THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 4
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 4
Continuing in the Lord's Prayer here, Jesus teaches Christians to petition God to forgive them their trespasses as they forgive those who trespass against them. If Christians do not forgive those who trespass against them neither will God forgive them their trespasses. God's forgiveness of their trespasses is conditional upon their forgiveness of those who trespass against them (CP Mt 18:23-35). This is called the parable of the unmerciful servant. Jesus told it in response to Peter's question concerning forgiveness in V 21-22 (CP V 21-22). What Jesus is teaching here is that forgiveness has to be a constant attitude with Christians regardless of how many times they have been sinned against. As God has forgiven them they too must forgive others (CP Psa 103:10-12; Mt 6:14-15). Forgiving also means forgetting (CP He 8:12). Christians are to behave toward others as God behaves toward them. If they claim to be His, then they must have His disposition to forgive, even their enemies (CP Mt 5:7; Lu 6:35-36).
Forgiveness is a matter of life or death for Christians. If they do not forgive others, neither will God forgive them. The judgement the King pronounced on the unforgiving servant in the parable of the unmerciful servant is the equivalent of eternal damnation upon unforgiving Christians, because just as the servant could never repay his debt to the King, Christians can never repay their debt to God. They have had all their sins forgiven by God, so they must forgive others in return (CP Mk 11:24-26). Forgiveness is a condition of answered prayer (CP Mt 6:13). It seems incongruous that here Jesus instructs Christians to petition God not to lead them into temptation when elsewhere scriptures teach that God tempts no man (CP Jas 1:13). Opinions are divided among bible scholars as to what exactly Jesus means in Mt 6:13. One thing is certain: He does not mean that Christians are to ask God not to allow them to be tempted when again, elsewhere in scripture, Christians are told to count it all joy when they are tempted (CP Jas 1:2-4, 12; 1Pe 1:6-9). Jesus allowed Himself to be tempted (CP Mt 4:1; Mk 1:12-13). God promises that no Christian will ever be tempted above that which they can endure, but that with the temptation He will also make a way of escape (CP 1Cor 10:13). Temptation here means a state of trial in which God brings His children through adversity and affliction in order to encourage and prove their faith and confidence in Him (CP 2Pe 2:9). In light of this and the second part of the petition in Mt 6:13, "… but deliver us from evil", it seems more likely that Jesus means that Christians are to pray that they would not be led into such temptations as would destroy their faith, but for God to deliver them from such. In closing the Lord's Prayer Christians are to praise God for sharing His Kingdom, power and glory with them, "for thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen" (CP Lu 10:19; Jn 17:22; 2Ti 4:18).
Jesus then went on in His Sermon on the Mount to denounce the hypocritical form of fasting practiced by the Pharisees (CP Mt 6:16-18). To fast means to voluntarily abstain from eating food for a certain time. Fasting was an Old Testament practice, but Jesus did not stress it for New Testament Christians although He sanctioned it here. But when John the Baptist's disciples questioned Him as to why Jesus' own disciples did not fast, Jesus included fasting as part of the Old Covenant Judaistic religious system that He had come to replace, which kept people under its law in bondage to sin (CP Mt 9:14-17). This is called the parable of old and new cloth and wineskins. Jesus is teaching here that His New Covenant of grace is not compatible with the teaching of the law under the Old Covenant (CP Also Lu 5:30-39). His reference to new cloth and new wine was a way of saying that He did not come as a reformer to patch up an old worn out religious system, but to replace it completely with a dynamic new teaching.
This is not teaching against fasting by New Testament Christians. Fasting was observed by the first century church (CP Ac 13:1-3; 14:21-23). But other than this there is nothing about fasting in the New Testament. The only other fastings recorded are what Paul described as part of his sufferings for Christ (CP 2Cor 6:5; 11:27). These fastings refer to lack of food, not voluntary abstinence from food. The object of fasting in the Old Testament was to humble the soul before God (CP Psa 35:13 with Dan 9:3-23; Joel 2:12-19); to crucify the appetite and deny it in order to enhance prayer and to receive from God (CP 2Sam 12:15-17; Ezra 8:21-23; Dan 1:8-16). Fasting by voluntary abstinence from food is not obligatory upon New Testament Christians. Jesus sanctions it in Mt 6:16-18, but does not command it. But there is a fast chosen by God though that is obligatory upon New Testament Christians, and they must always be ready to do it (CP Isa 58:6-8 with Mt 28:19-20; Mk 16:15-18).
The next imperative for Christians in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is not to lay up treasures for themselves on earth (CP Mt 6:19-21). Jesus admonishes Christians here not to allow the acquisition of material possessions and wealth to become their life-goal, because it will eventually estrange them from God (CP V 22-24). It is through the eye that the body receives illumination and can see. The good eye belongs to those with a single-minded desire for God's interests, not their own. Their whole life is flooded with light. They forsake earthly riches and lay up treasure for themselves in Heaven, knowing that this is the only security they have. Jesus is teaching here against double-mindedness. No one can serve God and mammon. Mammon refers to earthly riches - material possessions and wealth. Christians must ever be alert to the danger of being seduced from their allegiance to God by the allurements of riches and material possessions. They must guard against any preoccupation at all with material things lest they become more important to them than the things of God (CP Mt 13:3-9, 18-23).
This is called the parable of the sower. It perfectly describes what the end is for Christians serving mammon - caught up in the pursuit of wealth. The teaching in the parable centres on the different soils, which represent those who receive the gospel, and how they respond to it. The term deceitfulness of riches in V 22 means that wealth gives a false impression - a false sense of security - whether by appearance, statement or influence. Choke, in the same verse means figuratively to overpower. What Jesus is impressing upon Christians here is that the false sense of security emanating from material possessions and wealth overpowers the word of God in Christians and prevents them bearing fruit for the Kingdom. They have been seduced by their wealth from continuing in God's service. Paul also teaches this (CP 1Ti 6:9-10).