What Is Your Motivation
Sermon On The Mount • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Today we will be tackling chapter 6 in as much as we can fit in, because the rest of the time of this series will be spent on chapter 7. I could have added at least a few weeks more to this series, but God’s willing we will get the food we need for this time and place.
Remember what Jesus said in 5:20
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
In chapter 6, Jesus expands on these thoughts by describing in practical ways what this would look like. And once we see this with a first century mentality, we will easily see how this fits our 21st century western living as well.
Read unto verse 18 and then we will break it down in a few bite sizes. We will try to touch on most of the chapter
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. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
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. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“ ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
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. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Firstly, it is to be understood that righteousness is not primarily a matter between a person and others but between a person and God. If righteousness is achieved in God’s eyes then it will properly trickle down to our behaviors with other people.
Secondly, this entire section shows the deficiency in the Pharisees' idea of righteousness and exposed their hypocrisy in three areas: In their giving, in prayer, and fasting which are acts of worship rendered unto God and not for the sake of gaining the admiration of others.
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.
What acts of righteousness is the Lord referring to here? Acts of mercy and charity. They refer to any good deeds done in God’s service. It refers to righteous living in general and not just particular acts. It is the entire range of good works. He says not to do these in the sight of others. ($1000 lines).
But he said earlier in chapter 5:16 to let one’s light shine so that others would see our good deeds and glorify God. The difference is in the motive concerning who gets the glory, and who receives the attention and benefit.
In 5:16 it addresses the whole character and lifestyle of the disciples, whereas here it focuses on specific religious duties. In 5:16 he is dealing with the temptation to avoid allowing one’s faith to be seen publicly in order to avoid persecution, but here he is focusing on the problem of attracting attention to oneself for the sake of personal gain. There are legitimate outward expressions of religious duties, but they must not be done to seek honor for oneself.
Consider the situation with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5
1 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.
• The sin here was not withholding the money. It was his to give or not to give, it was his to give some or all. The problem here had to do with the why. He wanted the accolades associated with the amount he was giving.
• Some people do not have issues with hoarding money.. Their issue is they need the recognition, the glory that belongs only to God.
Going back to our text, Jesus provides an example of this when he says,
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.
This is the right attitude of citizens of the kingdom. They are generous givers to the kingdom for the sake of the king’s glory not for their own. You and I must be about the glory of the king, and the king will take care of us.
To do otherwise is to be a hypokritēs (a pretender, an actor, trying to appear to be something you are not). This word had its origins in Gr. theater, describing a character who wore a mask. The term, as used in the NT, normally described an unregenerate person who was self-deceived. they have their reward. Cf. vv. 5, 16. Their reward is that they were seen by men, nothing more. God does not reward hypocrisy. He does punish it tho.. In the 23 chapter of Matthew Jesus gives another discourse that theologians call the 7 woes in which Jesus repeatedly calls out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. He accuses them of doing everything just for people to see it
He calls them blind guides, snakes, broods of viper and there he declares that their house is left desolate. Jesus called the temple the house of God and when Christ left the temple the glory of God left with him it is like Ez 11:23 vision of the shekinah glory departing in his day.
Why is Jesus bringing this up?
Because motivations of service are important to him! Those who serve can be classified into two groups—those who have pure motives and those who don’t. Yet, those who serve are most of the time praised and acclaimed, regardless of their attitudes. The question we should ask ourselves when we’re serving is, “Who am I serving?” If the answer is anything but Jesus, then our motives are wrong—and that’s exactly what Christ is addressing in this chapter.
Jesus goes on to address the motivation behind how the Pharisees prayed and fasted. And rather than to give an example from a negative perspective like is reflected in Luke 18… He gives us a model of prayer
Jesus is giving them a guide or model for prayer, but it is not intended to be an exact formula. It includes certain elements and attitudes that should be included in the prayer life of disciples . It expresses kingdom values, in which the praise of the first three requests precedes and permeates the requests for personal need that follow. Jesus told them that this is how they should pray, not what they should pray, meaning that it is only a model
The first three requests honor God and the rest seek the meeting of human needs. The first three petitions are in effect a doxology.
The prayer ends with a petition for forgiveness after forgiving others which denotes that you grasp the concept of the beatitudes. The poor in spirit know that he is nothing, that he has nothing, and he is blessed because this understanding opens him to rest in the hands of God.
The truly righteous understands God’s provision for him or her and rests in that assurance. Such people can only serve for the audience of One, because internally they are at peace with God’s righteousness. How do we know this? Matthew 6:19–34
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Rather than being like the pagans who are concerned about physical needs, the Lord’s disciples should be concerned about the things of God, His kingdom and His righteousness. Then all these needs will be supplied in God’s timing. This is the life of daily faith. It does no good to worry—do not worry occurs three times (vv. 25, 31, 34; cf. vv. 27–28)—or be concerned about tomorrow for there are sufficient matters to attend to each day. Worrying shows that one has “little faith” in what God can do (v. 30; cf. you of little faith in 8:26; 14:31; 16:8). As a disciple cares each day for the things God has trusted to him, God, his heavenly Father (6:26, 32), cares for his daily needs.
This explains that the righteous person’s treasure is not on earth but in heaven. He or she is not caught up in the worry of the external trappings of this life but is consumed with the internal righteousness of God’s kingdom. The right focus on the internals (what Christ has been stating all along) results in God’s provision of the externals. This was such a foreign concept to Jesus’s audience. They had been taught that the external was the most important.
God’s supreme motive is the honor of his name
Ps 106:8; Ex 9:16; Ps 23:3; Is 43:7; Eze 36:20–23; Eph 1:11–14
God’s glory is to be the highest motive of his people.
1 Cor 10:31;