Study Guide: "Private Practice"

Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18

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Matthew 5:21-48 focuses on the teaching of the law, on what people believe.  Matthew 6:1-18 focuses on the practice of the law, on what people do.  The first section emphasizes inner moral righteousness--giving six illustrations regarding murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, revenge, and love. This second section emphasizes outward righteousness--giving three representative illustrations of religious activity.

- The first has to do with our religion as it acts toward others (vv. 2-4).

- The second has to do with our religion as it acts toward God (vv. 5-15).

- The third has to do with our religion as it acts in relation to ourselves (vv. 16-18).

Essentially, Jesus is warning us against hypocrisy in our religious activity with others, with God, and with ourselves.  Our public acts of religion must match a private motivation that is pure and authentic.

False Righteousness in Public is a Serious Matter.

Jesus begins with a warning.

The statement in 6:1 introduces this section and applies to each of the three illustrations in 6:2-18:

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven."

 The word that springs to mind is "hypocrisy." The word comes from the Greek word hypokrisis meaning to act on the stage, and from hypokrinesthai, meaning to play a part, to pretend.

Hypocrites are mentioned in Scripture from Genesis through Revelation.  Cain was the first hypocrite, faking worship by offering a kind of sacrifice God did not want.  When his hypocrisy was revealed, he killed his brother Abel out of resentment (Gen 4:5-8). The supreme hypocrite was Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord with a kiss.

- This game of pretense was a game at which the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day were masters. Because their religion was mostly an act and a mockery, Jesus' most scathing denunciations were reserved for them.

Hypocrisy is never treated lightly in Scripture.

- Through the OT prophet Amos, God said: 

"I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." (Amos 5:21-24)

2. Jesus provides three specific examples of his warning.

Warning against false giving (6:2-4).

- The word "alms" literally refers to any act of mercy, but it came to be used primarily of giving money, food, or clothing to the poor.

- Jesus does not introduce this teaching with "if" but "when", indicating it is something he expects us to do.

- God is always delighted with acts of mercy and generosity.

Micah 6:8, "He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

- Jesus does not denounce the act of helping the needy; he warns against helping for the wrong reasons.  Just said earlier in chapter 5 that we're accountable for what is in the heart.  Here he says that what counts in what we do is the motives of our heart.

2) Warning against false praying.

- Once again, Jesus begins with "when" rather than "if".  Jesus is not condemning or prohibiting public prayer.  Nor is he condemning other outward expressions of religious devotion.

- Here Jesus warns against any outward expression of devotion that masks a distant heart.

3) Warning against false asceticism.

- Many Pharisees fasted twice a week, usually on the second and fifth days of the week. They claimed that those days were chosen because they were the days Moses made two separate trips to receive the tablets of law from God on Mt. Sinai.  But those two days also happened to be the major Jewish market days, the two days when public fasting would have the largest audiences.  They would put on a gloomy face and neglect their appearance to impress the public with their austerity and religious devotion.

II. What Matters Most are our Motives.

Impure motives produce hollow actions.

- Jesus says that we may get exactly what we want--praise and admiration of men, but we forfeit what really matters--recognition and acceptance by God.

- Wrong motives negate the best of actions.

2. What motivates you?

- Acceptance by others?

- To honor & please God?

I have often been asked how to define success as a church.  Is it how many attend? Is it how much people give?

- I believe success as a church is how well our members narrow the gap between what we profess and what we practice.  In other words, what matters most is how authentically we are living out what we hold to be true, and our motivation in doing so.

One of the heroes of the faith is not named in Scripture.  Jesus himself offers her to us as an example of authentic Christianity.  She never preached a sermon, never sang a solo, never taught a class, never organized a movement, never built an edifice, never amassed any wealth.  She was an anonymous widow, but Jesus hailed her as a hero,of the faith and an example for all of us to follow because she gave everything she had to the Lord simply because she loved him.

Luke 21:1-4

As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.  He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said. "this poor widow has put in more than all the others.  All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

Close:

So, what motivates you? How authentic are you in how you go about practicing your religion?

Our public acts of religion must match a private motivation that is pure and authentic.

(Dr. Dane Fowlkes, pastor)

(image from www.thelordismyhelper.blogspot.com)