Two Types of Worship

Introduction

There are two ways to worship God, two ways to follow him, two ways to practice righteousness. One is true and leads to life, the other is false and leads to hell.

Scenarios of Worship

All examples of personal piety and sacrifice that God honours if done from a righteous heart. Right away, a thematic note is struck: Jesus focuses on acts of worship that are personal in their nature. Christ is showing the kind of sacrifice that he finds pleasing

Alms

Interestingly, Jesus first example for us on the subject of personal piety and worship is giving. Today, we tend to see giving from a purely humanistic position. People often give to causes because we have a fundamental belief that it is good to lessen human suffering in the world. But giving here is put alongside prayer and fasting as a part of personal piety. From Jesus’ perspective, giving is an opportunity to worship God.

Worshiping God by honouring and furnishing those made in his image, especially those in need.

Worship in thanksgiving by generously sharing the good gifts that you are thankful for. A stingy person is not a thankful one.

Worship in faith by trusting God to continue providing for you, rather than hording which betrays a belief that God is stingy with his blessings.

The Pharisees had made alms-giving, an opportunity to worship God privately between you, God, and the recipient, into a show to draw attention to themselves. Their goal was not worship, nor was it even mainly humanitarian, but it was selfish and prideful, a display to gain the reputation of religious men.

Prayer

Fasting

False Worship: To be Seen by Others

A Warning: Verse 1

“Your Righteousness” A bridge between 5:48 and and 6:1-18. Be more righteous than Pharisees, but be careful to show that righteousness like Pharisees do.

“In order to be seen by them”

“No reward”

The text never says that they will have no reward whatsoever, only that they have already received their reward in full. In other words, the good work is done either for an earthly wage or a heavenly one. You cannot have both.

Now what is this reward he is speaking of? Jesus refers to reward several times in our text, but doesn’t go into a lot of detail about it until verse 19. What we can say about this reward is that it is a payment to recognize faithful service. The word emphasizes, not just the reward itself, but the honour of recognition from the great, holy God. Recognition is also emphasized in the context as it contrasts with the recognition that false worshipers seek in other people. We will later learn that the reward itself is of eternal value and incorruptible, but for now the emphasis of the reward is that it is given by YHWH in recognition of laudable service. In this we see that it is not those who do great religious things that God is impressed with, but those who humbly serve and worship for the glory of God. These God lifts up as the example of what he seeks in Christian service.

Marks of Pharisaical Worship

They are hypocritical, done only when others are watching. It is an act put on to display their righteousness. It is done, not to glorify God, but to win friends and influence people.

When they are done in secret, they are not done before the Father but before themselves, encouraging a heart of self-righteousness rather than the sacrifice of a worshiping heart.

They are talked about with others, often in a garb of humble-pride.

They often follow a legalistic code, encouraging obedience to a list of rules rather than heartfelt submission to the person of Jesus Christ.

Works of worship are used to balance out sins, silence guilt, and prop ones own righteousness above another’s.

Encourages thanking God for ones own righteousness rather than looking eagerly for the righteousness which God alone provides.

Secret Worship

Christ directs us to the place where true worship takes place: the heart. The heart is unseen and secret, only visible to God and to the individual. Since true worship is secret, there is no need for the true worshiper to show their worship before others.

Giving in Secret

Praying & Fasting in Secret

Reconciling 6:1 with 5:16 (let your light shine before others)

Bonhoeffer - work openly as if alone. The point is having a heart that does good works for a purpose, either for the glory of God or for the glory of self.

Clueless piety.

The Rewards of a Father

You can work great miracles, preach great sermons, write great books endorsed by godly people, have a perfect family life, have perfect church attendance and bible reading, have together everything you think you need together and doing everything you think you ought to do and the satisfaction that you fulfilled your own quota in life will be your only reward. In other words, you will have the praises of yourself and other sinful men, but when you look across the crowd you perform your good works for, you see God’s seat in the audience. It is empty. He’s not there cheering on your good works, your perfect theology, your piety and selfless works. You get the crowd, and that is your reward.

God much prefers the small, local shows. Acts of worship done without pretense, done to impress no one. Done in secret with integrity. Although the theatre of their good works is empty, there is that one most important seat filled with a cheering heavenly Father.

The most important thing a disciple can recognize about God’s relationship to us is that He is our Father. Jesus repeatedly emphasizes this point and when teaching them prayer, Jesus teaches them to address him as Father. This would have been very shocking to the Jews, who did not conceptualize God in this way. Only God’s Anointed, the Christ, could claim to be the Son of God. Evidently this is a position that Christ shares with his Disciples, and is the real value of the reward itself. Who is better off, the child whose recital is attended by the king, or another child whose recital is attended by the king, but that child is the heir to the throne, the kings own son. How much better it is, to not only have God’s public honour and favour, but to have it as his own child. A Christian has this most privileged position in Christ, who by his death redeemed a people to be called the Children of God.