Martyn Lloyd-Jones says of this next section of Christ’s sermon that it is centered on life in the presence of God (Lloyd-Jones, 289). We have learned what a Christian is (not does), how the world views a Christian, and how a Christian interacts with others. Now we see what it looks like to live in close proximity to the presence of God the Father. Jesus started this section with a teaching on practicing religion privately. Your private practice of religion (your true ethos) is more important to God than your public practice of religion. On the heals of saying that we need to obey the law perfectly from the heart (which can only be done through Jesus), He now wants us to understand that perfect law-keeping is a private affair before it is a public affair.
Integrity in Religious Practice
If you want to know what motivates you to obey God besides your love for God, think about integrity. Integrity is who you are when no one is looking. So the question we need to ask in this section of Jesus’ sermon is what does my private devotional life and my private worship look like? Does my PDA (public display of adoration) look similar to my private life, or is it embellished to make me look better than I really am?
Jesus is looking for integrity in three areas of religious practice:
1. How we approach our generosity
2. How we approach our prayer life
3. How we approach fasting
This section of Jesus’ sermon is all about our motive for giving and serving. It begs a couple more questions in our evaluation of this teaching:
Why do I do what I do at church? Why do I do what I do in society?
The false motive of law-keeping is recognition and praise by other people. Jesus began this important teaching with the charitable act of giving, after all, could giving ever be done selfishly? Actually, it can, and Jesus wanted us to understand this truth.
The false motive of law-keeping is recognition and praise by other people.
Giving To The Needy
Jesus says in Matthew 6:1–4,
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
Jesus starts with a statement on righteousness, because generosity, prayer and fasting all flow from our desire to practice righteousness. But what is the motive behind our righteous pursuits? That is the question. Jesus stares with giving. Giving to the needy, or alms-giving, was an important part of honoring God through the law (Deut. 15:11). God cares about impoverished people, and uses financially blessed people to spread His wealth of provision to the world. Charity towards the needy is part of what James called pure religion. But as with any part of religion, it can be done selfishly. D.A. Carson points out that not only did Pharisees create a procession in their giving with trumpet blast and fanfare (thus the expression “tooting your own horn”), but also asserts that temple trumpets were blown to signify a need to be met by the religious community. Those who wanted to be seen as generous people would be sure to be a part of the parade running to the temple to be counted and recognized as righteous (Carson, 73).
Jesus’ goal here was to take religion out of giving and put worship back into it. Jesus was keen to recognize that those of us who have been abundantly blessed tend to struggle with two attitudes in our generosity toward others:
Attitude 1 - I am a god of provision and should be praised as such.
If you need your name attached to a gift, it was about you, not Jesus.
If you need to be thanked for a gift, it was about you, not Jesus.
If you need to be respected as generous because of giving, it’s about you, not Jesus.
If you think you have given enough and have met a quota of giving, it’s been about you, not about Jesus.
Attitude 2 - You are less than me because you need my provision.
If there are strings attached to your giving, it’s about you, not Jesus.
If you are criticizing through gossip and slander someone you have needed to generously help, your giving is about you, not Jesus.
If you feel the need to remind someone again and again of your generosity towards them, it’s about you, not Jesus.
Are there times when it is okay not to give to someone who asks for your generosity? Yes, there are arguably a few circumstances that should cause us to be slow to give generously:
Circumstance 1: When the Holy Spirit dis-quiets my heart against the request for charity.
I don’t believe this happens often, and we must remember that it is probably easier to talk ourselves out of giving when the Holy Spirit tells us to give than it is to talk ourselves into giving when the Holy Spirit says not to give. But each act of generosity should be approached under the leadership of the Holy Spirit so that we can evaluate our motives. I have experienced a couple of situations as a pastor where I did not have peace to give to an initiative brought to our church, only to later find out it was a scam by a con-artist using the charity of the church to personal advantage.
Circumstance 2: When giving to someone aids in their own cycle of poverty, need or laziness.
We don’t need to be critical of people on the street asking for assistance. They need the compassionate care and love of Christ through us. Unfortunately, money isn’t always the best gift because it can turn into more drugs and alcohol. It is okay to think twice about giving money to strangers, but it is also okay to give $20 without question if we know the Holy Spirit is calling us to do so! It is good to be in the habit of always asking “what can I do that would make the Gospel beautiful?” Maybe it is bringing back food and sitting with that homeless person for a few minutes. At our church we cap our deacons fund annual allowance because it is important that the church isn’t the fallback plan for someone’s poor financial decisions. We also offer financial advisors within the church body to people who continually struggle in this way.
Circumstance 3: When giving to someone hinders my own primary financial obligations (not goals).
On more than one occasion we have had young believers with a wonderfully pure and passionate zeal give the financial shirt off their back in an effort to experience the grandeur of generosity, not because they were pressed to do so. The problem was, they couldn’t afford to eat afterwards, so they came to the church to ask for money for food. It’s okay not to have the money to help when your budget is restricted. It’s okay to make a need known that you can’t meet yourself.
Circumstance 4: When the request for a gift is simply a social fad that determines the definition of your generosity.
I can’t tell you how often I feel pressured to give to causes as if my very reputation depended on it, from guilt trip commercials to the person at the checkout counter asking me to round up my change. I better support missionaries, and I better have colored ribbons on my car, and I better bring a gift to the shower, and I better be willing to make a meal! None of those things are bad when done for Jesus, but so often we do them to try to stay in a social credit positive position in our community. A misnomer has come out of this teaching that if someone praises you, you will lose your crown in heaven. There are two problems with that:
If this is true, Jesus and the disciples took away a lot of crowns in their preaching, teaching and writing, include the poor widow who gave her mite because they consistently commended people serving God throughout their sermons and letters.
Secondly, the crown metaphor is simply that: a metaphor. Heaven is about Jesus, the rest is superfluous. If you are interested in heaven for the tangible, you are interested in the wrong thing, and that may be a dangerous thing in the purity of your faith.
Remember that Jesus sees and knows what you do, and He will find quiet ways of letting you know what He sees and knows.
Prayer
From our motive in generosity, Jesus moves to a more personal practice of righteousness: prayer. Matthew 6:5–6 says,
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
I grew up around "KJV praying" and people who would pray with “thees and thous” on Sunday and curse like a sailor at work on Monday. The Pharisees were pretending to be religious for public accolades. Instead of “play-acting” in their religion, they were “pray-acting”. This verse doesn’t preach well in our context today because people aren’t praying at all, privately or publicly. There is, however, room to be critical of fake religion in a couple of ways:
1. All too often we play the part of worshipper in church while our lives are filled with sinful attitudes and behaviors. I myself have been guilty of lifting my hands and singing words during worship music at church while thinking critical thoughts towards the very people singing a few rows away from me. John 4:24 says “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Worship is the work of capturing the affection of our heart and the attention of our mind through focusing on the truth and power of the Gospel. If I’m “worshipping” because that is what my church is doing right now without connecting from my soul, than I’m just pray-acting.
2. We are overrun with people who continually flaunt what they think they know about God, the church and religion as they become the critical analysis experts on everyone else they don’t agree with. I’m over the pomp of external theologizing. People need Jesus, not debates. We don’t care what you know, we care Who you know if Who you know is named King of kings and Lord of Lords! I’ll be spending some time talking specifically about prayer next week, and in weeks and months to come, but suffice it to say, prayer is first and primarily a private conversation with God that should overflow into a public conversation with God.
Prayer is first and primarily a private conversation with God that should overflow into a public conversation with God.
Fasting
From generosity to personal prayer, Jesus goes to an even more personal level: fasting. Matthew 6:16–18 continues “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." This is another passage that doesn’t really connect in our context because people today can’t hardly go without the internet, let alone food. When we fast, we are not setting aside something unnecessary or useful, but rather something that is a good and helpful thing, that can actually become a “god-thing” in our lives if we allow it. There are three main types of fasts mentioned and addressed in the Bible: food, alcohol (strong drink or wine is mentioned) and sex (between two consenting married partners).
In Biblical times, as today, food was necessary. Fasting from food focused the mind on the provision of God and His sustaining power. Jesus said during His fast and temptation in Matthew 4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”, and He was quoting Deut. 8:3, the Law! Food becomes gluttony when it becomes our comfort. Food becomes idolatry when it becomes our focus and identity.
Alcohol was less necessary from a sustenance stand point, but from a sanitation standpoint it was very necessary. Wine wasn’t grape juice, it was a way to ensure gut health. But our health is ultimately sustained by God, not by ourselves. Alcohol becomes drunkenness when it becomes the fulfillment of our desire for joy, peace, sanity or acceptance.
Without sex the nation of Israel would have died off. Of course sex is necessary to human thriving and flourishing, but God is the author of life and of sex. He designed it to be held in honor within the union of one and one woman for life. Sex becomes adultery and immorality when it becomes the fulfillment of our pursuit for pleasure or attention. Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 7 that there times a married couple may want to fast from sex to deal with an issue in their marriage, but that both spouses should be on the same page about the fast, and that it shouldn’t be forever, but for a set time to accomplish unity.
There is even more to fast from in our culture today. We have necessary evils that can take over our lives quickly if not kept in balance: Cell Phones can run our lives if not kept in check as a tool. Social Media can become an obsession and identity if we are not careful. Education can become our divine voice when place at equal level with God’s wisdom and pre-eminence. Sports can become a total distraction to church and time with the church body when it becomes our church. I could name many more things. All of these things can be good and helpful, and all of these things can be equally idolatrous.
Of course, let us not forget that this was not a teaching about fasting itself, but rather the motive behind fasting! We may not be guilty of being dramatic in our fasting, but we can certainly struggle not to be dramatic in our sacrificial service to God and the church. I have commonly heard believers express their continual exhaustion and fatigue with all they are doing that is good. Sometimes these expressions are made so that I and others will praise them and thank them and feel indebted to them. At other times, they are passive-aggressively warning me not to ask or require anything else of them. In either case, the joy and privilege of serving the Lord is not coming from their lips, but rather the burden of their religion is being communicated. My wife and I constantly remind each other that when we go to bed at night, we want to be good and tired because it means we have given everything we can to God and others in love. We want to die completely spent. Exhaustion is a sign we are on the right track, and it elicits joy in our hearts. Heaven will be the great sabbatical we are longing for, and we won’t even need it because we will have all the energy our bodies were designed to have for worship.
Legalism Vs. Righteousness
Jesus’ concern with generosity, prayer and fasting in this sermon was not the acts themselves, but how and why we perform those acts! Legalism says: "Look at the acts I perform and make me feel good about them." Righteousness says: "Jesus, I’m looking at you and I can’t help but want to make my whole life about you." Righteousness says to others: "Look at Jesus, isn’t He wonderful!"
Allow me to give the apostle Paul the final word on this topic in his description of someone we know had the purist of motives in his service and sacrifice. He is the example we want to emulate.
"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Philippians 2:3–8
References
Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (1976). Studies in the sermon on the Mount: One-volume edition. Wm.B.Eerdmans Publishing Co.
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