Commonplace Church-Kingdom As Commonplace:Sermon on the Mount- Inconspicuous

I just make someone to like clap and get everybody all pumped up.

Hey, good morning, everybody.

How we doing?

Good, good.

Um, my name is Kirk.

I'm a pastor here, and just grateful to be with you guys this morning.

If you're visiting here, hey, we're so glad that you're with us.

We are in the middle of a series that we are calling the kingdom as commonplace, where we're looking at these common practices that we find as citizens of God's kingdom.

Uh, citizens invited there through what Jesus has done through the gospel.

And so today we're gonna look at the teaching of Jesus in regards to what's called some practices, okay?

Practices that Jesus is actually calling out, uh, but also inviting us into as well.

It's kind of a an interesting tension we're gonna we're gonna see here this morning.

But here's here's what we see.

Um, what the practices that Jesus is offering, maybe a good term for us is gonna be something called like uh this idea of like private practices, okay?

Now, now this word has an association within our culture.

If you think about maybe um uh let's see, someone who becomes like a counselor or a therapist, right?

There's uh the option to you know practice that privately, right, as a private practice, or practice that within like a group of people, a group of other professionals.

So it's kind of like an idea.

You do that like with uh attorneys or lawyers, the same kind of setting, right?

But here's the analogy kind of connects differently when it comes to like the kingdom of Jesus and how we practice, right?

So, yes, we practice, there are private practices that we engage in.

Jesus is gonna talk to us about that and share that, but it's also uh we do that also in regards to the collective, right?

That's that's the church.

So it's this kind of this kind of strange kind of, well, yes, we practice this personally, but yet there's also space for that to be done through the church setting, through uh just the the gathering of God's people together.

And here's kind of what we what we see there's a just a shift in the way we understand private practice versus kind of the world, right?

Uh in our world, private practice also comes with something like this uh some sort of like recognition, right?

You're still recognized for how you are practicing the work that you're doing professionally or whatever that is, right?

But Jesus is gonna show something a little bit different about how disciples, how those who are called to be a part of his kingdom, how that looks fundamentally different.

See, in the kingdom of God, this idea of what we practice in private, right, it's it's not for this.

It's not for the idea of what's called personal recognition, right?

That that's not the goal.

Rather, here's here's what I believe the goal of the kingdom practices truly are.

I I think the the goal of these personal kingdom practices are to bless the world around us.

And also, while doing this, we're also cultivating this deeper connection to God, this personal connection that we have to who God is.

And so Jesus is gonna speak about three different practices that we're gonna see in this passage here in Matthew.

The first one is generosity, second one we're gonna see is prayer, and the last one we're gonna see is this idea of fasting.

And so here's kind of what the framework I want to offer us this morning.

Um, the practices of the kingdom are purposeful, right?

They're they're they're important.

And and the practices, they're they're vital, but they don't always need to be visible.

That makes sense, right?

They're vital, but they don't always need to be visible.

And there's a word that kind of uh stuck out to me as I was just kind of praying through and and and putting this together.

I I think it's this word, and I'm I'm like fearful I'm gonna say it wrong, but it's inconspicuous.

That's that's it, right?

Inconspicuous, okay.

Wow.

See how long I can do that for.

Okay.

Um, but here's the definition of incomp inconspicuously.

I can't even do it.

Uh it's really the the reality of not needing to be seen, not being noticed, right?

Or attracting attention.

And and that's kind of our lifestyle for for those who are in within the kingdom, right?

I'll give you kind of examples of how though how vital these are without having to be visible.

Uh I I did uh back in in March, I was part of a play.

Now, before you think I was like acting and that wasn't the case, but uh I was in the pit, the drum pit, and what I noticed being the first timer there was just how important this group of people called the stage hands were, right?

Group you don't necessarily see all throughout the performance, but without them, right, the the performance is gonna be very lacking.

It's gonna be very uh it left, it's it's gonna be a little bit boring or just kind of out of sorts, right?

So it's just one example of the idea of where there's there's vital, right?

But doesn't have to necessarily be visible.

Uh another uh it's one I kind of thought it was like back in May, a friend of mine, his band was playing at this place called Porch Fest in Montclair.

I don't know if you've ever it's cool.

You just play on your porch, it's kind of pretty pretty pretty cool.

But he invited me out, and then all of a sudden, right before it's set, his uh his sound man canceled.

And so he's like, hey, you can do this.

I was like, I can't, but he's like, do it anyway.

So um I did my best.

But what I realized was just how important and how vital that part of the whole performance was, right?

Having someone who's back there doing sound, like my friend Tim.

Hey Tim.

Right?

He's inconspicuous.

Tim Tim is inconspicuous, right?

But he's but but he's vital.

What he does is vital to the uh the what we're doing here, right?

And so that's the picture that Jesus is painting when it comes to practices of the kingdom, right?

So citizens of God's kingdom, they don't need to practice their faith from the center of the stage.

They don't need to live as though they're the main attraction, right?

Instead, they serve from a place that at times is okay with just being hidden, right?

Inconspicuous.

Right?

Their lives are deeply significant without demanding to be seen, right?

We can this phrase vital, but not needing to be visible.

And that's really what Jesus is gonna go after in this opening passage here.

Uh it look at what it says, uh verse one.

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.

So, what what is Jesus pointing out here, right?

What do we see?

It's important.

He's not he's not doing this, he's not deterring people from uh the practices of righteousness, he's not saying that.

He's not deterring people from using righteous practice to what he's doing, he's deterring people from using righteous practices to then produce some sort of like like pious like profile, if that makes sense, right?

It's it's almost like um the social media effect in in biblical times.

Like how today we do things like we curate posts, right?

We choose the best pictures, like the best, the best angles, right, the best moments to present the version of ourselves that we want everyone to see.

And and and yet in Jesus' day, right, that they weren't necessarily curating content to demand and determine like a profile.

Here's what they were doing: they were curating their practices, right?

Their practices in public to create some sort of like profile.

So like instead of us like posting like the best pictures of ourselves doing good things, right?

They were publicly just doing these good things so people would have a great like picture of who they are or who they wanted to be.

So Jesus is really doing this, he's he's addressing like the religious um ancient influencers, if you will, if that's the term.

I don't know, I just made it up.

But these ones who are plugging their brand through religious acts and religious practices.

You know, find that busy street corner, right?

Get the attention of the crowd, offer up this like you know, uh incredible prayer for the world to see and to hear, right?

It's polished, like, yeah, hey, thanks for listening, right?

Uh I don't know if if you like what you heard, comment down below, right?

Like and subscribe.

Um, there's a two-minute like survey.

If you want to just kind of fill that out, it'd be really helpful, grow my brand a little bit, right?

And if you left a Google review, appreciate that.

Really helps my righteousness count, right?

Now, listen, that's of course that didn't happen, but there wasn't influencers uh in that term as we know it then.

But but here's the thing I mean, the the heart of an influencer was absolutely present in that time, right?

It's a religious influencer.

And and and and before you know we look at like the reality of that being the only space of an influencer, well, it's kind of true that today we still have that same same presence, same heart, even at times within the the church, right?

Some some presentations of church, even even leaders of the church get get so focused on like having influential credibility, like influencers, then really just humbly influencing the culture around them, right?

And towards following Christ.

And if we're more honest, how many of us, including this guy preaching, can easily fall into that same trap, right?

The desire for our righteousness to be seen, to be viewed, to be noticed, right?

I'm sure most of us would probably be quicker to post that like amazing picture of ourselves serving on a missions trip in social media than post about the lie we told last week, right?

Well, why?

Well, because that's the default condition of the human heart.

We naturally we want people to see our highlight reel while hiding our failures.

And listen, I'll be the first to admit I've been guilty of that in ways I've hold handed handled social media over the years, right?

Something the Lord continually is is refining and working in me.

But some so some while the methods have maybe changed, here's the thing, the conditions they they haven't.

So before we jump into like specific practices that Jesus addresses here, I think it's worth asking ourselves just a question this morning.

When it comes to how I desire to be viewed by others.

Now, sure, yes, in a faith setting, but also maybe in places we uh exist outside of a church gathering.

What persona, what persona am I trying to portray?

Right?

Am I curating just like a collection of my highlight reels?

Right, that others maybe they'll think about me in like a certain way because they see visibly all the amazing things?

Maybe we do this at work, maybe at home, maybe at school, maybe maybe even within our family.

Or maybe if we're really honest, we we even uh even at here here at church, right?

Feelings like we need to show up on a Sunday morning or a connect group or like youth group and and carry on our list of accomplishments, right?

Not offering our practices because we generally want to encourage others to serve or or to serve others, but because, well, hopefully, they'll validate my place.

They'll validate my standing, they'll validate my acceptance within this community.

And so here's the thing if you find yourself this morning, and listen, I I know I found myself there many times more than I like to admit, but but I want to remind both you and myself of something.

Our acceptance into the family of God isn't built on our personal best, it isn't earned through our achievements, it isn't secured by our contributions, our acceptance is rooted in God's gracious decision to invite us in, in spite of our achievements, in spite of our failures, in spite of our attempts to prove ourselves, God adopts us as his own.

And that adoption, it's not founded upon our performance, it's founded upon Christ's work, Christ's performance on our behalf, his finished work.

It's exactly what Paul reminds us in Galatians.

He says, When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, so we might receive adoptions as sons.

Because you are sons and daughters, of course.

Uh God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father, so you're no longer a slave, but a son of a son, then an heir through God.

Not through our performance, not through our work, but through God.

So if that's our standing, adopted sons, adopted daughters of God, what practices does Jesus invite us into?

Well, these practices, once again, that are vital, yet practice without the need to be visible or to validate our standing before God.

So here's the first one that Jesus points to.

And this is what it says.

Jesus tells us it says, Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets, that they may be praised by others.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

So you may be giving, do your giving in secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you.

So who is Jesus?

Uh what is the context that Jesus is speaking into here?

This is important.

See, in the first century, something like caring for the poor, okay, uh is what simply like wasn't simply viewed as like compassion or cared for like uh that impoverished individual.

That's not really how it worked.

Here's what caring for the poor, what it became.

It became really a way of building up the brand of the one who's offering generosity.

Here's the concept behind it.

So society there at that time operated with an established like social and economic classes, right?

Um while while it wasn't like identical to uh what we would formerly call like a caste system.

Well, the thing is social mobility was extremely limited.

Most people they lived and they died in the same social economic condition in into which they were born.

Now, contrast that to the the ideal of our country, right?

That we've long celebrated the idea of like the land of opportunity, right?

The hope is that through hard work and opportunity and perseverance, someone's circumstances can change.

And I reckon I say that as ideal because I know uh there have been and continue to be systematic injustices in our world and things that uh opportunities that make it far from equal from all people.

But but even with that acknowledgement, it's important to recognize just how different Jesus' world was than where we are today.

And and so many people looked at the poor and assumed, well, they're always gonna be poor, which meant generosity could so easily be become less about changing someone's life, and it was more about this, about about improving one's reputation, right?

The giver.

And so your gift, right?

Yeah, sure, it might have provided someone like a meal, maybe it met a temporary need for like for sure, but but the greater benefit, well, it was the giver who received it, right?

It was the recognition, it was the honor, it was the status, it was a look at me, look how generous I am, right?

And with that, people, what they would applaud.

Well, they'd applaud the willingness to reach down to those beneath you socially.

Wow, that's that's incredible, right?

And that's exactly what Jesus is confronting, right?

The people he's addressing aren't like ultimately caring for the needs of the poor.

Here's what they are they're caring for the image of themselves.

It's a big difference.

They're painting a picture of generosity while doing this, while revealing a heart that craves notoriety.

That's what they're seeking.

And Jesus, though, he completely flips the script on this.

He says, the kingdom, kingdom citizens absolutely should give.

In fact, he notice he doesn't say if you give, he says when you give.

So generosity isn't optional in the kingdom.

Yet, yet neither is humility.

Right?

The the phrases Jesus uses, he says, that they may be praised by others.

Sound no trumpet before you describes this, it describes a heart that gives for recognition only.

And yet kingdom generosity comes from an entirely different place.

It doesn't seek recognition, it flows out of recognition, right?

It's a recognition that's already received, it flows out of this renewed spiritual condition, right?

A heart that remembers that there was a time when we were spiritually bankrupt, knowledge that sin had left us poor in spirit, unable to rescue ourselves, unable to earn a standing before God, and yet God, in his great love, don't miss this, he gave, gave out of abundance of his grace.

He generally generously gave us Jesus.

And Jesus is reminding us we have a generous God.

That's what he's talking to.

He says, a giving heavenly father, right?

We know this the phrase that we see here in familiar words in John's gospel, right?

God so loved the world that he what?

He gave.

He gave his one and only son.

God gave to those who were spiritually poor the riches of his grace through what Christ has done.

That is the the beauty of the status of what Jesus has given us, right?

He gives forgiveness, where forgiveness where there was guilt, right?

Righteousness where there was sin, life where there was death.

And so practically, here's what what that means.

Our generosity shouldn't serve as like an attempt to earn something we've already been given.

We practice generosity, right?

And conspicuously, I got it, because in Christ, we've already received everything we truly need.

So that means no amount of applause can improve our standing, right?

No recognition can add to what Christ has already accomplished in our on our behalf, right?

And so because of that, we're finally actually freed.

We're freed to give.

Not because we're looking for recognition, but because we've already received it through a generous father in heaven.

Maybe summarize it like this: we we give from a recognition of reception, not for the reception of recognition.

More simply, we give because we received, not so that we will be received.

And so whenever we're presented with opportunities to give, whether it's it's meeting the needs of someone around us, whether it's even investing and advancing the gospel uh through the local church, we're invited to live out the very heart of God Himself as giver.

That's what Paul talks about in uh in Corinthians.

He says, the point is this whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

So how do how are we to give?

Well, cheerfully, right?

Not reluctantly, not under compulsion, but as a response to what we as disciples of Jesus we have received through Christ.

And we're to do so, Jesus says, without the need of recognition, right?

That that begins with the humility that we find in this joy of giving.

Even if acknowledgement is never part of the equation, right?

I love the analogy Jesus uses here.

He says, Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

It's a picture of generosity that's so inconspicuous that one part of your body doesn't even know, doesn't know what the other part is doing.

How much more hidden could that be?

Right?

This is done in secret.

And yet, why the secrecy?

Well, secrecy reveals motive.

It reveals motive, right?

Even good good things in secrecy, right?

Like the heart of generosity, and yet also the negative that uh secrecy comes in in the context, right?

Attempting to hide or keep something in the dark, right?

Secrecy reveals motive.

And so when it comes to generosity, what is done in secret, right?

Hey, if there's no audience, if there's no applause, right, if there's no acknowledgement of our sacrifice, the question is, are we still motivated to give?

Or does our motivation change the moment some of the recognition becomes a possibility for us?

And maybe that that's a question worth asking us ourselves this morning.

Right?

If if we're quietly meeting someone's need, right?

If if we anonymously provided for someone who's struggling, right?

If if only the only one who ever knew about it was God, would that would that still be enough for us to be generous and offer?

Right?

Would that act still be worth it?

No applause, no recognition, no affirmation from those around us, no acknowledgement, right?

How comfortable are we with that?

Now, we might give the church answer and say, yeah, of course I'd be okay with that, right?

But but remember, Jesus is talking to like religious people.

He's talking to like church people this day, right?

Pharisees, right?

The struggle is deeply uh founded within this issue.

And so if we're honest, maybe we do struggle with that too.

And I don't say that to place guilt on anyone.

I say it because that struggle might be just revealing something deeper within us.

Maybe this desire for recognition is actually maybe it's exposing a deeper longing for something like validation, right?

Being being known, being noticed.

And if that's true, maybe maybe the invitation this morning isn't simply just to be more generous at the secret.

Maybe it's it's to ask God, what what are we searching for?

What validation are we searching outside of the one who's already declared us accepted by God Himself?

Right?

Through Christ, God has already validated our place in his family.

And so with that, Jesus shifts our attention to this next kingdom practice, it's the practice of prayer.

And in this, Jesus points out a few important truths.

The first is this prayer is an expectation within the kingdom.

So here's what I mean.

But Jesus doesn't say uh, you know, if you pray, he says when you pray, right?

Prayer is commonplace practice for the citizens and of God's kingdom.

But once again, Jesus, he's not like introducing a new practice here, okay?

He's not being like, hey, you need to try this out.

What he's doing, he's exposing and he's performing like surgery on an existing one.

He's he's cutting away like the excess of religiosity that had attached itself to something like prayer, the practice of it.

He's he's stripping away everything that has grown around.

Found it, right?

And so people could no longer see what prayer originally intended to be.

It reminds me of um something uh that happened around a campfire recently.

A buddy of mine showed up with a huge bag of peanuts.

Like peanuts.

I'm like, what?

Like I don't I don't know where he got them from.

I don't know if he like went to the zoo or like the circus and like found some elephants, but like legit, like the ones that came in the whole, you know.

I think of like the what's that guy with the monocle, Mr.

Peanut or something like that?

Like I was like, those bringing those, but he brought like the full, I'm like, oh man.

So anyway, um, so what happened is I had to break through that shell to actually enjoy it, right?

I had to break it open to enjoy it, crack it open, crack open the exterior to get to what was actually valuable on the inside.

But the point is this Jesus, as he invites us into this practice, he he begins with the value of this same like removal of this external presentation, and he starts with this internal reality.

Prayer starts with connection with God.

You see, the religious leaders, they had become so consumed with like the shell, the outward presentation, like the public performance, this external acknowledgement.

But Jesus comes and he's he's after this, something more important.

He's after the heart.

And he tells us, he says, Don't pray like these hypocrites, right?

The ones who intentionally position themselves where they can be seen, where they can be admired for their eloquence, for their passion, for their carefully like crafted words, for their impressive vocabulary, like inconspicuous.

Uh Jesus is making a distinction, right?

Not merely about the place of prayer, right, but he's talking also about the purpose of it.

Because many religious leaders they turn prayer into a platform.

It's a platform for building a personal brand.

Right?

So attention shifted from God, the God that they were praying to, and it landed on the person doing the praying.

So they would stand out in the synagogue, right?

They would pray in these public places, not because they longed to commune with God, but because they longed to be noticed by people.

Right?

Like the goal wasn't that uh God's attention, it was it was everyone else's.

People walk away, be like, wow, right?

What a prayer.

You never never stumble, right?

There wasn't he didn't say once or twice, right?

Oh, these incredible words, right?

What passion.

And prayer became this means of like gaining position, like prestige is a platform.

Truly what it was.

And many were even known for praying these lengthy, like elaborate prayers, because in that culture, well, well, these long prayers were often like equated with like some sort of like, I don't know, like greater spirituality, like varsity spirituality.

But but Jesus, he's not impressed.

In fact, he warns his disciples, he says, Don't pray like that.

Why?

Well, he says, Don't pray like the hypocrite, right?

Don't pray like what a hypocrite even defines as, right?

A hypocrite in the Greek term is just someone who acts.

It's just referred to as an actor.

And this is someone who's just playing a role, someone who's performing for an audience.

And Jesus is calling his disciples, he's saying, stay away from spiritual performance, right?

But move into genuine communion.

Because prayer, prayer is meant to be marked by honesty, by vulnerability, by reverence, and even by this, by simplicity, right?

Our our prayer life isn't graded when we reach heaven, right?

God isn't like waiting with this report card, like, you know, hey, well, Bill's good effort, right?

But uh, next time maybe use more descriptive adjectives when you're praying for your coworker, right?

And instead of just like, Lord, you know, please save Bob, okay.

I think it's a little repetitive.

Like, maybe try something like, Lord, thunderously invade Bob's soul with your magnificent hand of salvation, right?

Can you imagine that?

That sounds ridiculous, but like if we're honest, that's that's sometimes how we think about prayer, right?

And and and through, and though God is he isn't evaluating like our vocabulary, right?

Instead, he's doing this, he's listening to our hearts.

Or we we often do the same thing with one another, right?

We we silently evaluate someone else's prayer.

Like, I don't know, I'll give that a three out of five.

Right?

It's a couple too many, mmm, stay away from those.

Maybe need a stronger ending.

Yeah, they did mention the whole Trinity.

That's that's nice, right?

And and it sounds silly, but it but like it's exactly what Jesus is warning us against, right?

And so here's the heart of it the kingdom sees prayer not as performance, but as a personal pathway to the presence of God.

And I love that.

Prayer is not a performance, it's a pathway.

Now, of course, Jesus isn't saying prayer can only happen in private.

That's important to point out, right?

In fact, Jesus prays publicly like on many occasions.

So the issue isn't public prayer, the issue is public performance.

Very different, right?

Because prayer isn't about platforming ourselves, it's about pursuing God.

It's it's the object of our prayer is God, not the performance of it.

And that's why Jesus exactly is saying, hey, he doesn't stop with just a warning, he gives his disciples a model.

It's the Lord's prayer.

And and and yes, it teaches us how to pray, but I think also Jesus, he intentionally places us here because of its simplicity.

Right?

The religious leaders filled the air with long and elaborate performances designed to draw attention themselves.

But Jesus responds, gives his disciples a simple prayer.

It's a prayer that just draws attention entirely to the Father.

Now, next week we're gonna dive into the Lord's prayer.

Uh, it's gonna be kind of a one-off, so uh looking forward to that.

But don't miss the reality of this prayer here.

It's really, it's this juxtaposition that Jesus has.

Hey, the hypocrites pray this way and give this elaborate thing, but but God doesn't require that.

Pray this, pray this instead.

Okay, here's the final principle here.

It's it's the practice of fasting.

Right, once again, Jesus He confronts the the hypocrites, right?

And they make fasting, right?

Their fasting is is obvious, and and and they're they're doing it to be seen, they're doing it to be acknowledged, they're doing it to be recognized.

Right?

Notice that that Jesus doesn't say if you fast, once again, he says when you fast.

So it's another practice within the kingdom.

But but fasting, of course, really just important, isn't only limited to one expression, right?

For some, right, because of maybe medical concerns or dietary concerns, right?

Abstaining from food may not be wise, but there's other ways to fast.

But in this context, Jesus is specifically, he's referring to fasting from food.

And here's what's happening: people made sure everyone knew they were fasting, right?

The exhausted face, uh, the dramatic size, uh, hunger groans, uh, right?

Now, listen, those things are they may naturally happen, that's true, okay?

But Jesus says they don't need to have become like a public service announcement, right?

You don't you don't have to camp out in the synagogue or public square so everyone notice that you're enduring, right?

Think about Jesus himself.

He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.

Where?

By himself, in the wilderness, right?

Who knew about it?

Well, the Father, and of course, unfortunately, the devil, but no crowds, no applause, no audience, right?

It's fascinating that while Jesus was fasting, well, here's what what we see the picture of Satan do, right?

Satan, he gives him what very the religious people, or he offers them what the religious people were chasing things like pride, things like glory, things like attention, recognition, right?

And so the same temptation of the religious, and for us today is what Satan tempted Jesus with.

But here's what Jesus does: He He rejects it.

And now he teaches his disciples, well, reject it as well.

And so as we look at these practices, right?

So what is the what is the antidote to something like attention seeking, right?

The pride in our performance.

And once again, I I think it is this call of just inconspicuous living, right?

Practicing the ways of the kingdom without needing those practices to to be validating our place in the kingdom, right?

These these secret acts of things like generosity, prayer that's that's centered not on our performance, but on God's presence, fasting that seeks communion rather than something like recognition.

And so as we close, what what why do we seem to kind of struggle with with these areas, right?

Um why do we wrestle with these things?

And I just do two closing thoughts for that.

Uh first I I think just the reality that you know pride, pride is an issue, right?

It's it's it's it's a personal pride, I think, that often creates the desire to want to be seen or or elevated for the things we do, right?

And and listen, Jesus knows that pride, pride doesn't discriminate, right?

The human condition contains levels of of this all the time.

And so maybe this morning, maybe um we need to just take an honest step of maybe surrendering pride that that's pushing us for this desire to perform, to be seen, to be recognized.

I just thought this quote from C.S.

Lewis is uh super helpful and it speaks to the danger of pride.

It says, a proud man is always looking down on things and people, and of course, as long as you're looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

So, so pride, I think, can, you know, at times might be the stem from this desire uh to be validated, to be seen, right?

To feel safe.

And and I think that's kind of the the the second portion here, right?

It's this idea of like we want to be noticed, we want to be affirmed, want to have affirmation of even our relationship, right, with God.

So maybe it's not pride, maybe it's just this desire to be to be recognized, to be secure.

It kind of reminds me of well when my kids were first learning how to swim, and maybe you've experienced with your own kids, but um this idea of right, uh the the they jump out of the pool, right, get back in, right, back and forth, and every single jump, they probably would say this more.

They say, Mom, mom, watch me, right?

Mom, mom.

If you know they didn't find mom anywhere, they'd called me, but um, they'd settle for this guy.

But it's it's kind of like watch me, watch me, look at me, look over here, right?

And every jump was followed by that same request, watch, look, look, see, right?

And it fascinates me, right?

It wasn't this like one-time thing, right?

It's this all afternoon, right?

The same jump over and over again.

Maybe a cannonball, maybe a belly flop, I don't know, but mostly the same jump.

But what the heart was is seeking the same affirmation, seeking the same approval, the same acknowledgement.

I wonder spiritually, if we sometimes we do the exact same thing.

Like we say, God, look at me, look what I did.

Did you see that?

And yet beneath those words is something, a much long deeper longing, right?

It's it's accept me, it's affirm me, see me, validate me, love me.

And those aren't wrong desires, but here's here's the trap.

We start to just believe that performance it produces uh acceptance from God, right?

That that's no longer the gospel.

That's what's that's what's called religion, right?

Because the gospel, it's about Jesus' performance.

We are accepted because what he has done, his perfect obedience is leads us to the place of acceptance.

Our relationship with God is built upon not on how much we pray, not on how much we give, not how we faithfully fast, right?

Those are practices that we are encouraged to participate in out of receiving, right?

Out of out of living from the from the the space that God has invited us into, but the secure standing as a child of God.

And so I just I just want to close just and pray for us.

Maybe maybe we're struggling to be seen by God or to recognize by God in Christ, right?

We are we are known, we are seen in Christ, we are welcomed in Christ.

We we don't have to uh perform, right?

We get the opportunity to respond, responding in these practices.

And so I just want to close together.

If you guys would join me, I want us to just to pray the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples as we close out together.

Uh, it's the Lord's Prayer.

And uh we'll have the worship team come up.

And if you don't know it, that's okay.

Um is it cool if we stand for this?

Is that all right?

Just like a like a reverence thing, you know?

Not performance, okay?

I know this whole sermon's been about that.

Okay, uh, but I just love to just offer this up to God.

And this this is yes, it's collective, right?

And yes, there's moments of pride, but this is also the us and God, right?

This is between you and the Lord, and I just I just want to offer this together.

So here he goes.

This is our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.

Lead us not in temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Why don't we uh respond in worship?