Laws of the Kingdom Pt.3
The Secrets of a Healthy Christian
Sunday, May 21st, 2006
We were visiting with my mother a while back and we were sitting around on a Sunday night and someone saw that the Oscars were on. I had never really watched the Academy Awards for any length of time before and it blew me away how proud of themselves the movie industry really is. A ton of money goes into an event like that. Every actress has to have the perfect dress and they spin and smile their way across the red carpet for one purpose only, to be seen and to be told how wonderful and beautiful and glamorous they really are. And people like us eat it up. They have award shows for athletes, for singers, for Christian singers, for country singers, for television, for movies, anything that can be awarded, is. If you have children in school then you’ve been to awards banquets. I can remember loving those things, you’d get a little certificate that said honor roll or merit roll or if they couldn’t find anything else, you get the He’s not real bright but he tries hard award. We love recognition!
When I would take my teens to Delta Lake Camp to work with the Haven Camps, the camps for mentally retarded adults, at the end of the week we would have an award ceremony. We would make them little medals to wear around their necks. The campers looked forward to it all week, they talked about it, they wore their awards from previous years, they tried to guess what they would win this year. We would spend hours coming up with the awards and decorating the medals. We had best dancer, best smile, best jokes, best helper, and things like that. It was the highlight of the week because the campers were being recognized for something, anything, the name of the award didn’t matter as long as they got one.
As a society, we crave recognition for the things that we do. We may act modest and say, “Oh, you shouldn’t have.” But most of us on the inside are going, “yes, you should have, finally someone realizes just how wonderful I am!
We’re used to being patted on the back when we succeed. We have come to expect it and for many, they feel that this should happen in our spiritual lives as well. If we give regularly, if we can pray elegantly, if we fast weekly, for many, the approval of God in these areas is not enough and they look to men for affirmation that they’ve got the Christian thing down pat. There’s a lot of Christians who are walking around and their halos barely fit any more because of the swelling of their heads. Jesus turns his attention now to the disciplines of a Christian. The things that ought to be present in our lives for the glory of God and His kingdom, for the deepening of our relationship with God, and not for the way that it makes us look before others. Jesus looks to the motives of our service and sacrifice. Once again, turning the attention from the outside to what’s in the heart.
Last week we looked at a long passage in which Jesus began to lay out the spirit of God’s law for His people. He shared very plainly with them that He had not come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it, to give it it’s full meaning and to show the people the heart of their God who had given them the Law. He basically says, hey you think the law is
tough now, you don’t even really understand what it means. You’ve heard it said it’s the act that’s sin, I’m telling you it’s the thought that counts. He took away any hope the people had of being Holy on their own, of being worthy of a relationship with God because even if they kept every last letter of the law, if their lives were perfect on the inside, one stray thought was enough to condemn. So when Jesus teaches that no one comes to the father except through him, the people have already had the spirit of the law laid out for them and they now know that salvation through obedience to the law is impossible. He revealed to them their hopelessness in order that He might share with them their Hope. The One way, a relationship with God through belief in His Son.
Now, He changes gears slightly again and he tells us the secrets of a healthy Christian. A Christian is to keep some secrets in their lives. Now, keeping secrets can get you into a lot of trouble. In a marriage, secrets never turn out well. In a friendship, honesty and openness will always turn out much better than being secretive and trying to keep things from each other. But in our relationship with Christ, the motivation for our actions is to be for the glory of God, not for our glory and because of that, there are some things that we are to keep to ourselves, or more accurately, between us and God. It’s easy to allow our spiritual disciplines to turn into a source of pride. To take those things that God commands and flaunt them before others so that they can see how spiritual you really are and so that you can bask in the attention and adulation of men. This was the case with that troublesome threesome that we have already spent so much time looking at. The Pharisees, the Chief Priests, and the Teachers of the Law. Every aspect of their spiritual life revolved around the praises of men. The wanted only to look holier than everyone else, their motives were selfish. The more perfect that the exterior was, the more that they could condemn the average man for the way that he lived, and the more prestige they would gain in the eyes of their peers. Every complaint you hear about the church and Christianity today was true of these men. They were the ultimate group of superficial, judgmental, self-righteous, self-promoting, hypocrites. Jesus addresses three areas in which these men were using spirituality for their own gain.
The Jewish spiritual life consisted of three staples. Three things, other than sacrifices, that were expected in the life of every Jew. The first was charity. The Jew was called upon to give. He was to give to the temple, and he was to give to those who were less fortunate, to the poor. The second, was to pray. Every day at 9 AM, noon, and 3 PM, the Jews prayed, wherever they were, what ever they were doing, they set it aside and prayed to their God. The third expectation of every Jew was to fast. To abstain from food or some other pleasure, for a time, to spend time in prayer with God, seeking His will and blessing in your life. These were the “acts of righteousness” of the Jewish faith.
Jesus begins this chapter by addressing these specific acts.
MT 6:1 "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.
And then He begins to look at each of these three areas specifically. But before we get in to each of them, I want to look at a few general truths about the group as a whole from this passage.
1) Each of these is required
We can look at some of the spiritual disciplines throughout the Bible and try to rationalize why they no longer apply to our lives today. There are many who argue that Jesus came to set us completely free of any religious or spiritual obligation. They would say that as long as we claim the name of Christ, we can live however we want and we will be covered by His grace without any effort or change on our part. Jesus is very clear in all of His teachings that it is indeed faith that saves. There is nothing that we can do to earn salvation; however, He also says that the evidence of genuine faith, that faith that leads to salvation, is life change. Our lives will bear fruit.
JN 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
The fruit that we bear in our lives is evidence of spiritual growth, of a deepening relationship with God through Christ. That relationship is deepened through spiritual disciplines and Christ knows that and confirms and commands that. He has come to do away with the empty ritual of religion but through the joy and changes that come through a relationship, we are willing to do things that we know bring glory to God and bring blessing and reward form Him in our lives. For each of these things, giving, prayer, and fasting, Jesus starts each discussion with, “When You.” He doesn’t say if you, or if you think it might help to try, he says when you. It is expected, it is required of us. This was a requirement for the Jews and Jesus teaches us that in His kingdom, there is still tremendous benefit from these things and that He expects us to make them a part of our lives.
The next similarity that we see in this teaching is that
2) Each of these is rewarded in some way.
Jesus points out two ways that these acts are rewarded. Each is rewarded according to the motive behind the act. If the motive is to please men, then Christ says that will be your reward. For each of the hypocrites, he says that they have received their reward in full. If you strive to impress men, the only reward you have coming is found in their empty praise.
But if your motive is pure and your heart is right and you are acting out of a desire to please God and to serve Him, Jesus says that your reward will come from Him. When your acts are done in secret, not for show, Jesus says three times here that your father will see what is done in secret and reward you. You will be rewarded with a deeper walk with Him, you will be rewarded with the favor of God on your life, and you will be rewarded on that day that you stand before God and He says to you, well done, good and faithful servant. The rewards of God are for eternity and will still be paying dividends long after man’s praises come to an end.
We need to decide in each of our own lives if we are striving for the approval of god or man and if we are striving for God’s approval then we need to keep our motives pure as we follow through in these areas.
So, each is required. Each of these will be rewarded, and the third truth that applies to each of the areas of discipline in our lives is the point that you have already heard mentioned today and one that Christ spends much of his ministry here on Earth trying to drive home:
3) It’s the heart, not the act that pleases God.
We started doing something in our home several months ago. In order to try and encourage and reward good behavior from our children, we gave each of them a jar and told them that we would put a quarter in their jar at different times when we saw that they were being good and obedient and getting along. We also said that one would come out if they were not behaving the way that they were supposed to be. One morning, soon after we started, I was walking towards the kitchen and I could hear the two kids just kind of picking at each other. Neither one was being very nice. I walked in to the room and as soon as they saw me, Catherine hugged her brother and in a sugary sweet voice said, “I love you bubby.” Then they both turned to me expectantly. Do you think they were rewarded? Of course not. I was more upset because I knew what had really been going on and I knew that the outer act of a hug and a kind word was only acted out because they wanted to gain something for themselves. This wasn’t pleasing to us, this wasn’t what we had in mind when we instructed them to be kind to each other. The act was empty because of the heart behind it.
Look at the wording that Jesus uses here, in each part he refers to the men who are drawing attention to their spirituality as hypocrites. This is the Greek word for actor, one who wears a mask to present themselves as something that they are not. Christ using this word shows that this topic is not to be taken lightly. Men who do what is right who have hearts that are wrong do not bring glory to the father in heaven and he looks at them as actors, trying to pass themselves off as something that they are not. God is pleased with the what is done only when he is pleased with the heart of the one doing it.
So, those are the similarities in each of these three ongoing actions that are to be a part of the spiritual disciplines in our lives. Now, I want to look at each of these individually as Christ examines them.
I. Giving (read 2-4)
This is a sensitive subject. Many people have left churches because they were offended when the issue of money came up. People will give of their time and their talents, but a lot of people draw the line at giving their money. Whatever your thoughts may be on money, it is a topic that comes up over and over again in Scripture and because of that, it needs to be addressed in the church. Ministry takes money, there is no way around that. I have heard some wrong teaching in the church about money, I have heard some pastors that cross over the line of what Scripture teaches and focus their entire ministries on the need for money, trying to guilt their people into doing more. I don’t agree with that approach, I want the church to give because they understand it as a command of God. I want you to give out of a sense of awe and appreciation for what God is doing believing that He will bless and provide for us through our obedience. I just want to make it clear that while I will never stand up here week after week and beg for money, I do believe that it is God’s will for all of us to give to His work and that because the church is how God has chosen to get his message out, that needs to be our primary focus in giving, so that the church can accomplish what God has called her to do. I don’t believe that tithing is optional for a Christian. MAL 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me."But you ask, `How do we rob you?’"In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
God blesses obedience and this area, giving is no different. But, we are not called on just to give. Paul talks about the way a Christian is to give in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7.
2CO 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
So, the Christian is to give generously and the Christian is to give cheerfully. And Jesus caps this off by saying that we are to give secretly as well. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. He is not saying to put one hand behind your back, close your eyes and randomly pick a bill from your wallet when the offering is taken. Jesus is saying that we are to keep our giving between us and God (by the way, I have no idea who gives what and I will never ask to know or look myself) and that we are to do it with no ulterior motives, no thought for personal gain, no agendas of position or prestige, no strings attached, and with a heart that is seeking to please God and see Him glorified through His church and His kingdom here on Earth.
Ted Turner Illustration – 1 B to the UN. He went on Larry King, threw a huge gala, trumpeted it from his news stations. Men were impressed. Ted Turner got his reward. Jesus says, don’t trumpet it, don’t announce it, just give it and you will get a reward far beyond anything that Ted Turner ever received.
II. Prayer (read 5-8)
I want to point out right up front that this is not a passage that is telling us not to pray out loud or in public. You’ve got to keep it in the context of the rest of the passage and understand that Jesus is still addressing the issue of motives.
He teaches us two truths about prayer here.
1) It’s not about who sees you.
In Jesus’ day, as I mentioned, prayers had to be said three times a day, at specific times. It had to be said wherever you where at those appointed times, even if you were walking down the street. The word used here for street is not the same as the one used in verse two, which refers to a narrow street. The word here refers to a wide, major street where a crowd was most likely to be.
The hypocrite loved to pray where there was a large audience. His intent was to draw attention to himself. There was nothing wrong with praying at a major intersection if that’s where you happen to be. But it is wrong if you planned to be there at prayer time for the purpose of praying where the most people could see you.
Jesus was not condemning all public prayer, its not wrong to pray in public, but it is wrong to pray in public if we are not in the habit of praying in private as well.
Our public prayers are worthless if they are not backed by a lifetime of private prayers, time spent just between us and God.
We knew a couple in Ohio who had three children. They had a rule that I had never seen enforced before. The parent’s bedroom was completely off limits to the children. No exceptions. This gave them one place that they knew they could go and not be disturbed. It gave them a place to escape from the noise and chaos of life for a while to collect their thoughts. Jesus is saying that we all need that kind of place for our prayer life. A place that we can go, shut the door behind us, and get on our knees before our God for sweet times of fellowship and communion. This is what God desires, this is what He rewards.
2) It’s not about what you say.
The pagans would babble on and on and repeat the same things over and over and try to use big and impressive words in hopes that they would catch the attention of one of their gods. Those who prayed to pagan gods thought their deities first had to be aroused, then persuaded, and badgered into listening and answering them. You see an example of this in 1 Kings chapter 18 when the prophets of Baal are begging him to answer them from morning to noon. Then there was little ole Elijah, with one prayer God answered him with fire, in a powerful way.
God is not impressed with the length of your prayer or the vocabulary that you use. He just wants to talk. He knows what you want already, so don’t feel like you have to sweet talk Him into listening. He is there, ready to talk with us and ready to listen even to the simplest of prayers offered in faith.
So, we can learn from this teaching that we don’t need to impress men, and we don’t need to impress God. We just need to talk to Him. So many Christians are scared of public prayer for those two reasons. They are afraid that others will not be impressed with their prayers and that they won’t use the right words with God. Learn from this, it’s the heart that counts, the words are not as important.
The personal, private, secret life of prayer is essential to the growth of a Christian and it will enhance our public prayer life because it will change the way we pray and the motives behind our prayers. This idea of the secret closet is the theme of our spiritual life conference beginning June 4th. This is a conference that can change the way that this church thinks and feels about their prayer life. I hope that all of you will plan on being there.
III. Fasting
Of the three things that Jesus addresses here, fasting is probably the one that is missing in most of our lives. I know that it is a discipline that I need to work on more and include more in my life. But again, Jesus says, when you fast, not if you fast.
Fasting means to lay aside any pleasurable and/or vital activity for a period of time in order to intensely pursue God and know His mind with the intent of obeying His revealed will. It is a time of focusing on God and on seeking what He has for you. Fasting is normally associated with abstaining from food for a time. It may be a day or a week or even one meal. The important thing is not the length of time or even what you choose to abstain from, the important thing is your time spent intently seeking God.
In Scripture, whenever you read of fasting, it is always accompanied by prayer and goes hand in hand with a major decision or a significant event in the life of the one who is fasting.
Esther fasted before she approached the king and asked him to spare her people. David fasted when asking God to spare the life of his child. Nehemiah fasted before he began the work of rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls. The Israelites would fast before a battle. The elders of the early church fasted before they sent out Paul and Barnabas to do God’s work. Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days before he began his public ministry. Fasting helps us to focus our thoughts and minds on God and to listen for His voice telling us how to proceed. It’s the discipline of setting aside our own needs and desires to seek God’s face and it is always partnered with prayer.
However, as with giving and prayer, the act of fasting had become more important than the purpose. Most Pharisees fasted twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. Those two days also happen to be the major Jewish market days, when cities and towns were crowded with farmers, merchants, and shoppers. The result was that on those days they would have a bigger audience to see and admire their piety. Again, right actions with the wrong motives.
American Idol Illustration. The emotions and actions were for the sole benefit of getting some face time on national TV.
The act of fasting in our lives is to be private, we are not to draw attention to ourselves. Don’t try to look as sickly and pale and weak as you can so that people will ask and you can tell them that you are a spiritual giant who happens to be fasting at the moment. Keep it between you and God. Now, if someone asks you to lunch, you can decline politlely, if they ask why you can’t come, I don’t believe that you ruin the whole thing if you mention that you are fasting. You can even ask that they would pray with you during that time. The point Jesus is making is that if we fast with the sole purpose of impressing men, then God says that is our reward. When we fast with a genuine spirit and a heart that is humble before God, then our reward will be from Him and He will speak to us and lead and guide us in our lives.
Conclusion: So, those are the secrets of a healthy Christian. The things that we are to do in our lives that are to stay between us and the Lord. Now, don’t for a moment think that this teaching means that we are to keep our Christianity entirely to ourselves. We are still to live out our faith so that men can see the difference that Christ makes in us. The key is that bringing glory to God is to be our only motive, not the praises of men. Earlier in chapter five Jesus said, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deed and praise your Father in heaven.” People will notice when your life is bearing fruit according to God’s plan for you, but when our good deeds are done for the right reasons, the attention and glory are focused on our “Father who is in heaven,” rather than on ourselves.
So, there are two questions that we have to ask ourselves when we hear this teaching. First, are we doing these things? Is giving, prayer, and fasting a part of our lives? And second, who are we doing them for? What’s our motivation? If we are seeking the praise of men then that is the reward we will get. But if we’re seeking to glorify God, our reward will be from Him and will be for eternity. The choice is obvious but not easy.
