The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Matthew 6:1-24primary text for the sermon, worked through in detail
1 “Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
3 But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does,
4 so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
5 “When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.
6 But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
7 In praying, don’t use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.
8 Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need, before you ask him.
9 Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
10 Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
13 Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 “Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;
18 so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
19 “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal;
21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
mentioned as a shorter version of the Sermon on the Mount covered in three sermons
1 Now on the second Sabbath after the first, he was going through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate, rubbing them in their hands.
2 But some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?”
3 Jesus, answering them, said, “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry, he, and those who were with him;
4 how he entered into God’s house, and took and ate the show bread, and gave also to those who were with him, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone?”
5 He said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
6 It also happened on another Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught. There was a man there, and his right hand was withered.
7 The scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him.
8 But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Rise up, and stand in the middle.” He arose and stood.
9 Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you something: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?”
10 He looked around at them all, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his hand was restored as sound as the other.
11 But they were filled with rage, and talked with one another about what they might do to Jesus.
12 In these days, he went out to the mountain to pray, and he continued all night in prayer to God.
13 When it was day, he called his disciples, and from them he chose twelve, whom he also named apostles:
14 Simon, whom he also named Peter; Andrew, his brother; James; John; Philip; Bartholomew;
15 Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Simon, who was called the Zealot;
16 Judas the son of James; and Judas Iscariot, who also became a traitor.
17 He came down with them, and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
18 as well as those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and they were being healed.
19 All the multitude sought to touch him, for power came out of him and healed them all.
20 He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, God’s Kingdom is yours.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.
23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did the same thing to the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich! For you have received your consolation.
25 Woe to you, you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe, when men speak well of you, for their fathers did the same thing to the false prophets.
27 “But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
29 To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak, don’t withhold your coat also.
30 Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again.
31 “As you would like people to do to you, do exactly so to them.
32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive back as much.
35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.
36 “Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful.
37 Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free.
38 “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you.”
39 He spoke a parable to them. “Can the blind guide the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit?
40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
41 Why do you see the speck of chaff that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye?
42 Or how can you tell your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck of chaff that is in your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the beam that is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck of chaff that is in your brother’s eye.
43 For there is no good tree that produces rotten fruit; nor again a rotten tree that produces good fruit.
44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. For people don’t gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.
45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.
46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things which I say?
47 Everyone who comes to me, and hears my words, and does them, I will show you who he is like.
48 He is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep, and laid a foundation on the rock. When a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it was founded on the rock.
49 But he who hears, and doesn’t do, is like a man who built a house on the earth…
referenced as Luke giving an example of a Pharisee praying a long and eloquent prayer
1 He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up,
2 saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man.
3 A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’
4 He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,
5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’”
6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says.
7 Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
8 I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
9 He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
15 They were also bringing their babies to him, that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 Jesus summoned them, saying, “Allow the little children to come to me, and don’t hinder them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.
17 Most certainly, I tell you, whoever doesn’t receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”
18 A certain ruler asked him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one—God.
20 You know the commandments: ‘Don’t commit adultery,’ ‘Don’t murder,’ ‘Don’t steal,’ ‘Don’t give false testimony,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”
21 He said, “I have observed all these things from my youth up.”
22 When Jesus heard these things, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have, and distribute it to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. Come, follow me.”
23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was very rich.
24 Jesus, seeing that he became very sad, said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!
25 For it is easier for a camel to enter in through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”
26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”
27 But he said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
28 Peter said, “Look, we have left everything, and followed you.”
29 He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children, for God’s Kingdom’s sake,
30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life.”
31 He took the twelve aside, and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be completed.
32 For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on.
33 They will scourge and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.”
34 They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they didn’t understand the things that were said.
35 As he came near Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the road, begging.
36 Hearing a multitude going by, he asked what this meant.
37 They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.
38 He cried out, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 Those who led the way rebuked him, that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 Standing still, Jesus commanded him to be brought to him. When he had come near, he asked him,
41 “What do you want me to do?” He said, “Lord, that I may see again.”
42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.”
43 Immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, praised God.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor preached through Matthew 6:1-24, skipping the Lord's Prayer to return to it later, and the thread running through every section was motivation. The question Jesus keeps pressing is not whether his disciples give, pray, and fast, but why they do it and for whose attention.
What was said
The passage opens with a warning that can sound contradictory at first. Last week's text told disciples to let their light shine before people so that others glorify God. This week Jesus says not to practice righteousness in front of people to be noticed by them. The pastor worked through that tension carefully: the act is the same, the audience is the same, but the motivation is opposite. One aims at God's glory, the other at the person's own reputation. Motivation is the whole issue.
Three examples follow, and all three are introduced the same way. Giving to the poor, praying, and fasting are not presented as options for especially devoted disciples. They are presupposed. Jesus says "when you give," "when you pray," "whenever you fast," treating these as things his people simply do. The warning in each case is against performing the act so that others will notice it, because if being seen is your goal and you achieve it, that is the only reward you will get.
On giving, the pastor noted that the money itself is unchanged by the giver's motive. A hundred dollars is a hundred dollars regardless of why it was handed over. But for the giver, motivation changes everything. He mentioned that he has arranged not to know who gives what at First B Jackson specifically to avoid the temptation of being influenced by that knowledge, and he pointed out that plaques honoring donors are the modern version of sounding a trumpet.
On prayer, he drew a contrast between the hypocrite praying on a street corner to be seen and the disciple going into a private room to speak directly to God. He told a story from mission trips to Mexico where a brand new believer asked, quite sincerely, why the group was praying outside in a circle when the Bible says to pray in your closet. The answer was that corporate prayer is right and good, but the moment its purpose shifts to being heard by the people around you rather than by God, it has become the wrong thing. He also flagged the subtle temptation of public prayer being used to communicate needs to the congregation rather than to God.
On fasting, the pastor pointed to something recognizable in the present day. When people announce a social media fast on social media before they log off, they are doing exactly what Jesus warns against. The fast is meant to be between the disciple and God, not a public signal of devotion. Anointing your head and washing your face, he said, just means looking the way you normally look.
The sermon then moved to the two verses on treasure and the eye, which the pastor admitted he had long found confusing. He worked through them together and showed how they sit between the treasure saying and the two-masters saying. Where your treasure is now, your heart will follow. The eye, understood as your lens or your way of seeing, determines whether your whole body is full of light or darkness. If your vision is set toward God's priorities, everything is illuminated. If it is distorted by cultural, political, or economic lenses, you are navigating in the dark.
The closing section on serving two masters brought the whole passage together. The pastor was careful with the word "master," pointing out that the Greek term means slave owner, not employer. You can hold two jobs, but a slave cannot serve two owners. The sermon ended with a quoted line that he called the real weight of the passage: that attempts at a divided loyalty do not represent partial commitment to discipleship but deep-seated commitment to idolatry. Either God is served with single-eyed devotion, or he is not served at all.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The pastor pointed out that the same act, like giving a hundred dollars, can look identical from the outside while the motivation behind it is completely different. What do you think it looks like in practice to examine your own motivation before you give, pray, or fast?
The pastor said the message of Christ is countercultural, and someone even texted him that it is countercultural even within church culture. Can you think of examples where habits inside church life might actually run against what Jesus is calling his disciples to in this passage?
Speaker 1Amen. Good morning. How are y'all? Good. Good.
Good to see you this morning. Glad you're here and would you stand with me? We're going to sing a rousing version of Wonderful Grace of Jesus. How about that? If you know your part, sing it.
I know that there are some of you who are always going to sing your part. Some of you looking. If you want a hymnal, here they are. Okay? So, you can sing your part if you want to.
Wonderful Grace of Jesus. Hymn number three thirty eight.
Speaker 2Grace of Jesus greater than all my sin. How shall my tongue be scribe it? Where shall its praise begin? Taking away my burden, setting my spirit free. Oh, the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
Wonderful, the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea. Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain,
Speaker 1Amen. Can hit that note once but those two and three, I just can't do it. Almost hit it. He hideth my soul. How about that?
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock. Hymn number six eleven. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements from my the bullhorn up here from the platform.
I've got a couple of them. One of them is an announcement I don't have a slide for yet but we are hoping to begin very soon actually and a daily email that will come to your inbox if you want it. We're not gonna force it on you, but if you want it, you wanna sign up for it. We're hoping to have 20 people within the congregation of the church and it could be that one of y'all are within at least 20 of these. 20 people that would take a chapter of scripture.
We're gonna start in the New Testament somewhere and we're gonna do a chapter of scripture per day that'll come to your Email. Now, Brad Yates said that he would administrate this. He's a new member and said that he'd like to do the administration part of it where we get it and compile it and get in the same format and send it to people. He'll do that. But the writers is what we're looking for.
Someone who will you'll know your assignment ahead of time. You won't have to do it on the spur of the moment. It won't be the next day, but you'll know ahead of time which chapter is yours. You get a chance to read over it, think about it, and then do something like this. This is my name.
You may or may not know me from church. I little bio, short. And then this is the chapter that we're reading together today, and then a few thoughts. You have a chance to read commentary, your own personal, work on that. And then a couple of application questions.
And we have, I think, nine or 10 of the elders have already signed up for 10 of the spots, but there are spots open if you'd like to be a part of that. If you like to write, if you like to study, if you like to do Bible studies, I'm looking at some faces. I know some people in here who like to do that. If you'd like to be a part of that team, will you let me know afterwards or let Nick know in the office sometime this week, and we're gonna start getting this thing going. We'll do a chapter a day.
If we get literally on the same page, hopefully, it'll help us metaphorically to be on the same page as we study it together. So, Carl often says when he's in the other room on Monday nights preaching, he says, my favorite book in the Bible is the one I'm right now and I think that that would be true for all of us. If we take it on, we go, man, this is so, so, so good. You get all the juice out of it if you're trying to squeeze it for somebody else. Anybody have other announcements?
Here they are. Monday nights at first b, John 16. Tomorrow night, John 16, the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a disciple. That's great. Meal is gonna be comfort food.
Oh, sounds so good. He he kinda told us what it was gonna be this morning. It's a good night to have meal. Music is good. It's 09:00 band.
It's also the Monday night band. And then a message from John sixteen. Awana is happening at the same time on Monday nights, 06:00 in this room starting off and spreading out from there. If you wanna get the weekly email bulletin for the church, just the normal one like our bulletin that we used to do on paper, you can go to firstbjackson.org and sign up for it. If you would like to get this email that I'm talking about, this Bible reading plan, it would be a a good idea, and that'll be available through there eventually.
We just had our congregational meeting. All of the measures passed budget. Jim Reed has been elected to serve on the BOT as financial secretary, and Steve is up for another three years as elder. There is a Sisters Saved by Grace. This is kind of the name of the study on Wednesday Thursday evenings, Thursday evenings, six to eight.
Nancy Baxter has been leading the study, but there are several in the room who come to that regularly, and it's a great small group of people who are studying together. This reminds me of another another announcement about women's ministry. So if you are interested in women's ministry and you want to help with women's ministry or help what it is that we need to do for women's ministry, next week, there's not a slide up there, but next week at 10:00, the anyone who is interested are gonna meet for a brainstorming session in the library downstairs. So women's ministry, 10:00, brainstorming session downstairs in the library next week in between services. This is a kind of a technical issue.
I used to get notifications, whenever we were on Facebook. We were on Facebook live doing our streaming since COVID well, since five years before COVID started, but, really, we got, to be familiar with it, I think, during COVID. And it would notify me, hey. Firstbee is live right now, and we switched to YouTube, and my phone no longer does that for me. And so I I'm like, oh, yeah.
I missed that. Sorry. I don't know what it is. Usually, I'm the one preaching or I'm in the band, so I don't miss a whole lot. But if you wanna be notified when we're doing something, on YouTube, you can go up in that little bell in the corner.
If you hit that, you can turn on your notifications, and it'll let you know, first thing's live. This this channel is going live in just a few minutes. And so that'll help. Click the bell. If you don't know, ask Nick.
That's what we do. We name technical questions. If we if it's about sound, we ask Blake. If it's about the Internet, we ask Nick. I think that's it.
Does anybody else have anything I've forgotten, omitted? I mentioned the I mentioned both of the ones that I don't want slides for. Would you stand? And we will hope that that screen goes black here in a minute, and we'll sing change my heart, oh God. Change the slide, oh, Blake, and then we'll sing change my heart, oh God.
Hymn number five sixty four. Thank you.
Speaker 2Change my heart, oh God.
Speaker 1Let's sing that one again.
Speaker 2Change my heart, I be
Speaker 1you Amen. What a beautiful song. I need thee every hour. If he's going to change our hearts, we have to recognize that we need him every hour. Amen.
Now, it's time for worship through giving portion. Y'all can have a seat and I'll ask the elders to come forward. Elders and ushers, and would you pray with me? God, I thank you for a time in the day where we can come together. We need thee every hour, but, Lord, we come together acknowledging our need and acknowledging you, in our praise of you.
But, Lord, we wanna give so that others may know. So I pray, Lord, that we would know you, and we would know you, deeply. We would really get to know you, and, Lord, that you would transform our lives. We would begin to act like you, like one of these songs, that you would transform our heart, change our hearts, and make us more like you. I pray also, Lord, that, your word would ever be on our lips, that we would be, ready with a word of testimony when people ask us for the hope that is within us.
Lord, would you show us your will and your way and allow us the strength to walk it out? Would you show us, Lord, so that we can be obedient to your word? In Jesus' name, we ask your blessing on this offering that you would do your will and your way to the very uttermost parts. Amen. Thank you, Judy.
Contemplative praise. That's good and sweet by and by. We are up to Matthew six. We're going forward. So we I think this is the fourth third or fourth sermon in Matthew's version of the Sermon on the Mount.
Now, Luke's version is shorter. I did that in three sermons total. We're just barely halfway through. By the end of this sermon, we'll be halfway through Matthew's version of it, which is three chapters long in scripture. So, Matthew six, we're gonna go one through 24 today but we're gonna minus out the Lord's prayer.
I I've got a reason for doing that but I also the Lord's prayer is fantastic and I'll come back to it. I promise but for the purposes of today, I think the point is not to just recite that by rote, of course. You know, in in basketball, when I was in basketball in high school, we would lean in right before we'd huddle up. We'd say, hey, say who we're gonna, you know, what we're gonna do, who's gonna do what. We'd lean in.
We'd all put our hands in. We go, our father who art in heaven, trespass against us. We would do that as a part of the preparation for the game. It's between the layups and between the tip-off and we'd lean in and all of us would say, the Lord's prayer. Some of those guys are believers, some of them weren't, but it was almost superstitious to the point if we forgot to do it before the game and we were getting it and getting our behinds beaten in the first quarter, we would lean back into a huddle and we'd say it then.
Right? Because it was almost like an amulet, something that we could do in order to make it better for us, and that's just not the point of the Lord's Prayer. So I don't want for that to be the case. We'll get to it in the middle of this. I'll say another little quip about it, and then we'll go and come back to it later and examine it more thoroughly.
This starts off. It's kind of an unusual breaking point right here for me to stop the the slides, but take care not to practice your righteousness. If I just stopped and put a period right there, that would not be biblical at all. Right? You just think, oh, wait a second.
Take care not to practice your righteousness. I highlighted the to practice because it's the same verb as the, when I mentioned that we are Christ's, we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus or made, performed, created, done. That word is this word. Take care not to make a big deal about. Take care not to make a make a masterpiece of.
Take care not to put on display your created righteousness. Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people. It's saying, take care not to do it in the sight of people. Now, if I were to go right there, I know most of y'all's faces, I saw you last week and I know that you heard this verse last week. Verse 16 from chapter five says, your light people, disciples, your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who's in heaven.
So how can I right now be saying, take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people? Does that sound contradictory to you? It does. Kinda. But it goes on.
I've stopped in two uncomfortable places right there. Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people when I know that they're supposed to see my good works and glorify my father who's in heaven. It goes on. It says, to be noticed by them. That's the motivation.
To be noticed by them. If that's your motivation, then you're doing this wrong. Okay? Take care not to practice your acts of righteousness in the sight of people to be noticed by them. That is an improper motivation, and motivation matters.
So if, let's say I mean, we're gonna get into a couple of examples. One of them is given to the poor. One of them is praying. One of is fasting. There are three examples that are given today that we'll cover.
But if you gave a $100 to be seen by men, whoever received the $100 and still have a $100. Right? It's a $100. $100 is a $100. Spends the same way no matter what the motivation was.
But for you, it would be different. If you did it to be seen by someone else as being a benevolent, great, generous person, then you are doing it for the wrong reason. Now, the person is still blessed. Don't get me wrong. $100 is a $100.
But you are doing it for the wrong reasons. Motivation matters. Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people to be noticed by them. Now, there is a very wooden translation of this that I came up with. This is straight up in the order it's written in Greek.
Beware. It's a, woah, watch out. Beware now. Pay attention to this. The righteousness of you, and I think that's significant because we have what we think is righteousness within us.
But honestly, if there is any real righteousness within us, it's because it is derived from God. Beware now the righteousness of you not to do before men. Don't be doing the righteousness of you before men in order to be seen by them. That clause is not actually a henna clause. It's a prothos clause.
But in order to be seen by them is the reason, the motivation. That's the improper motivation. Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people to be noticed by them. He goes on to say, otherwise, you have no reward with your father who's in heaven. If you do it like this, you're doing it just like the whole world does.
And he's saying, you, disciples, are to be different from the world. I mentioned last week, and I'll mention it probably a lot more times, that the real message of Christ and definitely the Sermon on the Mount is countercultural in every earthly culture. I can even go so far. I had somebody email me or text me this week, and they said, even church culture. Even church culture.
The Christian message should not be foreign to us, but oftentimes it is. And I think we'll see that throughout the text today that he's calling his disciples to an intense standard of obedience to the father who sees all that is done in secret. Take care not to practice your righteousness in the sight of people to be noticed by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your father who's in heaven. I won't go into the theology of rewards.
I will make a statement. I believe that the reward that Jesus is speaking of and Matthew is speaking to right here in his gospel is to know God completely, to live eternally with him, and to have full consciousness of his goodness, and to eventually, on that great mighty day, be actually glorified so that we can comprehend him even deeper, to know just as we are known. I think that is reward enough. Now we we could discuss the theology of rewards and how they get to be there. Jesus is saying, if you do things just like the world does them, you're doing them just like the world does them.
It doesn't have anything to do with my kingdom. There's a different way, and he's gonna outline that for us right here. So when you give to the poor now, this is presupposed that you are going to give to the poor, you being disciples. When you, my disciples, give to the poor, it is presupposed that disciples will give to the poor. It's not just for the people who have the gift of generosity.
It's not just for a certain segment of peoples, people who go into vocational ministry or mercy ministry. It is for disciples. It's presupposed that when you give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet before you. Don't make a big deal about it as the hypocrites do. Hypocrites, the play actors, the ones who wear a mask that is contrary to their heart.
As the as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, see that says that church culture even is challenged by these rules. The synagogues are the places of assembly. That's where God's people got together. He's saying, when you, disciples, give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet before you make a big big deal about it as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets. That is the way of the world.
And I can say that there are plaques aplenty giving praise to people for donations and gifts that they have given. And the text here goes on to say, again, the motivation, so that they will be praised by people. So that they will that's the motivation again stated. I like this word in Greek. I think that it helps with our head on in order to be seen by people or so that they will be praised by people.
The word there is doxazo doxazo, and this particular one for the grammar nerds, here are it's an aorist subjunctive passive third person plural from doxazo. Doxazo thing scene. It means so that they might be praised by men. Oh, not just praised. The word is to be rendered or esteemed as glorious.
In a very wide application, to be glorified, to be honored, to be glory bestowed upon. Does that sound like something that disciples should be seeking after? No. If we are to be on the spotlight, we should be giving praise to God. We should be deflecting any that comes our way towards him.
Truly, I say to you that they have their reward in full. If they ring a bell or they sound a trumpet or they let everybody know, hey, look what I just did. They have already received their reward in full. But strong disjunctive there. But when you, disciples, when again, it's presupposed that you will be giving.
If you're a disciple, it's presupposed. It's not just for a select few. It's for all of God's people. When you give to the poor, when you, disciples, I'm gonna keep on saying that because this message was delivered to a lot of different kinds of people. They were the people that showed up.
But Jesus is calling us, those of us who are disciples to a higher standard, and he's speaking to his disciples. Matthew's very explicit about that. When you, disciples, give to the poor, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Now I know the tax code goes against that. They wanna have every single dime accounted for, everything that you have given, and every kind of way that you do it.
I think that Jesus' point is don't think about it for too long. Don't pay so much attention to it. Just be obedient to the spirit's leading. And not letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing is pretty that mean that's that's hard for us to separate out. But he's saying, don't labor over this and keep such a close accounting.
If I ask you to give it, give it so that your charitable giving will be in secret. It shouldn't be something that everybody should hear about or know about. Even your left hand shouldn't know what your right hand puts in the plate. It's secret. So that your charitable giving will be in secret and your father who sees what is done in secret, he'll be the one that will reward you.
If you do it to be seen before people, you get your reward. I I actually go to some lengths not to I know what is given, and we had the business meeting, and I know how it turns out. But I don't know who gave what, and I put measures into place so that I won't know. I can say generally to the whole church, thank you for giving, but I don't know who gives what because I don't want the temptation of knowing who gives what. The father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
That's between you and God, not between you and the pastor and God. And when you pray oh, I love this too. And when you pray, it's presupposed. Disciples will pray. If you're my people, you're gonna listen to me, and you're gonna talk to me.
You're gonna communicate with me. You're gonna acknowledge me, God says. And when you pray, you're not to be like the hypocrite. Man, that's the second time those hypocrites have showed up in this passage. Hypocrites.
Hypocrites are play actors who betray their inner feelings by putting on a face that is different from their heart. When you pray, you're not to be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand up and pray in the synagogues, in the assembly, And they love to stand up and pray on the street corners. Luke actually gives an example of a pharisee that is given a prayer, a long and glorious prayer, eloquent. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people.
Again, so that they will be seen by people is an improper motivation. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. It's not the hardest part of this job, but a hard part of this job is that at a certain point in the service, somebody's gonna look at me and say, it's Ray's turn to pray in front of a whole group of people. And so to pray in sincerity to to your father who's in heaven is what we're told to do, to go into your prayer closet. Well, actually, I think the text says that.
Let me let me let the text say it before I get ahead of it. The truly I say to you, they have their reward in full was said in six two. It's said again in five and six right here in verse five. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. If they're shooting to be seen, if they're looking to be seen and they are seen, then they've got what they were looking for.
If you're trying to do God's will and God's way, he'll supply that and make that possible for you. This is the way that we are to do pray. It says, but as for you, disciples, when you, disciples, go and pray, go into your inner room and close your door and pray to your father who is in secret. He sees what's happening all the time. He sees it whether you're on the street corner or on the stage up here or in public somewhere, but he also sees in secret.
And your father who sees what is done in secret, he will reward you. It is a a close and intimate relationship between a disciple and God directly. Jesus has torn the veil, made direct access possible, and we should be taking that for real in quiet moments of prayer in our prayer closet. Now I've had guys come down. We were missionaries in Mexico, and every morning, we'd pray before we started the workday.
Was a good rallying point. We'd make a big circle. If we had 20 people, it's a 20 person circle. We had a 150 people. It's a 150 person circle.
We always pray for five things before the day started. We pray for the kids. We pray for safety on the work site. Pray for fruitful labor, you know, all this sort of stuff. And we had these five things, and so I would usually lead this little meeting and I'd say, okay.
Before we start, we wanna pray for the these five things. Who wants to pray for the kids? Who wants to pray for this? And there was a guy. We had all kinds of different people come down.
Some people were construction people, and they knew what they were doing. They knew how to use equipment. We had some people that were desk folks that didn't really but couldn't wait to tie some rebar. We had young and old. We had people who've been Christians for a long, long time, and we had people who were brand new baby Christians.
And one of the brand new baby Christians said that he had just heard about Jesus and taken him seriously and given his life to him just a couple weeks before and somebody invited him on a mission trip. And so he's down there and he's serving and when I circled up and we start doing the prayer, before I got to the fifth one, he raises his hand. I said, yeah, man, Andrew. You can you can pray for that. And he goes, no.
I got a question. I was like, What's the question? He goes, I mean, I've been reading the Bible and it says that if we're gonna pray, we need to do it in our prayer closet. Why are we doing it out here? Well, it's a good question.
I mean, I it's it's kinda just what we do. And it's a part of what we do. It's expected when we get together. We should pray corporately. I think that we should, but we should not pray corporately in order to be seen.
So when it's talking about almsgiving and when it's talking about prayer, it'll go on to talking about fasting. I think that there is a temptation that's ever before us. And Hudson Taylor, George Mueller, a lot of the missionary famous missionaries of the past have gone by, we'll pray to God about what we need, but we're not gonna tell everybody what we need. We're gonna pray to God about what we need. And the temptation from the front is to say, example, dear Lord, as we gather here this morning, we just wanna come before you and praise your name, lord.
If we could have a piano tuner to come and tune this piano, it'd be a wonderful thing, lord. I don't know what you might wanna do, lord, but the piano tune in is only $425 and if we just had a piano, you know what I'm saying? That's the temptation. When you pray in public to be heard because then you hear people and they go, hey, I could meet that need and they give the $425 and they want the name in the bulletin and you know what I'm saying? Like, the motivation gets it's easy to get the motivation off.
And I think that it's I think it's pertinent for all of us to recognize that we can fall into this because it's just the way of the world. It's the way of the world all the time. As for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door. For me, what I was saying is one of the harder jobs is to just be sincerely praying about the keep the main thing the main thing, and often our operatory prayers, Lord, do your will in your way. I don't know what it is.
I don't know. I mean, the piano does not need a tune. Okay? If we do tune the piano, everything's fine. Just a good example of close at hand, and it sounded beautiful this morning too.
You as disciples. If you're taking him seriously, he's calling you to a higher standard. Pay attention to it, and he who sees in secret will reward you. And when you are praying I like the verb tense difference right here. When you pray yeah.
That's good. Do it this way. This says, when you are praying, like in the midst of your prayers, right there, whenever you're speaking to God, it's presupposed his disciples will be praying. It's a continuous action verb. And Paul says, we are to pray without ceasing.
When you are praying, don't use thoughtless repetition as the Gentiles do. Gentiles, there is ethnikoi, which is a plural form, but it's actually an adjective in this case. Pagan, heathen, or gentile in Greek. But the noun form is a gentile, a non Jew, a heathen. It usually refers to non Israelites or a pagan, a non covenant person.
So we use gentile today to just say, you know, not Jewish, and that's what it meant then. But you can be a Gentile Christian. Right? Now, standing outside of God's covenant salvation is the thinking behind this word. So he's saying, when you are praying, do not use thoughtless repetition as the Gentiles, the nations, the everybody else does.
God himself has called you into an intimate relationship where you can share with him in the moment exactly what it is that you're thinking instead of doing a proscribed prayer that is already written down, you know exactly what it says. And if you say it in exactly the right way at exactly the right posture, then you'll get what you want. They think they'll be heard because of their many words. I've been to different kinds of temples in different kinds of places where you go in and people are spinning something and saying prayers and maybe even rocking a certain posture, saying a certain thing in a certain way, and that is not a prayer. That is a spell.
That's not good. That's not good. An incantation, if you will. God is saying you're not gonna be heard because of your many words. You'll be heard because of your sincerity in your heart.
So don't be like them. Don't be like them, for your father knows what you need. God already knows what you need. He already knows what they need, as a matter of fact, but they're not asking him. They're trying to get there or do that on their own merits by doing the right thing in the right way.
Your father knows what you need. Prayer is really an acknowledging you you acknowledging your need for God. That's what prayer is. Your father knows what you need before you ask him. If you're listening to him, he's letting you know what you need, and you can ask anything you want, Jesus says, in his name, and he'll give it to you.
Now that's not a magical incantation. Just put in Jesus name at the end of your prayer and you get get everything that you want. It is align your heart with the heart of God, and you will have all you need before you ask him. He knows prayer is you acknowledging your need for God. So the Lord's prayer goes right here.
It you know, the disciples ask in Luke, teach us to pray, and he does it. In Matthew, here it is. This is where the Lord's prayer is, and this is it, but I'm not gonna let you see it. I'm gonna just go for it. I'm a tell you another story.
So one time actually, when I made this slide, it was it was right after this. December 23, a few years ago, I went down towards Bondurant, and there's Forest Road 30530. It's, like, four miles from Bondurant. Someone had gotten stuck, had let me know. I pull people out of the snow all the time.
Not an unusual situation for me to be in. December 23, I went down to pull this person out in Tanya's Jeep. That's important. And they weren't just stuck in the ditch. They were a mile and a half off of the road on Forest Road 3530530, and I went down after them and found a real sloppy spot.
And as I'm passing the sloppy spot, I said, man, that was some kind of kerfuffle right there. The person said, yeah. That's where the tow truck got stuck last night. Yeah. Exactly.
I don't have a witch. I'm just in a tire you know, Jeep with street tires. And so I went, and I got down there, and I got stuck. And I mean, super stuck. And the car was also stuck.
So the next day, I came in. I called member long standing member here at the church, had a tractor, lived down that way, and I called another member of the church who had a snowmobile, and they both are hardworking guys and know how to get things unstuck. So we went down together. Carl went with me, and we went down there, and we got the chain hooked around the tractor, and the chain hooked around the Jeep. And just before he started to pull us out, he got out of the tractor and said, now that I've got both of my pastors here with me in sort of a compromised position, he said, why don't we say the Lord's Prayer every Sunday like we used to?
And rather than go into my theology of this being vain repetition, I said, we'll say it twice this coming Sunday. If you'll just get us unstuck. And so I I made this slide and we said it twice that next Sunday. And occasionally, we'll hit it. We don't do it as a matter of just rote expression because I think it's a beautiful prayer.
Absolutely beautiful prayer, but I think it's a model to follow, and we'll go into that at a later date when we're studying that. So I skipped the Lord's prayer. I went from verse eight to verse 16. Now whenever you fast oh my goodness. So his first example is when you give alms.
Second example is when you pray and when you are praying. And then the third example here is whenever it is that you fast. Now that is presupposed. It's not the same exact verbiage as it was before, but it said there are times when you will need to fast. There was there are times when you need to put aside some earthly need that you have.
And it might be food. It might be water. It might be food and water. It might be the Internet. It might be something else that you are used to using.
There are times when you do that. It says whenever you do that, though, whenever it is that you need to fast, whenever it is that you fast, don't make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do. Don't make a big deal about it. This is between you and God, and your loving father loves you. And when you need to concentrate efforts and and go and miss a couple of meals or maybe more, I mean, Jesus, forty days of fasting.
Wow. When it is that you need to do that, don't make a big deal about it. Don't make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do. It's kinda funny to me that when people do fast from the Internet, a lot of times their last Facebook post is let everybody know, and then they put it on Instagram, they put it everywhere else that they're I'm gonna fast from this. He's saying don't do that.
Don't whenever you fast, don't make a gloomy face as the hypocrites do. For they distort their faces so that they will be noticed by people when they are fasting, when they are doing this. They're seeing it as an an acetic practice to punish their body in order to gain favor with God. But the truth is everything on earth can be a distraction, and everything on earth can be an idol When we are concentrating our efforts on God showing us the way that he would have us to go, sometimes it's necessary to fast and put some of those things aside. But it's not to let other people know that we're doing that.
Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. He said it in verse two or three and verse five again. There's something worldly about that that he's asking us not to do. He's saying, but you're different. As for you, my disciples, when you fast, and this is you will have a time when it comes upon you that you need to, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.
Look like you look. Look like you normally look so that your fasting will not be noticed by people, but it will be noticed by your father who's in secret. And your father who sees what is done in secret, he'll reward you. Sometimes he'll reward you to that answer, that question that you're fasting over. Sometimes it rewards you in another way.
I don't know what it'll be. But the knowledge of his will is a good way that I can see that he rewards us both in the kingdom of heaven here and in the eventual glorification there. The heart of the matter. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Nothing that we have here is absolutely sure.
It can be destroyed. It can be eroded, and it can be taken from us. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. If you are a believer in Jesus and you are a disciple of Jesus, you already recognize this fact that whatever you have been given is at the disposal of God Almighty to direct as he sees fit. That's the way that that goes.
It's it's not just been given to you for you. And I'm not saying I don't want you to hear that preacher was saying, I ought to give all my money to First Baptist. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying whatever it is that you have as a disciple in Christ is at God's disposal to lead you to give however he would see fit. This is do not store up for yourselves, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moss nor rust destroys.
That is absolutely certain. It is the incorruptible hope that we have and where thieves do not break in or steal. And this is about investment. Where your treasure is, present, active, indicative, third person, singular. This is wherever your treasure is right now.
That's where your heart, future, indicative, middle. That's where your heart is going to be. Think about that. Wherever you are investing right now, that's where your heart will be. Wow.
Where your treasury is, there will your heart be also. I think the difference in that is something I had not noticed before. Man, I know the truth of the principle, but I don't think I've noticed the grammar of the sentence before. Where your heart will be is where your treasure is. So be invested in things that reflect where you want your heart to be.
The eye is the lamp of the body. This verse to me has always been so psychedelic that I thought it was incomprehensible, and and I just kinda not ignored it, but I didn't understand it at all. The eye is the lamp of the body. Now the reason I think it's incomprehensible is because eyes don't shine like this. Now some people say, well, her eyes were shining, and his eyes were shining.
I noticed that gleam in their eye. The eye being the lamp of the body, it is the place that light comes through into our body. Now whether they had a a different vision of how eyes worked at the time, I'm not really sure. But the eye is the lamp of the body. That word for eye is ophthalmos, which we get ophthalmic or ophthalmologist.
We have one of those in our church, actually. The eye. Figuratively, it's the mind's eye. So the eye literally or figuratively, by implication, it is our vision or the way that we see things. Figuratively, it can also be used as envy.
Not as much in the Bible. In the Bible, it's used one time for that. The side eye, like seeing something someone else has and being covetous or jealous of it. It's used once like that in the New American Standard. But usually, it's eye or eyes, your gaze or your sight.
The eye is the lamp to the body. So then, if your eye, or let's say your lens, your vision, your capacity to understand what's going on around you figuratively, your mind's eye, if the eye is the lamp of the body and enlightens the whole body, if your eye is clear and gives a true reflection of what's actually going on, then your whole body is gonna be full of light. Okay? If we look around and see what's going on, truly, the way that God sees it, our whole body will be full of light, and we'll be the city on a hill that is casting that light all around. Can't be hidden.
If your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, and it just says bad. Bad. That's bad. If your eye is bad, if your lenses are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
Now take into account that as human beings, we have a skewed view of what's going on. And when we have given our lives to Christ and when we have come to know his Holy Spirit and he begins to direct us, he says, live by faith and not by your earthly sight what you're seeing. I will give you new eyes. I'll give you a way of seeing this. If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness because you're seeing things and thinking through a cultural lens, maybe a political lens, maybe a socioeconomic lens, maybe you're just a cultural lens.
You will see things through that rather than through clear lenses like God provides for us. When we sing the song, give me your eyes for just one second, Lord. Give me your eyes. Let me see, or turn your eyes upon Jesus, or open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me. Right?
It when we sing that, we're asking for him to take out our lenses, which don't work, and give us new lenses. I have these this morning. Several of the slides didn't make it from my office to the booth up there. And so I had several slides, and I I had to read out of an actual paper Bible. And I put these on because I can see y'all just fine.
But if it's right here, I can't tell I have fingerprints. I can barely tell I have big lines on my hands. But if I put these on, I was like, wow. That's the we want the good lenses. We wanna be able to see what God wants us to see.
And since like I said, I thought these these couple of verses were kinda psychedelic. But what is immediately before it says, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Then it says this, and then the next thing that it says is no one can serve two masters. So our eyes are gonna be adjusted for either one master or the other. No one can serve two masters, and the word for master there is not employer.
It's not boss. It is slave owner. It's the master. No one can serve two slave owners. Every one of us, it is saying, is a slave.
No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. Two masters, if you think about it, in the terminology that's used, it's a slave owner. I wanna read something for you. I gotta put my glasses on to do that. A man may work for two employers, and we know that in our society.
A lot of people have two jobs. Some people have three jobs. And you can work for somebody eight hours a day and somebody else two hours a day and then a gig over here and a gig over there, and that's fine. Nobody's expecting you to be working a 100 of the time for them. But at this time, if you were a slave, you were completely committed to your master, whether you wanted to be or not.
You just were. And if you had two of those, imagine being a slave and having two masters. It's it's it's ridiculous. Nobody can serve as a slave for two different masters. It's just not possible.
For either you hate the one and you love the other, or you'll be devoted to one and despise the other. The next part of that sentence is this, you cannot serve God and wealth. So either God will be your master or wealth will be your master. And here's what I wanna read. A man may work for two employers, but since single ownership and full time service are the very essence of slavery, he cannot serve two slave owners.
Either God is served with a single eyed devotion or he is not served at all. Attempts at a divided loyalty betray, not partial commitment to discipleship, but deep seated commitment to idolatry. Yeah. That's a powerful last slide. That I think that is the last slide actually too.
This is something that Jesus is sitting in your lap right now for you to consider and going, the way of the world is to be noticed, and it's not unnatural. It's natural for you to want to be noticed when you give or when you fast or when you pray even. But he's saying, I don't want you to be like the rest of the world. I'm calling you into doing good works. God's plan a is that his obedient servants would do his will in such a way that their motivation is to please him, not other people, and that those other people would recognize that fact and glorify their our father who's in heaven.
That's all folks. I put that one up to just make sure all the slides are still in there. They are. That was a lot easier this time too. I didn't have to tap dance at all.
Not much anyway. Would you stand up? I think this this we're gonna sing all four verses of this song, and I think the progression we did this one time for a communion service. And I think that the progression of this song is so important to recognize that what we're saying, God, is we want your lenses. So search me.
You search me. Let me know if there's any wicked way in me. Let me see it, and then cleanse me. I praise you for cleansing me, recognizing that he can and does. And then, Lord, take my life and do with me whatever you will, and then Holy Ghost revival comes from you.
It has to be on you. It can't be on me. And so I want your righteousness. I wanna act out of that. Would you sing with me all four verses of cleanse me?
Number six fifty seven. Amen. And the benediction for today is this one. It's from Matthew eleven twenty nine. We're working our way there.
Jesus is describing to his disciples and says to them that his burden is easy. That doesn't sound right, does it? It is though. He had no sin debt to pay at all. He voluntarily took on ours, and he's saying, live in that.
Live in the forgiveness. Live in the blamelessness that I'm going to provide for you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and I'm humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. In Jesus' name, Lord, may that be true for us this week. Amen.
