Religion Done Right

Religion

Is religion a good thing or not?

For some of you, that might be a tricky question to answer. I suspect for many, you’d probably stumble, and say, well… it depends.... It depends on what you mean by religion.

If we think of religion as the belief in a God who loves us, then I would argue, as I sure many of you would, that religion is certainly a good thing.

But when we think of religion, we often we include the various practices and structures around those beliefs. We might include things like baptism and communion, and how the church is run. We might look at the various spiritual practices that are associated with those beliefs such as prayer, fasting and meditation.

So if we think of religion in these terms, is religion a good thing? Well, we might answer yes because each of those things I just mentioned are good things, but then we might remember… hang on a minute… didn’t Jesus get all critical of the religious people in his day?

You see, Jesus actually highlighted for us the problem with religion. It can actually become a distraction.

When our focus shifts to all of the things we should and shouldn’t do, we actually start to miss the point. In fact, we miss that basic gospel message, that Jesus loves you, and that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Two tendencies

Now, I’ve noticed two opposite tendencies that Christians will often display.

One is to emphasise the Spiritual practices like prayer, fasting and meditation to the point that they become the goal in and of themselves. The other is to take the approach of: sure it can be nice to pray, but as long as I have Jesus in my life, I’m okay.

Now the two tendencies have problems. When we over emphasise the spiritual practices, as I just mentioned, we become distracted. By subconsciously making them the end goal, we forget what they’re meant to be there for.

But the opposite approach is just as dangerous. Because those practices are to connect us with Jesus. So to just say, well as long as I have Jesus… well, how can you have Jesus without making any effort to connect with him?

The reality of course is that we need to keep a healthy understanding of the spiritual practices. They are good, but only when understood properly. And unfortunately, we’re often not good at holding them in their proper place.

So this morning I want to be asking the question of how we can allow the spiritual practices do what they’re intended to do, without us letting them become the end goal.

We’re going to see this morning Jesus look at three specific practices that should be part of the Christians experience, and show us we’re it often goes wrong, and how it should be done.

Sermon on the Mount

Well, we’re getting towards the middle of the section we call the sermon on the mount.

Throughout Matthew 5, which was the opening of this section, Jesus helped us to think about how we should be different to those around us.

It started with the Beatitudes, where Jesus flipped upside the idea of what it means to be blessed.

We’re to live a life that is counter-cultural to the world around us. Rather than being proud and forceful, we’re to be humble and meek.

And in doing so, we can start to be the salt and light of the community.

We can start to make a real difference in the world around us.

In the second half of chapter 5, Jesus calls us to a special kind of righteousness.

It was the section that you might recall ended with the words: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”.

Of course, that might be impossible, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can start to move in this direction - and this is what Jesus is calling us to.

Religious righteousness

But then we come to chapter 6, and at first glance, it might seem that Jesus is continuing this discussion on righteousness that we’ve just been going over.

In fact, when we dig a little deeper in all of this, the way he continues the discussion about righteousness can seem a little strange.

You see, back in chapter 5 verse 20, he says: “…unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven”.

But in chapter 6 verse 1, there’s a warning to not: “…practice your righteousness in front of others...” and while he doesn’t specifically name the Pharisees here, it would seem pretty clear that the Pharisees are in picture here.

So our righteousness, needs to be more than the Pharisees, but also toned down from what the Pharisees do.

Now we can explain this, perhaps in a few ways, but in part it’s because the focus o the righteousness has shifted.

Whereas in chapter 5 the righteousness focused on things like kindness, purity, honesty and love. In chapter 6 where looking at giving, praying and fasting.

You could say that we’ve shifted from a ‘moral’ righteousness to a ‘religious’ righteousness.

But what we’ll see in the teaching of Jesus, is that when Jesus talks about righteousness, it does in fact cover both aspects. Your righteousness includes the moral requirements, but also a piety, whereby your practices reflect the holiness of God.

And so chapter 6 discusses this religious righteousness. And there’s that word “religion” again which has the potential to make us feel uncomfortable, but let’s look at what Jesus says about it.

A secret matter

This whole section has a pretty clear message, and to be honest, it can essentially be summed up in the very first verse of this chapter. So let me read that verse in full:

Matthew 6:1 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

‘Be careful not to practise your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

What we’re going to see is this: those religious practices… they’re good!… but they can be misused. So be warned!

The big problem with them is that they can be used as a type of performance.

You can do all of that religious stuff to make yourself look really good.

This will be a repeated idea that Jesus comes back to each time he describes one of the good spiritual practice.

So let’s go through them now.

Giving to the needy

The first practice Jesus considers is giving to the needy (or alms giving if you’re more familiar with some of the older translations).

Here is something which is clearly a good thing. We are to love others, and where others are in need, we should give.

But it’s perhaps not hard to see how this can be used to make yourself look good.

Sometimes we hear of celebrities and other rich people making really big donations to worthy causes.

Now when they do, certainly there is an element to which we should be grateful for their big donations. Now I don’t want to pick on any specific celebrity or rich person - I don’t know exactly what is going through their minds as they do this. But when it makes the news, you can’t help but think that they’re trying to boost their image with the donation. It’s also easy to be a little skeptical when their donation is to their own foundation - but again, I might stop short of being too judgmental of any particular celebrity.

I might do that because we see Jesus use the word hypocrite - and while I might justify myself in that I’ve never told anyone about my giving after giving away millions (on account of the fact I don’t have millions to give), but the reality is that when you give, it is easy to puff yourself up.

Now, the sort of behaviour Jesus is calling out is perhaps closer to the celebrities with their publicly announced donations. Jesus describes the hypocrites, who, with trumpets, go into the synagogues or street corners so everyone knows what they’re doing.

And quite likely, what they were doing was generous. But they missed the point.

When you give, don’t even let the left hand know what the right hand is doing. Now, quite obviously, Jesus is using this concept for rhetorical effect. Your left hand and your right hand don’t have their own set of consciousness. But by describing on this level, this goes beyond just not letting others know.

Don’t even let yourself get puffed up. And this perhaps is where I can be guilty. It’s easy to look at what you give and think - you know what, it’s not half bad what I do. As a percentage, I’m giving quite a bit.

You might not be the hyptocrite with the trumpets on the street corner, but in some ways, that pride that is building up within you is almost just as bad.

So how do we avoid this?

Well I want to suggest it’s in having a better understanding of why we give.

So why do we give?

Giving should be a reflection of love. And as Christians we love, because God first loved us. God has been generous to us. Even if you think, actually I’m pretty poor - the reality is, God has given you what you need and then some.

Our giving comes out of the overflow of the love God has shown us.

And we can give even in our lack, because we know that God always provides for us.

When we give in this way, I believe we’ll come close to this idea that our left hand won’t know what our right hand is doing. Because we won’t even need to keep track of it, because when you know God is going to give in return, why bother trying to count it.

“Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you”.

Prayer

But let’s move to the second practice Jesus looks at - prayer.

Now prayer is obviously something very important. Jesus often speaks about the importance of prayer.

But we see the same thing happening as we did with giving. Jesus points to the hypocrites for love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street concerns - so they can be seen by others.

Look at me. I know big words and can use fine sounding phrases.

But God’s not interested in your eloquence. Your eloquence might impress others, but God is interested in your heart.

Jesus tells us rather to go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen.

Now, important question - with this instruction, is Jesus telling us that there is no place for public prayer?

I’m going to suggest no. Jesus himself did public prayers. In fact, when we get the Lord’s prayer starting in verse 9, he starts with the plural “Our Father”, perhaps indicating that this is a prayer that can be done together with other believers.

So Jesus isn’t ruling out public prayers. Rather, he’s trying to highlight that praying is not about the show - it’s about connecting with the God who loves us.

And prayer is super important. The fact that we, who let’s face it, in the grand scheme of things are pretty unimportant. but that we not only are allowed to speak to God, but are even encouraged to do so - this is just the most amazing thing.

The creator of this universe actually is inviting us in on a conversation.

Treating prayer as a means of performance misses this most amazing fact. When we treat prayer as a means to make ourselves look more important, we miss the fact that the one who is above all is right there in front of us.

Jesus then gets into the specific of prayer, even teaching us how to pray, but I’m not going to explore this at any length today. Other then to suggest it is well worth looking through it yourself because it’s a great model to base your own prayers on.

So, like my suggestion with regards to giving, I want to again suggest that the best way to avoid the hypocritical praying that gives yourself praise, is to really understand why it is we pray. Because when we pray with that heartfelt desire to connect with God, our focus is going to be so much on God that we’re not even going to have a second thought about ourselves.

Now before I move on, let me just make a quick remark about verse 7. Verse 7 tells us not to babble like the pagans who think they’re heard for their many words.

This might perhaps be a little disconcerting, particularly if you have a habit of repeating yourself a lot when you pray.

I want to suggest that this verse is not here to beat yourself up because you’re praying poorly. Rather, the warning is actually about thinking that unless you get the right mantra, God’s not going to listen.

God is not after the right set of words, said the right number of times. His after a genuine heart who just want to know God better. So rather than getting your eloquence right, work harder at getting your heart right.

Fasting

Which brings me to the third and final practice that Jesus talks about - fasting.

Now for some, this might be a practice you do from time to time, for others, it might not be something you do at all.

So perhaps it’s worth describing what the practice actually is.

Quite simply, we’re talking about a deliberate effort to go without food for a period of time. These days, we will often talk about fasting from other things, like going off social media, or something like that.

The length of time is not so much important, as the approach you take to it.

It’s not just the absence of food (or other things for that matter), rather its the focus that let’s us put on God.

It can be a really useful practice, because it can shift us out of our regular routine, and give a constant reminder of what we should be doing.

But like the other two practices, it faces the same problem. Jesus again describes the hypocrites. They disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting.

After all, what’s a good fast for if no one knows you’re doing it.

Now again, like prayer, Jesus is not saying that we can’t fast as a group. There are plenty of biblical examples where a group of people all fast together. Sometimes when churches face a big decision, they might encourage the church to fast together, and if this is the case, it wouldn’t be wrong to acknowledge that you are taking part in the fast - but that would come with a warning.

Because you really need to check your motive for why you are fasting.

Your fast should come from a heartfelt desire to seek after God more deeply. It should not come from a desire to let others see how holy you are.

Jesus tells us in verse 17 that we are to put oil on our heads and wash our faces. In our situation, this isn’t to say we should necessarily use oil. We shouldn’t read too much into this oil, other than the fact that it should make us look as ordinary as possible. The point is that people shouldn’t be able to notice whether you are fasting or not. And if this is the case, then you are much more likely to be able to do it for the right reason - to seek after God.

“… and you Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Reward

In each of the three cases, we have that little refrain which tells us of our reward. So it’s perhaps worth giving a little consideration what this reward is about.

Now I’d be reluctant to be too specific about it. On one level we can see it as our ultimate reward which is to be with God in heaven for all eternity. Because seeking after God and following his ways will draw us closer to this reward.

But yet there is a sense in which God does reward people who honours him. Although this is something we need to be careful of, because the nature of that reward might vary.

There is one strain of teaching which suggests that God will give us material rewards. For example, if you give, God will give financially back to you. And possibly, that might happen - but also possibly, it won’t.

God is a God that blesses, but the nature of the blessings will vary.

Our motivation should not be that we might get rewards. Rather our motivation should be that God has already blessed us, and we know those blessing will continue.

Conclusion

If our focus is on the reward, we can actually fail to see what Jesus is teaching here. That the amazing spiritual practices which can offer so much for drawing us closer to God, can actually be misused to serve our own selfishness.

Whether it’s in giving, praying or fasting - each can be used to show others how good we are. The reality is, in any number of spiritual practices, we can do it in a way to self-promote. Even coming to church can be a danger. If our motivation for coming to church is to show others how good we are, we again have missed the point.

Jesus is telling us that this religious righteousness is good in that it will draw us closer to God. But just don’t let it be a means for self-promotion.

And on that note, let me pray now...