Ugly Motives

This is week three of our Ugly Christmas Sweater series. We will end this series next Sunday, Christmas Sunday and then on New Years Day we will have a Candle light and Communion Service.

We have looked at Ugly Thoughts and Ugly Words. Today we want to look at Ugly Motives.

I remember several years ago, a Sprite commercial. It was about a couple of actors pretending to be basketball players when a director says cut. I remember one of the actors saying, “what’s my motivation?” So my question for you today is...

What’s Your Motivation?

Did you know that ugly motives can hinder your relationships and harm your witness in the world?

Have you ever bought a gift for someone where your motives weren’t completely pure? Kind of like husbands, if you bought your wife a toaster oven for Christmas, because you liked your bread toasted a certain way that only this toaster oven could do it. That is a selfish motive. Or wives, if you bought your husband a new hedge trimmer for Christmas because you wanted him to trim the hedges. That is a selfish motive. We tend to do things sometimes not because it benefits others but because it is our own selfish motive.

Kind of like the Kranks when they decided to skip Christmas. Take a look.

Video - Christmas with the Kranks - No Christmas Party.

There are times that we do things that sound like a good idea but those things only benefit us and no one else. Our motives are selfish.

Each of us make decisions in our lives based on different motivations. It is important for us to pay attention to our motives because they can result in us blessing others or result in us only focusing on ourselves. The mark of a Christian is someone who is motivated by love to treat others as better than themselves. We are always tempted by our sinful nature to put ourselves first, but through the empowerment of the Spirit and the example of Jesus we can rise above our selfish motivations.

When you look at Jesus’ teachings and His earthly ministry, He was particularly interested in people’s motives and the reasons for why they did what they did. If you have your bibles go with me to the book of Matthew. Go to chapter 6. I want to read a few verses to you from this chapter.

Matthew 6:1–2 NIV

1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

Matthew 6:5 NIV

5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

Matthew 6:16 NIV

16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

Jesus was teaching this to a group of people that focused too much on living out the law and looking righteous in front of others. Their passion to look spiritual was more important to them than actually having a healthy spirituality. Jesus’ issue was not with the actions the individuals were taking in and of themselves. Of course, giving to the needy is a good thing, and praying and fasting is a good thing. Jesus was interested in the motive behind the action.

Ugly motives can hurt our witness in the world. The Christmas season is full of opportunities to serve others and meet their needs. Some people see these opportunities as a way to receive praise for their generosity. So, they drop money in the bell ring’s buckets hoping the ring of the coins can be heard by all and they make sure to tell the story of how they went to help at the shelter downtown in hopes that others will acknowledge how spiritual they are. Jesus says these folks have received their reward in full. They get the applause and recognition they desired from others, but that is the end.

It seems there is a greater reward we can receive by our willingness to serve others without needing all the recognition. Rather than just getting applause, someone who serves in humility develops a character that is worth far more than the praise of people. Doing the right thing for the wrong reason can cost us our ability to grow into the person God wants for us to be.

Look at how Jesus came to earth. This should give us the right motivation.

Luke 2:1–7 NIV

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Jesus deserves praise for His actions. Jesus was God that became flesh and He humbled Himself by become human form. He didn’t have a parade. He wasn’t born in a castle. He was placed in a feed trough, a manger with stinky farm animals. There is no greater example of love than what we celebrate each year at Christmas.

This is an example of the love that was shown to us and because of this love is why we can extend our love to others. Jesus is our true motive.

There is a story of motivation from the likes of college football. Notre Dame football star George Gipp could do it all—run, pass, and punt with unparalleled skill. The 1920 season established Gipp as a football star. But on December 14, 1920, young George Gipp died of pneumonia. But, thanks to college football stories and a movie in which former president Ronald Reagan portrayed Gipp, the story of George Gipp lived on. On November 10, 1928, Notre Dame and Army were tied at halftime in a struggle for victory. Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne, himself a legend, told of being at the dying Gipp’s bedside a few years before. Rockne recalled how Gipp feebly said, “Sometimes, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are going wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go in there with all they’ve got and win just one for the Gipper.” They did.

The Notre Dame football team was motivated to honor the Gipp. It inspired them to fight and to win. As Christians, our motivation for living a life of loving service and a life focused on others is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice motivates us to sacrifice for others as well. Jesus is our motivation. It is like Paul states in Colossians 3:23

Colossians 3:23 NIV

23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,

We are in this for an audience of many but we are in this for an audience of one. We are not here to honor our peers with what we are doing we are here to honor our Lord and Savior Jesus. He is our motive and our reward for doing the right thing. No more ugly motives, this Christmas we allow Jesus to guide our words and our actions no matter how tempted we are to be self-serving.

I think everyone of us likes a good competition. Some of us more so than others. And I believe that one of the reasons we find ourselves fighting against ugly motives is because many times we find ourselves in a competition for attention and accolades. Rivalry is a mentality of the world and has no place in the heart of a Christian and yet it can still be a core motivation.

Look at what Paul says about this.

Philippians 2:3 NIV

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,

Rivalry and competition must have been a thing in Paul’s day as well. Paul knew that the desire to one-up and to be first would be the undoing of all Jesus came to build and establish. The same is true for us today. We are not in a competition with one another. Instead, we ought to cheer one another on and push each other forward out of love.

When we are motivated to honor Jesus first and honor those around me second, that is the only way we all win. We can not honor Jesus when our motives are focused on ourselves.

So, for this week I want to challenge you. I want to challenge you to do something in secret. This week you get to be a secret servant agent. I want you to choose one person to do something kind for them as a way of honoring Jesus and honoring them.

Here is the key, it needs to be done anonymously. Whatever way you choose to bless them, do not let them know it was you. Allow your motivation for service to be Jesus rather than recognition.

This could be you sending someone an anonymous letter of encouragement, maybe an anonymous gift card, could be an anonymous gift on a doorstep or even an anonymous need being met. And as you’re doing it remember the words of Jesus.

Acts 20:35 NIV

35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

It is time that we step up and be better church. We can no longer do things for selfish reasons. We are not in this to please an audience of many. We are in this to please an audience of one. And that one person is Jesus. The past is the past and now we have to get better.

Take time this week to challenge your selfish motivations with selfless acts for others. Tis the season to be better. This Christmas, our reward is becoming more like the person God designed us to be.