Grace On The Mount – Part 3 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Praise the Lord friends. We’re gonna be teaching today from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and we’re gonna be talking about it’s not really a focus on what you give, it’s not focused on how you pray, that the Bible’s not focused on how we fast, but it’s focused on who we are. And when our heart changes, it changes how we give, it changes how we pray, and it changes how we surrender ultimately to Jesus. Blessings. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re here with us, and we’re gonna continue to teach today from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Aaron’s teaching Grace on the Mount. And today we’re in Matthew 6, so open your heart and receive God’s word.

 

  Awesome. So, here in Matthew 6 we just see Jesus continuing to sharing. It’s not just about what you do, but why you do it. God’s looking at the heart. Religion and just a lot of manmade, performance-based systems really are focused on what you do. It’s not really why you do it. But Jesus is pointing us to a relationship with our Heavenly Father. And I love that he uses that terminology, that name for God, our Father who’s in Heaven.

 

  Amen.

 

  So, it’s not just about what you do, but God’s looking at the heart. So, here in Matthew 6:1 Jesus says, “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in Heaven.” Now, I’m reading from the New King James. I know my dad here, he likes the King James version. So, for charitable deeds here it talks about alms giving.

 

  Right, and when you understand giving there’s three major types of giving, right? In the New Testament there are tithes, offering, and alms. And tithes is really giving a tenth, right? Offerings are those gifts that you give above 10%, and alms is giving to the poor. And I think it’s really good that you brought that out, Aaron, because a lot of times people see this and so they think, “Well, I should never let anybody know anything about giving,” so on and so forth, when Jesus is really talking about alms giving. And he’s talking about giving to the poor. Now, there’s a couple of reasons. You said one of ’em, so.

 

  Yeah, one reason I think that Jesus is specifying about alms giving and like not making a big show of your alms giving, it’s because if you announce to people what you did to help someone who was going through a hard time it kind of exposes their shame.

 

  Right.

 

  It says hey, this person couldn’t afford food, but I bought them groceries. So, if you go around telling everyone that it causes shame to that person ’cause you’re bringing out the fact that they couldn’t even afford just basic necessities. So, he’s saying don’t, and love covers things. It doesn’t expose faults.

 

  Right, now, I think another reason we don’t talk about it when we give alms, because if you stand on the corner and give money away you’re gonna go broke. And our government proves it. And so, I think there’s a, those are really the two reasons. Number one, He doesn’t want to embarrass the people that you’re giving to when you’re giving to the poor. And number two, because you don’t need to advertise what you’re doing when you’re giving to the poor, so on and so forth, or people will come and say, “Well, you gave that to them, now you owe me this.” And so, I think those are really the two reasons. If we were never to tell people about what our gifts were, so on and so forth, did you know Jesus watched how people gave into the offering and he made comments about it. And if you go to the Old Testament and you read it says this individual gave this, and this individual gave this, and this individual, it’s very specific. So, I don’t think it’s that you always, giving any offering, that you shouldn’t tell anybody about that. In fact, I think sometimes it’s good for people to see, and it’s a, when you give, it’s a reflection of what’s in your heart. And so, he says, “When you give your alms,” when you give to the poor, “don’t sound a trumpet before you.” You’re not to do this to be seen of men. He says–

 

  It’s the motivation.

 

  The motivation of the heart

 

  What is the motivation behind it? What is, and he gives, again, he actually goes through three different examples here of first about giving, alms giving, then about praying, and then about fasting. And what he is trying to get people to look at is not just what you’re doing, but what is the motivation, what’s the motivation behind what you’re doing? And he’s saying if you’re doing alms giving just to be seen by men, to get glory from men. A lot of people, a lot of people in the world today, it’s a major motivator. I want to be rich and famous. I want fame among men. But it’s very silly actually because a lot of people are very famous. Once you die and go into eternity, a lot of fame becomes nothing.

 

  Right.

 

  So, he’s saying, the glory that comes from men, it’s temporary.

 

  Right.

 

  We should be concerned about what, we should be motivated by our Father in Heaven. Verse 2 here, Matthew 6:2, it says, “Therefore, when you do a charitable deed do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly I say to you, they have their reward.” I like that he talks about sounding a trumpet as the hypocrites do in the synagogues. Recently, I felt led to just look up that word hypocrite. And in scripture Jesus is the only one that uses that word. It’s not used anywhere else in scripture. But Jesus uses it, and he uses it quite often. And in the Greek, the word for hypocrite, it means to be an actor. A lot of acting today comes from, especially theater, comes from Greek, ancient Greek theater. So, people then knew about theater and about actors and wearing masks, and performing these Greek tragedies and things. And Jesus is saying they’re just actors. They’re wearing a costume. They’re just, what they’re saying isn’t really, they aren’t being real.

 

  Right.

 

  It’s not, it’s not, they don’t have a real relationship with the Father in Heaven. They’re just actors. I don’t wanna just be an actor. I don’t want Jesus to say, “Hey, you’re a great actor.” I want him to say, “I see your heart. I know that you’re a,” and there’s too many actors in the world today. So, he’s saying, “Don’t be an actor just seeking glory from men.”

 

  Well, and they put on a mask. And so, they’re portraying something that really isn’t true at a heart level. And I think I’ve seen this happen in this realm. And we don’t want to put on a mask and portray something that’s not real. And we wanna give, and we want to give out of our heart, but we don’t want to portray something that’s not real to other people. So, he says, “People do this in the world that they may have the glory of man.” We’re not seeking the glory that comes from man, but the glory that comes from God.

 

  It’s a very worldly thing. It even happens today. There’s a lot of celebrities that get on their platforms and sound the trumpet and say look at what I’m doing for this cause or that cause.

 

  Right. He says, “When you do your alms don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does. That your alms may be in secret, that your Father, which sees in secret, Himself, will reward you openly.” And I could tell you Aaron, when we started this church there’s times that we didn’t have that much money, and God would tell me to give to a certain missionary, or God would tell me to give to a certain thing. And I would go give that, and I would literally see the results of that come in the offering. And I thought, “That gift pleased God.” And it wouldn’t be anybody that the world would shine a lot of glory on. But I knew that they were doing really, really great work. And I knew ultimately when I gave that, and I saw the fruit that came back from it that hey, that gift pleased God. And I see results.

 

  And God does, he is a rewarder.

 

  Yes.

 

  And we’re supposed to see him as a rewarder. Without faith it’s impossible to please God because we have to believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder

 

  Amen.

 

  of those that diligently seek him.

 

  We gotta believe both of those things. Now, he moves in and begins to talk about prayer. And he says, “When you pray you should,” Matthew 6:5, “don’t be as the hypocrites,” don’t do it like you’re putting on a mask, “for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of man.”

 

  Yeah, and that’s the motivation behind what they’re doing.

 

  He says, “They have their reward. But when you pray enter into your closet. And when you’ve shut the door pray to your Father,” which is in secret, “and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.” And I thank God. There’s times I used to call my prayer closet my couch in the living room. And you remember when we lived in the southwest side of the house and I’d get up in the night, and I would walk from my, I would lay on my couch and pray at night. But sometimes I’d walk from one end of the house, from the living room to the dining room to the kitchen and back and forth, that’s 60 foot long. But I would pray in the night, but I would pray in secret to God. And God, who sees in secret, he says will reward you openly. So, our giving, our prayer, all needs to be directed because our heart is right with God. And we’re really, prayer is a aspect of faith. Jesus said, “When the son of man returns,” in Luke 18, “will he find faith on the earth.” And he’s teaching a parable that men should always pray and not faint. So, when you have faith, you’re gonna pray. All prayers are not of faith. However, all people of faith pray.

 

  And here he’s really just, again, it’s the motivation behind what you’re doing. Like are you doing it because you have a genuine relationship with your Father who’s in Heaven, or are you doing it just to make a show

 

  Yeah.

 

  of things? Even in the Old Testament, Daniel, people were against him and made this decree that if anyone were to pray they would be put to death.

 

  Yeah.

 

  And he continued doing what he did. He’d open his window,

 

  Toward Jerusalem and pray every day.

 

  and prayed, and wasn’t hiding anything. He wasn’t hiding his faith.

 

  And he wasn’t doing this just in rebellion. He was doing this because he did this every day. This was part of his relationship with God. And did you know what? When they took him, right, and threw him in the lion’s den, God delivered him because he had a relationship with God. And so, you don’t do things just to rebel to the world, but when you have a relationship with God you do things. And if the world tries to make you quit, you just keep operating outta your relationship with God. I’ve had that happen, praise God. And I’ve seen great results when I obey God rather than man. And so, when you’re living for God sometimes the world will tell you to do something that’s completely different than maybe what you’re doing outta your relationship with God. But you need to keep living out of your relationship with God.

 

  Amen. Verse 7 here in Matthew 6 Jesus says, “When you pray do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do for they think that they will be heard for their many words.”

 

  Yeah.

 

  So, again, it’s a performance-based thing.

 

  Right.

 

  Like I’ll be heard if it’s about–

 

  It’s not because you prayed 30 minutes or an hour. It’s not because you prayed these specific things. It’s because you pray out of a relationship with God. Now, there’s specific ways that we should pray, and the Bible tells us. We should ask the Father in the name of Jesus, we should pray out of a relationship with God as our Father. But it’s not in this legalistic manner of praying. It’s not how much we pray. But when you have a relationship with God, James says, “The heartfelt hot prayer,” and I’m translating it, “of a righteous man avails much.” And when you have a relationship with God, you know what you’re gonna do? You’re gonna call on the Lord, you’re gonna cry out to the Lord. So, we’re gonna take a short break, and we’re gonna be back right after this break and we’re gonna continue to talk about prayer. And then we’re gonna talk about fasting, but we’re gonna talk about how it comes from our relationship with God. So, stay tuned, we’ll be back right after this. Friends, we’ve been sharing from the Sermon on the Mount about Grace on the Mount. And you can get the fullness of this teaching absolutely free of charge on our website at charischristiancenter.com, downloadable video, downloadable audio. And we’ve actually got hundreds of hours of teaching there for you free. Thanks so much, and blessings. If you’re really operating in faith two things are gonna be happening. Number one, you’re gonna get joyful. And number two, you’re gonna get thankful, and you’re gonna start seeing what you have instead of what you don’t have. You’re gonna quit complaining, you’re gonna quit whining, you’re gonna quit acting like a victim. “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted, built up, established in the faith, as you’ve been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us, and we are in Matthew 6. And we’ve been teaching about Grace on the Mount, and in Jesus teaching in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, this is actually one of Aaron’s teaching. But we’re sharing about how it’s not really about what you do, it’s about who you are. And who you are changes what you do. And so our heart condition really matters and all of these different things. And we taught about our giving and our heart condition. And I believe, you know what, when your heart is God, and when you have given yourself wholly to the Lord, you’re gonna give to God. You’re gonna give to certain things. And then we’re talking about prayer. And in Matthew 6:7, we ended with this verse, but Jesus said, “When you pray do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.” You don’t get heard because of how much you pray. Praise God. You get heard because you have a relationship with God. And Jesus said, “Pray like this. Pray our Father who is in Heaven.” And so, and I don’t believe that we’re supposed to just repeat this prayer over and over, but it’s really talking about principles that surround prayer. And we need to pray out of a relationship with God, that God is our father. And he says in other places when he talks about this, Luke 11, “We being evil know how to give good gifts to our children. God, as our father, knows how to give good gifts to us.” So, let’s go ahead Aaron, and you take off here

 

  Yeah, I like something,

 

  in Matthew 6:8.

 

  I like something that you’ve mentioned before. Years ago you went to Nepal on a mission trip, and you liked to run every morning. I know you still run every morning years later, but when you were in Nepal you were on a run. And you said you were just running, was it in Kathmandu?

 

  Yes.

 

  The Capital, and you said you kept seeing the same young man pass you.

 

  Right, he was running past me, and he’d run very fast. And I thought, “This is odd,” because I saw him pass me three or four times. And then when he passed me I saw him duck into one of those places, and he was praying to idols. And really he was praying out of fear because he was trying to appease the wrath of as many gods as he could before the day. Now, we know that Jesus, the sacrifice of Jesus, appeased the wrath of God, the Creator, the one true God. And because of that it changes the way that we pray, and we pray out of love rather than out of fear. But fear is a terrible motivator. And did you know there is still a lot of people who try to use fear to get people to come into a relationship with God? And I am not completely against that because the Bible does talk about it in the Book of Jude. However, I don’t believe that fear is the best motivator. I believe that love is a much higher motivator. And we oughta pray because we have a relationship with God because God is our father. The Bible talks about this in Romans 8 that we cry out, our spirit cries out, “Daddy God, Abba Father.” And because God is our father and we know him, we come to him and we trust him just like your kids trust you.

 

  Yeah, and the way, the manner in which you come into the Father’s house or into his presence is different than if you thought you weren’t

 

  Right.

 

  part of the family. When I first moved back 7 1/2 years ago I remember every now and then you and mom would have me check on your house when you were out of town. And I remember one time I was checking on the house, bringing the mail in, and I was a bachelor at the time and I didn’t need a whole lot to survive. But I remember I was short on milk and eggs, and I just opened your fridge and took some milk, took some eggs. I did some free grocery shopping. And I did that.

 

  You didn’t even ask, you just took it.

 

  I didn’t even ask. I just took it. And it’s because I was, I knew I had a relationship with my mom and dad.

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  And the same way, the way we come to our Father in Heaven, we know that he loves us. And it’s not this begging, this just pleading, this vain repetition type thing. It’s the manner in which we come to him. So, Jesus talks about how to pray to our Father, verse 8 it says, “Therefore, do not be like them for your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask him.” So, we’re to ask him, but we are to have this understanding that he already knows what we need and he’s gonna meet our needs.

 

  And he’ll give us much more than we ask for.

 

  Yeah, and he’ll give you better things than even you ask for. He’ll surprise you

 

  Yeah.

 

  with things. So, he says, “In this manner,” so when he says in this manner you can obviously pray this prayer word for word, but also you can pray in this manner, which means this is a model.

 

  Right.

 

  You can play like this. So, and there’s several important things about this model prayer in this manner. He says, “Our Father in Heaven,” so right away, our Father in Heaven, there’s an intimacy there. You’re not saying oh, mysterious God, who I don’t know what your will is. There’s an intimacy there with this prayer. We’re to approach him as a son or as a daughter. “Hallowed be your name,” there should be a sense of reverence when we come to God.

 

  Right.

 

  “Your Kingdom come, your will be done.” There’s an aspect of surrender

 

  Right.

 

  when we come to God. It’s not really about what I want, but what you want because your will is so much better than my will.

 

  Amen.

 

  “And on earth, as it is in Heaven, give us this day our daily bread.” We should pray prayers of provision.

 

  Right.

 

  “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” There’s this act of humility about prayer. “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” We should pray prayers of protection.

 

  Yes.

 

  I know that when I was a kid you would pray over me and my younger brothers every night, just prayers of provision, prayers of protection. And you would pray these things over us. And God answered those prayers. He always provided for us, he always protected us. And I love that it says, “For yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen.”

 

  Amen. So, we pray to God our Father, and then he says, “Hallowed be your name.” We pray in respect to who God is, you know? God’s promises are really based on who he is. And when we begin to understand in the Old Testament there’s this progressive revelation of who he is. That he’s our provider, he’s our healer, he’s our protector, he’s our sanctification, he’s our righteousness. That he’s our peace and our provision, and that he’s there. He’s never gonna leave us or forsake us. So, we pray to God outta respect to who he is. And then he says, “We pray for his Kingdom.” It’s not our will, it’s not our plan, but it’s his Kingdom. So, we pray in relationship to his Kingdom, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Really, we’re saying to bring the Kingdom of the, the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. And he says this, “We pray prayers of provision.” Thank God he takes care of us. We don’t have to worry about tomorrow. He tells us later in Matthew 6 the same thing. And then he says, “And forgive us.” We pray, we’re not praying out of spite. Isaiah 58 talks about fasting and prayer, and it says, “We don’t pray to debate. We don’t pray to get our way and prove somebody else is wrong.” No, we just pray out of this relationship with God. And Lord, we thank you. I like to say we thank you that you are not leading us into temptation, but sometimes people struggle with this aspect, but you are delivering. I thank God that God has protected us, and he’s delivering us from evil. He says, “For it’s your Kingdom, it’s your power, it’s your glory. Father God, have your will,” ultimately let your will be done. And then he says, in verse 14 he says, “For if you forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you.” We always need to pray with grace, again, and forgiveness. And he says, “But if you don’t forgive men,” their trespasses, “neither will your Father forgive you.” Now, I think this is kind of like in the Book of Galatians, because the Bible says that if we are trying to be justified by the law that we’re falling from grace. So, I don’t believe in Galatians 5 where Paul talks about that he’s talking about falling from grace as losing your salvation. But I think what, that he’s really talking about this, is you’re gonna miss out on major blessings, right? And so, I don’t think that it’s that God will not forgive unforgiveness because sometimes it takes a while to get over something because maybe you’ve been wounded in your soul. But I think it’s the aspect that we need to release things, right? Because if we don’t release, unforgiveness will plug up the spout between you and God. And it will hinder you from receiving from God. And it actually can leave the door open to the enemy. So, we don’t wanna live in unforgiveness, we always wanna forgive. Aaron, let’s just go just a little bit more and read verse 16 to verse 18.

 

  Yeah, it says here, “Moreover, when you fast do not be like the hypocrites,” again, that word hypocrite, an actor, “with a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting.” So, they’re fasting just for appearances,

 

  Right.

 

  right? They’re even acting with their face, facial things. So, “Assuredly I say to you that they have their reward, but you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to men to be fasting but to your Father who is in the secret place and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” So, fasting, it can be about food, but it can be about other things.

 

  Right.

 

  As believers, we should actually have a fasted lifestyle.

 

  Amen.

 

  That means we separate ourselves from things of the world.

 

  Right, and fasting doesn’t change God.

 

  No.

 

  Fasting ultimately changes us. And really we should fast so that we could hear God better, right? And move into the things that he has for us. And so, it’s not about all these things that we’re doing on the outside, but it’s because of who we are on the inside. We give because the greatest giver lives in us. God lives in us. We pray because we have a relationship with God. I mean, to me prayer, as a believer, is as easy as breathing. And we fast because we want to surrender ourselves ultimately to the Lordship of Jesus and to God’s plan and purpose for our life.

 

  Amen. And I think it’s important to have this, a fasted lifestyle, which means you care more about what God thinks than what about other people think.

 

  Amen.

 

  And this is something that you and Mom did really well in raising me and my two younger brothers, that you helped us grow up with this mentality that even though we’re in the world we’re not of the world. We’re ultimately citizens of Heaven on loan to the earth. And I love what Peter writes in verse Peter 2, starting in verse 9 says, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people.” One translation says, “You’re a peculiar people.”

 

  Right.

 

  “There’s something peculiar about you that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

 

  Amen. So, when you believe on Jesus you become a brand new creation in Christ, and it changes how you give. It changes how you pray. You’re not praying as a beggar, you’re praying as a child, and it changes your focus. And it takes us from the things of the world to put it on the things of God. And really it’s like not my will here God, but your will be done. I want your will, I want your plan, I want your purpose. I want to wholly, completely surrender to you. So, thank God, amen, that we give out a relationship with God, we pray out of a relationship with God, and we surrender our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ out of a relationship with God. Your daughters said, “We’re gonna get good education, we’re gonna go to good schools like Pastor Lawson’s sons.” Is that what they said?

 

  We will say, “We have favor with God, we have favor with man, and we have good understanding. We have the mind of Christ.” And the kids will hear that pastor kids going to School of Mines, Princeton. If God can do that for the pastor kids, then he can do it to us. And so, the oldest graduated and get a scholarship to the Colorado College and now working in the government in Washington DC. The second went to Duke University, will come to graduate next month as a medical doctor.

 

  Faith works with what you believe and see, and she believed it and she said it before she received it.

 

  A revelation of grace will transform your life and enable you to see God for who he truly is. He is our Heavenly Father, and only has good things to give us. When you look upon the face of Jesus you behold the grace of God. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of the teaching Grace on the Mount, a $30 value free of charge. Download it today at charischristiancenter.com.

 

  Friends, we don’t want to leave this broadcast without giving you the opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord. Pray with me right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your son. I believe that he died for my sins, and you raised him from the dead and made him Lord. And right now I surrender my life to you. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

 

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