it, discuss it. That isn’t define it. That’s love it. Love it. Your heart. Your affections. And it is with respect to the kingdom as it is with all other affections. You have to stir them up. They are constrained from within. That’s why it’s set in the mode of a command, an imperative. You have to work at this, my friends. You have to labor at setting your affections on the kingdom of heaven above all else. That’s the first question. The second question is this.

    What does Jesus actually mean by the words, the kingdom of God and his righteousness? Some have thought that he means by these words a subjective appropriation of righteousness on our part, in justification and then its concrete expression in sanctification. But that’s not what Jesus means here.

    What he means by these words is the objective reality of the kingdom, something though unseen is utterly real and true. And this objective reality is as real as his own person. It takes eyes of faith to see it in him. But this objective reality Though present in and through, Jesus Christ has an objective consummation. There shall come the appearance before the face of all nations, there shall come an appearance of the Heavenly Father’s Kingdom and a manifestation of His righteous rule over all things. the kingdom, the righteousness for which we are hungering and thirsting presently. Yes, there is that objective kingdom of glory and righteousness which shall assert itself and bring all things to conclusion. That which will conclude the entire exercise of setting our hearts upon it because we will no longer have to set our hearts upon it we will have it in all of its fullness in all of its glory and this will come about when the Father answers the prayer of all those who now earnestly seek the kingdom.

    That prayer which says, Come, Lord Jesus. Even so, quickly come. Amen. Amen. Let’s pray. O Lord, there were those believers in Thessalonica years and years ago, who had turned from idols to serve God, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from Heaven. These are they who seek first your kingdom, your righteousness, which shall be wonderfully, perfectly manifest, revealed when Jesus Christ returns. So therefore, our God, may we set our affections on that coming of Christ, on the eternal things that are part and parcel of that coming. And may we know in the meantime that the temporal things necessary are given us by a loving Heavenly Father who does not turn away from his children. but delight in giving them all things necessary. Hear us, Lord, for we are weak and many of us right now need the medicine that this verse

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Matthew 6’s Triads

    Matthew 6’s Triads

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 17, 1989.

    About this sermon

    Christ builds Matthew 6 in triads, and that structure reshapes how 6:19-34 reads, with 6:33 as the dominant verse the rest serves. His rhetoric works like a boxer’s combinations, each blow setting up the next. Anxiety left unchecked breeds sin and quietly abandons the cross.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning, we are again in Matthew 6, verse 25, to the end of the chapter. This is Matthew 6, verse 25. Hear the word of God. Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than me and the body and Raymond? Behold the bowels of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.

    Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed?

    For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

    Pray with me now. Our God in all humility, we would come before you, realizing that before you we are as nothing, yet you have made us to be something, and that by your grace. Your word is at work to convince us afresh of the truth about yourself, about ourselves, and about this world in which we live. We do ask you, our God, that as you teach us from your word, we may be found to be willing to receive it and to live in keeping with what you have said. Build us up, then, Lord, we ask by that word. For Jesus’ sake, amen.

    In this part of Jesus’ sermon from the mount, he has resorted to the use of triads. He has resorted to the use of threes. Things are coming in sets of three. That’s the way it is. for the sixth chapter of Matthew throughout. Not only are there three sections for this chapter, but each section is divided into three parts. So everything is coming up in threes.

    The sections are verses 1-18, verses 19-25, and then verses 19-24, and then 25-34. I’m going to help you if you have a Bible in front of you this morning. We note how Jesus has ordered his message at this point. As I said, things are coming up in three. The first section of the chapter, verses 1 through 18, is structured around the so-called three pillars of piety. Remember? Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. There’s the three. Now you move on to verses 19-24, and once more you find the triad. This time in terms of three images given to you.

    First, the image of the treasure. There are two kinds of treasure here. Treasures in heaven, treasures on earth. The image of the treasure. Next, the image of the lamp, or the eye. the lamp of the body is behind. There are two kinds of lamps. There is a good eye that is clear, and there is an evil eye that is not. So you have the image of the treasure, the image of the lamp, and finally the image of the master. There are two kinds of masters. There is the master called Mammon, and there is the master, God.

    Now we come to verses 25 through 34, and once more we have a triad. And this triad is obvious to us because of the repetition of a particular phrase. And note, verse 25, your version may be different than mine. Mine happens to be the New American Standard Version, and I think that it’s very helpful at this point, because it translates the words I have in mind exactly the same in each instance in which they occur. But, in verse 25 now, the words are these.

    Do not be anxious. Do not be anxious. In the King James, it comes across as take no thought for. Do not be anxious. Verse 25, the first occurrence of those words. Note again, the words occur in verse 31. Do not be anxious then. Or take no thought for. And finally, occur in verse thirty-four. Therefore, do not be anxious for tomorrow. Three times those words appear in this section. So we have, once more, a triumph.

    And you will note Now, with regard to this triad, you can put the verses respective to each part of the triad in parallel columns. For instance, in a piece of paper, to the extreme left, you could place verses 25 through 30, because that’s the first segment. In the middle of the page, you could place verses 31 through 33. And to the extreme right, you could place verse 34.

    Now these are put in parallel columns because, you see, they are actually saying the same thing. This means that you can read each section in light of the other two. Jesus is saying the same thing, using different words, conveying his idea, his message, in a different way, but that message is singular. That message is one. And of course, since he repeats himself three times, there’s no mystery as to what the message is. Do not be anxious. All right.

    You have the triad, the parallel column, that Jesus is saying the same thing again and then again, three times in succession, but with different words. But note the beauty of how Jesus has ordered his comments. It takes him a relatively long time to communicate his message in the opening part of the triad, verses 25 through 30. Here you have six verses all told.

    You can now construct a diagram that works. in tandem with the diagram that I’ve given you concerning the parallel columns. This time, write the number of the verses across the top of the page. Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty. Now let’s see what he does. What he has taken a relatively extended period, running twenty-five to thirty, he now compresses into verses thirty-one through thirty-three. So what was six verses is now down to three. See what’s happening?

    Right verses thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three under the column that you have at the top of the page, with verses twenty-five through thirty. And finally, at the very bottom of this inverted triangle, you have verse thirty-four. What he has been saying in six verses and then reduced to three, he now reduces to one. so you have something of a funnel effect as Jesus brings his message down to but a few words compressing it and thus increasing its impact You might…

    I was looking around for an illustration to get this idea across. The best I could do was this. It says, if Jesus were an expert boxer… I know you haven’t heard that term well before. It says, If Jesus were an expert boxer who takes two-thirds of the round to size up and bulk, it is a punt.

    As the two-thirds mark of the round comes, Jesus, in effect, delivers a punch. The rest of the round remains. Jesus again stops the opponent, so that as the last minute of the round approaches, he delivers yet another blow. But then, just before the bell, enough time, of course, to get the ten count, he delivers the knockout punch. So the force and the impact of the order here is to deliver repeated blows. Of course, these blows are not intended to deck us. Rather, they are intended to build us up. to keep us standing. Well, that is the structure of the passage broadly considered, but let’s look at it once more, a little more in detail. Let’s go back to our parallel columns, and note how these various sections developed themselves. Each section begins with a negative statement.

    Verse 25, do not be anxious. It is repeated, verse 31, repeated again, verse 34. But note, after the negative statement, you have Jesus giving to his audience, to his disciples, a rationale, the reason why they should not be anxious. So the negative statement followed by the reason, and that’s the general structure that you find throughout. Negative, statement, then reason. There is, however, another dimension. And I think that you can anticipate that. For if there has been the negative statement, do not be anxious, you may well be waiting for the positive statement.

    If Jesus doesn’t want us to do this, then what does he want us to do? Well, if you look in verses 25 through 30, you are not given a positive statement. All you have there is the negative and the rationale. Also, in verse thirty-four, you are not given the positive statement. What you have is the negative statement plus the rationale. However, in verses thirty-one through thirty-three, the positive statement is given.

    Do not be anxious about these various things, because these are precisely the things that for which the Gentiles are anxious. In fact, your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of these things. There’s the rationale given afterwards as to why you shouldn’t be anxious. But verse thirty-three gives to you then the positive state. Instead of being anxious, seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you.”

    Now, why do you think that Jesus has that positive statement, stand there in such solitary form? Why should there be but one positive statement as he moves through this triumph. Because you see, he wants all of your interest, all of your attention, to focus precisely there. That is the one comment that stands out uniquely in the way in which Jesus has ordered his words. And that’s where he wants the emphasis to be. It is not without reason then, you see, as this portion of the Bible has been read, or the Sermon on the Mount has been reviewed. This verse stands out so starkly. We have the structure of the passage before us. in terms of its broad considerations, but also now some of the details.

    Let’s look at verses 25 through 30, and the meaning of the words that Jesus has for his people, for his disciples. We have already made comments about the conjunction or connective, but therefore, with which he begins this verse, that is to throw us back to verses 19-24, so that this section functions as something of a conclusion as to what he has said before. You dare not enter into these verses unless you have understood what Jesus was saying in verses 19-24. And just by way of reminder briefly as to what he was focusing on there, two words, heaven and cross. Verses 19 through 24, heaven and cross.

    If you understand the focus as heaven, if you understand the life of the disciples The life of the disciples is to be one of conformity to Christ himself, that laying up treasures in heaven, in effect, means taking up Christ’s cross herself and following him.

    Then you have understood what Jesus means. The conclusion of those thoughts now moves us on into the present session. If, in fact, you grasp hold of these things, you need none. The end. 25, then places before us an exhortation. Now, I praise it that way deliberately, for you could understand what Jesus is saying here as a command, an imperative, an unencumbered, unblurred command, directive. Do not be anxious. And you can almost hear in some people’s understanding of those words, a bit of a severity, a sternness, if you will. Do not be anxious, it is a commandment. But you see, I have spoken of it as an exhortation, because I believe that Christ is content here. It is not meant as bare command, it is meant as exhortation or as encouragement. It is pastoral. It is as much a plea and an appeal as it is a command, an imperative. He is appealing to us.

    Now don’t you be anxious. Jesus is shepherding here his own. and the emphasis is falling upon his gentleness, upon his love for his own. Now, don’t you be anxious. There’s no reason for it. If heaven has been granted to you, If your call is to the cross and you know the end of that road is resurrection, don’t you be anxious. Don’t you worry. It’s all right. It’s all right now. So imperative, yes, but not dare to command, not dare to command.

    Exhortation, encouragement, gentleness, love. Thus the appropriateness of the images that we use. The birds of the heavens, the flowers, the lilies, The pastor is using a pastoral scene. And the images themselves convey the gentleness and the peacefulness of Jesus’ intent.

    Now that is not to say that Jesus here isn’t being utterly serious. nor is his view of gentleness free of the nudge, free of the appropriate rebuke. Did you notice verse 30? O ye of little faith. O ye of little faith. Jesus the pastor, the one who is gentle, the shepherd, but utterly serious about the things he says, providing the appropriate nudge, the appropriate rebuke. Oh, ye of little faith. So that’s the tone. That’s the tone. Now what about the content? There seem to be two concerns in verse 25.

    One, which Jesus expresses in terms of life. and the other that he expresses in terms of the body. Don’t be anxious about your life as to what you eat or what you will drink. Life. Don’t be anxious either about your body, what you shall put on. His concern is for life and body. But then, before the verse ends, he launches into his rationale. The reason why you need not be anxious concerning life or body. He tells you that life is more than meat. more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Now the question rises as to what precisely Jesus means at this point.

    Does he mean to bring nearly into view some sort of quantitative difference between life and meat and body and clothing? If you’re thinking of food, you’re thinking too smallly, too narrowly, too constrictedly. If you’re thinking of clothing, you’re doing the same thing. It’s a quantitative consideration here, or is it a qualitative consideration?

    There is a view of life that sees meet as the meaning of life. There is a view of life that sees Raymond’s clothing as the purpose of life. There is that view of life that sets its sights upon the things that are temporary, that perish There is also that view of life that sees things quite differently.

    Life and body are for more than service to those temporary things. For those who love God, for those who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, life and body are more than food and clothes. Because for them, life and body will in fact endure unto eternity. Jesus is not here making a general statement which can be read out upon the face of the earth, applicable in every society in which you might plug it in. Jesus is speaking here specifically to the covenantal community, to the disciples, to the church, to those who serve the Father in heaven, those who are bound to him by faith. And for them, life and body are indeed more than meat and raiment, because life and body will in fact endure unto eternity. It is not a quantitative difference that Jesus is condemning on at the end of verse 25, but a qualitative difference, a completely different view of life than that which places food and raiment at the center.

    Having said this, it becomes apparent now that what Jesus is speaking of here is laden with the gospel. For if he is putting before us life and body that endures unto eternity, he cannot do that without assuming the doctrine and the reality of the resurrection. The God who then gives us life in the kingdom, raises and will, in fact, raise our body to dwell in glory. This God who gives us the greater life, the superlative life, will certainly take care of our needs in this world. He who gives the greater will supply us in the lesser. Even the domain of the lesser teaches us this truth, the birds of heaven, the leaves of the field.

    Why don’t you take time to look at them? Are they anxious? Are the birds of the heaven anxious? Are the flowers of the field anxious? If they in the lesser are not anxious, how much more you who have the greatest should be without anxiety and pain? Don’t you be anxious. Don’t you worry.

    You have eternal life. Your body is destined for it. Now there’s an adjunct here in conclusion that we arrive at by something of an extension of the thought of Christ? You see, Jesus wants us anxiety-free because he wants us peace-filled. But he wants us anxiety-free also because he knows that an anxiety-free, an anxiety-filled breeds the occasion of. An anxiety filled life.

    Turns life and body into food and clothes. He turns these things into life itself. Jesus may well have been anxious in the wilderness. Satan says, turn these stones into bread. But Jesus knows Stones turned into bread turns bread into life. And that bread becomes the meaning of life. And that bread symbolizes satisfaction of my desire, satisfaction of myself. and such self-satisfaction forgoes the cross.

    It never arrives. It never gets there. For having turned bread and raiment into life, how could you conceivably give them up? An anxiety-filled existence breathes occasionally for sin. Israel had succumbed in wilderness. It wanted bread, as if bread were life.

    But Moses had said, you shall not live by bread. but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God and where Israel failed Jesus has triumphed the one in whom we see the eternal end of life and the body that which has been given to us through him and because of that we need not fear nor need we be anxious how great you are our God And would you convince us of the greater things? Of eternity? Of life with you? Of the survival of the body beyond death? Of your intent with regard to our life and our body? and having these things settled within us, O God, may we be anxiety free and may we rejoice

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Christ Assaults Time

    Christ Assaults Time

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 10, 1989.

    About this sermon

    In Matthew 6:34, ‘take no thought for the morrow,’ Christ assaults the way his hearers relate to time itself. 6:25-30 separates what has value in the worldly order from what has value in the heavenly one. In 6:31-33 Christ tells believers to seek righteousness, the one thing that reorders every other value.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we are in Matthew 6 once more. We are reading from verse 19 to the end of the chapter. This will provide us our last message on these verses specifically. We will move on to other considerations from here. Hear the word of God. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, Thine whole body shall be full of light, but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and manner.

    Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather in the barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.

    Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought, for, Raymond, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

    Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself. sufficient unto the day of evil thereof.

    Jesus is assaulting anxiety. Jesus is assaulting anxiety for the sake of those he loves, for the sake of his disciples. for those who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven for the sake of his church. He attacks three times. His assault is a three-fold assault. We are at first thirty four this morning. This is his last assault. It is meant to be. On the face of it is an assault upon the purity of time. It is an assault upon the tyranny of the future, the oppression of tomorrow. His first assault was verses 25 through 30. And that first assault drew before our eyes a disparity of value. Note the conclusion of the twenty-fifth verse.

    Is not life more than food, and the body more than raiment? He draws before us a disparity of value. Life surpasses meat. The body surpasses raiment. Our worth, we who are of the kingdom, surpasses that of birds and flowers. There are, after all, two orders of existence. Two orders of existence. One in which meat and clothes constitute the reality. The reality.

    The other, where life and body are seen in the dimensions, in the light and hues of eternity, are seen as significant beneath the purview of the kingdom of heaven. And for the sake of that kingdom, and body, eternal and immortal, and thus of supreme significance.

    In the one order of existence, anxiety is as natural as breathing. In the other, nature itself birds and flowers, if you will, conspire to exclude anxiety altogether. Anxiety-free. In the one order, things are pursued, sought after, as the remedy for anxiety. But ironically, Anxiety multiplies.

    In the other order, things are forsaken, given up, sacrificed for God. But ironically, oddly enough, in this order, anxiety dissipates. and finally disappears. The kingdom of heaven brought by Christ, proclaimed by him, resident in him, turns things upside down. Turns upside down our ordinary expectations. we would have thought a life given to acquisition.

    We would have thought a life given to acquisition would actually diminish worry. Have more, worry less. Have more, worry less. But such a life doesn’t diminish worry, instead it compounds worry. Whereas a life given to the kingdom of heaven, we would think, would leave us supremely vulnerable, in a position in which our anxiety would be compounded mercilessly. but wonder of wonders, it doesn’t at all. Instead, our anxiety is eradicated because that order of existence into which we have been brought, with which now we have contact, is an order of existence in which anxiety is an impossibility. Is there worry in heaven? Is there anxiety in heaven?

    No. No. And that’s the order of existence to which you belong. In Jesus’ second assault, verses 31 through 33, he makes it clear that the one order of existence that he would have us turn away from is actually the order of existence pursued by the Gentiles. While the other order is that for which, understand what I’m saying here, Is that for which Israel was destined? And the true Israel gains. Love of the most earnest affection for, here we are at verse 33, love of the most earnest affection for heaven’s kingdom and the father’s righteous rule, his reign, carries in its wake all things necessary, all things necessary.

    It simultaneously carries away all our sins. Train your heart. Discipline your soul. Set your affections upon the Kingdom of God and His righteous reign. And everything else will be taken care of. But now for his third assault, the lone verse, verse 34.

    This point here, first of all, is what we might call, now please, Bear with me here, I’m going to use a word with a lot of letters in it. We are indeed moving beyond the Reader’s Digest. We are leaping beyond the parameters of Guidepost Magazine. We’re going to use a big word. Now when I use it, I don’t want you all to tune out.

    The word is eschatological. Do you know what eschatology is? Right? Traditionally, it’s the doctrine of the last days, isn’t it? And for Jesus to speak eschatologically means that he is speaking from the vantage point, from the perspective of last things. Last things reality. His first point here in verse 34 then is what we call eschatological. That is, he is qualified by Jesus, unsurpassed knowledge of the last things. Now many have raised questions at this point.

    They say if Jesus is really speaking in an eschatological way, he would have said, therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, because tomorrow may never come. Or, therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow for tomorrow the kingdom in all of its glory may arrive. In fact, we may even find that we and others comfort ourselves with that line of reason. Jesus may be back before midnight, so don’t worry about it.

    But because of this general approach, that Jesus would have spoken otherwise if in fact he had the last things, eschatology in mind. Because of that, people have dismissed this passage from the ranks of the eschatological message. But such an approach as this misses the truth about Jesus’ grasp of eschatology and the truth that is laid within this passage. Jesus, for instance, knows that the world is not about to end anytime soon when he speaks these words.

    That’s the problem for his disciples, don’t you know? They have been raised in good Jewish theology. The Messiah appears, the kingdom comes, and everything is brought to its conclusion. Life and history are not going to go on. Jesus’ message about the kingdom presents something quite different, yes. The end times have commenced, the kingdom has arrived in him, the blessings even of the eschatological, or the heavenly state, are being conferred upon those who believe, but the consummation, the end, is yet distant. Jesus’ eschatology is what we call already, but not yet. Already, you are being blessed with end-time blessings, but the fullness has not yet arrived, the consummation, the still future. Therefore, the fact that he speaks about tomorrow, even The care is peculiar to each day.

    There is no denial of his eschatological vision. In fact, his comment here confirms that vision. You see, it is precisely because the far distant future has been resolved for you that the near, proximate future carries no intimidation or threat for you. It is precisely here, then, that the power of the connection between verses 33 and 34 becomes apparent for us. We who have set our hearts upon the appearance of the kingdom of heaven and upon the Father’s righteous reign, we who have resolved the question of history’s destination, its direction, and its end, We who have been quieted concerning the horizon, the far distant horizon, and the certainty of our place in that horizon, need not be anxious about the few feet of territory that we must traverse tomorrow. The weightier matter has been settled. The less important issue is thus resolved.

    Our Savior here has a second point as well. It is what we call His version of realism. You see, Jesus knows that short of glory, short of that end point, when glory in all of its magnificence shines forth upon us, Jesus knows that we in our lives now experience our days as days that are being filled with Days filled with trouble. And this, despite the fact that the time of salvation blessing is already here.

    Troubles persist. They continue, even temptations through evil and apostasy persist. But now you see, the trick of the disciple’s life, the trick of that life for the citizen of the kingdom of heaven, is the assessment and treatment of those troubles that are inevitable. They will not be avoided.

    The trick for us who are of the Church is our assessment and treatment of those troubles by a heart set upon treasure in heaven. Verse 21. The assessment and treatment of those troubles with an eye that is clear, letting in the light of glory even now. Verse 22. For us, the trick is the assessment and treatment of those troubles by way of a service that is determined upon devotion to God. Verse 24, by a soul that knows life is eternal and more than meat, by a soul that knows that our bodies are immortal and more than clothing, and more than that, destined for resurrection. verse 25, “…by a love that binds us to the kingdom and the Father’s righteous reign above all else.” Verse 33. My dear beloved friends, you need not be terrorized by time, by the tyranny of tomorrow. All of the great issues are resolved. Do not be anxious. Do not be anxious.

    Dearest Lord, even in the midst of our troubles, for the present day will bring them, but in this present day, Lord, and we understand how in fact the operations of your son in our souls set us in a position wherein anxiety is dissipated and a free, glorious, wonderful expression of love and praise is forthcoming. We pray this in Jesus name, who gains all of this for us.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Casting Our Anxiety on Him

    Casting Our Anxiety on Him

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 3, 1989.

    About this sermon

    Anxiety shapes whole nations as well as individual believers, in two major ways. Peter tells us to submit to God by casting our anxiety on him, which is a concrete alternative to managing it alone. Matthew 6:33’s promise of provision keeps that casting off from being wishful thinking.

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    Sermon transcript

    We will be reading the first eleven verses of this chapter. 1 Peter 5, verses 1-11. hear the Word of God. The elders which are among you I exhort, whom am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.

    Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither is being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the older.

    Yea, all of you, be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud. and give its grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Be sober, be diligent, vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeketh whom he may devour. who resists steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that we have suffered a lot, make you perfect, established, strengthened, and settled to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

    Then, turning back to Matthew 6, verse 25, “…therefore I say unto you, take no thoughts for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

    Our Father, we are hungry and we would be fed with your word. May our hearts be ready to receive. May this be for the well-being of our souls, the establishment of our life. Father, it is true that you are our God, that you are faithful. Father, we ask that our faith may itself be strengthened in this our exercise of praise and worship to you. Give us a tent of minds and spirits now, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. This is our second message on the kingdom and anxiety. Last week we were endeavoring to lay something of foundation for you and this week we are commencing to build upon that foundation.

    It seems to have gained a notoriety all its own in our time, in this particular century. Now obviously it was about in the first century, else Jesus wouldn’t have spoken of it, nor would have teached it. But there is a sense in which anxiety has developed something of a life of its own. It has become a bit more famous in our time.

    And that’s probably because we have certain mechanisms, certain dimensions of life presently, that capitalize on anxiety. This is the stuff out of which you can make an entire industry. This is the stuff out of which you can make money. Indeed, an entire industry has been created. The mental health industry, for instance, banks on two seemingly irrepressible traumas. Guilt and worry. Guilt and worry. Beat those two and you can stay out of the clinic. that we have become also specialized.

    I don’t know if you experienced shock, but I did when I heard a recent newscast reporting the fact that preschoolers were now undergoing therapy. We have preschool therapy, we have elementary age therapy. We have teen therapy. We have marriage therapy. We have therapy for those who reach age 40. We have therapy for those who are graying, and sometimes they are graying the same time you’re reaching 40.

    A specialized industry. that anxiety is not only notorious in our time, because it’s the stuff out of which industries are created. It has also gained notoriety because it is now seen to be a fundamental ingredient for a pervasive philosophy characterizing our century.

    The philosophy is known as existentialism. No, existentialism is much, much maligned and much misunderstood. Most people think that existentialism is a pessimistic philosophy. That’s not true. Existentialism is inherently optimistic. It is an answer to the utter despair. Though all and everything tell you to despair, you by heroic stand must assert your individuality and importance.

    It is that positive note that makes existentialism so compelling to the college student, to the university student and crowd. that existentialism does have certain negative assumptions. And one of its basic negative assumptions has to do with the concept of, and the experience of, anxiety.

    Anxiety in this philosophy has been assigned a cosmical proportion, and it’s been given a great name. Oh, how the Germans are good at this sort of thing. they call it all. All. Now it’s not simply personal worry and anxiety that is in you there is a cosmical dilemma the whole world is subjected to arms and you are just part of it. Now I have a beautiful illustration of a give you in order to communicate that idea or in order to connect with you in your anxiety.

    It is the image of a great snake. You think of a great snake? huge boa being wrestled out of the canal. Recently, I’ve seen some pictures from Florida, the territory that the Delianides are moving to. So that’s the image, you see. No ordinary snake. This is an immense snake, a boa. But this boa has wrapped its coils around the whole of the cosmos, and it’s squeezed.

    Am I connecting? Am I connecting? Do you know something of anxiety? I should ask, is there anyone here that doesn’t know about anxiety? Does that register? The snake? around the world, squeezing. Isn’t that exactly the feeling you have when you’re overcome by worry and anxiety, that incredible constriction in your midsection?

    Actually, the existentialist couldn’t have chosen a more opportune image for the Christian. The serpent. The snake. State of the state of the world in and of itself that naturally something that is part and parcel of the state of affairs, irremediably, the serpent. And as soon as that image is mentioned, is brought before us, our minds race back to the beginning, back to the garden back to the temptation of our first parents that first transgression. The snake of Genesis three.

    And. It is the apostle Peter. who makes the connection between. It may not mean. That that connection is clear. Immediately. But it is there nonetheless in first Peter five verses six through Humble yourselves, therefore, into the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, casting all of your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. The sober spirit, beyond the alert, your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Now, these verses here deal particularly with the loss of the children of God, but there are circumstances in this world, and Peter is not pulling any punches.

    He’s being very straightforward. He tells you, as the people of God, your lot will be suffering for the world will oppose you. He says at the end of the fourth chapter, for instance, verse nineteen. Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God and trust their souls to a faithful creator and doing what is right. Even though you are suffering, you are encouraged here to do the right thing. Notice how he progresses in that fifth chapter. Note, for instance, verses nine and ten, but resist him that is safe and firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world, and after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

    The problem, of course, now, as Peter is addressing it, is this. The sufferings to which the people of God are subjected bring on worry and anxiety, it seems. Even the prospect of sufferings for Christ’s sake brings on distress. But Peter in this section wants us to know that these distresses are not outside of God’s care and dealing with his world.

    They are not outside of his providence. He is in control, even in the midst of such circumstances as these. As he said in verse six, these things come as a result of the dealings of the mighty hand of God. Don’t worry, therefore, is the admonition. Submit instead in the knowledge that in due time, God will exalt you And the way in which you then submit to him is by casting all of your worry and care upon him, knowing that he cares supremely for you. But then he carries on in verse eight. There is his warning to watchfulness. The sober spirit beyond the alert, he said. And here, then, he introduces us to Satan, not as the subtle serpent, but as a ravenous lion that prowls about seeking human flesh.

    The image is transformed and becomes all the more horrifying. It’s not just the serpent with its coils wrapped around the world, or a boa wrapped around your midsection, not at all. That which you are facing is Satan himself, and the knowing that you feel inside is the knowing of Satan upon you, for Satan is endeavoring to devour you. Anxiety is not just the stuff out of which industries are created. It’s the stuff that is most useful for the councils of hell. The image is even more graphic than those that the existentialist uses. Utterly more serious.

    But you see, while Peter is very straightforward about the activities of Satan, his intention is to be supremely comforting to you. There is the gnarling effect of Satan and the evil that he perpetrates. His objective is your destruction. And he will use that worry and that anxiety to accomplish his end. Be alert.

    God is faithful. The pattern laid out here for us, that spells out our triumph, that establishes for us our comfort is nothing less than what we observe in Christ. The humility to which we are called, the humility in imitation of him, The exaltation that we are promised is an exaltation in conformity to Christ. We shall move surely from humble circumstances to glory. Yes, it is as certain as Christ’s resurrection following his death.

    So now. You belong to him. you who claim him as your own. Don’t worry. The environment into which you have been introduced by virtue of your Savior is one that is worry-free in him, through him. The matters of eternity have been settled. All the glories of heaven are at your disposal.

    If you are denied the things of this world, what does it matter? You have eternity and all the blessings and treasures of heaven. If you suffer loss here, what does it matter? Do you not have eternity within your grasp? And has not God in Christ given himself to you?

    He has. Now you may be saying. You’re carrying on the discussion. After the very high and specialized level. The passage in Peter has to do with Christian suffering for the sake of the gospel or because of one’s identity with God. But what about me in my day-to-day life? What about me and my common experience? Don’t you understand? Don’t you see what Peter’s doing?

    He’s taking the most extreme example that you might know that all superior examples are consumed, are taken care of in light of it. Do you not know that the one who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for you, will not also freely give you all things?

    If the most important issue has been settled, all subsidiary issues are automatically settled. But you dare not make the considering issues the most important issues. That’s like making food and drink and clothing the most important things in your life. Rather, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And everything else will be taken care of. You can bank on that. That’s correct.

    Oh Lord, the great and weighty issue of an eternity with you. The great matter of our identity with our God and our identification with your son. These things dealt with so well by your word in order to encourage us that all subsidiary issues are resolved. For us who love you. All things work together for good. To them that are called. According to your purpose. Hear us Lord. May our faith then be refreshed and strengthened. In recalling these things. And living by.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Anxiety’s Real Ravages

    Anxiety’s Real Ravages

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 27, 1989.

    About this sermon

    Anxiety does real damage to believers, and it is more than a simple failure of faith. Matthew 6:25-34 concludes what 6:19-24 has already argued. Anxiety comes from holding onto the world in place of following Christ, and its remedy is a different object of trust.

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    Sermon transcript

    The scripture reading this morning is from Matthew 6. We are working our way to the end of this chapter. At verse 19, we will be reading through verse 34. Matthew 6, verse 19 through 34. Hear the word of God. Lay none up for yourselves treasures upon earth. where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thine whole body shall be full of light, But if mine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness, if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness. How great is that darkness!

    No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore, I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Behold, the fowl of the air! For they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them.

    Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, and neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

    Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought saying What shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed? for after all these things do the Gentiles see For your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness And all these things shall be added unto you Take therefore no thought for the morrow for the moral shall take thought to the things itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

    Push us, Lord, cajole us, Father, pressure us, constrain us, force us, Lord, to your word. Though we may feel as if we are satisfied already that we have been well fed, as if we had drunk deeply from a well. Yet, Lord, though we may even deceive ourselves with respect to such things of this earth that may claim to offer satisfaction, drive us, Lord, beyond them all that we might be found in you. May you be pleased, Father, to hear our prayer as regards the word.

    First, that we might be willing with respect to it and obedient, but also, Lord, that servants of yours raised up by your power, by your grace, may be effective they submit themselves to you as your word has power for all the nations you elect being gathered unto the great day that you are convening above in glory as we pray in Jesus name amen Now, there’s no telling how long this is going to take us. Not this morning, but in terms of the series with respect to these latter verses in Matthew 6, verses 25 to the end of the chapter.

    We are venturing here into well-known territory. This is our first message these verses. But I judge the way my mind has been working recently. This is the first of many. On the. What about. Have you just. Again, thrilled at the hearing of them? Have there been those occasions in your life when your Bible fell open to these verses and you read them again and you were struck once more by their beauty? How well they seem constructed, how well they flow? and how compelling they are.

    It’s almost as if they were a magnet and we are drawn. The subject matter is compelling in itself. Anxiety. Worry. that endless fretting internal and external hand wringing an energy of the spirit and soul that leaves you in a sweat anxiety worry. Subject in itself compelling. Maybe as compelling as any subject matter you might consider. Anxiety, worry, what do you do about it? Jesus has worked here for us.

    But what of our experience? Your experience may be more common than exceptional. More the rule than the exception. And while you are drawn to these words, and while you are drawn along by them and their beauty, it may well be that internally and subjectively you feel, when you are honest with yourself, that in these words you have run up against a brick wall. Fine words!

    But where is the truth of them? encouragement to cease with regard to our anxiety and our worry and we seemingly powerless to do. Now you might have a habit of mind with respect to scripture that many have. It’s sad to say, when some people look at Scripture, they think the words there are magical.

    Here is an automatic cure for my anxious spirit. Here is an automatic cure, in the words themselves, for my anxiety and my worry-filled life. So I sit down to the Word. I read it again. But I discover that reading or hearing or even meditating upon these words produces at best only a fleeting tranquility, a temporary peace. Something that quickly fades.

    My worry, my anxiety returns in a fury. leaving me convinced that anxiety is as natural as breathing. It is inevitable. It is irrepressible. It is tragically permanent. And we cannot escape it. The best we can do is accept this fact and cope as best we might. There is a price, however. There is a price that we have paid for this kind of thinking. And that price invariably is extracted internally. It is extracted internally, while we externally carry on in a determined, maybe even historical, expression of our faith and faithfulness.

    Where are we on Sunday morning? We’re in church. But where is our heart? Our heart is convinced that Jesus can do nothing about anxiety. We are absolutely convinced internally, despite our external behavior, that Jesus can do absolutely nothing about worry. He’s powerless. Haven’t we been down that road so often? Isn’t that the conclusion that we’ve come to? Escape from anxiety is an impossibility, even through Jesus. So inwardly, we have caved in to a secret distrust. No one else here knows we don’t trust Jesus. That’s your little secret. Internally, we have caved in to a sort of closet disbelief. Jesus can’t help me. He simply cannot help me.

    We settle into a life of inner if not depressed resignation. Externally, we’re bright, friendly, we greet the people that pass by, but inside we’re suffering. That inner voice One that we would hardly give expression to publicly says this, my anxiety is inalterable. It is here to stay. Jesus’ words are fine. But I have found them to be unsubstantiated by life. Empty and impossible. So we are divided selves. Outside, it seems as if we believe with all our heart. Inside, we are skeptics. And we dare not tell anyone.

    Now the message this morning is merely an introduction to this problem, which I’ve outlined, and to these verses in front of us. And in this introductory message, I wish to establish but one fact. Ah. I won’t have any trouble remembering the point from the service for this only have one point. So all of us can walk away with something this morning. One point. I wish. For us. That we would focus on but one thing then the sadly too often overlooked dimension of Jesus’ words.

    It will be nothing new to you. But when we come to this text, what I am about to say is invariably laid aside and never drawn into the center of what Jesus is saying. Now by bringing this sadly neglected dimension of this passage to your attention, I trust you may be given a fresh angle to what our Savior is saying here. And as well, that the Holy Spirit may renew your hope. that anxiety and worry are not the natural state of affairs but rather abnormal and contrary to faith. So I truly wish this message to be upbeat very positive and that especially for those of you who are very very discouraged in your spiritual life. Let’s first of all then look at the forgotten dimension, and then we’ll take a look at some other passages in the New Testament to help reinforce what we find here. The overlooked dimension of Jesus’ words.

    It’s really very simple. We tend to view these verses in isolation. Twenty-five on. These verses are about anxiety and worry. If there’s an answer to be found, I must find them within these verses. And they stand on their own. They are wonderful gems, beautiful nuggets. I must process them and refine them and distill from them. the wisdom that is here. They stand on their own in isolation. They are capable of doing that.

    It’s not true. These words of Jesus have an antecedent. They rest upon presuppositions, prior statements by Christ. Do you note how verse 25 begins? In the King James, the word is therefore. In the New American Standard, it is for this reason. Obviously, Jesus is looking back to what he has just said. That’s what’s lost. That’s what’s forgotten. The link is never made. The connection is never seen.

    We think we have, in these verses, 25 through 34, the answer to our anxiety and our worry, failing to realize that these verses are constructed as a conclusion. to what Jesus has already said. Therefore, for this reason, I say unto you, do not be anxious. Take no thought for it. Do not worry. This means then that these words about worry and anxiety have a foundation. previously laid out for you.

    And that foundation is found in verses 19 through 24. And if you are to understand Jesus’ perspective on anxiety and worry, and how triumph over anxiety and worry are in fact possible, even demanded, you are going to have to understand verses 19 through 24.

    All that business about laying up treasures in heaven, as opposed to laying up treasures on earth. All that business about having a clear or single eye, and not an evil eye. All that business about not being able to serve two masters, but only one. You cannot be a person of divided loyalty. That is the foundation. Now you can live the rest of your life overcome by anxiety and worry. You can be content to live that way if you choose, and dismiss what Jesus is telling you here. You can make that choice, you see. But is that really what you want?

    If you do not want it, then get busy with verses 19 through 24. Grapple with them. Understand that in those verses, Jesus is making clear to you that you cannot hang on to this world. You hang on to it, you lose. And you lose in more ways than one. Not only with respect to the world to come, but with respect to this world as well. Because your world then becomes fraught full of anxiety and worry. You are worried about holding on to all the things that you have accumulated. You live for yourself. and your end will be the same as a world that lives for itself. You give yourself in service of mammon or riches or wealth for this world, and your loyalty cannot be to God. You want to be free of that anxiety and worry, but simultaneously you want to hold on to this world. Jesus is saying, give it up and worry ends. Follow me. Anxiety ceases.

    Now what comes out in those verses 19 through 24 are really two things. One is heaven and the other is the cross. In other words, it is only by root of the part set upon laying up treasures in heaven, the eye that is singly and clearly directed toward heaven, the eye that will not be diverted, the life set upon service to the Father above, that we find entrance into the biblical world of peace. That’s with respect to heaven. With respect to the cross. First of all, we must see Christ himself in relationship to that cross. As Christ laid a treasure in heaven by root of giving selflessly, giving himself for other, not counting his life dear, but expending himself. as he single-mindedly sets his gaze clearly upon the kingdom of his Heavenly Father, and as he demonstrated his devotion and service to the Father in such a way that does not stop short of giving his own life. But the cross is also in view, because you see, Jesus is directing these words to you.

    Therefore, when he tells us to lay up treasures in heaven and not upon earth, he is telling us, take up your cross and follow me. When he tells you about the clear and single eye, he is placing before you, in an uncompromised way, the demand of the kingdom and the light of glory from heaven itself that shines upon you and in you, because you have that matter of heaven, its reality, its truth, its ultimacy, all worked out. And the person whose heart is set upon the treasure in heaven is the one who serves God absolutely, and does not attempt to split time between God and them. So it is then the gospel which you must embrace if you are to have the peace and the tranquility, the end of anxiety and worry that is spoken of here in these verses In Matthew 6, you must embrace the gospel, you must have Christ, you must be bound to him. That is the message that is reiterated throughout the pages of the New Testament. If you turn to the gospel…

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Two Banks, Two Lamps, Two Masters

    Two Banks, Two Lamps, Two Masters

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 13, 1989.

    About this sermon

    Christ says one thing three ways in Matthew 6:19-24: two banks in 19-21, two lampstands in 22-23, and two masters in 24. Luke 12’s rich fool and Paul’s warnings in 1 Timothy 6 and Ephesians 1 press the same point. Christ repeats himself for emphasis.

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    Sermon transcript

    We have a number of texts to read from this morning. We will begin with our primary text, found in Matthew. This is Matthew 6, and we will be reading verses 19 through 24. Matthew 6, 19 through 24. Hear the word of God. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

    The lights of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

    No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and Mammon. thirteen and reading through verse twenty one. This is Luke twelve, verse thirteen.

    And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.

    And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I distill all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, So, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thy knees, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. than whose shall those things be which thou hast provided.

    So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Moving over to 1 Timothy 6, It’s almost a shame to break this passage up. 1 Timothy 6, we’ll start with verse 6 and read through verse 19. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be there with content.

    But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which, while some covet it after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after. Righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

    Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold of eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot. unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His times He shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the life which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom the honor and power everlasting. Amen.

    Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not conceited, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to share, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. And finally, from Ephesians, the first chapter. Verse fifteen to the end. This is Ephesians, one verse fifteen, where for I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints.

    Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Beyond of your heart being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he brought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come. and that put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Truly, Lord, the center of the message must be the cross of your son. We would not stray from that message, which the saints of old have rejoiced, which the saints of today have their hope. We plead with you, Lord, that regardless of where we may find ourselves, Old Testament or New, this book or that, we would be intent upon honoring our Savior, your Son, and glorying in His cross. We pray, our Father, these things through Christ, who died and now lives for us. Amen.

    I have read these passages today so that you would be impressed with the fact that the thoughts that arise from the text before us are not isolated but found extensively throughout the pages of the New Testament. We have read verses 19 through 24 in Matthew 6, this portion of Jesus’ sermon from the mount. And I have read these verses together, regardless of how they may be variously divided by translations and interpreters, I have read these verses together because they are, in fact, a unit. these verses hang together. That, even in light of the fact that within these verses we can actually distinguish three separate sections. Those sections are these. verses 19 through 20, section 1, verses 22 and 23, section 2, and verse 24, the last, the third section. Now these sub-sections, cumulatively, communicate a single message. Jesus is saying but one thing, although he is saying it in three different ways, from three different vantage points.

    Now our intent this morning will be directed toward that goal of hearing clearly what Jesus says. Hearing the single message that Christ has for us from these verses, while at the same time we gain a deeper appreciation of that diversity of ways in which he expresses himself. The mind of your Savior. The mind of your Savior. All right then. Verses 19 through 21.

    You pick up the image immediately, you pick up the figure that Jesus here uses. It is that of two respective treasuries. Two different banks. These two different banks stand before the disciples of the kingdom, before the church of Jesus Christ, before you, as options for deposit. The One is the first national bank of the world. The One is the treasury found upon the earth. This bank, this treasury, is extremely attractive. It also makes grand and great promises with regard to security and return upon your investment.

    But while it is attractive, while it has all that would attract the eye and draw the heart, and while it has this program that extends to you seemingly guaranteed security and return on your investment, the actual truth is that it places your investment at risk. No, more than that, more than placing your investment in jeopardy, It actually places your investment in the lap of loss. Your investment in the first bank of the world will be forfeited. it will be lost. More than just taking a chance, you see, more than just being at risk, your investment will be lost.

    Now it will be lost in keeping with the figures that Jesus uses here, because of the inevitable course of creation itself. Are you going to be able to stay the force of the moth, or put off, eternally, the corruption of rust? No. The loss will come because of the inevitable course of the creation itself. And added to that will be the threat that inevitably intrudes that of the inherent evil of humanity’s heart.

    The thief breaks in and he steals. This treasury, this bank, Jesus tells us elsewhere, we read of it from Luke 12 verse 21, this treasury actually accumulates treasure for oneself. The Apostle Paul tells us, in that sixth chapter of 1 Timothy, that this is the bank of the conceited, of the self-preoccupied, the self-centered. This is the bank for those who have fixed their hope upon the uncertainty of riches.

    Now we must remember all along who Jesus is addressing. This is a message not so much to the world, but to the disciples. This is a message meant for the ears of the church for you. here is a threat then to you in your discipleship. And as addressed to the church, addressed to disciples, those who would be following Christ, we can then conclude that it is not religiosity that determines what treasures upon earth and treasures in heaven.

    They do this But despite their confession, they set themselves at the center of their lives, and they place their security, their own well-being, at the center of this world and its existence. But it’s not just these sort of selfish enterprises that are imbued For you see, it is possible for these who are eminently religious to set the world itself and its inheritance in the world at the center of their lives.

    Now it is the cross of Jesus Christ that challenges the first national bank of this world. It is the cross of Jesus Christ that challenges attitudes of heart that lead us in the direction, despite our professed religiosity, of laying on treasures upon the earth. That cross of Christ directs our attention to the other bank. The first national bank of heaven.

    For the citizens of the kingdom. This bank is for those who are rich toward God. You remember the conclusion of Luke 12, 21? Those who are rich toward God. In the language of the Apostle Paul again, those who have fixed their hope on God, by doing what is good, by being generous, and ready to share.

    Why? How are they able to give away, to expand themselves? They have observed it, have they not, in their Savior? For He has given, and He has given Himself to the uttermost. It is in the cross that it all becomes plain. But what was lost to him is now gained, for he who died rose again. And now, you see, is the lighting in the riches of glory.

    Here then is that bank for those who fix their hope on God through doing what is good By being generous, ready to share, it is the bank of those who store up for themselves treasures of a good foundation for the future. The bank of those who are taking hold of that which is life indeed.

    Not life in this world first. Life in the world to come first. You must start there. if you are to understand what life is all about here. In fact, you have to start there if you are going to end there. Those then laying up for themselves treasures in heaven are unlike the rich young ruler who held on to his life in this world. They rather choose the way of the cross, even though it means for them loss in this world, because they know the way of the cross absolutely secures blessing for them in the next world. The two banks, the two treasures, one ending in permanent and irreversible loss, the other in permanent and irreversible gain. In which bank are you invested? verses 22 and 23.

    The image changes, the figure changes. Jesus now, rather than using the image of two banks, uses the image of two lamps. Two lamps. One sound, the other not. the one functional, the other not. These two lampstands, these two lampstands are for differing conditions observed among the disciples of the kingdom.

    But note how Jesus drives home his point by compounding, or rather compounding, the figure. He speaks of the body. And it’s as if the body were a room. Think of the body as a room. And Jesus says, the lamp in this room is the eye. The lamp in this room of your body is the eye. And what Jesus says next is marvelously constructive, marvelously ambiguous.

    He says, if therefore your eye is clear, that’s the way it reads in the New American Standard. But the expression could also be rendered healthy, if therefore your eye is healthy or unhampered, unhindered. or even better, possibly, as the King James has it, if therefore your eye is single, single, by which is meant, if therefore your eye is focused in a unitary and undiverted fashion. In other words, if the eye functions as it should, It illuminates the entire inner life of the disciple. In the same way, a lamp that properly works, that is properly placed, gives light to an entire world.

    But what of the evil eye, the bad eye? The bad eye, the evil eye, again, in the figure of a lamp, is one that is non-functional, hampered, obstructed. Using images of health, it’s one that is not sound or healthy. It is, in fact, as the King James puts it, an evil eye. which is described in other places by Jesus as one that is so overtaken by the passion of envy that it cannot see a right.

    Does envy live? Does envy live in the Church? How many of you have stood in line buying lottery tickets? Does envy live? Now why are you standing there? Because you want something you don’t have and you think if you win, if you hit it big, you will have what you want. You are envious. You are covetous. It’s not just those who stand in lottery ticket lines, and you know that very well.

    The evil eye, the covetous eye, the one lacking then that unitary focus, that eye that is so easily diverted, that looks away from the king and the kingdom. that looks to things and to the promises of things in this world. The evil eye doesn’t function aright. It fails to give even partial light. It leaves the entire inner life of the disciple in darkness.

    Let me tell you about your spirituality when you are overcome by envy. Just how well do you function in your relationship to your Savior when you are overcome by covetousness, by envy? You are literally confused. You can’t even sort out the elements which would lead you to a proper decision, a proper course of action. You can’t even take the first step. Darkness is everywhere. God is pushed out. The light seemingly disappears.

    There are those who claim light, when in fact their eye is evil. If then the light that be in you be darkness, how great is that darkness? while you are professing to have the light, yet victimized of a covetous eye. But darkness envelops you, regardless of what you say. But there is the true light that shines from that single eye, that eye riveted upon Christ and the kingdom, that radiates then throughout the totality of the disciples’ inner life. Truly that light is the light of the kingdom as revealed in Christ himself by way of his cross and his resurrection. The envious eye, the evil eye, is focused upon the world and is distracted and divided in its attention. The light is eclipsed.

    But Jesus speaks in this way, I am the light of the world. He that believeth in me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And John says this, in him was life. and the life, that is eternal life, was the light of man. What does Paul say in his prayer, his magnificent prayer in Ephesians chapter 1, which we read, I pray, he knows the threat He knows the danger. He says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of your calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

    Two eyes, white lamps, one singly directed, the other not. One giving light, the other not. What kind of lamp? Have you? And finally, verse 24. The image here, not of two banks, not of two lamps, but of two masters. And of service to one or to the other.

    The disciple here is faced with a competing loyalty to different masters. And it is here that Jesus makes plain how utterly impossible a divided loyalty is. You cannot move in opposite directions at the same time. You cannot be in the employ of two masters at the same time. Now, the one master is God.

    And service to him means complete devotion to him and to his kingdom. And his kingdom is the kingdom of heaven, not of the earth. The other master is variously described. It is called mammon. It is called wealth. It is called the world and its system. Service to one master takes you in one direction.

    Service to God means following Jesus to the cross and into glory. What is demanded by these diverse ways in which Jesus has expressed himself? What is set before you? The kingdom which is of heaven that belongs to the Father who is above. That kingdom which Jesus came to express and to exhibit in his life, in his death, to procure for you through his resurrection. Demanded of you is total, undistracted commitment, the single eye focused upon that kingdom, intent upon laying up treasure in it, not upon earth. So you hear the single message of Jesus variously presented to you.

    Where is your treasure? How shines your lamp? Who is your master? I pray. Do you not know it? I pray. As did Paul. That the eye of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of your calling. And what are the riches, the true riches of the glory of Christ’s inheritance. amongst his saints. Let’s pray. O Lord, address us now by your word. concerning the two treasuries, convict us, Father, with respect to the lamps that shine, and with regard to the masters in whose service we may find ourselves employed. And may we be clear, our God, above all else, that our devotion is unitary, single, undiverted, concentrated upon you, concentrated upon your kingdom, which is in heaven, and upon your Son. We know, our Father, that as we express such concentration, On our part, we give testimony to the fact that we have been visited by you, that we have been made alive by your spirit, and we thank you for your wonderful, matchless mercy.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Treasure in Heaven Is a Cross

    Treasure in Heaven Is a Cross

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, August 6, 1989.

    About this sermon

    Matthew 6:19-34 continues the fasting material of 6:1-18, and Isaiah 58 and Zechariah help show the connection. The popular ‘balanced life’ reading of 6:19-21 is too tame for what the text demands. Laying up treasure in heaven means taking up the cross, and it has nothing to do with financial planning.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning our scripture lesson is taken from Matthew 6, beginning with verse 19. Matthew 6, beginning with verse 19. Hear the word of God. Play not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

    The light of the body is the eye, If therefore thine eye be single, thine whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”

    No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.

    Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

    Therefore take no thought. saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or where with all shall we be closed for after all these things to the Gentiles see. For your Heavenly Father know it that you have need of all these things. But seek he first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow. For the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

    Lord, you have taught us that it is your word that gives life. So by your word, we have been begotten again unto a living hope. We thank you, our Father, for this marvelous act whereby you have done just this. So we are brought to life by your word, and we are also sustained in our lives by that word. We rush headlong then forth to that word as if we were men and women dying of thirst in order that we might have our thirst quenched. in order that we might be satisfied. Teach us, Lord, to be satisfied with your word, with you, with your kingdom, and with your righteousness. For you offer yourself and all that is yours to us freely as a gift. We pray this through Christ. that magnificent gift, the greatest gift of all.

    Amen. This morning we are moving into a new section in the Sermon on the Mount. section that begins with the nineteen birth of the sixth chapter. This does indeed begin a new unit. A new section. In Jesus sermon. And we can see that clearly if we take note of how he expresses himself throughout in this section. It’s almost as if he uses a formula, and it’s easily recognized if you have a New American Standard version, for instance, before you. Take note of the opening words there in verse 19. Do not It’s a negative, do not.

    And that phrase is repeated once again in verse 25. For this reason I say unto you, do not be anxious for your life. And then once more in verse 31, do not be anxious then saying, what shall we eat, et cetera. But we aren’t done with the matter yet. You’ll see that the section continues into the next chapter. for the first word of the seventh chapter are do not judge let you yourself be judged. The formula continues and once more verse six of that chapter do not give what is holy to God do not ask your pearl was one.

    So here is then. A new unit a new section for Jesus sermon from the Mount. And you’ll note something of a regularity to the development of the various points in this section. The structure remains the same. You have a negative statement, do not do this, coupled with a positive, do thus and so, also joined with an explanation, a reason.

    Note, for instance, verses 19 through 21. There it is in capsule for you. Verse 19, the negative. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth. Joined with the positive in verse 20, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Then comes the reason, verse 21, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

    Now you have to struggle a bit at times to see that structure at work. It all points throughout the section, but that structure is faithfully adhered to throughout. The section then has an integrity. That is, it hangs together. He also is an appropriate point to which Christ might go, having concluded what he has just said. There is transition, then, from what he has said at the beginning of the sixth chapter, verses 1 through 18, and what he now says. Not everyone believes that. Surprise, surprise. Not everyone believes that. You see, they’re all those who have suggested to us that we are dealing here not with a sermon from Jesus.

    What we are dealing with here is a collection of sayings that Matthew thought Jesus had said. And he sort of compiles them and puts them here. And we’re not to look for connections, for flow. or not to look for transitions as we move from section to section. Don’t wear yourself out doing things like that, because it really doesn’t hang together. These are just isolated statements that Matthew picked up, and then he sewed them together into this supposed sermon. Now, in some churches, they don’t tell you those things from the pulpit, even though the one in the pulpit believes that. He learned that at seminary. He keeps his private opinions to himself.

    But there is an appropriate transition as you move from the beginning part of that sixth chapter to the latter part. Well, first of all, the theme that is consistent. And that theme is righteousness. You know, the first time righteousness is mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount? Well, if you bring up the Beatitudes, you’re on the mark. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

    Check out verse six of chapter five. Righteousness is mentioned again in verse 10 concerning those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, and then righteousness is mentioned again in verse 20 of that chapter as Jesus speaks about a superlative righteousness, that righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of scribes and pharisees. And then he goes on to explain and expound upon that righteousness in the latter part of Matthew 5. Take a look at Matthew 6, verse 1. Righteousness is mentioned again there.

    Here, beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be seen of them. If you act in this way, you will have no reward of your father. But once more. Maybe from one of the most famous. In the Sermon of the Mount verse thirty three of the sixth chapter how does it go. Your Heavenly Father’s King. And his righteousness. and all these other things will be added on the earth. Righteousness, the theme. There is also the consistency of perspective.

    Are we really catching hold of what Jesus is saying? Throughout this sermon, whether at the beginning or at the end, Jesus is setting in juxtaposition two environments. There is the environment of this earth, the world, and there is the environment of heaven, the kingdom of God. Jesus is concerned in establishing perspective, in setting tone, in maintaining that juxtaposition of earth and heaven.

    The message he brings is an uncommon one. It is an unprecedented message. For never before has the light of heaven shined as it does now. Jesus then, in this sermon, is not providing us wise words to live by. Little moral gems, if you will. Jesus here is describing the life of a disciple of the Kingdom of Heaven. He is describing the life of a citizen of the realm above which he has come to make clear and plain. A realm mediated by him, expanded and explained by him. It is an unprecedented and uncommon message, one for which hardly the Jew looked for. So as you trek through the Sermon on the Mount.

    Be it the Beatitudes or Jesus’ treatment of the law, or whether he’s treating the proverbial three pillars of piety, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. He is always setting before you this magnificent contrast between an administration of the be it so fine administration as that of Judaism with the new administration of the transcendent kingdom of glory.

    So, what we have established thus far is this. There is an integrity to the unit. From verse 19 on in that 6th chapter. We’ve noted the formula and the structure. We’ve also noted now the transition into the text, convincing us that yes, Jesus. Delivers. The sermon on the Mount believe it came from him.

    As he sat there, on the mount and his disciples came to him he opened his mouth and he spoke and taught them these words but there’s something else here as well and it is well for us to take note of it in terms of this matter of the transition from the first part to the latter part of that sixth chant and that is the concrete concerned. The concrete interest of Jesus in the behavior of the obedience of the citizen of the kingdom of heaven. Now you’ll see the relationship between the perspective that we’ve spoken of and this point with respect to concrete obedience we’ve just mentioned.

    For you see, it’s as if the citizen of the kingdom of heaven has been placed in a totally new environment. He has been placed in the environment of heaven itself. Now, how do you behave in heaven? That’s the point. You see why Jesus presses as he does with regard to the seventh commandment? The commandment read, says, thou shalt not commit adultery. Fine, I’m clear, I’m clean, not me Lord. He presses beyond that. No friend, not just the act, the thought. You see, in heaven, you can’t even think it. It’s a completely new environment. Concrete obedience.

    Note, for instance, verses 14 and 15 of chapter six. Jesus has just instructed his disciples, the citizens of the kingdom of heaven in prayer, how they should pray. but he chooses to comment on one petition in particular, the fifth petition. You remember that petition, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors? Petition number five, he chooses to comment on that, verses 14 and 15. If you forgive men, you will be forgiven. If you don’t, you won’t. Then you go on to the whole subject of fasting. those who are making a show out of their fasts. It isn’t the first time.

    You can run back to Isaiah 58, for instance, and read about those in the pre-exilic days who were making a show of their fasting. Jesus is taking exception to those who make a show of their fasting in His day. And the Lord, through Isaiah, was taking exception to those who were doing the same in his. But what does the Lord say through Isaiah in that 58th chapter? He says to them, the kind of fast that I want is that kind wherein you deny yourselves, you forego those things that merely build up you while you forget others.

    The kind of fast in view is one that is demonstrated in concrete obedience through acts of mercy and kindness through sacrificial love. The giving up of one’s self. For others now the same thing is continued after the exile Isaiah before the exile Zachariah after the exile chapters seven and eight same message is there.

    What kind of fast. Not where you deny yourself food for a certain amount of time, making a show out of your performance, thinking somehow you’re flattering God by this behavior. No! Something else altered it altogether different. A fast where you deny yourself and you give yourself sacrificially for the sake of others.

    Well, the whole of this portion of the Sermon on the Mount is building there as you move from the first part of the sixth chapter to the latter. It’s almost as if when you get to verse 19, Jesus wants you to understand that that first and what follows as a continuation of what he’s already said. As if this preoccupation with approval from men, spoken out against by Jesus before, is now to be plugged into what is being said here. As if taking the approval of men and making a vain show equals laying up treasures upon earth. This means then that verses 19 and following serve as a conclusion to what Jesus has been saying about the practicing of your righteousness. Now, having made all of these connections and noted the force and the power of the transition in the text, Have we said enough? I haven’t yet begun to preach. Everybody checks their watch. It’s hot in here. Doesn’t this guy realize that?

    I’d probably make you all feel better if I took off my coat one day. Now if I take off my coat, you will all feel cooler. Now we can preach. Having said what we have about the transition now into the text itself and the force as you move from the first part to the latter part of this chapter, we want to be clear, we want to press on, we want to get to the heart of things with respect to what Jesus is speaking of when he talks about laying up treasures on earth and then laying up treasures in heaven. Now, there is a mindset. I have attacked the liberals this morning, but I’m not going to leave out the evangelicals. They’re next. When you come to an exposition of this text, customarily given by an evangelical, this is what you hear. God is so good that he has provided for us, not only in this world, but the world to come.

    And the balanced life! The balanced life includes both. Now you’re all out of sync if you’re giving a little bit too much emphasis to life in this world and not enough emphasis to life in the hereafter. What you need is to balance things out. I just read this, this last week. They come to this text and they say that Jesus is obviously pleading for a life of balance, a life of equilibrium, keeping things in focus, keeping things in perspective. On the one hand you have this, but on the other hand you have this. It’s called the theology of the other hand. That’s why I’m not an evangelical. I’m reformed. I’m a rock-ribbed Calvinist.

    Now you tell me, reading these verses, 19 through 21, you tell me, is Jesus here interested in balance, equilibrium? Take a look, for instance, at verse 24, if there’s any doubt in your mind. You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and man. He’s not interested in balance here. He’s interested in an antithesis, opposites. It’s either one or the other. It’s not going to be both. There was a man who passed through the life of Jesus who thought that it was a matter of balance. and equilibrium.

    You could read about him in chapter 19 verses 16 through 22. He is called the rich young rule. Most people misunderstand this boy of Israel. They think that the rich young ruler was actually a vain fellow proud really not sensitive enough to own up to his transgressions, his sins, his failures. Not at all.

    This man’s the best Israel had. He is the best you could do under the law. He was utterly sincere. He was completely religious. But this man, you see, religious as he was, was laying up treasures on earth. You see, laying up treasures on earth is more than mere selfishness, stinginess, more than a bare worldliness. One can be quite religious, magnanimous, sincere, devout, and lay up treasures upon earth.

    The way in which Jesus deals with this rich, young, Jewish boy sets the record straight. I’m going to Jerusalem. Sell what you have. You’ve counted on an inheritance here, being a good Jew. You want the land, don’t you? Well, give it up. Give it up. Follow me. I’m going to Jerusalem to die on a cross.

    Only one who has seen clearly the kingdom of heaven will do that. Only one who has come to know the inestimable riches and treasures of heaven will do that. You can be as religious as the rich young ruler and be laying up treasures in Europe. But you see what Jesus is saying there to that rich young man. He is telling him about true treasure above. He is telling him about the kind of activity, behavior, the kind of obedience that is necessary, expressive of the character of the kingdom itself.

    For laying up treasure in heaven equals taking up the cross. You no longer live for yourself, you live for God. You no longer live for yourself, you live for others. In the cross you see what God has done for you. He has given it up. He has given it up. He has given it all up for you. He loves you that much.

    And now, what is the request, the demand, the obligation, the imperative of our Savior? No, not to treasure it here. Be you even within the circle of Israel, promised a plot of ground forever as long as the earth exists. No! What I want for you is a plot above, an inheritance that transcends. where neither moth nor rust can corrupt, where no thief can break in his deal eternal.

    The cross of Jesus Christ is preached as much from Matthew 6 as it is from Matthew 27. why it is almost as if Jesus knows what’s coming and every message he delivers is in light of the inevitability of that cross and the subsequent resurrection so you can’t even preach this text or understand it unless you have Christ And no cross less Christ will do. Only the one who died so that your sins could be forgiven. Only that Christ. And now This Christ tells you, you having embraced that cross, there is treasure for you in heaven.

    Again, our Father, if we are tempted to glory in ourselves, then Lord, may you stop us in our tracks and may we confess with those who have been great in your spirit that we have no glory save that which comes to us through mediated unto us by that cross through Christ himself our Savior who we exalt and Lord we pray that the testimony of that exaltation by us of him would be the way in which others are able to see Him at work in us. We too, selflessly giving, sacrificially expending ourselves, not even counting our lives dear for the sake of our God and the sake of His Church. We pray these things through the great head and king of the church.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Fasting as Feasting

    Fasting as Feasting

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, July 23, 1989.

    About this sermon

    Christ’s superlative righteousness links two passages on fasting that readers rarely put together, 6:16-18 and 9:14-17. In light of that righteousness, fasting now belongs to a past age. Zechariah’s vision turns former fasts into feasts, perpetual celebration in place of mourning.

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    Sermon transcript

    Our scripture reading this morning is from Matthew 6, verse 1 and then verses 16 through 18, and we’ll be turning over to Matthew 9 for a few verses here. Take heed that you do not practice your righteousness before men to be seen of them, otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. anoint thy face, anoint thy head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men the fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret. And thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

    Then in Matthew 9, verses 14-17, Then came to him the disciples of John saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

    No man putteth a piece of new cloth onto an old garment. For that which is put in to fill it up, take it from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither the men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, the wine runs out, the bottles perish. They put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

    Father, as thirsty people, as those who have been without any refreshment for a long, long time, but now the fountain is in view and within reach. Let us rush headlong to that service of praise and joy. And may we, Lord, with your word be refreshed for service in your kingdom. May our delight be found in you and our heart set upon your word. We ask this through Christ the living word. Amen. We come to the final message this morning on this section of the Sermon on the Mount, verses 1-18 of Matthew 6.

    A section, the title for which arises out of the first verse, namely, the practicing of your righteousness. Induced specifically are the so-called three pillars of piety. Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Certainly not peculiar to Judaism, not peculiar to Christianity, but the reputed three pillars of piety that are found almost universally, religions, in religion around the world. Jesus is interested in setting before us the vision that is essential for us in order that our piety and its actions, whatever they may be, might be seen of white, and participated in faithfully.

    Now he has built upon his exposition of the law. So in our movement from chapter 5 to chapter 6 we have seen Jesus move from a specific consideration of commandments now to those traditions or those actions of men that are considered to be specifically pious or righteous. In his exposition of the law, we have contended that Jesus in that has introduced us to what we might call the superlative righteousness. the superlative righteousness of the kingdom of heaven, verses 17 through 48 of that fifth chapter.

    And we have held that the distinctiveness of this righteousness is to be understood as that righteousness is now laid before us because of the revealing activity of Jesus Christ. In other words, it is only because Jesus has come, it is only because there is the revealing activity of this one, the Son of God, that this superlative righteousness is now laid before the people. Laid before all those who would be disciples in the kingdom. This means that even a righteousness that would arise out of that revelation mediated by one as fine as Moses, that even such a righteousness as that is scrutinized now by the righteousness that is revealed, made clear, plain. in the revealing activity of Jesus Christ. But we have asserted more when we have spoken about the superlative righteousness and its presentation by Jesus. For we have said that this superlative righteousness is now placed before the disciples of the kingdom, only by way, through the root of the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    You may well object and say, at this point in Matthew 5 and Matthew 6, Jesus is not as yet dead, buried and raised again, but Jesus you see is speaking as if those events are a certainty and as if they were a reality. So the superlative righteousness that is being expounded here by Christ is of such a character that it can only assert itself by way of and in light of that sacrificial death of Christ and his glorious resurrection in power.

    You may recall how we moved through the various commandments that are quoted there in the fifth chapter by Jesus. The sixth commandment, the seventh, and how we expound upon those commandments now in light of the work of Christ, the giving up of himself for others, and how that is to become not just the pattern for life, for belief, but the very ground of their existence, the very definition of their character and their being. And not left before these commandments as if we were powerless in face of them, only to be indicted. No! For Jesus teaches as that one who in resurrection power will convey strength to his own for the performance of that righteousness that is in view. So then, our understanding of the law of God, the commandments, passes through the person and the work of Jesus Christ.

    His coming, significance of that coming, monumental effectiveness of his ministry in revealing heaven, the kingdom of God, and the unseen Father who dwells there. in making clear the will and the intention of the Father that nothing less than conformity to Christ is what is expected and precisely that made possible through the death and resurrection of the one who speaks Similarly now, we move on to the religious devotion, to religious piety, verses 1 through 18 of chapter 6. And again, regardless of what action, what activity may well be in view, each activity, each action is seen in the light of that heaven that has been paraded now before the eyes of the disciples who have joined themselves to Jesus.

    And more than just the transcendent realm, the transcendent Father The Unseen Father, He too, is placed at the center of every activity, every supposed action of piety. When performing your deeds of righteousness, forget about being noticed of men If that is your motivation, you have no reward of the unseen Father in heaven. None. The revealing activity of Jesus, then once more, set at center stage, an intact of Christ. not so that I am self-set at the center, my own needs supreme, my desire above all else, me before anyone else, me to be noticed, to be appreciated, to be stroked, thus the selflessness of every pious work directed to God the Father above he who sees in secret he shall reward you but presently you can only see that reward by faith and anticipate it by the same. But coming to expression in these acts of piety is nothing less than the outworking of that sacrifice of Christ, who in his piety makes little of himself and everything of the Father. whether it’s presenting your offering this morning.

    We may have passed beyond the point where it’s an activity in which we try to impress others. It may be at the point that it is a thoughtless deed. I mean, I don’t even give it a second thought. The presentation of the offering is merely an activity.

    But I think little of a hiatus in worship of God. Not an act of worship itself in which God is central. our acts of piety, our prayers, whatever contrition may be expressed by us, at the center of it, God Himself. You convince that Jesus is right. If someone is going to speak about the Father above, and we are expected to listen Then, let Jesus speak! Let us listen to what He has to say! The tone and the focus then set. With respect to piety, acts of devotion, God above all else, to be set before Him, the One who is unseen, our minds concentrating upon Him, and we devoted ourselves to it.

    Specifically the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is in view in these verses in Matthew 6, It may not be any more obvious to you here than it was in Matthew 5, but nevertheless, it’s so. One of the ways in which you may easily be able to see this truth, that these verses are in fact reaching out to a time, yet future, when Christ will have died and will have been taken away from the disciples. Compare with this passage in Matthew 6, 18, 16 through 18, what you find in Matthew 9, 14 through 7. In Matthew 6, you have Jesus giving specific instruction with regard to fasting, he is giving that instruction to his disciples, but you turn over to Matthew 9, verse 14, and you find out that his disciples don’t fast. So why is he giving the instruction in Matthew 6 that his disciples don’t fast in Matthew 9? You move on to verse 15. In that ninth chapter, you notice there that Jesus speaks of the day when fasting will be appropriate.

    And what day is that? Well, it’s the day in which the bridegroom will be taken away. When is the bridegroom taken away? He’s taken away in death. So Jesus himself is reaching out in this instruction in Matthew 6 to a yet future day when, in fact, he will have died. He will have been taken away.

    When fasting will again be appropriate, and these words will be most appropriate to his disciples and their practice of time. But presently, you see, they don’t fast. The day is coming when they will. But this passage in Matthew 6, verses 16 through 18, is also affected by a sublime ambiguity that makes the practice of fasting itself somewhat anachronistic. I know that’s a big word, anachronistic. What does it mean? means something out of time, out of place, time-wise. Something sort of outdated, outmoded. And why do I say that?

    Even given the prescriptions here in Matthew 6 for fasting, And the practices of fasting that we’ve observed in the history of the Church. We looked at the Reformed Church and its practice. We looked at Roman Catholicism and its practice with respect to fasting. Yet, generally, the Church is not given over to fasting.

    So as to make this instruction in Matthew 6 somewhat superfluous. But why is that the case? Is it simply an indictment upon the Church that the Church does not find itself especially interested in fasting these days? Well, it could be an indictment in some respects, but in one sense it is not. You see, that passage in Matthew 9 where it says that the bridegroom is going to be taken away from you, in one sense is but a very short time.

    Jesus is removed in death, but then he is restored in life. He is given life again, resurrection life. So that his death is followed by this unparalleled explosion of power. The bridegroom then is not absent, but he is present. And is that not the emphasis throughout in Matthew’s gospel? This one who is called Emmanuel, God with us. So much so that when you come to the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t leave. He says, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

    So even with respect to these verses in Matthew 6 on fasting, there is a sublime ambiguity at work that makes the practice of fasting somewhat anachronistic. Oh, there will be occasions in which we sorrow. There will be occasions arising in the church and in her life in which she is hard-pressed in which she is so hard-pressed that she forgets to eat and devotes herself to prayer, to the beseeching of God, to an assault upon heaven. But while that is true, at the same time, you see, we are living in the day after the resurrection. And although Jesus will come again, And while we wait, there will be times for the most sober reflection and periods of even fasting. Yet, the age in which we live is not dominated by the idea of God’s absence or Christ’s absence or our sadness or even our remorse.

    No, our present time is one that is overlaid with festive gladness and joy. and that because of the presence of the crucified Christ who has been raised from the grave this day of sublime ambiguity was anticipated by the prophet Zachariah chapter 7 and 8 If you read those chapters, and especially the 19th verse of chapter 8, you will see that the intent of the prophet there is not to tell you that the times of fasting have now been dismissed. No, you see, the times of fasting have prevailed. Those periods are set. It’s just that in those periods of fasting, there is now festival, feasting, and joy, and gladness.

    It is a marvelous, ambiguous image that Zachariah places before you. Fast time made feast time. So it will be. in our present age, that you deny yourselves everything for the sake of Christ, not just food for a day or for an hour or for a certain period of time. You deny yourself everything. You treat this world as if you were not living in it, a continual, perpetual fast.

    But in the midst of that, a continual, perpetual feast and festival of joy and gladness before God. a sublime ambiguity for the people of God. Let us remember that in all of our piety and in our practice of devotion, as Jesus has very painstakingly pointed out to us in these verses, the focus is the unseen father which he alone reveals and your righteousness practiced in his presence for his glory and when there are those times when the church seems pressed to even engage in literal fasting keep these verses before you but remember the time in which you live is one in which there has been granted us a brace that overlay of festival gladness because of the perpetual, blessed presence of Jesus Christ with us. Now it may be, you see, that the practice of fasting has fallen into disuse and we have become disinterested in it because of our impiety. But if there is to be an infrequent resorting to fasting for us, let it be because we understand the scope of the true fast. The denial of ourselves of all things for the sake of the King but also because we are sensitive, supremely sensitive to the positive, powerful, certain presence of Jesus Christ with us right now. The Broad Room is here.

    Our Father, grant us the full measure of joy, a complete joy. a festival of gladness and delight may we understand our place in this world as those who are to deny ourselves take up our cross daily follow after our master as if in a perpetual fast but yet Lord with a sublime ambiguity. Our privation, whatever it may be, overlaid with the festival of Christ’s presence with us, and our joy multiplied unprecedentedly. This we pray asking that the restraints to our heart be removed and that our joy be full.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • A History of Fasting

    A History of Fasting

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Sermon on the Mount” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, June 25, 1989.

    About this sermon

    Fasting has a long history, and errors have attached themselves to it again and again. The relative absence of fasting in the modern Reformed church may be a good thing, and a proper view of fasting explains why. Matthew 6 assumes more about fasting’s place in redemptive history than casual practice reckons with.

    More sermons from Matthew · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    This morning, we return to Matthew 6, and we will be reading that section that hangs together because of its treatment of the so-called three pillars of piety. That’s chapter 6, verses 1 through 18. We will begin our messages on the last of the pillars this morning, with respect to fasting itself, verses sixteen through eighteen. But beginning with verse one now.

    Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, Do not sound the 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 you do us 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. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

    But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. be not ye therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things he hath need of before ye ask him after this manner therefore pray ye our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

    Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy father, which is in secret. And by Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

    Oh God, give us confidence, that confidence that comes from your word, that is built up through your word. Even now, Lord, convince us afresh of the truth concerning yourself, and may we be opened up to ourselves that we might know ourselves as you understand us and father with your word grant mercy then so that we having understood ourselves as you understand us but also realize that you have provided for us and may this be the testimony of your church throughout the world and even of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church that the church may be faithful to the word that you have given, and may there be servants raised up by you for the faithful proclamation of that word to the ends of the earth. We pray it in Jesus name, Amen.

    Now the first thing they teach you at seminary in Your class on hermeneutics, rather, is never, never apologize. Never apologize at the beginning of a message. Well, I am going to apologize this morning to you, not because of where we find ourselves. We are, believe it or not, back in Matthew 6. We took our little detour. And now we have returned to the fact that we were considering before we took that little side trip, but I am apologizing to you this morning, because it might be that what I had to say to you this morning.

    It’s not a sermon properly defined. Usually in a sermon, you have a text laid in front of you. text is opened up for you so that you understand your life in relationship to that text. Better yet, you understand your life in that text, you being a part of it.

    This morning, I’m not going to approach the subject of fasting along that line. Instead, I’m going to present to you something of the situation in which we find ourselves presently with respect to the practice of fasting. Now, I’m not simply breaking the pattern this morning with respect to this approach.

    What I’m going to do is foolishly carry it on this evening. Now, I know how that goes when I tell people that the message will be continued this evening. I’m always looking for great crowds to come out and see how the whole thing finishes up. Invariably, I’m disappointed.

    But this morning, what I would like to do is consider for you specifically how this practice of fasting has fared and is faring amongst Presbyterian and Reformed churches, and this evening My intention is to review for you the practice of fasting as it was developed and as it has developed in the Roman Catholic Church, and what is distinctively peculiar of that practice and how it differs from the approach of the Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Now, I hope that this won’t be too much in the lecture style, but I’ll to draw you into it as we move along, and that there will be a sermonic appeal at the conclusion of the message this morning and again this evening. When’s the last time you fasted? When’s the last time you heard of a Presbyterian and Reformed church fasting?

    I mean, really going at it seriously. A bona fide, genuine fast. I was raised in the United Presbyterian Church in North America, eventually was brought into the Presbyterian Church USA, but I cannot remember during the time of my youth an occurrence, an occasion of fasting within the church of which I was a part. I have been a part of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church now since 1970.

    Now, I have heard of fasts spoken of rhetorically in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We talk of prayer and fasting. The two words seem to go together, but I can’t remember an all-out effort on the part of the Church as a whole, even on the part of the congregation, even on the part of an individual, an all-out effort at fasting. Fasting is doing a quick thing. And it was a time, you know, in which fasting was very much a part of the life, the experience of the people of God. With respect to our modern situation, present day, Someone has said, fasting is a diet with a spiritual bonus.

    Obviously trying to make an appeal to a modern clientele. You’ve been thinking of taking off a few pounds? Well, why not get some spiritual benefit out of it? To boot! But isn’t this typical of our approach to spirituality in our time? The interest really isn’t the spiritual blessing or even the spiritual exercise. The interest is in the value of that exercise for me in a very, very physical way. Fasting, then, has been approached by some in our time because of self-interest, because of self-service. Fasting is having a very rough time of it by any definition in our current circumstance. And maybe it should. And maybe it should. Now that’s the essential thesis there. You are jotting down notes this morning. That’s the essential thesis.

    Fasting, the practice of fasting has been in severe decline It’s near the point of evaporating from the life and party of the church, but that may not be all that. Let’s look then at fasting as it was practiced by Presbyterian and reformed churches. Are you aware of the fact that fasting was a widely practiced enterprise, both in the English-speaking Presbyterian and Reformed churches and in those Reformed churches on the continent in Europe? Physicians, with respect to fasting, were in fact written into reformed creeds, into the creedal statements. Did you know that fasting is mentioned in the Westminster Confession of Faith? Described there as solemn fasts. Chapter 21. paragraph five.

    The propriety of fast is there presented to the faithful, but not only that, fasting was laid upon those people as an obligation, as a duty, as a responsibility. something that was appropriate to observe under proper conditions, when the conditions demanded. Now, this approach to fasting maintained a certain and deliberate sense of liberty. And that liberty was expressed with respect to the conditions that then would be judged appropriate for the fast. In other words, there were no regular set times or seasons for fasts amongst the Presbyterians and the Reformed. At the same time, fasting was appropriate and it was expected, even commanded, given the proper conditions. As to the occasion for fasts, the solemn fasts spoken of by the Confession, these occasions were expanded upon by the assemblies, the Westminster assemblies, directly for the public worship of God. were mandated at times of, quote, great and notable judgment, unquote, in the church and in the nation, or when, quote, some special blessing is to be sought and obtained, unquote.

    As to the manner of fasting somewhat different than what we would find in the Roman Catholic tradition. The manner in which these appropriate and commanded fasts were, was to be observed pursued a focus upon total abstinence, not only from food, but Again, in keeping with what we find in the Directory for the Public Worship of God, a total abstinence not only upon food, but from all worldly endeavors, including thoughts concerning our worldly employments and recreations, and also an abstinence from bodily delights. Now, there are certain strains that one can hear in this explication of the manner in which fasts were to be pursued. We need not strain too hard to hear a Puritan note sounding forth from this position.

    We should not be put off by that, for after all, we are the descendants of the Puritans, but it is interesting to note that the fast, as it is described here, has an overlay of the Sabbath observance placed upon it. In other words, the things that we would have expected with regard to the Sabbath are here brought into connection with the fasts that were to be observed.

    Now, that’s what we find in the English speaking world among the Presbyterian and reformed churches. What about across the channel across the English channel? What about in the continent of Europe and the reformed churches that we find there? They express themselves similarly. They were committed to the practice of the fast as well. Early on. In the Continental Reformation, amongst Reformed Christians, those who hail from the roots in Geneva and from Calvin, we find expressions like that in the Second Helvetic Confession, the work of Heinrich Bullinger, 1561. He concludes in that confession that fasts are demanded, prescribed, expected. They are useful for times of affliction for the Church.

    They are useful for times in which we find ourselves individually spiritually dead. By way of the fasts, so says this confession, the flesh is denied the fuel for its appetites. As you would starve a fire by denying its fuel, so the appetites of the flesh are starved by denying it those things that would provoke it. And thus provided for the faithful through the fast is a time in which they might be more willingly and easily submissive to the spirit.

    Now, arising from both of these streams, the continental stream and the stream that we find flowing forth from England, was the conviction that fasting was to be resorted to at times of public and private crisis, at times of mourning. contrition, great needs, supplication. Later on, as the practice of fasting developed within the Reformed churches, it was not uncommon to find fasting attached to things like ordinations and installations. When you were ordaining and installing Oftentimes you would find that the church would call for a fast to be observed in connection with the prayers that were to be offered for those who were going to be receiving ordination or installation. Also, it was not uncommon to find a call for the fast in relationship with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

    We had, in times past, the week-long preparatory service. Do you remember the days in which there was the week-long preparatory service? A tradition that was honored amongst Christian Reformed people, a tradition that was honored amongst United Presbyterian people, a tradition that was honored amongst Reformed Presbyterian people, And I would judge that the reformed Presbyterian people are still trying to do something to maintain something of that tradition, the preparatory service. But in times past, a period of fasting was sometimes attached to that preparatory time, looking unto the celebration of the Lord’s Supper itself.

    Now it is good for us to take stock of this practice, to scrutinize it, in light of the original Protestant impulse. In light of the original Protestant impulse. The Presbyterian and Reformed churches were true to that impulse, in that they refused to set specific times at which fasts would be observed, at least initially, at least at the outset. Furthermore, fasting in the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition was invariably united with prayer. So it was always prayer and fast. And fasting was not then separated, segregated, so as to have a life of its own, as if involvement in that practice by itself was to have some sort of spiritual benefit for you. It was prayer and fasting, going together. And finally, with respect to this Protestant impulse, to which the Presbyterian and Reformed churches were true, fasting was in no sense penitential. It was in no sense penitential.

    Do you know what that word means, penitential? We talk about penitentiary. It comes from a word that means punishment. And this is sort of a preview of what we will be saying tonight. And the Roman Catholic approach to fasting. You see, amongst the Presbyterian and Reformed people, fasting was not penitential. It was not a means by absolving ourselves. It was not a means by which we could absolve ourselves of guilt. Nor was it a means by which we could gain God’s favor. It was not a penitential activity.

    Nevertheless, there is an unfortunate side to all of this, and I have hinted at that already, and maybe you have picked it up, especially in that section where we reviewed the Second Helvetic Confession. There is an unfortunate side to the development of things around concerning fasting amongst Presbyterian and Reformed churches.

    And it is right for us to point these things out. Because if we are going to remove specks from other people’s eyes, it is good that we start with the log in our own. or if we’re going to throw stones, we better be aware of exactly where the vulnerable spots are in our own house. I would judge that the Westminster Confession and the way in which it expresses itself is guarded and best phrase amongst the reformed and Presbyterian creed.

    But it together with the expressions that come out of the Continental tradition. Can be. In the direction of regular obligatory that. That was the direction they were going. Affirmed originally was that liberty. But increasingly, what you find as the church progresses, that liberty was compromised and the fasts became prescribed. They became fixed periods. attached to certain activities in the life of the church. These things were to be expected in order for that practice to be properly observed. There was a hardening of the position. and all the drawbacks of a prescribed to practice that in. That’s why I mentioned to you when we were reviewing the section from the public directory or the directory for the public worship of God. The fact that you hear in the description of the fast something of an echo of the prescriptions that are laid out for the faithful with regard to the Sabbath.

    The fast began to be looked upon as obligatory as the Sabbath itself, and with that equation there came the increase, the multiplication of laws and regulations with regard to the fast as there were with the Sabbath. There was a concentration upon form. There was even an encouragement of satisfaction with form. and a satisfaction with form that equal proper performance. If you observe the form, you properly observe the facts.

    There was also the multiplication of discouragement. If you have been discouraged by what you find in the Confession and Catechisms with respect to its expectations about the Sabbath day, hold on to your seat. Let us multiply some laws and regulations with regard to that. Now we’ll really get you discouraged. For who can observe it? Who can keep it? Don’t you find yourself breaking it all the time? It was also the source for the multiplication, the increase of hypocrisy and utter dishonesty.

    People who feigned observance because the community expected it, because that was what was demanded of the community, that had given up on the practice long ago. why the very thing that they hope to preserve by their insistence upon liberty was lost. Spontaneity, the responsiveness of the heart to God, that was gone. And what you had was compliance because of expectations. Being there because that was what was expected.

    Form, but no substance. But that’s not the most serious difficulty. The most serious difficulty is this. Both the Westminster tradition and the Continental tradition tended in the direction of seeing the fast as a vitally, vitally important ingredient in the process of sanctification. You see the problem. We have trouble. Serious trouble.

    The direction that we hear marked out for us in the confessions, in the traditions, drives us toward the conclusion that fasting is a vital ingredient in the formula for sanctification. Especially in the second Helvetii confession, which we spoke of earlier. This fact is brought to light. For in that confession, the fast stands dangerously close to God’s direct operations through which he makes us more holy. By root of the fast, we are made to be more holy. By root of the fast, we are sanctified. Now if you find yourself drawing back from this, well and good.

    For to suggest such a thing as that seems to take us in the direction of establishing a mechanism that actually has power in itself to combat the lusts of the flesh. Through the mechanism, through the fast itself, we have something that is powerful in combating the lusts of the flesh. And in this regard, we cannot help but remember that biblical injunction given us by Paul at the end of Colossians, where he is dealing with those in that church who were practicing abstinence of various things, believing that their practice actually achieved the blessing of God, that their practice of these things actually achieved victory over the lusts of the flesh. Paul says quite clearly, these various practices of abstinence are of no value in overcoming the indulgences of the flesh. It’s the wrong route. It’s wrong headed.

    The biblical position on fasting never places it so as to lead us to conclude that it is the means of our holiness, the means of our sanctification. In the Bible, fasting is merely that occasional subsidiary aspect of the infinitely greater enterprise, the enterprise of meeting God. And when you meet God, you don’t have time to think about eating. It’s the furthest thing from your mind. You don’t allow the activity to eclipse the objective, the focus, The objective, the focus is meeting God. But tragically, the activity became an end in itself.

    So it is that in the practice of reformed and Presbyterian churches, Fasting often achieved the high status of becoming a means for holiness. But from that point, it was but a short step to a position in which fasting itself is our holiness. and a badge which we wear to prove how holy we are. And that lands us smack dab in the middle of Jesus indictment.

    16 through 18. Here was the practice of the hypocrites. Here was the practice of the Pharisees. They fasted twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. The practice itself had become the badge of holiness. It was a testimony in and of itself of sanctification. They paraded it. It was the means by which they commended themselves to others.

    But Jesus here places God at the center. Holiness is found in Him. Whatever practice is to be engaged in cannot be permitted to eclipse his person. Well, if fasting, having at one time been the practice of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, has slipped away now from us. Many might judge that that is a very, very bad thing, but it might also be a very, very good thing and provide us an opportunity to reassess the past, to go at it afresh, to think of it again and better this time. so that it is actually an expression of our liberty in Christ, so that it is actually an expression of a love for God. A love in which God is obviously first and foremost in our devotion to Him, clear and plain. And as it is with fasting, so it is with all other enterprises.

    I often times ask you, are you glad to be here today? Or is it just a dream? Is it a form that you believe has inherent power and value to you? Is church attendance your sanctification? Is it your holiness? The reason why we’re here, and the reason why we are compelled is because of our love for Him, our God. And we have come for His sake. And the service of worship is unsullied.

    Your holiness, your righteousness is found in Him. not in the practice, not in the exercise, not in the activity, but in Him. And that holiness that is found in Him then flows forth from Him to inform you in all of the things that you do presently. You are worshipping, you are praying, you are almsgiving, and even you are fasting. Well, let it be a lesson to you. And an encouragement. For God has presented himself to you in Christ as your holiness and as your sanctification. So that all of your activities are well grounded in and flow forth from him. A fountain of grace and glory.

    Our Father, may we not be afraid to scrutinize our own tradition. May we be honest with ourselves. And where we have failed or where we have misstated things, may we be bold to correct them. And Father, we pray also that the wonder of the glory that is revealed in Christ would be all the more plain to us that we would see that we are in him, that one who has become our holiness and our sanctification. And what activities we may well then perform ought to be performed in and through him to the glory and praise of your name. And therefore, Father, forgive us if our heart isn’t right, but strengthen us in order that it might be right that we might be brought into line with your will in keeping with the power that is found in our Savior and the power that is available in Him to perform those things that you…

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.