A New Kind of Piety

Background

Jesus in the beginning of chapter 5 told us that we are to have a “righteousness that surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees”, a greater righteousness.

We had previously defined righteousness as "a call to outward obedience and action but inward motivation." And Jesus has been coming to this time and time again. Not just murder, but hatred in our heart. Not just adultery, but lust of the eyes. Not just refusing to retaliate but also radical mercy and grace towards others. But so far it has been about our relationship to our neighbor, but now it is about our relationship to God. And in fact these are the three most essential elements of Jewish religion. Every Israelite would have been expected to practice these.

What is different are these are Not just a refusal of negative actions, but the right heart in positive actions. What does that mean? Well to murder someone is a negative action, lust is a negative action, to lie is a negative action. But giving, praying, and fasting are all positive actions. But what Jesus is telling us is that it can't just be the right action, it has to be the right action with the right motive. Specifically Jesus will call those who “practice their righteousness in front of others” hypocrites.

-It is a reminder that we are not just called to communal obedience to God in our actions, but also personal obedience when no one else is around and it is just us and God.

What is hypocrisy?

Now when we think of a hypocrite what we often think of is something who says one thing and does another. But that isn’t the issue Jesus is getting at here. The word that Jesus uses is one referring to a theater actor. That is, someone who does all of the right things but does so from the wrong motive. It is not a morality problem but a virtue one. Their hypocrisy does not consist of commending piety but then not doing it themselves. More subtly and more dangerously, they are actually practicing righteousness, but not from hearts that are in harmony with their actions.

It reminds us that Jesus said our righteousness needed to “surpass that” of the Scribes and Pharisees. Their morality and righteousness is not coming from a place of seeking God but they are doing something so that they may enjoy some form of reward on earth.

What kind of reward are we looking to receive?

This is what Jesus means when he says "they have their reward"

-If what they think is that they can gain an eternal reward from doing the right things than they are sorely mistaken.

-What they desire to receive from their actions is their reward and there isn't more to receive later.

-The idea of receiving a “reward” has been interwoven throughout everything Jesus has said so far. Jesus said in Matthew 5:12 that those who are persecuted have a great reward in heaven and those who are called “blessed” are those who live by these kingdom principles.

-With this in mind we should see that desiring a reward by itself is not what Jesus is condemning, our brains automatically think this way. It is triggered to seek out what we believe will give us positive rewards. But what He is calling into question is the source of that reward and what is the motivation for that reward?

-As Jesus will discuss more fully in v. 19-21 we see there is an earthly reward that will not last and and a heavenly reward that will continue on into eternity. It isn't a reward that accrues interest, it isn't a reward that benefits their relationship with God, or benefits their spiritual life, it isn't a reward that makes them a "better person". But Jesus continues to say that “where our reward is there our heart will be also”

--Have you ever heard the line "a diamond lasts forever". It was written by an advertisement agency in 1947 for De Beers diamonds.The price of diamonds had sunk since the great depression, but this advertisement did such an incredible job that it single handedly increased the cost of diamonds for generations. It was named the number one slogan of the 21st century. Why did this have such an impact? Because that's what we want, something that is priceless and will also not pass away.

-This is what Jesus offers. Even though we may not see them now, even though it may not be received on earth, it is far better…but it cannot fade.

-Their reward is that they get a moment of fame, that they have as 1 Timothy 3 calls a "form of godliness" but "denying its power". Because giving enough money, or praying long enough, or fasting a certain amount of times won’t get you into heaven, it won’t last forever.

-So to “practice your righteousness in front of other to be seen by them” is someone only a fool which choose in contrast to an eternal reward.

Now there is one question you might be thinking at this point. Didn’t Jesus tell us to let your light shine before others to be seen by them? So why is He now telling us to not practice our righteousness in front of others?

-One is a call to have God receive the glory for our actions, the other is so that we get the spotlight for our actions. The goal is for us to be visible to the world while only God see's us. Because the other option is that the world see's us but God does not.

-"It is our human cowardice which made Him say 'let your line shine before men', and our humanity vanity which made Him tell us to beware of practising our piety before men"

Artists used to not hold auctions for the paintings, it didn’t hang in museums, it wasn’t seen by millions of people. Artists would have benefactors, and benefactors would pay an artist to make them beautiful works of art. Many of the famous painters we think of would make art that would be found in a house, not on display for others.

Giving

When we think of "giving" we often think of giving our tithes and offerings, giving online or in the basket.

The word for giving here is that of mercy, kindness towards those who don't deserve it. Jesus is calling for acts of unselfishness rather than acts of selfishness, which would also include giving to be seen by others. Jesus has clearly shown that there can be sinfulness in the heart outside of purely actions. There is also a dangerous middle-ground where we give ourselves praise in our own hearts.

But in this context they would be thinking more about giving to the poor. Giving to the poor was a necessary element of Jewish society. Everyone was expected to give. They didn't have government assistance programs, they didn't have food stamps or homeless shelters. This meant there was a necessary emphasis on the community caring for those who had nothing. For Jews this is something that was commanded to them in the Old Testament. And in Jesus response it is assumed that they will give to the poor.

-Deuteronomy 15:11 “For there will never cease to be poor people in the land; that is why I am commanding you, ‘Open your hand willingly to your poor and needy brother in your land.’”

-James 1:27 “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

This hypocrite finds a public place, a synagogue being a religious gathering and a street being non-religious, and desires to be given attention for their actions.

The idea of "sounding a trumpet" is obvious exaggeration. We try to bring attention to ourselves in much more subtle means. It leaves us to reflect "what kind of 'trumpet blowing' represents" our own "pattern of temptation" in charitable giving. Have you ever noticed at universities every building is named after a person? Or a church can have a building campaign that brings attention to the biggest givers? One thing I loved about What Comes After? Was that the sole focus was on what God is doing here at New Beginnings, when we paid off $400,000 it was not about who gave how much but about how we as a church came together in order to honor God.

More exaggeration is used, now in connection with one hand not knowing what the other is dong. The point being that not even "in one's own eyes" should they be seeking to inflate themselves. And if they aren't seeking in their own eyes to inflate themselves then certainly not in the eyes of others in a public way. Rather it is calling to radical removal of attention in the eyes of others, not seeking it.

It is almost as if we should have a short memory of our own acts of righteousness because we remember that God has a good memory and account for each one of them. We have no need to account for every good deed that we do, because our attention is on Go who we desire to glorify.

-Are you going to tell your child everything you have ever done for them? Will they know every good deed done on their behalf?

-Do you write them down to hold it against them later? No! That isn't the goal.

Giving in secret doesn't mean you have to give in cash to not receive a tax deduction or so no one knows how much you gave, or giving anonymously to those in need. But the question is about motive. That who you are really seeking to please is your heavenly Father, who knows our motives and He knows when we give when no one else does. Nothing can be hidden from Him! We don't need others to know for God to know.

Prayer

There were fixed hours of prayer for Jews would lead to public prayers often times. And the Pharisees would know the times where the most people would be in front of them in order to show off their righteousness.

The “store room” is actually the place where a family would keep their treasures.

God is there waiting for us in the secret place with our treasure, desiring for us to be in His presence. Because when it is just us and Him and when we acknowledge His character. His goodness, His love, who He is as creator, how He sent Jesus to us. In order for us to ponder these things means that we need solitude, we need quiet. It is far more difficult for us to do this with noise, whether it is church or anywhere else. This is where we are refreshed, where we enjoy God. You can enjoy your wife in a crowd, but true enjoyment of your spouse is done when it is just the two of you.

Although all the other things Jesus talked about would have been directed at the Jewish leaders, this one section is focused on Gentiles.

This babbling is described as "vain repetitions" in the KJV. But can also be about saying nonsense.

Gentiles were more focused on the mystical elements of religion. That if they said the right thing a certain amount of times or knew the exact words or sounds to make then it would be heard.

Many believed that long prayers were more likely to be heard by God. We think this too. Whether it is how long we pray or how wordy our prayer is.

Sometimes Gentiles would pray to many different names of a deity or deities hoping that one would be effective or other times they would remind a deity of favors owed to them.

God never gave Israelites blessings as a response to sacrifice.

Romans 8:26-27 “In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

God knows what we need before we ask Him. This means our time of prayer isn't about informing God about matters in our life that otherwise He wouldn't know how to help us with. Rather it is our worship to Him in order for our hearts to desire to glorify His name.

This does not mean that we cannot use repetition in our prayers or use the same prayer more than once, but that it isn't the amount of words, the right words, or the length of our prayer that God focused on. Rather God focuses on our attitude. If you have a toddler, they may tell you that they need something by pointing in the direction of the thing they want. If you have a teenager, they might give a lengthy, drawn out explanation of why they should be able to do or have the thing that they want. But we respond to both! In the same way that you won't give a child that whines what they want neither the teenager that argues with you time and time again.

Fasting

Many of us ignore these verses, in fact fasting I believe is rarely done in many of our Christian walks. Prayer, sometimes. Giving, yeah. But fasting...

-Why? It isn't public enough...

-Also it is about “denying ourselves” before God and we don’t like to deny the things that we think we deserve.

In the Bible people fast to show distress over their sins and confess them, to mourn the death of others, to call on God for particular action that we are showing dependence on Him for, as part of celebrations like Passover, to remind ourselves of obedience through difficult circumstances, for special prayer in the church, and even so that food could be shared with those in need.

Fasting was often done with weeping, sackcloth, ashes, and many other physical aspects to show the spiritual.

Jesus uses wordplay to say they "disappear" (or in this case "ruin) their faces so that they "appear" to others. So to "disfigure" their faces is to say that they make their normal face invisible. "What on the surface seems to proclaim people as of special piety, instead reduces them to nothing" (Nolland).

The point Jesus makes is that they should go on their normal day, take a shower, put on their normal clothes so that no one can tell specifically that you are fasting.

Our satisfaction needs to come in that God alone knows, not that others know about our fasting.

So when we fast we do it to show we are reliant on Him. It isn’t to fast just to fast, or to put ourselves through pain. It is to do so that we could put God first in our lives.

-It can be generally said it is for self-control, to show we are not dependent on anything but God in this world.

-To subdue ourselves to the temptations of this world

-Have we ever thought about fore-going a meal so that we could donate money to those without any food or even in solidarity with them?

How do we seek to be “careful?”

1. We must seek to impress God alone

John 5:44 “How can you believe, since you accept glory from one another but don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

John 12:42-43 “Nevertheless, many did believe in him even among the rulers, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, so that they would not be banned from the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than praise from God.”

-It is easy for us to become "religious professionals" and gain approval from others

-God knows our hearts, and we should be seeking Him only

-"Many people practice religion without paying attention to God"

-This does not mean that our motives will be perfectly pure. But what we desire is that righteousness will slowly seep into our heart as we seek to glorify God. That our actions, words, and motives will continue to move towards God. What Jesus offers here is a formula as to how we can seek to do that.

-Oftentimes we can even try and impress ourselves with our own righteousness. Where we keep it a secret only so that we can make ourselves feel more “righteous”.

2. Recognize Jesus defines righteousness differently than we do

a. We can’t just agree with Him in thought, we must practice it in belief

-"Jewish contemporaries agreed with most of what He was teaching here...Jesus is not satisfied that we claim to agree with His ethics"

-We can’t just claim to agree, we need to wonder what reward we are chasing in our actions.

b. Secrecy must apply to all of our righteousness

-One person may pray for hours a day, another may have half an hour a day and both may be faithful. Or the one who prays an hour a day may be doing so from selfish motives.

-We should look at our practices, both privately and publicly, and always consider if it aligns with what God's Word calls us to.

3. Understand private righteousness leads to public faithfulness

a. This is what Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:16

Matthew 5:16 CSB

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Our public righteousness should be an overflow from our abundant personal giving, prayer, and fasting. It should reflect our heart that gives glory to God rather than our flesh that desires earthly reward.

b. We are to be like a runner preparing for a race

c. Balanced obedience is more important than public perception

-We can't practice one and not the other

-Jesus assumes that a believer would be practicing each of these and grow in them throughout their spiritual walk. He says "whenever you do” for each of them.

Some things it doesn't teach us:

1. Never serve, pray, or fast in community. These things should happen in community, but let private things be private and public things be public.

2. You shouldn't be proud of your spiritual discipline. You should be proud, but you should be okay if only your heavenly Father knows. But if others know you can still be encouraged by your ability to be disciplined.

3. You should "tone" things down as to not make it seem like you are trying to earn your righteousness. Give extravagantly, pray often and for long periods of time, fast frequently. But when you give, do so that it is honoring God no matter the amount. When you pray enjoy the presence of God rather than feel you need to find the right set of words. When you fast, don't try and rely on your own ability to fight the pain but rely on God's ability to help you through it.