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Well, in the Middle Eastern times, 2 ,000 years ago, if you saw one man kiss another on the cheek, what would that represent? What would be the meaning? In those days, the kiss was an act of respect. It was a designation of honor.
It was a Middle Eastern way of showing affection to the highest degree. It would signify that the people were close. There was a camaraderie. There was affection. Friendship. Maybe even a relationship of student and teacher.
It was a religious act in many occasions. Now, my question for you this morning is this. What can make the kiss of Mary and her kiss of Jesus' feet different than the kiss of Judas? What can make a sign that means respect and affection and love and admiration and religious worship, Judas kissing Jesus turn into something so bad because Judas didn't have that intention at all?
It was an act of disrespect. It was betrayal. He was identifying his enemy. There's an external act, kiss. What separates that external act from betrayal and love? The answer is motives. The answer is worship or betrayal, the difference is found in the motive.
The external act is the same, but it's what comes from the heart. If you'll take your Bibles and open to Matthew 6, we're going to look at Jesus today as He discusses this idea, making sure we do religious activities, righteous things with proper motives.
Because I don't know about you, but I don't want to do something for God with wrong motives and then resemble a Judas kiss. Matthew 6, verse 1 and following will be our text today. We're just marching through Matthew.
This is a great Gospel, I believe the first Gospel written, and it shows Jesus as King. As Luke might stress His humanity to the Gentiles and how He was fully man, and John might show that He's fully God with the seven I Am's.
Matthew wants to show the Jews especially, it's a very Jewish Gospel, 60 Old Testament quotes and prophecies. Matthew wants to say, this is your King. Here's your King, behold your King. Maybe the best verse to describe all of Matthew and His purpose is found in Matthew 21, verse 5.
Say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your King is coming to you. It's a book that says, look at the King. And obviously the response should be worship and adoration and praise and belief. This is a book that starts with Jesus in the second chapter being identified as the King of the Jews.
And then at the very end, two chapters from the end, the placard above Jesus, this is Jesus, King of the Jews. And Jesus has done many miracles and then we see it progress to the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 5, 6, and 7.
And if you had to describe the Sermon on the Mount with one word, what would that word be? You can encapsulate all the teaching of chapter 5, 6, and 7 into one single word, what would that word be? And I think it's found in Matthew 4, verse 17.
From that time, Jesus began to preach and say, what? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Chapter 4, verse 17, gives kind of the concentrated word repentance. That was Jesus's message. Like John the Baptist in the future, repent.
Like Paul's in the future, repent. Like Peter's in the future, repent. And here Jesus gives his command, repent. Think a different way, in other words. And then your actions will certainly follow. And so Jesus almost expounds or exposits this one word repentance.
And he does that in chapters 5, 6, and 7 called the Sermon on the Mount. And with these three chapters, he's going to say there's a way to do things that seem right, and then there's the way to do them according to God.
For man, it's external. It's outside. It's ritual. It's rights. For God, some of those external religious things are good and important, but God is after what? Our hearts, the inside, internal attitudes.
Not just external, but external and internal. And Jesus says, yes, my kingdom is described as a righteous kingdom. And so if God is righteous, the king is righteous, the son is righteous, he will want righteousness in his kingdom.
And Jesus shows up with a forerunner, John. There's not righteousness. There's a perverted kind of pharisaical, hypocritical, let's do things on the outside and think we're good with God. And John the Baptist with sackcloth and ashes, and then Jesus with feasting and hanging out at festivals, both say the same thing.
Repent. Think differently. Contemporary Judaism was empty. Paganism was empty. And he says, your righteousness has to surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees or you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Chapter five, basically Jesus says, don't believe what these Pharisees are teaching. Don't believe their doctrine. They come up with all kinds of doctrines. Don't you dare believe them. And then he moves to chapter six and he says, not only chapter five, don't believe what they teach.
Chapter six, don't believe what they do and then don't do what they do. Run, avoid, flee. John Stott said of the Sermon on the Mount, there is no single paragraph on the Sermon on the Mount in which this contrast between Christian and non-Christian standards is not drawn.
It is the underlying and uniting theme of the sermon. Thus, the followers of Jesus are to be different. Different from the nominal church and the secular world. Different from the religious and irreligious.
So Jesus says, I'm a different king. I'm a righteous king. Therefore, you are to be righteous. And so today we'll look at chapter six, verses one to 18. That's the section. That's the grouping, if you will, but we're not gonna get very far.
Jesus is going to try to turn the tables like he did in the temple. Here he's turning over the tables of their beliefs and of their practices. He says, religious hypocrisy is the worst. And I call this passage the sledgehammer passage.
Many people know what a sledgehammer is. It's kind of a nice feathery object, you know, and it's just soft. And Luke got home too late last night, but as I told Sunday School, I wanted to go find an old HP printer, nothing against HP, but they're just around, and go get our yellow handled sledgehammer and have Luke put some goggles on so all the OSHA requirements would be met, and then just start smashing that thing.
And it just pulverizes it. You can imagine the pieces flying. This weight of this condensed, dense steel slamming down on this brittle object. And Jesus comes in, and this isn't kind of nice, tame, caged Jesus.
Jesus hates hypocrisy. And he hates anybody that teaches it. And he certainly doesn't want people in his kingdom living that way. And as I watched this passage, when Jesus was blasting religious hypocrisy, I began to take my mind, and it floated away from the Pharisees, and the pagans, and the Sadducees, and the hypocrites, and then it was smashing my own brittle heart.
When you watch Jesus attack this, don't miss the message that it's for all religious hypocrisy. My question to you for this morning is, why do you do what you do? Why do you set up the chairs? Why do you play piano?
Why do you pay the bills for the lights? Why do you do everything you do here at this church? What's the motive? And God is so good to give us his word to help us realize what motive we should have and how we should do it.
Jesus says in verse 1, here's my principle, beware of practicing your righteousness, chapter 6 verse 1, before men to be noticed by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
And that's kind of the umbrella for all the first 18 verses of chapter 6. Everything that follows up to verse 18 fits under here. And he uses religious principles that were common in the Jewish day. For instance, there are three of them.
He says, I don't want you to be a hypocrite when it comes to giving alms. Look at verses 2 to 4. I'm just going to give you an overview and then we'll back up. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you.
Don't toot your own horn as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving will be in secret and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
So Jesus says, watch out for being a hypocrite when it comes to religion. Example number one, almsgiving. He gives another example of what we should watch out for that we'll look at in weeks to come, prayer.
Can you believe we are so sinful that we can even be hypocritical and righteous the wrong way, self-righteous when we pray? That's amazing to me. He says in verse 5, when you pray, you're not to be like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men.
Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
When you're praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do for they suppose they'll be heard for their many words. So do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask.
And then instead of a vain hypocritical prayer, he tells us how to pray. And then he gives us, of course, the disciples' prayer in verse 9 -15. He gives a final example found in verse 16 -18. Be aware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them when you fast.
Verse 16, whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they're fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
So basically with this one verse, verse 1, it's the umbrella, it's the kind of the packed pregnant verse that invades everything else. And it basically says this, don't be a hypocrite when it comes to your religious activities.
I read this in the Expositor's Commentary this week and it was one of those whack verses, quotes. To attempt to live in accord with the righteousness spelled out in the preceding verses, but out of motives eager for men's applause is to prostitute that righteousness.
To trade the goal of pleasing the Father for the trivial and idolatrous goal of pleasing man will never do. Why do you do what you do? That's what Jesus is after. Of course, we're to do religious things, but He wants us to do religious things with the right motives and be far away from the Pharisees to give that kind of activity wide berth.
And with one word, He gives us that warning. And that's the first word of chapter 6, verse 1. At least in my New American Standard update, Matthew chapter 6, verse 1, what's the first word? And this is the key word.
If verse 1 is the umbrella for the first 18 verses, verse 1 of chapter 6's first word is the umbrella for everything. Here's the word. And it's a word that we don't use very often. When's the last time you ever used this word?
Beware. Last time I used it was on March 15th. Beware the ides of March. It's the last time I used it. I guess I used it last week, beware of dog. But I mean, besides that, this is an important word. And it's kind of, we don't talk about this word much anymore.
Beware. When's the last time you ever said that to somebody? Beware. Frankly, we don't even use the word hypocrite very much. The only time we hear the word hypocrite is people don't want to come to church because there are too many hypocrites there.
Well, I think that's pretty hypocritical for them to say, but that's another sermon altogether. I would say to push the issue, Jesus' one of his favorite words is hypocrite. Although he doesn't like what they do, he uses it often.
It's a common word for Jesus. And here he says, beware. Let me give you three nuances of beware before we get into the outline, because I think this is really the summary of these 18 verses. This is the word that oozes through all these 18 verses and permeates everything there.
It's beware. Three nuances in the Greek, and I think it will help you. Before I give you the nuances, it is a present and it is an imperative. What's that mean? It's ongoing and it's a command. Watch out.
Beware. The first nuance is, it means to turn one's mind to. It means to pay attention to. It means to give heed to. If you were a captain of a ship and you were going to bring it to shore in the old days, bring it to port, bring it to harbor, you would have to think.
And the extra biblical data for this word is bringing a ship to its moorings. Thinking about it. Pay attention. I think of Acts chapter eight where this word is used, the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip.
Pay attention. Hebrews 2, for this reason we must pay much closer attention. That same kind of word. When it comes to the word of God in 2 Peter chapter one. So we have the prophetic word, made more sure to which you do well to pay attention.
Take heed, King James says. Pay attention. Look. What do they say back in the old days? Stop, look, and listen. It's implying that we're not going to look. We're just kind of going along and kind of same old, same old.
We get caught up in the rut. Jesus says, stop everything and I want you to think about it before you go ahead. The second nuance is to be careful or to be on guard. Not just think about something, but to think about it so much that you're watching out for with care and concern.
Acts 20, this word is used. Be on your guard for yourselves and for all your flock. Take heed. Look around with the intention to guard. And then the last little nuance I like because it's helpful. It means to devote yourself to.
To apply yourselves to. To occupy yourself with. This is the intensity of it. Not just to kind of pay attention. Not just pay attention to guard, but pay attention to guard with some kind of determination.
Some kind of lock jawed grip. Paul says in 1 Timothy 4, until I come, give attention to the public reading of scripture. So Paul says, pay attention. And I think it just comes right from Jesus where Jesus says, be on the state of alert.
They said in seminary, never use a Star Trek illustration. So here's the Star Trek illustration. Why do we do that? Why do you hear, you know, somebody's at the hospital, don't go visit. My first reaction is I want to go visit.
And here it's the same thing, except it's with the illustration. This is red alert. This is the red sound, the red light. It's flashing to say, we're all going to be doing this if we don't pay attention and we need to guard our hearts.
We need mental energy, effort to think about this because lounge chairs, lazy boy attitude is not going to work. That word's got sweat in it. That word's got detail in it. That word's got, don't forget to read the fine print in it.
And you say, you know what, Jesus, you're kind of making a mountain out of a molehill. It's not really that big a deal. At least they're doing religious things. These people could be out committing crimes.
They could be out turning over cars after sports victories. They could be doing all kinds of things. It's not that big a deal. Who could ever say of Jesus that he is falsely exaggerating? Who would ever want to say of the Savior that it's improper hyperbole?
Know the one word summary of chapter six verses one to 18 and the one word summary of the message today and the next week and the next week and the next week is what? Beware, beware. And in light of that, let me give you four bewares this morning.
Four truths that you should devote yourself to learning. Four facts from Jesus that you must pay very close attention to. Four statements from our loving Lord that you should take heed to and embrace.
Three right from the text and one implied. Four bewares out of Matthew chapter six, verse one. That's as far as we're going to get. Maybe not even that far. Beware number one, do not practice your righteousness to please other people.
Right from the text, just let the text preach. Beware, take heed to, use energy, think about protecting your mind, think about protecting everyone else. Don't practice your righteousness to please other people.
You notice the text, chapter six, verse one, beware of practicing righteousness before men to be noticed by them. That's Jesus's point. And we'd be tempted to do it. So Jesus says, don't. I'm tempted to do it.
Are you tempted to do it? I have done so. Have you? I will probably do so again, but I surely don't want to. And maybe the reason why I should, maybe the reason I could probably prevent myself from doing more of it is if I just beware.
There's a song in the 60s, some kind of people watchers song. He said right here, you can look at the text, you should underline it, beware of practice righteousness before men to be noticed by them. You don't want to do something so people look at you, so they watch you, so they see how you do things.
The word noticed comes from our word, our English word, theatrical, the theater, the stage. You know, sometimes I slip up and call this the stage. Don't let me ever say that. I've got to go up on stage.
This isn't some performance, at least it shouldn't be. This is a platform. We don't clap after special music, although sometimes we really want to. So we have to do the more sanctified amen or hmm or something, because we're just not after kind of clapping.
He calls His redeemed people. He calls the spirit indwelled people. Don't try to be the center of attention. Our notice, our thinking should try to be to say, you know what, I want to have an audience of one.
I want God to see. Doesn't it strike you oddly that Christians would want to be noticed? How did you act before you were saved? I wanted to be noticed. God changes us. How should we now act? We want Jesus to be noticed.
We want to have them see Christ. We are not the black absorbers. You take black velvet and it absorbs the sun. We want to be like mirrors who say, we want to refract or reflect the greatness of Christ.
We are so sinful that we can do sinful things while we are doing religious deeds. I want the spotlight on me. Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, focus here center stage. I'm going to do some stuff for God.
Now everybody watch. Martin Lloyd-Jones says, ultimately our only reason for pleasing men around us is that we may please ourselves. It's idolatry because they see us and they think about us. Good way and we think, oh, to be noticed by men.
And these Pharisees and hypocrites were noticed by men when they gave, when they prayed and when they fasted. Now that's what they did in their religious circle. So we can just apply it to any other thing we do.
Why do you do what you do? Why do you work on the missions team? Why do you decorate the church? Why do you paint the steeple? If we had a steeple, why do you do anything? Why do you set up the chairs?
It's not, or it should not be to get noticed. Noticed. To me, frankly, when I do that, you know what I think of? I'm insane. I'm like Nebuchadnezzar. I think I want all the glory for me and God goes, oh yeah, I've got a solution to that.
You want to act like you're crazy? Crazy times 100. Moo. I don't want to do that. Righteousness, religious righteousness is something done for God. So who should we do it for then? Who do we want to watch?
God. Religious stuff is not for other people. It's God as our audience. I never want to be like a Pharisee with a peacock kind of attitude strutting around with my religiosity. It's harder for me, I think, sometimes, because I'm up here.
But we can all do it in our hearts no matter if we set up chairs or pay bills or change diapers in the nursery. The unbeliever wants to get noticed. The old man, the old nature, the old person. But as we've been made born again, that new person should have the desire to say, God, make me like John the Baptist, pointing to Jesus.
I am who I am by the grace of Christ and anything that has happened that's good in my life, Jesus should get the glory. Because after all, we should probably consider our calling, shouldn't we, brethren?
That there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.
And the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not so that He may nullify the things are. Why, for what purpose, to what end? So that no man may boast in God. Who made us Christians?
Certainly, verse 30 of 1 Corinthians 1 says, but by His doing, you are in Christ Jesus. And God, I think, has made us boasting people. I think part of the image of God and the likeness of God and being human is boasters.
We are boasters. So we sinfully want to boast in the wrong things, but we need to have the right focus. That's why 1 Corinthians says, let him who boasts, what? Boast in the Lord. Thus says the Lord, Jeremiah 9, let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, let not a mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, what?
That he understands and knows Me that I am the Lord. If we do something religiously and it's not for God, it's good for nothing. If we do things hoping people will say, hail Mike, hail John, hail Cindy.
And I don't know about you, but I think I'm smart enough to kind of manipulate praise out of people. I know what to do and how to say it. Daniel Doriani said, he does not mean we must always hide our good deeds.
If we invite the singles and college students to share a Sunday meal, then someone will eventually discover it. It is no sin for the word to leak out that we are hospitable, but it is hypocrisy to be hospitable so that people will discover and praise our hospitality.
And Jesus says, beware. What does He call them in verse 2? Hypocrites. What does He call them in verse 5? Hypocrites. What does He call them in verse 16? Hypocrites. Turn with me over to Matthew 23 for a moment.
And Jesus just says this word all the time. This is not the emergent church Jesus' words. This is not the liberal church Jesus' word. This is not mainline church denomination Jesus' word because they would never want Him to say such a thing like this because it somehow doesn't strike you as Jesus, but God will not give His glory to another.
You know, one of God's names is Jealous. That freaked me out when I was first a Christian. God is a jealous God. Because I always think of jealous somehow as negative. But in the right way, He deserves all the honor and glory.
And when it goes to some creature, when it goes to some sinful creature, God is jealous. Look at how Jesus uses this word on purpose. Verse 13, what does He say in Matthew 22? Hypocrites. Verse 14, hypocrites.
Verse 15, woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. Verse 23, hypocrites, exclamation point. Verse 25, hypocrites. Verse 27, hypocrites. Verse 28, hypocrites. Verse 29, hypocrites. Who wants to be a hypocrite?
I think of Cain and what Cain did. Here's my sacrifice, God, and I do the external, but the internal's wrong. Who wants to be an Absalom? Oh, God, my father David, I'll do all this and then behind his back.
You know the story. But here, it's interesting, if you go back to Matthew 6, religious things can get us in trouble. I was blown away back in the early 90's. My old Calvary Chapel pastor said this. He said, you know what, if your heart's not in it today, God hates your singing.
I'm just glad I was starting to memorize some of the Maranatha songs. There's no hymnals in the Calvary Chapel. I'm just kind of glad now. He's a kind man and a dear man. But you know what he was doing?
He was trying to say you can do the externals, but if the internals aren't for God, it doesn't matter what you do. And you know what he was also saying? Where's this verse found? I hate, said God, 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. I will not even look at your peace offerings. Take away from me the noise of your songs. I will not even listen to the sound of your harps, but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
God says in Amos 5, if your heart's not in it, don't sing. I want righteousness flowing down. Man, that is convicting. Why would God say in Isaiah, I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats?
He commanded it! Because He wants the external, but He wants the what? Internal as well. If you have a ministry at the church, what God doesn't want is for you to somehow play to the choir, to play for the chorus.
In the old days when you'd have a drama, you wouldn't wear makeup and have all the onstage costuming and makeup, they'd wear little masks. And God says it's just like wearing a mask, pretending to be one thing and being the opposite.
Sin is so deceitful, Jesus says beware. What are some action steps? Here's what I wrote down, number one. Think regularly about this topic. So you know what I did? What do I do to think regularly about trying not to be a hypocrite?
So I put on my Outlook, the day timer on Microsoft products. Is that okay to say Microsoft with all these WPI students? Do they have Outlook for Macs, don't they? Okay, whatever, it doesn't matter. I put for every Tuesday, it says now if you go look at my Outlook, why do I do what I do?
Friends, I do this sometimes because it's my job. I know that's wrong, but sometimes you just are in the motions. I don't wanna do that. I pray usually before I come up here, God, forgive me for my hypocrisy, forgive me for what I've fallen short of what I've tried to live out.
Why do I do what I do? Do I do it to please you, to be successful, to be the mega church pastor, to be well-known, to get money? Why do I do what I do? So every day I've written down, maybe you use a day timer, maybe you use something to put on your dashboard.
Why do you do what you do here at the church? Why do you sing in the praise team? Why do you play the organ? Why do you do what you do? Because you have to, because you're up in front. Figure out a way to think about it regularly.
Why do you do what you do? Number two, why don't you read the gospel of John? That would be good homework, because you will observe Christ Jesus and his never ceasing desire and accomplishment to say, God, you get the glory from my ministry.
You notice that what happens in John? It's gospel. It's always God that you might be glorified. God, for you, even at the high priestly prayer in John 17, it's all about God. What a great example for us.
To study the life of Christ. The person that if you think about who did the exact right religious activities perfectly from a child under the Mosaic law to when he was older, his whole life, perfect religious activities, yet with perfect religious intention of glorifying God.
Who could ever call Jesus a hypocrite? Number three, how do you not do this in front of men? Unless a discipler or elder asks, please don't tell other people about your 4 a .m. quiet time. I'll never forget that.
I got here and there was somebody that kept telling me all the time, I get up and I have a four o 'clock in the morning quiet time. And I said, well, I just stay up till midnight and have a quiet time.
And so I started earlier in the day that you did. What does it matter? You have a four o 'clock a .m. quiet time. Who should ever know? I have a four o 'clock quiet time. I mean, that's Matthew chapter six.
I'm glad you have a four o 'clock quiet time. And if your elder asks you, he's discipling you or you have a relationship with another lady, how did it go this week? Fine, tell them. But to let the whole church know you got a four o 'clock quiet time, that's exactly what he doesn't want you to do.
The one that smashes me the most like a sledgehammer is this one. Don't creatively elicit responses for your ministry. Don't somehow, you know, you've got a ministry and then you kind of bring it up somehow so they'll think, oh yeah, here's the ministry, here's you.
Oh, you do that ministry, you do so well. I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm glad I had a background in sales and sometimes it's my bane, it's my horror. How do you try to get people to do what you want?
I know how to get people to praise me if I want. How horrible, it's idiotic is what it is. By the way, let me give you another little hint here. We should be praising the Lord that this idea can free us from the success syndrome.
When you don't have an audience of people, God grant me, what could be my success? Maybe hardening people, maybe nobody sees, but God, I'm playing the piano for you. We never have to ask the question anymore, does it work?
Do we get the numbers? I think about Jesus, perfect religious attitudes and actions, John 666, as a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. Surveys are man-centered, business attitudes are man-centered, questionnaires are man-centered.
What will unbelievers say? I know what unbelievers will say, I'm good, God should save me, I don't need to know. A liberal Fosdick said, let them not end, but start with thinking of the auditor's vital needs.
And then let the whole sermon be organized around their constructive endeavor to meet those needs. How about preach for Jesus, and if they kick you out, praise the Lord, and if they don't, hallelujah.
We preach for God, we serve for God, we clean for God. Somebody put a little thing in the kitchen, I mean, the kitchen ministry, for those of you that do it, thank you, because that burns people out. Why does it burn people out?
Because you clean, and then somebody makes a mess, and then you clean, and then you clean up somebody else's mess, and then they make more of a mess, and the pastor puts his coffee cup in there, and it goes on, and on, and on.
And I saw somebody put a little sign up there, kind of a, it's like stained with water, and coffee, and all that, and talked about, be faithful because God is a rewarder of those who do things for Him.
Whether you eat, or drink, or serve in a local church, do all to the glory of God. Number two, the first beware was, beware that you don't practice your righteousness to please other people. Secondly, the second beware, the second truth found right here in Matthew chapter six, if you dabble in praise manipulation, you will get what you don't want.
If you dabble in praise manipulation, you'll get what you really don't want. Got it? What do I mean by that? Look at the text, Matthew 6 .1. If you dabble in praise manipulation, you'll get what you really don't want.
Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. You get rewards from people. Good job, way to go, you're a great server.
But you get no reward from the Father. Can I give you this principle right now? There's no double dipping rewards. Pay me now, or pay me later, but you don't get the applause of men, and of God if you're doing it with the wrong motives.
Now, certainly there could be a case where you serve for the Lord. Let's say the Browns going yesterday, and now you all know they went. I did that to encourage them and encourage the body. There can be temporal rewards of saying, oh, thank you for giving us the Browns.
And then also eternal rewards because I don't think they did it, so I would make the announcement. Did you do that? Oh, Mike, make the announcement tomorrow. I'll be glad to get up at 5 .30 and go. So God could reward on earth and in heaven, but for religious deeds done before people because you want their applause, there's no reward in heaven.
Mission accomplished, but it's a bad mission. Now, these three examples that he gives in chapter six, verses two to 18, he says the same thing in all three of those examples. Look at verse two, in the example of almsgiving, the end of verse two.
Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. Chapter six, verse five, in the section about praying properly, it says at the end of verse five, truly, I say to you, they have their reward, what?
In full. And the section on fasting, he says the same thing, verse 16. Very end of the verse. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. If you want to do something for the audience of somebody besides God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, God's gonna say to you, you get your reward on earth, te telestai.
Paid in full. No additional payment by God. No additional crowns or rewards from the king. Spurgeon said, you cannot expect to be paid twice. If therefore you take your reward in the applause of men, who give you a high character for generosity, you cannot expect to have any reward from God.
We ought to have a single eye in God as accepting what we give, and to have little or no thought of what man may say concerning our charitable gifts. So whether it's giving, serving, whatever we do, we do it.
We should do it for the heavenly reward. Otherwise, we're like the people Jesus was blasting. Listen to John 12. Nevertheless, many even of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, for they love the approval of men rather than their approval of God.
And I'll tell you what, we all want to be liked. If I had you raise your hand, how many people want to be liked? We all want to be liked. And then I think about what Jesus did. How many people liked Him?
It's tempting for us to be greedy with the praise, wanting to hear accolades. Frankly, I tell you this all the time because it's self-protection. I don't want to hear, that was a good sermon, when I think biblically.
I do want to hear it when I'm not thinking biblically. You think I want to spend 10, 15, 20 hours laboring away all day and sometimes night thinking, what am I going to say? And then have you go, that was a dud.
Last year's was better. And ever since he came back from Germany, he's just not the same guy. I mean, whatever it is. I don't want to hear that. But I know what you do is when you go, that was a great sermon, that was a rocker, that thing turned my world upside down.
Thank you for that sermon. You know what I think? I'm thinking, I think you're kind of right. Now that you think about it, I mean, it is the horror, so do me a favor. Say, you know what, pastor, I'll be praying for you.
That would be good. Then I could take it the wrong way too. That's a real dud, they're praying for me for next week. No, just say, you know, hello. And it's always, you know, one of those things that you're thankful that God has given you a faithful and grounding wife because you get home, you're like, man, I slammed that one today.
So awesome. And it's just kind of that look like, I mean, I never do that at home, at least with my hands. Serve for one. Can you encourage people? Obviously. Encourage people, of course. But when you serve, don't try to serve so that you are encouraged.
I think we should encourage more. I try to make it a goal of mine. See someone and encourage them and say, thank you for serving. Thank you for visiting the vineyards. But my point is, we all have that gamester in us, that poser, that pretender who wants to say, we're on stage and look at my ministry.
I hate it when I say, this is my church. I hate it when people say, how many go to your church? I hate it when it's the whole Christian celebrity thing where they're like, I've got this many and I can do this and I can do that.
To be noticed by others. I read something this week and you can write it down as a verity or a truth or an eternal maxim. And it is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight words long. God accepts only what is done for Him.
God accepts only what is done for Him. You say, now this is kind of crazy because if you look back in chapter five, I thought we're supposed to show our righteous deeds like lights on a hill. Is he contradicting himself?
Look at Matthew 5, 14 to 16. There's no contradiction, first of all, because they're from the eternal, unchanging God, Jesus. But you'll see the different nuance. Try to locate it. Matthew 5, 14, you're the light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor does any light, anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify, see the point, your Father who is in heaven.
See the difference? We are to show forth the greatness of God in what we do, but we're not trying to do it pining away hoping we get the credit. A .B. Bruce said that sometimes we show when we're tempted to hide and hide when we're tempted to show.
Different sins Jesus is talking about in chapter five and in chapter six. Good advice from an old preacher. The true Christian like the nightingale sings in the night, but the hypocrite has his song sung all day when he can be seen and heard of men.
To be well-spoken of is the very elixir of his life. Truth number three, we gotta speed up. Truth number three, beware number three. Beware not to please anybody but God. Beware not to please anyone.
Number two, don't short circuit your reward and get it on earth and not in heaven. And number three, beware, you must believe God's promises for something better. In other words, about future rewards.
You must believe God's promises about future rewards. If God says he'll reward you in the future, he will. Even though you can't see it and you can't touch it, God is faithful. Don't forget about his promise in other words.
Look at the end of verse one of chapter six. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Conversely, you do the right things, you have the reward. Look at chapter six, verse four. In each one of these examples, there's this statement.
The Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Chapter six, verse six. Your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Chapter six, verse 18. Your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
And if you think of God as some kind of slave master, there's not much working for him. But when you think of the Father, the Father, the Father, 10 times in here, the Father, he will give a proper reward.
And you know where that reward comes from? The text literally says alongside of the Father. It's as if God is in heaven and alongside of him, close to him, ready to dispense upon his children are his great, perfect rewards reserved just for his people.
True or false? Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. True, because God rewards. The verse over there on the sink. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown towards his name.
How do you show love to God's name? In this particular case, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. But the focus isn't for the saints. The focus is towards the Lord. Number four and finally, beware number one, don't practice your righteousness to please others.
Beware number two, if you dabble in praise manipulation, you'll get what you don't want. Number three, believe the promises of God's future rewards. And number four, this is more implied, beware number four, don't think Jesus left us uninformed.
In other words, don't think Jesus says, you know, don't be a hypocrite. Do things properly and be warm, be filled. No, He told us exactly what to do and how not to do things. And that's found in verses 2 -18.
He tells us exactly. We don't need inner knowledge. You don't need to eat a bunch of jalapenos tonight and go to sleep and think, what should I do so I'm not going to be a hypocrite? Maybe I need to find a tent and some steam and some peyote and everything will be fine.
I'll find out that way. No, with God and His incarnation and His condescension in Scripture, He'll tell you exactly what to do. And He's spoken clearly. Final illustration, turn to Mark 14. Jesus says, beware.
And now I'm going to show you an illustration so you might hate the one and embrace the other. I want to show you an illustration of two different people who did things for Jesus Christ, one with the right motives, one with the wrong, and you'll know exactly who they are.
This is the coup de grace. When you think of these things, I say to myself, God, may I be a merry God. I hate it when I act like Judas. We're going to have to go lightning fast. We have an antithesis here.
Right and wrong. Religious, irreligious. Good motives, bad motives. And it's between Mary and Judas. Mark 14 .3, and while he was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, reclining at his table, at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial, a very costly perfume of pure nard.
She took it and broke the vial and poured it over his head. And here we're going to see this example of worship and betrayal side by side, but here comes the worship. Here comes Mary, and she brings this nard that comes from India.
It's a far way away. It's very expensive. Do you see the text? Very costly perfume. They're at Simon the leper's house. I can imagine it didn't smell that good there, and the custom was during feast time, someone would come to your house, and we would take people's coats and say, come in.
And when people would come to your house, you would not be offending them, you would be gifting them and honoring them by giving them a little perfume of nard on their head, and it would smell good, and they'd been out working.
It's not that you didn't want the smell in your house, but you wanted them to smell good as honor. She takes this alabaster flask, this kind of semi-transparent stone full of costly ointment and pure nard from India, hard to get, and instead of putting a little on the guest, Jesus, it's the whole thing.
It's like she has to break it to get it out fast enough. Have you ever seen the neck of certain things? You can't pour them out fast. So what do you do? You have to break the neck off to get that stuff to come gushing out.
Festive meal. People want to smell that. It's a thing of honor. She breaks the neck of that thing just with entire, complete, 100 devotion to Christ Jesus. Who cares what anybody else thinks? Breaks that thing off and pours it all over forcefully.
What I kept thinking about was I surrender all. All to Jesus I surrender. And with a custom of love and appreciation, devotion and adoration, the supreme act, single-mindedly she pours it all over. This is her security.
It costs a lot. This is her nest egg. Her most precious commodity. This is her 401K. And it says in John 12, wipes his feet with her hair and the house, and you bet it was, was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Jewish people would think their hair was their glory and she condescends and says, my glory is worth nothing except some kind of rag to be used to put this ointment on Jesus. Forgetting about herself, she models that.
Loving the Lord her God with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength and forgetting her neighbor. Verse 4, but some were so mad they snorted. That's what the word means. Remarking to one another, why has this perfume been wasted?
As a horse would snort and disgust, the disciples led by you know who began to snort like a horse, humiliating Mary. John 12 says Judas instigated this murmuring. One man said it was like Judas had a calculator in his hand figuring out how much was wasted on Jesus because he was going to steal it later and they say, what a waste.
The word waste also was used in John 17 when Judas was called the son of perdition and waste and perdition is the same word. Judas says, you know what, you've wasted that and later Jesus is going to say, you know who the waste was?
Judas, you are the waste. You're the waste. Verse 5, for this perfume might have been sold for over 300 denarii. Did you know you can feed 5 ,000 men, women, and children making 10 ,000 people for just 200 denarii?
And money that could be given to the poor and they were scolding her. It wasn't going to be given to the poor. Judas is a liar. Oh, we've got to give money to the poor. It's Passover. You do that during Christmas time and give some money in those little red jars in front of the shawls.
They're scolding her. And I think they're scolding Jesus too. You should have stopped her. But, verse 6, Jesus said, let her alone. Why do you bother her? She has done a good deed, I could say for me, but Jesus said to me.
What a great little picture of Satan accusing and Jesus the advocate. And here Jesus is her advocate. Jesus says what she's done is a good deed. Not morally good. The Greek word is beautiful good. Charmingly good.
Bonny good. Commendable good. With honor, He rushes to her defense. She never defended herself. Jesus did. She looked to Christ for approval. Who cares what they think? She never did that. For the poor, Jesus said, you always have with you and whenever you wish, you can do them good.
It's not the right time to serve the poor. But you do not always have me. She has done what she could, verse 8, she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. She probably never even thought about that.
Probably would have saved some for his burial. I truly say to you, wherever the Gospel is preached in the whole world, West Boylston in April of 2008, that also which this woman has done for me, shall be spoken of in memory of her.
Fast forward to verse 43. The flip side. And immediately while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a multitude with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
One of the twelve! One of the twelve! With the goon squad. Probably thinking somebody's going to try to attack them. Swords and clubs and armed to the gills. Posse comes. Torches and lanterns. Verse 44, Now he who was betraying him had given a signal saying, Whomever I shall kiss, he is the one.
Seize him and lead him away under guard. I don't want him to get away. This is the signal. No slip ups here. And after coming, verse 45, he immediately went to him saying, Rabbi, and he kissed him. The text doesn't say it was a peck.
It was long. It was intense. It was prolonged so much that all those soldiers could see that's the one he's kissing. Adoration. Discipleship. Affection. Tender kissing. Hugh said, Judas' kiss drips with horror for it is a callous prostitution of one of humanity's most sacred symbols, the kiss.
Judas was a deicide, a God killer. The kiss of Mary, with right intentions, honored by God. The kiss of Judas, the son of perdition. Falling headlong, he burst in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.
Let's pray. Lord, I would confess, as the pastor of this group of dear people, that we are all here hypocritical in what we do and say. Sometimes we're more righteous than others. We would acknowledge that it's by your good grace.
So we would ask that you would help us today. Help us not to be some kind of double-crossing betrayer like Judas as we offer religious devotion to you with our deeds and service here at the local church.
But help us to be like Mary. Help us to be like John the Baptist. Help us to emulate Christ Jesus, who did everything with an eye to his father's glory. Father, we're thankful for this teaching. It doesn't feel good.
It doesn't warm us up on the inside, but we want to be like Christ and we want to be holy. And we know you transform your people through the preaching of the word and through the ministry of your spirit in that word.
So Lord, be generous today to make us doers of the word with right attitudes for your glory. Amen.