Apologetics and Christian Living
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:1–34 ESV)
It is important for apologists to have good arguments and good research. But without a life of integrity, it is all a waste. In this passage, Jesus warns his disciples about the hypocrisy of some of the religious leaders. There has been an important corrective in recent scholarship that has demonstrated that not all Pharisees were legalistic hypocrites. We must seek to avoid that caricature of the Pharisees. Jesus’ point was not that Pharisees were bad and Christians were good. Hypocrisy is bad when it is performed by any group.
The Lord’s Prayer is one of the most beloved passages in the Bible. Some have taken to calling it the Disciples Prayer or the Our Father because it is not really the Lord’s Prayer. I am not so convinced. Some of the Jewish prayers that have made it into rabbinical liturgy began as the personal prayers of famous rabbis. Could this have been the case with the Lord’s Prayer? We know Jesus often went out to pray. He must have prayed something. Why then is the prayer in the first person plural? Many of the famous Old Testament prayers are in that form. A great example is that of Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9. Some might have a problem with Jesus praying for forgiveness for debts or sins, since we know he is the sinless one. Not only do we have examples of righteous men confessing the sins of their people (Daniel 9, Nehemiah 1), the baptism Jesus undertook was a baptism of repentance. Jesus was more than willing to stand with his people in repentance.
What do we do with Jesus’ teaching about the connection between forgiving others and being forgiven by God? Is this a form of salvation by works? Not at all. Faith in the Bible is never a simple belief in a doctrine or the existence of some being. Faith is a trust in God that is expected to influence every area of life. Even on an emotional level, how could a person who is so bitter toward other people truly receive forgiveness from God? Perhaps it is not God who withholds forgiveness but the bitter person who is unable to receive what God offers.
How do we understand the promise of God’s provision? This is not support for a health/wealth gospel where every Christian is expected to live in a mansion and drive a sports car. The idea is that God will provide for us and the image is that of a simple life where our needs are met. In fact we are warned not to seek wealth.
I have heard Christians use the verse “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 ESV) as a reason to only evangelize and not to provide for the physical needs of the poor. First of all, there is a very strong biblical tradition of providing for the poor and the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25) should scare any resistance to helping the poor out of us. Secondly, this command is not for how we treat others but for how we live. We do not impose this on others, we ourselves seek God’s kingdom, trusting he will provide for us.
Yeah a Christ centred life should be inseparable from our apologetics, our lives should be the key that opens the door to speak to people about the gospel. Too often it can be easy to tell everyone what we know which is easy to do and forget the weightier matters of righteousness and loving others as ourselves.
James 2:15-17
It is interesting to note that the Apostle Paul was not afraid to debate his Judaizing opponents but at the same time he sent money to feed the poor of Jerusalem. It is never just about the arguments.