1 Motives, Motives Matthew 6:1-18 Argyle 1/11/15 The Gospel of Matthew Introduction to Scripture This winter and spring we are studying the Gospel of Matthew following the lead of the Encounter and Discovery Bible reading guides that so many of you use for your personal Bible reading. Encounter began the year in Matthew and Discovery will start in February. Ryan got us started in this study last week by looking at the beginning of Matthew 5, a section known as the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes and the passage we are looking at today in chapter 6 are part of Jesus famous Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon covering chapters 5, 6 and 7 in Matthew, we see the radical lifestyle that Jesus calls his followers to. He said things like, Blessed are the poor in spirit; let your light shine before others that may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven; You have heard is said, Do not murder But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment; Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect; Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven; Do not worry But seek first God s kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to your as well; Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it; Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of
2 heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven; Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. At the end of this sermon Matthew observed, When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at this teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. John Stott wrote, For Jesus did not give us an academic treatise calculated merely to stimulate the mind. I believe he meant his Sermon on the Mount to be obeyed. Indeed, if the church realistically accepted his standards and values as here set forth, and lived by them, it would be the alternative society he always intended it to be, and would offer to the world an authentic Christian counter-culture. Years ago I did a whole sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount, but this time around we will only be looking at two small sections of it. I would encourage you, however, to take some time this week to read and reflect on the whole Sermon on the Mount. Today we are looking at the beginning of Matthew 6 where Jesus talks about the motives of our spiritual activities. (Read 6:1-8, 16-18) (Pray for one another.)
3 What Are Your Motives? What are your motives? Why do you give to the church? Why do you pray? Why do you fast? Why do come to church on Sunday mornings? Why do you read your Bible? Why do you volunteer? What motivates you to do the religious activities that you do? Jesus is very interested in not only what we do, but why we do it. He said, Be careful not to do your `acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Have you ever done that - done religious activities in such a way that you were really trying to impress someone? I remember once when I was in high school in a Young Life Campaigner meeting interjecting into the discussion something I had read in Zechariah that week. And I got exactly the reaction I was looking for. Wow, McLean you are reading some pretty deep stuff. That s right, I am a pretty spiritual guy and glad you noticed. Sadly, that s not the last time I have done something like that. Maybe some of you can relate. Jesus illustrated this principle by talking about the three chief acts of Jewish piety giving, praying and fasting, that were carried over into the Christian life. He said, 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 honored by men. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and one the street corners to be seen by men.
4...When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. We could add a number of other religious practices that we sometimes do in a way to impress others. In each case Jesus said, if our motive in doing these things is to impress others, the reaction we get from them will be our only reward. Our showy giving, praying, fasting, etc. will provide us no spiritual benefit. On the other hand, if we do these things to know and glorify God, God will reward us. Jesus doesn t specifically say how God will reward us, but spiritual rewards tend have both a present and future component. We are blessed in this life and will be blessed in the life to come. I know if we had time to share with one another this morning how we had been blessed through giving, praying and fasting, we could go on and on about how participating in those activities has blessed our lives. So what are your motives in your spiritual activities to impress others or to know and glorify God? One of These Things is not Like the Other If you ve ever watched Sesame Street, you are probably familiar with a segment like this. (Video) In our Scripture passage this morning, one of these things is not like the other. Let s see if you can guess which one giving, praying or fasting.
5 A couple of summers ago we did survey here in worship on spiritual disciplines. We asked which of a list of spiritual disciplines you participated in regularly. Highest on the list was praying. Over 80% of the congregation said the prayed on a regular basis. Other regularly practiced disciplines on that list were worship, Bible reading and small group Bible study. Giving was not on the list, but if it had been I suspect it would have had a pretty high percentage. The discipline listed on that survey that had the least participation was fasting. It had a score of 2, not 2% of the congregation, but 2 people practiced fasting on a regular basis. It is not hard to understand why fasting is not a favorite spiritual discipline of people, but I want to take a few minutes to encourage you to try out fasting. Fasting is simply abstaining from food for a period of time it could be a meal, a day or longer. I have found periodic one day fasts to be a great benefit to my spiritual life. Some people point out that nowhere in the New Testament are we commanded to fast and, if fact, the New Testament has very little to say about fasting. That is true, but what the New Testament does say about fasting is instructive. For instance, in this morning s Scripture passage Jesus said, When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in
6 full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Note that Jesus didn t say, If you fast, but twice says When you fast Jesus apparently expected his followers to fast. The practice of Jesus first disciples, however, seems to contradict this. They didn t fast. In Matthew 9 we read about a conversation between Jesus and the John the Baptist s disciples. John s disciples asked, How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? Jesus used the illustration of a wedding to answer them. He said, How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. (Matthew 9:15) One of the purposes of fasting is to help us connect with God. When God the Son was in their midst, there was no need to fast. But once Jesus was taken away from them, then they will fast. Again we see that Jesus expected his followers to fast once he was gone. And fast they did. In Acts 13 we read this about the Christians in Antioch. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hand on them and sent them off. Notice that it was while they were worshipping and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke to them.
7 Do you need guidance in a particular area of your life, try fasting? And they fasted and prayed as part of the sending out Paul and Barnabas. Do you want to see God s power expressed in ministry, try fasting. In Acts 14 we read, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting committed them to the Lord in whom they had put their trust. (Acts 14:23) Do you want God to work through your leaders, try fasting. Early church writings indicate that fasting was a discipline regular practiced in the early church. Yet, as John Stott observes about today s Scripture passage, many Christians today live as if these verse have been torn out of their Bibles. I want to encourage you to give fasting a try. You will encounter opposition from others who think it is a crazy idea, although often those same folks don t think it is crazy when the wrestling coach tells their kid to skip a few meals so he can make weight for a match. And you will experience opposition from your own body. As Dallas Willard points out, those headaches we sometimes get when we fast is our body screaming, Feed me! And the sudden concern we have for the food that may be going bad in the refrigerator, is just a more subtle way of our bodies opposing our fast. Both those things fade with practice. If you are interested in looking more into the practice of fasting, I have put a little insert out on the tables in the Vestibule and Lobby with information on why and how to fast.
8 Conclusion What are your motives? Jesus isn t critical of giving, praying and fasting. In fact, he expects us to do all three. It s our motive in doing these things that he wants to make sure are correct. Let me close by reading again verses 1 & 2, this time from The Message translation of the Bible. Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won t be applauding. (Matthew 6:1-2, The Message)
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