West Concord Church West Concord Media Team

The Disciple's Relationships: Our Relationships With Others - Our Relationships with Others
Matthew 7:1-6
Beware of Judging Harshly (vv. 1-2)

Be discerning (Matt. 7:15-20, James 2:18)
Do not be destructive


Be Aware of Judging Hypocritically (vv. 3-5)

The spec in their eye
The plank in your eye
The hypocrisy in our hearts


Be Wary of Judging Harmfully (v. 6)

Godly truth and testimony
Ungodly trampling and tearing

More to Consider
The picture of somebody struggling with the delicate operation of removing a speck of dirt from a friends eye, while a vast plank in his own eye entirely obscures his vision, is ludicrous in the extreme. Yet when the caricature is transferred to ourselves and our ridiculous fault-finding, we do not always appreciate the joke. We have a fatal tendency to exaggerate the faults of others and minimize the gravity of our own. We seem to find it impossible, when comparing ourselves with others, to be strictly objective and impartial. On the contrary, we have a rosy view of ourselves and a jaundiced view of others. Indeed, what we are often doing is seeing our own faults in others and judging them vicariously. That way, we experience the pleasure of self-righteousness without the pain of penitence. So, you hypocrite is a key expression here. Moreover, this kind of hypocrisy is the more unpleasant because an apparent act of kindness (taking a speck of dirt from somebodys eye) is made the means of inflating our own ego. John Stott

It was F.B. Meyer, I believe, who once said that when we see a brother or sister in sin, there are two things we do not know: First, we do not know how hard he or she tried not to sin. And second, we do not know the power of the forces that assailed him or her. We also do not know what we would have done in the same circumstances.
Stephen Brown,Christianity Today

Given half a chance, people often crawl out of the boxes into which we've relegated them.
Larry D. Wright.Watch at: https://youtu.be/P3GIUwPq7cE

The Disciple's Faith: The Liberty of Faith - The Disciples Faith:The Liberty of Faith
Matthew 6:25-34
The Invitation to Trust in God (v. 25)

How will my necessities be met?
What is most necessary?

The Examples of Trust in God (vv. 26-30)

Look at the birds of the air: God feeds them
Consider the lilies of the field: God adorns them

The Liberty through Trusting in God (vv. 31-34)

The enslaving focus of the lost
The liberating faith of the saved


More to Consider
Faith in God makes great optimists. Over in Burma, missionary Adoniram Judson was lying in a foul jail with 32 lbs. of chains on his ankles, his feet bound to a bamboo pole. A fellow prisoner said, "Dr. Judson, what about the prospect of the conversion of the heathen?", with a sneer on his face. His instant reply was, "The prospects are just as bright as the promises of God." The Presbyterian Advance

Sir Wilfred Grenfell, medical missionary in Labrador, found himself adrift on an ice flow, headed out to sea. He mercifully killed his dogs, made a coat out of their hides, put up a distress flag, and lay down and slept. Later he said, "There was nothing to fear. I had done all I could, the rest lay in God's hands." Donald Campbell, Daniel, Decoder of Dreams, p. 20.
The worldliness which Christians are to avoid can take either a religious or a secular shape. So we are to differ from non-Christians not only in our devotions, but also in our ambitions. In particular, Christ changes our attitude to material wealth and possessions. It is impossible to worship both God and money; we have to choose between them. Secular people are preoccupied with the quest for food, drink and clothing. Christians are to be free of these self-centred material anxieties and instead to give themselves to the spread of Gods rule and Gods righteousness. That is to say, our supreme ambition is to be the glory of God, and neither our own glory nor even our own material well-being. It is a question of what we seek first. John StottWatch at: https://youtu.be/vvS8e3WsM7I

Part 11 - The Practice of Righteousness
Matthew 6:16-18
Seeking to Look Good (v. 16)

The deceitful appearance
The delightful applause

Seek to Be Good (vv. 17-18)

The distracting appearance
The Divine approval


More to Consider
Author, editor, and professor Joe Carter has collected ten reasons for biblical fasting1:

To strengthen prayer (e.g., see Ezra 8:23)
To seek Gods guidance (e.g., see Judges 20:26)
To express grief (e.g., see 1 Samuel 31:13)
To seek deliverance or protection (e.g., see 2 Chronicles 20:3 4)
To express repentance and a return to God (e.g., see 1 Samuel 7:6)
To humble oneself before God (e.g., see 1 Kings 21:27 29)
To express concern for the work of God (e.g., see Nehemiah 1:3 4)
To minister to the needs of others (e.g., see Isaiah 58:3 7)
To overcome temptation and dedicate yourself to God (e.g., see Matthew 4:1 11)
To express love and worship for God (e.g., see Luke 2:37)


Biblical Fasting: Why, When, How, and How Not to Fast. Thenivbible.com
He made free use of Christian vocabulary. He talked about the blessing of the Almighty and the Christian confessions which would become the pillars of the new government. He assumed the earnestness of a man weighed down by historic responsibility. He handed out pious stories to the press, especially to the church papers. He showed his tattered Bible and declared that he drew the strength for his great work from it as scores of pious people welcomed him as a man sent from God. Indeed, Adolf Hitler was a master of outward religiosity--with no inward reality! Today in the Word, June 3, 1989.
We fast in this life because we believe in the life to come. We dont have to get it all here and now, because we have a promise that we will have it all in the coming age. We fast from what we can see and taste, because we have tasted and seen the goodness of the invisible and infinite God and are desperately hungry for more of him.
Fasting for Beginners, David Mathis, desiringgod.org

Watch at: https://youtu.be/x2LCSaD1DEM

Part 10 - The Definition of Discipleship
Part 10: The Disciples Humility:
The Practice of Righteousness
Matthew 6:5-15
Private Prayer (vv. 5-8)

Boasting prayers
Babbling prayers

Public Prayer (vv. 9-15)

Worship
Surrender
Faith
Confession
Compassion
Dependence
Glorification


More to Consider
Religious pharisaism is far from dead. The accusation of hypocrisy has often been levelled at us church-goers. It is possible to go to church for the same wrongheaded reason which took the Pharisee to the synagogue: not to worship God, but to gain for ourselves a reputation for piety. It is possible to boast of our private devotions in the same way. What stands out is the perversity of all hypocritical practice. The giving of praise to God, like the giving of alms to men, is an authentic act in its own right. An ulterior motive destroys both. It degrades the service of God and men into a mean kind of self-service. Religion and charity become an exhibitionist display. How can we pretend to be praising God, when in reality we are concerned that men will praise us? John Stott

My friend Dr. Robert A. Cook has often said, All of us have one routine prayer in our system; and once we get rid of it, then we can really start to pray! I have noticed this, not only in my own praying, but often when I have conducted prayer meetings. With some people, praying is like putting the needle on a phonograph record and then forgetting about it. But God does not answer insincere prayers. Warren W. Wiresbe

It is not the length of prayer but the strength of prayer that prevails with God. Jesus Himself prayed all night prior to His crucifixion and on most other occasions prayed very briefly. He is not condemning lengthy prayers, although there is nothing particularly spiritual about them. He is merely emphasising that prayer must be a sincere expression of the heart, not mere accumulation of verbiage. God is not impressed with words, but with the genuine outcry of a needy heart. Earl Radmacher
A man named Ivan while endured all the horrors of a Soviet prison camp. One day he is praying with his eyes closed when a fellow prisoner notices him and says with ridicule, "Prayers won't help you get out of here any faster." Opening his eyes, Ivan answers, "I do not pray to get out of prison but to do the will of God."
Our Daily Bread, December 29, 1993
Watch at: https://youtu.be/LlqHvvUTqgc?si=2RgZJsl6TParG49S

Part 9 - The Caution in Practice (v. 1)

Virtue signalling
Vanity satisfied
Victory lost

The Caricature of the Proud (v. 2)

Blowing their own horn
Blowing Gods reward


The Character Preferred (vv. 3-4)

Secretive giving for Gods glory
Satisfaction given in Gods glory


More to Consider
Virtue signaling is off-limits for the follower of Christ. If people happen to see you giving money to the poor, so be it; but the motivation should never be so that people will notice you. God looks on the heart, not the outward man (1 Samuel 16:7). As one commentator writes, The secrecy of our charity is one good evidence of its sincerity (William Burkitt, Commentary on the New Testament, entry for Matthew 6:1). What about Matthew 5:16? Jesus said, Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Is this a command to engage in virtue signaling? No, this is not a reference to boasting or announcing our good works (in the same sermon, Jesus warns against such ostentationsee Matthew 6). The Lords words in Matthew 5:16 are telling us that, in living an obedient life, others cannot help but notice (cf. 1 Peter 1:15). The glory is God the Fathers, not ours. Gotquestions.org
Its one thing to want to be good, to lead a virtuous life, to stand behind moral values of consequence. Its altogether another to want other people to know just how good we are. Herein lies the danger of virtue signaling: its mostly talk. Signalers can trumpet their outrage or anger, or indicate support for fashionable causes, all without obligating themselves to any substantive action that might bring more hope and healing to the world. And this signaling relies on criticizing others, implicitly or explicitly, in order to boost ones own image by comparison. Peter W. Marty, christiancentury.org
To sum up, our Christian giving is to be neither before men (waiting for the clapping to begin), nor even before ourselves (our left hand applauding our right hands generosity) but before God, who sees our secret heart and rewards us with the discovery that, as Jesus said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. John StottWatch at: https://youtu.be/kyCDWip2nn8

Part 8 - Matthew 5:43-48
The Definition of Grace (vv. 43-44)
You have heard it said: Love your neighbor, hate your enemy.
but I say to you

Love your enemy
Bless your enemy
Do good to your enemy
Pray for your enemy


The Distribution of Grace (v. 45)
Common grace: the gifts of creation
Saving grace: the gift of salvation

The Distinction of Grace (vv. 46-48)
The lost love their friends and family.
The disciple of Christ must do more!
The perfect love of God is our standard.

More to Consider
Looking back over all six antitheses, it has become clear what the greater righteousness is to which Christians are summoned. It is a deep inward righteousness of the heart where the Holy Spirit has written Gods law. It is new fruit exhibiting the newness of the tree, new life burgeoning from a new nature. So we have no liberty to try to dodge or duck the lofty demands of the law. Law-dodging is a pharisaic hobby; what is characteristic of Christians is a keen appetite for righteousness, hungering and thirsting after it continuously. And this righteousness, whether expressed in purity, honesty or charity, will show to whom we belong. Our Christian calling is to imitate not the world, but the Father. And it is by this imitation of him that the Christian counterculture becomes visible. John Stott
We must recognize Jesus fundamental point: only the person who places his confidence entirely in God can learn to renounce his own security and encounter his neighbor openly. Schweizer says, And when he encounters his neighbor thuswith the compassion of God himselfhe will no longer need to kill in order to live; no longer need to guard his heart with half-truths or oaths; no longer maintain his cause by vengeanceby returning blows or going to courtor carry the day for his own party by vilifying the enemy. Myron S. Augsburger
The word perfect in Matthew 5:48 does not imply sinlessly perfect, for that is impossible in this life (though it is a good goal to strive for). It suggests completeness, maturity, as the sons of God. The Father loves His enemies and seeks to make them His children, and we should assist Him! Warren W. Wiresbe
Watch at: https://youtu.be/6N_a59XwDS0