Jesus Calls us to Live our Lives Trusting our Heavenly Father

Jesus Calls us to Live our Lives Trusting our Heavenly Father

 

One day while Jesus was walking through Galilee preaching and healing all the peoples’ diseases and sicknesses, He saw that the crowds following Him were very large. So, He went up on a mountain side and sat down and began preaching to all the people.  We are blessed to be able to hear the sermon today that Jesus preached to those crowds so long ago. His sermon was faithfully written down by His followers and is in our Bibles today.  (The Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5,6 and 7)

 

Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the Mount” has so many good things for us to receive and so much truth for us to grapple with, that today we will only be able to cover part of His sermon. – the part where Jesus is telling His followers how not to live and what not to do.  But then He is inviting them to a new Way of living and believing. A new life in the Spirit.

 

We will cover Jesus’ instructions about how we should live. Jesus doesn’t just care about how we live, but He also cares about how we feel while we are living! Jesus even gets into our heads and wants our thoughts!  He starts off by discussing our giving to the needy. He warns believers not to brag to others about how much they are giving, and not to give so that they can be honored!  Not to try to impress folks or show off with how rich or generous they are! 

 

Jesus tells the crowd: “When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.  So that your giving may be in secret.  Then your heavenly Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you openly.”  (Matthew 6:3-4) 

 

Jesus also warns His disciples not to show off when they pray or when they fast by trying to impress others with how hungry they are when they fast or how eloquent they are when they pray.  He isn’t criticizing fasting or public prayer, but He condemns pretentious prayer or fasting that is done to attract attention.  He doesn’t want His followers to proudly play the world’s game of competing against one another.  He calls us to be ourselves when we come to God. And to come with a humble spirit.

 

 Jesus says:” But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who in unseen.  Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:6) It seems that Jesus is asking that our prayers and our fasting and our gifts giving be just between us and our heavenly Father and not to be done to impress others.

 Then Jesus teaches us how to pray by giving us “The Lord’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13) He gives us an example of how to pray.  Here is the “Lord’s Prayer” that He taught us:

 

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your Name.  Your kingdom come; your will be done.  On earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.  For Yours in the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.  (Matthew 6:9-13)

 

Jesus’ prayer starts with: (1) “Our Father”.  When we pray, all our needs are met by our generous loving heavenly Father. (2) Next, we praise our heavenly Father. “Hallowed be your Name” We enter into His presence through praise.  (3) After that we pray His will: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” We pray His will for our lives, our loved ones lives, our church, our nation, etc. (4) Then we ask for God’s generosity. “Give us this day our daily bread” Jesus asked us to pray daily, asking the Father to supply our daily needs. Let’s not worry about tomorrow but trust God to answer our needs for today.  Scripture says that His mercies are new every morning.  (Lamentations 3:23)

 

Jesus’ model prayer continues:(5) After praying for our daily needs we pray for God’s forgiveness. “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us” We need God’s forgiveness for this day, and we need to forgive others today too. Daily set your will to walk in love and forgiveness. (6) Then we pray for God’s power over Satan today. “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” Pray a hedge of protection around yourself and others.  (7)  And last, we praise God for who He is. “for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen”   

 

Of course, we don’t have to pray these very words. Prayer is personal and we are encouraged to pour our hearts out to our heavenly Father in our own words.  But Jesus’ prayer is a helpful  example of how to pray. 

 

In His sermon Jesus is calling us away from selfishly living our lives by the world’s standards.  Living for ourselves and not for God. Proudly fighting to get the best seat at the movie. And working harder to earn enough money to buy a more expensive car to impress our friends.  We rush around anxious about whether we have enough money to buy all the things that the world says we must have. And we stay awake nights worrying that our children won’t make high enough grades to get into the top colleges and get the best jobs.  We have nightmares about all the bad things that might happen to us.  And we are stressed, angry and anxious most of the time along with being exhausted from working overtime to pay for everything we think we must have to impress people.  Jesus invites us to a better simpler Way of living.

 

Jesus invites us to relax and trust our heavenly Father for everything.  To lighten up and humbly live our lives for God and not for ourselves.  To believe that our heavenly Father really does love and care for us like the Bible says He does. To enjoy the comfort of remembering that God is with us all the time and will help us.  God our Father promises that He will answer our prayers if they are in His will.  He loves to give his children good things. He promises to forgive us of our sins through Jesus Christ. (John 3:16) and He promises us peace if we believe in Him.  Scripture says that we are given the Holy Spirit – the Comforter - to live within us to help us live this new life that Christ offers.  This new life of trusting and obeying God.

 

Jesus presents two way of living in his Sermon on the Mount.  (Matthew 6:19-25) We can live our lives for ourselves, without obeying and believing in God as our forgiving Father.  Or we can live our lives trusting and obeying God. In His sermon, Jesus is asking us to choose to trust God.  Jesus says: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money.”  (Matthew 6:24)