Ulterior Motives
Matthew 6:1
One of the great blessings in preaching verse-by-verse through Books or Sections of the Bible is that you begin to more easily pick up on patterns which are contained within the text.
These patterns might easily be missed if we jumped around from passage to passage, book to book.
But working through large portions of the text help us to see a direction which the author is taking and helps us ensure that we are interpreting the text properly because we are clearly confronted with the immediate context of the passage.
I mention this because today we are beginning a new chapter in the Gospel of Matthew.
We have been in a verse-by-verse study of the Sermon on the Mount.
And what we have seen so far is that Jesus has established a pattern in this sermon - - - a pattern of correction.
He is confronting common misunderstandings of the people of His day, in particular the Jewish leadership.
The Pharisees had misinterpreted and misapplied God’s commands, and as a result there was great confusion and corruption among the people.
We are going to see that in this new chapter, Jesus is about to shift His focus a bit.
He is going to continue to correct error.
But He is going to refocus His attention on areas of worship and personal piety.
He is going to focus on three key areas: Giving, Praying and Fasting.
He is going to teach us that is it not just what we DO that is important, but what MOTIVATES us is the key.
READ: Matthew 6:1
The overarching purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to correct error.
We just concluded chapter 5, and we noted that it was primarily concerned with correcting misinterpretations of the Law of God.
The Pharisees had taken the laws regarding murder, adultery, divorce, oaths and retaliation and turned them on their heads.
So Jesus - as the author and Lord of the Law - demonstrates their failure in a masterful exposition which followed the pattern of “You have heard it said... but I say to you...”
When we arrive at Matthew 6, Jesus is now concerned with correcting failures in the worship of God.
His pattern is shifting away from the “you have heard it said...but I say...”
Now, His new pattern will focus on the difference in receiving a reward from men and a reward from God.
The first verse makes the primary point which Jesus will give exposition of in this chapter.
Matt 6:1 “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.
This is not a hard verse to understand.
Simply stated: Personal acts of worship and piety are not meant to be performed as a show unto men. God is the only audience we should concern ourselves with in worship; He is our audience of one.
And what follows this verse is a series of examples which Jesus uses to drive this point home. He says that...
Giving is not to be done as a show
Praying is not to be done as a show
Fasting is not to be done as a show
[[ These are all outlined in the first half of chapter 6. ]]
Much like in the last half of chapter 5 Jesus had a pattern of saying, “You have heard it said...but I say to you...”, in this portion His pattern shifts to focusing on not doing our acts as shows unto men, but rather unto God.
There is another important contrast between the last half of chapter five and the first half of chapter 6 which needs to be recognized.
In chapter 5, Jesus discusses things which are “BAD”:
- Murder and hatred
- Adultery and lust
- Unfaithfulness and divorce
- Unfulfilled oaths and lying
- Hatred and retaliation
In chapter 6, however, He discusses things which are “GOOD”:
- Giving
- Prayer
- Fasting
The point that we need to understand is that even though these things are “good” things, they can be done in a “bad” way.
Not all giving is godly giving!
Not all prayer is godly prayer!
Not all fasting is godly fasting!
Christ wants us to realize that we not only have to seek to keep from doing things which are inherently “unrighteous”, but we must also strive to ensure that our “righteous” acts are properly motivated and performed.
Its not enough just to refrain from those things which are bad; we need to properly perform the things which are good.
This portion of the sermon is also hearkening back to an earlier statement made by Christ in this sermon.
Jesus said in chapter 5 that our “righteousness” should “exceed” that of the Pharisees.
Matthew 5:20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
We know that the Pharisees had misunderstood the Law of God, and much of chapter 5 is devoted to correcting their misinterpretations.
But they were also masters of manipulating their own expressions of worship and piety.
They are clearly in view when Jesus challenges those who give and pray and fast as a show unto men.
Consider what Jesus says of them in Matthew 23...
Matthew 23:1-12 “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.”
The Pharisees were masters of hypocrisy and making themselves appear holy before the people.
They were masters of religious performances; putting on a show of their worship and personal piety.
And they loved the respect, influence, and position this accorded them in their society.
So Jesus is continuing His rebuke of the incorrect practices of the Pharisees, and encouraging His followers to reject their methods.
NOTEWORTHY: These three acts which Jesus discusses and we are going to address are certainly not an exhaustive list.
Just like in chapter 5, Jesus only addressed a few of the misinterpreted laws, here He is only addressing a few acts of worship and piety.
But these produce a principle for all of our acts of worship and piety.
The principle is simple: They are NOT to be done to receive personal recognition or glory.
The key issue in this section is “MOTIVATION”.
What motivates us to do what we do for God?
The Pharisees were motivated by the respect, position, and influence which came from being in their position.
Some modern Christians are motivated by the same types of recognition.
There are people who like to have their name on the church roll just so they can say they are members of “such and such” church - even though they never attend.
There are people who want titles within the church like “Deacon” or “Elder” because they think those positions will garner them respect.
There are people who use their religious affiliations to seek political and social influence.
There are people who want to feel morally superior to others, so they do all of their deeds out in public view so as to be seen by all.
But, what does Jesus say is their motivation?
They want the respect... they want the admiration... they want the accolades... FROM PEOPLE.
But in seeking those accolades from people, they are forfeiting the GREATER REWARD which comes from God.
We should be motivated by what pleases God.
But, sadly, many people are motivated by what get them the most recognition.
IMPORTANT QUESTION: Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, it said that we are to be salt and light, and to let our light shine before me. How is this not contradicting what Jesus is here saying when He says we should essentially perform our acts of piety “in secret”?
In once section, He says not to hide our goodness under a basket (Matt 5:15).
In this section, He says essentially that we are to conceal our giving, retreat to a closet when we pray, and to hide any sign that we are fasting.
How is this not a contradiction?
The answer is found in the examples given.
Jesus is not here denying that we should “ever” be seen performing good deeds - in fact, we should be KNOWN for good deeds.
Christians are to be marked by good deeds - and good deeds done in Christ’s name.
He is not saying that we should hide our evangelism, as that would be an obvious problem in that evangelism is about going out and sharing Christ with people.
Neither am I to hide my love for Christ or my devotion to Him, as that would mean the world would not know my motivations for doing things which are positive and virtuous.
No, He chooses specific acts of worship and personal piety which people could and do use to bring attention to themselves as His examples.
No one NEEDS to know I gave something in order for that gift to be used to glorify God.
No one NEEDS to hear my prayers in order for them to glorify God.
No one NEEDS to know I am fasting in order for it to glorify God.
But these are all things people CAN use to glorify themselves.
And sadly people often do use these very things to “put on a show” of their personal righteousness.
Again, the concern is our MOTIVATIONS.
If I am motivated to glorify God, then I will not have a desire to “show off” my piety through public displays of these acts of devotion.
But if I am motivated by self-glorification, I will want everyone to know I am doing these things, so that they will be adequately impressed and enamored by my religious piety.
Ultimately, it is COURAGEOUS to let our light shine before men through things like evangelism and christlikeness...
But it is SELFISH to seek glory for the things we do in the name of Christ, especially when we announce them to the world with prideful intent.
SIDE NOTE: Even things like evangelism can be prideful, if done with an improper motivation. I have met many young people who share their faith out of a sense of superiority among their peers. They do not care about God’s holiness or that their friends are perishing. They simply do their “acts” of evangelism as a show unto people so that they will be considered “religious”. This is just as wrong as any other act, because it is being done with improper motivations.
REMEMBER: Even the right thing can be the wrong thing if it is not rightly motivated.
Illustration: “Call People Out” I once met a man who said that he wished he didn’t have to work a full time job, because he wanted to devote His life to going to people within the church and calling them out for their sins. Now, I know that calling out sin and encouraging repentant is a good thing. However, I also know that this man was motivated mainly out of his own sense of spiritual superiority. His motivation was the “rush” he felt when confronting the failing.
Illustration: “Make My Own Schedule” Years ago a man came to our church and said he felt called to the ministry. He asked to speak with our elders to discuss any help we might be willing to offer. When he was asked, “Why do you want to be a minister?” he answered, “I like the idea of being my own boss and setting my own schedule”. First of all, he had a VERY wrong view of the life of a pastor and secondly - more importantly - that is a wrong motivation for ministry!
Beloved, motivation is the key to this section of our text.
We will either be motivated to do what we do to bring glory to Christ, or we will be motivated by our own self-interests.
And I want to stress something from this passage that I do not want us to miss in the coming weeks.
The first word of Chapter 6 is “Beware”.
Its the first word in Greek and in the ESV.
The Greek word used, prosechete, means “beware” or “be careful” or to “take heed”.
This word is calling for intense focus on this specific set of principles because of their importance within the life of the believer.
QUOTE: John Brown “Our Lord’s emphatic language intimates that what he warns them against is an evil of great magnitude, and an evil which they were in great hazard of incurring.”
You see beloved, we must “BEWARE” of this because it is such an easy and pervasive sin to fall into.
It is EASY to want to be recognized.
It is EASY to fall into the trap of hypocrisy.
It is EASY to allow ourselves to start doing what we do as a show unto man instead of as a work unto God.
So, we must BEWARE of this, and seek to not fall into the same trap as the Pharisees did.
CONCLUSION: Reformed Theology is based on five principles, which we call the five “solas”.
Sola Scriptura - The Scripture is our sole infallible rule for faith and practice.
Sola Gratia - Grace alone is sufficient for salvation.
Sola Fide - Sinful man is justified by faith alone.
Solus Christus - Faith must be in the work of Christ alone.
Soli Deo Gloria - To God alone be the glory.
This fifth and final “sola” can really be used as a foundation for what we are learning from Christ in this section of the Sermon on the Mount.
Soli Deo Gloria means that God alone deserves all glory, and I deserve no glory.
Even my good deeds are meant to glorify God and not myself.
Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
And even those things I do which may seem inconsequential should be done for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
When I behave in any way as a show unto people, what I am actually saying is that I want this glory for myself.
If I make sure that everyone sees my offerings are so much...
If I make sure that everyone hears my prayers are so eloquent...
If I make sure that everyone knows I am fasting...
Then, the truth is, I am doing it for them... and not God.
Instead, my true passion should be a heart which says, “Soli Deo Gloria”
I should want God to be glorified by what I do.
I should not want people to see me and glorify in me...
But I should want people to glorify God, so I should seek to glorify Him in everything I do.
