Godliness is not a play
Notes
Transcript
Who am I?
Who am I?
When people are looking?
When nobody sees...
What is driving my actions?
Would I stop them if nobody thanked me, applauded, acknowledged?
In your heart, who do you want to see you?
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
// hypocrites literally held masks over their heads as they acted out a role… it is theatre -
//
Be careful!
Be careful!
Can only do good with one audience in mind: people, or our Father in heaven.
And God won’t reward posers, performers, people-pleasers.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
We have even our best days mixed up with being self-satisfied by our ‘performance’.
Much of what we do will be seen.
Jesus even recognises that:
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
So it’s not a problem with being seen. Some seeing can be good.
Matthew 6:1 (NIV)
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
But with doing SO THAT others see. And praise you. Not God.
It becomes a form of making yourself the centre of the universe.
[context:
super righteousness, flourishing, whole (consistent) life -
3 outward/external actions of righteousness - giving, praying, fasting
See the structure:
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Overview
Matthew 6:2 (NIV)
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
Matthew 6:5 (NIV)
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
Matthew 6:16 (NIV)
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
Perfect opportunities to show off
Have we ever described our godliness to others so they’d think better of us?
told our biography in glowing ways?
spoken of what other important Christians we know, what we’ve done for God and the church in the past?
prayed not with God in mind but wanting to impress others?
Blow your own trumpet and prayer as performance
// know your audience::
// public gathering, service announcement -’when yu go to church’ // bzzz…
// wrong assumption about the audience
//
Assuming we’re Giving and Praying
Assuming we’re Giving and Praying
‘Whenever you give’// ‘Whenever you pray’
For Jesus hearers - everybody was doing these...
For 60-80 years ago it would be like aying to Australians - when you go to church… be like this, not that -
because EVERYBODY went. But not all with God in mind.
We are not the same as Jesus’ hearers - where the problem was how and why - not the what...
But can we assume this now? Are we doing both? Meeting needs and praying to God?
Before we consider the warnings, we need to challenge our behaviour in the first place.
Giving
People have needs. God our Heavenly Father provides. We should too. Jesus expects we will. Are you?
Praying
Our world is needy. God has a full rescue plan. We should pray for him to make it happen. Jesus expects us to.Are you?
No point hearing the warnings if we don’t already feel the need (for giving, and for prayer). We’re not off the hook of hypocrisy if we’re not even giving or praying in the first place!
Don’t be a needy giver and prayer
Don’t be a needy giver and prayer
Be careful!
Matthew 6:2 (NIV)
2 “So when you give to the needy [..] to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
Your giving is not for the poor, those who are needy - but because you are addicted to being noticed, and thought well of.
Matthew 6:5 (NIV)
5 “And when you pray […] to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
Your praying is not - stupidly - for God - but for others to hear - because you need their applause.
If you get noticed. You get applauded. That’s all you get. And the crowd of people are a fickle audience.
Be careful. Don’t be like that.
Be whole. Be consistent. Don’t just do the right things - do them for the right person - your Heavenly Father.
Keep giving a secret even between your hands.
Keep your praying behind closed doors - exaggeration, to make the point -
do what you can to make sure it isn’t for applause! take the action you need to curb your own neediness
Jesus is not restricting public praying, taxable donations to charity.
// giving is good for you apparently - and for tax concessions, and it helps others give, and teaches your family -
// pretty small motivations - we need another motive? - particularly when nobody sees, when it’s hard, when we’re pressed ||
{We have seen what the Father is like; our giving means others see what the Father is like; the Father sees us}
Show us the Father
Show us the Father
Matthew 6:4 (NIV)
4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:6 (NIV)
6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Your Father in heaven sees. Even the secret things unseen by everybody else.
So don’t worry about others. Don’t seek after others approval, applause.
More than this - God will make it up to you. That’s what the reward word here means.
God will pay you back.
He doesn’t have to. God is not in debt to you. This is not - you scratch God’s back and he’ll scratch yours. You give/sow into God’s kingdom and you’ll reap money, health, happiness.
[Too many martyrs in Christian history, too many persecuted Christians across the world to believe that garbage].
God doesn’t miss a beat of your godliness.
And he’s generous.
So he’ll make it up to you. Maybe now. Definitely in the new creation.
Just a few verses later:
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Remember what God is like:
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He’s done this. Already. Not while we were good givers to charity. Not for those who are good pray-ers.
For sinners.
If he’s already done this. And now Jesus is promising God will pay us back for godliness - you can trust him.
So...
Why do I go looking for human recognition and notice and applause and honour?
Is being seen by God not enough for me?
Do I not trust that he’ll pay me back for it?
Do I forget how fickle and fleeting NOW is?
Do I think God is stingy?
6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Spend time calling on God to act in this needy world. To finish his rescue plan. To save his sheep.
And God your heavenly Father will make that up to you.
Time praying is not wasted. Resources you give are not wasted.
Even if nobody else sees. Even if no immediate result.
Your Father sees and is not stingy.