READ: Matthew 6:1-18

REFLECT:

• Right after Jesus finishes His, “You have heard it said…but I say to you,” comments, He turns His attention to the spirit of our actions. But, it’s not really a turn; it’s more a continuation of that spirit which cares more for the inner motive than the outward action. Three key actions are identified and placed in a context of addressing inner contentment instead of outward gratification. For Jesus, the heart matters far more than the activity in which we participate.
• Jesus addresses the issues of giving to the needy (almsgiving) (v2-4), prayer (v5-15), and fasting (v16-18). Each of those three practices could produce a great deal of pride if not monitored. Verse 1 actually addresses the concern before any of the practices are identified. Jesus says that if you do these things “to be seen,” then you are doing them from improper motivation, and they lose their efficacy before God.  In other words, the attention you get from others is all the “reward” you get.
• Thus, the key is to call no attention to yourself. Don’t give so that others are impressed; don’t pray in order to be heard, and don’t call attention to your fasting in order to be applauded. Do those acts before God and not before men. God will honor your actions with His approval and you can be content with that. In fact, just knowing that God knows should be all the reward we ever need.

RESPOND:

• Describe a time when you were tempted to act in order to be seen by others instead of God.
• Besides giving, praying and fasting, what other actions can be done for attention?
• Why does the heart matter so much in these instances?

PRAY: Ask God to help you function from the heart instead of seeking the approval of others. Pray that God’s honor can be your primary motivation. Thank God that He pays attention to our actions.

George Müller established orphanages in England during the days of the workhouses referred to in Charles Dickens’ stories. The workhouses were pits of hell and abused child labor for the sake of a bit more profit for the owners. There was no education, little health care and no apparent concern for safety.

Müller took in 1000s of orphans (some estimate 120,000) over the 60 years of his ministry life. He may be best known for the power of his prayers to fund those orphanages and feed those orphans. It’s said that, in today’s dollars, he received billions, all in answer to his prayers.

One story (typical of many others) goes:

One morning, all the plates and cups and bowls on the table were empty. There was no food in the larder and no money to buy food. The children were standing, waiting for their morning meal, when Müller said, “Children, you know we must be on time for school.” Then lifting up his hands he prayed, “Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat.”

There was a knock at the door. The baker stood there, and said, “Mr. Müller, I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow I felt you didn’t have bread for breakfast, and the Lord wanted me to send you some. So I got up at 2 a.m. and baked some fresh bread, and have brought it.”

Mr. Müller thanked the baker, and no sooner had he left; when there was a second knock at the door. It was the milkman. He announced that his milk cart had broken down right in front of the orphanage, and he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so he could empty his wagon and repair it.

George Müller stands as testimony to Jesus’ invitation to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” It’s a prayer for more than mere bread, of course. It’s a prayer for a sense of contentment about God’s ongoing, daily care of our lives. It’s the place where we all start in our journey to develop deep trust in our Father.

READ: Matthew 6:1-18

• REFLECT:
• In Matthew, chapters 5-7; are usually referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. In this particular speech (one of 5 such sections in Matthew), Jesus helps His listeners reinterpret the Torah (Old Testament Law) or to apply it to their lives in ways that will help them live more effectively for God’s sake. Chapter 5 holds a variety of subjects where Jesus takes a teaching deeper than before. Chapter 7 contains a variety of topics, most of which are interpersonal.
• Chapter 6 (which includes the prayer from which our whole sermon series is taken) is largely about one basic topic: contentment. While Jesus approaches the idea from a variety of angles, the basic concern is with accepting life as it comes and not trying to make it something it’s not. That doesn’t mean not seeking to grow or change. It does mean not trying to be something you are not.
• Contentment is a difficult state to reach. It can be misconstrued as being lazy or passive. It isn’t those things. Contentment is a willingness to live with things as they are and be satisfied. Contentment isn’t competing with others to get ahead of them. It does mean that you are willing to settle for less than what you may want. It means bringing your wants into line and learning to be satisfied with what is, instead of what you perceive should be.

RESPOND:

• How would you describe your level of contentment?
• What would it take for you to become content?
• What have you done to help the discontent deal with their contentment?

PRAY: Commit to being content. Ask God to help you be satisfied. Pray for those who see and know you to see the change Christ makes in a person’s life.

READ: Matthew 28:1-20

REFLECT:

• The commission Jesus gives to His disciples is to make disciples of “all” nations. There would have been no difficulty in knowing what He meant.  The word is “ethne”—in Matthew’s gospel it always means those far from God. Most of the time, it implies non-Jewish by ethnicity. So, while it might be easy to tell your fellow Jews about Jesus, the command included even your enemies.
• Jesus doesn’t leave room for debate about who should be told the good news of redemption. There were to be no exceptions…no exclusions…no oversights. It’s a commission that matches up with everything else Jesus taught and what Scripture communicates. Even the lineage of Jesus included Gentiles and the disenfranchised. The Old Testament is replete with texts that address the issue of being inclusive with the redemptive message. The story of Jonah is just one example.
• We live in a diverse world. Not all the diversity is ethnic in nature, though there is that, even in our Midwest city. But there are a variety of social classes, educational levels, and occupational or recreational differences. There are those who are Democrats, Republicans, Independents or other. We have union and non-union, blue collar and white collar, wealthy and poor, ill and healthy and any number of other differences. What we have in common is that we are all human, created in the image of God and in need of a Savior.

RESPOND:

• What group of people might cause you the most difficulty if they were sitting next to you in a Connect Group?
• How could you go about reaching out to another group within our community to make them feel welcome here?
• What’s the greatest challenge we face as a church in meeting the rest of our community in such a way that they would know they were welcome here?

PRAY: Ask God to lead you into the lives of lost people. Pray that we are welcoming to all people, no matter who they are. Commit yourself to befriending someone different from you, with God’s help.

READ: Matthew 28:1-20

REFLECT:

• Two very different responses are noticeable in this text. The initial response of the women is to fall at the feet of Jesus and worship Him. The word used there is literally, “to kiss the feet.” What we see is an act of adoration and obeisance. The women were thrilled to see Him alive after spending the last couple of days believing He was dead. It was not merely relief, but awe and gratitude.
• Later, when the eleven disciples had journeyed to Galilee to meet Jesus, they also worshiped. Once again, that’s not a surprise. They are in deep awe of the One who returned from the dead. But, not all of them worshiped.  Some doubted. The word “some” is plural, so it was more than one. Of the eleven closest men to Jesus, at least 2 (or more) were still unconvinced of the resurrection. This is after the appearances of Jesus to all of the disciples recorded in the other gospels and in 1 Corinthians 15. They doubted.
• But Jesus doesn’t single those men out. He doesn’t use different vocabulary to tell the believing ones that they should go and make disciples. That command He gives to all. It appears doubt is not a deal breaker for Jesus. And if that is true for Him, it must be true for us. We cannot allow the doubt that we feel to keep us from hearing Jesus and doing as Jesus commands. We may not have all the answers we want. We may not be totally comfortable with every detail of the story. It’s okay. We’re still numbered among the disciples and still given the most important work in the world to do—make disciples.

RESPOND:

• Reflect on any doubts you might have about Jesus.
• What do you do to keep those doubts from debilitating you?
• What do you say to others who say they are not of service to God because they have doubts?

PRAY: Thank God that He’s bigger than your doubts. Pray for those who have doubts, that they won’t become hindered by them. Ask God to help you remain strong, even when doubts appear overwhelming.

READ: Matthew 28:1-20

REFLECT:

• Many Christians automatically connect “go” to this text. But, they probably connect it to v19. The last part of the text is known as the Great Commission (v18-20). But “go” occurs much earlier in the text. It’s actually spoken by the angel to the women. They are commanded, “Go and tell… “Their message is the gospel in a nutshell…”He is risen.”
• Before the apostles receive the command to “go,” these faithful women are commissioned to go and tell people about the resurrection. Such a circumstance could cause a person to wonder why it was okay for women to announce the resurrection to the disciples but wouldn’t be okay for them to announce that same news today. These women were actually the very first people to preach the gospel.
• Good news is not hard to share. People do it all the time. They see a free Kindle book and they immediately post it on Facebook. They discover a new favorite restaurant and all their friends and co-workers are immediately in the know. There’s no reservation about recommending a doctor or dentist that they like. But, for some reason, the news about Jesus is harder to share. Maybe it’s because it feels “preachy” or because it impacts our lifestyle and impinges upon our choices.

RESPOND:

• Describe a time when you felt uncertain about sharing your faith.
• Describe a time when it seemed very natural and easy to share.
• Who do you find to be most and least receptive? Why do you think that is?

PRAY: Ask God to give you opportunities to share your confidence in Christ. Pray that those who hear the story of Jesus will be open to its hope. Commit to watching for opportunities to reveal Christ to others.

READ: Matthew 28:1-20

REFLECT:

• “…He is not here.” The angel’s message didn’t end with, “You seek Jesus.”  That would have been the worst news of all. The best news was found in the statement, “He is risen.” His body wasn’t “missing.” Nobody came and took it. The Roman soldiers were trained mercenaries. They would not have lost the body to a bunch of fisherman and tax collectors. Their lives were on the line if they failed in their duty. Only something so spectacular as resurrection could have caused them to faint.
• Interestingly, it wasn’t the Romans who protected the reputation of the guards. It was the Jewish leadership that guaranteed that the governor would be paid off, if necessary. Only the Jewish leadership was worried about the resurrection because it would prove they were wrong He really was the Messiah sent from God. If that were true, people would have very likely rebelled against their religious leaders and followed Jesus.  Which, in the end, 5,000 of them did rebel on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2).
• Resurrection is the heartbeat of the Jesus Story. Without resurrection, Jesus is simply another teacher. He’s nothing more than an interesting storyteller and wonder worker. There might be some who would believe based on His miracles, but the majority would have believed it was all a lie once the nails were driven into the cross or the stone was laid at the mouth of the tomb. For Jesus to inaugurate the “kingdom on earth,” He must prove that He was God.

RESPOND:

• How hard was it for you to accept the resurrection story?  Why?
• How do others react to that story when you tell them?
• What might we do to live more convincingly?

PRAY: Ask God for the wisdom to present the story well. Pray that others will listen with openness. Pray that Jesus can be clearly and convincingly portrayed by Christians as alive and well in us. Ask Him to give you opportunities to share your faith.

READ: Matthew 28:1-20

REFLECT:

• “You seek Jesus….” The angel captured the purpose of the women’s visit to the tomb. They came anticipating a body in a tomb that had yet to be appropriately anointed. They did not come expecting the tomb to be empty. No one would have. In spite of Jesus telling them that He would be raised from the dead (Matthew 16:21; 17:23; 20:19), they were not thinking that way at all.
• When the women ran back to tell the disciples (a story found in the Gospel of Luke [24:10-12]), the disciples didn’t believe them. Only those who condemned Him, the chief priests and Pharisees, seemed to be concerned about what He’d said about coming back from the dead (Mt. 27:63). Their concern was not that He might actually do so, but that someone would steal the body and make it look so.
• One of the strongest arguments in support of the truthfulness of the resurrection is the very fact that no one expected it. Therefore, they didn’t “want it so badly they imagined it happening.” Because they didn’t anticipate the kind of Messiah Jesus was, they didn’t think He’d die, much less come back from the grave. Their hope was dashed the moment He was nailed to a tree and His head drooped in death.

RESPOND:

• Why do you suppose people didn’t get it when Jesus announced His resurrection?
• How are you challenged by the women’s desire to give Jesus a proper burial, in spite of not knowing how to get into the tomb?
• What do you think it would take to convince someone today of the resurrection?

PRAY: Thank God for raising Jesus from the dead. Commit yourself to living in light of the resurrection, and Christ your Lord. Pray for those who came to church yesterday because it was Easter, that they might have heard something that will plant a seed in them for the future.

Emma wrote:

“I have panic attacks everyday about whether God is there or not. I used to believe whole heartedly but it’s so hard in this day and age with everyone attacking your beliefs, especially being a teenager since almost nobody believes anymore.”

Is that even okay? Is it possible for a believer to have doubts and still consider themselves a believer? Apparently so. Mother Theresa doubted, as did Pope Francis. So did C.S. Lewis. Of course, we know that Thomas doubted and he was one of the original disciples. He was with Jesus personally.

Others must have doubted too.  Jude (Jesus’ brother) writes: (20) But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, (21)keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. (22)And have mercy on those who doubt; (23)save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

If doubt disqualified a person from serving, you’d have to wonder who would be left to do anything. The disciples themselves struggled with doubts until the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 1-2. Matthew describes that “some doubted” right at the hour when Jesus was about to ascend.

Doubt doesn’t stop a person from being useful to God. It doesn’t mean they don’t have hope. It doesn’t even prove that they don’t believe…only that they doubt.

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis wrote that faith “Is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” In other words, faith recognizes there may be times when we need some help and all we can do is just hold on.

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Gary Habermas, an outstanding Christian apologist, makes available two of the books he has written on doubt for free.

One is called Dealing With Doubt

(http://www.garyhabermas.com/books/dealing_with_doubt/dealing_with_doubt.htm)

And the other is called The Thomas Factor

(http://www.garyhabermas.com/books/thomas_factor/thomas_factor.htm)

READ: Matthew 28:1-20

REFLECT:

• It’s hard to imagine the response of the soldiers.  They were the only ones to witness the actual events. They were there, guarding the tomb, when an angel showed up and moved the stone. Jesus came out.  The soldiers passed out on the ground.  They knew the truth of resurrection. They saw more than anyone else. Yet, when it came time to talk about it, they were easily bribed into lying, even though that could cost them their lives.
• Then came the women. They were there to honor their friend with appropriate burial spices. They couldn’t contain themselves. Though they were afraid, they headed back to town to tell the rest of the disciples the news. They met Jesus on the way and actually received the very first commission to spread the news (v10). And some wonder if Jesus wants women to speak on His behalf. He certainly did then.
• In the final scene, Jesus meets with the disciples (apparently more than merely the 12?). Some of His followers did what might be expected; they worshipped Him. Still others did what should be expected; they doubted.  Then Jesus sends them off to tell the good news. The command doesn’t seem to discriminate between the doubters and the worshippers. Jesus simply says to them, “Go…and teach…baptizing…” It’s a command that seems to include even the doubters…and us.

RESPOND:

• To what level of confidence do you believe in resurrection?
• What would you tell someone who doubts resurrection?
• What about this final chapter most surprises you? Challenges you?

PRAY: Thank God for defeating death. Pray that you can overcome your doubts and still respect those who aren’t sure. Pray that many will be open to the resurrected Christ.