Matthew 6:1
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Intro:
So I recently came across a new word, it is called a humble brag. Have you ever heard of a hublebrag? Well it is something that people do particularly on social media, but also in other areas of life. So a hublebrag is statement in which you pretend to be modest but you are really just telling people about your success or achievements.
Here are a few humble brags:
When I bought this Ferrari no one warned me I’d get pulled over all the time
So have you ever heard of a hublebrag? Well it is something that people do particularly on social media, but in other areas of life. A
You
Graduating from 2 universities means you get double the calls asking for money/donations.
Or a young woman posting online:
Why do I always get asked to the dance by so many guys?
Or
So pushy and annoying!
Humbled that my album hit the Billboard Top 100
Guy who rents my apartment lost his job. Told him not to worry about rent this month. Paying it forward, baby
Or if you are too lazy and want to just toot your own horn all you have to do it put the words “humbled that” before you brag on yourself. “Humbled that my album hit the Billboard Top 100.”
If the Pharisees in Jesus day would have had social media, they would have been the best humblebragers around.
Guy just asked me how I manage to pray in the temple for so many hours a day, I don’t know, must be a gift. #blessed.
Well, maybe we have humble bragged before, or maybe we are at least tempted to. When we have done something that we desire to be seen by others. And sometimes we are tempted to practice our spiritual devotion in order to be seen.
So we do discipline to fast, or pray, or give to others in need, but we do it for the wrong reasons so that others would see us doing it, and slowly we become more hypocritical, with out even knowing it.
FCF: We are tempted to be motivated to practice our devotion to be seen by others. So we do discipline ourselves, but for the wrong reasons. Or on the other end we give up on the disciplines, or expressing faith in visible ways because we don’t want to be hypocrites, but we miss out on opening ourselves to the presence of God.
Or on the other end we give up on the disciplines and expressing faith in visible ways because we don’t want to be hypocrites, so we just don’t practice the spiritual disciplines at all. We say well, my heart is not in the right place so I won’t practice it at all. But we miss out on opening ourselves to the presence of God.
but we miss out on opening ourselves to the presence of God.
But what we see in our passage this mornings is that
Proposition: Because God’s presence is our reward we should practice the spiritual disciplines.
We should expect to practice the spiritual disciplines
We should expect to practice the spiritual disciplines
So first, what are spiritual disciplines, or spiritual practices? Well spiritual disciplines are personal and corporate practices that creates space in our life for the worship of God and growth in his grace. So in we hear Jesus telling us about some of these disciplines that we will be walking through during this season of lent.
That is the spiritual disciplines of giving, prayer, fasting, and simplicity. We will talk more about these in the coming weeks.
And Jesus expects his followers to practices these spiritual disciplines. Look with me at verse 2. “When you give to the needy” then in verse 5, “when you pray,” and then in verse 16 when you fast.
Jesus does not say, if you do these things, he says when.. that is he takes it for granted that his followers will do these things. It is just part of what it means to follow Jesus.
Illustration:
So like if you are telling a parent, now when you change a diaper this is what you do.
So if you are a teacher, your supervisor might say, now when you give an assignment make sure you do it this way.
Or like when I got old enough and my father said, now son when you do your taxes make sure you have someone help you, you don’t want to have to do that on your own.
Application:
It is not a matter of if, but when. A teacher will give assignments, a citizen will pay taxes,
and a Christian is someone who practices the spiritual disciplines. The life of a Christian is an ongoing life in Christ, communion with God in Christ. It is not simply that you have this one moment when you profess believe.
The life of a Christian is a participation in the the life of God. And the Spiritual disciplines are how we create space for us to be aware of, and enjoy, the life that we have in God.
But while Jesus says when you practice these spiritual disciplines he does not say it with out qualification.
We need the spiritual disciplines if we want to be open to God
We should beware of our motives when we practice the spiritual disciplines
We should beware of our motives when we practice the spiritual disciplines
Main Point 2: We should expect to
In verse 1 Jesus gives his disciples a warning.
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
And multiple times he wants them not to do as the hypocrites do, that is practice the disciplines in order for others to see them doing it so that they can be praised for it. Now Jesus is not saying it is wrong to be seen praying or fasting, but he does say it is wrong to fast or pray in order to be seen.
In order to be seen...
So when you practice the disciplies
When you practice the spiritual disciplines rather than being done to be seen by others there is to be a kind of forgetfulness that is to accompany them.
As Jesus says in verse 3:
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
So at first it may be something you have to think about, but as it is having communion with God, it is about being seen by God.
Application:
It is not so much the disciplines that matter, as it is having communion with God.
Illustration:
I know what it means to be a hypocrite, I have first hand knowledge of it. I lived it. I was the good kid, I did the right things. And I practiced the spiritual disciplines in order to be seen. I wanted people to know me as the Christian. When I got a Bible as a teenager, I went through and highlighted all the way through it, so it would look like I read my bible.
When I went to college I make sure to pray and read my bible in the morning so that my roommate would see me doing it, so that I would be a good witness, at least that is what I told myself.
But things began to come to a head, when the outward life of devotion, could not support my desperate soul. The lie became too great, I was living a double life. One of outward devotion where I was a student leader a campus ministry, and the inward one of spiritual decay and secret sin.
But everything came to a head one night when I was driving to a leaders meeting, listening to a song entitled I repent. And the singer spoke before the song and said these words, i will never forget them. If all your sins were displayed on the five oclock news it would be the best thing for you. For you would only have Jesus to hold on to, and he is all you have anyway.
, and there was this moment
I could not lie to myself.
And it was at that moment that it felt like the Holy Spirit hit my chest with a gigantic mallet, and all the wind was knocked out of me. I knew what I had to do, I had to confess my sin to my mentor Jonathan. I had to take the mask of false spirituality and be seen.
I sat down with Jonathan, and through tears confessed, expecting rejection, expecting to lose all my friends. I wept with my face in my hands, and he said to me. Look at me. And when I did look at his eyes, he saw me, and said I love you, I love you. I love you.
I was seen, I was known and I was loved.
Application:
So, I don’t think people set out to be a hypocrite, I don’t think I did. But what might even start out from a seemingly innocent desire, it would be good for people to see me do this, it might encourage them to do it as well, can turn into a desire for human recognition.
And the desire to be seen doing these things, might make us feel good about ourselves or we gain a reputation for being the devoted, or spiritual one, we might gain the praise of men, but that is all. And all the while the soul of a hypocrite withers away.
Jesus needed to warn his followers about this, because we all face it. We face the temptation to look more devoted more spiritual than we are.
We should not seek to get praise for our piety, virtue signaling
What is the remedy, for a desire to be seen by others? Well it is to be seen by God.
we should practice the spiritual disciplines before God’s face
we should practice the spiritual disciplines before God’s face
Main Point 3: Because God’s presence is our reward we should practice the spiritual disciplines before his face
Main Point 3: Because God’s presence is our reward we should practice the spiritual disciplines before his face
Jesus tells us to practice the spiritual disciplines not to be seen by others, but to be seen by God. Look with me at verse 4
so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
And then in verse 6
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
And then in verse 18
that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Jesus tells us that they only eyes that matter are the eyes of God our father, and when Jesus talks about being seen, it is not merely that we become visible to God as if we were invisible before. It is that we experience God’s loving gaze, being seen is another way of saying being known. It is relational connection.
And this is the reward. CS Lewis describes two types of rewards, one extrinsic and the other intrinsic. The extrinsic reward has no natural connection with the thing being done. This would be like prize money for winning a music performance. Intrinsic reward have a connection with the thing performed. So if you are a kid playing 4 square and you win, then the reward is that you get to keep playing. Or the reward for a true love is marriage where love grows and deepens over the years.
God’s reward for the spiritual disciplines is intrinsic, that is the reward is not financial, or monetary, but the reward is relational. The reward is to experience the loving gaze of our heavenly father, to be rich, rich in love.
But the reward is not financial, it is relational. To have the loving gaze of our heavenly father is to be rich without measure, rich in love.
To delight in being seen by God is to be rich in love. To know
And the spiritual disciplines are the means by which we experience knowing God and being known by him. The spiritual disciplines don’t cause God to see and delight in his children, but they open us up to the awareness and experience of his delight of our heavenly father.
Illustration:
You know children delight in the pleasing gaze of their parents. The other night after dinner we turned on some music and had a dance party. Everyone dancing, even my 1 and a half year old is swinging his hips. And then the two older ones are inventing new dance moves. And with every new move, they are saying look at me, look at me.
They know the delight that comes with being seen. They are known, they are valued, they are enjoined, all something that comes through the eyes.
Application:
When we practice the spiritual disciplines we open ourselves up to the experience of beings seen by our heavenly Father. And to delight in his loving eyes.
So how do you do this? Well, that is some of what we will be talking about this season of Lent as we walk through some of these spiritual disciplines.
But here are a few.
First, like with most areas of life we have to, as JI Packer says, move through duty to get to delight. Some times especially early on, it will feel more like duty than delight, and that is okay, because there is a progression from duty into delight.
Secondly, we need to remember that God is not a magic Gene that dispenses positive emotions upon us whenever we think we want to feel good. Knowing God and being known by him is a relationship that is complex, and that will have different seasons to them. And when we open our selves up to him through the spiritual disciplines you do not know exactly what he will do. God is free to do exactly as he pleases.
Third, we practice these in community. So often we try to do these spiritual disciplines alone, and we never make it and so we get defeated and we think that maybe I am not wired that way, or I can’t do it. Mostly those it is because we have tried to do it by ourselves. When you fast, fast with a friend. Mediate on God’s word with your spouse. Go prayer walking with a friend. God saves us into a community, to need one another is no a sign if immaturity, it is a sign of the bond of Love the Holy Spirit gives.
Conclusion
Delight in God’s presence
Conclusion
Jesus expects his followers to engage in the spiritual disciplines, these spiritual practices, not as an end in themselves, or badges or marks of a truly spiritual person, but the spiritual disciplines are the ways we experience the gift of God’s presence, to experience participation in God’s life.
The treasure, the reward is life with God, life before his face. To know each day in every moment that you are secure in God, that he is your father and that you are his child, and no one or no thing can take that from you.
For in the gaze of our heavenly fathers yes there are treasures forevermore.
It is not wrong to be seen praying, but it is wrong to pray in order to be seen