A Question of Glory

Who do you worship? For those of us in church today, this seems like a easy question to answer. After all, I am sure that when I posed this question that in your mind you answered ,”God” or “Christ”. What if I told you that I am convinced that at times most of us are looking to be objects of worship. In fact, the first temptation ever recorded in Genesis 3 was this temptation to be an object of worship.

Now this may seem like a far-fetched idea to some of you until we recognize our purpose. Our purpose on this earth is bring glory to God and point others to do the same.

Jesus said the very same thing in a previous verse :

Matthew 5:16 CSB

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

We are be worshippers that point others to worship. So then what happens when we do good works to point others to ourselves? We are then seeking the glory that only belongs to God

In fact the first temptation of man was this very same thing “Eat the fruit and you will be like God.” So today we are going to look at a few examples of those who are seeking to be admired by men instead of seeking to have men admire God.

Today we are going to be in

Matthew 6:1–8 CSB

1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven. 2 So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 3 But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:16–18 CSB

16 “Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

I. A Warning

Matthew 6:1 CSB

1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

Jesus begins this passage of scripture with a stern warning. Four times Jesus emphasizes this idea of losing ones reward in Verse 1, 2,5,16.

Imagine with me today, if The word of God, never gave any promise of reward. Imagine with me all the commands of scripture except there was never a promise of any type of benefit for those who followed Christ.

When reading this passage I don’t think we take this warning with the gravity of which it was intended. What would motivate us to continue to be faithful if not the promise that God will reward those who love and obey Him. We see throughout scripture that only hope we have in this world is one of relationship with Christ and the reward serving him brings.

We truly have nothing else....

So then when Jesus says 4 times, that its possible for you to work hard at a religious activity yet gain nothing from it, that should cause us to sit-up and take notice.

This means that it is possible for us to have accomplished great religious feats through blood, sweat, and tears and yet have accomplished nothing worthy of reward. It’s even possible for a pastor to build a large church that reaches hundreds of people and yet stand before Christ empty-handed. If we do anyting other than make Christ the foundation from which all of our works are to be laid than we will still enter heaven but we will have no reward.

1 Corinthians 3:11–15 CSB

11 For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. 14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.

II. Three Ways The Religious Sought their own Glory.

The three areas that Jesus sought to address were not random ideas, but rather there were three main categories of Jewish Piety. So Jesus is pulling no punches here. He is directly addressing and publicly challenging the hypocritical actions of the religious leaders.

These three acts of piety were not meant to draw attention to oneself but rather show the love of God to the poor and to draw man into a closer relationship with himself through prayer and self-denial.

#1 Philanthropy that seeks applause

Matthew 6:2 CSB

2 So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.

So in one verse we see that giving is to be in secret and yet in Matthew 5:16 we see that out works should be visible. So which one is it?

Matthew 5:16 CSB

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

It seems from this passage that the types of works that are to be done in secret are those within the religious community. We see mentioned twice “loving to be seen in the synagogues” at the end of each we see also loving to be seen on the street corners possibly denoting just outside the synagogue where other religious people would notice their deeds. So in other word’s those that would seek recognition from the religious crowd. Either way their is no motivation to do good works for the sake of the King.

Mark 9:41 CSB

41 And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ—truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.

#2 Prayer that seeks to be seen instead of heard.

Matthew 6:5–6 CSB

5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Prayer is not to be used as a way to impress others. It is our way of expressing our hearts to the Lord.

This is not a mandate against public prayer. Jesus is not against public prayer but rather those that would take their private prayer time to a public place in order to show themselves more religious than those who were not.

#3 Fasting that is self -seeking instead of self-denying

The very point of fasting was to set-aside everything and to make our relationship with God even more of a priority than the basic needs of life.

It was to priortize obedience and in doing so we would recieve humility.

instead the religious would make a show of their fast. They would use it to build their own pride instead of tearing everything out that would exalt itself above the Lord.

Application:

Now think with me about these men. They had devoted themselves and their entire lives to good things, giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting. Yet Jesus implicitly states that they have their reward.

So then it is completely possible for a pastor to devote himself to the activity of the church and yet if he seeks to please people, gain notoriety or the accolades of men, He may die with little to no reward.

This means that their maybe church members who have faithfully served the people of this church, who have tithed, and toiled but if they used their good works to seek position, power, preference or the accolades of men they may die have no reward. Then all the years of toil and work will have been for nothing.

And the thing about this is we can’t fool God. He knows are hearts motivation. He knows what our hearts desire.

What a sad thing it would be for a pastor or layperson to waste their life serving the church and yet die without reward.

Trans: Why do we praise God? It is to worship Him. When we seek the praise that belongs to God we are worshipping self and for this reason their is no reward.

III. How do we guard against this type of self-worship.

In each one of these cases Jesus tells us how to avoid this trap. Do these works in secret.