EXAMPLES
By Jerad Allen

Good morning. If you'd like to, turn to Matthew 6. That's where the majority of our lesson will be today.

I feel like I say this a lot before my sermons, but as most of you know, I'm attending Bowling Green State University right now. As a student I take a lot of tests. I'm in college. I don't know how long it's been since some of you have taken an academic test. For a few, I can imagine it's been a couple of decades.

One thing I like to have before a test or an essay is a model. I like examples because they help me to know what to expect, what to do, and how to prepare. It's easier to prepare when I have an example.

The chapter we’re looking at today is part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. What he is giving us in this chapter is examples. He is commanding us how to live in certain ways, how to do certain things. Today, we will go over ways to please God. We will go over prayer. We will go over the fasting, treasures in heaven and many other things.
To start out, I will read verses one through four. Be careful not to do good deeds in front of other people. Don’t do those deeds to be seen by others. If you do, your Father in heaven will not reward you. When you give to needy people, do not announce it by having trumpets blown. Do not be like those who only pretend to be holy. They announce what they do in the synagogues and on the streets. They want to be honored by other people. What I’m about to tell you is true. They have received their complete reward. When you give to needy people, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Then your giving will be done secretly. Your Father will reward you, because he sees what you do secretly.
How often on the news or on the internet or other things, do we see celebrities or other famous and rich people announce how much they're giving? I remember seeing a headline a few years back that Bill Gates pledges that he will give half of his fortune to charity by a certain time. How often do we see man announce their good deeds, screaming, “Look at how good I am. See what I can do. See what I am doing. How good am I?” That's not how the Lord tells us to give to the needy.

That's not what the Lord commands us. We should not be announcing our ways in what we do. We should do it in secret because this does not matter. You should not boast about the good you do.

In Ephesians 2:8-9, it says, For by grace have you been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

In James 2:16, it says, For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

You are not saved by the works you do. Without faith, your work is dead. No matter what you do, you could cure cancer, you could solve world hunger, but if you do not have faith in the Lord, if you have not taken care of your own soul, it will not matter. No amount of good deeds you can do can erase the sins that you have committed. Nothing can erase the deeds that you have done. Only through faith, only through the blood of Christ can those sins be forgiven, not through your own works. As it says, faith apart from works is dead, but also works apart from faith are meaningless.

I tell you, when you do these deeds, do not boast, do not announce them. If people see them, so be it, but do not make sure they see it. As my father said, we should be cheerful givers, but we should also not be boastful givers. Think of the parable of the woman who gave that one little penny. Jesus took more worth out of that one little penny, all she had, than the hundreds, even the thousands that the rich men were giving, because those rich men were being boastful.

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

Do things the Lord wants you to do, not things that will bring you recognition. In Colossians 2:23, it says, whatever you do, work heartedly as for the Lord and not for men.

Work for the Lord, not for men. It's in the Bible. In Colossians 2:23, it tells us this, because you ought to work for the Lord, in his kingdom and not for the Earth and its. You cannot serve two masters, so you must follow the Lord and do as he tells you and do things as he has taught us. Do things for him not for the world. This is what these verses are getting at. Do not be like the hypocrites in the synagogues.

Moving on to verse 9, it says, this then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Here we have Jesus' model prayer. This is not the prayer we should all say at every turn, but an example for us. Earlier, as I said, I like examples before tests. I like them a lot before essays or presentations, too, because they show me how the teacher wants it. Teachers like their presentations and essays in certain ways, and when you have examples, it's a little easier to follow that.

That's what the Lord is doing. He's a teacher. He's giving us an example of a proper prayer. That's what we should focus on here. How does he want us to pray? What does he want us to say? How does he want us to address him? Here it says, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. He starts us off. He starts his prayer off recognizing the Lord, our Father in heaven, our King above all. Hallowed, gracious ,is your name, great is your name.

Moving on to verse 10, Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Many times, Jesus and others in the Bible say, Lord, your will be done.

In Romans 12:2, we are told, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We must ask the Lord for his will to be done, but we must also be able to determine what his will is ourselves. As it says here, do not be conformed to the world, but let our minds be renewed so we may better listen to God's word, for His orders, for what we should do.

Let His will be done because His will is greater than ours. He knows what is right, what is perfect. While we are beginning to understand and beginning to learn what is truly right, and we know what is right, we have problems doing it. We have problems picking the right way. We need to ask the Lord to guide us, to allow His will to be done, to give us the strength for His will to be done.

Give us today our daily bread, verse 11.

Here we are to ask our basic needs. In the Bible, we are assured that following the Lord, our basic needs will be met. We will have the amount of water and the amount of food we need. We do not need to worry about these things because the Lord will provide them for us.

In Psalms 55:22, it says, cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved. The Lord will sustain your hunger. He will sustain your thirst. As long as you are following him, you can be certain that you will have what you need to make it through the day. Then the the next day and the next until your time has come.

To move on, verses 12 through 15, say, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins as well.

In Matthew 18:22-23, we're told about the servant who had his debt forgiven. This is a parable where a servant owes a great debt to his master, and the master graciously forgives him. The servant then had another servant who owed him some money. It was a small amount, and he threw him in jail. As reprimand, the master put his debt back on him. That is a good example of what the Lord means.

We must pray, we must be able to forgive our enemies because are we not also sinners? Have we also not transgressed against God? How can he forgive us if we are not even willing to forgive what has happened, what has been done to us? How can He forgive what we have done to Him? That is something I feel many people struggle with. Sin is not just some arbitrary thing you are doing that's wrong. You are actively committing sins against God. You are defiling God. These are acts against Him. Just as someone's sins can harm you, our sins harm Him.

Another thing we must pray for the strength to forgive. Some people do some pretty bad things to us, and it can be really tough. Our enemies sometimes run us in ways that we might find unforgivable, that we might find impossible to forgive, but we must pray for the strength to forgive others.

In 1^st Corinthians 10:13, it says, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way to escape that you may be able to endure.

We know that we are not given temptation beyond our abilities, so we must pray for the strength to overcome it. We must pray for the strength to get past it. We must pray that the Lord points us down a path of the righteous and for the strength to walk it.

Verses 16 through 18, goes over fasting, and it says, When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen, and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Again, as this chapter has told us, I think four times already, do things for the Lord, our God, in His honor, to His glory, and not for the recognition of man. As it says, those who do it, their reward is in full. They will receive their rewards in this world, but they will have nothing for what is beyond. Do things for the Lord, not to be seen in a better light with your peers.

In 1^st Samuel 16:7, it says, But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

While we see what's on the outside, the Lord sees what's inside. That is why it is important that we have the right mind and attitude when we serve him. Because while others might think we are living righteously and nobly, the Lord knows the truth. If your heart is tainted, if you are not committed to him, he will know. You must make sure that you are not just doing the right things, but you have the right attitude, and that you have faith in your heart, that you have love in your heart, that you are doing things the Lord has commanded you to as the Lord has commanded you to do them. The Lord can see more than man. He can see what is in your heart, not as just what is on your clothes and what you do.

Moving on to Treasures in Heaven, verses 19 through 24, say, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness? No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

You cannot serve both God and the world. You cannot be part of the material world and God's kingdom. You cannot commit yourself to both. You must choose.

In 1^st John 2:15-17, it says, Do not love the world for the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides in him forever.

The things of the world are temporary. The great monuments we built, the grass that grows in our fields, one day will all burn away. The pyramids over in Egypt have stood for thousands of years, but one day they too will be burned away. Nothing here is permanent. Everything here is temporary. Everything here will be burned. Even our bodies will decay and decompose back into the ground.

Our spirit, our soul is forever. That is what truly matters. That is why you should not keep your treasures here. Keep your treasures in heaven with the Lord. Put your faith in Him so that one day you may be with Him. Do not go on with your life thinking that you will be okay just by coasting along, by putting your treasures here because those treasures will burn up. Those treasures will be cast out on judgment day.

Moving on, verses 25 through 33 say, Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you eat or drink, or about your body or what you wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you, by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow? They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon, in all his splendor, was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you? O you of little faith. So do not worry saying, 'what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given unto you. Therefore, do not worry for tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own.

Matthew 4:4 says, But he answered, 'It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Why should we not worry about today? Why should we not worry about clothes? Because that's not really important. What happens to us on this Earth isn't really important. It's what comes out of the mouth of God, and how we follow the Lord.

Look at Steven. He was stoned to death. You think he was worried about food in that moment? You think he was worried about how his body was going to be after the stoning, about what was happening in him here in this world at that moment? No. He was still screaming the word. He was screaming the word of God. He was following the Lord. We should not worry about this world, about what happens here, because the Lord will take care of us, and because at the end of the day, this is not where our soul will reside forever. This world is only temporary. This world is finite. Our souls are forever.

In Philippians 4:6, it says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.

The Lord will provide you with what you need. Do not worry about the trivial because it will be given unto you. As you're following the Lord, you will be taken care of. As he said, if the birds are fed, will you not be as well? If you are to find yourself in persecution with people wanting to end your life, remember Matthew 5:10, blessed are those who are persecuted for the for righteousness's sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Should we worry? We shouldn’t, right? Because what will it do? No amount of worrying will buy us an extra second of time. Our lives are going to be as long as however they are, no matter what we do. When I had tests last month taken, I was a little worried at what they were going to come back like. I was fine, but I really shouldn't have worried. Even if they came back bad, my grades were just still going to be fine. I was still going to be good. The tests were already done, so worrying did me no good.

Many of us worry far too much when it does us nothing. It does not serve us. It does not serve the Lord. When we find ourselves in situations where we might be scared, where people are against us, or people are persecuting us, we must remember that even in death, we will be fine because the Lord Our God's sacrifice, because the Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed himself, His body, His life for us.

Through His sacrifice, we can be saved. That is why you do not need to worry because Jesus has already taken your punishment for you. He was on that cross suffering for the sins we committed, that I committed, that you committed, that people across the street committed, across the world committed. We don't need to worry because Jesus has taken care of it. He has paid the debt we owe.

I ask you today, if you have not told the world that you believe in the Lord your God, if you have not been baptized for the remission of sins, if you have not confessed the Lord your God here, I ask you why and why wait? Your time worrying cannot buy you any more time, but your time can come at any moment. Waiting does nothing. I ask you if you have not been baptized, that you be baptized here today. We have a purposely good baptistery ready. Thank you.