Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:06 Welcome to that Makes Total Sense, a podcast dedicated to exploring God's generosity and justice. I'm Alexis bti, a Christian aiming to ask good questions and encouraging you to do the same. Every one of us is wired by God to live out generosity and justice, but the how sometimes eludes us that makes total sense is a way for us to get together, posture ourselves as learners, and challenge one another, to practice generosity and justice in a tangible way every day.
Speaker 1 00:00:43 Hey everybody, thanks so much for joining me today. I've got a short little sermon episode for us today and, um, this came about because I was thinking like the other day about how I just don't, I don't really love being told what not to do, right, <laugh>, and that this sounds like immature kind of for me to admit this. And, um, I don't know, a little sensitive, probably a little selfish, but I'm like, I just don't love it. I don't love being told what not to do, right? Like, don't do this or don't do that, and it doesn't land very well on me most of the time. But then I was thinking about it and I'm like, okay, I'm actually really bad about doing this as well. Like maybe with my kids they would probably say I'm giving instructions in the negative quite a bit, like more than I wish I was, you know?
Speaker 1 00:01:43 And so instead of me, instead of saying, oh, let's do this, I'm, it's kind of like, don't, or stop that <laugh>. Um, and I was kind of thinking like, I know that we have to be corrected. Um, and it made me think like, does, did Jesus do this? Like, what did that look like in his ministry? And so I just goo not Googled, but I went to, you know, Bible gateway and I, I just put in like do not in quotes, um, in one of the, the translations that I like to use <laugh>. And like hundreds of them came up, right? Not, not all of them were do not commands, right? But it was, but you know, maybe using, using that phrasing in a, in a different way in a sentence. But, but still we had some show up that were um, that were, that where Jesus is like giving these commands in like a negative, you know, kind of way, like in a do not like he had lots of do knots in his ministry.
Speaker 1 00:02:39 Um, so that was a little bit comforting. Um, but I also noticed that in some of these places and many of these places, Jesus as the good teacher, an effective teacher that he was, he often followed up these negative commands with positive examples, meaning like, don't do this, instead do this. And that dynamic is actually a taste of what we see in this kind of middle section of the Sermon on the Mount that's gonna be this text for this little, um, this little episode, this little sermon today, um, the middle section of the Sermon on Mount on the Mount in Matthews gospel. And Jesus in this section addresses three activities and he talks about giving and praying and fasting. And each of those sections, each subject begins with the how not to like each of these things are good things to do, but they're not super great when you do them like this.
Speaker 1 00:03:45 So do not do them like this. And then he gives examples and explanations to follow on how we should do them. So I wanna read through the text. It's a little bit lengthy. Um, you know, I invite you if you're in a place where you can look it up, like follow along with me. But if you're just like driving or running or something, just like, just listen, you know, just hear the word, uh, just kind of, you know, just kind of read over us right now. This is Matthew six one through 18 in the, um, in the N R S V. Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them. For then you have no reward from your father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may be praised by others.
Speaker 1 00:04:38 Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give als, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your als may be done in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they may be seen by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you when you're praying. Do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him.
Speaker 1 00:05:32 Pray then in this way, our father in heaven, may your name be revered as holy. May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one for if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. And whenever you fast, do not look somber like the hypocrites for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast put oil on your head and wash your face so that your fasting may be, may be seen not by others, but by your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
Speaker 1 00:06:31 So this passage, as I mentioned, is probably super familiar to many of us. It's the place from the Sermon on the Mount, which is the extended kind of five through seven chapters where Jesus recites what I've just read and what we've come to call the Lord's Prayer. And uh, there are people who don't even identify as Christian who didn't grow up in churches who've probably heard the Lord's Prayer, right at least once or twice in their lifetimes. But familiar passages can sometimes create quite a struggle for us because I mean, maybe for me, cuz I'm not sure like could anything new come out of this or maybe even we think should anything new come out of these passages that have been so well preached? But if this is the case for you today, I would say just try to hang with me because we're gonna see if this passage brings up any new questions for you like it did for me.
Speaker 1 00:07:22 So we'll go ahead and start with what we've probably all heard preached before and that's the focus on how we shouldn't be doing things for show. We shouldn't be doing religious things, especially for show. So we shouldn't announce it when we give an offering or we shouldn't pray in a big and loud way or <laugh> or complain when we're fasting, right? We're to focus on ourselves, namely that we're not concerned with what other people you know might think of us. But even this kind of, you know, attempt to focus on just us can sometimes lead to like a holier than thou kind of mentality or maybe a bit of self-righteousness or silent boasting. So it's not that there's anything wrong with this emphasis that we should not do things for show. Um, in fact, I think it's a good thing to revisit this text in that way, right?
Speaker 1 00:08:22 Especially in this world that we are in with social media and influencers where Christians, many of us are, you know, among those, you know, who would crowd those spaces looking for spotlights. Um, so that's a good thing to, to continue to look at this text and search ourselves in that way. But at the same time, I wanna table that interpretation for now and look at this passage in just a slightly different way. So what if instead of focusing on ourselves and how we should modify our behavior so that we're not so focused on ourselves, see what I did there, but what if the passage is teaching us how to focus better on God? So Jesus is teaching us through his do nots and through the subsequent how-tos that when it comes to religious activities, God is supposed to be our focus and not us. Which like it feels kind of obvious, right?
Speaker 1 00:09:25 But, but when we focus on God, that's when we'll get our reward. It's like the text says that our father will reward us. Um, and that's kind of where I wanna live for a minute. So let's look at that language there just a little bit in this passage. Jesus begins by telling his audience to be careful. Um, in the Greek it sounds a little bit like pay attention to so, so be careful or pay attention to not practicing our righteousness in order to be seen by others, right? So we're not gonna give or pray or fast in public ways so that people will notice what we're doing. And if we choose to do that anyway, if we choose to practice our righteousness publicly anyway, even after the admonitions that we've just gotten, then the father in heaven won't reward us. The text says that people who do this that way have already received their rewards.
Speaker 1 00:10:24 And so Jesus repeats that same warning for each act giving and praying and fasting and he tells his audience instead to practice these things in private and then the father will reward us. Now. And actually it's kind of interesting cuz in some translations there's a public aspect to that reward. So the word openly is added in there. Like, my father will reward you openly. So, so practice righteousness, publicly, no reward practice privately, yes, there's a reward and that reward might even be one that's given to us in public, but there's also some comparative language there that Jesus wants us to be aware that the folks that we see practicing in public have already gotten their reward. And I think we have to assume that what that is is that they get the attention, right? They get the attention from their community and that is the reward.
Speaker 1 00:11:22 But this whole reward talk, I think is partially what we get hung up on. And it's also like at the same time why the standard interpretation makes so much sense is because we're this reward driven culture. You know, right now, I don't know what first century, uh, you know, Roman Christianity looked like or the beginnings before we even called it Christianity, but these Jesus followers, I don't know what the, the culture looked like, their spurs reward, but I know that we are a reward culture, right? Like we love rewards, we love being seen, we love being recognized. We love ribbons and we love likes and we love rewards on our apps. And, and, and when we read reward our minds kind of automatically go through towards something showy. And, and that makes sense to us in the context of the verses, right? So we've got the people who are doing the righteous looking stuff for show and their reward as attention the applause of others.
Speaker 1 00:12:20 They get to be the stars, like the stars of their own little show. That is their reward presumably. But then we've got the followers that Jesus was speaking to saying don't do righteous looking stuff for show, instead do it without the audience and God will reward you anyway. But my question is with what <laugh>, what's the reward from the father? And, and as far as I can tell, Jesus doesn't really say, but I don't think that it's, it's probably gonna be this showy reward. Like even if that reward does come openly as some translations include, I don't think that that reward includes some sort of praise for us. I don't, I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think it re includes some sort of praise for us.
Speaker 1 00:13:15 It did get me to wondering what if, like what is this reward? What if the reward is rest? What if our reward is that we receive God's rest as a result of our confidence in Jesus' work in God's kingdom. So follow me here for just a second. We've got these three exs, these admissions, these how not tos followed by three encouragements, the how-tos. So don't give like this, do it like this, don't pray like this. Do it like this with this lengthy example of the Lord's prayer that we're gonna come back to. Don't fast like this. Do it like this, right? So when you give, don't let your left hand know what the other's doing instead given secret. And when you pray, don't make a big loud hairy deal of it. Pray like this. And then we get this extended example of the Lord's prayer. When you fast don't come out looking all haggard, but take care of yourself so that everyone doesn't have to see that you're fasting. There's these don'ts and then these how-tos. So let's focus on this prayer example cause we get the lengthiest how-to after the, after the do not with the prayer.
Speaker 1 00:14:35 So let's take a look at this example that Jesus gives his followers. And and when we do that, we see that the focus on the in that prayer is on God <laugh>. And the focus is on God and his and and his work. And I wanna say that again, it's not on us, it's on, it's on God and it's on his work. And it's God's work that actually allows us to take rest in him and receive what he has for us simply just by acknowledging him and his reign in the kingdom. So the prayer starts with a call and a recognition for God's name to be revered as holy. And then we've got two may statements there. They're phrased with a focus on God, may your kingdom come and may your will be done here. And it's not that we don't have anything to do with God's kingdom coming on earth, but but, but that's another sermon for another day.
Speaker 1 00:15:33 The point here is that God's kingdom coming and his will being done on earth as it is in heaven, actually starts and ends with God. Like God is the one who reigns over that kingdom, not us. And then as you continue to follow this prayer, we'll see that everything in this prayer falls on him. Like, hear me on this. Everything in this prayer falls on him. Every single line from that point forward is calling on God to do something on God, to accomplish something on God to make a show, if you wanna put it that way. Not us. We're asking him for stuff. We're fully reliant on him to provide, give us God this day our de lu bread. Forgive us, God our trespasses. God, don't lead us into temptation. God protect us from the evil one. I mean I think it, it sounds a little bit like a child, right? In some ways someone who recognizes their inability to provide for themselves in many of the meaningful ways that life requires give me food, I'm sorry for my mistakes. Keep me safe from the bad guys. <laugh>, our showy righteousness, our self-righteousness if you will, included in Jesus' Do not statements. Don't get us very far here. This example prayer says all we need to hear, God is the one responsible for all righteousness, not us.
Speaker 1 00:17:19 God is the one responsible for all righteousness, not us. Our reward, I believe, is that we get to rest in that which is actually pretty hard to do when we're trying to show everyone else that we can do all of these things ourselves. If we just give enough, pray enough, fast enough and enough people see us doing it, our reward is rest in God's righteousness, what then shall we do is the question <laugh>. If we should give and pray and fast but we shouldn't announce it, then how should we do it? I mean Jesus says that we should do these things in secret and, and I don't believe for the record that that means we should never practice them corporately because God made us for community and he created the church. And I think those things done corporately and in community can be a good thing.
Speaker 1 00:18:14 I think what it means is that when we practice them individually, God should be the focus and not us, which means our hearts turn toward him not receiving the attention of our community. In short, I think it looks like practicing the spiritual disciplines <laugh>, that we practice the disciplines of generosity and prayer and fasting. The disciplines that were designed such that when we practice them, we enter into a deeper communion and intimacy with God. They're designed such that things like generosity and prayer and fasting become a part of our lifestyle, right? They are things that we do, you know, in secret, yes. But just because it's a part of our normal everyday lives, they're not events that happen or take place at these kind of varying intervals. So I mean, practicing generosity in private could look a lot of ways. Um, it could be anonymous donations, it could be paying for someone's check at a restaurant or the person behind you in the drive-through at the coffee shop could look like volunteering our time and energy and inconspicuous ways or doing the behind the scenes, the unglamorous work at church or our kids' schools or in our neighborhoods praying and secret can look like intercession, but it can also look like journaling or just sitting in silence with the Lord or listening to our favorite playlist in our bedrooms or walking e labyrinth.
Speaker 1 00:19:51 Fasting could look like taking one meal a week to sit and be mindful or meditate or pray for needs in our communities and all of these things. And more lead to that reward that Jesus offers all of us, which is to rest inside of his righteousness. And I believe that reward that Jesus leads us into through his do not statements can be found in that extended how-to example that extended Lord's prayer where the focus is on God and his righteousness. The reward we get from the Father is to rest in him that Jesus warns us. That if we focus too much on trying to make sure people see us do the religious stuff, that I think we'll get worn out <laugh> and we may not be able to receive as readily the rest that he has for us in Him. His kingdom is coming, but we might miss fully participating in it if we think we are the ones responsible for its reign.
Speaker 1 00:20:59 So I'm not denying in any way the traditional interpretation of this passage. I think it is good to pay attention. So we don't do things, especially religious things just so we can get attention. But I think Jesus do not in this passage also lead us somewhere a bit different, um, maybe a bit deeper into our, um, communion with him. That by not showing off our own righteous looking activities, we bear witness to the only truly righteous one that we draw attention to the God whose kingdom is coming in fullness, that we can see more clearly his goodness in our lives and in the lives of the people around us, that we receive the reward of resting confidently in his righteousness, forsaking all of our own attempts to reign righteously on our own. That when we follow Jesus do not statements, we're actually making room for him to reward us richly with rest in our Father. Amen. The links for all the resources mentioned in today's episode can be found in the show notes, music and podcast production by Seth Boetti. Be sure to give us a review on iTunes and subscribe at your favorite podcast listening app you can also visit us at. That makes total sense com.
