Seriously? 2
Living Your Best Life
Ron Wain and Jason Ward
Part of Seriously?—Taking Jesus at His word
September 24, 2022

Matthew 6:1-15 (NLT) - “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Intimacy

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We believe that our lives matter only when they are noticed. Why is that?


Jesus is questioning our motivation for doing what we do?
1. Are we doing it to get attention for ourselves
2. Or are we doing it because we are growing and maturing and being transformed to be more like Jesus

Skye Jethani says this is an elusive secret: Our lives do matter, NOT because someone noticed our post and liked it BUT because God is always with us noticing every moment of our lives.

Psalm 139:1-5 (New Living Translation) - O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.

We live our best lives when we are content to know that God sees the good things we do and hears our prayers AND NOT to do them to bring attention to ourselves. Only then will we feel significant

Community

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It is interesting to note that all the pronouns in the prayer are plural. There is no “I” or “me” or “my”. Only “our” and “us”.
Our culture today is very individualistic. There is a lot of talk about freedom and this has come to mean not just freedom from oppression but freedom from other people.

This is NOT a part of Jesus teachings. Jesus prayer assumes we are connected


Whenever we pray alone or get together with other followers and pray (or sing) it has a binding or unifying effect on us. It brings us together in spite of our differences and focusses us on what we have in common.

Ephesians 4:3-6 (NLT)- Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all.

Unity breaks down when we focus more on the differences than what we have in common.

It also connects us to other followers of Jesus in other parts of the world, those that came before us and those who will come after us.


We all share the same Heavenly Father. Our relationship with Him cannot be separated from our relationship with other people who are also created in His image.


Followers of Jesus were not meant to follow Jesus alone. Our best life is when our identity is found in community with other followers of Jesus.

Mystery

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The Lord’s Prayer starts with:
Matthew 6:9 - Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

Jesus is actually connecting two really big ideas here
1. God is our heavenly father
2. God is Holy.

What does it mean that God is Holy?


When faced with a paradox, sometimes it’s easy to focus just on the side that makes sense to us.


Skye Jethani again sums it up for us perfectly: Rather than comprehend Him (God), we are invited to… fall down in worship before the God who is a Holy bonfire of love. Only such a God is worthy of my prayer because any god I can fully understand can be no greater than myself.

Reflection

  1. What feelings do we get when people notice us on social media? How long does the feeling last? What happens if we don’t get noticed or people say something negative?
  2. Many people think they can follow Jesus and not be a part of a church community. Based on what Jesus taught what are three reasons you can think of to ecourage someone to be part of a church community?
  3. What side of the paradox of God being a tender father and Holy bonfire do you prefer and why? How does a more complete view of God (both tender and Holy) change how you feel about God?

References

Holiness Video from The Bible Project
Notes from Holiness Video
John Eldredge on Carey Nieuwhof leadership podcast (YouTube)
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