Matthew: Sincerity in Spirituality

Good morning.

Glad you're here.

We're going to continue our way through the Sermon on the Mount, which is the teaching of Jesus, the core of teaching, Jesus' teaching in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

And what we've been seeing is he's teaching us, and as he's teaching us, he's not just teaching us about behaviors.

He mentions behaviors and then he guides us into our hearts.

He guides us into the core of who we are.

And so here is this passage Sam just read.

Thank you, Sam, in Matthew 6, where he begins to teach us about giving and prayer and fasting.

But there's something deeper going on.

Right?

There's always something deeper going on.

There's something deeper going on here.

There's this one big profound truth at play here in these verses.

And when I tell it to you, you're gonna know it.

You already know it.

Um, and it means everything.

So Christy and I started dating uh about 15 years ago, I figure that's about right.

Uh, I think I was 23 years old, and Christy and I started dating, and I had no money.

I was just I just started working in the business world, I had no made money, had no idea really about uh dating or having a serious girlfriend, nor especially not about buying gifts, and it was Christmas time, and I really wanted to buy her something special, something really good for this great girlfriend Christmas season.

And I have no money, but I wanted to buy her something great, and so uh I got a Macy's one day coupon in the mail, and I'm figuring some jewelry, and I got a coupon for Macy's, and I know nothing about jewelry, uh, but I have a coupon for Macy's, and I know there's a Macy's at Northlake Mall right up from where my office was.

And so one lunch break, I take my coupon up to North Lake Mall, jewelry counter, and I know nothing about jewelry, and I have no money, but I want to buy something great.

Yeah, this is a this is a really good combination, right?

I shouldn't have gone for jewelry.

All right, so what I end up with, of course, uh is I'm gonna buy some diamond earrings.

You know, since I have no money, this is really the best option for me.

And so I buy these uh fantastically small uh cloudy, yellowy diamond earrings that I was so proud of.

I mean, I look back on it now, I can't believe I bought them.

At the time, I was so ecstatic about these tiny, cloudy, yellowy diamond earrings.

And I gave them to her, and she's more sophisticated than I am, so I'm sure she realized right away what she was receiving.

But she loved them.

She loved them.

And she loved them because I loved giving them, right?

Because they were truly from me, they were sincerely from me, right?

See, motive means everything.

That's what that's what these verses are about.

It's why when my three-year-old came home from preschool last week, she came home from preschool and she has this book with her.

And it's her artwork from like September till now, the last couple months.

Like, like all it's all her artwork, and and she brings it home and she can't wait to give it to me.

And you know, right away she has to sit in my lap, and we have to we have to go through, and there's some classics in here, you know, right?

The class, no, we haven't seen this one before, have we?

The handprint, the footprint, like hadn't seen that one, you know, surprise.

You know, I don't have other kids, that's never come along my way.

But you know, you're like, you're looking at you like this is amazing.

This is I love this little book, this little cute little face on the front of it.

Now, there are greater books filled with greater art.

I don't want to sit down and look at those books.

And I I can't even tell you the this past week how many times she has gone and found this little book wherever it has ended up in our house.

And trust me, in our house, it can end up in all kinds of places, stuff's all over the place.

And she has found it, and then she finds me, and she says, Dad, can we sit down?

Daddy, can we sit down?

Can we can we look at it?

Can we look at this?

Can we look at this?

As if to say, look what I created for you.

Look what, look, look what I want to give you.

Right?

And I love it, I love it.

Because motive means everything.

See, at first we read these verses and we think, well, they're just about giving and they're just about prayer and they're just about fasting.

And they are, but they're about something underneath those things.

And Jesus is teaching us that the God of grace and truth is holistic.

Like he's he's about not just our actions, but our motives.

And so he comes plowing straight into these sensitive issues.

These next few weeks we'll be talking about like money, our giving, our prayers, our fasting, like sacred personal stuff.

And it's not the typical conversation about whether you do it or not.

That's not the conversation here.

The conversation is there's almost an assumption of that.

Like, because he's talking to a group of Jewish people, these would have been very common practices.

So there's an assumption by him that these listeners practice these things.

And so the conversation here is about the issue under the issue, it's about motive.

So just a few short definitions of these three things in case maybe you're new around church.

So this idea of giving, generosity, alms giving, it's the it's the releasing of money from your pocket to the good of another person or the good of an organization.

Prayer is your thoughts and words released to God.

Fasting is the practice of going without food for a season, a meal, a period of time in order to focus on what the Lord might have for you in a given situation.

And at some point, these practices will develop in your life, and at some point, these practices will be threatened.

And the threat is the rising of the false self.

The scriptures call it the flesh.

All right, so to explain that, uh let me take you back.

Twenty years ago, there was a biologist at the University of Rochester who started to study hundreds of confrontations between two-inch crawfish.

So, like little shrimp, basically.

He's studying Dr.

Adams, he goes to Panama and he looks at all these confrontations, hundreds and hundreds of confrontations of these tiny little shrimp, and they're all competing because they all need to live in certain cavities.

And so they're all competing over these different cavities to live in.

And so bluffing becomes very commonplace within their species.

These little shrimp, they're either having to fight to keep their status or flee.

So they fight.

So they show a threat display.

They they hold up their appendages, they hold their head out high, and then they uh then they whack each other on top of the head until they gulp down the other one, and then that's how they get to keep their cavity or they take over the cavity and they have to keep their status, right?

And and what we see is we see that both the strong and the weak will display this threat.

Meaning, even the weak, even when their inner skeleton is still developing, even when they're weak, they'll show the display.

Okay, hold on to that.

And then I read this this week.

I've been reading this book called Scary Close by Donald Miller.

It's about marriage and intimacy, and I'm really trying to figure out how to be better at being married, and it's very helpful.

I run into this quote as I'm studying this.

Here's this quote: When some animals feel threatened, they make themselves appear bigger.

It's true with people too.

They often make themselves appear better than they are in order to attract others and protect themselves from threats.

So we are more advanced than little shrimp, but we're still the same.

Pretending about our weaknesses in order to keep or raise our status.

This is what Jesus is talking about in these verses.

He's saying, Don't do that.

Like when it comes to your giving and your prayers and your fasting and your spiritual life, don't do that.

It's empty.

Like your reward will be the empty cycle of lying and status keeping.

Don't do it.

And what God says to us in Jesus is you don't have to do it.

Like you can be free of that cycle because all of your sin and shame and shortcoming, and the fact that you aren't perfect at your giving, and you aren't perfect at your fasting, you aren't perfect at your prayer life, the fact that you aren't perfect and all that has been made up for in Jesus, that He is perfection for us, and we are deemed righteous by God through Jesus, which means we are already impressive to God.

And that's where we rest our identity.

So a few points coming through these verses, a few points.

Point number one, a generous life begins with a sincere heart.

Matthew 6, verses 2 through 4.

Matthew 6:2–4

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 that they have received the 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.

So Jesus says, being known as a giver, being known as a giver is a threat to your giving and the reward of it.

Jesus makes giving even more profound for us.

As he digs further, because he wants it to be an expression of joy on the inside of who you are and not a status keeping act.

He's pulling us out.

He's pulling us out from this narcissistic cycle of moralistic or legalistic or identity forming giving or practices.

And he says, you know the best, just the best way is just for people not to know what you give.

That's just the best way.

So like if you give if you give money somewhere, just don't let them put your name on the front of the building.

I'm just telling you, don't do it.

Don't do it.

Don't let them put your name on the back of the pew.

Don't let them put your name anywhere.

Like, because like what's gonna happen naturally in your pride, what's gonna happen is you're gonna drive up, you're gonna feel pretty good about yourself.

And now you've entered a different cycle, and that's a reward cycle that is of emptiness, and it will wear you out.

Versus the reward God has for you, which is to free you from that.

Point number two, a contemplative life begins with a sincere heart.

Again in Matthew 6, verse 5.

Matthew 6:5

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 the reward.

He says, That's it.

That's all they got.

That's it.

In verse 6, he says, 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.

And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces, and their fasting may be seen by others.

Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.

I was once in a college ministry when I was in college, and uh whenever people were fasting, they would they would carry around their Nal genes.

So you always knew who was fasting because they had their Nalgine bottles.

It was like the like you know, the way to make sure everybody knew you were fasting.

Anyways.

Verse 17.

I always thought it was interesting.

I never fasted, so I couldn't judge them too much.

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.

So this is all about places of secrecy, good secrecy, not bad secrecy, good secrecy, like that there are places and parts of your life and soul no one can touch.

No other human being can touch, parts and practices of your life that are so sacred that you can mention them perhaps to other people, to like the closest people in your life.

Perhaps you can mention them, but even then it doesn't quite do it.

That there's just, and then there's no words or actions that could come out in public that could near the sacredness of the communion that you know with God in that secret place.

And that's what Jesus is saying.

He's saying, have some of that.

Have some of that secrecy.

Now, maybe you would say, great, all about a sincere heart, but that's exactly the problem, because I don't have a sincere heart.

Maybe you'd say, maybe you're like me, and you say, like, I'm actually a mess of like fakeness and sincerity.

Like I'm the cocktail.

I got both all mixed up, and you don't know what you're getting at a given point.

Well, hang with me.

Point number three a sincere heart is about being freed from the addiction to other people's approval.

Anybody here love other people's approval?

Yes, we do, because we're all here on Sunday morning.

All right, Matthew 6, 1.

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.

When Jesus says practice your righteousness, he's talking about practicing the practices of your spirituality.

He's saying, you know those practices are for real when you just don't care if anybody finds out about them.

You just don't care.

It just doesn't matter.

They're just for you.

They're your practices with the Lord.

See, at first, maturing in faith is about practices developing, and then at some point those practices become threatened because we're like little shrimpy crustaceans that raise up our appendages and our heads.

And then the furthering of growth at some point is letting these practices and your knowledge and whatever else good you have going for you fade to a place of sacredness and secrecy of the soul where other people just don't go.

And that's what Jesus is talking about.

He's going, that that's kind of what you want.

That's what you want.

You want you want that sort of practices of faith.

Now, I really wrestled with this this week because obviously I'm in the business of people, of standing before people and pontificating and praying.

Like that's what I do every week.

And I prepare to do this.

And so I really wrestled with this.

Like, what does this mean for me?

And the thing that helps me is to know that there is a clear difference between public sacred and private sacred.

And I think this is transitional for you as well.

There's a big difference between public sacred and private or personal sacred, right?

This is public sacred.

This is ministerial sacred, and this is good.

But the really good stuff, at least for me and for my family, you don't get it.

And you know what?

The really, really good stuff for you guys, I don't get it.

And even your small group doesn't get it.

What we get and what we need and which is good, public sacred, we get these glimpses of private sacred.

And that's what we get, and that's good.

But we need the private sacred to be special and to be sacred and to be secret, and that's what Jesus is saying.

He's saying, have these practices going on, and you just don't care if other people find out.

Now maybe you're here and you got on a train a long time ago of people pleasing.

Like you found that train.

I found the train in sixth grade.

I can remember when I got on the train and it felt so good, and it was a good train, and that's why you started wearing certain jeans, and that's why you started wearing certain scrunchie, and you wore certain stuff, and you joined certain stuff, right?

You took that class, you took piano, you finished piano, you got a certain degree because they wanted you to, and you loved your success, not because of the good of it, or because you loved it, you loved the success because it gathered people and you hated failure because people went away.

Or maybe you find yourself at a dinner table, and instead of venturing in and actually having interest in the person across the way, you're waiting for that moment where you can slide in comments about how great your life is or how important you are.

Or you just keep having the nagging sense that you aren't important enough.

Listen, listen, permission to be you, tired, messy, normal.

Just normal.

When did normal become bad?

I have no idea when normal became bad.

Normal's great.

Be normal.

Like permission to be you, tired, messy, normal, you is the beginning of any true life of generosity and contemplation.

That's sacred.

That is sacred.

That right there.

That's what Jesus is saying.

Be you, honestly, you before the Lord.

Out of that have your practices develop.

This passage is showing us that.

It's teaching us that, but it's also teaching us that we fail.

Because we don't perfectly give, we don't perfectly fast, we don't perfectly pray.

And the good news here is that the one teaching it is the perfection of all things, right?

This whole section is under that very beginning, weeks ago, that Jesus says, I complete the law.

So all the things you should be, I completed all of that.

Now let me tell you some good stuff that would be good for your life.

But at the same time, please remember, I complete the law.

So when we read this, we we let ourselves be taught, but we let ourselves be saved.

We let ourselves be saved by this.

And that reward is so sweet.

Henry now, on this great quote, a great writer, mystic writer, professor, and a chaplain, and a fantastic writer over the years, and here's a quote I ran into this week.

For as long as you can remember, you have been a pleaser, depending on others to give you an identity.

You need not look at that only in a negative way.

You wanted to give your heart to others, and you did so quickly and easily.

But now you're being asked to let go of all these self-made props and trust that God is enough for you.

You must stop being a pleaser and reclaim your identity as a free self.

So, point number four: a generous life is created out of an abiding rest and a generous God.

Generosity is not something God does and practices.

Generosity is something He is.

He is generous.

See, if your righteousness and your value are no longer connected to your actions and your behaviors and your practices, if your righteousness and your value is connected to God's generosity to you in Jesus, now you have a shot.

Now you have a shot at your practices being sacred and being held in secret.

So, my brothers and sisters, may you live independent of the good and the bad judgments that we all put on each other when it comes to our practices.

And may you live and practice your faith in sincere communion with God who is generous toward you.

Let's pray together.

That you both teach us so that you save us.

Thank you that you can save us from the empty cycles of constantly looking for other people's approval and thus becoming such hypocrites.

And we confess that we we often do it.

And God, we confess that it's quite weary to our souls, and we thank you that you teach us about this, and we thank you that you save us from it.

Would you help us?

Would you increase our faith that we would trust in you in a greater way?

That we wouldn't try to have to work out of our guilt and our shame, thinking that we can add to the cross.

But would we live in the sufficiency of the shed blood of Jesus for us?

That you have paid the price and we are free and forgiven.

Would we find our identity in your words spoken to us?

And not in all the words that we try to accumulate and curate from those around us.