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Pastor Lud Golz
Pastor Lud Golz

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  Home | Transcript Archive | July | July 03, 2015

Friday, July 03, 2015

We have been looking at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 through the prism of an impact word – “secret.” Throughout the sermon Jesus emphasizes the importance of recognizing that what you do in secret is what God focuses on. What you do publicly is noticed by people and they respond accordingly: if what you do is considered to be positive by people, they will reward and praise you. If they view it as negative they will insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. When Jesus says to His followers, “You are the light of the world,” he makes the point that light-bearing is to be public. We are not to hide the light, but rather to let it “shine before men.” The nature of this shining is so that the world “may see your good deeds." Jesus, however, didn’t stop there, because if they only see our good deeds there would be a tendency to praise us. That is not to be our desired end result. Jesus continued His exhortation by declaring that when the world is exposed to our light-bearing good deeds, they will instinctively “praise your Father in heaven!” (verse 16). There obviously is to be a secret dynamic present in what we do that indicates what we do is prompted and enabled by God. We can’t make that happen by simply determining what good works we should undertake. We need to rely upon the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to motivate and enable us. Philippians 2:13 declares: “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

 

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