The Invisible Disciple
Matt. 6:1-6 & 16-18
6/10/07
PSCOC
Introduction: False impressions.
What does a holy person look like? What defines a pious, devout, religious person? Is it the clothes they wear (PP)? Is it the religious duties they perform in their religious clothes (PP)? Or is it the place that one goes to observe a religious duty (PP)? Or is piety defined by a pilgrimage to observe so-called holy relics (PP)? Can religion that God endorses be observed in religious duty and public piety?
We see these pictures, and maybe most of say no that’s not true religion. Well what is? And if the world has the impression that religion is about what you do, at a certain time of week, at a certain place, then who is responsible for giving them that impression? Hey we are here! It’s Sunday morning and the truly religious people are at church doing their pious activities. Now you can be checked as being present. You will be noted for being religious. Just come back next week and you will still be counted as such. The question is for the disciple of Jesus; is this the measure of our religious devotion?
Jesus was concerned about that same question for his first century disciples. In that world religious devotion was measured by how much you helped the needy, how much you prayed, and how much you fasted. And how much you could be noticed doing each one. We participate in similar acts of piety today. Jesus doesn’t denounce them, but upholds them. The key is our motivation that underlies our piety. Who are we doing it for and what do we expect to happen as a result? What Jesus told his disciples many years ago resounds as a loud and clear message for today. In effect, Jesus tells his disciples that if you want to be truly pious…be invisible!
Move 1: Piety through almsgiving (1-4).
V. 1 is the controlling verse for this unit. In chapter 5, Jesus instructed his disciple on how to live with radical devotion to the character of God. Now he switches gears to traditional forms of piety in his day. Maybe it isn’t coincidentally that he first spoke about the character of the disciple before addressing religious devotion. But that is what he addresses here. He calls them “acts of righteousness” which recalls to us the same principle of have a righteousness that surpasses the Pharisees. He may have changed gears, but it is still the same issue. He makes an absolute statement. If you do these acts of righteousness for sake of being seen, then you will not be rewarded by our heavenly Father. Jesus had just finished telling his disciples to “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” But being perfect is not only defined by action, but motive.
The first illustration that Jesus uses is giving to the needy. This was a big deal in first century Judaism. Some considered it the single most important act of piety. So certain men, whom Jesus calls hypocrites, want to make sure people know just how pious they are. Isn’t the important thing, Jesus, that they helped the needy? Not for the giver it isn’t. Jesus says the motivation is crucial. If you are doing it to be seen, to be noticed, and applauded, then however successful you are at achieving that aim is your reward. The Pharisees often liked to give in the most public way possible. That way their religious piety was on full display, just like the images we saw earlier.
Jesus likens this to blowing trumpets to announce your giving. It would be like you standing in your seat as the plate came around and you yelling out, “Hey! Look at me! I’m putting in a thousand dollars!” Jesus calls this hypocritical because there is no way such actions could be for God when the concern is being seen by man. We laugh at such vivid absurdities as blowing a trumpet or someone standing up in their chair to give their money to the collection plate, but we have more subtle ways. We give to get our names printed in a program or to get a brick in a wall. I’m glad that many of our celebrities give to causes, but most make sure it makes it to the P.R. person before the money even gets to the charity. Jesus calls it what it is…blowing a trumpet!
If you give for that purpose, then you are rewarded by what you seek. But you can’t pretend to be doing it for God, when you are doing it for another purpose. God is not fooled by such duplicity. Jesus says that’s what the hypocrites do.
The disciple gives with no thought of recognition and only mindful of God’s generosity and other’s need. Jesus uses another absurd image. “Don’t let your left hand know what your right is doing.” Jesus is saying don’t even glory in it for yourself. Let the God who sees in secret reward you. The person who has given out of a pure heart knows the rewards of God for such generosity. God’s graciousness is never outdone. This doesn’t mean that every donation has to be done anomalously. There may be some good reasons why a person or group should know who is blessing them. But this is all about motives.
Move 2: Piety through prayer (5, 6).
Jesus goes onto the next act of piety that was well respected in their times. You noticed how Jesus continues to address the heart. It is not merely the action, but the motivation that means everything. Jesus uses almost the same words to describe the hypocrites praying as he did describing the giving. They go pray in synagogues and street corners to be seen, not because they wish to have fellowship with God through prayer.
There were certain times a day that Jews prayed, and some were known to time those moments so that they could be seen praying in the most public places. I don’t believe for the most part that Jesus is addressing public corporate prayer on behalf of the church. That necessarily has to be done publicly. Jesus is addressing private prayer purposely done in public so people can note how religious you are. Now this certainly could apply to someone wording showy prayers for a public setting. Jesus has something to say about that before the Lord’s Prayer, which we will deal with next week.
Again, Jesus says they have their reward. Nothing else should they expect. I’ve heard prayers like this. They sound like theatric productions instead of genuine fellowship with God. The ironic thing is that in seeking the notice of men we actually negate the very purpose of prayer, the reward that prayer pleads for…an answer! God will not answer such prayers, because they were never really directed to him.
Jesus again uses very vivid language to describe the invisibility of the disciple. He is saying go to a closet and pray! The point isn’t the room you use, but the principle is that you pray to God and to him alone. Again, this doesn’t mean that it is always wrong to pray in public. Many of you pray in restaurants. It isn’t very practical to try and go to the broom closet for such prayers! But the point is again why you are praying. If we are praying to be seen and not praying to God, we negate the reward that God wants to give us. He doesn’t need GPS to locate us either. He can hear our prayers from anywhere, because he “sees in secret.” He will reward the intent of such offered prayers.
Move 3: Piety through fasting (16-18).
Surely nothing is more spiritual than fasting. The real committed Jews not only fasted on special festival days like Yom Kippur, but also did so on their own. The Pharisees fasted twice a week. And they wanted people to know it. Jesus uses a word play here. The word for ‘disfigure’ literally means ‘make invisible.’ So the hypocrites try to make their face unrecognizable, invisible, so that they will be recognized by other! The point is that they make themselves look as if they are suffering, so that everyone will know they are fasting. Again, Jesus says they have their reward. They can expect absolutely nothing else to come from their effort. Jesus wants his disciples to look the same as when they are not fasting.
It is noteworthy that Jesus assumes his disciples would fast. Okay, when is the last time you fasted? Okay, don’t answer that. I don’t want to answer that. Fasting, and there are other ways to do it for those that can’t physically go w/o food, teaches us to be dependent on God and not to allow ourselves to be slaves to every indulgence. Fasting teaches us self-control. Fasting changes us our mindset that we might more accurately know God’s will for our lives. There our many benefits from fasting, and God rewards someone who fasts in secret.
This teaching is backwards for us, because we don’t fast for show. We don’t fast at all! Well, that isn’t going to be rewarded by God either. We have taught about fasting here through Bible classes. There is good information, if you want to learn how to fast, which 1st century Jews knew very well. And if you are fasting and someone gives you a piece of chocolate cake and wants you to eat it in front of them, and you have to tell you can’t eat it, you are not breaking this command. The point has nothing to do with someone incidentally finding out what you are doing. It doesn’t forbid communal fasts, but again addresses motive. Why are you fasting? For God or for others to notice you.
Move 4: Shining our light as invisible disciples.
Jesus has given us three examples of religious piety that we hopefully still practice today. In all three cases he calls us to do them for God’s sake and not to be seen. When we do this there is a promise of a reward. That reward is not defined, but is in keeping with the intent of the act. And God always gives more than us. That doesn’t mean that he makes us rich if we give to the needy. It might not be measured in that way at all. That’s between you and God, but it will never be known if you are doing it for the wrong motives.
There are other forms us religious piety that get this attention today. Caryl and I were in a class at Pepperdine where a man actually said you are not worshipping God if you don’t raise your hands. Hey, I’m all for raising hands, but a person who does that is doing so to God. What is an act of honest worship with one person, might be a act of self demonstration and spiritual pride for another. We need to do always be aware of why we do the things we do. It would be better to never raise your hands than to do so to be seen.
Some time ago I began to notice how often I prioritized my choices by what would be seen. Hey, if I help this person that no one else at this church even knows, no one will know, but everyone will see me Sunday morning in the pulpit. So, I simply choose to focus on the one that will be seen. The more I thought about it, the more I became convicted that I had a serious problem in how I evaluated what I did each day. I prayed for God’s forgiveness and asked him to help me make the decisions that would most honor him not just make me look good.
My point in sharing that is that it is so easy to begin to do things to be seen, and not for the sake of God’s kingdom. It doesn’t have to be as obvious as a trumpet on a street corner. Will you ask God to show you the areas that you are blowing a trumpet?
Jesus said in 5:16 to let our light shine before all men. Here he basically tells us to be invisible. Contradiction? Hardly. We do want to be invisible so that God is glorified which is exactly what Jesus tells us in 5:16 (read text). What this world needs is not more showy prayers, more religious clothes, and holy sites. The world doesn’t anymore need to see that going to church is all that makes us Christian. You see the reason why the world isn’t attracted to that kind of religion is because they see what Jesus sees, hypocrisy.
Religious piety is not to be abandoned, but it is to be an experience between the believer and God that transforms the disciple into the earth changing disciple that Jesus has called us to be. This is how we are salt and light. The world sees people so in love with Jesus that they even love their enemies. When the people of Jesus are so truthful they don’t even need to take oaths, when the disciples stay committed to their covenants with their mates, and when they refuse to let anger destroy a relationship, then the world will see exactly what they are supposed to. It is the invisible devotion to God that gives life to the visible brilliance of the light of Christ. So, we seek true piety in our relationship with God. Our heavenly Father rewards such piety.
Invitation: Baptism is not a religious performance.
It is a union with Christ. We are not asking you to be baptized to simply perform a religious act. No, we are inviting you to the life changing blood of Jesus Christ that you too may become his disciple, and enjoy his gracious rewards.
