Getting recognized is a satisfying feeling. When you accomplish something, especially if it took a lot of work, it feels good when someone notices it and compliments you on it. On the other side of that, when you do something that takes a lot of work, and no one recognizes it, it can be upsetting.
We as adults have these experiences when we clean the house, and our spouse says thank you. Or when we trim the trees and the neighbor tells us they’re looking good. Whereas adults do things hoping to be recognized, kids call us to recognize them. Daddy look what I can do, as they summersault for the 100th time. Mommy look what I made, as she walks into the kitchen with food everywhere and some burnt pancakes on a plate.
There is a deep need to be recognized when we do good, and it’s this need to be recognized that brings us back into our Matthew series today, where we’ll be picking up in the Gospel starting in chapter 6 verse 1. And as we open up to Matthew 6:1, lets recap where we are in our summer series.
For the first eight weeks we returned, time and time again, to the identity of Jesus. We saw people proclaim who Jesus was. We saw challenges against Jesus’ identity. And we saw Jesus’ own revealing of who he was. With Jesus’ identity clear for us, in the first four chapters, we moved our way into Jesus’ first sermon, the Sermon on the Mount.
In the introduction of Jesus’ sermon, we saw that the identity and mission of Jesus’ disciples is couched in Jesus’ identity. Who we are as Christians, must be surrounded by who Jesus is. If we are going to be greatly blessed, and the salt and light of the world, then we must realize that we cannot do anything outside of Jesus.
With this is mind, we walked through Jesus’ first section, which helps us understand the standard that we are to meet, if we are going to be perfect as God has called us to be. We saw the depth of the standard, and how it is impossible to achieve on our own. Because it is not merely an action based standard, but cuts to the very heart. With this understanding of the impossibility of reaching the standard, the first words of Jesus’ sermon echo, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It is these words that remind us that when we recognize the impossibility of reaching the standard, we recognize our own bankruptcy in being righteousness enough for God. Therefore we must rely on him for salvation; which is God imparting his goodness and righteousness to us, through the sacrifice of Jesus.
With that brief reminder of where we’e in Matthew, let’s turn now to Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 1.
“1 Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others 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 others. Truly I tell you, 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 others. Truly I tell you, 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. 9 This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
In Jesus’ sermon, he starts out identifying his disciples and their mission. Then Jesus shows us the depth of the standard that God requires, and by doing so, reminding us that we must be fully reliant on him. But though we are reliant on God for our salvation, we are still called to do good and to walk in righteousness.
This is why Paul states in Ephesians 2, “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (v.8-10).”
Salvation, God’s imparting his righteousness to us via Jesus’ sacrifice, which is his goodness, is not done through our good deeds or works, but only through his grace. Flowing out of that secured salvation, which is based on God’s goodness, we are to do good.
And in this section we are told how to go about doing good. How to put God’s goodness into action. And what Jesus shows us here is that there are two ways to go about doing good. One comes from a place that desires the recognition that comes from people, and the other is the desire to be recognized by God.
Jesus wants us to seek the recognition that comes from God, rather than people. To illustrate this, he gives us three examples.
In verses 1-4, he tells us to give to those in need in secret. In verses 5-17, he tells us to pray in secret. Verses 16-18 he tell us to fast in secret. In Jesus’ day, people would sound trumpets, make lofty and flowery prayers, and dress disheveled so that others would look at them and think them more spiritual. This happens today as well. But Jesus is telling his disciples, that’s not his way. His way is to do spiritual things without the desire of being seen by people.
Yet, this seems to contradict what Jesus said in his introduction. Early, in Matthew 5:16, Jesus states, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
So what is it, should we do these things where no one will see, or should we do them where everyone would see? And the answer must follow what Jesus just said in his first section. In the first section we covered last week, everything was a heart issue. Murder isn’t just an action, but it’s holding anger. Adultery isn’t just the act, but the desire of lust.
Here it’s the same thing. If we giving, praying, fasting, so that others may see us and glorifying God, then we will not boast, or proclaim, or do anything extra, other than simply, giving, praying, and fasting. In this way our good deeds will be seen before people, and they will glorify God and not glorify us.
Yet, if we our boasting about giving, praying, fasting or any other spiritual activity, so that people will look at us and glorify us, that’s where we run into a problem. We are seeking man’s glory, and not God’s glory.
A few years back the church was asked to clean up down by Love’s Truck Stop. A dozen or so of us went down and did it. A person pulled over and asked, what group we were with, and one of members said, “With the Alliance Church.” The person replied with something along the lines of, “That’s great, God bless you.” And they left. We took pictures and shared it with our brothers and sisters on Facebook, but never more than that. And even with those pictures, it was always pointing to God for the glory.
On the other hand, I have seen several times churches share how their feeding people, clothing people, and more, and they’re sharing it on every social media site they can, so that people will see their good deeds. The problem is not the sharing, but rather, when there’s no glory given to God.
I’ve shared this before, but years ago, I read in the newspaper how a church in town was doing something. It was some sort of youth thing, and the paper was saying how great it was that a church was involved with the youth. My sin nature instantly went into overdrive, and I began to think, we work with the teens every week. Our church spends tens of thousands of dollars, on events for the youth of this town. And it’s these people that got the recognition? Maybe I should take pictures and put them in the newspaper every month!
And that’s one of those times in my life where God checked me, like a hockey player into the glass. It was very clear, that I was not going to do that, because then I would be seeking the praise of people and not him. This is why we don’t put out in the newspaper or social media what we have done.
We’ll advertise for upcoming events, but we’ll never share, outside the church itself, what we have done. If others share it, that’s fine, but we do not seek the praise of people for doing good, but rather we seek to glorify God.
This is why Jesus then turns our attention to treasure. Jesus says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
A lot of times this passage is connecting good deeds with treasure, as if a good deeds are a coin in a treasure chest in heaven. Sort of like a retirement investment. Bigger house in heaven when we’re done, that sort of thing.
But in connection to what we’ve seen, the key isn’t the treasure, but the heart. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
In other words, where is our heart? Is it with the praise of people? If it is, then we can go on making a show of our spiritual lives. We can sound the trumpet, putting our good deeds on Facebook for all the world to see. We can have prayers that are full of colorful words and last 15 mins. We can fast and do spiritual things, all the while letting people know how hard we have it. Then we will get what our heart desires, the praise of people. Their praise is our treasure, but that treasure is short lived and will be destroyed.
On the other hand, if our heart is for the glory of God, then we will give, without the need to have others know. Our prayers will be heartfelt, with words that we might stumble over and might only be a sentence long. Our fasting and other spiritual activities will be done with no show involved, and without people even knowing that we are engaging in them. Our heart, then, is not with people’s praise but with God. Our treasure is secured in heaven where the praise that we were to have received goes to where it’s due, back to God, and we’re delighted in it.
It’s when we are in a position where we seek the praise of God over our own, that the words of the Bible come alive. James states, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up (4:10).” Peter says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time (5:6).” And Jesus’ own words later in Matthew, “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (23:12).”
Jesus is showing us that we can either have the praise of people, or point others to praise God. If we seek the praise of people, as Jesus says in verse 2 of our passage, “Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”
But if we seek for others to praise God, then the words of Jesus in Revelation 22:12, will excite us, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.”
God is calling us to seek his eternal rewards, but that means that we cannot seek the finite ones. The glory of God in eternity is a greater treasure, than the temporary praise of people here right now. Yeah, I know, I want to be seen too. I like being told, good job, but I know that those words are fleeting, and it only takes one mess up for the praise of people to turn to venomous gossip.
My challenge for you this week, is to step back from all of your activities. And ask the question, do I do these for the praise of people, or to point people to praise God? Do I give and tell people about it? Do I pray with flowery words? Do I do spiritual acts, so that others can tell? Do I live my life in a way that seeks to have people congratulate me in my relationship with God? Or do I give when no one is looking? Do I pray with heartfelt words? Do I do spiritual things without anyone noticing? And if they do, do I point them back to God so that he can receive praise?
This week I want to challenge you to go before God and work through the three examples that Jesus gives, and ask God, where is my treasure? Where is my heart? Is it with the praise of man, or with the praise of God? And if you want to go just a little deeper, expand those questions beyond Jesus’ examples to other areas of your life.
Jesus is calling us to seek his approval, his recognition and not the worlds, for it’s in heaven where I treasure is located, Jesus himself. Amen.
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