Hypocritical

Has there ever had a person in your life who you thought was someone but then they turned out to be someone very different then who you thought they were?

We see this on a large scale with celeberties, we see it in our polotics (on both sides)

We see it in the church,

I don’t know if you pay close attention to church news (on a national level) but the past couple of years it seems there have been a lot of really respected Pastors, who have people have looked up to

Only to find out that they actually lived a life completely different then what they showed everyone.

If I had to guess most of us have even had a person in our life like this where we thought they were one way, but it turned out underneath of this they were completely different.

But the reason I am bringing all of this up, is because todays passage centers on the word “Hypocrite”

And our understanding of Hypocrite is a little different then the Bibles.

Because our understanding is if after church Tammi was lecturing kids on not playing baseball in the sanctuary,

but then I am locking up after everyone leaves and I see Tammi setting up for baseball in the sanctuary.

But the Bibles understanding is just slightly different, because the greek word for hypocrite has a literal translation of a “stage actor”

Which is connected to our definition, but the biblical definition that this passage gives us is someone who does the right thing, for the wrong reason.

And so we will be in Matthew 6:1-18 today and Jesus starts by telling us why we do this.

So lets just start in verse 1 and this is the base of this passage. He says:

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.

So Jesus starts with be carful not to practice righteousness in front of others and some traditions have taken this as never let anyone know when you do anything good.

and you could take it this way but we have to remember this whole sermon Jesus is not making new laws but he is getting to the root, and so Jesus is more concerned about the second part, which is the why we are doing the good thing, which is to be seen,

And whats interesting is this passage uses the word “reward” and a lot of scholars believe a better translation of this word would actully be honor.

So the question that really Jesus brings to this passage is why are you doing good things?

Is it for the honor of people or the honor of God?

And we need to understand this because the culture back then was a culture where honor was everything,

Because if you were super religious at this time, and people knew that they might invite you over.

And if you are hanging out with those people, well now the people who are even more elite will see that and maybe they will go “wow, we need to invite this guy to to our group.

And what would happen is you would start doing good things for people rather then for God.

And one of the big problems is if our faith is dictated by how good people think we are, thats a really weak faith right?

Because people change don’t they?

And so what happens is when perspectives change, well our view will change on them.

But if we are doing things so honor God, then things can change, but what our life is rooted for (essentially the reason we live is not for people) but its in God.

Its almost like how growing up we had a boat and we had this anchor,

And if you fish or have a boat you know that for this acher to work the bottom of the late has to be either rockey or have roots and stickts,

Thi way the achor will stick.

Otherwise it just drags through the mud and the boat goes whereever the water takes it.

And I think my concern is that we look more like a boat drifting and sometimes we do good at rooting ourselves, but we drift.

And so what Jesus does with the rest of the passage is he actually goes ahead and gives three practices that were done, (and really that we do today)

and what would happen is these practices were meant to honor God, but they became twisted where instead of honoring God they wanted to get the honor

And so lets look at the first area: becase thfirst part is giving to the needy and it says this in verses 2-4

Matthew 6:2–4 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. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

So Jesus starts with giving and he mentions to not be like the hypocrites that blow a trumpet when they give at the synogauge.

So this would be like if I came to church, and announced to everyone “guess what I decided to give $20,000 the the church.”

If I did that and announced it or if I kept brining it up,

You would probably guess that my motive is no longer, I am giving out of an act of worship, but now its probably more I am giving because I want others to know how good I am.

And this is a small theological principle on giving but its not to build a building, its not to make us feel good but when we are being generous, whether its giving at church or giving to someone to need it is ultimately to honor God.

And Jesus really wants us to make sure we are following this.

in fact Jesus says when you give to the needy, do not even let your right have see what your left hand is doing.

I mean thats hard right because typically you can see what your other hand i doing right?

Because giving wa big and the more you gave the more honor you recieved

And I know that this is a little obvious, but Jesus really wants to redirect that giving is not a tool to impress others, but its a tool to firstly honor Him, but then secondly there is this out pouring where we honor those created in His image.

And lets move to the next area because Jesus moves onto prayer. look at verses 5-8. It says:

Matthew 6:5–8 (NIV)

Prayer

6:9–13pp—Lk 11:2–4

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. 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. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

So I mentioned this last week but with prayer the Jewish people would pray at least 3 times a day.

And these would be formal times where they would stop what they were doing and pray for a prolonged period.

So typically if you were doing this, you would probably go to the synagogue or your house, to pray,

But occasionally you would not get there in time and you would have to pray where you were whether it was on a street or at the market.

And so thats not the problem, but the problem was for some people this happened a little to much.

Almost as if they really wanted people to see them praying, because it made them look really good.

And Jesus is going when you do this and when you are making these prayers that are long and drawn out, you are flipping prayer on its head and making it something it was never designed to be.

Its almost like how some of you have proably seen these optical allusions where what do you see (show picture)

But when you flip it on its head is becomes what?

And Jesus is going we are doing this with prayer. We have this thing that is desined to make God the focus, and we have flipped it, to instead of God being at the center, we are trying to impress others.

And lets go to the last part that Jesus mentions. We are going to jump over the lords prayer and come back to it next week.

But look at verses 16-18. It says:

Matthew 6:16–18 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. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

So Jesus hits on fasting next and this is a sspiritual practice that some of us are familure with but others are not.

But Fasting is where there are periods in our life where you go without eating for a spiritual reason.

I love how a theologian named Scott McKnight puts it because this is the best summery I can give because he says this:

“Fasting is a choice not to eat for a designated period of time because the moment is so sacred, so serious, that satisfying ones most basic physical appetite would detract from its seriousness and profane its holy character. Its a way of focusing attention on a serious moment or event and avoiding the indulgence of food makes us remember our fragility and dependence upon God.”

So esssentially it is a big moment where God is doing something in your life or maybe you are seeking God.

But in big moments you typically do not eat in the heat of it right?

Imagine if you just told me you had a close relitive jusst pass away.

And you are telling me about it and are balling your eyes out.

And then I am just sitting there eating a pizza.

Wouldn’t that feel weird.

Because you would go do you even view this as serious?!

And Jesus is going this is a good thing to do like giving, like praying, but the issue is that people were going out and they looked awful.

And you would go Brendan, what happened to you? It looks like you have not eaten in weeks.

And so I get a little twinkle in my eye and go well I am glad that you mentioned that because I have not because I have been fasting.

And let me bring this all together because Jesus gives us these three practices and He probably could have kept going

But all of these practices are aimed in shaping our walk with God, and what Jesus is trying to do is tell us is if we are doing these practices for others rather then God it malforms us into something very different then the image of God. (maybe insert illustration with something that can get distorted or bent)

And I guess as we wrap up its this way with spiritual practices, its this way when we caarry out justice, its this way when we interact with people at work, this week how we interact with people before and after the election, it shapes us.

And we need to ask is my life being shaped or malshaped.

Because Jesus actually tells us throughout this passaage that if we aare being malshaped, we will get our reward, we will get our honor, but it will not be from God.

And this is saying God has something so much better to offer.

And so as we close we are going to recieve communion (and next week will be our last week doing this every week for a bit)

But this morning as we come to thee table to this an opprituty to shape us.

because we are reminded that we are shaped by the blood.

We aare reminded that the people around us are shaped