Title is the right choice
Contents
right choice
Matthew 6:16-24
Matthew 6:16 When you fast, do not look sad like the hypocrites, for they disgrace their faces to show people what they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have already received their reward.
Matthew 6:17 When you fast, grease your head and wash your face.
Matthew 6:18 This is so that those who fast are not seen by men, but to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:19 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break through and steal.
Matthew 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal.
Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:22 The eye is the lamp of the body; therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
Matthew 6:23 If your eyes are bad, your whole body will be in darkness. Therefore, if the light that you have is darkness, how great will it be
Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters; either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other; for ye cannot serve both God and riches.
Today's title is "The Right Choice". Let's all make the “right choice” together. I saw two contrasts: the disciples who the Lord placed in the heavens were trying to bring Him down to heaven, the same dimension as the Lord, and the disciples who had the earthly dimensions were trying to bring Him down to the earth. The disciples accepted the story of the kingdom of heaven and the story of the world, and the Lord used the world as a parable to lead the story of the kingdom of heaven. Today's text also introduces two dimensions, two contrasts, and teaches us to make the right choice between the two dimensions.
Divide the text into 4 parts
[1] Correct fasting (verses 16-18)
[2] Right treasure (verses 19-21)
[3] Right eye (verses 22-23)
[4] The upright master (verse 24)
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[1] Correct fasting (verses 16-18)
What is fasting? Fasting does not simply refer to fasting without eating, but also refers to the abolition of food and beverage for religious purposes. The purpose is to give up eating and pray over my personal problems, my religious problems, my family, my friends, my society, and my national problems.
Fasting usually refers to fasting prayers. In our daily life, where we eat and live, we have fellowship with God through prayer and as we make our supplications known, we discover God's will, gain power, and maintain a life of godliness that is more dependent on God. Seriously and intensively, you will be able to stop eating and fasting and pray to talk to God and get God's answer. A sincere fasting prayer will bring many benefits.
The reason the Lord fasted and prayed, such as a 40-day fast, must have been because of necessity and benefit. However, the text points out the corrupted fasting prayer and teaches us how to pray the right fast. Do not fast and pray to be seen by others, just as you should not give in order to be seen and pray while standing in the streets and synagogues to be seen by others. Don't do it to brag. It's not to say you're fasting. The point is not to focus your fasting prayers on people. This means that you should dress up your face, hair, and body as usual so that you can't tell whether you are fasting or not. Of course, I am not referring to the appearance of a person who prays without making up or putting on makeup, or earnestly praying to God, regardless of the person, who prays without food, does not sleep.
This text teaches how to fast, not how often or for how long. In any case, do not do it to boast, to be recognized by others, to show off as possessing superior spiritual power, and do not share your fasting, prayers, or experiences with you. Naturally, we become proud and our fasting and prayers can be perverted. Then God, who sees in secret, will repay you. Please believe it.
[2] The Right Treasure (19-21)
In the text, we introduce the treasures of the world and the kingdom of heaven, and instruct us to build up treasures in heaven. What is the world's treasure? It means that the people of the world know it dearly and envy it, and dedicate time, energy, and even life to obtain it.
The world's treasures can be houses, cars, home furnishings, housekeeping, fine clothes, jewels, chunks of land, savings accounts, beauty, power, knowledge, honor, academic background, and anything the world likes. The Lord's point is that these things can become old, worn out, ragged, withered, worthless, or stolen by thieves or destroyed by some calamity, as the clothes moth, the iron rusts. In other words, everything in the world decays and cannot be safely stored for a long time. He teaches us not to waste our lives trying to accumulate treasures from the corrupted and unmanageable world, but to build up the treasures of heaven.
What are heavenly treasures? It will be a life without blemish, true faith, forgiveness of sins, wisdom to know God's will, peace that God gives, those who have joy, thanksgiving, abundant life, almsgiving, devotion, offering, prayer, reading the Word and meditating on the QT life.
These things will be rewarded forever in the kingdom of God, and are precious treasures that no one can take away. A sure investment, a safe investment, a guaranteed investment, so life insurance pays the dead in the world. What does that mean for the dead? Please believe that the treasures in heaven are life insurance that saves the dead forever. It is a lesson to choose the right treasure, the eternal treasure, the treasure of the kingdom of heaven.
[3] Right Eyes (22-23)
The eyes are the lamp of the body. He said that if the eyes are good, the whole body will be full of light, but if the eyes are bad, the whole body will be dark. This compares the eyes of the flesh and teaches us to have right spiritual eyes.
Bright spiritual eyes will focus on God, and dark spiritual eyes will focus on the world. Some live centered on the world, some will live centered on God, some eat bread or bread only, live by the power of bread or bread, some live by the power of the word, and some live with the joy of increasing world treasures, Some will say that they will live and die as they please in this world for a short time, while others will say they will live with God forever in heaven.
If your eyes are dark, you will fall into the world and only look at the earth, and you will have dead eyes that will not be able to see the sky at all. The world-seeing eye now seems to see, see, and focus well, but when I die and I disappear, it will be a failed eye, a dead eye, a misguided eye, and an out-of-focus eye.
Please believe that the eyes that look at God are now the eyes that have failed, the eyes that are ruined, the eyes that are weak, but the eyes that save us forever, the eyes of blessing, and the eyes of success. Eyes that focus on God, eyes that see the Word, eyes that care about our neighbors, eyes that are in heaven, eyes that know that we are very weak, eyes that know that we are living under God’s care, eyes that are right in front of us Even if you can't see a loaf of bread or business, you are introducing us with the right eyes to see the eternal kingdom far away. I hope you have eyes like this.
[4]The Right Owner (24)
The text says that a servant cannot serve two masters. It means that you love this master more and hate the other master, but you cannot love both masters at the same time. Using such a parable, he tells us to choose the world or God.
Whether we are to be ruled by money, honor, property, or worldly things, and make the world our king, we give the world to us, and we make God our master It is not possible to occupy both the world and God at the same time. When I need God because I am weak and not earning money, I believe in Jesus well, but when I earn some money and my business expands, I often neglect my religious life as an excuse for doing business. In this sense, Luke 14:33 says, “If anyone does not renounce all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.”
I'm not saying you shouldn't make money at all. I'm not saying you shouldn't give up your business idea. What we need to know is that we earn money because God is not in focus, but if we focus on money, someday, as we have more money, our eyes become blind and we see only money. Eventually, the world becomes our master and children of destruction. This is a warning that it could happen. Even if that happens, do you think you would want to be very rich? I don't know. Because money, the treasures of the world, are visible, influencing, envious of all, and touching in the hands. But when I die, can I make you my master, a vain thing that I can't even take with me? God alone is our master. Please believe that God is the right owner.
Dear saints,
How should we use the text as a lesson in our lives and apply it in our lives?
First, it is to have right eyes, a right heart, and a right judgment.
Do not try to evaluate the worldly wealth and honor and authority only as a result of blessing. Rather, it is because there will be too many cases in which the faith received because of wealth and honor and authority has been wasted or forgotten altogether. No, please do not label yourself as poor, powerless, weak, lonely, and not envious of others by any chance. Because his weakness would have deepened his faith. Rather, you must have the faith of self-sufficiency and gratitude to view it as a blessing. Because we believe that the poor will shame the rich and the weak will shame the strong.
Who is successful? Please believe that those who have faith now and those who are here today are successful. Please buy with pride, believing that the eyes that can see God and understand the Word are the blessed eyes, not the bright eyes that have succeeded in business.
Second, when coming to the United States from Korea, how much is the limit of bringing in US dollars?
Five thousand dollars. How long can I take with me to the kingdom of God? I can't take any. Therefore, we should not shed blood and sweat for what we cannot take with us, but store them up as treasures received in heaven through loving alms and offerings, prayers, and times of devotion. In that sense, you should not be dragged around because of money, fame, power, and worldly reputation. My master is not from the world, but God's, and only God should be my master.
The less the belief, the greater the world seems, and the greater the faith, the less the world seems and worthless. If you have less faith, the world will take control of you and you will be drawn to the things of the world, but as your faith grows, you will distance yourself from the world and choose the spiritual work of God. Our members must grow in faith and become believers who know and see the world and God rightly.