The Symptoms of Hypocrisy Part 2

16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Jesus here is setting in place the right posture to have while fasting

First thing we have to realize is that fasting is very much a part of the Kingdom that Jesus was promoting

He says “When You Fast”

Which promotes fasting as a regular rhythm amongst kingdom people

Not only should it an active part of our faith journey

There must be a difference between how Hypocrites fast and how Jesus People Fast

So lets look at the differences:

How do you fast in a Hypocritical Way?

What the Hyper Religious were doing was this

They would fast in a way that caught everyones attention

They would make themselves appear as if they were going through it.

They Disfigured their faces

Or exposed their imperfections

Amplified their blemishes

In order to make sure that everyone knew that they were fasting.

People would feel sorry for them

They would comfort them

They would encourage them

Because they would get their fill from what man had to offer

Jesus says

This will be their reward for fasting

The result of their penitence shifted from an expectancy of seeing God work, to a settling for the praises and comfort that man had to offer

What is Jesus trying to do here?

Jesus is trying to switch the focus off of everything that pointed to man’s self-sufficiency

To expose man’s truest necessity

For that is what paralleled and preached a Greater Message

Now lets look at how Fasting should be done:

Instead of participating in a spiritual practice to grab man’s attention

You, when you fast

Put on your “Sunday Best”

Anoint your head with Oil

Wash your face

In fact, don’t give any hints to anyone that you are fasting

Let it be something that is between you and the Lord

That as you fast

As you consecrate yourself to grow in your trust of God

As you set your face to seek the Lord

Give it 100%

Go all in

For that which you do in secret, He will reward you openly.

Now, lets take a look at our stuff

The New King James Version Chapter 6

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus is encouraging us to abstain from storing up our treasures here on earth

The Message written by Eugene Peterson says it this way

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars.

Don’t stack your chips here as if this was the end goal.

Jesus is again, trying to shift our focus from the earthly to the heavenly

He is shifting the focus of what we treasure from an earthly perspective to a heavenly one

Normally, this is where the pastor would talk about tithing and your money and it would get really awkward

We could do that

But its so 1990’s

I think what we need to focus on today is the deeper issue

need to slow the process down

I mentioned Tesla 5 times last week

We need

We let our financial

John Stott put it this way

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount e. A Christian’s Ambition (6:19–34)

So we are to differ from non-Christians not only in our devotions, but also in our ambitions

Church, if we are going to be salt and light

If we are going to be different than the Hypocrites

Then we must do it wholly

Not just in the spiritual parts of our lives

But in the normal every day practice

Everything about our lifestyle should reflect our eternal citizenship

What does this mean for us today?

It is a switch from saving whats valuable here on earth, to investing in what is valuable in Heaven

Paul said

The New King James Version Chapter 4

11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

Jesus is encouraging us to abstain from storing up our treasures here on earth

The Message written by Eugene Peterson says it this way

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars.

Don’t stack your chips here as if this was the end goal.

We are not called to hoard what God has blessed us with

That word Treasures can be better translated

Highly Valued Objects or Accumulated Riches

We are not talking about your savings account or your emergency fund

We are talking about the excess that has the ability to hinder your spiritual growth

We are talking about the things we invest in here on this earth that replace what would have been an eternal investment

Jesus is telling us here:

The investments that you participate in here on this earth

Those which have no heavenly value

Those which increase your trust on anything other than me

Have the ability to be destroyed by moth and rust

There is a possibility of them being stolen by thieves.

So why invest in

Why store up

Valuable things

In a place where the eternal dividends are minimal?

Why invest in things that can be consumed in a matter of minutes?

Who remembers the movie Schindlers List?

At the end of the movie

Oskar Schindler looks around at his possessions realizing one thing

The cars he owned

The Nazi Pin he owned

The treasures of his life

Could have saved more Jews from the Death Camps

This is what Jesus is trying to prevent

He is trying to prevent a state of regret

He is trying to get us to shift our hearts attention

From having our eyes fixated upon the treasures of this world

He even goes on to say

That where your treasure is

Where your investments sit

The things you are actively investing in

Tell of the posture of your heart

They preach the condition of your heart

PARALLEL TO THE MATTER OF THE HEART, IS THE ETERNAL VISION THAT YOU HAVE

The New King James Version Chapter 6

22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Often times in the Bible to condition of the heart is aligned with your eternal perspective

How you see things

How you see the Kingdom in Action

Jesus goes from explaining the heart issue

To then expounding on how we see things

He calls the eye, the Lamp of the Body

Or that which illuminates your entire being

If your eye is doing its job and allowing the light to come in

All of your members, your entire body will be full of light

However, if your eye is bad

It will prevent the light from illuminating your entire being

It will prevent your actions from having the correct motives

WHY IS JESUS SO CONCERNED WITH WHAT WE TREASURE?

The New King James Version Chapter 6

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Not only is Jesus trying to prevent a state of regret

Not only does He want us to be impacted by the Light of the Gospel

Jesus knows that everything in this world has the ability to become idolatrous

This whole Sermon on the Mount has been exposing what people have made Ultimate

It has been telling the story of how Religion, Stuff, Marriage, Fasting, Money

Has become the source of our Practice

Instead of Messiah being at the center of everything

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