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Matthew 6:1-33
In light of the purpose statement for our church that I introduced last week, I want to begin a series on Loving God.
I’m titling this series Heart and Head - Loving God with all of our mind and emotions
This means we are to love Him with everything we have.
Today I want to look at the aspect Loving God Exclusively.
If we love him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength - There is no room for any other.
In Matthew 6 we see that four key ingredients to Loving God exclusively.
I. Loving God by Giving
(1-4)
what we give our money to shows what you love.
Let me say right off, I am not preaching this morning trying to get you to give.
Rather I want to focus on how you give.
the word Alms in the Bible means “to have mercy, pit, exhibited by giving charity.”
How you treat those around you who are struggling will show who you love.
We saw last week how that if you gave to the least of the brethren, you have given unto the Lord.
So, We can give, whether through your church, to a reputable charity or to an individual the Lord lays on your heat.
But the Bible gives us a few words of caution in this, Give...
A.
Not for Recognition
(1-2)
If you give so that others can see you give, you have your reward!
You don’t need a press conference, or a special service where we walk up to the front to place our offering in the box.
We shouldn’t give so that others will glorify us.
May it not be said of us, as it was said of the chief rulers in Jesus day
Rather we should give and let God receive the glory.
Not only should we not give for recognition of others, but also giving...
B.
Not in Pride
(3-4)
Now perhaps that is involved in the first part, but the emphasis here is our heart and thoughts.
He says don’t even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
I know that is literally impossible, but the point is to not dwell on it.
Do it, and let it go!
Why?
Because the more we think about it, the more we will become prideful.
And if we do, the Bible says that the Father will reward us openly.
How we give will show who or what we love!
Do we love the praise and thankfulness of men?
Do we love the swell of pride within ourselves when we give.
Do we love the Lord?
The Bible says we need to give to others.
In fact one of the commands in the Bible regarding stealing says.
The purpose for work, according to this verse is that he would have to give to him that needs it.
So we Love God by giving.
Jesus Goes on in His sermon and shows us another way we can love the Lord...
II.
Loving God by Praying
(5-8)
Prayer is communing with God.
We love to talk to those who we love.
God wants to hear from us!
But we need to be careful not to fall into a trap!
When we pray, pray...
A.
Not As a Hypocrite
The Bible says that the hypocrite loves to pray where everyone can see him.
he is not loving talking to God, He is loving the praise, admiration and respect of man.
They that do this have their reward.
So don’t pray as the hypocrite...
B. But Pray in Private
The Bible says to enter into thy closet - literally a storage chamber, or storeroom, or inner chamber.
The point is somewhere private.
War Room
The whole point of prayer is not so that others around us can hear us,
Oh we can encourage and edify one another through our prayer, but if this is our focus we have missed a great opportunity.
He gives another warning here about vain repetitions.
It’s a caution about just repeating the same thing over and over, rather than speaking from our heart.
This is one reason why we don’t have a book of prayers.
There is nothing wrong with reading a prayer and praying it to God, but it tends to cause idle talking, rather than heart filled prayer.
So instead in verse 9 Jesus gave us...
C. The Model Prayer
(9-13)
Again, if we just take these words and rattle them off, we are doing exactly what he warned us not to do.
But instead he gave us a formula, if you will.
1. Recognition of Who we are praying to
2. Praise
3. Requests
4. Forgiveness
5. Guidance
6. Praise
So we ought to Love God by Giving
And we ought to love God by praying
Thirdly we should be...
III.
Loving God by Forgiving
(14-15)
In His model prayer He showed us that we ought to ask forgiveness for our sins, and forgive those who sin against us.
No He gives us a warning..
If we don’t forgive men, God will not forgive us.
For the Christian, this means that we will never be right with God, until we are right with man!
Peter asked God How many times do we need to forgive our brother, Seven times?
Jesus said, no seventy times seven - He was giving him a number He knew to mean forever and always!
He reminded Peter of why by telling him a parable of a king who had one of his servants that owed him a debt, one that could never be paid back it was so large.
The man begged for mercy from the king, and the king forgave him the debt.
The man left immediately and found another man who owed him about a days wage.
He demanded to be paid, and when he couldn't pay him He threw Him in prison for the debt.
The king heard about this wicked man and condemned him to the tormentors, until he could pay all he owed him.
In other words he would be tormented until the day he died.
How too often we are offended and refuse to forgive, when our debt to the Lord is so much larger!
Be careful of bitterness and unforgiveness.
It is not worth it!
No love God by forgiving those who hurt us!
So we can Love God by giving
We can love God by praying
We can love God by forgiving
and lastly Jesus mentions a forth way we can love Him...
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