July 12, 2009

Be Secretive About Your Faith (Matthew 6:1-6)

Preacher: Bryce Morgan Series: Misc. Messages Scripture: Matthew 6:1–6:6

Being Secretive About Your Faith
Matthew 6:1-6
July 12th, 2009
Way of Grace Church

I. What Are You Hiding?

What are you hiding? What are you trying to hide this morning? What is it that you do not want others to see?

Would you agree that in most cases, when we try to hide things, it has more to do with the wrong rather than the wonderful. Screenwriters and playwrights understand this principle. I’m sure you’ve seen a play or movie where someone whom we eventually learn is planning a surprise party or to give a surprise gift is initially suspected, by those around them, of being up to no good. These characters always assume the worst.

This formula works because when we hide, we, in most cases, hide what we know is wrong, or what we know is shameful. We’re afraid of being exposed. We’re afraid of being judged. We’re afraid of being punished. We’re afraid of being rejected.

What are you hiding this morning?

I would reckon to guess that all of us have struggled, or are struggling, with this temptation to sinfully conceal.

Well, this morning, I have some advice. I’d like to recommend a corrective for this tendency. Strangely, this corrective involves more secrecy.

That’s right, to walk with a clear conscience and to stand unabashedly for Christ, we need to be genuinely secretive about our faith!

Now, how can I stand up here and encourage you to be secretive about your faith? Isn’t there a contradiction here somewhere? Let me say very clearly, this advice is not mine. It comes from the lips of Jesus himself.

 

II. The Passage: "In Secret" (6:1-6)

Turn with me to Matthew 6:1-6. Llisten to what Jesus says about secrecy.

“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.

2 “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, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 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 their reward. 6 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.

Alright, here’s what’s going on in Matthew 6. Jesus is smack dab in the middle of a block of teaching that we call the Sermon on the Mount. His instructions in 6:1-6 flow right out of what He has been teaching His disciples about the radical implications of the coming of the Kingdom of God. As Jesus makes clear in chapter 5, the restoration of God’s complete reign over our lives must change the way we live. But these changes would not be based on the models of righteousness present in Jesus’ day.

As Jesus puts it in 5:20, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

A. Our Secret Righteousness

What Jesus has been doing in this message is describing for His followers the right way to live, the life of true righteousness. The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ time might have been esteemed by others as pinnacles of holiness, but as we see in our passage, Jesus reveals why they are, in actuality, examples of how not to live, rather than the other way around.

But you may ask, where does it mention the Jewish religious leaders in Matthew 6? They are the “hypocrites” that Jesus condemns in verses 2 and 5. “If you want to live a life pleasing to God”, declares Jesus, “do not look to the Pharisees and teachers of the law.”

So what should one do according to Jesus? Well, first, notice that Jesus does not minimize prayer or giving to the poor. The right and righteous kind of life Jesus describes is not about some vague, ‘pie-in-the-sky’ kind of living. He unequivocally encourages His disciples to practice these things. But He teaches them to follow a different path when it comes to the poor and prayer. What is this different path?

Well, second, Jesus is apparently directing us to a path of secrecy. Four times in six verses He uses this word “secret”. In direct contrast to the Jewish teachers and their public faith, Jesus challenges His followers to covert action. If the Pharisees and scribes think in terms of publicity, Jesus is thinking in terms of secrecy.

But is this all it comes down to? A difference of technique? Is Jesus simply arguing that His “behind-the-scenes” kind of piety is superior to the Jewish teachers’ “front and center” approach? Is this “Jesus the mystic” shaking His fist at the errors of institutionalized religion?

Well, thankfully, the answer is “no” to all of these questions. Like the rest of Jesus’ teaching, the real heart of the matter in these instructions is…the heart.

B. Our Secret Audience

The key to hearing and heeding Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 is linked to the real contrast that lies at the center of this passage. The real contrast is not concerned with the where of your righteousness (that is, public vs. private), but with the who of your righteousness.

Our English word hypocrite comes straight from the Greek, “hupocrites”, which in the ancient Greek world was most commonly translated “actor”; that is to say, a hypocrite is someone who “performs in front of others, pretending to be something he or she is not”.

Why is this important? In using this term, Jesus is pointing us to the critical question, “Whose approval are you living for?”

In his play As You Like It, Shakespeare wrote the familiar words, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…” If we go with this analogy, the seemingly logical question Shakespeare does not address in that speech is “if all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players…..who’s in the audience?”

The Pharisees and teachers of the law were hypocrites because they were claiming to live for God, when in reality, they were performing for the praise of others. In terms of true godliness, they were only playing a part, a role; they were pretending.

According to their perspective, the audience was filled with all those who came to the synagogue, with all those who might see them on the streets. They performed the part of the devout in the hopes of a standing ovation when the curtain fell.

As Jesus puts it, “so they might be noticed…so they might be honored…so they might be seen”.

Now, let’s make sure we understand this. Jesus was not simply condemning the public nature of the hypocrites’ practices. He was condemning the craving for human praise that can only be satisfied in public. “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.”

So if the real contrast, the critical contrast in this passage is not about where, that is, the public vs. the private, but about the who, then what must we understand about our audience?

Everything that Jesus teaches us here, everything He is calling us to do is based on one simple, undeniable reality: for the follower of Jesus, God is your Father.

And look at the ways in which Jesus qualifies this reality:

“Your Father who is in heaven” (v. 1)

“Your Father who sees in secret” (vs. 4, 6)

“Your Father who is in secret” (v. 6)

The picture Jesus wants to paint for us is inescapable: there is a God in heaven who knows of and is pleased with the heart that genuinely seeks to live for Him and Him alone.

 

III. Your Life: Starring at the One-Seat Theater

The theater that is your life should be unlike any theater in the world. It should have only seat and one ticket available at the box office.

Believer, are you living your life before an audience of one? Is it your desire to live a life that is pleasing to your Father in heaven?

This should be a familiar concept. When a young child is in a school play, are they typically motivated by a desire to impress the audience and get written up in the school paper? No. In most cases they are only concerned with the approval of one or two members of the audience. They want to please, they want to be seen by their parent or parents.

Whose approval are you living for?

While we might be quick to say that we desire God’s approval, Jesus gives us in this passage, a kind of test to help us understand our audience, our motivation.

You see, while the public versus private concept in these verses may not be the foundational contrast, it is, nevertheless, crucial.

The best test of who you are looking to, is who you are when no else is looking (x2).

Do you have a secret life with the Father? Or are you practicing the Christian life before others in order to be noticed by them?

Are you compassionate in public, but indifferent in secret?

Are you a lover of the word in public, but distracted in secret?

Do you praise God in public, but remain silent in secret?

Do you speak of Jesus in public, but forget Him in secret?

Do you pray more in public than you do in secret?

Is your faith merely a public phenomenon, that is, something that primarily happens in church gatherings, bible studies, or prayer meetings? Or is your public faith an expression of your private walk with the Father?

The hypocrite is one who says he is one thing in public, but is actually quite another behind closed doors. The disciple of Jesus simply is a servant of the Father, whether in private or public.

Do you have a secret life with the Father? One that is vibrant and growing?

If you found yourself in Tom Hanks’ place in the movie Castaway, that is, stranded, alone, on a remote island, would you be more inclined to talk to a volleyball or God?

There is undoubtedly a tension here. God has made us for community. He does make us interdependent as members of the church. But our corporate identity of being connected to one another hinges on the reality that we have, individually, first been connected to Christ.

The validity of our faith does not rest on the reality of our fellowship. The validity of our fellowship rests on the reality of our faith.

Take for example the Apostle Paul. Paul had a secret life with the Father. How do I know? Listen to some of the last words he ever wrote:

At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

When everyone else had fled, Paul knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the Father was with Him. He knew this, not because it just dawned on him in a moment of crisis. He knew that God was with Him in that moment because he lived by the truth that God was always with Him. He had a secret life with the Father.

In that moment of testing, Paul stood firm because he was living for an audience of One. He was motivated by a grace-inspired desire to please His father in Heaven.

When the house is empty or when you awake in the middle of the night, when you’re driving alone in your car or everyone else is asleep, when you’re traveling on business or hiking outdoors, do you seek your Father who is in secret? When you’re alone, do you act like you’re alone?

Our walk with and for Jesus Christ must be built on the foundation of a secret life with the Father.

Let me just mention two more things about this passage:

First, even though we have used Jesus’ words here as a kind of barometer in regard to our hearts, we still need to recognize that they are His commandments to us. If we claim to be His followers, we must practice these disciplines of secrecy. When you give to the poor, do your best to keep it a secret. Jesus stresses this point by way of a hyperbole. He tells us it should be so secret, that if one of your hands gives a gift, the other hand should know nothing about it.

My wife gets so frustrated with one of the Christian radio stations in the Valley because whenever they do a pledge drive, the always read the names and locations of the people who gave, and how much they gave. If this wasn’t bad enough, they then seemingly use these gifts to compel others to give comparable gifts.

You see, Jesus calls us to this secret life, not only as a test of our motives, but in order to help us avoid the pitfalls of human praise. Jesus knows our weaknesses. He knows that even when we go into something with the right motives, we can come out with the focus on ourselves.

When you have a choice, choose the road of secrecy.

Second, please see that these disciplines of secrecy are the foundation for a very public faith. Remember what Jesus said in the last chapter, in 5:14-16:

14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

After all of this, we may ask, “Is Jesus saying that we should not pray in public gatherings? Is He saying that we should not give or serve unless it is in some covert context?” No, He’s not saying that at all. As we just read, Jesus says “let your light shine before men”.

Those prayers prayed in secret, in our inner room, should drive us to burst forth from that closet with a renewed desire to be the answer to our pleas, to be agents of change who inspire praise to God because of our light.

The issue is not whether we are praying in a group. The issue is to whom we are praying. The issue is not whether we serve in secret. The issue is whose reward are we seeking. The issue is not if we are praised by others. The issue is who we believe deserves the praise.

But, I guarantee you, if you are not seeking a secret life with the Father, your faith in public will be quickly focused on the standards and approval of others.

 

IV. Jesus’ Words, Jesus’ Work

In some sense, this brings us back around to where we began. As I stated at the outset, to walk with a clear conscience and to stand unabashedly for Christ, we need to be genuinely secretive about our faith!

Hopefully, it’s become clearer what I mean by this statement. To be genuinely secretive about our faith is to have a vibrant, growing relationship with the Father when no one else is looking, a genuine, personal faith that seeks to avoid the pitfalls of human praise by practicing disciplines of secrecy that serve to nurture this kind of God-ward focus.

And when we are truly living for the Father, and for Him alone, we will not cower in shame because of secret sins; we will not be embarrassed to name the name of Jesus Christ.

But the only way we can know God as Father is through His Son. We have to look, not only to Jesus’ words, but to Jesus work on the cross. Because of His secret life with the Father, Jesus was willing to suffer public shame for our sake, that our shameful, secret things might be forgiven, and to reconnect us to His Father in heaven.

Apart from Jesus, we live to please ourselves and others. It's only by faith in who Jesus is and what Jesus did, that we can live for God and God alone...both in secret and in public. And only then will we find the true reward of knowing and living for this God that we can call "Father".

other sermons in this series

Dec 31

2023

Jun 25

2023

Lessons from a Prodigal (Luke 15:11-32)

Preacher: Julian Gibb Scripture: Luke 15:11–32 Series: Misc. Messages

Jun 18

2023

Be Strong in the Lord (Ephesians 6:10-20)

Preacher: Christian Saldana Scripture: Ephesians 6:10–20 Series: Misc. Messages