The Kingdom Manifesto - 12

The Kingdom Manifesto - 12

Live With a Humble Heart

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Introduction

Weird warning signs -3 pics

- pic 1 – Do Not Breathe Under Water

- Pic 2 – Do not swallow the hangar

- pic 3 – stabbing prohibited

There are some things in life that don’t seem to need a warning. But that isn’t always the case. Jesus begins this section of scripture with an odd warning. “Watch out!”

Matthew 6:1-4 - “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Notice, this warning is not about sin, walking away from faith, worshiping Satan...this is a warning about spiritual activity. He warns us against the way we give to God. Later in the chapter Jesus issues the same warning regarding fasting.

Matthew 6:16-18 - “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Again, this warning is about fasting, a spiritual discipline. A warning about giving up food to acknowledge your need for God. Why do we need these warnings? As if those two weren’t enough, sandwiched in between these is the same warning regarding a foundational faith issue - prayer.

Matthew 6:5-6 - “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

TS - what’s going on here? Why warn us about our spiritual activity? He isn’t warning about prayerlessness or greed. What is this warning against?

WE CAN DO SPIRITUAL THINGS FOR DEEPLY UNSPIRITUAL REASONS. WE CAN DO GOD-HONORING ACTIVITIES WITH SELFISH MOTIVATIONS.

This is so much so that doing religious things really can’t be the measurement we use to discern someone’s spirituality.

Matthew 7:21-23 - “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

“I never knew you.” Really?

Religious people tend to do gravitate toward being tempted to do religious activities for themselves. But, if Jesus is teaching us anything here, that should never be true of us.

Let’s look back at these passages about these issues - prayer, giving, fasting. They all share similar characteristics/almost verbatim.

- Jesus begins each section with a condemnation toward those who would use that spiritual activity to show off:

Matthew 6:1-2a - “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity!

Matthew 6:5a - “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them.

Matthew 6:16a - “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting.

He uses the word ‘hypocrite’ each time to describe these people. Greek word for actor. Someone who pretends to be someone they’re not. These showoffs are just religious posers.

In each of these sections these hypocrites are acting in order to gain the attention of others.

-They give with much fanfare so people will see their generosity.

-They pray elaborate prayers publicly to impress people with their holiness.

-They look unkempt and miserable when fasting so others will see their devotion.

Every spiritual thing they do is calculated to get attention. Not authentic, not motivated by love for God.

- Jesus offers this confrontation over motives. Why do you do what you do? Why give? Why pray? For those who do it with selfish intent - to look good, to be admired, to feel better about themselves - they get exactly what they are aiming for.

Matthew 6:2b - I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.

Matthew 6:5b - same

Matthew 6:16b – same

They have received their reward in full. They get exactly what they aimed for, and no more. The attention of people mattered, God didn’t. And they got the attention of people, not God.

We can sit and agree with Jesus. Yes, go after these hypocrites. Then we realize too late that he might be talking about some of us. At some level, we can all struggle with this, or at least be tempted to twist these good spiritual activities and make them about us.

- Pray so others will be impressed with how holy we are.

- Read our bibles to impress small group with our knowledge.

- Fast, journal, go to bible studies so others will see how dedicated I am.

It’s not enough that Satan would tempt us to do wrong things, but he also tempts us to warp right things by doing them for the wrong reasons. And even when we are not concerned with what others think, we can still be guilty of less than holy motivations.

It is an easy temptation in our day to view spiritual activities through the ‘self-help’ lens. Exercise, eat well, drink lots of water, get at least 8 hours of sleep, do yoga, and pray. If we aren’t careful, we can lump in these godly spiritual activities with everything else and view them as the same. “Do them and you will be happy, healthy and productive.” But that takes the focus off of God and puts it on us.

Listen, let’s be really honest here. We will benefit from doing spiritual activities. We will grow spiritually, we will be more peaceful, kind, etc. For example, if you pray the Lord’s Prayer every day, you will benefit from that. You will develop a new, healthy regular prayer life.

But is that the ultimate reason to do it? The point of doing spiritual activities like prayer, bible study, etc. is not merely spiritual growth. There is a difference between saying, “I am doing this to grow, v. I am doing this to know.”

God wants growth. But what kind? God is not necessarily concerned with growth in the number of minutes a day that you pray. Not necessarily concerned with the growth of the number of bible chapters/verses you read a day. Not with days of fasting. He is concerned with growth in your relationship with him.

2 Peter 1:8 – The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The danger is viewing spiritual activity as the goal. Doing them is not the goal. But the gateway. These things (prayer, bible study, giving, fasting, etc.) put you in the right position to allow God to work. Because this is not about doing godly things, but about being the kind of person who pursues God.

TS - And this is the life that Jesus is pushing us towards.

Matthew 6:3-4a - But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private...

Matthew 6:6a - But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private.

Matthew 6:17-18a - But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private.

Give without thinking of the benefit.

Pray without wondering who is listening.

Fast without letting anyone see what is happening.

ILL – People who upload videos of themselves helping a homeless person. Churches that over-tip a pizza delivery person…and then put it on YouTube. Pastors who promote numbers on social media.

ILL - Erwin McManus at Catalyst challenge - do as much good in the world without anyone ever finding out it was you.

Approaching spiritual activity that way ensures that I’m not moving with wrong motivations. Not about what they think, or what I get, but what God deserves. Not about my reputation, but my relationship with God. Spiritual activity is not an end in itself, but the means to get to know God better.

Notice what Jesus says is the result of this - when you aim for God, you get exactly what you’re aiming for.

Matthew 6:4b - And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Matthew 6:6b - same

Matthew 6:18b – same

When these activities are about God, you get rewarded, not just by God, but with God.

When you make giving about trusting in God, you become more trusting.

When you make fasting about dependence on God, you grow more dependent.

When prayer is about a relationship with God, the relationship deepens.

When you make spiritual activity about Him, God rewards you with more of himself. He is the reward. And which would you rather have - the applause of people or more of God? I will give you a moment to consider.

Here’s the point - if you want to pray in a way that honors God, that works and helps, in a way that matters - you have to strip away all self-interest and self-desire. Making it all about God. All about the heart.

Prayer requires humility. A humble heart, willing to set aside self to pursue God.

It is from this place that Jesus will now teach us the Lord’s Prayer, which we will walk through over the next several weeks. But first, he had to teach us this. This is foundational. If you miss this, you will miss the whole thing. Before we learn what to pray, we had to learn how to pray.

Conclusion

The reason this is foundational to prayer is because this is foundational to life. Not about me, but about Him. In fact, the Lord’s Prayer itself teaches us this...there is no “I”, “Me” or “Mine” in it at all.

Matthew 6:9-13 - Our Father in heaven,

may your name be kept holy.

May your Kingdom come soon.

May your will be done on earth,

as it is in heaven.

Give us today the food we need,

and forgive us our sins,

as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

And don’t let us yield to temptation,

but rescue us from the evil one.

COMMUNION