Have you ever noticed that words are like Canadian currency? They are constantly being devalued. There was a time that if you called a woman homely you were paying her a compliment, not anymore. Vulgar used to mean popular and it was commonly used, but now it means coarse or nasty.
Sin used to mean rebellion against God, but now it’s something you do which I either don’t want to do or wish I could but don’t have either the energy or the nerve to do. Piety is like that! Once upon a time a Christian would have welcomed being called pious, but now it’s a put down, much like being called a legalist. "My aren’t you pious" it doesn’t have a nice sound does it?
A number of years ago there was a comedian that appeared on various television shows by the name of Raymond J. Johnson Jr., maybe you remember him? Things would start when someone called him Mr. Johnson and his reply would be "O you doesn’t have to call me Mr. Johnson you can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Ray Jay or you can call me Jay Jay, or you can call me Ray Jr., or you can call me Jay Jr., or you can call me Ray Jay Jr., or you can call me just Jr. but you doesn’t have to call me Johnson.
And we do that as Christians, "You can call me dedicated, or you can call me consecrated, or you can call me sanctified, or you can call me committed, or you can call me devoted but you doesn’t have to call me pious." But what is this piety that we want so little of? Well Collins English Dictionary defines Pious as "Godliness, devotedness, goodness or dutifullness." Kind of think those would be qualities that we would strive toward not shun.
My definition of piety is this "Devote fulfillment of all religious obligation". Any and everything we do out of religious motivation. Worship, prayer, meditation, singing, Bible Study, Evangelism, missionary work, monetary giving, anything that is directed toward a religious end is piety." Now Christ had some disturbing ideas and concepts concerning piety. the chief one was that piety is primarily for God’s sake, and His alone. Every religious action, every good deed, every act of piety should be performed to increase God’s standing in this world. Piety is primarily for God not for ourselves, not for others and not for society but for God.
Now to be quite frank this shook up those who were listening to Christ that afternoon on the hill. They had been brought up and educated in a Jewish culture where the main reason for piety was to increase your standing in the eyes of God and before others. Now it’s not difficult to see how this could happen. True worship often takes a form or ritual for a church, whether or not it is printed in a bulletin. Our worship becomes formalized and organized into set patterns. In some churches that means that we all say the Lord’s prayer together, read the responsive reading, sing the doxology and fill our prayers with thees and thous and thys. Now in other churches they claim to be much freer in worship, and they may think they are but all they have done is adopted a different form of liturgy.
They know when they are going to sing choruses, when to lift a hand or two, when to clap, when to dance, when to give a testimony or when to speak in tongues or whatever. And there is nothing wrong with knowing what is going to happen, but the unfortunate thing is that after awhile we follow the pattern and forget what we are supposed to be doing and that is worshipping. We become like Christopher Columbus, he set out and didn’t know where he was going, he got there and didn’t know where he was and came back and didn’t know where he had been.
We go to church and go through the motions but we forget why we are there. Which is to worship God. And into this vacuum comes piety for ourselves. We simply come to church to perform for one another. Baptist Minster Gerald Mann asked members of five different churches why they went to church . Here are their top answers 1) To feel God’s presence 2) To learn more about God 3) To be with my Christian friends 4) To give my Children a Christian environment 5) to gain strength to face life weekly 6) To keep myself morally pure 7) For the preaching 8) For the music 9) For the Bible study 10) It’s something I’ve always done 11) It makes me feel good. Now Mann claims that there were rarely any different answers. What does those responses say to you? That piety is self serving? That we use it to improve our standing before God and man? Most people go to church to receive not to give. And so we approach Church like we approach other things in our life, if the car is broke we go to the mechanic, if we feel sick we go to the doctor, if we have a toothache we go to the dentist. Now there is nothing wrong with going to God for spiritual healing, but the church is not God, nor is it a spiritual hospital.
Now before you get up on your high horse hear me out. What is supposed to happen is that we go to Christ for the spiritual healing that is called salvation, and then we go to church to join the fellowship of the healed to praise and worship God.
The concept of the church as a place for pre-Christians to come to get saved is not the historic definition of the church. In the New Testament Church people were saved outside the church and then were introduced into the fellowship.
And now Christ really hits the Jews where they live. Charitable giving and religious giving, prayer and fasting. These three were the pillars of Jewish religious life. All of them were good things. But sometimes we do the best things for the worst reasons. You might give to bask in self satisfaction, pray to show your spiritual superiority and fast only to demonstrate your discipline. Then they have lost their goodness. Jesus said in the book of Matthew 6:1 (NIV) "Be careful not to do your ’acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
A person can give not to help those he’s giving to but in order to demonstrate his own generosity and to make himself superior to them. A may can pray in such a way that his prayer isn’t addressed to God but to everyone else who can hear him. I went to Bible College with a guy, whom I will call Kirk, mainly because that was his name. And when a bunch of us went out for a burger we never asked Kirk to say grace because he said grace for everyone in the restaurant. In contrast was Mabs Fernley. Mabs is the wife of Walter Fernley a retired pastor on this district. One evening when Mabs was saying grace at Supper Walter said, "Mabs I can’t hear you" to which Mabs responded by saying "That’s O.K. Walter I wasn’t talking to you." We need to make sure that our prayer life isn’t just a way of demonstrating our piety.
A person may fast not to humble himself before God and not because it is good for the soul but simply to show people what a wonderful self disciplined person they are. A person may practice good works simply to win praise from men, to increase their own prestige and to show the world what a wonderful person they are. Now Jesus did not say that those people would have not reward, what he did say is found in the second part of Matthew 6:1 you will have no reward from your Father in heaven So you wont have any heavenly reward, but let’s not sell you short. Three separate times, in verses 2, 5, and 16 Jesus says I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. Now the Greek word that is used for reward is the technical term for "Paid In Full", it was the word used on receipts.
And so if you are going to demonstrate your generosity then that is your reward. You have been paid in full. If you pray to flaunt your piety and gain a reputation as religiously devout person, fear not, that is your reward, you got what you wanted. If you fast in such a way that men are impressed by the discipline you have when it comes to godly things, then you’ve got your reward and you’ve been paid in full. But remember the words of Christ you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. What Jesus is telling us is that in such a case you have been paid in full for your efforts, you’re not owed anything more.
Matthew 6:2 (NIV) "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 men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. Giving to the needy or as the King James Version calls it Alms giving refers to the financial aspect of giving. Our giving on the streets is our charitable giving, the Christmas Daddies, Cancer Society, World Vision, the Red Cross, the bum on the street you name it. Our giving in the synagogues is our giving to the church.
So for a moment let’s go back to our definition of piety, "Devote fulfillment of all religious obligation" Now if giving is a part of that obligation and we need to be pious not for ourselves or for others, then we need to give for God’s sake. Not for mans, not for the churches but for God’s.
Now Jesus wasn’t telling the people to Give. He’s presuming that being good Jews that they are already doing what they were supposed to do. He was talking about their motive for giving. I realize that I spoke on giving three weeks ago. And I know that we have decided that money wasn’t going to be an issue at BCC and that we weren’t always going to be asking for money and poor mouthing. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job of not asking for money and not poor mouthing, at least not in the Sunday Morning Message. So we are going to take the same tact that Jesus took. We’re not going to preach on why you should give we are going to presume that being good Christians that you are already giving and this morning we are going to ask you why you are giving. What is your motive for dropping your envelope in the bag on Sundays.
Some folks do it out of fear. The preacher has used the old "God’s Gonna Get You" approach. They tell you that if you don’t give you’re gonna lose it any ways, and it will probably be painful. The engine will go on your car, your kid will need braces or your dog will need to go into psycho analyst or something. Not only that but if you don’t give you won’t be blessed and you’ll probably go to hell to boot.
Other people give out of Shame. The preacher uses the old "Shame On You" That’s when he says things like "This church is being supported by a few faithful brothers and sisters, and if you’re not giving you’re parking on somebody else’s nickel." As if there is any place in this city that you can park for a nickel. Or they will remind you that eighty percent of the giving in the church comes from twenty percent of the people.
Some preachers even use the old "You’re not going to let Bob beat you" approach. You know how it works. You give people buttons that say "I Did It!" and if people give over a hundred dollars a week you call them a benefactor and if they give fifty dollars a week then they are a supporter and if they give thirty dollars a week then they are a giver. Or you divide everyone into teams and each team has a thermometer on the wall to show the progress of their giving.
The problem is that we view expenditure of money based on the return. So if the church is meeting your needs and concerns then you give, but if’n it aint meeting your needs then you don’t give But if we turn that around so that we aren’t giving to enhance self but to enhance God’s reign in the world then your needs being met is not your criteria for your giving.
Matthew 6:3-4 (NIV) 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.
