Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Lesson # 7

BEING RELIGIOUS OR BEING FREE

I. Greetings.

II. Introduction:
Today we will investigate what Matthew has to say to us about outward religious actions. We want to talk briefly on two issues: being religious and being free.
Note: When a child, I often spent the weekend at my grandmother’s house. We were asked to work: dust the stairs or weed a few small flower beds, etc. We did the work, and then in the afternoon, we got to go “downtown” (where the department stores were). Taking the bus to downtown was exciting because our grandmother allowed each of us to spend 50 cents.
Q What was grandmother doing?
An = First, she was teaching us a work ethic. I do not remember the stairs ever being overly dusty or the weeds overgrown in the flower beds. We needed to work more than the work needed to be done. Second, she was teaching us good behavior had good rewards.
Q What is the function of rewards?
An = Reward shows the will and pleasure of the one giving the reward. It indicates what pleases them. In my grandmother’s case what pleased her was actually very good for us. What pleased her blessed us. Not all authorities are that way, but God is. What pleases God blesses us. With that in mind let us read Matthew 6:1. Here we have a key insight into how to obtain the reward from God. God will reward us to let us know what pleases Him.

III. Basic Principal: What God rewards is Hidden Religious Behavior. Matthew 6:1
>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:1.
Q How can we lose our rewards in heaven?
An = By practicing our good deeds so they can be seen by others.
Note: God is warning us against losing our rewards in heaven. We could do righteousness and yet lose all the reward from doing it. God does not desire that, and so He warns us.
Note = Jesus will proceed, in Matthew 6:2-18, to give three specific examples of how we are to live a righteous life but not do it as a “spiritual show-off”. Oswald Chambers would say, Jesus explains how to be religious without being an arrogant religious person. Let’s look at His first example….

IV. Illustrations of the Basic Principle: Matthew 6:1-4, 16-18
A. First Illustration: Matthew 6:2-4: Giving to the Needy.
>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:2-4.
Note: One of the main ways to be pious in Jesus’ day was to give to the poor. This was drawn from the teaching of the Old Testament. Notice, Jesus assumed His disciples would be giving to the poor for He said: When therefore you give to the needy…. and He repeated that phrase in Matthew 6:3. This implies that if we are not giving to the needy then we are not being properly righteous.
>>>> Turn to Deuteronomy 15:7-8 and 10-11 and have two different people read these verses…
Q What specific blessings are attached to helping those who are poor?
An = The Lord will bless us in all our work and all our undertaking. In others words, our lives will prosper (Deuteronomy 15:10)!
Note: However, according to Jesus, we could do it but in such a way as to lose all of our rewards from God. Remember, Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus said He was going to fulfill, not abolish the Law, He was going to complete it, make it full.
Q Looking back to Matthew 6:2-4, what is the key ingredient for giving to the poor?
An = Doing it in secret. Hypocrites, “spiritual show-offs” do it for show. They want an audience.
Note: A choice has to be made!! The choice is between two types of reward: God’s or man’s.
Q Why did Jesus call those who chose the praise of men hypocrites?
An = Because they chose the praise of men but “pretended” to be seeking the praise of God. In short, they were putting on a phony, unreal mask. They were lying about their spiritual condition. Q Ever noticed that you are often discouraged when you listen to someone tell you of all their good deeds? Why is that?
RQ Why is being around some people, who are religious, like being in the presence of beauty, and it is uplifting?
RQ Why is being around other people, who are “righteous”, such a repulsive experience?
Note: It could be that the repulsive ones are pretenders, they are liars, and somehow being around liars who represent the God of truth is repulsive.
Q Does this sound harsh?
An = If you have ever had to suffer through such things, this is not too harsh. Also, some of you do not want to have much to do with religion, could be more upset with “religious Pretence than with God. True religion is refreshing to those seeking truth (and infuriating to those who hate truth). True religion gets us to the true God.
>>>> Have someone re-read Matthew 6:3.
Q What does this little saying mean to you?
An = Give and do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. Some scholars say “left-hand” in Arabic stands for your best friend. So your giving should be so secret that even your best friend does not know all that you do (Robert Gundry, p. 102). It could also mean we should give without even being aware of the fact that we are giving. Matthew is probably the best interpreter of Matthew! Here is what Matthew later says on this issue.
>>>> Turn to Matthew and you read to them 25:34-40.
Note: Notice that the righteous do not even know they have been doing such great things. It is refreshing to realize that our Lord does see all and that though men do not know what we do, He does!
>>>> Have someone read Ecclesiastes 12:14.
>>>> Have someone read John 4:24.
Note: Give, and keep quiet about it, it could start your worship towards becomng true worship, from deep within your spirit. The beginning of real worship may begin not with excessive prayer, church attending, retreats, study, etc., but a simple act of faith: give and keep quiet! We often want to be religious, but Jesus wants us to have faith. It is a choice to have faith. It takes faith that we could be happy and not receive any human recognition. We should be aggressively giving to the needy but aggressively keeping it secret.
(There is a wonderful book written on this subject called the Magnificent Obsession by Lloyd C. Douglas, it was a best seller in America for 18 months, and it has a follow-up book called Doctor Hudson’s Secret Journal.)
B. Second Example of Being Properly Religious: Prayer, Matthew 6:5-8.
Note: Jesus gave us the second important “pious” act: that of prayer.
>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:5-6.
Q Do you see the same pattern here with prayer as found above in giving to the needy?
Note: Again, Jesus demanded His followers make a choice: whether to be private or public. Private prayer brings reward from God public brings reward from men.
Q Was Jesus demeaning public prayer?
An = Absolutely not!! There are many places where public prayer is encouraged and we have records of some of Jesus’ public prayers. The issue is ostentatious pretence. The real issue is whether we pray to be “seen by men” or “seen by God”. We should never be afraid to be seen by men as those who pray (see Matthew 5:13-16), but we should hide the bulk of our prayer life. Prayer meetings are fine, but private prayer is essential.
Q Why is Jesus so hard on those of us who want a little recognition? Why is Jesus so hard on us being “appreciated” for the good things that we do?
An = The answer is that He loves us. If we want to be “real” then we need to do our righteous acts privately and then we will know who we are. We will find out what our real motives are. We will be righteous because we truly want to please God and for no other reason.
B. Third Example: Fasting, Matthew 6:16-18.
>>>> Have someone read Matthew 6:16-18.
Q What is the subject or religious action that these verses speak of?
Q What do you think of when you think of fasting?
Q Is it a common Christian practice?
Q What is it for?
An = Again, when Jesus spoke of it, He was assuming that His disciples were fasting. If you have not been involved with fasting, then it is something you might look into.
Note: The act of fasting must also be done in secret. You are to pretend that you are not in the act of fasting. Be cheerful, dress well, put on a show, not to be a hypocrite, but to be a true disciple.
Q Why do it, what is the reason or benefit of such a practice?
An = Have someone make a list, while answers are being given and when they are through have them read that list back to the people.
Note: Surely, there are multiple good reasons for fasting. It does give many people a real boost health wise, it gives us discipline and self control, and it seems to aid our praying (Raul Ries once said “There is real power man, in fasting.” Saying nothing more he changed the subject.) Let me give you three concepts about fasting in the Bible.
First, In the Old Testament there are no instructions about “how” or “how long” to fast. The Old Testament does tie fasting to repentance and certainly to prayer. But whether you drink juice, or just water, or fast from sun up to sun down, or 24 hours, or 72 hours, etc. is not central to the teaching in the O.T. God has wisely left that up to us. I know of one individual who fasted till noon everyday for weeks for their child, another man fasted days on end so God would help his wife become pregnant, another fasted 5 days so his friend would not die of cancer, another fasted one day a week for the health of his mother.
Second, Oswald Chambers says it is a form of “concentration”. It helps the believer to know what he or she really wants; fasting helps us concentrate on what is really valuable to us. It is a choice to prioritize, and of course, that priority should never be to show off, it must be done in secret. If you do a group fast with your Bible study or with a group of friends it is not obviously a secret thing, but still a valid form of concentration. Your friends will know but it would be unwise to tell others beyond your group.
Third, keep it secret. Fasting reveals what we really value and we know we want an answer to prayer if we will fast for the answer. It lets us know just how much we love someone or want forgiveness, or guidance. You might need to get quite creative in hiding it, but hiding it is so important.
Do not be overly concerned with being considered noble, of being considered a woman or man of character, or of being regarded as “spiritual”. Keeping a secret can be empowering, ennobling, and life-changing.
You will be different if you follow His advice. You will please Him, it will bless you! You will change, and no one will know at first, but deep down in the very depth of your being you have made a choice, a choice no one will know about, but God will see.