Doing the Right Things for the Right Reasons?

Now, Sabina, just before you sit down, I have one question for you.

How can we best be praying for you this week?

Well, I have a bit of a problem in that I really feel like I should donate to charity.

And it's either £2,000 or £3,000.

And I'm not quite sure.

We're saving for a house, so I'm tending more towards the £2,000.

But the charity does give you a lovely little emblem on their wall if you donate £3,000 or plus, which also sounds quite attractive.

And also, I mean, maybe you can join me just fasting about this topic.

It's weighing heavy on my heart.

And I know that fasting is really difficult.

And I'm not sure I'm even going to make it past the first day because it's just so exhausting with work and everything else that goes on.

And, you know, we need the energy and the food.

But maybe you'd like to join me in fasting too.

So I'd really appreciate that.

Now, I wonder if you were having that conversation with Sabina and she gave you that response.

What would you think her motives are?

So she's talking about doing good and doing right things, but for the wrong reasons.

And that's what we see this evening in our passage in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

People are doing the right things, but for the wrong reasons.

So in chapter 5, Jesus was teaching the people about the law of God and correcting their misunderstandings and misapplications of the law.

And that part of the Sermon of the Mount ended with the command in chapter 5, verse 48.

You can look at there where it says,

Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

In the verses that we're looking at this evening, I hope that we will both be comforted and challenged.

Because Matthew 6 acts like a mirror for our motives.

We stand before it with all our religious and devotional practices.

And we see that we're either doing things to serve the Lord,

or we're doing them to be seen by others.

What will we find this evening?

Will we find a heart that desires to serve the Lord and therefore does the right things for the right reasons?

Or will we find a heart that is stained by sin and that does the practices of giving,

praying, and fasting, not for the glory and honor of God,

but instead to receive honor and glory from mankind.

So Jesus focuses on giving, praying, and fasting.

And he is teaching that as Christians, as people who want to live lives that glorify him in every way,

we need to do these things for the right reasons.

But why does Jesus pick these things in particular?

Why doesn't he focus on something else?

I think Jesus picked these three topics because they were the religious practices of the day that were being abused.

But these truths are timeless.

These practices can be misused just as much today as they were back then.

We can do and we should do the right things like giving, praying, and fasting,

but we need to be doing them for the right reasons.

And that is what Jesus is asking us this evening.

Are you doing the right things for the right reasons?

And look with me at verse 1.

Jesus starts with an introductory comment that summarizes pretty much everything we're going to be speaking about this evening.

In verse 1 he says,

Now this is a sober warning for every Christian.

The practices of righteousness that Jesus is speaking about are the religious act of devotion to God.

These practices should not be done so that other people can see us and give us praise,

but they are to be done for our Father in heaven.

Now this doesn't mean that people won't see us doing these things.

I hope that everyone on this earth sees or hears a Christian live out their faith during their everyday life.

Jesus isn't telling us to go run to the hills and hide in caves away from everyone else,

but he's shining light on our motives.

These practices of righteousness are the good and right things that Christians should be doing,

but we need to do them for the glory of our Heavenly Father.

And so in verse 2, and in verses 2 to 4, Jesus speaks about giving.

And he hones in on this topic, but do you notice he doesn't wade in gently.

There is no sugarcoating on this teaching.

It flies right in the face of the wrong motives and practices that were at play in his day and that are at play today.

This week I had a quick search on the internet and discovered that the two topics that make most British people feel uncomfortable,

the two topics that people try to avoid are religion and money.

We spend so much of our lives working, saving, budgeting, worrying about how much money we need to save for that house,

for that car, for that holiday.

And those are all good things.

But how often do we take time to think about giving?

Now this isn't talking about just giving a few pounds to a homeless person as you walk to work.

But this is calculated giving.

You've sat down and you've thought about it properly.

And notice how Jesus starts in verse 2.

When you give.

So Jesus expects people to give of their finances as a sign of their devotion to and love for the Lord.

He could have started with if you give.

But he started with when you give.

And two kinds of giving are mentioned here.

Religious giving in verse 2 and giving to the needy in verse 3.

So for us you have giving to the church and giving to those in need.

In verse 2, read along with me.

He says,

When you give, do not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites do.

Now why do they announce it with trumpets?

To be honoured by others.

We've all seen this, haven't we?

Companies that have billions of billions of pounds in revenue

hold a press conference to hand over a check to a charity.

Celebrities take selfies in soup kitchens on Christmas day.

Or more everyday examples.

People bragging about how much they donate to charities

or casually dropping it in a conversation here and there.

Or people going forward during collection in a church,

not once, not twice, but three times,

making sure that people see them.

Now these are all good things that we should be doing,

but are they being done for the right reason?

Jesus says that people do this to be honoured by others.

And the original word there that the NIV translates as honoured

is better translated as praise or worship.

So these hypocrites want to be worshipped for their giving.

They're seeking the attention and glory instead of giving it to God.

But I think if we're all honest, we struggle with this one.

Our sinful hearts want to receive all the praise from those around us.

We don't want to naturally give it to God.

In verses 3, Jesus says,

When you give, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

so that your giving may be in secret.

Now people have used this verse to argue for absolute secrecy.

But if you look at it in its context of the whole chapter,

you see Jesus warning people not to glorify or draw attention to their giving.

So it's not that we need to hide our giving and almost be ashamed of it,

but we aren't to draw attention to it.

Jesus is saying, forget about yourself when you give.

Instead, give to and give for God.

Do not glorify your service to God, but glorify God as you serve him.

Now we can look at this passage and we can think,

well, I never do any of those things.

But how often do we walk past a homeless person

or a person in need on the street without thinking?

How often do we think more about our savings

than we do our spendings for the kingdom of God?

Or flip that on its head.

Have you ever given thanks publicly

for how God has been blessing you,

maybe financially or spiritually,

since you started giving more to the church?

What are the real motives in our hearts at those times?

Are we really doing the right things for the right reasons?

All of our money comes from God.

It is not our own.

And so our attitude should be that of sacrificial giving

for the good of the kingdom,

for the good of people,

and to glorify God in every single way.

That's what giving for the right reason looks like.

And then in verses five to eight,

Jesus speaks about praying.

Now notice again the same expectation

that Jesus has of his followers in verse five.

When you pray, do not.

So Jesus is warning his listeners and us today

of the dangers of doing the right things

for the wrong reasons.

There are some, like Jesus says in all three of these sections,

who are hypocrites.

They love to stand in the public eye

and pray for all to see and hear.

This doesn't mean that it's wrong to pray standing up

or to pray in public.

That was common practice among Jews in Jesus' time.

A devout Jew would have prayed

during three set times a day.

And that would mean that you probably would see

at some point people praying in the street.

That isn't the problem.

Jesus isn't condemning public prayer.

But notice that four letter word in verse five, love.

These hypocrites love to be seen praying publicly.

They stand up and make themselves stand out

to be praised by others.

So the problem isn't public prayer,

but it's the reason behind it.

And the challenge for us is to reflect

on our own prayer lives.

Do you pray out loud in a church meeting

so that you can use that new theological word

that you've been sitting on for two weeks?

Or to use that passage

that you've just spent a month memorizing from scripture?

Now, all of these are good things

that we should be doing.

But our motivation,

if our motivation is to be praised by others,

then we're doing the right thing for the wrong reason.

One element of a healthy prayer life

is submission to God

and recognition that we can do nothing outside of him.

And these hypocrites were doing the exact opposite.

Their prayers didn't humble them,

but they puffed them up.

So we need to watch our motives

because this is a very, very easy trap

for us to fall into.

We start to think

how others are hearing our prayers

rather than how our Heavenly Father

is hearing our prayer.

And in verse seven,

look with me,

you get another when you do not.

Now this verse suggests

that the hypocrites filled their prayers

with worthless words.

Jesus uses the illustration of pagans

because when they prayed,

they would have repeated the names

of their gods and other words

over and over and over again.

We'd probably call it chanting today

rather than praying.

If you want an example of this,

go home and read 1 Kings chapter 18,

1 Kings 18 · chapter mention

where the prophets of Baal and Elijah

are on top of a mountain

and they're testing who has more power,

the God of Israel

or the false god Baal.

And so they kill a bull

and they put it on top of some wood

and the prophets of Baal

go in circles,

chanting,

beating themselves,

calling and begging

for their false gods

to answer them

for hours on end.

But nothing happens.

And Elijah throws water on the wood

and prays

and in seconds,

God answers.

There are religions today

where people pray

and repeat certain phrases

or have certain stances

when they pray.

They raise their voice,

they cut themselves,

they make parades

and hold huge feasts

for false gods

who have no ears to hear,

who have no eyes

to see what their people are doing

and who have no mouths

to eat or to speak to them.

So the hypocrites of Jesus' day

were piling tons of eloquent phrases

into their prayer,

almost mindlessly repeating things

in order to be seen by others.

But do you see

how in this whole bit

there is no mention

of their private prayer life?

They seem to only reserve their prayers

for when they're in public,

for when people are around

and people can hear them.

They're praying to people,

they're not praying to God.

And I don't think we can sit back

and think that this is irrelevant for us.

This should challenge

the way we view

and practice prayer.

Prayer is the way we communicate

with our Heavenly Father.

And so our attitude to

and our prayer lives

should be one of devotion to God

and a desire to glorify Him

in every way.

So how is your prayer life?

It's easy, isn't it,

to convince people around us

that we're doing well

and that we pray regularly.

We tell people

that we'll pray for them

as we leave the Sunday services.

But do we actually do it?

Now maybe we don't fill our prayers

with meaningless repetition,

but how often do we use

beautiful language

that we know people want to hear?

Instead of thinking

how others see our prayer life,

we should focus on

how God sees our prayer life.

That means that we shouldn't shy away

from praying publicly

because we maybe feel inadequate

or we feel that we don't pray

beautifully enough.

Instead, we should focus on God

and praying to Him

like we would if we were sitting

at our kitchen table at home

reading our Bibles in the morning.

We should be doing the right things

for the right reasons.

We should be praying to God

because we are told to in His Word

and we should be doing it

both publicly and privately.

And the two should be the same.

We should not,

we should be coming before the Lord,

laying ourselves bare before Him,

confessing our sins,

praising Him for His goodness,

bringing our daily needs before Him

and in assurance,

knowing that He is a Father

who loves,

who cares,

and who listens to us.

in the case of public prayer,

we need to forget ourselves

and focus on glorifying God.

That is what it means

to do the right thing

for the right reason.

And then in verses 16 to 18,

Jesus speaks about fasting.

Now fasting is a topic

that seems to be sidelined

in many churches today.

And I wonder if the majority

of Christians around the world

live as if these verses don't exist.

But fasting is a religious

and devotional practice

that we see in the Bible.

We cannot ignore it.

We see it in the Old Testament law.

Israel were to fast

for certain days a year.

In Isaiah chapter 58,

Isaiah 58 · chapter mention

God corrects Israel

for how they had twisted fasting

and used it to lord themselves

over others.

The Pharisees fasted twice a week.

John the Baptist's followers

fasted often.

Jesus himself fasted for 40 days

and 40 nights in the wilderness.

He teaches on fasting

in these verses

and in Matthew 9,

Matthew 9:14–17

verses 14 to 17.

In Acts and in the New Testament letters,

we see examples

of the apostles' fasting.

So we cannot ignore this topic.

And again,

Jesus starts in verse 16

with the same expectation.

When you fast,

do not.

And it's very basic definition.

Fasting is the abstinence from food.

The Bible uses different ideas

of why we should fast

and its purpose.

So we fast in eager anticipation

of Jesus' return.

We fast as an example

of our self-discipline

and self-denial.

We fast as a way

of humbling ourselves

which leads us to rely

and depend more on God.

And we fast

so that we can spend more time

in God's word

and praying to him.

But the hypocrites

that Jesus is speaking to

had distorted fasting

for their own glorification.

read with me

verse 16.

When you fast,

do not look somber

as the hypocrites do

for they disfigure their faces

to show others

they are fasting.

The word used in the NIV

for somber

could be translated

as gloomy.

So the hypocrites

were doing

a religious

act of devotion

but you can imagine

them walking down

the street one day

clutching their stomachs

moaning

every second

until someone

finally asked

the question

they've been waiting for.

What's wrong

with you today?

And then they kick in.

Oh, I'm just fasting.

Don't you worry about me.

I'm just giving up food

as a sign

of how holy I am

and to prove to God

that I can do it.

And then come the comments.

Oh, good for you.

You're such a good Christian.

I wish I could do that.

I can't even go one hour

without food.

Never mind one day.

But they took it even further.

It appears from verse 17

that they purposefully

did not wash their face

or make themselves presentable

because they wanted people

to ask them

what was wrong.

They wanted an excuse

to toot their own horn

about how holy they are.

So instead of

what we would normally do

before we leave the house

checking in the mirror

making sure we're okay

and we look presentable,

they checked the mirror

before they left

to make sure

they were scruffy enough.

Much like the children's story

of Snow White

and the queen

who had a mirror

and that she looked in

every day

and asked mirror,

mirror on the wall

who is the fairest

of them all.

All is well

as long as the mirror

replies you are.

But when the mirror

responds one day

with Snow White is,

the truth comes out

and reveals the wickedness

and jealousy

of the queen.

The mirror revealed

inner ugliness.

And these hypocrites

did the opposite.

They looked in the mirror

to make sure

they did not look nice.

To make sure

that people could tell

they were fasting.

Their mirror

would display

outward signs

of ugliness.

But it revealed

the same thing.

They had ugliness

of the heart.

Their hearts

were in the wrong

and they focused

on themselves

not on God.

Jesus says

let your fasting

go unseen

by others

because the only one

who matters

is God

and he sees

everything.

Jesus says

forget about yourself

and fast

for God

and his glory.

So the challenge

here is

do you fast?

Jesus expects

his followers

to.

Now he doesn't

give us a timetable

or a set period

that we need

to fast for

but the truth

is that he

expects us to

and that means

we cannot ignore

these verses.

I'd encourage

you to go home

and think about this.

Read Isaiah 58.

Read Jesus' words

in Matthew 9

and with wisdom

put into practice

what Jesus

is teaching us here.

Now these are

three big

and practical

topics

that Jesus

expects us

to do

as his followers.

Giving

praying

and fasting

are the right

things for us

to do as Christians

but are we

doing them

for the right

reasons?

We should

forget about

ourselves

and focus

on God.

Doing

these things

for the right

reasons mean

that we do

them for God

and not

for the praise

of others.

But this

also means

that it is

not our

place to

question

other people's

motives.

Jesus is

challenging

every individual

to look in

themselves.

It is not

our place

to stand

in judgment

of someone

else's motives.

The question

that we need

to walk away

from this

evening

from Matthew

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6

is are we

doing the

right things

for the

right reasons?

Let's pray

together.

Father, we

come before

you the

God who

sees, who

knows all

things.

You know

our thoughts,

you know

our actions

and you know

our motives.

and we

ask you

for forgiveness

for the

times that

we have

done good

things,

right things

for the

wrong reasons.

We pray

that you

would help

us leave

this building

this evening

encouraged by

our discussions,

uplifted by

our prayer

time,

and with a

new desire

to do

right things

for the

right reasons.

that

everything we

do would

be done

for your

glory,

for the

upbuilding

of your

kingdom,

and for

the praise

of your

holy and

precious name.

Amen.

We're going

to have a

few minutes

break now

where you

can grab a

tea or

coffee and

then we're

going to

come back

and have

a discussion.

So I've

got two

questions for

us to think

about when we

come back

and they

are,

why can

these

three topics

be difficult

to live

out and

which is

most difficult

for you

and why?

So I kind

of cheated

there's three

questions in

that one but

we'll pass it

off as one

question.

And then the

second one,

what are

other righteous

acts that we

can do today

for the wrong

reasons?

So just take a

few minutes,

go grab tea,

coffee and I

think there's

still some

nibbles back

there and then

I'll call us

all back for

discussion around

our tables.