Last week we talked about the law and how it is meant to be understood. The main point Jesus was making was that it’s less important what you do and more important who you are. He urged us to look inwardly and be concerned with our interior condition which is the cause of all our actions. It is not simply enough to restrain ourselves from committing acts of violence – we need to address the fact that we have anger in our hearts at all. The condition of the human heart is the theme of this next portion of his teaching as well. Today we are going to look at pride and how it can taint what looks like good deeds from the outside. If our hearts are proud then our religious devotion is meaningless and Jesus makes this very clear.

When we pray, if we only pray in church on Sundays but do not have a personal prayer life then we are really talking to each other and not to God. If we make a show of our religious devotion on Sunday mornings for everyone else to see but do not pray in the quiet moments when we are alone, then we are not truly believing in God but instead are making a pageantry of our worship, a show which makes us stars in front of others. In the first part of this chapter (Matthew 6) Jesus is telling us about social treasures. The treasures of status and image, the treasures of praise and respect. He warns us to shy away from these treasures and instead store up treasures in Heaven. Jesus wants us to be more concerned with what God thinks than what people think. If we make a big show of giving to the needy and sound trumpets and make a parade, if we call in the media to take our pictures and write articles in the paper, if we go on missions to poor countries and then take selfies with the starving children and post them on Facebook – then we are serving ourselves and not God.

Jesus also talks about money in this section of his sermon, another earthly treasure like reputation and prestige. He warns us that money is a treasure of this world which can be stolen and can rot away. But in contrast the treasures of Heaven are eternal, they cannot be stolen and they never expire. The issues of social status and prestige mentioned immediately before this fall into that category as well. Our social status is an earthly treasure, it can be taken from us and we can never bring it with us when we leave this world. Jesus then goes on to say something that takes a little while to process. After describing the necessity of not striving for power and wealth he gives us a little piece about light and about our eyes. He said:

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.

Now, he’s obviously speaking metaphorically here. The eye is what we set our sights on, it is what we look at, it is that which captures our attention. He is saying that if we set our eyes on earthly treasures our whole being will be filled with darkness but if we set our eyes on heavenly treasures then our whole being will be filled with light. And so, where our treasure is there our hearts are also. He goes on to say that we cannot serve two masters, we cannot serve both God and money. And that is a really important message today just as much as it was then. Too often in this life we serve money instead of making money serve us. But we cannot serve both God and money. Most modern translations use the word money here, but when Matthew wrote his gospel in Greek he used the word mammon, which is actually an Aramaic word, the language Jesus spoke. So why didn’t Matthew translate mammon? Why did he choose to leave it in another language?

There is much debate about this but there is a long history in Christianity, and in other ancient religions of the time, to personify mammon as a god of wealth. If this is so, Jesus is not only talking about money as a physical thing which can corrupt us, but a false god which many worship. This would have struck a chord in the hearts of the Jews who were hearing this because worshiping an idol is a grave sin everyone knew about and understood. I do believe Jesus is warning us not to worship the false god of material possessions as well as the false god of praise and honour. Jesus is asking a very difficult question, one that was hard to hear then and is hard to hear today. What do we worship?

Now, the word worship brings up all sorts of feelings and opinions in people of all religions and even atheists. It’s hard not to have an opinion about worship in some form or another. But how often do we take the time to define it? How many of us actually know what it means to worship? The word worship itself has the same root as the words worthy and worth. To worship something is to ascribe value to it, to declare it as being an object of worth, and so we worship it. Up until the last few decades it was common to use it in many non religious ways. You might still here some more formal or old fashioned people refer to a judge as “your worship”. This doesn’t mean the judge is a god it means the judge is a worthy person to make difficult decisions. So something we worship is something we value and something we trust. That’s why the ancient Israelites were so against idol worship, because they didn’t want to put their trust in a statue made of wood or gold. So here, Jesus is drawing a parallel between worshiping an idol and worshiping money.

He says you cannot put your trust in the money you make or the position you hold in society because these things can be stolen from you and are destined to fade into the dust of history. You should serve only one master, you should value one thing above all others – and that is God. And so this pressing question is equally important today. You need to stop and ask yourself what you worship, what you value, where you put your trust.

What do you treasure? What do you love? What master do you serve? Do you worship money? Do you worship social status and prestige? Do you worship your favourite hockey team? Or perhaps your country’s flag? Do you worship yourself or do you worship God?

One way to answer these questions is to take a good hard critical look at how you live your life. What do you have your eyes set on, what do you invest your time in? Jesus talks about worrying immediately after all this, he tells us not to worry about what we will eat or what we will wear but to trust in God who always provides. Where do you put your trust? What do you worry about? If you put your trust in your RRSPs or your savings account then your trust is misplaced because this life is fleeting and you can’t take those things with you. Jesus tells us instead to store up treasures in Heaven – but what does that mean, to store up treasures in Heaven? How do we even do that? Well, Jesus has given us some great examples so far in this sermon. A couple weeks ago we talked about how we need to be merciful peace makers who hunger and thirst for righteousness, how we need to be meek and poor in spirit, how we need to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

Last week we talked about how we need to make sure we have healthy and fruitful interior lives, so that we do not lust after other people or carry anger in our hearts. We talked about how we have to interact with our own tradition and respect it while also being critical of it. This week we started off with some very practical advice about doing acts of charity and praying and this advice which Jesus gave us is both a test to see where our heart lie and also a practical method to build up treasures in Heaven. The next time you give to someone in need, don’t tell a single soul. Not your neighbour, not your children, not even your spouse. Give it a try. Go out and be generous to someone and don’t tell a single soul what you’ve done. And watch yourself as the days go by.

Are you tempted to tell someone? Why do you want to tell someone? Is it because you value the opinions of those around you more than the opinion of God? Is it because you really want the recognition and flattery that would come with it? Are you worshiping your own self image? Are you worshiping the way other people see you? Try the same thing when you pray. Try taking up a daily practice of prayer, if you don’t already do that, and don’t tell a soul what you’re doing. If you pray in church with everyone else but your are uncomfortable praying by yourself try to figure out why. Do you not actually believe God is listening? Do you not actually have faith in prayer? When times get rough do you put all your trust in your own efforts or do you put your trust in God? Are you worshiping yourself or your father in Heaven?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s bad to try and solve your problems or even to be seen giving and praying. After all Jesus started this sermon by saying you are the light of world, no one lights a lamp and hides it under a basket, he even made a point of saying that others need to see your good deeds so that they will praise God through what you do – but that’s the key, they need to be praising God, not you. Let your deeds be seen but go out of your way to avoid the credit. The light which we are meant to let shine is the light of our good deeds and not the light of our egos. It is essential that when people see the good works we do that they are led to praise God and not us. The weight of praise is too much for any soul to bear. Praise and adoration are heavy burdens you should not carry yourself but should give up to God. If you are not careful, the good deeds you do, the acts of charity you perform, the prayers you make, even the religious devotion you have, will become twisted into sources of pride and there is nothing more opposed to holiness than pride.

So hide, dear sisters and brothers, hide from the pride of recognition, do not even let your left hand know that your right hand is giving, lest you begin to praise yourself instead of God. For God searches our hearts and our minds and knows what is done in secret. Both Jesus and the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17:5-10) tell us that God rewards those whose hearts are pure but that reward will not come in the form of riches or honour, it will come in the form of peace and love for all creation. The reward given for a pure heart is love – and a pure heart knows there is no greater reward. So if you are the least bit tempted to show your light to the world you should instead hide it in the closet and only when you have no desire to be praised by others should you let your light shine. Because where your treasure is your heart is also and if you treasure money and prestige then your heart is in darkness and you are not really shining at all.

If you enjoyed this article please share it with your friends and leave a comment below. Or Subscribe to our email list to receive weekly sermons and reflections. You are also welcome to join us in the Virtual Chapel group on our Facebook page.

Yesterday was Robert Burns day and today I would like to do something a little different. For those of you who don’t know, Robert Burns is Scotland’s most famous poet. He lived in the 1700s and wrote numerous poems, many of which have been turned into songs like Auld Lang Syne, the one we all sing at New Year’s as well as a whole bunch of other ones like Scots Wa Hae and one of my favourites A Man’s a Man for a’ that.

Burns had a flare for political reformation and a deep love for the common folk of Scotland. He had a vision that one day the world would unite in peace and the separations of class and rank would dissolve. His vision was very much in line with the teachings of Jesus. The song A Man’s a Man for a That is written in Scots. So while much of it will sound just like English a good portion of it might be hard to understand. But I’ll go through the bits I think are the most important and translate them so that it all starts to make a little more sense.

The first line that really pops out to me is when he says,

“The rank is but the guinea’s stamp, The Man’s the gold for a’ that.”

The Guinea was the first standard coin minted in Britain after the Romans left. Like other coins of its time its true value was in the measure of Gold it was made of and it had a stamp on the surface to signify it was made by the state and of genuine value. So what Burns is saying is that a person’s value comes from what they are made of and not the external stamp that they are marked with. We have value by virtue of the fact that we are made by God, the mere fact that we are human is what gives us worth. The Guinea stamp, what he is using as a metaphor for rank in society is of little consequence compared to that, as the gold will always be more valuable than the mark upon it.

In the second verse he says,

“Give fools their silks and knaves their wine…the honest man though ever so poor is king of men for all that”

Here he takes the idea a little further and says that despite riches and status what truly decides a person’s value is her honest nature, we might say that is the measure of how pure the gold in the coin is. It is the honest person who is the purest gold and worth the most regardless of the clothes they wear or the expensive food and drink they can afford.

In the third verse he says,

“You see that birkie (which means arrogant young man) who is called a lord, who struts and stares and all that though hundreds worship at his word he is but a coof (which means idiot) for all that…the man of independent mind, he looks and laughs at all that”

Not only has Burns declared that rank is of no value but he is saying that a person who walks around and shows pride in his rank is an idiot, supposedly because he is unaware of the true measure of a person which is an internal characteristic and not an external one. He says that a person who has an independent mind looks at this fool and laughs about how mistaken he is.

In the fourth verse he says,

“A prince can make a belted knight, a marquis duke and all that but an honest man is above his might…the pith of sense and pride of worth are higher rank than all that”

He is saying that even though a prince may distribute rank to those around him the honest man is still above his might, he is still beyond the reach of royalty because the true essence of intellect and reason and a sense of self worth are higher rank than anything the prince could bestow.

In the fifth verse he finishes with a prayer:

“Then let us pray that come it may, As come it will for all that, That Sense and Worth, over all the earth, Shall bear the gree and all that for a that and a that It’s coming yet for all that, That Man to Man, the world over, Shall brothers be for all that.”

Now, bear the gree is an expression which means to win the competition, or take home the trophy – so Burns is praying that one day the people who lead us, who will have won the trophy and earned our respect will be the people who have the most sense and the most worth. There is a prayer that I can get behind. And he is sure that it will come true. He is sure that one day rank will be decided on ability and integrity as opposed to birth and wealth. It is the ultimate democratic dream that those who lead our society will be chosen to do so based on genuine merit and honest dealings. And in that he believes that the inevitable outcome will be that the people of the world will recognise the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God and embrace one another in peace and cooperation.

In our Gospel reading this morning Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, he said they lay heavy burdens on the shoulders of others yet refuse to lift a single finger themselves, they make sure they get the nicest seats in the synagogues and wear fancy clothes so that people will respect them. They sound just like the Lords and Princes in Burns’ song who strutted around in fancy silk clothes bossing people around. The same issues troubled the people of Jesus’ time as did the people of Burns’ time, and unfortunately they still trouble us, in our time.

For as long as history can record humanity has had certain groups of people who believe themselves to be greater than others, because of what they own, the name they carry, the type of work they do, or whether they are a man or woman. But, as we read in Galatians, in Christ we are all one, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female. No distinction of religion, class, or gender exists in the eyes of God. This sentiment can be found all throughout the Bible both New and Old Testaments. I would like to look at one more passage, found in Acts 17:24-28:

“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things…..that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.'”

In this scripture we see not only that we are God’s children but that God does not dwell in temples made with hands, instead he has made each heart his temple. He dwells within each of us and from his presence in our very beings we derive that every person is of equal value. For there is nothing of greater value than God and it is of God that we exist and are given life. And this is true of every person across the Earth, we are all united by God and are truly inseparable in that. And any distinctions which we make that separate the people of the world are not only arbitrary but in direct opposition to that most holy command of Jesus to love God, who we see in the face of every person without fail and in turn to love our neighbour as ourselves for both we and our neighbours are truly expressions of God himself, made in his image and loved completely by him.

So I say to you now go out and be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations wherever you go; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them; and then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone; and in this process you will be a blessing to all those you meet and by realizing that of God within them you too will be blessed. And so let us pray, that come it may, as come it will for all that. That sense and worth over all the earth shall bear the gree and all that. For all that and all that, it’s coming yet for all that. That man to man the world over shall brothers be for all that.

Amen