Matthew 6:5-15

"Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD."

Genesis 4:26 (NIV1984)

This verse about prayer stands out by itself in Genesis 4. We hear about godless Cain and his sin of murder, then about Cain’s descendants and another murder. We hear about nomads, farmers, musicians, and tool makers, and we can imagine what a wonderful world, and what wonderful opportunity these humans in early earth had. Then we have this mention of prayer. 

This is the first indication of real prayer in the Bible. Adam and Eve hid from God and then made excuses. Cain ignored God, then lied, and then complained about his punishment. To call on the name of the LORD is to acknowledge that you need the LORD’s help. To call on the name of the LORD is to appeal to God on the basis of His character. To call on the name of the LORD is to put the Creator of everything in His proper place, and to put us as humans in our proper place. 

Friend, do the times that you call on the name of the LORD stand out in your life, like this verse stands out in the chapter? Or do you start each day calling on the name of YHWH, asking the Lord Jesus for the strength, the grace to live your life today? May each of us reflect on the character of the great LORD of all creation, and may we continually call on His name, for His help!

Matthew 6:5-15

(similar altar to what Paul would have seen)

 

"For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you."

{Acts 17:23} (NIV1984)

What a dreadful state to be in. Conscious that there are ‘higher beings’ then yourself, and yet conscious of the truth that you don’t know one of these ‘higher beings’. The fact that the Athenians worshipped these ‘higher beings’ (albeit with statues and idols) means that they realized they owed them honour and allegiance of some kind. Paul was distressed that they were worshipping many idols, these sham gods, and sought to teach them about the One True God, the only real God. This God made the world, every person in the world and wants everyone to seek His face through His Son. Only some of Paul’s audience responded in faith, the rest stayed in their dreadful state. 

Compare their state to our state as children of the One True God. We address Him as Father or as Daddy. Jesus taught us to pray; ‘Our Father in heaven’. We are known by God and we can know Him. The more that we know Him, the more we realize the depth of love that this One True God has for us. What a blessed state we are in that we can pray today to our heavenly Dad! 

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…”

Colossians 3:18-25

"Since you know that you will receive aninheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

{Colossians 3:24} (NIV1984) 

Whomare we serving? Paul tells us that in everything we do we should be serving theLord. He is talking to slaves about serving their masters! Could being a slavebe considered a reward from God? No way! The reward for the Christian is yet tocome. It is an inheritance that is kept safe for us, an inheritance that isrich beyond measure! An inheritance that cannot be taken away! Therefore inview of this reward, in everything we do, do it as if we are doing it for theLord. Serve your masters, obey your parents, encourage your children, love yourwife, submit to your husband. There is no promise here that your master, yourparents, your children, your husband or your wife will treat you well (thoughwisdom tells us they will respond favorably). The promise in this passage isnot earthly rewards but heavenly rewards. This passage echoes the words of ourLord when He told us to lay up treasures in heaven. Whatever relationship youare in, act righteously for your Lord’s sake. O heavenly Father please giveus the grace we need today to serve You in our relationships, may we be theemployee you want us to be, the child you want us to be, the parent, the wife,and the husband. Amen.  

1 Samuel 22:21-30

” The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, 

according to my cleanness in his sight."

{2 Samuel 22:25} (NIV1984)

David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14), and he had a worship life that was second to none. He knew that all sin ultimately was sin against the LORD (Ps 51:3,4). He knew that he could not approach the LORD in worship without his hands being clean and his heart pure (Ps 24:24). He understood the problem of his own heart, and knew that only the LORD could create a pure heart in him (Ps 51:10). 

Whenever I read this passage in 2 Samuel and the parallel in Psalm 18, I think of David’s great sin and wonder how these words can be true. Then I realize that they are true of all who are in Christ. The LORD is a God who forgives, who washes us clean as snow, who declares us righteous in His sight and who justifies the wicked, based on their faith. The LORD promises to cleanse us from all unrighteousness when we confess our sins to Him (1 Jn. 1:9). 

Friend, are you righteous in the sight of God this morning? Go to Him now, ask for forgiveness and cleansing. If David could be clean in God’s sight, so can you through the powerful blood of Christ Jesus! If David qualified for rewards on the basis of his righteousness, so will you through the righteousness purchased by Christ.

Jeremiah 17:5-18

“I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”

{Jeremiah 17:10} (NIV1984)

 

Jeremiah knew, as we all know, that actions by themselves do not tell the true story of a person. Even our own deeds are hard for us to figure out. It seems sometimes that we are all actors. We only behave a certain way around certain people. We only behave a certain way in certain situations. We even behave differently dependent upon our own state of mind, when our situations haven’t changed. 

The LORD makes it clear in this passage that our conduct and deeds will be judged according to our inner motivations. He alone sees inside us; He alone will judge us. This truth was so clear to Paul that he makes the amazing statement that he won’t even judge himself (1 Cor 4:3). 

How should this truth change me? It should shake my self confidence in my deeds. It should change my personal prayers. To pray that God would reveal my heart, and change my motives from the inside out. Prayers such as David prayed in Psalm 139:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
 See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Deuteronomy 34

"He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward."

{Hebrews 11:26}  (NIV1984)

When we read the account of the life of Moses, his birth through to his death, we can see that he was born into slavery under a sentence of death and died outside the promised land under the sentence of God. Prosperity preachers promise the type of life that Moses lived in Pharaoh’s household. Yet Scripture teaches that Moses turned his back on that life of plenty because he was looking ahead to his reward. 

If rewards from God only come in our life on earth, then Moses made a big mistake. Forty years looking after sheep on the back end of the world, and then forty years looking after the most stubborn rebellious people the world has ever seen, sounds like a punishment not a reward. Moses ‘saw the invisible God’ (vs 27). He knew that God was bigger than this earth, bigger than the heavens, bigger than 120 years of life on this earth. He knew that YHWH was a good God, a God who rewards acts of righteousness and so Moses turned from prosperity, ‘took up his cross’ and followed his God. 

May the LORD of hosts allow us this day to ‘see’ Him as He truly is. May we gaze upon His Holiness and may we follow Him.