WHY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WHAT
The story is told of a young family that went to visit some friends. The couple’s young son kept running around the house and wouldn’t settle down. The boy’s dad told him to sit down several times. The young boy would sit down for a minute and then he’d be up running again. Finally, exasperated, the dad told his son, “You sit down right there and don’t you get up until I tell you to.” The young boy, sat down on the couch, looked at his dad and said, “I may be sitting down, but on the inside I’m standing up.”
There are those who believe that if we do the right things, that’s good enough. If I say the right things to my wife, if I put in the required time at work, if I do what the church says, then that’s good enough. My friend, I want you to know that others might let you get away with that, but God will not. When it comes to Him, why you do something is at least as important as what you do. Your motives make all the difference in the world.
- Read Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18.
In this passage we find Jesus continuing His preaching of the Sermon on the Mount. In chapter 6 Jesus begins with a warning. He says in verse 1, “Beware.” Let me give you a tip. When Jesus tells you to beware of something, you had best be on your guard. Notice the danger Jesus warns us about. Jesus isn’t warning us about laziness. He takes for granted that everyone that calls themselves disciples of His will be working. No, the danger Jesus warns us about is the danger of doing what we do for the wrong reasons. He is warning us about doing what we do with the wrong motives. Notice the 3 examples Jesus gives of people doing good things for the wrong reasons.
I. WRONG MOTIVES FOR GOOD ACTS
1. Don’t serve wanting people’s praise – v2
In verse 2, Jesus talks about giving alms. Some of the people in Jesus’ day, used to make a big fuss and a lot of noise when they went to give at the temple, or when they went to help the poor. They wanted people to see everything they did. They wanted the “atta boys” the recognition for being helpful or generous givers. Sadly, there are many people doing good things for the same reason today, even in churches. They can’t give anything, they can’t serve in a ministry of the church, they can’t help anyone without letting other people know everything they do. You know what Jesus says about such people? He says, “They have their reward.” All the good they do, they won’t get any reward from God, because they did it to get the praise of other people.
2. Don’t pray to please people – v5 In Jesus’ time, many of religious Jews would pray at set times, several times a day. But some people would make sure they were on the busiest corner of the busiest street when it came time to pray because they wanted everyone to see them do it.
My friends, there is nothing wrong with praying in public. Jesus and His disciples did so many times. We are encouraged to pray with other believers. There is power in united prayer. The problem comes in when you begin praying to please people, or to be noticed by them, instead of praying to be heard by God.
It saddens me that they have effectively kicked prayer out of our schools. What saddens me even more is the number of people who complain about not being able to pray at school, who never pray at home. If there had been more people praying at home, then I believe we would still be able to pray in our schools. I wonder how many of the people who make a big deal about praying at ball games, actually pray at home?
And, have you ever noticed the difference in the prayers of new Christians and the prayers of people who have been in church for a long time? You ever notice how new Christians often pray exactly what’s on their hearts while folks who have been Christians for a while often pray using big and religious sounding words that they don’t even know the meaning of? You know what Jesus says about that? He says, those who pray to please other people or who pray to impress, have all the reward they’re going to get. Their prayers aren’t going any further than the ceiling.
Jesus gives a 3rd example of wrong motives in verse 16.
3. Don’t fast to get recognition – v16
In Jesus’ day, the Jewish religion called for fasting several times a year. There were others though, who fasted several times a week, and who made sure everyone knew they were fasting when they did so. They wanted to get recognition. They wanted to get a reputation for being spiritual.
You know what Jesus said about that? He said, “You’ve gotten all the reward you’re going to get. Forget about God rewarding you for such nonsense.”
I believe in fasting. I’m going to preach on fasting in a couple of weeks, but if you fast to get recognized, you might get a reputation among people, but that’s all you’re going to get. My friend, motives are important.
II. RIGHT MOTIVES FOR RIGHT ACTS
If you aren’t supposed to do good works, or pray, or fast, or do any of your religious stuff to be praised or to get recognized, or to build your reputation, then what motives are acceptable to God?
1. Love for others is an acceptable motive –
> Matthew 22:39 … Love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus said that you and I are to love our neighbors as ourselves. In other words, if you are serving in the church, or giving to the church, or helping the poor, or witnessing, because you love people, then that is an acceptable motive.
2. Love for God is an acceptable motive – v4
a. Pleasing God – Verse 4 says that God sees what you do. Don’t you know, that when God’s children do what is right, that it pleases Him? After my father’s death, a number of people told me about how much my Dad used to enjoy talking about his boys. They told me how my dad would tell them about how well his 2 police officer sons were doing. He would tell them about how his preacher son was doing and how things were going at my church. And he was pleased, he was proud, when we were doing well.
Don’t you know that God loves it when He sees us living godly lives? We know He talked about Jesus. He said, “This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” The book of Job tells us that Job lived such a godly life that God bragged about him to the Devil. Can’t you almost see Him slapping the angels on the back and pointing out our successes when you and I live our lives the way He intended us to? Can’t you almost hear Him saying, “What about my man Tom? Did you see what Vito did? Did you hear the heart-wrenching concern in Helen’s voice when she was praying with that woman?”
b. Glorifying God –
- Matthew 5:16
Oh my friend, when you live a godly life, when you share and pray and serve others with pure motives, it causes them to begin to praise and glorify God as well.
3. Looking out for later is an acceptable motive – v6
This verse & others says God rewards for righteous living.
- Matthew 6:20 When you are living a righteous life, when you are serving, Jesus says you are storing up treasures in heaven. Oh my friend, you can’t take it with you, but you can send it ahead.
III. TESTING YOUR MOTIVES
Your motives are wrong if you:
1. Quit when people don’t applaud
2. Quit when you’re an Indian, and no longer a chief
3. Quit when you’re not warmly greeted a time or 2
IV. CORRECTING YOUR MOTIVES
- John 15:1-7
The only way you can correct your motives, is to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ and to have Him abide, or live, or rule in your life. In other words:
1. You must be Saved
2. You must be like-minded – Spend time with the Lord. In the morning, sit down with your Bible and a cup of coffee, and spend time with Him, getting to know Him from His Word. In the evening, spend time talking to Him, praying to Him alone, and listen for Him to answer.
IV. CONCLUSION
I remember when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, I attended school at Orange City Elementary in a building called “Open-space.” Anyway, they used to give us tokens for good grades, good deeds and that kind of thing. At the end of the year, your team could purchase different things, like a sleepover at the school, or a ball game against the teachers. It all depended on how many tokens your team had accumulated during the year.
One day, on the play ground, a boy and I took a can of trash up to one of the teachers monitoring the play ground, and were each given a token for picking up that trash. Well, a few minutes later, we took the same trash to a different teacher and tried to get paid again. She, however, had seen us get paid the first time and would not pay us again.
My friend, Jesus says the same is true of your service, gifts, and prayers. If you do them to get recognized and praised by people, then you’ve already gotten your reward and there is none waiting for you later.
