Beware Hypocrisy (Matthew 6:1-18)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Lights, camera, action. These are common words that we associate with the filming of a tv show or movie. Where actors begin to shoot their various scenes that audiences will later become glued to. But when we think of these actors, do we see the truth of who they really are?
For those older, consider the legend of John Wayne. Portrayed on the screen as a tough cowboy. But in real life John Wayne was only tough in the sense of playing football. Otherwise he was nothing more than your normal California boy. He was no six shooter carrying guy except on the screen.
For others, if you don’t remember John Wayne, think of your favorite actor and think of who they really are in life, my guess those action scenes, romance scenes, family scenes aren’t quiet who they really are. They are actors who portray something they are not. And in acting they put on a mask to portray their character for the camera. Maybe not a physical mask, but a mask nonetheless.
But these actors for the screen aren’t the only ones who act, so do the religious. And some of the biggest actors of religion are not those who tell others to do something and fail to do it, but those who do religious acts but from an impure heart. And that is what we are going to talk about this morning as we continue to make our way through the Sermon on the Mount in our study of the gospel according to Matthew.
So I hope you have a copy of God’s word, and I invite you to go ahead and open up to Matthew 6:1-18. And if you do not have a copy, I invite you to take one of the Red Pew Bibles there in front of you and you can find our passage on page #964.
While you are turning there, let me get us all back up to speed of where we have been so far in our study of Matthew. We can sum it up by saying Matthew 1-4 was an introduction to who Jesus is and the beginning of his public ministry, particularly his proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. That is the good news of God’s kingdom drawing near, of his rule preparing to come.
But as Jesus calls his followers to himself, he begins to teach them about what it means to enter this kingdom, the message of good news. In fact, the part of Matthew’s gospel account we are in right now, The Sermon on the Mount which extends from Matthew 5:1 with Jesus ascent up the mountain until Matthew 8:1 with his descent back down the mountain, Jesus is teaching his disciples that to enter God’s kingdom that they must have a righteousness greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees as we saw back in Matthew 5:20. That is a righteousness greater than the best religious teachers of history. A righteousness that is not only greater, but perfect. Matthew 5:48 “48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
The righteousness needed for entrance to the kingdom is not a righteousness that can be lived out or earned. It is a righteousness that comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as revealed through Scripture alone.
This is important for us to remember as we continue to consider this call to greater righteousness, because it is not a righteousness that comes from us, but from Jesus. But then as this righteousness is worked out in us, into our hearts as Jesus writes the law of God on our hearts, that righteousness is to begin to flow out of us into righteous deeds, and that is where we now turn this morning with our text in Matthew 6:1-18.
Main Idea: If our righteousness is not pursued for the glory of God, then it is hypocritical and no righteousness at all.
We are going to unfold this in three points from the three examples found in our text: (1) 3 Righteous Acts, (2) 2 Different Glories, and (3) 1 Righteous Path.
Point #1: 3 Righteous Acts
Point #1: 3 Righteous Acts
Verse 1…
We start with a call to beware. That is to pay close attention to danger ahead. Particularly in what Jesus is telling us, to pay close attention to the practicing of our righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. This is the main thing that Jesus is here teaching his disciples both then and here now.
As he teaches this warning, he focuses on three specific acts of righteousness acts to make his point. Therefore, before we can further consider the warning, we must pause for a moment and consider these three righteous acts of giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting to rightly understand the warning.
For as Jesus has been teaching that if any are to enter the kingdom of heaven that he has been proclaiming, they must have a greater righteousness than that of the scribes and the Pharisees, that they must be perfect as their heavenly father is perfect by having a pure heart, a heart that obeys, not just external actions.
Of course the truth of the matter is, that we can never do this on our own. But this is exactly what Jesus has come to do. He has come to save us from our sin, he has come to write God’s law on our hearts and to give us his righteousness if we will come and rest in him.
The righteousness of Christ comes by grace through faith in Christ. But this grace does not mean that as disciples of Jesus we are to ignore our need to continually pursue righteousness and godliness. In fact it is because of this grace that we are now able to obey in the first place.
And therefore the expectation for us as Christians is to obey these righteous acts. The righteous acts of giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting are expected of us as we follow Jesus as his disciples. Not just the super spiritual, but every disciple, every Christian.
Consider here the language Jesus uses with each one of these righteous acts. Verse 3, when you give to the needy. Verse 5, when you pray. Verse 16, and when you fast.
These are not if-then statements where Jesus is giving instructions to those who decide to practice these acts of righteousness. He is making plain his expectation here for these three to be part of our ordinary Christian discipleship.
And following the order given here by King Jesus, let’s give attention to each of these righteous acts to understand what we are expected to do.
First, the righteous act of giving to the needy. Again there in verse 3, the expectation is for disciples of Jesus to give to the needy. Part of righteousness is to be quick to be generous to those who are poor and in need of aide. To help share and have things in common with them, to meet their needs.
Giving to the needy is an act of righteousness and it is expected of those following Jesus. We see this in the early church, they had all things in common. Acts 2:44 “44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.” Acts 4:34–35 “34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.”
Now while not in this moment calling all of us to go and sale our houses, we are called to ensure those who are being joined to us in the local church are caring for one another. This is one of the primary ways we ensure the needy are cared for.
Likewise, helping those in need as able around us. Meeting needs in our community, laboring for the ultimate good of our community in helping all to thrive as best as can.
And lest any among us are tempted to escape this call, let us remember King Jesus’ teaching on the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37. Where it was asked and who is my neighbor and Jesus teaches that the good neighbor is the one who shows mercy to those in need and we then are to go and do likewise.
This is the first act of righteousness that Jesus expects of his disciples. The second, is that of prayer.
Prayer is a righteous act, because it is a means to communicate with our Holy Father in confession, praise, and declaration. It is a righteous act that we as disciples are expected to take part in.
Like that of both giving to the needy and prayer, fasting is an expected and common righteous act. For in fasting, while it is left vague here on the details of length and what, is to be a normal part of our Christian lives. A discipline that most, myself included struggle with. In part, because of the vagueness of this act of righteousness for our Christian lives.
And yet, fasting is one of those disciplines that can be something as skipping breakfast, or breakfast and lunch to devote that time you would spend eating to prayer and further meditation. It can be in the form of giving up something good to devote time to the LORD. To fast is to deprive of something for the purpose of pursuing God, seeking to draw near to him. But the good news is that it can look very different given that we do not have parameters on this. Therefore someone who is more frail, who struggles to get enough food as is, don’t fast more than a meal. Or fast part of a meal with the aim of seeking the LORD during that time. Seek medical advice if you are in a unique situation on how to do it safely. But as Christians we are expected to fast.
Giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting are three common pursuits of righteousness. But does pursuing these alone make one righteous? Yes, maybe, depends.
Point #2: 2 Different Glories
Point #2: 2 Different Glories
Giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting are indeed acts of righteousness. But is this the greater righteousness King Jesus has called us to? By no means.
For consider this reality, giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting are acts that are part of every religion. Jews, Christian, and Muslim for certain all practice these. I believe also Hindus and Buddhists.
In fact, right now Muslims around the world are fasting and praying as they celebrate Ramadan. Muslims will fast from sunrise to sundown from all food and water, regardless of if athletes, cooks, etc. Does this make them righteous? No.
The Jews in Jesus day, especially that of the scribes and Pharisees they would give to the needy, pray, and fast, were they righteous in doing this? No, they were not. Because as important as these acts of giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting are, they must be done from a pure heart. A heart that seeks not to perform them before man, hence the warning that Jesus began this section with. Again, let us look back to verse 1…
A true and right righteousness is not lived out for men to see. It is not done for religious tradition. It is not done to earn favor before God. The acts of righteousness are to be done in a heart that seeks to glorify our Father in heaven because of our adoption as his children. This is summed up in what the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31 “31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
And it is this point that Jesus seeks to make plain to us as we follow him and live out a greater righteousness. He wants us to beware of how we practice our righteousness. He wants us to avoid living as the hypocrites do.
It must be noted here though who these hypocrites are. It is not as if the scribes and Pharisees and other religious of Jesus’ day told others to do these acts, but failed to do them themselves. They above all people did these acts. So they are not hypocrites in avoiding these. They are hypocrites in that they performed these practices of righteousness for the wrong reasons, or we could say for the wrong glory.
We see this first with Jesus’ describing of the hypocrites and their giving to the needy. Verse 2…
The hypocrites seek their own glory as they seek the praise of men. They perform their giving where they will be seen and commended by their fellow Jews. They sound their own trumpets in their giving. They boast of how they have given and met needs for others. This is not the way of greater righteousness. In fact, this is no righteousness at all.
Greater righteousness is done in giving to the needy in secret. Verses 3-4…
Greater righteousness is had as we give to the needy in secret, as we seek not our own self-glory, but seek to love God and love our neighbor. It is doing it in secret, not worrying about doing it for praise here, but doing it before our Father who sees in secret, knowing we do it for his glory.
Therefore, Christian, let us give to the needy in secret, not even allowing our own left and right hand to know we are giving. This is greater righteousness practiced for the glory of God alone!
The second act of righteousness that Jesus addresses is that of prayer. Again warning us to beware of practicing our righteousness before others like the hypocrites. Verse 5…
Once more the hypocrites practice an act of righteousness outwardly, but inwardly for the wrong reason. They do so not for the glory of their Father in heaven, but their own self-glory. They pray not to seek the face of God to shine upon them, they seek their own face to shine before others. For they stand in the synagogues and on the street corners where people will certainly hear their prayers. They are glory seekers for themselves, and we as those who seek a greater righteousness are not to do as these.
Instead, as those in pursuit of greater righteousness are to seek not our own glory in prayer, but God’s. And therefore we are not to pray in public before others, but are to seek a place alone with the LORD to pray. Verse 6…
Now, because many of us grew up on the old King James Version of the Bible, we may often remember reading this as a call to enter one’s closet. But we must not think we must enter an actual closet here to be faithful and not a hypocrite.
Jesus merely teaches us here to withdraw as we seek to get alone to pray. To go to an isolated place, an inner room of the house where will not be disturbed or tempted to pray for an audience. But one can also seek to get away in nature, in an isolated spot and pray to the LORD with undivided attention. And where the aim is the LORD, not others.
Likewise here we must also consider this call to secret prayer being teaching us about private, individual prayer, not that of corporate prayer.
We are not to stop praying together and for one another for the purpose of building one another up. This is something that Jesus’ disciples modeled for us in the start of the church in Acts 2 and 4. The people would pray together as they were gathered.
But the same principal can and should be applied to corporate prayer as secret prayer, whose glory are we seeking in it? Whether in secret or corporate prayer, are we praying to glorify ourselves or our Father in heaven?
Prayer is a righteous practice that is meant to glorify God by our declaring our ongoing dependence on our Father for our every need. We will see this even more next week when we come back to Matthew 6:9-15 and focus solely on the LORD’s Prayer.
Therefore let us beware of using prayer for the wrong purpose, in pursuit of the wrong glory. Likewise, when we pray, let us not think we are heard because of our many words. Verses 7-8….
We need not use many words, because our Father knows our needs before we ask them. We must simply acknowledge our need in his aid and care.
Hypocrites will not pray to seek the glory of God, but their own. Brothers and sisters, we must beware of such hypocrisy creeping into our own prayer lives. We must avoid seeking the wrong glory.
The third practice of righteousness is fasting. Again, we must beware of practicing our righteousness before others as they hypocrites. Verse 16…
They hypocrites again in fasting fail to do it for seeking the LORD and his glory as they seek to draw near to him. They do it as a means of declaring how righteous they are or they think they are. Therefore they make sure their faces are disfigured so that others may see them and declare to them how righteous they are. They fast for their glory, the wrong glory.
But, we who are to pursue greater righteousness, Jesus tells us to fast in secret. Verses 17-18…
Our fasting is for the purpose of God’s glory in us seeking him through this spiritual discipline as we aim to grow in godliness. It reminds us that we need God even more than we need bread.
These three acts of righteousness are called for, but only when pursued for the right glory, God’s glory. But this can go further, for all of our lives are to be lived for the glory of God.
For even in thinking back to the call for us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, Jesus teaches us that we are to let our light shine so that others will see. But what is the glory aim? Not ours, but our Fathers. Matthew 5:16 “16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Our righteousness, our good works are to shine, but they are to shine for the glory of our Father who is in heaven. And this is to be true of the entirety of our lives Christian. All we do is to be for the glory of God and not our own glory.
Point #3: 1 Righteous Reward
Point #3: 1 Righteous Reward
Again, back to verse 1…
What is at stake here is massive. Jesus again has told us that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Unless our righteousness be that of a greater righteousness, that of a perfect righteousness as our Father is perfect.
So what is at stake here? It is not the earning of a greater righteousness. It is a greater righteousness being worked out in us from the Holy Spirit. A righteousness where we stop living for the shallow temporary reward of the praise of men. And where we start living for the glory of our Father in heaven. Seeking to exalt him, since it is he who has adopted us in Christ, making us sons. The reward we are called over and over again then to live for is this, to practice righteousness before our Father in secret, because he sees our righteousness in secret and he will reward this righteousness, this greater righteousness. A righteousness that is practiced and pursued by his children. A righteousness that he is working out in us because of our union with Christ and through that of the Holy Spirit.
So friend, what reward are you seeking? For there shall only be one. Will you receive your reward as others praise you for your giving to the needy? Will you receive your reward as your prayers are heard in the synagogue, the streets, and the local Bible Church? Will you receive your reward as you disfigure your face while fasting to get a pat on the back? Or will you seek to practice righteousness for the sake of the glory of God who sees in secret and rewards such faithfulness, even when no one is looking?
Friends, you can practice righteousness all you want before others. You can be thought of as one who is truly righteous, but the greater righteousness that Jesus calls his disciples to is a perfect righteousness, a righteousness of heart that aims to please the Father who is in heaven.
Therefore, friend, if you have yet to believe in Jesus, see that you need to change the direction of whose glory you are living for. You need to see the glory of our great God and see that you can glorify him today by acknowledging your failure to live for his glory and seeing that in Jesus you can glorify him as you come to rest in him for your salvation.
