An Oscar Winning Performance Series

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Matthew 6:1-18

“An Oscar Winning Performance”

Every year in late-February or early March the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences holds a ceremony where the Academy Awards … commonly known as the Oscars … are presented.

Some awards go to musicians, and technicians.

But most awards go to actors. An actor is a person who is able to best pretend to be someone else.

Some of these actors go to great lengths to portray their character.

The Australian actor Chris Hemsworth

… who is best known for his role as Thor.

Chris was also in a movie called “In the Heart of the Sea”. To accurately portray a starving sailor stranded at sea Hemsworth lost 15kg of weight in four weeks.

Chris Hemsworth … a very rich, very huge man … portraying a staving stranded sailor.

It wasn’t quite an Oscar winning performance but what Chris did as an actor was very impressive.

Impressing people is what actors do. In our text today Jesus tells us about another group of people who are motivated by impressing people.

We start in Matthew 6:1 where Jesus gives a summary of the attitude of such people.

1 ‘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.

There are two important points to take note from this warning of Jesus.

Firstly

Never in the New Testament … indeed never in the whole Bible … are people rewarded with eternal life as a result of their actions.

Always in the New Testament “reward language” is language that is associated with receiving a wage. Or being given a payment for your efforts. Or God giving an extra blessing or abundance that you would not have received otherwise.

In these verses Jesus is not talking about those who think they will be rewarded with salvation because of their works. Jesus is focussing on the motivations and intentions of all those who are in God’s family. Including us here today.

That brings us to the second important aspect of Matthew 6:1. The aspect where Jesus wants us to recognise that “practising your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them” is actually a common spiritual problem.

This is a very literal translation of the first sentence in verse 1

1 I command all you disciples to keep being vigilant and on guard, today and every day, that you are not now, or will not some time in the future, have the ongoing behaviour of practising your righteousness before others to have your righteousness seen by them.

This spiritual danger requires ongoing vigilance.

That is because it is an approach to life which can occur in the most “spiritual” of circumstances.

1 ‘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.

Matthew 6:1

Where can this happen?

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 honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

…

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.

…

16 ‘When you fast, do not look sombre 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.

Giving and Praying are key aspects of our life as disciples.

Fasting is also a great spiritual discipline.

Jesus is warning us that it is in connection with common spiritual circumstances where we can fall into the spiritual danger of having a righteousness that is being done to be seen by others.

And who are the people which do this?

Hypocrites.

The Greek word for hypocrite is the word used to describe actors in ancient Greek and Roman theatre who wore large masks to show which character they were playing. An actor put on a mask and assumed a character to present a play to an audience.

Actors were called hypocrites – because that is acting – actors are literally allowed to be hypocrites. But disciples of Jesus can’t allow themselves to become actors.

Jesus doesn’t want people to turn on their righteousness when they step into the limelight.

Jesus doesn’t want holiness to start just because the music has begun.

Jesus wants people who are genuine, authentic, honest.

And these three examples teach us