Upside Down Kingdom: Sermon on the Mount part 4

Doc Ryan and Matt Mouzakis with Expedition 44 

Giving (Matt 6:1-4)   

THE POOR: “One who is gracious to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed.” - Proverbs 19:17​ 

• Hebrew has four different words translated “poor”.  They are anaw, dal, rash and ebyon.    

• Dal is an adjective that means poor or weak.    This word emphasizes the lack of material worth.  It is used to describe those who are socially weak and materially deprived.     

Gleaning (Lev 19:9-10); Sabbath rules about harvesting (Ex 20:31​); the year of canceling debts (Deut 15); The prophets pounded away at injustice (Is 3:14​-15, Amos 8:4-6)   

Prayer (Matt 6:5-8)   In Hebrew, prayer includes weeping, shouting, dancing, clapping, growling, pleading, rejoicing, praising, asking, arguing, questioning, meditating, repeating, reveling, working, walking, complaining, confessing, worshiping, thanking, acknowledging, delighting, exalting, forgiving, boasting and more.       

 Our Father (Matt 6:9-15)    Matthew 6:9 V-PMM/P-2P -Proseuchesthe     LXX shows that this Greek word is used for many different Hebrew words (you can take a look at Genesis 20:7, Judges 13:8, 1 Samuel 1:10​ and Psalm 31:7 as a few examples of the diversity).     

Bible Project- Heaven and Earth Video  

 “Daily” – The Greek word is epiousion.   Epi means “from” or “of”.  Ousia is the Greek word for “being” (to exist).   Literally, this word tells us that God will give us our being – our very existence.    

Matthew 6:13​B issues and problems of the doxology & Innerrancy  At the close of Matthew 6:13​, most modern versions of the New Testament place the phrase, “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever; Amen” in a footnote, whereas the KJV, NKJV, WEB, and MEV have it in the text.     IT ISN’T IN THE OLDEST TRANSLATIONS The English wording of the Our Father that Protestants use today reflects the version based on the English version of the Bible produced by Tyndale in 1525. Tyndale’s version was not found in the liturgical tradition of western Christendom until the 1637 Scottish Book of Common Prayer.    Furthermore, although early Church Fathers such as Jerome, Gregory the Great, Ambrose, and Augustine wrote of the importance and beauty of the “Our Father” prayer, none of them included the phrase when they referenced it. The commentaries on the prayer by Tertullian, Origen, and Cyprian do not include it either.      

Fasting (Matt 6:16​-18)   

Conclusions: 

• Our acts of giving, prayer, and fasting are not about looking good to other religious people. Connecting with the heart of God and living for his approval is all that matters.    

• We are called to pray in a way that conforms our hearts to God’s heart- Name bearing, Kingdom focused, self-giving, forgiving, and fully relying on God.