For an Audience of One

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. So let's turn to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 and to set up this message so that the title makes sense.

The Way of Christ and the Meaning of Doing Good

Before Christians were called Christians. Some of you know this. Christians used to be originally called followers of the way. This is based on the statements made by Christ in John 14 verse 6 where he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. So because Jesus said, I am the way, therefore Christianity was originally called the way. And really this is an appropriate name because not only did Jesus say he was the way, his teachings show us the way.

So we're in Matthew chapter 6 and this section in at least the New King James version is titled, Do Good to Please God. But it's not just about doing good. It's about Jesus showing us the right way to do good.

So I've titled the message, Doing Good the Right Way. Because you actually can do good, what? The wrong way. So we need to look to Jesus, the leader who shows us the way. We need to learn the right way to do good.

So remember how Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, he's teaching on the deeper implications of the Mosaic law. God's word, his law given to Moses would have instructed people in doing good, in praying.

But whatever good thing that God has done or whatever good thing that God has given, you know, leave it up to man to corrupt it. And really it's a matter of our heart, our motivation. Why are we doing good?

Is it genuine? Is it from the heart or are we doing it for other reasons? So before we read, let's open in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your grace. And we thank you for the forgiveness that we have in Christ.

And yet I think we realize we still have a lot to learn. So we ask that you would teach us this morning from your word, by your Holy Spirit. Teach us the right way so that we can apply these teachings to our lives in our hearts.

So Lord, help us to be receptive for what you have for us. We ask all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Let's read Matthew chapter six, one through eight. Jesus says, take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them.

Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.

Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. That your charitable deed may be in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

But you, when you pray, go into your room. And when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.

For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask him. And then it goes into the Lord's Prayer, which we'll probably cover next week.

Hypocrisy, Heart Motives, and Religious Performance

Okay, so Jesus, what is he doing in this passage? He is instructing his disciples in the way. And really, it goes without saying that a follower of Christ would be involved in doing good deeds, charitable deeds, and a follower of Christ would pray.

They knew all of this since they had the Old Testament scriptures. So Jesus is saying, when you do these things, and he's just assuming that, of course, you will. When you do these things, do not do them the way that the hypocrites do it.

So let's begin by asking the question, who are the hypocrites? Who is Jesus referring to? Well, it's pretty simple. He's talking about the religious leaders of Israel, the religious establishment, if you will.

So this would be the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the chief priests. So some things that they would do, we read some of the things they did. But these were the men who would go around in long robes, just the way they dressed.

So that anyone, just by looking at them, could say, okay, that guy, he's a holy man. Just because of the way they dressed, it was obvious. These are the types of people when they pray. Have you ever noticed this?

When some people pray, they use sort of a strange voice, and they pray, oh, God. And it just doesn't really come off as being all that sincere. But all of this, the way they dress, the way they talk, the way they pray, it's all a show.

It's all to be seen by others. It's for attention. And that's what a hypocrite is. The Greek word hypokrites refers to someone who is an actor. They're putting on a show. It's not at all genuine. So certain things probably come to mind, people who do that.

And you think, yeah, that's hypocrisy. That's who Jesus is talking about. Now, we do need to be a little careful, just to focus on this one thing. Just because a religious leader wears a robe, that doesn't automatically make him a hypocrite.

I just need to say that. Here's the thing with Jesus. He could see into their heart. He could read their heart. He knew what their motivation was. He knew it was all about them. It was pride. He knew it was a show.

So just because somebody does this, it doesn't automatically mean you can assume the worst. Just something to consider. In the Old Testament, the high priest was commanded by God to wear an elaborate outfit.

So we need to be a little careful about this. So all that to say this, if a minister wanted to wear a robe, I mean, I personally wouldn't do it. I mean, I don't really support that. But if somebody wore a robe during ministry, that doesn't give us license to call them a Pharisee or a hypocrite.

And I've talked about this before. Really, when a Christian calls another Christian a Pharisee, it's often slander because we really don't know what their motivation is. So oftentimes when someone calls someone else a Pharisee, it's because they think they're being judgmental.

Of course, calling someone a Pharisee is kind of judgmental, but I digress. The point is Jesus could discern what was in their heart. So Jesus could make this assessment. And Jesus was right. We can't always do that.

So Jesus is saying to his disciples, hey, see these men? See what they're doing? Do not be like them. So really it's focusing more on a heart attitude and motivation more than just clothing. So Peter, James, John, Matthew, the disciples, and by extension, us today, we don't want to be like the religious leaders of Israel.

Or we don't want to be like religious people who act like them and are motivated by those things. That everything they're doing is to be seen by men. Look at verse 1. Jesus says, take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them.

And that was the motivation. So when I read passages like this, I try to give a modern-day example, just an illustration to help you understand what this might look like. And I realize this is not the best example because it's not really dealing with, this isn't really charity.

But I think this will get the idea across. Let's say you go into a pizza place and there's the tip jar on the counter, right? This is every pizza place has a tip jar on the counter. And you notice there are six or seven people standing around behind you in line.

And then there's the person behind the counter. So with all these people around, if you put in a $10 bill, a $20 bill, you realize everyone's going to see. Everyone's going to notice that and they're going to have a high of, ooh, this guy's a good tipper, you know?

Because people are going to notice. But let's say there's nobody behind you, there's nobody around, and the one person behind the counter is preoccupied with something else. What if you decide not to leave a tip for that reason?

You know, that's the deciding factor that nobody will notice. And I'm not going to get any credit. I'm not going to look good. If that's your deciding factor of why you're going to do something good, you're not going to get rewarded by God.

You get no rewards if that's your mindset. So why does a person who's doing something to be seen by others, you know, drawing attention to themselves, doing things so that they'll look good, why does a person like that not get rewarded by God?

Well, it's simple. They already have their reward, and that is to be seen by men. They get the praises of men, so they do not get the praise of God in that circumstance. So this is what Jesus is saying.

Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. And every person who believes on Jesus, I hope that you want rewards.

I hope that you are looking for a reward from Christ. Some people have the attitude, hey, listen, I only care about being saved. I only care about getting into heaven. I don't care about rewards. Wrong attitude.

We should be working for rewards, because when we work and do things the right way, well, it brings God glory, and that's just the right thing to do. So we should want those rewards. Okay, so whatever you do, you have to ask yourself, and this isn't really something we should pass judgment on, again, because we don't know people's motivation.

Just for us individually, am I doing good because I want recognition, or am I doing good for God? Am I doing good to help someone? Am I doing good for the right reasons? Look at verse 2. Therefore, again, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet.

How many of you blow a trumpet before you're about to do something good? You can't imagine, and it's possible this is hyperbole, but I think people actually did this. He says, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the street, that they may have, what's their motivation?

They want glory from men. Jesus says, assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. So this is really hard to imagine. A religious leader in Israel, before they're about to do a good deed, they have one of their servants, you know, okay, everybody, I'm about to do something good.

I'm about to give money to the poor. Look at me. Look how amazing I am. That kind of seems extreme. He's like, okay, this person is a hypocrite. That person is looking for attention. But apparently, they would do things like this.

So again, I try to think of modern day examples of what this might look like. I remember it was years ago, after one of those massive hurricanes, there's some natural disaster where I think it was a Hollywood celebrity donated a million dollars to the relief effort.

That's a good deed. I mean, that is going to get the praises of men. But what happened was, I guess they had their publicist or their agent leak that information to the press. So it was reported everywhere.

And, of course, they ended up looking like a hero. And I think most people wouldn't see anything wrong with that. I mean, you're doing good. It's appropriate to be recognized for doing good. It's like, okay, fine.

But that isn't the type of thing that pleases God. If you're doing good, it is a good deed. But that's not going to reward you, get you any rewards in heaven. That's not the way a Christian should do it.

So a Christian should not do some good deed and then make sure that everybody knows about it. So as a Christian, this needs to be our attitude. We should be doing everything we do, we should be doing it for an audience of one.

What does that mean? We do it knowing that God sees it. It doesn't really matter if anyone else sees it. Colossians 3, 23 says, And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men. So when we adopt that attitude and it becomes sort of ingrained in us not to boast or to brag, it really protects us against the temptation to, yeah, do something good and make sure everybody knows about it.

Because a lot of times that can make you not look so good, too. It can backfire. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Coronet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscoronetchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, with the grace of God be with you.