when & where

U-TURN Sun., 9:45a.m.
CLUB JV Tues., 7p.m.

More of Alex’s thoughts

As promised, since we were a little bit short on time last Tuesday, here are some extra notes from Alex’s talk on Matthew 6:1-18. If you remember, he was talking to us about our motivation for doing things, as it is so often to make ourselves look good in front of other people. I mean, I don’t know about you, but whenever I do something nice for someone (like hold a door open or something), I pretty much always hope that someone else is watching so that they will think I am a great guy. Know what I’m talking about? Jesus, however, challenges us to something completely different in this passage: he challenges us to do “religious” things (like giving to the needy, praying, and fasting) in secret, so that we are more likely to do them for God and not for other people.

Why would Jesus say this? And how can we actually do it? Well, in reading Alex’s notes, he was going to cover this in more detail, but had to fly through it because of time. If you remember, he used another “R” word, rewards. And he said that if we are Christians, we don’t need to impress other people here on earth, because we have a God in heaven who sees all of our good deeds and will reward us for them one day. And while on the topic of rewards, he mentioned that an amazing gift offered by God is eternal life in heaven, but that there is no way that we can earn this: in other words, no matter how many doors you hold open, no matter how much money you give to the poor, no matter how many grandmas you help across the street, no matter how great your friends think you are, you can’t make yourself good enough to get into heaven. The only way to obtain eternal life is to believe in Jesus Christ, who was killed on a cross 2000 years ago. On the cross, this crazy exchange took place: Jesus, who lived a perfect life, was punished for the wrong things that we do. We, if we choose to believe, are given eternal life as a gift, even though we deserve to be punished…

Finally, Alex mentioned a third R, “requests”. And he said that through prayer, our desires grow closer to God’s desires, and that as a result, we won’t be so focused on trying to impress other people. Jesus even includes a model prayer for us in verse 9-13. And it is in prayer that we admit to God that we need His help!

So, 3 R’s. Recognition: what is our motivation for doing things? Rewards: God sees everything and will reward the good deeds done in secret. An amazing gift he offers is eternal life, but we can’t earn this. We can only receive it, and only if we trust in Jesus and what happened on the cross. Requests: as we pray, we’ll be made more like Jesus, and we’ll start to desire that God would look good in front of other people, rather than us!

Thoughts?

Leave a Reply