9th November 2025 - Brendan Hurley

It's great to be with you this morning. Let's

pray. Let's ask God for help as we dig into his

word. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you that

you speak to us. We want to thank you that you

love us. Please, Father, would you help us to

listen carefully to everything that you have

to say to us today. And we ask this in the precious

name of Jesus. Amen. Well, my kids love playing

dress up. We've got a big bunch of costumes at

home, big costume box, and it is full of everything.

We've got masks, we've got outfits, we've got

props, a lot of lightsabers, I think, from memory.

And we've got everything. We've got pirates,

princesses, and Darth Vader. You can't go through

life without a good Darth Vader mask. If you

want to see me model it later, please come chat

to me. But my kids, they love playing dress -ups.

And that's a good thing. You know, there's something

good about kids pretending to be someone else.

You know, it's a fun form of play and imagination.

It's good for their development. But for us,

us grown -ups who are here, in society, we do

a bit of dress -up too, don't we? It's for a

different reason though. It's good when the kids

do it, not so good when we do it. And I'm not

talking about costume parties. See, what happens

is we get so concerned about what other people

think of us, we wear costumes. And actually,

especially in church, don't we? We come to church,

we go out into life and we dress up as what we

think we ought to be. Dress up as the mature

Christian. Dress up as the spiritual person.

Dress up as the virtuous Bible study leader.

We go through the right religious motions and

actions to look the part. And we can often do

this when inwardly things are not okay. When

our hearts are far from God. Now, such play -acting

is what Jesus calls hypocrisy. You know, when

we think of hypocrites, we tend to think, oh,

a hypocrite, you know, that's someone who says

one thing and does another. But in Jesus' day,

a hypocrite was an actor. It was about being

a mask -wearer. You're pretending to be someone

else. And this kind of hypocrisy, especially

this religious hypocrisy, that creeps into many

hearts and many churches yet it's one that we

can often be so clueless and careless about but

jesus won't let us stay oblivious to this danger

and that's why over the next three weeks jesus

is going to expose our religious hypocrisy so

that we can be rid of it And there's one big

thing he's going to repeat as we go through the

next three weeks of passages. Here's the big

thing we'll keep seeing. Who you are in secret

is who you really are. Who you are in secret

is who you really are. If there's one thing you

remember from today, I hope it's that. Who you

are in secret is who you really are. And so today

I want to ask you, who are you really? Where

is your heart really at? Are you truly virtuous?

Are you righteous? Or are you doing a lot of

play acting? Over the next three weeks, Jesus

will apply this principle of who you are in secret

is who you really are to three areas. These were

the three kind of pillars of Jewish piety. giving

to the poor prayer and fasting and today we're

going to see how this applies generally to kind

of virtue and righteousness but especially to

giving and there's three things we're going to

see as we look at this passage firstly guard

against hypocrisy that's what jesus is telling

us to do guard against hypocrisy secondly give

up public recognition stop caring what people

think and thirdly give to others in secret so

let's take them in turn let's start with the

first one guard against hypocrisy be great to

have your bible in front of you and if you've

got it there come with me to verse one jesus

says be careful not to practice your righteousness

in front of others to be seen by them if you

do you will have no reward from your father in

heaven jesus says be careful be aware don't neglect

this this is important what is well it's not

to practice your righteousness to be seen by

others so jesus is actually anti -virtue signaling

You know, virtue signalling, that idea of, yeah,

I'm trying to signal to the world how virtuous

I am. Jesus is saying, no, don't be like that.

We're not on about showing off our righteousness.

Being righteous, that matters. Looking righteous

does not. When appearances are your focus, when

you care so much about what other people think,

That's often when your heart is not in a good

place. The other day, Steve gave me a lift in

his MG. I don't know if he's picked a name for

it, like Kermit or something would be a good

one. It's a great little car. We had a lot of

fun, went out for coffee, and Steve had been

fiddling with the engine. It was really great.

It ran really beautifully, ran really well. We

felt the wind blow through our scalps. And it

was awesome. We had a great time. But imagine

if Steve was the sort of guy who ignored the

engine and just went, I'm going to only focus

on the outside of the car. I'm going to wash

it, polish it, buff it, wax it, cuddle it, whatever

he needs to do to make it look really pretty

on the outside. But if he did that and ignored

the engine, what would happen? The car would

clonk out, wouldn't it? The engine matters far

more than mere appearances. And it's the same

with us as people, isn't it? It's easy to forget

that. Because play acting seems so small. It's

not a big deal if I'm just keeping up appearances.

But actually, Jesus is saying it's deadly serious.

Why? Because when we engage in this sort of hypocrisy

that Jesus is talking about, we're being deceptive.

We're masquerading as virtuous and just papering

over the sin that's actually in our hearts. We're

being idolatrous. We're saying, my public honour,

my status. matters more than enjoying and knowing

God. It's actually corrupting of us. If our motive

is human praise, well, we're actually prostituting

acts of giving and worship for our own personal

gain. And as Jesus says in this passage, if we're

here performing for others, you'll have no reward

from your Heavenly Father. Can you see why hypocrisy

is something that we need to be alert to? So

I want to ask you, when was the last time you

stopped and checked your engine? You know, lift

the hood, have a look in your heart, see what's

going on. Where do you think your heart's at

right now? Have you been trying to play the part?

when your heart is not in a good place? If so,

can I suggest grab your phone now, not to play

Candy Crush, but open your calendar, pick a time

this week, put in time to do heart work, connect

with God, something like that, and spend some

solid time this week going under the hood and

working things out. Because it's so important.

Hypocrisy is dangerous. We need to guard against

it. But Jesus wants to show us some key ways

on how we do that, especially when it comes to

giving. And that's the second thing we're going

to see. Jesus says, give up public recognition.

Give up public recognition. Have a look with

me at verse 2. So when you give to the needy,

do not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites

do in the synagogues and on the streets to be

honoured by others. Truly, I tell you, they have

received their reward in full. So take yourself

back to the ancient world. This is a world with

no centre link. And so giving to the needy was

very important. And the hypocrites say they're

doing a good thing. Giving to the needy is a

good thing to do. But they warp this good act

by announcing it with trumpets. It's all about

gaining human approval and honour with their

giving. But doing that means they're exchanging

heavenly rewards for human ones. They get what

they wanted. What did they want? They wanted

public recognition. but they get no spiritual

gain from their giving. And sadly, this hunger

for human recognition is alive and well today.

I don't know if you remember Wave Aid. going

way back to the Boxing Day tsunamis. You remember

Wave Aid? They had like a big telethon at the

SCG to raise money for all the stuff with the

Boxing Day tsunamis. And many businesses and

rich individuals gave big bucks to help. A good

thing to do. But do you know what happened? Those

that did got their name broadcast on the scoreboard

at the SCG. It got put out on the media. It was

broadcast everywhere. Now, it's hard not to think

that their giving wasn't just about getting some

good PR and some good advertising. I don't want

to be judgmental, but maybe there was a good

side to it too. But it's hard not to think that

when you're doing it that way, there's not a

PR element. If they were genuinely generous,

they would have given without the recognition,

wouldn't they? Yet Christians aren't immune.

I remember years ago when I worked in Perth,

there was a church down the road from us and

a factory next door to it caught on fire. So

this church did something really good. They went

out and they gave water bottles and helped out.

The fireman helped out with people coming out

of the factory. And then it got twisted. They

took a bunch of photos and posted it all over

Facebook. Look how good we are, we're giving

water bottles in this fire. Or I think of another

church I worked at in WA where up the front of

the church there was a bunch of Bibles and if

you opened the front cover you'd find there was

a stamp on each one. This Bible had been given

to the church by such and such a family. A great

thing to give the church Bibles. But why did

they need the recognition? Why do some churches

have plaques everywhere giving people the recognition

for all the things they've done? But it's easy

to point the finger, isn't it? What about us?

How do we announce our giving with trumpets?

Maybe it's the humble brag. I struggle with that

one. Oh, how are you going, Brendan? Well, you

know, I'm so busy this week. I've been giving

so much time and serving at the church. Maybe

it's carrying around a tote bag for our favourite

charity or a bumper sticker. Hey, look at me,

I'm giving to this thing. How good am I? I'm

sure you know in your heart what it is for you.

But today I want to encourage you, Just stop.

Stop caring about what other people think. Care

about what you really are. Care about what God

thinks. That's far more important, isn't it?

That needs to be our focus. But that's not all

we need to do to guard against hypocrisy. Here's

the third thing Jesus tells us to do. He says,

give to others in secret. Come with me to verses

three and four. 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.

Then your father who sees what is done in secret

will reward you. Now you've got to ask, what's

the reward that God gives here? What's the reward

that God gives to those who give to the needy?

And I reckon with any sort of righteousness,

it goes back to the Beatitudes, doesn't it? Remember

at the start of the Sermon on the Mount? And

when you sort of look at the Beatitudes and what

they're all about, it's about getting God. That's

the reward you get. You get God himself. You

get to become more and more like God. That's

what we've seen in the Sermon on the Mount. Be

perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. It's

that you get to spend an eternity with God, where

you enjoy and live with Him forever. That's the

reward of faith. If you believe this reward is

better than status and recognition, then you

will give in secret, won't you? You won't let

your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

Now, what's that about? That means just complete

secrecy. Think James Bond. Think secrecy of a

covert spy. That's what Jesus is saying. That's

the sort of secrecy you need to have. And when

we give that way, we do it because our giving

has no ulterior motive. See, when we don't let

our left hand know what our right hand is doing,

it guards against... Hypocrisy. Because it means

that Christians have an audience of one. They

only let God see what's going on. I don't know

if you're a big fan of The Simpsons. I love watching

old Simpsons episodes. And there's this Simpsons

episode years ago where Homer is at church and

he's actually become one of the ushers at the

church. And they do the collection with those

long stick and the giving baskets where they

sort of and he's you know putting the basket

in front of people and people are putting big

wads of cash in and then he comes to mr burns

the stingy billionaire and he puts in like one

little coin you know well homer then goes gives

him a little nudge and he puts in a bit more

and another nudge and puts in a bit more and

it's it makes sense isn't it that We want to

have giving out in the open because, hey, then

we can kind of pressure people into giving more

and, you know, the old collection plate, maybe

that's the Australian way of doing it. I don't

know. But here Jesus is saying, no, it's so important

that whatever giving we're doing, it be done

in secret. Because as soon as it's out in the

open like that, we're all looking around at what

everyone's thinking of us, isn't it? It's no

longer genuine. It's no longer a response to

God's generosity to us. That's the heart of giving.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

that though he was rich, yet for your sake he

became poor, so that you by his poverty might

become rich. 2 Corinthians 8, 9. Our giving should

be in response to God and his giving to us. And

so when we give in secret, We're not compromising

that in any way. It's true worship then, isn't

it? And that's why I'm so glad here at Northern

Hope people give electronically. I mean, unless

you take a screenshot and flash it up on the

internet, no one's going to know what you're

doing, isn't it? Please don't go and do that,

by the way. Or there's envelopes up the back.

That's a great way to do it. But it's crucial

that we're secretive as we give. And not just

a church, whether we're giving to a friend in

need, whether we're giving to the homeless, whether

we're giving to a charity, we mustn't use giving

as a tool to elevate our standing. Because it's

a tool for something far better. It's a tool

for us to grow in our love for God and our love

for others in response to how he first loved

us. All right, well, let's draw some threads

together. We started by asking today, who are

you really? And I reckon there's three types

of people here today. See, there we go. Three

types of people here today. There's the authentically

unrighteous. So you're not wearing a mask, but

you don't care about all this stuff. You're going,

hey, I'm here. I'm not wearing a mask. I'm not

pretending. I just want to live my life for me.

Well, if that's you, I want to say to you, thanks

for coming. We're really glad you're here. But

you need to think about Jesus' death and resurrection

because he shows that there really is a reward.

He died on the cross for our sins. He rose again

as Lord of all, showing that there is life after

death. The reward from God is real. And if you've

got this attitude of, hey, I don't care about

this stuff, I want to ask, how about you and

I catch up for coffee? Let's have a catch up.

I don't know if Steve can give you a lift in

Kermit, but let's have a catch up for coffee.

Secondly, there'll be people here pretending

to be righteous. You know, you're the person

who... is wearing the mask and i want to say

to you you too need to remember jesus death and

resurrection because the hypocrites who put jesus

to death they did get their reward they got some

approval from the crowds but in the end they

lose don't they and all who persist in hypocrisy

and won't repent of it will lose If that's you,

I want to suggest to you this is the week to

do some heart work on it. If you need to talk

to someone, come talk to me. Talk to someone

here at church, but do some heart work on yourself.

And then finally, there's many of us here who

are authentically righteous. We trust in what

Jesus has done. We repent of our hypocrisy when

we see it pop up. We're not perfect. But we're

seeking to follow Jesus in this. It's kind of

like what Jesus says in the start of the Sermon

on the Mount. Do you remember what he says? Blessed

are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom

of heaven. Here's the foundation for the whole

Sermon on the Mount. To be right with God, to

be rewarded by God, you have to be real about

your spiritual bankruptcy. To depend on him for

grace. When you fail in a whole range of ways

and when you fail with hypocrisy as well. You

need to be someone who believes that Jesus died

for you, that Jesus is a sin magnet and a hypocrisy

magnet, taking all our sin and hypocrisy on himself

at the cross so that there will be none on us.

And when you depend on Jesus' death like that,

it changes everything. It changes your identity.

You start going, I'm justified by Jesus. What's

justified me? Just as if I were Jesus, that's

how God sees me. Just as if I'd never sinned,

that's how God sees me. And when you see that

that's how God sees you, you stop caring about

what people think. I don't need to justify myself

in front of other people because I'm justified

before God. And it changes our hearts. It moves

us to stop pretending. We go, I want to be someone

who's real. I want to be someone who's authentic.

I want to be someone who's generous, just as

God was generous to me. And it moves us to change

our outlook. The cross exposes how hollow earthly

rewards are. And we go, you know, I'm chasing

something better. See, when the cross grips your

heart, it changes you so that you're different,

actually different when no one's watching. So

if you're here today and you trust Jesus, I hope

you walk away today, I'm praying you walk away

today with renewed zeal to do the things we talked

about, to guard against hypocrisy. To give up

public recognition. To give to others in secret.

And to do these things because you believe what

Jesus says. This idea that who you are in secret

is who you really are. If we believe Jesus, we're

going to protect and cultivate the real us. But

sadly, churches can often become the exact opposite,

can't they? Churches often become breeding grounds

for hypocrisy. Everyone wearing their mask, probably

not Darth Vader, but wearing their mask to impress

each other. And I want to say let's not be like

that here at Northern Hope. Let's throw the masks

away. Let's be raw and honest with each other

and let's value what's inside. More than just

looking the part. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,

we want to thank you so much for Jesus. Thank

you for all that he's done for us. Thank you

that we are forgiven of our sins and our hypocrisy

by his death on the cross. Please help us to

trust him. Help us to follow him. Help us to

throw away our masks and to be raw and real with

one another. Help us to grow in generosity. And

may we do these things, may we do our giving

in secret so that our motives will be pure. And

we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.