The Secret of Spirituality

For the last couple of weeks God has laid a burden on my heart to look closely at one portion of Scripture. I have not exhausted the study of it, but I want to share with you today whatever God has been teaching me over this time. It is a very crucial passage. Turn with me to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 7, beginning at verse 24. Alongside it I want to read a second passage from a different Gospel — Luke 16:8: "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light."

You may wonder why I read both of these together, one from Matthew and one from Luke. Notice the word "shrewd" in Luke 16:8. A great deal of discussion surrounds that word, because the moment we hear "shrewd" we attach a negative, cunning connotation to it. But the Greek word can just as easily be translated "wise," and several translations render it that way: "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted wisely." Hold on to that word "wise," because it is the bridge between these two passages.

Consider how important these few verses in Matthew 7 are. Chapters 5 to 7 are the first sermon Jesus ever preached, and the verses we have read, 24 to 27, are its conclusion. We know this because in verse 28 we read, "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed." The conclusion of a sermon is very important, because the conclusion is where we summarise everything that came before. So this is where Jesus gathers up the whole message of chapters 5 to 7.

To understand this first sermon, we have to look back at chapter 4, verse 17: "From that time on Jesus began to preach, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.'" It is striking that the message of John the Baptist and the message of Jesus were exactly the same. In Matthew 3:2 John the Baptist proclaims, "Repent." When John leaves the scene and Jesus takes it up, the person changes but the message stays the same. That is the connection between 4:17 and chapters 5 to 7: in 4:17 Jesus proclaims, "Repent," and in the sermon that follows He shows us what a repentant life actually looks like. God wants us to see this for our own lives — the shape of a repentant lifestyle, drawn for us by Jesus in His very first sermon.

Look also at the setting in chapter 5, verses 1 and 2: "Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside." That mountainside matters. Luke also records this sermon, but Luke does not mention the mountain; Matthew deliberately places Jesus on a mountainside. Why? Because it echoes someone from the Old Testament who stood on a mountain — Moses on Mount Sinai. In Exodus 19 and 20 Moses gives the law from a mountain. Matthew is writing to Jewish readers, and the moment they hear that Jesus is on a mountain and beginning to teach, they connect Him with a new Moses. Just as Moses gave the law and gathered a people, Jesus is gathering a new community around Himself, proclaiming "Repent," and defining what a repentant life looks like.

The conclusion of the sermon actually begins back in chapter 7 at verse 13, and it comes in three parts. The first part is verses 13 and 14 — the narrow gate set against the wide gate. Jesus is speaking primarily to His disciples, who had come up to Him on the mountain, though the crowd is listening too. He tells them, "Enter through the narrow gate." Imagine the disciples hearing this and beginning to wonder, am I in that narrow gate? — especially because verse 14 says, "only a few find it." Peter might glance at James and think, are you among the few? There is no easy excitement here; Jesus is pushing people to think.

The second part is verses 15 to 23, held together by the theme of fruit. Jesus speaks of true and false prophets, just as He spoke of two gates, and He says you will recognise them by their fruit. Then we reach the last phase of the conclusion, verses 24 to 27, and it is searching. Jesus is in effect saying: all of you who came to listen to Me are building. You came because you are building your spiritual life. And here is the shock from the mouth of Jesus — it is possible to build a Christian life with no foundation at all. That should make us afraid, because sometimes the very things we assume are the foundation are challenged when we read chapters 5 to 7.

Sometimes we think the act of going into the water and coming up again — that is the foundation, that is done, and now I am building my house. Baptism is important: it is the sign that you have faith, it is a means of growing your faith, and it is the symbolic proclamation that the old self is dead and a new person rises in newness of life. But what, then, is the foundation? Thankfully we do not need to look anywhere else, because Jesus Himself tells us. We only need to read verse 24 carefully: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock."

If you read it carefully you will see that it is about obeying — "puts them into practice." But we often miss the first part: "everyone who hears these words of mine." Which words? The words of chapters 5 to 7. We all have to study chapters 5 to 7. Yes, it can be applied to all the teachings of Jesus, and yes, we are to obey everything written in the New Testament — I agree. But do not miss "these words." I underline them because many in Christendom today do not believe this teaching is practical. There is an attack of the enemy on chapters 5 to 7, an attempt to dismiss them as impossible to live. My prayer is that God would open our inner eyes to see the truths in these chapters. Hearing is not the foundation. Obeying these words — that is the foundation.

So what we must do now is evaluate our own lives. Do I have the foundation? You may say, "Pastor, I have come from work, I am tired; I will just listen and go." But look carefully at verse 27: "The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Notice — this great crash is not talking about sickness, or something going wrong with your vehicle or your house or your health. This is about eternal judgment. How do we know? We interpret it by its context. The previous phase of the conclusion, verse 23, says, "Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" When is that? On the day of judgment. False prophets are not confronted by Jesus on a public stage today; in fact they often get many stages and make a great deal of money. But on that day they will get a shock, and many so-called disciples will get a shock too, because their construction will collapse. We do not yet know whose building will stand and whose will fall — so stay awake.

Now there is one theme running through chapters 5 to 7 that holds the whole sermon together, and the hint of it is given in chapter 5, verse 8: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." There is the word — heart. That is the clue to understanding this sermon. The whole matter is a matter of the heart, of being pure in heart, and the pure in heart will see what others cannot see of God. Watch how this theme of the heart is developed all the way through.

Look at chapter 5, verses 23 and 24: "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift." You are about to offer your gift, and nobody will stop you — nobody will stand up and say you have no right to offer it. Only you know, because it is a matter of the heart. And notice the subtlety: it is not that you have something against your brother, but that he has something against you. If we ourselves hold something against another and still go to offer our sacrifice, that is disqualified outright, with no negotiation. But this is another level: you hold nothing against anyone, yet you remember that lately he has not been shaking your hand, he turns his face away, something seems wrong. Even then — first go and be reconciled.

This theme of the heart and of inward righteousness was already present in the Old Testament. Psalm 73:1 hints at it: "Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart." Judaism itself stressed reconciliation between individuals; this was not new to them. They knew that God would not accept an outward offering from someone who was not right with his neighbour or who was doing injustice. Proverbs 15:8 shows the heart matters more than the offering; Isaiah 1:10-15 says the same; Jeremiah 6:20 insists it is not the external offering but what you do with your life that counts. Hear it most sharply in Amos 5:23-24: "Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" God is not hungry for the sound of our music; even in the Old Testament He says He will not listen to it if the heart is wrong. It was all there already — but the Pharisees and teachers of the law had forgotten it and were preoccupied with the offering, just as we today can become preoccupied with the singing: with beautifying the piece on the guitar or keyboard, polishing the lyrics of the hymns. Offerings are important and music is important, but the heart is more important. God wants us to evaluate our own hearts, our own lives, because His eyes penetrate the heart.

See how the theme continues in chapter 5, verses 27 and 28: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." The Pharisees knew the external act was wrong; that was never the question. The issue is the heart. Sometimes we can have all the doctrines right and still have no foundation. The Pharisees had their doctrine right — in Matthew 23 Jesus tells the people to do what they say, because their teaching is not at fault — yet they missed the matter of the heart. Jesus' words also reach back to the last of the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:17, "You shall not covet." Coveting is something no one else can see; the final commandment ends with a hint of the heart. It is possible to commit adultery in the heart, with no outward act of the body at all. Are you with me?

If those verses have made you think, look at what follows. Chapter 6, verses 1 to 18, can be understood under a single heading — secret spirituality. Verse 1 introduces it: "Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them." In simple terms: do not do it only externally, for others to see; the heart is what matters. Jesus then says it in three areas — secret giving in verses 1 to 4, secret prayer in verses 5 to 15, and secret fasting in verses 16 to 18.

It is possible to give without the heart being in it. Why did people give? To gain the honour of others — an external affair, not from the heart. So Jesus says in verse 3, "When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." How can the right hand give without the left hand knowing? This is hyperbole, an exaggeration to make a point, and the point is this: do not give in order to be seen. Of course others will sometimes see you give — but give not with the intention of winning applause; give from the heart.

And what about prayer? What was wrong with the Pharisees — did they fail to pray? No. Praying in public is not itself wrong. But look at the intensity of what Jesus carries in chapter 5, verse 20: "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." The Pharisees prayed, but only in public. So Jesus says in chapter 6, verse 6, "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." The heart is the seat of our thoughts, desires, and will — the centre of a person's inner life — and no one sitting next to you can see it. They can see how much you gave and call you very spiritual; but purity in heart is unseen, the inner condition is unseen. This is the whole point: you must have a spirituality inside of you. The secret of spirituality is spirituality in secret. Do we have a secret spirituality — not for the applause of others, but secret prayer, a matter of the heart?

Look now at chapter 6, verse 19 onward: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Here is the matter again. Just as I cannot see the foundation of this building, an unseen spirituality is the foundation. All the spirituality others appreciate in us, they appreciate because they can see it — but what matters is what is not seen. So the real question is: where is your heart today? You may answer, "Pastor, my heart is in heaven; that is where my treasure is, I am heavenward." Then you must read the verses that follow, 22 and 23.

Suddenly Jesus brings in an analogy of the eye. After speaking of the heart, why does He speak of the eye? Verse 22: "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." Just as the physical eye is the source of light for the whole body — a healthy eye fills the body with light, while a blind or unhealthy eye leaves the whole body in darkness, so that you may still walk but you knock into things — so it is spiritually. In the language of that day, a "healthy" or "good" eye meant a generous person, and an "evil" or "unhealthy" eye meant a stingy person, a miser who will not share. So a generous heart is light, and a stingy heart is darkness. Others may say your heart is in heaven because you lift your hands and say "Hallelujah" — but we can say "Hallelujah, praise the Lord" without our heart being in heaven at all. The true sign that your heart is in heaven is that you are generous with what you have, and so you store up treasure in heaven.

We are called to walk in the light. Again and again in Paul's letters we read, walk in the light, you are children of light. And do not miss what we read in Luke 16: "The people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light." Who are the people of the light? It is easy to say "Christians," easy to say "disciples" — but it is hard to say, "I am that person of the light, I am a child of the light." To say it truly, there must be a character that shows you belong to the light, and that character shows where your heart is. If your eye is healthy, you will be a generous person; if your eye is evil, you are stingy, you are in darkness, you are not walking in the light. No one can see this now. Only at the end will it be revealed, when the rain comes and the streams rise and the wind beats, and a building with no foundation collapses.

Hear how Jesus brings it to a point in chapter 6, verse 24: "No one can serve two masters." Do not rush to the second half. I have asked people in many places, who are the two masters? — and they answer, God and the devil. But look carefully: Jesus says, "You cannot serve both God and money." And what is the sign of serving money? Stinginess. The Bible is not against money. In the first century, as today, there were extremes. One group, the Essenes, were known for the renunciation of possessions. The opposite extreme — then and now — treats money as the very sign of God's blessing: more money, more blessing, so store up for yourself and you will become richer, and call it all God's gift. That is a sign of serving money; the eye is not healthy, it is stingy. But if the eye is good, you may still earn good money, yet you are generous, and in that way you are investing in heaven. This is the foundation — hearing these words of Jesus and putting them into practice. You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be; and if your heart is in heaven, the sign of it is that you give lavishly.

Now come back to Luke 16, the passage we began with. Those who study Scripture carefully call this one of the most difficult parables Jesus ever told. In a nutshell: a rich master had a manager, and this manager had wasted his money. In verse 2 the master summons him: "What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer." The manager is afraid, because he is about to lose his job — but he is shrewd. In verse 3 he says to himself, "I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg." So he calls in each of his master's debtors. To one who owes a hundred measures of oil he says, take your bill and make it fifty. To another who owes a hundred measures of wheat he says, make it eighty. He is adding loss to his master, but he is gaining something for himself — friendship, and homes to welcome him when he is put out of his job. He does not want to dig and he does not want to beg; he wants friends.

Then verse 8: "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly." This is what confuses us. The master is not commending his dishonesty; he is commending his shrewdness, his wisdom in that particular act. If you think the master is praising the man for cheating him, you will misread the whole message. He is not praising the wrongdoing; he is praising the intelligence of a man who, even in his dishonesty, acted wisely to secure his future. Jesus' point is that we are not as wise as this manager. The people of this world are more shrewd than the people of the light — wiser in safeguarding their future in this world than we are in safeguarding ours. When the rain comes, our spiritual building collapses, because we are not sharp enough.

If you cannot see the connection, look at verse 9, where Jesus makes it plain: "I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." Can you make friends without being generous? Use your wealth to make friends — friends for eternity, friends who will welcome you into eternal dwellings. That means: use your money for the expansion of God's kingdom. That is the indication that you have a solid foundation. And that foundation is something others cannot see. The love of money cannot be seen; it is a condition of the heart. When we love money, we acquire and acquire and acquire for ourselves; but when our heart is heavenward, money becomes a blessing.

Here is the test of who is master. When you serve God, money becomes your servant. But when you serve money, you try to make Jesus your servant — commanding Him to do this and that for you, to supply your material prosperity, treating even prayer and fasting as ways of making Him perform for you. If, however, Jesus is truly our Master, we will use our wealth generously and lavishly to make friends for eternity. So the question that searches all of us remains: where is your heart? Do we have a solid foundation? Do we have a secret spirituality — a hidden, generous, undivided heart — that will stand when the rain comes and the streams rise and the wind beats against the house?