Heaven, here and now
by Jeremy Lie
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For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21).
Read Matthew 6:1–6,16–21
I will forever be grateful to the writing of Dallas Willard, who has helped shape much of my spiritual life and practices. If you get a chance, I highly recommend reading The Divine Conspiracy, albeit a hefty read. It takes the Sermon on the Mount and places it into a context that changed how I looked at spiritual life altogether. What Dallas masterfully communicates in 448 pages, I will attempt to invite you in on in fewer than 448 words.
In today’s passage, we take a little tour through some of Jesus’ core teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. His message is quite straightforward and not complicated. Jesus points out the spiritual practices of the ‘hypocrites’ in a negative light. They are out to get recognition for their piety, and that is what they’ll get. But that reward is short-lived, nothing but fast food. It doesn’t nourish the soul. It doesn’t permeate the world with eternal life and love. It only feeds the ego, which will always be insatiable.
Jesus’ words urge us to pause and reflect on our own spiritual habits and actions. What are our core motivations? How ‘secret’ are our spiritual acts, and how ‘hidden’ are our spiritual habits?
The word hypocrite can be linked to our modern word for actor, someone only playing a part. They might say and do the right things, but deep inside, they are really someone else. This lack of authenticity is what Jesus seems to condemn in these verses.
Jesus doesn’t want behaviour modification; he invites us into heart transformation. It’s not about simply having the right habits. It’s about having the right heart. Because Jesus knows the right heart will naturally produce the right habits. But behind a person whose only motivation is to be seen having the right habits can lurk a heart that is, in reality, quite wretched. Acts 2:46 describes the disciples of the early church as having ‘glad and sincere hearts’.
So, where is our treasure? Are our hearts set on fast-food faith? Do we crave the feeling of being seen as a ‘good Christian’? We might want to check your hearts.
We pray as Jesus taught us, as paraphrased by Dallas Willard:
‘Dear Father, always near us, may your name be treasured and loved, may your rule be completed in us – may your will be done here on earth in just the way it is done in heaven. Give us today the things we need today, and forgive us our sins and impositions on you as we are forgiving all who in any way offend us. Please don’t put us through trials, but deliver us from everything bad. Because you are the one in charge, and you have all the power, and the glory too is all yours – forever – which is just the way we want it!’
Jeremy holds a Bachelor of Ministry from the Australian College of Theology. In his first year of study, he completed the Frontier Training in Albury NSW, which was formative in his passion for mission and church planting. Jeremy is now studying for his Masters of Secondary Teaching through the Australian Catholic University and loves weaving together students’ faith and education.
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