SS09-14-03
“KINGDOM ATTTIUDES.” MATTHEW 6:1-8, 12, 14-18.
MATTHEW 6: 1, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8, 12,14-15, 16-18.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO MATTHEW 6.
Having skipped over the similitudes of the Christian to salt and light last Sunday we move on to Chapter 6 where religious ostentation is rebuked as Jesus continues to layout the Constitution
of the Kingdom of heaven.
We repeat that most of the Sermon on the Mount was addressed directly to the 12 men selected to be the Apostles of the Kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount as not given to tell lost people how to live, because there is no way they can do it. No man can live the Sermon on the Mount in and of himself without aid.
The principles we gained from last Sunday’s study of the Beatitudes were, first, “all Christians are to be like the Beatitudes.” (2) “All Christians are meant to manifest all characteristics of all the beatitudes.” (3) “None of the Beatitudes refer to what we may call a natural tendency, and (4) “these describe the essential difference between the Christian and the non-Christian.” The Christian manifests his unique and special quality in the whole of his life because, according to the N.T., he is a new creation; “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” He goes beyond the natural man in his attitude toward the law, morality, and behavior. The Christians is a man who believes he is going to look into the face of Christ one day.
Is there anything special about you? If God is your Father, somewhere, in some form, the family likeness will be there. As we examine ourselves we should discover something of the uniqueness that not only divides us from others, but which proclaims that we are of our Father in heaven.
In Matthew 6 we come to quite a new section of the Sermon on the Mount. Here we have what we might call a picture of the Christian living his life in this world in the presence of God, in active submission to God, and in entire dependence upon Him. In this 6th chapter we will find that this reference to God the Father keeps on recurring.
We have been looking at this Christian man who has been told something of his characteristics, who has been told how he is to behave in society, and who has been reminded of what it is that God expects of him and demands from him. Here in Ch. 6 we have a picture of him going on to live life in this world, and the great thing that is ever emphasized is that he does it all in the presence of God.
Not only are Christians to be Christ like in character, we are to be sincere in our religious activities such as praying, giving our money and forgiving others.
TEACHER READ MATTHEW 6: 1.
We will take two Sunday’s to cover this 6th chapter as it review our life as a whole, and it considers it under two main aspects. This is something very wonderful for in the last analysis the life of he Christian in this world has two sides and both of them are covered here. The first one is dealt with in Vs. 1-l8 which is this Sunday’s lesson; the second from Vs. 19 to the end of the chapter we will save for next Sunday. The first is what we may call our religious life, the culture and nurture of the soul, our piety, our worship, the whole religious aspect of our life, and everything that concerns our direct relationship to God. But of course that is not the only element in the life of the Christian in this world.
He is reminded by it that he is not of this world; that he is a child of God and a citizen of a kingdom that cannot be seen. He is but a journeyman, a sojourner, a traveler in this world. He is not a worldling and does not belong to this world as other people do; he is in this unique relationship to God. He is walking with Him. Nevertheless he is in this world, and though he is not of it any longer this world keeps dong things to him, and he is in many senses subject to it.