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Oops: Our faith life can seem solid, but be hollow

Imagine for a moment that I am holding a small white sphere between my fingers. Now add in the detail that this sphere is used in a sport. What am I holding?

If it wasn’t that, what else could it be? (until I have ping pong and golf balls)

Similar size, same shape, both bounce. Could we swap them?

A golf ball in ping pong would be a disaster for the paddle, the table, and probably your wrists.

A ping pong ball hit by a golf club would simply shatter.

The most important difference…is what’s on the inside.

The ping pong ball is filled with air, keeping it light and reactive to the paddle and the right bounce on the table.

The golf ball has a core of compressed rubber, then a second layer of softer rubber before the outer cover is added. This is all designed to react to a club swung at speeds of around 100 mph without breaking and with maximum velocity and control.

Two men make a donation to a worthy cause, two women lead a group in prayer, two young men offer compliments to a lady, two employees put in a full and productive days work...

The look is the same. From the outside, we can draw conclusions about the spiritual maturity of each person in these pairs.

But here’s the truth. We can’t know the heart. We can not KNOW another’s motive or deep reasons for behavior. This is why Jesus will tell his disciples not to judge.

We can see and speak to behavior choices.

We can’t judge or even know motives.

Proverbs 16:2 “All a person’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs motives.”

We aren’t even qualified to judge our own motives. Because we are predisposed to see our own motives as right.

Ugh: What is unseen is far more important.

But stepping into the Christian Life with the wrong motives is like playing golf with a ping pong ball. No one may notice for a minute…but in the end you’re not going to get very far.

Jesus, continuing his message to those following him on building a life that matters, a life that recognizes first a need for God, a need for a righteousness greater than the religious, a life where it is the heart of the law: God’s heart that takes priority

a heart that sees and protects the life and value of another

a heart that speaks truth about themselves and follows through on their commitments

a heart that does not react with vengeance, but gives love completely and seek the best for others, even those who would not do the same for them.

Now, Jesus turns the eye inward. He is going to make three “WHEN” statements. When you give, when you pray, when you fast.

The desire of Jesus is that these good things would bring you great reward. He wants the best for you. But...

There are ways we can do these things that can strip us of the best reward in exchange for something far less.

And it has everything to do with our motives

Aha: The center of our unseen life is our motives

You see, our motives, so difficult to evaluate in ourselves and impossible to evaluate in others are the center of our unseen lives.

Like any other part of our lives, our motives can be trained. With consistent, different choices, we can begin to reshape our motives into the kind of solid core that can move the Kingdom forward.

Let’s begin by reading the whole passage. You will notice we skip past the Lord’s prayer. Not because it isn’t important, but because we want to give that it’s own time. Next week Caleb will be preaching through this prayer while I am at a family reunion. Looking forward to being challenged by that message.

So we will jump from verse 8 to 16

Matthew 6:1-4 CSB “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. 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. But when you give to the poor, don’t 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.”

Matthew 6:5-8 CSB “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. 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. When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.”

Matthew 6:16-18 CSB “Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 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.”

Pray

Whee: Jesus calls us to desire to be seen, heard, and rewarded by God

If our goal is to allow God to shape our motives in a way that builds a solid inner life, then what are we looking for? We are seeking to develop

Solid Center Motives

What are the motives to correct? Where do they come from? What are the motives to build and how do we do that?

The first area Jesus targets is about being seen…but not just seen, being seen as…good.

Seen by God

Matthew 6:1 ““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.”

Ok…important question. Does this mean we shouldn’t do good things in front of other people?

Like, don’t go volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, you’ll be on a team and people will see you.

I just talked to David the new grounds supervisor at HSD about how HCC can serve this upcoming year. Should we not do that?

The key word in that sentence is “TO” don’t do it TO be seen.

Jesus then gives a specific example of giving to the poor.

Matthew 6:2-4 “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. But when you give to the poor, don’t 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.”

Let’s start by asking where do wrong motives for being seen come from?

Insecurity - we don’t feel that we have a high value, we need others to affirm that value.

Truth is: We were made in the image of God and are so loved by him that he sent his son to die so we could be reconciled to him. If you have never received Jesus, I pray you do so today. Talk to me or a prayer team member after the service.

Pride - a variation on insecurity. We have built a false image of ourselves as better than others and we need to keep the image going. This is what happened with Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5. Brad mentioned them last week. Everyone was giving and it was seen…they gave TO be seen and they lied about what they were giving…not the amount…but the value.

Same truth

Let’s be honest, it feels good to be recognized for doing good. Oh, and scripture calls us to encourage one another in doing good…Hebrews 3 and 10 both call us to encourage and spur one another on.

Which means I am going to thank Eric for helping with the Blueberry Festival, and Trevor for pressure washing the fence, Kris and Kim for paint work done on the fellowship hall, Caleb and his team for leading the kids at camp, and des, joan, and Donavon for the work around the leak we had this week…you don’t know how close it was for this building to not have water this morning! And I could keep going.

Me recognizing them might embarrass them…sorry not sorry, but that isn’t the issue. The issue for them and only them to work through is if they served to be seen, or to be serving.

I can’t judge with certainty, but I can tell you that I believe each of them was serving to serve. And I am grateful for their hearts.

We also need to be seen doing good as a part of discipling others. If I never speak to my kids about the importance of tithing, I am hoping that they will figure it out on their own.

If I give to be seen, that’s a problem. If I am seen giving, that’s not the problem. If you are a disciple maker…which if you are a follower of Jesus…you are…You need to be teaching those you are leading how to give.

How do you decide in your heart what to give and then follow through? How do you give in proportion to what God has given you? How do you trust God with your finances and live generously?

But this example is just one example.

The bottom line: Don’t blow a trumpet or call attention to your goodness so that people can see and applaud. Let your heart be satisfied that you are seen by God.

Your goodness isn’t earning you anything with him. You can’t earn heaven, you can’t earn his favor. But he loves to see you doing good and caring for those he loves.

AND: When you see good, encourage it, spur one another on. Teach your kids, teach other believers by your example.

Then Jesus turns to our motives in prayer he want our motive to be a desire to be and a faith that we are:

Heard by God

Listen to this again:

Matthew 6:5-8 ““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. 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. When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.”

So first let’s define what is being said here.

Are we never to pray publicly? Did I make a mistake praying for our kids, praying over the message? When we say grace before a meal? Again the key word is TO. is it to be noticed by people.

He also addresses what is said. Don’t babble! Does that mean our prayers all need to be as short as the Lord’s prayer?

Imagine if I told my kids that they could only make requests in short sentences, less than a minute, and don’t get specific…because I already know your need.

The problem is babbling because you think that will help you be heard by God

Our wrong motives for being heard come from similar places to being seen.

It’s important to note, that those motives are yes, born from our sin and selfishness…but also from our trauma, from the sin and selfishness of others.

But…really important. Part of discipleship is learning to trust God to be the one who sees and hears you. God restores and redeems stories. Every person can justify their choices…followers of Jesus have to choose differently.

So when you pray. AND This is a WHEN not an IF. Don’t pray so you get attention, and don’t pray in verbal circles hoping God will hear the right combination of words that force him to obey you.

I’ll only add this about the Lord’s prayer, you can notice that it is focused not on getting from the Lord, but on trusting the Lord.

So think through how you want your kids to come to you with needs, hurts, wants, or just to talk.

You wouldn’t want them to come to impress someone else. If your kids ignored you except for when their friends were watching?

You wouldn’t want them to keep begging for something you knew was not good for them

You won’t want them to keep talking because they think if they can just talk long enough they can find the right words to get what they want.

Here is the big idea here: God hears you. God wants to hear you. God knows your needs deeper than you do. God knows how to meet those needs like you couldn’t.

Talk to God for hours, please do…but not to be seen, and not because you don’t trust God to hear and answer. Talk to God for hours for the same reason you talk to friends for hours. Because you love sharing and hearing.

Trust that God sees, God hears, and that God rewards.

Rewarded by God

This has been in both the last two sections as well.

And your father who sees in secret will reward you.

For the good we do, in response to our prayers in the quiet places. And here is a third:

Matthew 6:16-18 CSB “Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 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.”

Fasting is the giving up of something you depend on in order to gain clear focus on the only one you can depend on.

Typically we fast from food, but there are other kinds of fasting as well. Caffiene, technology (well worth it), or other comforts. Anything we give up for a time in order to see our need for God more clearly.

Whenever you do…don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. Theres another word that’s come up a few times. Hypocrites.

becoming a hypocrite is exactly what we are talking about avoiding! One who does something for false reasons. You don’t do good because you love God, but because you want people to see you as someone who loves God.

You don’t pray because you trust God, but because you want to be seen as someone who trusts God or so you can get something from God that you fear he will withold.

Jesus says that it is the mark of a hypocrite that they fast, an action to build dependence on God and then make it obvious by being gloomy and graceless.

Again, not about making sure no one knows.

Challenge with a weekly potluck. How do you fast without letting people know? Or your family around the table? They can see you not eating.

You don’t have to lie. “Just not hungry”

That isn’t the point.

But if in your fast you intentionally look miserable, then you are fasting to be seen and impress others, instead of being seen by God and impressed by him.

Consider the reward to impressing others. What good does it do? How does that help you grow?

But what about when we fast only to seek God?

Psalm 37:4 “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.”

Yeah: The life that is solid (built from right motive) will never shatter

Let’s have the worship team and prayer teams come up.

We do good not to be seen by others, but because we know God sees us

We pray not to be seen by others or to force God to hear us, but because we know that God sees us

We fast, pursue God’s heart not to be rewarded as super saints in the eyes of others, but because God is the greatest desire, greatest reward we can ever pursue!

IF your desire is control, you will fight for it your whole life.

If your desire is money, there will never be enough

If your desire is sex, you will be always chasing and never filled

If your desire is to be seen and heard, you will never find enough attention

If your desire is anything in this world you will run and run and run and for every bit you catch, you will find you don’t have enough to last you for more than the moment and the pursuit starts again.

But if you trust God sees you, you know he sees you fully

And If God hears you, you are known and loved

And if your desire is for more of God, HE CHASES YOU!

What other desire seeks to be filled by the thing desired? NOTHING…Nothing…But take delight in the LORD, make him the desire of your heart, let him be the motive that moves you.

And watch what he can do in and through you.

Watch the way he changes hearts around you

Watch the way the kingdom is built

Watch the way your peace and joy and love increase immeasurably.

Today, before you sleep. examine your actions.

What good are you doing? What is your giving and prayer life like? Are you building a dependance on God by giving up other comforts?

And then for all the good answers you have…do a little interrogating of your own motives. Not your spouse, not your neighbor, not anyone else in the room today…yours. What’s on the inside? Golf ball? or Ping pong? How’s that for a weird question to close a message…but an important one.

PRAY