Preached in Markham Baptist Church, November 5, 2006

The “pray-offs”.  Do you play that game?  Praying to win points, favour from others?  Maybe it’s not praying maybe it’s you give in order to win points with others.  Or maybe it’s fasting or worshipping or participating in some aspect of church life.  Are you seeking to look good? 

It’s a question Jesus asks as He continues His sermon on the mountainside.  If you were here last week you will remember that Jesus is looking to do some heart surgery on us all.  He is probing the innermost parts of our hearts.  For He knows that it is from the heart that all behaviour springs.  And Jesus has come to live in our hearts, so we are declared righteous, but more so we can behave righteously.

So Jesus, having defined for us what true blessedness looks like at the beginning of chapter 5 – it as we are poor in spirit and mourn and yield ourselves to Him He fills us and is able to fulfill the law in us.  He is our righteousness.  When God looks at you He sees you as His beloved and so we are able to take a good look at the darkness of our hearts.  And more, we are able to set aside anger (verse 21-26) and lust (27-30) because we have the love of Christ.  We can be soft-hearted (31-32) and we no longer need to manipulate others through promises.  Now our yes can be yes and our no, no.  For we are confident about who we are in Christ.  It’s a whole new kingdom to which we belong. It is a kingdom where we can turn the other cheek, not because we have a new law, but because we have a new Master and we no longer need revenge. We can disarm anger with laying aside our need to be vindicated.

And now in chapter 6 Jesus says lets look at your heart and your need to impress people. 

This is what was happening among the Pharisees.  And clearly, Jesus had the Pharisees in mind when He speaks these words.  He is telling the disciples do not be like them.  They are a people He says in verse 1 who do their acts of righteousness to be seen by others.

Just a word of history here – The name Pharisee means separated one – the Pharisees were a group of lay people, they weren’t official clergy, they were lay people who formed a group 200 years before Christ.  They had a high purpose – they were concerned about purity.  Practical holiness was displayed through their good works of charity, regular prayer (about 3 hours a day) and tithing and keeping the law.

Now do not misunderstand, Jesus is not speaking against any of these.  We are to give, we are to pray and fast.  Jesus does not say, “If you give …”  or “If you fast …”  but says, “When you give, when you pray, when you fast.”  Jesus assumes we will do these things. Jesus isn’t against public giving.  We learn from 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 that the church gave publicly to the needs of the Jerusalem church.  Clearly the early church practiced public prayer, in the temple (Acts 3:1), and in small groups (Acts 4:24).

What Jesus is saying is don’t do any of these things in order to impress people.

This was what was happening in his day.  In verse 2 Jesus may be speaking metaphorically about blowing trumpets – getting people’s attention when we give so that they we will win their applause.  Or he may be referring to the fact that trumpets of the Jerusalem temple actually sounded – it was a call for people to give to an urgent need.  How wonderful it must have looked as people quickly closed shop and ran down the street everyone knowing where they were going – and the speed at which they were going only drew more attention and attested to their zeal.

Jesus says don’t be like that.

Again at verse 2 He says such people are hypocrites.  This is a word from the theatre, it means to act a part.  In ancient dramas actors did not wear make up but wore masks representing the parts they played.  It is living picture of a hypocrite.  They pretend to be one thing but all the while He is something altogether different.

And hypocrites, Jesus says at verse 2 like to be seen giving.  At verse 5 they like to be seen praying. At verse 16 they like to be seen fasting.   Is it genuine action toward God?  No, they are simply playing a part, in the case of fasting depriving themselves so others will think highly of them.  SO they would go around somber and disfigured.

“I say Joe, you’re looking rather wretched today.”

“O do I?  Well it is what happens I suppose when you go without food.”

“ You mean you haven’t eaten all day?  Why would you do that?”

“O, it’s just part of my spiritual walk.  I seek to deprive my body of food so I can depend on God more.”

“Wow, God must love you.”

“Well, I don’t know about that, it’s simply my lot.”

“Wow, well, I really admire you for your convictions.” 

And Jesus says, Such a one has their reward in full.  That’s what was happening in Jesus’ day.

Now I would suggest to you that while we had a good-hearted look at this passage through the drama today – I would suggest to you that this passage is anything but light-hearted.  In fact, what Jesus says here is that it is very possible to appear to be very near to God but actually be far from Him.  We can actually appear to have a relationship with God because we do all the right things.  We give, we pray, we may even fast but all the while we are far from God.

And Jesus is calling us to look at our hearts further.  He is relentless in this.  Living in the kingdom is about living in relationship with God – so we must understand that the heart matters. 

Not everyone else’s. We’re good at that.  We know exactly what every else needs, we know exactly what this church needs.  We are so quick to point out every one’s faults. “I know exactly what the people of this church need and if they don’t change there will be dire consequences.” 

Jesus says, look at your own heart – Tom – Look at your own heart and ask yourself – do you do what you do in the kingdom of God in order to impress others or do you do what you do in the kingdom of God out of loving obedience to Him? 

It is a vital question.  Jesus says it makes a difference.  It makes a difference if you do what you do in the kingdom of God to impress others – if you go to worship, if you give, live a moral life, pray regularly, so as to win the praise of others Jesus says in verse 1 you’ve got your reward.  That’s it. You are far from the kingdom of God.  That’s all you’ll get, He says in verse 1. You’ll get no reward from your Father in heaven.

And that’s scary because it is so easy to fall into.  It is easy to be motivated by what others think. It is easy to preach for the praise of others. It is easy to lead, participate in the life of the church for whole host of reasons except for the one primary reason as a response to the love of God.  We do it to appease our conscience, because it’s what we have always done, because it’s comfortable, because we want the applause of others. 

And we know it, we know our Christianity can so quickly become hollow – reduced to saying the right things, doing the right things, and looking the right way.  There will be no reward.  Jesus says that’s it.  You’ve got your reward there’s nothing left to come.

And God forgive us if we’ve made the faith that.  Do you understand this?  Look to your own heart.  Jesus is saying, Tom, if you preach to win the praise of others at the door, that’s it, that’s your reward.  It’s as measly and paltry as that.  Jesus doesn’t say that, but He implies it.  It will be as temporal and fleeting as that.  There will be nothing in it that lasts for eternity, there will be nothing in it that builds the kingdom.  You won’t hear well-done good and faithful servant from your heavenly Father because you will have won your reward.  That’s it.

I don’t know what it is for you.  Search your heart. Is there something you are doing in the kingdom of God in order to impress others, to win their praise?   Is there something that you do that you say, “Wait till people get a load of this, they will think I’m pretty special.”  It may be coming to worship in order to win the favour of your parents.  It may be formulating your prayers so as to impress others.  It may be not formulating your prayers to impress others.  You see, it’s not that Jesus is speaking against giving, or formal prayers or informal prayers – He is speaking against doing these things with the eye of impressing others.

Also know that Jesus is not saying follow your feelings.  He is not speaking against duty.  There are things in the Christian life such as prayer and giving and the spiritual disciplines that need to be done – regardless of how I feel about them.  Believe it or not there are some Sunday mornings when I feel like staying in bed.

Nor is He saying, Don’t pay attention to your feelings.

But instead of staying in bed – and instead of going through the motions – what I believe Jesus is saying here is – be genuine in your relationship with God.

Instead of wearing a mask and being a hypocrite tell Him you don’t feel like worshiping this morning.  Don’t neglect prayer and worship and giving and all the other spiritual disciplines but search your heart, stop seeking to impress others by wearing a mask, that’s being hypocritical.  It’s not being genuine.

And when you take off that mask you may discover some thing about your life and your heart – and then Jesus is able to change it. Maybe you will discover that you spent the week working too hard.  You did not take time to rest in God’s goodness so when it came to time for worship on the Sabbath, you were worn out and you missed a blessing.  And say, Lord I’m sorry.

Maybe you discover that you grew up with under certain expectations of your parents and you are still living to fulfill them, rather than the expectations of your heavenly Father. 

Be genuine in your relationship with God and then you don’t need to fear that you are near God but in fact very far from God.

My friends, Jesus is asking us some hard questions. Look at yourself. Are you living your Christian life out of fear of what your parents think, or what your spouse think, or what others think?  Or has the love of Christ genuinely captured your heart so that you respond to Him in genuine acts of love and devotion.

Here’s another truth.  Realize that you have an audience of one.  Forget everyone else.  Remember that you have an audience of one.  Forget everyone else and remember that you have one King, your God and Father to please and live for.  It is not humanities applause but the applause of heaven that we seek.

And when we focus on serving God alone our giving and our praying and our fasting are really done in secret.  Jesus says in verse 3 don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.  Have you ever tried that?  It’s impossible because the more you try not to think of what your right is doing the more aware you become of what your right hand is doing.  It’s like telling someone not to think of pink elephants.  That’s exactly what they will think of for the next hour! 

But do you know what happens when you focus on loving God and serving Him alone?  You begin to forget what your right hand is doing. 

Have you ever heard of someone who is on a date with the love of their life and afterward you ask them how did your date go and they say to you, “O, it was wonderful.”

It was?  I heard that you came home with soup spilled all down your front.”

“O yeah.  I that happened.”

You say, “How did it happen?”

“Well, do you know I was so enraptured with the girl that I completely forgot myself and I spilled my soup.”

So with giving, with prayer, when you focus on God and you fall deeply in love with Him, you forget what your left hand is doing. 

“I gave how much?”

“Really?” 

“I’m so in love with God, so confident in His loving care, here’s some more.”

Now again, understand that Jesus isn’t saying that we shouldn’t listen to the advice of others or be concerned about what others say to us.  This is not a license to be bombastic and individualistic. 

“I don’t care what others say - I’m just focused on pleasing the Lord.”

And they fail to listen to the body of Christ, fail to hear encouragement, fail to hear admonishment.  We have to understand that God often corrects, rebukes and affirms us through brothers and sisters in Christ.

No, Jesus is saying look at your heart.  Do you do what you do in the kingdom of God to glorify God alone?  Or are you seeking to glorify self by winning the praise of others.

In your praying for instance - some people refuse to pray in groups.  Why?  Some say it is because they are afraid they might say the wrong thing, they are not as eloquent as others, they don’t know what to say.  My friends that’s being a hypocrite, that’s not being genuine. 

Friends realize when you are in a group you aren’t praying to the group.  The group isn’t your audience.  God is.  So speak to Him.

Jesus is saying, it’s not the length of your prayers that matter.  There were some pagans Jesus says in verse 7 who believe that if they went on and on in their prayers they would be heard by their gods.  It’s not even the mechanics of your prayers, how wonderfully structured they are – that matter.  I would suggest that it is not even whether your prayers are done in public or even in private – private prayers can also lead to pride. It is this – let your prayers be directed to God.  You have an audience of one.  Speak to Him.  Don’t worry about others.  You have a loving heavenly Father who knows what you need even before you ask so you can ask with confidence and trust that He is able to answer your prayers.

And when you fast, Jesus says, clean yourself up. Don’t draw attention to how wonderful you are!

Jesus asks some hard questions.  So, how is it with you?  Do you live this Christian life out of devotion to God or devotion to others?

I think that our eye is on others more than we think.  Think of all we are afraid to do.  We’re afraid to pray in public because of what others may think.  We’re afraid to be vulnerable and share our weaknesses and vulnerability in a small group for fear of what others may think.  We are very conscious of our posture in worship because of what others think.

We come to worship because of what others think.  We do what we do with an eye toward others. 

The problem of course is that this enables us to act whatever way we like when others aren’t looking.  And we can keep our faith neatly in a box on Sundays as long as I put on the mask then I’m okay.

But Jesus says take a look at your heart – who is your audience.

Perhaps the best story that pictures these words is the story of the prodigal son.  Here is Rembrandt’s picture depiction of that story. 

As we conclude the service today.  I ask that you look at this picture and ask yourself, where are you in the picture. 

There is one son there on the left who has done everything right.  He has carried out his duties with precision, to the point of being a slave.  But look where he is in relation to the father.  He is near but very far.  Obviously he did what he has done with an eye of pleasing others.

Look at the son who is kneeling.  He has done everything wrong.  He squandered his father’s fortune.  He has been irresponsible.  But look where he is in relation to the father.  Why?

Because he has taken off the masks and has sought to be real.  He has searched his heart and realized its blackness and its deceit and its desire to be looked at and admired. 

He’s being genuine before his father - there is an eye to God alone.  There is no play acting. 

It’s time to be genuine in our relationship with God.  It’s time to look to Him and Him alone. 

It’s time to look at our hearts and take off those masks of roles we are expected to play.  And we can do it knowing that God loves us, we can do it knowing that He is our Saviour and welcomes us as we are genuine before Him.

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - November 2006

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