"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

 

         An old chorus came to mind the other day. We used to sing it a lot at youth gatherings.

         "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord

         O'er mountain or plain or sea

         I'll do what you want me to do, Dear Lord

         I'll be what you want me to be."

        I realize now that at the time I had no idea what those words meant. Going and doing and being by the leading of the Lord is pretty interesting and surprising and puzzling stuff. It is still good to sing that song. Even if we cannot know what it means. Because what I have found out as you go along in life with a heart to go and do and be what the Lord wants, you discover a host of other voices that have ideas about where you might go, and what you might experience and who you might want to be. Those voices have a tendency to get internalized.

         In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives instructions for life's unpredictable journey. He talks about how to handle this issue of where to go and what to do and who to be. We are not surprised that the heart of this teaching is about prayer. This journey that he talks about is both physical and spiritual. That is to say, we do in fact go places, and we marry certain people and we take jobs and we raise families and we give time and attention to causes of various kingdoms. Jesus is saying that God cares about all of that. He clothes the fields with bright flowers, and he feeds the birds of the air. He knows your life and does not think it is unimportant. In fact, he places great value on it.

         But it is also a spiritual journey we are on. We have a relationship with God, and in fact it ebbs and flows throughout our life. God is faithful. The spiritual journey goes from mountaintops to plain to sea, and sometimes a desert, too. Through that spiritual journey we encounter a sense of calling, a deepening love for God. But there are also places of temptation, and aimless wandering, and even idolatry.

         There is an ad on TV these days that is a kind of parable. A woman is sitting at an office desk, stewing through a great pile of tedious work, obviously under stress. And suddenly her heart pops out of her chest, and sprouts little legs. The heart hops off the desk, walks into the boss' office, presents a brief resignation, and then proudly struts out the front door into the bright sunshine. The woman is left dazed, unsure what to do next. The ad encourages her to follow her heart. (And of course she has to, or she will die!) But the point is made. You will follow your heart. But Jesus adds a bit to this modern parable. He wants to know where your heart is going.

         Jesus talks in images. He says where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And then he talks about the eye. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. The eye lets in light, and gives us vision to see where we are going. But our vision is not always clear. Jesus says that if we try to focus on God and mammon at the same time, we get out of focus; our vision becomes fuzzy or blurry. "Mammon" means "wealth" or "property" and the root word is the same as the word "Amen," which means faith or confidence. Jesus says if you put your confidence or faith in money and at the same time put it in God, you lose your clear vision, you cannot see where you are going. Where you are going is very important to Jesus. You do not want to simply follow your heart any old place.

         What Jesus says is that there are two treasures, earthly and eternal, and the heart can only follow one.

There are two visions: that of the self and that of the kingdom, and the eye can only be fixed on one.

There are two masters: God and Mammon, and the heart can only serve one.

         So, on this journey of the heart, Jesus wants us to learn how to pray. How else will the heart be guided towards the kingdom?

         Jesus says first that there is a danger with praying and fasting and giving to the poor; that when those righteous acts are done publicly to attract attention and praise, they do not deepen our love of God or help us to see his will more clearly.

        What seems to be the case is that during Jesus day, there were groups of people who were so desirous of seeing God's kingdom come to earth, that they thought perhaps they could hurry God along, or even force God to act on their behalf, by raising the standards of righteousness in Israel. So they prayed openly in the streets, gave to the poor with fanfare, and fasted in such a way that their deprivation was obvious to all.

         Jesus says it is better to do these things privately, in secret, because God the Father is unseen, and he sees what is done in secret.

        We know that God is often hidden, invisible, utterly beyond our comprehension and control. So, it is one thing to pray aloud when we have an audience; but when we shut the door, when we are quiet before God, then what do we say? For one thing, we stop preaching to God, we stop giving Him information. He already knows. That changes the conversation. You need to speak from the heart. You need to speak about things that can be hard to put into words. So you pray with fewer words, and more deeply about your soul, and where your heart is taking you. You pray more for the kingdom of God, that it might be extended and that it might come in completeness. You pray more for God's will to be done on earth. God's will was done in the cross and resurrection of Jesus.

So Jesus teaches us to pray for food and for forgiveness and for deliverance from test or temptation. We pray for daily provision, for "our daily bread." There is enough food in the world for everyone to be fed. Hunger in the world is not due to lack of food; it is due to injustice. That is a kingdom prayer that leads us not just home to our tables, but to PADS and the food bank and Covenant World Relief and Bread for the World. Our Kingdom praying leads us to do something about the injustice in the world that causes people to be hungry.

We pray for forgiveness and commit ourselves to forgive. We are reminded that we have debts. We owe obedience to God. We are reminded that receiving forgiveness means we ourselves extend forgiveness to others. Our Kingdom praying leads us to reconciliation with those we have sinned against.

         As our hearts make their way to God's kingdom, sometimes wandering, sometimes stumbling, we pray to be spared the time of testing and the grip of the evil one.

         So Jesus says, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness."

         "I'll go where you want me to go.

         I'll do what you want me to do.

         I'll be who you want me to be."

        Where this hits me today is the growing awareness that I feel convicted to connect more practically and consistently with God's will and values. There is a piece missing in my life week to week. My heart is moving me to volunteer with Love, Inc. a few hours a week. I need to follow its lead. What is encouraging to me is that at Council last week two people turned down opportunities to serve in leadership so that they might pursue the leading of God in involvement in a hands-on ministry to particular people. God seems to be speaking to a number of us about where we might go, and what we might do, and who we might be.

        So, follow your heart.

        Follow your heart into God's Kingdom.

        Amen.