Wednesday, March 11th

For the rest of the week, I want us to hang out in Matthew 6. This passage is in the middle of what we call the Sermon on the Mount. The longest teaching of Jesus we have in one place. It is easy for us to break it apart and isolate sections, but I’m not sure if that was Matthew’s intention when writing it. Sure, Jesus may or may not have shared all of this in one sitting. But I think Matthew wants to get our attention to how this all fits together.
Before we dive into this passage deeper. Notice how it is broken down. You should see headings. In the original writing of scripture, Matthew would not have had headings. He wouldn’t have even had chapters and verses. He would have had a continual thought.
But notice the headings: Giving to the needy, prayer, fasting, treasures in heaven, where the last verse of that heading is, “you can’t serve both God and money.” Do you notice it is bracketed? Give to the needy and treasures in heaven and what’s in the middle? Prayer and fasting.

I believe Jesus did this intentionally and that’s why Matthew recorded it the way he did. Generosity isn’t simply what I do or don’t do for the sake of others. Jesus is getting our attention, generosity is how I relate to God, just like prayer and fasting.

He’s saying, “I want you to pray and fast and give me your attention in that way. But in the same way you spend time in prayer and fasting, I want you to orientate your life around generosity.” How many times do we see people spend time in prayer and fasting and yet their lives aren’t generous, they are actually stingy. We’ve all seen folks who may not have a relationship with God be more generous the “Christ Followers”. Jesus is asking why? If prayer and fasting are important. Than so should being generous.

If we are to reflect the image of God, then how I relate to other human beings is a reflection of how I relate to God. If God is generous, then how do I reflect that generosity towards others. And if I don’t reflect that generosity, then it must go back to my understanding of who God is, either he isn’t who he said he is, or I believe he is stingy, or I believe he is holding out on me.

For a moment, take a look at this passage in Matthew 22:19-22. Jesus is being asked a question, really a trap. The religious leaders are trying to pit him against either the Roman government or the Jewish people. They asked about paying taxes and being subject to Roman rule.

Notice the question Jesus asked and then how he answered. Matthew 22- 19 “Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Using the question of the image. Jesus isn’t only asking about the image on the coin. He’s challenging the image the religious leaders were created in. If the coin has Ceasar’s image on it, then whose image do you bear? If we bear the image of God, then we bear the image of generosity.

Where do we bear that image? Within our heart. Which means, we need to give to God what is God’s. We need to give God our heart and allow our heart to bear his image of generosity.

What image do you bear? Does it line up with who God is? Sit with God around that struggle and what gets in the way for you.