Stability for the soul

Fasting is meant to give stability to the soul, not by means of mastery of the body, but by finding the Master.

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24

We cannot have two masters. Even if we think we serve the Lord, He is not Lord over us if any other thing has mastery over us. We cannot be a slave to God and riches both.

This does not mean we cannot possess riches, only that riches cannot possess us. What riches can provide us is not to be our focus.

"For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; or for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span? And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is cast into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things." Matthew 6:25-32

We are not to be focused on the provision of these necessary things. These things can become master over us if given opportunity; these things have been master over us. We need to seek His kingdom, the place where He is Master over us.

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33

His kingdom will not be found in the externals of life; His kingdom is sown within us. The good seed is the seed of the kingdom. We have the kingdom of God growing within us; we must look within our heart to find it.

But another master stands in the way, not in dark robes of evil, but in the normal everyday concerns of life. The disciplines of abstinence are the mechanisms to deal with this master. Simply, one day at a time, we can deny obedience to what has mastered us. We do need food and drink and clothing, but perhaps not today. We have held on to these things, not considering them to be master, but we have been unwilling to let go. For a time, for a day, we can let go.

"Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

We simply deny obedience to the master who has stood in the way of the Lord. Without that master we can seek for His kingdom and His righteousness. The Lord can then add back that which we have let go of, but under His rule.

Why do we fast? It is simple: we wish to find the Master who has been taken away from us by another master. We have to choose: we cannot serve both.

"And Jesus said to them, 'The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.'" Matthew 9:15 (this is also in Mark 2:19-20 and Luke 5:34-35)

The Bridegroom has been taken away from us, not by death and ascension, but by our willingness to let food and drink and clothing rule us. We had no need to mourn when He ruled over us; but if we recognize that He really doesn't rule because another has taken His place, we will mourn. We will deny obedience to the one who has usurped His authority.

All of our fine words calling Jesus Lord mean nothing if anything else is master over us. We cannot serve two masters. If we hold on to one master, we will despise the other; not in our words but in our actions. Our soul will be the slave of another master. The bridegroom, full of joy and gladness, will have been taken away from us.

When we see that He is not at our table full of food, we will fast.

We need the Shepherd and Guardian of our soul; we need Him.

Stability for the body

Prayer is for the body. Prayer illuminates our physical life. Prayer can be a light shining in our life, giving order and understanding to experience.

"The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" Matthew 6:22-23

The word rendered "single" here is a Greek word meaning literally not folded; it seems to have the meaning of simple, or single in viewpoint. The word rendered "bad" is a common word for evil, but the Greek word is from a word for toil. "Bad" in this sense is toilsome, or difficult.

Prayer can be the lamp of the body. Prayer can give a simple, straightforward viewpoint of life. This is what is in the Lord's Prayer.

"Our Father who art in heaven": God is our Father; we can understand how He is looking at us.

"Hallowed be Thy name": His name is in His word; the Scriptures are holy. We can understand that; in a simple, straightforward way we come to the Bible, giving it honor.

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven": This world is not the expression of His will. We can understand that. The kingdom can come; His will can be done. But it comes to a place. We can understand that.

"Give us this day our daily bread.": God supplies our needs, one day at a time. We can understand that.

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.": God gives mercy with His eyes open. We can understand that.

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.": We need deliverance from evil; only God can do that, but He may work through trials. We can understand that.

This is a straightforward view of life. Prayer like this gives us a perspective on our physical life; it gives an order to what we do.

But if our prayers are really a toilsome effort to get our way, our physical life will not make sense. We will not understand what God is doing, or what we are supposed to do. Prayer should not be our will folded inside His will.

Simple, straightforward prayer gives our body stability. Light shines in our physical life; we can understand the difference between what God does, and what we do.

Pray then in this way.

Stability for the heart

Giving alms, giving to the poor, requires a choice to give to others. What is given could have been kept; whether it was saved or spent to gain something, it could have been used in this world. Jesus again used the language of the familiar to express the spiritual.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matthew 6:19-21

Treasures in heaven will last; treasures on earth may not even endure through our life.

But the treasures in heaven have been stored up for the same reason someone would store up treasures on earth. A high value has been placed on what is stored up. Those who store up treasures in heaven have just placed a high value on something different than the person who is accumulating possessions.

Those who lay up treasures in heaven are placing a high value on pleasing God; His reward is given for what has pleased Him. The action itself is without value if it does not please God; those who give to the poor in order to gain honor from men do not please God even if they gave more. The widow who gave a tiny amount of money pleased God far more than any of the men who gave great gifts; she gave all that she possessed. We are not obligating God by our good works; God was not obligated to give anything to the hypocrites, even though they gave to the poor. We are simply giving God pleasure by our good works. This is our treasure, that we have pleased God in this life in the things that we have done.

The impact of this is that if we treasure pleasing God, our heart follows this choice. Our thoughts are shaped by what we truly treasure. Our decision to please God feeds back into our heart. Our heart can find stability in this, a stability that it cannot find in the transient things of this world.

Pleasing a generous God is a good investment. The work of pleasing a generous God is good medicine for the heart.

Three mechanisms

Jesus addressed three things in Matthew 6 in a very similar fashion, contrasting each with the role-playing of the religious in their culture. He made the same point that God will repay in each of these things.

Jesus is not detached from reality. He lived as a man; He understands the realities of life. We work because it is necessary to work. We make a living for ourselves and our family by getting paid for what we do. Getting paid is important to us.

This is what Jesus is addressing: getting paid - not just in money, but in a way that addresses the realities of life more than money alone.

What follows these three disciplines are explanations of the mechanisms that are at work in each.

The mechanism in alms is placing our treasure in heaven.

The mechanism in prayer is a healthy view of life.

The mechanism in fasting is the search for the kingdom of God within us.

The mechanisms deal with the pressure of materialism that each of us face. But the conclusion of the explanation of these three mechanisms is the assurance that our heavenly Father will provide all of the necessary concerns as we walk in these three disciplines.

"...and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:33-34

The three disciplines address what we are anxious about; we are not to give alms, pray, or fast because it is the "right" thing to do. We would be only playing a role. We are to give alms, pray, and fast because it makes our life right; we are repaid in a meaningful way.

We have a hard time accepting that we would work for God because He pays well. We keep wanting to get back up on the stage, acting the role of the wonderful person who does things because they are the right thing to do. But we still have to face our real life when we finish our pathetic performance. Our myth is about role-playing, the very thing that Jesus repeatedly addressed. He wasn't just slamming the Pharisees; He was embedding something for us. We can easily fall into the same trap, though we could never give as good of a performance as they did.

Yet our whole life is concerned with finding what pays well. It is an essential reality that should be extended fully into our relationship with God. He pays well; His business can afford to pay good employees what they are worth to Him. Jesus would not have repeatedly stated that the Father will repay if it wasn't important; He would not have said it if it were not true.

The King's gold is better than the glory of the stage.

Return on investment

The three disciplines of Matthew 6- alms, prayer, and fasting- are each contrasted with the practices of the role-players, and are each repaid by God.

The word rendered repay or reward is apodidomi, meaning to give back. God is giving back to us what we gave to Him.

He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord.
The Lord will repay him for his good deed. Proverbs 19:17

God pays His debts.

God gives back in return for prayer. It is the essential hope of prayer, that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

The third thing that Jesus said is repaid is fasting. The disciplines of abstinence, to use Dallas Willard's term, are repaid like the disciplines of giving to the poor and prayer. These three things are like a tripod. These three things give stability. Balancing a tripod on one leg or two legs is possible, but it is unstable. The slightest disturbance will cause it to fall.

We long for stability in life. We want to end the plate spinning, trying to keep a lot of unstable things going. We are tired of walking a tightrope, always a misstep from falling.

To repeat Dallas Willard's point: Jesus is not just a great teacher with high ethics. He is the smartest Man who ever lived. Listen to Him; He is really teaching a lot more than you think. Jesus just didn't mention alms, prayer, and fasting arbitrarily; these are essential. We will not be mislead by assuming that we can trust Jesus in what He teaches. This is what He commanded in the making of disciples: teach them to observe all that I commanded you. Jesus can teach us stability.

We have tried to create stability according to the paradigms that seem right to us. But even though prayer should make us stable, it doesn't seem to make us bulletproof. We look for the intimacy that will keep us close, yet we stray. Some, not many, have tried to create stability in the disciplines of involvement, to use Dallas Willard's term. But even as needful as these are, we do not find the stability in ourselves that we want. We have helped our brother, but we keep stumbling.

There is something in these three things, something deeper. There is a reason that these things together work.

There is a reason to fast: it fills a place that other things cannot.

A place within life

Prayer is specific in time and place; giving alms is specific in time and place. But fasting is within life. In the course of everything else, one can fast. In fact, this is how Jesus teaches us to fast.

"And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your fast so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you." Matthew 6:16-18

Fasting is to be done within life, without any obvious indication to others that something is happening.

This practice is not like prayer: prayer involves communication, but fasting does not. It is not like giving to the poor: alms involves giving money, but fasting does not. Nothing is given, yet Jesus says that our Father will repay us. God is repaying us for something that we have done, yet fasting is the absence of eating.

Prayer is directed at God; alms are directed at the needs of our fellow man. God repays us for these things. Fasting is not directed at God, nor is it directed at our fellow man. Fasting is directed at our soul. We are humbling our soul through fasting. This is what God is repaying. Humbling our soul is just as much a work of faith as prayer or giving alms. It is significant to God, or He would not repay us for it.

Fasting, or any of the disciplines of denial, are just as much a part of the work of God as any of the disciplines of involvement. Our soul is of great value; it is worth more than the whole world. That which works to humble our soul works to bring a full salvation in life.

Each of these three disciplines - alms, prayer, and fasting - are significant. Each is rewarded. But each is different; each serves a different purpose. Prayer alone does not take the place of alms and fasting. All three are necessary.

The disciplines of denial fill a place within life that other disciplines do not.

Fasting is just as necessary as eating. We are hungry: hungry for something that food cannot satisfy.

The present reign

A kingdom is a different form of government than a representative democracy. The few monarchies left in the world are generally limited monarchies; government is primarily administered on the basis of legal and legislative systems. The monarch is usually a figurehead, in some cases honored and respected, but without actual authority.

But the basis of government of an actual kingdom is the king. Originally a king had absolute authority, without limitations of any legal or legislative constraints. No one had rights before the king; the king's decisions were final. For us, this is the description of a dicatorship; for us, this is assumed to be inherently bad.

But the kingdom of God is ruled by a king. God reigns in the kingdom of God. He makes decisions based on His own authority. God is making decisions about us; we are subjects in the kingdom of God. We cannot manipulate the King, or appeal to a higher authority. God, without regard to what we think, can reward us or chastise us.

This is what Jesus taught. In His teaching about reconciliation with our brother, He warns us that we can be thrown into prison, until we have paid back the last cent. In His teaching about lust, He warns us that the whole body could be thrown into hell. God can chastise us in this life. It is part of the kingdom. God can also reward us in this life. In His teaching about giving to the poor, He tells us that God will repay us for what we have done. God is King; He makes decisions about us, judging the intentions of our heart.

Even in the issue of forgiveness, God is King. He will not forgive us for our transgressions, if we have not forgiven others for their transgressions against us. God is not acting in the darkness; nothing is darkness for Him. Our unwillingness to forgive another is plainly visible to Him even while we are asking for forgiveness.

"For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgression." Matthew 6:14-15

The kingdom of God is near to us; it is not near to the world. God does not deal with the world in this way. He deals with us as King; He is actively involved in our life.

Is He a dictator? Yes.

Does He know what He is doing? Yes.

Do we trust His decisions? Do we want a real King?

A prayer to pray

Jesus gave His disciples a prayer to teach them to pray.

"Pray then in this way:
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus had just taught them not to pray on a stage, either before men or God. But He then gave them a prayer. Is this not just acting a role, as we repeat these words?

The difference is not in the outward issues of which words are said; the difference is in the heart. To pray for men to see comes from a heart that see men as an audience to impress. To pray in ways that are intended to manipulate God comes from a heart that sees God as an audience to impress. But this prayer is not meant to impress God or man.

This prayer is meant to change us.

This prayer is about the name of God; but we usually do not give this any thought. This prayer is about the kingdom of God; but we are more interested in getting things our way. We want things, but this prayer only seeks what is needed for today. We want forgiveness, but this prayer connects forgiveness with how we have forgiven others. We do not want trials, but this prayer seeks deliverance from what has overcome us.

This prayer gives an example of what prayer is meant to be; it stands in contrast to how we usually pray.

But Jesus gave this prayer without an extensive explanation of what it meant. He briefly emphasized the point about a just forgiveness , but more could be said about everything in this prayer. Yet this is what He did.

How can a prayer that we only understand in very limited ways change us?

This prayer can change us because it is the word of God: it is seed that can spout and grow in a good heart. This prayer can yield a harvest where it is nurtured.

This is the mechanism of how this prayer can change us; not through extensive theological examination of its meanings, but by growth. What seems like a small thing at one point in time can result in an abundant harvest.

As we simply do what He said to do, this prayer will unfold within us. These few words can become the outpouring of a changed heart.

A place to pray

Jesus first taught His disciples to pray by making a point about the physical place.

"And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you." Matthew 6:5-6

God ignores the prayer made in the context of seeking honor from others. The physical place itself does not hide God from us; God has hidden Himself from the pride of man. We cannot pray from a stage. A physical place hidden from others removes us from concern for what others think. The place to pray is a place where we are alone with the hidden God.

But even physically alone, we can still be playing a role on a stage.

"And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him."
Matthew 6:7-8

Trying to manipulate God is little different than a hypocrite praying publicly to seek honor from men. We are still performing on a stage.

Prayer is not meant to manipulate God; He already knows what we need. Prayer is honesty; man being honest with God. The place to pray is a place of honesty, without any role playing.

There is no stage in heaven, only a throne, before which only honest men can stand.

Intelligence in the kingdom

We do not expect intelligence in government; government is to be based on law, without any place to make an intelligent decision.

But the kingdom of God governs with intelligence. God can distinguish between two things that are outwardly the same.

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you." Matthew 6:1-4

There are consequences in the kingdom of God that are not the result of physical actions. A physical action can be rewarded; the same physical action can also result in silence from God. God looks at us with intelligence; He knows what in is our heart. Cause and effect in this world come from physical laws, but cause and effect in the kingdom of God comes from His intelligence. He rewards men, and He chastises men.

"Make friends quickly with your oppponent at law while you are with him on the way, in order that your opponent may not deliver you to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you shall not come out of there, until you have paid up the last cent." Matthew 5:25-26

God rewards alms given from the heart; God chastises disregard of others. He does this with intelligence, He is not confused by any role-playing on our part.

This is not how we have learned to live. We have learned to hide what we are ashamed of, in order to maintain a proper appearance. It is an unspoken assumption that what is not seen does not count.

But there is intelligence in the kingdom of God. We cannot give something to a poor man without God seeing it; we cannot hide that from Him. We cannot disregard a brother without God seeing it; we cannot hide that from Him either. No matter how insignificant outwardly something is, it is significant. There are no timeouts; there are no sidelines. There is no darkness for God.

This intelligent God acts in real time; He rewards now and He chastens now. He acts like a father would act toward his children. No earthly father writes down the good and the bad in a book to settle accounts with his children later. An earthly father acts in the present moment, because that is when it can do some good.

Our heavenly Father acts in this present time; He acts with intelligence.

Sons of your Father

When Jesus taught that we should love our enemies, He connected it to being a son of a heavenly Father.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love you neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to shine to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:43-48

Jesus made a reference to one of the two most important parts of the Law: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." This is the royal law; all of the Law hangs on this commandment and one other: "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." But what Jesus taught exceeded the requirements of the Law.

Jesus did not appeal to the Law as the basis of what He taught; He appealed to sonship. But we all have an earthly father; we are not the physical sons of a heavenly Father. Jesus is not appealing to a universal Fatherhood of God. He is specifically stating to those who are listening that God is their heavenly Father; they are to be different than all others because of this difference.

The basis of what Jesus taught is that something in us that is a son of the heavenly Father. This is the point that He makes in the parable of the tares: the good seed are the sons of the kingdom. Just as in the parable of the tares, the word "sons" is used, not the word "children". The word "sons" implies maturity; something in us is can be a mature expression of our heavenly Father.

What Jesus taught is what is necessary for us to express the life that our heavenly Father has conceived in us. We cannot make a son of the heavenly Father by doing the right things, but we can nurture the life that He has placed in us. The life that He has placed in us is like Him.
We are not just muddling through, trying to do the "right" thing; something alive inside us is seeking to be expressed in this world. His life within us is an accurate expression of who He is: nothing less.

In the kingdom of God, the will of the Father is done; the life inside us is that kingdom brought near in us. We are to be perfect like our heavenly Father because the kingdom of God is near.

Platitudes

The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount are familiar to many, but are so obscure that most take them as platitudes, trite sayings without meaning. (Platitude is from the French word for flat, "plat".) His noble thoughts are taken to be two-dimensional, without depth. No one could expect people to live by what He taught. In some cases, what He taught is viewed as destructive: "give to him who asks of you".

What Jesus teaches are either meaningless platitudes, or His teachings are profound. He is either teaching about nothing, or He is teaching about something that no one else has ever taught.

As Jesus did from the beginning of His ministry, He is focusing on the kingdom of God. He is teaching how it works when the heavens have bowed down to a man; He is teaching how to live when the kingdom of heaven is near. What He teaches should be meaningless apart from the kingdom of God. If we do not see the dimension of the kingdom of God, then everything He says is flat, a platitude. If we are seeking the kingdom of God, everything He says is profound.

Things are different when the throne, the cherubim, the wheels within wheels, and the fire are at work inside. The paradigms of the usual world do not work; we need these new paradigms.

Domesticated Weeds

Jesus addressed murder and adultery in one portion of the Sermon on the Mount. Society recognizes these things as bad; society concurs with a higher ethic in these things, though it cannot grasp the logic. But society does not accept His teaching on rights.

Human society is based on rights, justice, and ownership. However poorly this is implemented, these things are a basis of civilization. But Jesus taught what society cannot accept.

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you, and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. And whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who want to borrow from you." Matthew 5:38-42

Human society cannot implement these ethics; it would not even want to. What Jesus teaches in this would produce chaos in the world. Society could not function without rights, justice, and ownership.

But Jesus is addressing a significant issue in the heart. Our selfishness is a tare; it is a more domesticated weed than murder or adultery, but it has still been sown by the evil one. This more than the others looks like wheat; it looks right. But every tare looks right in some way. A domesticated weed is still a weed in the kingdom of God.

Jesus gives us a path that denies a place for selfishness to grow, and hide the kingdom. But this path looks risky; and it is. The kingdom of God can only be purchased at the cost of all that we possess, and only at that cost.

What Jesus teaches is difficult only if the cost is too great. The kingdom is costly.

Soil Mechanics

The tares are weeds growing in our heart, competing with the good seed, making the wheat harder to find. But the owner did not want to pull out the tares, knowing that the wheat would be ruined as well. In the same way, we cannot extract the evil from our heart. We must wait until the day when He removes evil from us.

But Jesus taught how we are to deal with evil now. In the parable of the sower, the seed grew well where the soil was good to grow in, and it did poorly where the soil was hostile. The soil is our heart; we can make a place for the good seed to grow. We can also make a hostile place for the tares; we choose what we give ourselves to.

This is the point in Romans 6.

"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."
Romans 6:12-13

Jesus taught about anxiety, giving direction on what we can do. We cannot remove the evil, but we can direct ourselves in another path. He is addressing the soil of the parable, our heart; the kingdom is cultivated, but the weeds are not.

In the same way, when Jesus taught about murder, He addressed the soil of the parable, our heart. We cannot remove the evil, but we are given direction to make our heart a hostile place for hate.

When Jesus taught about adultery, He again addressed the soil of the parable, our heart. We cannot remove the evil, but we can remove what is giving evil an opportunity.

When Jesus taught about vows, He again addressed the soil of the parable, our heart. Even a small expression of pride in a foolish tradition is evil. We can choose to change what we say; in that the evil withers.

These are the means to deal with tares; neither we nor angels can pull them from our heart. But our heart is the soil in which the tares grow; we can make our heart a hard place for tares to grow in. The mechanisms are the soil mechanics of our heart.

Jesus taught this because He did this. He was man; He struggled with what we struggle with, and He overcame. The devil sowed his lies in Jesus in the wilderness; Jesus did not let them grow.

What Jesus taught are the mechanics to overcome; what He taught works in men. The kingdom of God is near; we can find it at work in us.

Gardening in the kingdom of God

Just as Jesus directed us to seek the kingdom in the context of what He was teaching about anxiety, much of the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount are also related to cultivating the seeds of the kingdom of God within us. These are not just "nice" things; these are not platitudes. What Jesus taught is essential to nurture life within us.

The good seed has been sown in our heart; but tares have been sown as well. We cannot just let the things in our heart have free expression. Many things are designer weeds, meant to choke out the life of the kingdom. The parable of the tares explains what is behind what Jesus taught. We must deal with tares.

Jesus addressed murder; for human society to function, murder must be unlawful. But Jesus taught what we need for the kingdom of God to function within us. Anger against a brother is a tare that chokes out the life of the kingdom. Jesus had no intention that human society would try to implement what He taught; it cannot. But we can. What Jesus taught is for us to cultivate the kingdom of God within us.

"If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering at the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." Matthew 5:23-24

Relationships are significant; Jesus taught what is vital for us to find the workings of the kingdom of God.

Jesus addressed adultery; for human society to function, marriage must be given some respect. But the desire for adultery within us is a tare, whether or not it is fulfilled. Human society cannot legislate a pure heart; but we can watch over our heart. Again, Jesus addressed this in strong terms, using a frightening picture.

"And if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." Matthew 5:29

Without considering further what He meant, we can see the importance that He is putting on direct action against the tares within us. Nothing in what He said suggests that we should let this slide.

Jesus addressed vows in their culture; for human society to function, contractual agreements must be binding. But vows in their culture carried a presumption of power. These are just quaint cultural practices, but Jesus called it evil. He was not looking at this from the Law of Moses, or from a sociological point view, He was looking at cultivating the kingdom of God.

The ethics of the Sermon on the Mount are not high ideals, which we should all try for, but which no one will really fulfill. The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount are a gardening handbook, a practical guide to cultivating the kingdom of God. This section is on weeds, spiritual weeds.

If we feel like the kingdom of God is hard to find, we should consider how healthy the weeds are.

Finding the kingdom

Jesus taught that we should seek the kingdom of God.

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33

A kingdom in this world should not be hard to find; it exists in a geographic place. But this kingdom does not exist in a particular place; we will not find it by going here or going there. The kingdom of God is found in righteousness, not in the right place. The kingdom of God is near to us, but it is not here.

The kingdom of God is at work in us; the good seed has been sown in our hearts. What we are seeking is not a place in this world, but the life that is growing inside us. The good seed will yield a harvest of righteousness in our life; we can recognize His kingdom working in us by what it yields.

"Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit." Matthew 7:17-18

But tares have been sown in our heart as well; not everything in our heart is good. We must seek for the kingdom among tares. The kingdom is expressed in righteousness; stumbling blocks and lawlessness do not come from the kingdom. Whatever is lawless is of the evil one.

For this reason, the search for the kingdom is in the context of what Jesus taught about anxiety.

"Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you." Matthew 6:31-33

The tares planted in us need attention to grow; the anxiety for the things of this life can give strength to tares in us. We need to deny the tares the attention they want. The tares will choke the good seed if they are allowed to grow.

We can find what we are seeking for: the kingdom of God has sown seed in our heart. We can find the kingdom of God in us, but we will find it among tares. In order to find the kingdom, we must distinguish between what is actually good and what looks good.

Our heart is deceitful above all else; we deceive ourselves for tares are at work in our heart. The only objective means to distinguish between a good tree and a bad tree is the fruit. Bad fruit is from a bad tree, even if it has some very clever excuses why the fruit is bad. The kingdom of God is near, but we may need to chop down some trees in order to find the good tree.

Is it odd that the spirit of this age engenders a desire in us to hold on to everything? He is trying to hide the kingdom of God in the clutter of what we have filled our life with.

Seeking His kingdom

Jesus preached that the kingdom of heaven is near.

"From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Matthew 4:17

As He taught, He continued to refer to this kingdom of heaven. He made a point about entering the kingdom of heaven.

"For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:20

He preached that it is near, yet He also taught that it is difficult to enter.

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven." Matthew 7:21

This kingdom, near yet too difficult to enter, is somehow good news. The gospel is the good news of the kingdom ("gospel" is an Middle English word for good news).

"And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people." Matthew 4:23

Those who came to Jesus saw that the kingdom of God was near to Him; in all that He did the kingdom of God was near to man. Yet what is this to a man, flawed and frail? How can he enter this kingdom?

Jesus described the point of entry into the kingdom as difficult.

"Enter by the narrow gate; for gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small, and the way narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it." Matthew 7:13-14

In Luke, Jesus worded this differently on another occasion.

"Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able." Luke 13:24

This is not what we expect. We think in terms of the "Easy Button" at Staples. Somehow two thousand years of religion have made what Jesus said seem inconsistent with all that we think Christianity is.

This is the gospel that Jesus preached; this is what He thought was good news.

Is this kingdom worth looking for?

A dragnet in the sea

Jesus gave another parable about the kingdom of heaven in Matthew. Four parables had been about life that is sown into something; two had been about value. The seventh parable is about fish.

"Again the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.

So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth, and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 13:47-50

This parable speaks of a final judgment for mankind: the wicked are taken out from among the righteous at the end of the age.

But the point of the parable is that the kingdom of heaven is the net, stretched out over a wide area of the sea, drawing in everything. For fish in the sea, a net is an unescapable reality, forcing them toward the surface.

The parables that were told before had to do with the kingdom of God in a man; but this parable addresses the kingdom of God in the world. The kingdom of God persuades all men of a coming judgment.

Believers know they will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for the deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men..."
II Corinthians 5:10-11

Holiness is perfected in the fear of Christ.

"Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of Christ."
II Corinthians 7:1

But the Holy Spirit also persuades the world of a judgment to come.

"And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment..." John 16:8

The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit cannot work this in the world directly. The Holy Spirit works through us. We are the salt of the earth; we are the light of the world. Where the kingdom of God is near, the Holy Spirit is convicting the world of judgment.

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are the fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma of death to death, to the other an aroma of life to life..." II Corinthians 2:14-16

The kingdom of God is like a dragnet in the sea, forcing all to a sense of coming judgment. For believers, it brings a sense of life; but for unbelievers, it brings a sense of death. This is at work where the kingdom of God is near, and only where it is near. We are the point of contact for the kingdom of God in this world; we should not be surprised if some do not want the kingdom of God near them.

Stumbling blocks

Jesus explained the parable of the tares to His disciples, identifying the parts. He was the sower of the good seed; the seed that became the sons of the kingdom. The devil was the sower of the tares; the seed that became the sons of the evil one.

The harvest is the end of the age. Angels, spiritual beings, will gather up out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness. These things, like the tares, have been allowed to grow until this time. Only at this time are these things gather up and burned. Stumbling blocks and lawlessness have been growing in His kingdom until this time. Both wheat and tares have been sown in the soil; we have both seeds in us.

The sons of the evil one in us become stumbling blocks and lawlessness in our life. Again, this is not about others; this is not about the weak elements in Christianity or society. This is what is at work in us. The small lies that we received lead to well established patterns that get in the way of faith; these are well engineered ways of thinking that stumble us as we seek to follow Christ. The small lies lead to strongholds that reject the authority of God; lawlessness comes from something that has been able to repell the kingdom of God. The sons of the evil one within us have become saboteurs; they have been doing all they can to hold back the work of the kingdom in us.

What we are to be cannot be seen fully until the stumbling blocks and lawlessness has been removed from us.

"Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father..." Matthew 13:43

This harvest is what Paul describes using a different metaphor.

"Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire." I Corinthians 3:12-15

This is what is at work in the kingdom of God: men are choosing what they are working with. What we are building may be of no value in the end, not because we did not work hard, but because of what we were using. Things of great beauty can be made from wood, but if the test is be fire, then wood was a poor choice, even though it is easier to work with.

Paul is using a different allegory, but the picture is similar to the parable of the tares. We are building in ourselves, upon the one foundation Jesus Christ. But we can choose to use what will not stand the judgment of fire. During our life, we may think we have done well, because we have been busy. But what is in us will either be from good seed or a lie. What we receive into our heart, and allowed to grow, will grow. This is the choice of materials in the picture of building a house.

What the parable of the tares adds to the picture is the life that is growing within us, both the life of the sons of the kingdom and the life of the sons of the evil one. We tend to see ourselves as one person, just with lots of stuff going on. But what Jesus described is a person in whom something made by God is growing and something made by the evil one is growing. Our life will be influenced by both.

This works out to the seeming chaos of life. We want to do good things but find that it does not work out. What we don't recognize that this particular habit in one part of our life has been instrumental in preventing growth in another. We look at our life as separate pieces without realizing that everything has an impact. We do not see that some of our habits are saboteurs, intentionally stumbling our growth. We do not see the impact of our "little" sins.

We want our sins to be a consumer commodities, to be used, and then discarded. But these sins that we choose to use, thinking everything will be OK once we are done, are not lifeless objects that stay put. They are competitive weeds, taking every opportunity to grow; if fed they become larger. They are intentional saboteurs to the work of the kingdom in us; in every way they can, they become a stumbling block to growth.

This is who we are; we have at work in us things that we don't want to admit are even there. Tares have been sown in our heart.