The Purpose of the People of God 6:1-18
The Purpose of the People of God - Matthew • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 37:38
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The Purpose of the People of God
The Purpose of the People of God
INTRODUCTION GOES HERE!
Review:
Gospel of Matthew:
1:1-17 - Jesus is the Expected Jewish Messiah
1:18-25 - Jesus is the Son of God
2:1-12 - Gentiles (Magi) Recognize Jesus as King
2:13-23 - Redemption (Second Exodus) has come
3:1-6 - Change your why! The Kingdom is coming!
3:7-12 - The Sons of Abraham?!
3:13-17 - The coming King brings “justice” for the nations
4:1-11 - All Authority belongs to Jesus (Temptation)
4:12-17 - Salvation is for the nations (Gospel of the Kingdom)
The Gospel of the Kingdom
4:18-22 - The First Disciples (Who will carry the message?)
4:23-25 - The Gospel of the Kingdom goes beyond Israel (The Result)
This brings us to the first discourse section, the Sermon on the Mount
Where we’ve been in the SoM:
5:3-10 - Characteristics of Jesus
5:11-12 - Invitation to Discipleship
5:13 - Warning about Discipleship
5: 14-15 - Example of Discipleship
Continued:
5:16 - Discipleship Commanded
5:17-18 - Requirement of the Law still stands
5:19-20 - Internal vs External Righteousness
5:21-48 - Description of Internal Righteousness
This brings us to our next section in the Sermon on the Mount:
Religious Practice 6:1-18
1 “Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. 2 “Therefore, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
3 “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
5 “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “Therefore, do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread. 12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
14 “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
16 “Now whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Let’s Pray
We’re going to spend 2 weeks in this section.
Some notes on Structure
Three major sections
Introduced
Concluded
What about this?
Why put this in there? Because it elaborates on the same theme.
1 “Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
So just like the last section, Jesus gives you a statement regarding what He’s about to talk about.
This is the takeaway today!
Beware of! - this is a command
doing your righteousness - what is doing your righteousness?
Well the whole previous section is on what?
Internal vs External Righteousness
Jesus’ calling to purify the inside
Your zeal for God begins inside
Then what happens, it goes out!
Progression of the last section?
Do NOT be Angry (Inside)
Do NOT Lust (Inside)
Do NOT Divorce for wrong reasons (Hidden)
Do NOT Lie (External, but only you know)
Do NOT Resist (External, all can see)
Love (External, all will see Him)
Internal Righteousness brings about External Actions!
1 “Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
Where? - before men to be noticed by them.
You have no reward
12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Enduring Persecution
46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
Loving your enemies (distinct from the world)
and after this section in 6, it doesn’t show up again until chapter 10.
1 “Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
So if you seek to be noticed by men, you have no reward for your practice
2 “Therefore, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
This is the formula for each of the three sections
give to the poor - give alms, charitable giving
Do not sound a trumpet before you - Don’t call attention to yourself!
as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets
20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus has just defined them as externally righteous and not internally righteous.
Travis, you just said that what is on the inside comes out
They are zealous for the law, hence they are lawful
God calls us to be zealous for Him, and His character will come out.
Firstly among this is love!
2 “Therefore, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
They seek to be glorified by men
Do not be so quick to disassociate from the Pharisees, we do this all the time
And we get hurt by it all the time
We want to be right. Why?
Perception - we want it to be known that we are smart, or capable, or worthy
So when someone corrects us, we cringe because it is an “assault” on our reputation
1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is senseless.
In the church, we do this too.
We want to be perceived as mature. So we’re afraid to give the wrong answer to a question. We’re afraid to admit we were wrong. We get offended when someone disagrees.
2 “Therefore, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
When we seek the praise of men, we have our reward in full. The believer doesn’t seek being right, the believer seeks fuller understanding.
3 “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
This is pretty straightforward.
Be discrete, because your Father sees all.
He will “reward” you
give to you - this is not earned but is a gift
There is an implication here that is easily overlooked and I think really resonates with our condition.
The rewards of the Father are greater than the rewards of men.
Do you believe this?
5 “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
Prayer introduced
Hypocrites - synagogues and streets
to be seen by men
Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
The continued repetition of the formula
Go to your inner room
shut your door
be in secret (within your own house)
He will reward (gift) you - this is not earned
16 “Now whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
Repetition of the formula
Fasting introduced
Hypocrites neglect appearance
to be noticed by men
Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Not only should you not show off
You should hide within your household
Take steps to not be noticed by men
Father will reward (give) to you - this is not earned
Now it is worth noting today that Matthew includes this section on the Lord’s Prayer, but doesn’t give any description of charitable giving or fasting. As we’re going to see next week, there are some specific things about how we pray that Jesus communicates in regard to not being noticed by men.
However, I think we would be wrong to recognize these 3 things as the only things that fit this description.
It is so easy to pursue the praise of people.
I think that if we’re being honest we do this in the church all the time
We want to be mature
We want to be wise
We want to be spiritual leaders
Before who?
Personal Example Here
Takeaways:
Beware of doing your righteousness before men.
2. You will be praised by those you seek to please
3. Pursue Internal Righteousness
Matthew is still writing within the scope of internal righteousness. Here, even your external righteousness should be hidden. Why? Because it is seen by the Lord. If it is not seen by man it isn’t being done for man.
Let’s Pray
1 “Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
