Sermon Tone Analysis

Be Humble:

There is perhaps no other Holy Day in the Christian Calendar like Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday is a time for deep introspection.

It is a time when we are forced to reckon with our finitude and mortality.

The ashes remind us that from dust we were created and to dust we will return.

It’s a time for us to check our pride and self-righteousness at the door.

In the words of a famous rapper Kendrick Lamar, it’s a time for us to “sit down, be humble.”

Pride in Humility

But even humility can be a source of pride, an idol, or a false god.

Our Gospel reading this evening points out the flaw in human nature.

We can take good things, even very good things, and taint them simply by making them about ourselves.

One would think that somehow two thousand years after Christ's death and resurrection we would have progressed.

That possibly, we would have changed.

However, the only thing that has changed over time is a move further away from God.

We are still just as self-motivated as the Pharisees in Jesus' time, yet we no longer see the need to pretend that our acts of devotion are for anyone other than ourselves.

A Secular Age

Catholic Philosopher Charles Taylor defined this new world we live in as A Secular Age.

He said in his book of the same name, “the change I want to define and trace is one which takes us from a society in which it was virtually impossible not to believe in God, to one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is one human possibility among others."

Faith in God has been culturally replaced by a multitude of possibilities, all stemming from one source, self-justification.

You can see now why Jesus warns the disciples of the cancer that is self-righteousness.

David Zahl wrote in his book Seculoisty, "religion in real life is more than a filter or paradigm.

It is what we lean on to tell us we’re okay, that our lives matter, another name for all the ladders we spend our days climbing toward a dream of wholeness.

It refers to our preferred guilt-management system.

Our small-r religion is the justifying story of our life.

Ritual and community and all the other stuff come second."

The Millenial generation has taken this idea and run with it.

Gen-Xers used the term "self-help" as a way of coping with the world around them.

Millennials, my people, have taken it a step further coining the term "Self-Care" not as a way of coping but as a glorified way of living.

The God of Self-Care

According to an article written by Moira Lawler for Everyday Health "Self-care means taking care of yourself so that you can be healthy, you can be well, you can do your job, you can help and care for others, and you can do all the things you need to and want to accomplish in a day."

The keyword in the quote is You!

We now have life coaches and public speakers who promote this ideology.

We have taken the essence of Fasting, Praying, and Giving and stripped them of their religious association.

We have turned good things into secular rites of passage.

We no longer have to announce with trumpets in synagogues our grand works instead, we boast daily via social media.

Look how much I worked out today, check out this healthy meal I made, or I just bought a water bottle that will help save the planet.

We are no different than the Pharisees in Jesus' time.

Our heart seeks affirmation from others, in an attempt to glorify ourselves.

The Preacher, the writer of Ecclesiastes, wrote

Gospel of Matthew Chapter 6

This passage from Matthew 6 is just as applicable today as it would have been in Jesus' time.

Our forms of self-righteousness look a little different, but their aim is the same...

The deification of self.

Christ takes three things that were understood as signs of true religious piety; giving, praying, and fasting, and subverts the cultural understanding of them.

He asks the disciples to look behind their actions, behind their motives, and into their very hearts.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

These three signs of devotion still stand today but must be done differently.

They must not be done to justify ourselves but rather to glorify God.

If we are to be the salt and the light of the earth, our focus must be on nothing less than Christ the ultimate treasure.

This evening, we will take a brief look at each of these three religious observances.

Giving, Fasting, and Praying.

As we begin the season of lent it is important to ask ourselves these three questions.

1) Are we observing acts of righteousness at all?

2) What is the motivation behind our acts of righteousness?

3) What is the source of our treasure?

Let’s start with a look at Matthew 6:1

Practicing Righteousness

Note that Jesus does not tell us to stop practicing (or doing) acts of righteousness, but rather to beware of our actions and intentions.

If our motive is to be seen or noticed, then our heart is not set on God but rather on ourselves.

Also, there is a lack of reward from the Father in heaven.

When you give assumes that giving will be a natural and frequent occurrence of the Christian life.

In fact, this very good act is instructed by Christ throughout the Gospels.

The difference is how.

The hypocrite wants their gift to be seen, they want their actions to be acknowledged.

They need the affirmation of others so that they feel justified in their actions.

What is biblical hypocrisy?

Many of us have a very western idea of what a hypocrite is.

We think it is simply one person who says one thing and then does another.

The actual meaning is more complex.

Hypocrite—one who puts on a mask and feigns himself to be what he is not; a dissembler in religion.

Our Lord severely rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy (Matt.

6:2, 5, 16).

“The hypocrite’s hope shall perish” (Job 8:13).

The Hebrew word here rendered “hypocrite” rather means the “godless” or “profane,” as it is rendered in Jer.

23:11, i.e., polluted with crimes.

What Jesus is saying is that the very actions of those who seek to be praised by others are in fact godless.

It’s godless because its intent is not to bring glory to God, but rather to oneself.

Their reward is the praise that comes here on earth.

Yet that praise is not forever, it is fleeting as we will see in a moment.

How then shall we give?

Matthew 6:3–4 (ESV)

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Give in secret.

Literally, hide the intention of your giving from yourself so you have no reason to boast.

God the Father sees the secret giving and rewards those who do not seek earthly pomp.

Why?

Because God knows the secret motives of our actions.

He sees behind the deed and knows the motive itself.

Paul writes this is in:

Romans 2:16 (ESV)

on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

and again in

1 Corinthians 4:5 (ESV)

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.

Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

The Lord knows the desire of our hearts.

He knows if we are seeking Glory for ourselves or for him.

Our giving should be done without acclaim so that the swelling idol of pride has no ability to take over.

What about fasting?

Matthew 6:16–18 (ESV)