The
Lord’s Prayer is widely known by Christians the world over. Most of us here
today are probably familiar with it in at least two different English
translations, perhaps more. Some may of have memorized it as small children in
the KJV, and then when you were older, learned it again in the NIV. And those
of us in this congregation, we pray this prayer at the end of our prayer time
each week in the NLT. To say that it is well known would be somewhat of an
understatement.
This
prayer is a part of a greater body of Jesus’ teachings known as the Sermon on
the Mount which begins with the passage Mike covered in his sermon last week on
the Beatitudes and goes through chapter 7, so this passage comes at about the
middle of a group of teachings. But we are not looking at the Lord’s Prayer on
its own the morning, we are looking at it in context. The prayer moves almost
seamlessly into teachings on forgiveness, and fasting and ends with, “Do not
lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where
thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and
steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Jesus ends
here because the rest of this passage can be seen through the lens of our
treasure.
When
Jesus speaks about our treasure, he is not merely talking about the objects in our lives, our TVs our
computers, our diamonds and electronics, all the things with which we fill our homes, nor or Jesus simply speaking
about the money with which we fill our bank accounts. These are the actual
things that thieves can break in and steal but we, as humans, are more
complicated than that when it come to our treasures, that is what we hold dear,
what we are willing to guard and protect. But the things we value are not
always actual objects, but are often things that are not always tangle treasures
such as our wide screen TV. The things we hold dear, the things we put in the
center of our lives, and hold onto most securely and have sway over what we do,
how we spend our time and yes, even our money, are the things that we truly
treasure.
So
let’s take some time and think about this.
What do we value, what in our lives has worth? What are the things in
our lives on which we focus the most? What fills the space in our lives? Not
simply, what fills the physical space in our lives, but also what fills our
time, and consumes our energy, as well what fills our heads, our minds, our
thoughts. What truly are the treasures in our lives?
Jesus
tells us what these things are, shows us where our heart is. What we value,
what we hold dear, tells us about where our focus is, or center of our lives
is, depends on what we determine to have worth.
As
we think about what we hold dear, sometimes it is hard to be honest with ourselves;
sometimes it is hard to see ourselves and our own lives with discerning eyes.
But when we think about our treasure in context of the teachings of Jesus we
have read this morning, it becomes a little easier to pin point. Jesus speaks
to us about fasting, “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the
hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by
men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast,
anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men
but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will
reward you.”
This
is a passage I usually preach on right before Lent. And although Lent is a time
of communal fasting, a time when we give up things in our lives whether that be
certain kinds of food, or entertainment, a particular meal each day or on a
certain day of the week during the 40 or so days prior Easter, when we
celebrate the resurrection to help prepare us spiritually for this holy time in
the life of the Church by saying “no” to earthly things that have value to us,
so that we can say, “yes” to God and the things of God.
Fasting
is spiritual practice that can and should be practiced throughout the year, in
our individual spiritual lives as well as a part of the communal spiritual life
of the Church. Jesus speaks to the manner in which we fast, about whether are
working to draw attention ourselves when fasting but how we fast, the manner in
which we fast, as well as what we fast say things about our treasure.
What
are the things we give up when we fast? Do those things have value to us? When
it comes time to fast, are there things we are unwilling to give up even for a
short period of time, to help us focus on God and engage better in spiritual practices?
Are you unable to give up social media? Can you not even think about giving up
your evening sitcoms or your morning news?
Are you unable to disconnect from your phone for a day or even for a
designated period of time. How you fast, and what you are unwilling to give up,
to give in to God, says something about what your treasure is and where you
heart ultimately lies.
Jesus
also talks about forgiveness. Now forgiving someone is not about “letting them
get away with what they did,” nor is about someone not bearing the consequences
of their actions, even if those consequences have long reaching affects such as
losing relationship with the person they harmed. Forgiveness may result in
restored relationship with someone but that is not always a sign of forgiveness,
especially if the harm done was particularly awful.
Forgiving
is about not allowing someone else’s harm to you to take root in your life and
continue to shape and form you long after the person “trespassed” against you,
to us the Biblical phrase. Forgiveness is letting go of the anger the rage, the
emotions that allow someone’s action to hold sway in your life? Forgiveness
allows us to begin the process healing, which depending on how deep the harm,
can be lifelong.
So
when we are thinking about our treasure, what we take the time to guard and
protect when it comes to forgivness, there are several questions we can ask
ourselves. Who are you willing to forgive? What are you willing to forgive? Are
there people you are simply unable to forgive? Do you allow that hurt to
control you and your life? Does that person suck up your energy because you are
continually angry or even enraged over what they have done to you? Does it fill
your thoughts and your mind? Do you find yourself dwelling on it at all times of
the day or even the night? Are you allowing past harm to shape who are today
and who you are able to become future? Is the way you hold on to that harm
inhibiting God from transforming you into the person God is calling to be? If
so, then you probably have not forgiven.
When
we set up a situation in which we refuse to forgive someone, that says
something about what we treasure, what we value, what we are willing to put in
the center of our lives and allow to be the center of our focus and in many
ways control us. Forgiveness is about not allowing that harm that has been done
to you to become a treasure, that you build a fortress around and protect at
all costs. When we say, “I will not forgive.” We are making that harm as
valuable to us as a chest of gold. It becomes the center and the focus of our
thoughts and our energy.
Finally
we come to praying. The prayer Jesus gives us here is an example of prayer which
reveals our spiritual lives and our relationship with the Lord are to be the
treasures in our lives. When the things of God, are what is valued, then our
prayers begin by being centered around God, who God is and giving God glory and
praise for God has done and is doing in this world. It is prayer that declares
that God is our Father and is holy. It is a prayer that desires for the ways of
God to rule on this earth in the same way they rule in heaven. It is a prayer
that seeks the coming of God’s kingdom in our lives, and through us.
But
it is also a prayer that asks God for what we need. It is asking for the
miracle of manna and quail in our lives, which is to ask for provision for
TODAY and no more. It is asking for no
more than what is required and not expecting God to be the great fairy wish
giver in the sky. And it is a prayer the
boldly asks God to forgive in the same way we are willing to forgive others.
It
is a prayer focused on God and the things of God. How we pray speaks volumes
about where our treasure is. What do we spend the most of our time in prayer
praying for? Do we spend time giving glory to God, thanking God for all God has
done for us, allowing the goodness, the greatness, the truly awesomeness of God
to wash over us and give voice to these truths in prayer? Do we seek God’s will
above all things? Do the words of our prayers seek God’s kingdom to come into
this world and transform in the ways only God’s kingdom can? Do we want to be
forgiven and do we want to forgive? All this reveals to us what we value and
where our treasure actually resides.
Finally
the manner in which we pray and fast says something about our treasure. When we
feel that prayer requires special words, and flowery phrases, when we fill our
prayers with aphorisms, when we pray in order “to be spiritual,” to be regarded
as “spiritual,” or in such a way as to look pious, or when we make big deal
about exactly how much we have given up when we are fasting, how hungry we are,
how hard it is to go without, when we come back after having given up a lunch
to spend time in prayer and then let those around us know how hungry we, either
with words, our actions or the way we look. That says something about what we
value. Our treasure is found in appearing
to be Godly, our focus is on what others think about the spiritual things we
are doing and saying, instead of actually residing in the God to whom we
praying or seeking after by fasting.
Our
spiritual practices, how we pray, how we forgive and how we fast, reveal to us
what and where our treasures lie. When we think about these things do we find
that our focus is on ourselves? Do we find that our words reveal that we value
how others perceive us over and above finding solace in God? Are we allowing
the ways other people have harmed us to form and shape us over and above allowing
the will of God and the kingdom of God to transform us? Do we find that we are unable to fast, or
unwilling to fast because we are not able to give up even the most mundane
things in our lives in order to purposely seek after God? Are we unwilling to
say “no”, to certain things in our lives, in order to give us space or to say,
“Yes,” to the things of God? Where is our treasure? What do we value? Do we
hold our treasure in the things in
our lives, in the hurts that we nurse, in the appearance of piety and what other people think of us?
These
are not the things the people of God value. People who are seeking after Jesus
and desire to live our lives in the same manner in which Jesus lived, hold
treasure in spiritual things, in giving God honor and praise, they find value
in seeking the kingdom of God and bringing God’s will to earth. Christians find
that drawing close to God has more value than gold or silver.
Where
our treasure is there our heart is also. Let us all seek after God in all
things, desiring the things of God, guarding them and protecting with the same
vigor we do the precious objects and things of this world. Let us find our
hearts in God because our treasures are found there as well.
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