My Pulpit Message Notes

Grow in Private Piety.

My Pulpit Message Notes are extracted from sermon preached at the Nairobi Baptist Church (NBC) Ngong Road on Sunday 20th February 2022. Preacher: Pastor Wangare Benson. Topic: Grow in Private Piety. Scripture: Matthew 6:1-34

Jesus invites people to do their righteous acts for the glory of one, our God. But then for those who do their righteous acts for men to see, as they do them, the wows, oohs and aahs they receive from fellow men, Jesus says, that is their reward.

- The rewards from fellow men, quickly fill up our hearts and minds, but just as quickly they fade away like fireworks, but God’s rewards is lasting.

- When our perspectives, motives and priorities are not aligned with God’s intent then we end up missing the mark entirely.

- Matthew 5-7 is called the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus in chapter six continues to raise the standard, throwing in more complications. Jesus explains that the way people understood the law and the way they were

keeping the law was substandard as an outward expression. - So Jesus challenges our motives, perspectives and priorities.

- The overarching theme of the Sermon on the Mount is ‘What does it really mean; to be a disciple of Christ? To have kingdom values and perspectives? To have the priority of the kingdom of God to dominate our lives? To be followers of Christ?

- We probably will not be able to capture these in this era when He says that our motives matter, when He says, let your left hand not know what your right hand is doing.

This is a difficult one to understand especially in this day and era of social media, when we wake up, what we eat, where we go, who we go with, everything that we do, we post it on social media.

Therefore, it becomes difficult to understand what is Jesus trying to say, when he says, let your left hand not know what your right hand is doing. Nothing is private anymore.

- We live for the likes and emoji hearts. We keep checking to see, what have people said about what I posted. We live for the social media world and do many things to fit in and we have lost ourselves in doing so and have even lost others.

- Grow in private piety poses a challenge in this social media world.

- Firstly privacy with social media world feels like it is no longer happening.

- Piety is a whole different story. Our devotion is not there, or if it is there, it is on different things.

- When Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter six, the bar is higher than we have set, as human beings then and now, we see how we are

moved/motivated by recognition by others. We love to be validated by others.

- Therefore living according to God’s standards is not an easy task. It is impossible by human standards. We cannot do it.

- Therefore this points to the fact that we need as Saviour. We do not need an operation so that we can walk or run faster, but so that we can fly. Only God can do this. We need Christ to form our heart, to transform our minds, to conform our will so that we can see just how good and pleasing His will is.

Kingdom Reward - Matthew 6:3-18

Kingdom Perspective - Matthew 6:19-34

Kingdom Priority Matthew 6:33 …..

Kingdom Reward - {Matthew 6:3-18}

- Jesus highlights three critical disciplines of which every Christian is expected to practice, giving, prayer and fasting. He says, when we do them…, not ‘if we do them…’ Meaning that it is expected of us to practice these disciplines.

- Jesus begins by telling us to be careful not to do our acts of righteous before men to be seen by them. If we do them in that manner we will not receive our reward from our Father, be it in giving alms, prayer, fasting or any other discipline that we are to be involved in. He says if we do our acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them, then he called us hypocrites.

- James tells us that when we pray we do not receive what we ask for because our motives are wrong. This is what we do with fasting and other disciplines that we are called to do. These are the act that Jesus called hypocritical.

- Hypocrisy has done a lot of damage. It has pushed others away from the gospel and the kingdom of God.

- If our focal point is not God, then we do more harm than good. If our motive is not to please God, Matthew 5 tells us that ‘Our good deeds ought to glorify our Father in heaven’.

When our light shines, our motive should be to glorify God. When we go out as the flavouring and preserving salt of the earth, our motive should be to glorify God, otherwise, we receive a reward, but a temporal one, a fireworks of a reward.

- A.W. Tower quoting Ignatius says,

“Apart from Him, let nothing dazzle you.” so our aim is to glorify God.

Kingdom Perspective - Matthew 6:19-34

- Jesus throws in another spanner where our perspectives and our values are concerned. He want us to consider where our treasure is and where we store it.

- He wants us to consider treasures that last and not temporal. He also wants us to consider where we store them because that decision determines where our hearts will be.

- He is questioning our perspective on the material, on things of this earth. He says the things of this earth will pass away, but the Word of God will remain forever.

- Consider treasure that last.

How do I keep my heart from being captivated by the things of this world that do not last?

- That can only happen by believing and obeying the Word of God as it is and in totality. He says that we need to open our eyes which are the lamp of the body. This is our vision, our perspective. If the focus is the kingdom, then everything we do will be geared to pleasing our God, Father, Saviour. But if our vision is on earthly things, then our effort will be geared towards the material, towards pleasing men, receiving the accolades, but not on the Father.

- It is a vicious cycle in the sense that we spend the whole time gathering all these things and spend the rest of the time protecting them. - Our perspectives shows who we are. If our values lie on earthly things, then it is never enough. We get caught up in a world that is never satisfied. A world of push, rush etc. A world of fleeting nature, temporal rewards, treasures, a viscous cycle.

- The anxiety of life, the worry, what to wear and do, the life of followers, likes and emoji hearts. If this is the focus of our lives then we miss the mark entires. BUT, if we focus on the Word of God, if we hold it, if we believe in it, if we do what it says, how beautiful it shall be in the end, because we shall receive a reward that is lasting.

- Our identity is not draws from things. Our identity is drawn from our Father. Our identity is found in Christ. He is urging us to have a very light touch on the material, on the things, but to have a strong grip on the kingdom matters.

- After He lays down his sermon about motives and perspectives, He tells us we need to change our priorities

Kingdom Priority Matthew 6:33

Jesus tells us we need to change our priorities from the things of this world, to His righteousness, to His kingdom. This is the only way we receive a relief from the worries and cares of what shall people say. The rat race if wealth acquisition, what shall we eat, or wear.

- That is the only time that we shall receive relief from worry because our God can carry our burdens and He knows what we need and how to satisfy us with every good thing.

- He tells us something that is rather scary for a Christian. He says, when you worry then it shows you don’t have faith. It shows you have a deficit in your faith.

- Paul tells us that we are soldiers of the kingdom and should not be involved in civilian affairs, but in pleasing our Master.

And so our priority is the kingdom and then everything that we do from there on is affected by this priority.

How we give, pray, fast, reach out , relate to our spouses, serve, is affected by this kingdom perspective. Everything stems from there and that is what motivates us to be who we are; children of God.

- When our priorities change as Jesus ask us, seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness, becomes our core business and the LORD is the One Who is concerned about all these other things that you need.

- Cyrus S. Nasbaum 1861-1937 wrote the hymn, -

His Way With TheeWould you live for Jesus, and be always pure and good? Would you walk with Him within the narrow road? Would you have Him bear your burden, carry all your load? Let Him have His way with thee.

Would you have Him make you free, and follow at His call? Would you know the peace that comes by giving all? Would you have Him save you, so that you can never fall? Let Him have His way with thee.

Would you in His kingdom find a place of constant rest? Would you prove Him true in providential test? Would you in His service labor always at your best? Let Him have His way with thee.

His power can make you what you ought to be; His blood can cleanse your heart and make you free; His love can fill your soul, and you will see ’Twas best for Him to have His way with thee.

David asked the LORD to search His heart and lead him in the way everlasting. I find these words in the sermon on the Mount easy in the sense that you don’t need a concordance, or Bible dictionary, or commentaries. It can be understood. And many people have referred to this sermon as the greatest sermon ever preached. Maybe because it left the listeners without any question of what Jesus was saying. Where I find it hard is when it comes to the application. Because as my friend says, I don’t want my head to grow big, or my heart to swell. God help me.

It feels good to receive the praise, the accolades. Wealth makes like smooth and comfortable. Or does it? We have seen a number of families breakdown because of wealth. It feels good to have these things. They can easily get into our hearts. As Reuben Kigame reminds us in his song; ‘Tutavua mapambo vote,’ he echoes Christ’s heart to lay down our crowns and achievements so that we can bring our hearts before God in total surrender.

Christ is asking us to have a very light touch on these things because they have the ability to own us, to shift our focus from kingdom matters and from righteousness. They have the ability to steal the show, to dazzle us. And so He is asking us to have a very light touch on these things and a strong grip on matters of the kingdom.

So the question is, would you live for Jesus?