This past week I was reading the sections in the Sermon on the Mount where it warns against religious actions for others to see.
Matthew 6:1-8 (NIV) 1 "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. 2 "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. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 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. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 5 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Matthew 6:1-8 (NIV) 1 "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. 2 "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. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 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. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 5 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
God does not want us to do our “acts of righteousness” in order to look good. He wants our hearts to be right (see last blog).
One strange side effect of the wonderful fact that Christianity is about a relationship with Christ and not a “religion” or set of rules to be followed is that we have a tough time knowing how we are doing spiritually compared with other people. God doesn’t give us an evaluation tool to figure out if we are better Christians than those around us. God wants us to only look to Him. However, it seems we will constantly be tempted to go back to “religion” since it is comforting. It gives us a checklist just like the Pharisees so we can check all the boxes, or at least more then most of our friends and we can go to sleep at night knowing we are “in”. I once heard someone ask “why is it that when someone asks us if we are rich we immediately think of people who have more than us and answer ‘no’, but when someone asks us if we are moral or spiritual we immediately think of people who are worse then us and answer ‘yes’?”
Luke 18:9-14 (NIV) 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
If you want to know how your relationship with your spouse is, look to your spouse, not your neighbour.
If you want to know how your relationship with your parents are, look to your parents, not your siblings.
If you want to know how your relationship with God is, look to Him.
Mark Wallace
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