Playing to the Audience (Don t Show Off Your Religiosity) Matthew 6:1-8, March 17, 2013 Travis Collins

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1 Playing to the Audience (Don t Show Off Your Religiosity) Matthew 6:1-8, March 17, 2013 Travis Collins Bob Woodward, the writer who broke the Watergate story back in the early 70 s, said the White House was grandstanding when they said the sequesters (budget cuts) would result in chaos, pain and suffering. Then Bob Woodward was said to be grandstanding by saying the White House threatened him when he said they were grandstanding. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul was said to be grandstanding when he filibustered stood on the floor of the U. S. Senate and spoke for thirteen hours recently. (And you thought sermons were long!) George Will said that Chicago mayor Rom Immanuel was grandstanding when he asked banks not to give loans to companies that make money off guns. There seems to be a lot of political grandstanding going on! To grandstand is to behave in such a way, often a dramatic way, to get public attention or approval. To grandstand is to do something, usually something without great meaning, intended to impress people. Jesus talked about that. He saw a lot of grandstanding in his day. And he warned people including us of religious grandstanding. As examples, he spoke of three common religious activities: praying, giving, and fasting. Public Praying. Public prayers were common in Scripture. But public prayers are not opportunities to spotlight our spirituality or our exhibit our eloquence. People do need to be able to follow the one praying publicly. That s why some find written prayers helpful. But prayer is addressed to the Creator, not His creatures. Almsgiving giving to the poor was a common practice in Jesus s day. It was the welfare system of the time. Of course at issue was the motive behind giving. Was it out of a charitable heart or a desire to show off their generosity? Fasting was assumed. When you fast, Jesus said. I believe we ought to recover and practice the discipline of fasting of skipping a couple of meals from time to time to demonstrate our complete dependence on God and our heart-cry that He act on our behalf in some important issue. But not to impress people. Can t you picture those folks of whom Jesus was speaking? If they were fasting, before leaving home they messed up their hair, put on ragged clothes, and put a sad look on their faces. What s wrong? people would inevitably ask. Oh, I m fasting, they would reply. I m very spiritual, you know. Here s the problem Even our desires to do good are tainted by our desires to get credit for doing good! 1

2 We re tempted to grandstand. We tend to want people to see us when we do good things. When you fall, what is the first thing you do when you realize you re not hurt? You look to see if anyone saw you! So what do you do when you do something good? If you re like the rest of us, you hope someone did see you. That desire to get credit for doing good results in hypocrisy trying to appear better than we are. Hypocrite is a word that originally meant actor, and was used in the ancient theatre. To be a hypocrite was to play a part. To be a hypocrite is to grandstand! Here s some biblical counsel on minimizing that desire to show off our religiosity I can t flip a switch give myself new motives. This I can do: I can pray that God will correct and discipline me until my motives are right. And I can intentionally look for ways to foster and nurture right motives. Here s some biblical counsel on that Let s be honest about our frailties. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other, (James 5:16). At Bon Air Baptist, let s be a place where we can be honest. Where, in the right circles, we say, I m struggling with this or that We tend to hide our sins and hurts from each other, I believe. I hope that, in the right circles, we can be more open and honest about our struggles that we will feel a little more comfortable acknowledging our weaknesses, our sins, our frailties...and less tempted to grandstand. Toot not thine own horn. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips, (Proverbs 27:2). Maybe you ve heard the saying, He that tooteth not his own horn, the same shall not be tooted. Then let it not be tooted. Not having it tooted at all is better than pridefully tooting it ourselves. John Ortberg wrote that one morning he decided to be helpful and emptied the dishwasher while his wife was still in bed. She didn t seem to notice, however, that he d done such a gracious deed. That evening, when it seemed she was not going to recognize his thoughtfulness, he artfully called attention to the empty dishwasher and mentioned how fortunate she was to have such a considerate husband. At this point, he wrote, the fundamental character of what I had done was altered. Instead of one tiny action helping me become more like Christ, more like a servant without feeling I had done something extraordinary, it became one more item on a quid pro quo checklist. Let s not brag about good deeds. Content ourselves with second fiddle 2

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, (Philippians 2:3). Could I confess something to you that s been bugging me since 1981? Our university was doing Celebrate Life a revival of a youth musical from the early 70 s. The main characters are the four apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I tried out for one of those roles. We came in and read from the script for a panel of folks who would choose the leads. The assumption of everyone in the room was that those who didn t get the leads would still be in the chorus. I didn t get one of the lead roles. I didn t sing in the chorus, either. Suddenly I was too busy for all those rehearsals. Someone asked the famous conductor, Leonard Bernstein, what is the most difficult instrument to play. He answered, Second fiddle. I can get plenty of folks who want to play first violin, but to find someone who will play second violin with enthusiasm is a real problem! Likewise, the Oak Ridge Boys sang, Everybody wants to be the lead singer in the band. I m guilty. But let s choose to let others be the lead singers and get the credit. Let s develop the habit of pointing to the accomplishments of other people. When we are willing to let others get the attention and the credit, when we are willing to serve without recognition, then the Christian movement will gain steam. Do Secret Service. For everything in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world. (1 John 2:16) We know what lust of the flesh is. Lust of the eyes is our tendency to be captivated by outward show (C. H. Dodd). Lust of the eyes is a lust for the spotlight. Now, if we had a problem with lust of the flesh we could decide not to rent any R movies and put a filter on our internet. Well, there is something we can do to minimize lust of the eyes, too: Secret Service. I m talking about doing things anonymously, behind the scenes, with few people or no one knowing what we ve done. By practicing secret service through intentionally anonymous acts through doing things and making sure nobody knows about them perhaps God can break the hold that our natural desire for recognition has on us. God will reward you. There is a really interesting thing that happens here in the original language that we don t see in English. There are two words translated reward. In all three paragraphs regarding prayer, almsgiving and fasting the pattern is this: Those who enjoy the recognition of people will receive their reward in full. Those who do good secretly, however, the Father will reward. 3

4 In the first part of the formula (verses 2, 5 and 16), the word is Apexo, which meant to receive in full and get a receipt. In the second part of the formula, the Father will reward you (verses 4, 6 and 18) the word is Apodidomi, as in the typical way you would think of reward. Let s look at the first. Apexo. It is a commercial term meaning a receipt marked paid in full. You probably have gotten one or more of those. A piece of paper, maybe an invoice, on which is stamped the phrase, Paid in full. That means, one, the buyer doesn t have to pay more. It means, two, that that is all the seller is going to get. That s it. Payment over. No more. No mas. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Done. Do you see what Jesus is saying? Jesus is saying that if you want the recognition of people for doing good, you ll get it. You ll get the reward of people saying you re a good person. But that s it! If our goal is the praise of people, and we get it, we re paid in full. That s it. Payment over. No more. No mas. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Done. Enjoy it, cause that s all you re getting. Imagine a man arriving in heaven and saying, I m looking forward to my reward for this or that good deed. Everybody appreciated that thing I did and they told me so. Did you notice how many people admired me for what I did? I know you were taking notes, so where s my reward? And the Lord says, No, you already got your reward for that. You remember how good it felt when everybody said you were so wonderful? Well, that s it. No more reward. You got your reward already. A lady then arrives who, on earth, did good deeds for the right reasons. Did good quiety and humbly. The Lord will say, While you were quietly going about doing good not many people noticed. You didn t get a lot of credit. But I was taking notes. I have some great rewards for you. What? That was nothing! she ll say. Others should get this, not me! But be rewarded she shall! It reminded me this week of the famous marshmallow test. That test in which children are brought one-by-one into a room and a solitary marshmallow is placed in front of them. They are clearly told, You may have that marshmallow now if you d like. But if you wait until I return I will give you another one and you will have two. One now, or two when I return. And a hidden camera in the room watches the kids as they agonize over that decision. Many sniff the marshmallow. Hold it up. Lick it. And, yes, some take a bite or two or just give in to temptation and gobble down the whole, white, sweet, mushy goodness at once. Likewise, we can do things to impress people and get whatever strokes there come from that. Or we can serve without desire for recognition and receive the rewards of the Father. Now, I don t know exactly how the reward thing is going to work out. But I have a hunch. I got the chance to spend two weeks in Europe during the summer after my graduation from high school. Now, I m ashamed to say that I had not been a good student to that point. So when we visited some of the museums and historic places, those who had put the time and sacrifice into being good students were fascinated by the artwork, the statues, the historic building. Not I. I was more interested in the sopranos and altos than in the statues and architecture. We were in the same places, enjoying the same experiences yet some of them had a greater capacity than I had for enjoying those experiences. Perhaps that is what it will be like in heaven. All of us enjoying the same experiences, but some having a greater capacity for rewards than others. 4

5 Those who serve quietly, and with selfless motives, are now developing the capacity to enjoy the richness and depth of God s eternal rewards. One day God will judge the motives behind our actions. 1 Corinthians 4:5 reads that, when the Lord comes, He will expose the motives of men s hearts. One day we will stand before our maker, and He will expose whether we have done good to get the credit, or because doing right grew out of who we are. He will expose whether or not we ve done good for our own glory or for His. Let s live so that, when God says, Well, done, good and faithful servant, He will be able to add, And you did it for the right reasons. Then we can enjoy the rewards however wonderful they are. It boils down to which audience we re playing to. John Claypool wrote that each one of us is an actor, with the inborn need to gain the approval of some audience. And we choose the audience. We choose the ones whose approval we will seek. That audience is the person or group of persons whom we choose to have great influence on us. That person or persons are so significant to us that what they think about us makes a great difference to us. Their opinion of us is so important that our sense of value comes largely from their approval or disapproval. We can either play to a human audience and seek their applause. Or we can seek the pleasure of our Creator and Father. When coming under great criticism, the missionary, Paul, wrote We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts (1Thessalonians 2:4). If I may paraphrase his words, Paul said, My audience is not people, but God. One day there was a long line of people waiting to board a passenger train. The people were standing in the sun during the heat of the day. Many were behind schedule and all of them were miserably hot. The conductor, however, was meticulously examining each ticket, making sure each t was crossed and each i was dotted. People in line grumbled to each other and yelled at the conductor. One passenger said to the conductor, People here aren t very happy with you. I know, answered the conductor, but my boss thinks I m doing a good job. Let s do the right things for the right reasons for the right audience. 5