Drinking from a fire hose. Matthew 6.

Matthew 6 is the middle chapter of what we usually call the Sermon on the Mount. Sermon is how we label it, but a teaching or instruction is more accurate. There was a large crowd (v.5:1), so Jesus chose a natural amphitheater-like location, up a hillside, to teach them. This morning, as I was reading this chapter, I wondered what it would be like to be there, and how I might respond to this "sermon". The first thought that came to mind was, "how many pages of sermon notes would I need?" My second thought was that, "there are so many teachings from Jesus, how many PowerPoint slides would He need to make all those points?" And maybe we could have a song or two before He began, just to get us ready to receive God's Word.

We really do have a lot of "stuff" wrapped into our worship services, don't we? If you remember from the beginning of Acts, the content of our worship service is modeled after the early church -- teaching, communion, fellowship, and prayer as described in Acts 2:42, adding praise in v.2:47. And for the culture of our day, using PowerPoint and taking notes makes sense.

Personally, I take more notes on Sundays then I ever did in school. Which is what started me thinking about listening to the rabbi teach on that hillside, in the first place. How could one take in all that Jesus teaches in these three chapters? I have a book on my shelf by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, that is a collection of 30 sermons he delivered from Matthew 5, and 30 sermons he delivered from Matthew 6 and 7. More than a year's worth of sermons from this one time of teaching by Jesus!

It's likely that Jesus repeated these teachings many times to make sure His disciples understood what He was saying. I can imagine Jesus telling about kingdom living in different ways, with different examples, mixing and changing how He taught based on the audience and the circumstances. John said at the end of his gospel, "There are many other things that Jesus did. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." (John 21:25)

For each one of us reading through the New Testament a chapter a day, taking in this "sermon" of Jesus contained in these three chapters, is a lot like drinking from a fire hose. This phrase was originally used to describe what an education at M.I.T. is like and for a long time was the darling of techno-geeks. But it's such a perfect picture for any situation that leads to information overload, that it's commonplace now. So much information to process, so many life-forming thoughts, what to pay attention to? I hope you are able to settle on one or two teachings from chapter 6, and really absorb their meaning and impact into your life.

For me, I stuck a straw into the rush of water, and drew this small bit of teaching from Jesus. It's really self-explanatory in the reading, a lot tougher in the living out, so without further comment:

So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:31-34 NET)