Episode 65 Matthew 6 Eternal Approval

Dan: (00:00)
Hi, everyone. And welcome to training for life redeemed. I’m your host, Dan and I am as always with my father, David Jackson, we are continuing to look through the book of Matthew. We are up to chapter six of Matthew, halfway through the sermon on the Mount. Now Dad, last week. Sermon the Mount, we were looking at you Jesus’ blessing people. And then you went through the, you have heard that it was said, and this is how you really apply, things that are from the old Testament. Kind of like a workshop. I think how you described that now move on to chapter six, where Jesus starts to talk about yeah. How you do. It’s kinda like how you do good things. I guess like the past bit was all about you have heard and it and it was all bad, you know, you’ve heard, do not murder. You’ve heard, do not commit adultery.

Dan: (00:44)
And now he’s moving on to, you know, when you pray or when you give to the poor and the, how you actually go about doing positive things, I guess. Yeah. In this, in this section. So what is, what is Jesus teaching his disciples here? That’s really important for us to learn, particularly as we look at giving to the treasures, to the poor, giving out our gifts to the poor and praying, and, and fasting, let’s, let’s take those three. Yeah. Cause they kind all link together. They’re all things where he talks about, you know, if you do this and you do it in a way where everyone’s praising you, cuz you’re so lovely and look how much money you’re giving, then that’s your treasure. Like you’re getting that. And so you don’t actually store anything up in heaven, so they all kind of group together. So can you, what, what’s Jesus teaching his disciples, here and then us, I

David: (01:29)
I think, yeah. The biggest trap when you’re successful at anything is that you want people’s approval. So you know, that, that sense of I did a good job. let look, everybody look what I did. you see the little kid come running out, you know, out of Sunday school or come running out of class with the poster they made or the bit of craft they did look, look, look, we’re looking for approval. we’re looking for somebody to tell us we did a good job and there’s we live in a, in a celebrity culture that is as powerful a bondage , I think as Egypt was. and one of the things that struck me a long time ago, all these celebrities that get to the top of the, of the pile and then commit suicide. So, I mean, when you were in, in high school, I think it was, Nirvana was the group, what was his name?

Dan: (02:30)
Kurt Cobain,

David: (02:31)
Kurt Cobain, you know, the, these people who seem to have had it all who had, you know, more hits on whatever and fans and all the rest of it. They’ve got the human approval in the world. And when you get to the top of that mountain and you look around you go, what was the point? It’s all meaningless. And so here we have people who are using their, their obedience to God to try and win approval, to be a religious star rather than a rock star and in the Jewish community at this time, you know, you’re thinking rabbis and high priest and all those sort of people they’re up there going, ooh, look how holy he is. You know? and you know, you, I had a, I I’m reading a book on, chaplaincy in Anglican schools, right? And the Anglican church is, as broad as all get out. And this, this guy is very much, high church ritual robes, candlestick that all, all that stuff. And in there, it was this line that just stopped me dead, that when the chaplain walks through the playground, the glory of the Lord is seen present in the school and I’m going, you know, does he really think that all the kids in the playground are looking at him go Yahweh has arrived?

David: (03:58)
You know, I don’t he’s, you know, not the kids. I know. So just turning our heads around saying, where are my eyes are my eyes on the, the people around me? Or am I, am I looking for my heavenly father’s approval? Am I trying to get it right? Am I walking humbly with my God? And knowing that I’m not doing this perfectly, but you show me what I can do better or am I looking around going, you know, more applause. Yeah. and just finding that, that, that culture, Jesus is rebuking that culture and saying, you know, if you are in danger of, you know, boasting about these things, just go and do it in hiding somewhere. God will see it. He’s the one who you want to relate to here. So give you money when nobody knows. and I’ve got a story in the notes about one of my experiences of somebody who did that. and you just go hang on a minute when that happens, when people do it in secret, it it’s as if God came down in the flesh and did it. because you, you miss the person in between, and that glorifies your heavenly father and it gives you one of those wow moments. and that’s the way we approach being a disciple. We’re not here to get approval. In fact, Jesus is gonna tell us a bit later on, you’re gonna get rocks in their head, not approval.

David: (05:28)
you’re gonna get crucified and arrested and beaten. so don’t go on that approval trip. It’s it’s not gonna take you anywhere.

Dan: (05:37)
So Dad, that approach that our culture has J generally, I see, particularly at the moment, a huge rise in anxiety around, around the world. I mean, I think a lot of that has to do with COVID right now, but generally even before COVID, there’s been this huge increase in anxiety amongst our young teenagers and even now as adults. And I think part of that can link to social media and stuff, but here Jesus is gonna link it just with that general approach to life. If you’re constantly looking for other people’s approval, then you, it’s gonna lead to you being anxious about everything in your life about your food, about, what you’re wearing about everything, because everyone’s watching you and what you’re doing. And that leads to that anxiety. Can you talk a little bit more about this, this cure for anxiety? That’s

David: (06:28)
It, it, when you teach high school particularly, and you look at the, at, as, as young people are developing and understanding their personal identities, year eight year nine girls, are a trauma field of young ladies who are trying to win approval. and the guys think it’s all about them, but in fact, they were looking for approval from their other girls. you know, and that the, the dynamics you think of the number of movies and TV series and books that have been written about the trauma on teenagers and women, particularly trying to find, approval to get their self respect from other people and the anxiety that that causes and the, you know, we we’ve told the kids that the solution is you is to go and talk to the counsellor. but the truth of the matter is that we should come back to this book and come back to God and just get our eyes off, all those other people.

David: (07:34)
And I know that’s hard and I know those people can be incredibly accrual, and that’s hurtful and that creates anxiety, but really, and truly, we have to learn to shut all that out and say that doesn’t count at the end of the day, what counts is whether God approves and, and God’s approval. is the God who sees my heart, not what I’m wearing, not whether my hair’s on straight, not whether I’ve bought the right phone, or carry the right brand handbag or something. It’s, you know, this is, and the guys talk about the guys in the playground, the ranking is there. Yeah. And it’s a different set of criteria. and if you’re at the bottom of it, you get bullied. And if you’re at the top of it, you know, you’re a monster. and somewhere in there, everybody just bashes each other up emotionally, and physically, so we’ve, we’ve gotta break that culture.

David: (08:38)
And Jesus says, you know, know, if you look at God’s care for the most insignificant creature, you step on an, ant you step on a flower. You know, these things are neither here nor there. How much more are you worth than all of that? You’re the image of God. Don’t, you know, he cares for you. Don’t, you know, he’s looking to give you his approval and he’s trying to put your life back together again, if you’ve got your eyes on him, you don’t have to worry about all other stuff. You know, one of the lessons I say to kids is, you know, if you don’t have the approval of all those girls in year nine, in three years time, you’ll never see them again. Yep. They don’t matter their approval, not, they don’t matter their approval. Doesn’t matter. God’s approval. Lasts for eternity. They’re here for a couple of weeks and they’re gone.

David: (09:31)
That’s not worth breaking your heart over. so we’re gonna go back and we’re gonna look here and say, you know, God’s got COVID in the Palm of his hand. not one little protein floats through the air, except by the word of God. Yeah. He knows what he’s doing. And he’s got his eye on you and you are the most precious thing in the whole of creation. So Jesus is refocusing our attention. And, we, it’s not the counsellor that we need. What we need is to get our eye back on the Lord and on his love for us and realize that he’s got this. Yeah. and that’s a discipleship thing. That’s that is so hard to get your head around the ideas. Okay. But when they’re in your face, and they’re chucking their emotional rocks at you. Mm. when, you know, you come down with COVID or, you know, the car accident or whatever it is, and you do get anxious. It’s, it’s really hard work to refocus. And so discipleship is training practice, and Jesus is setting that stage here.

Dan: (10:43)
‘Well Dad, that brings us to the end of this episode, if you would like to grab the daily notes or the study notes for this episode, please come to trainingforliferedeemed.com/ 55. If you 65 65, what am I saying? 65. If you enjoyed this episode, we would love if you could leave us a review and please make sure you hit the subscribe button button, come back and join us next time. As we look through chapter seven, and we continue to work through the sermon on the Mount.