“Live before an Audience of One” (Matthew 6:1-18)

Many of you know what a profound impact my grandfather had on my life. During my rebellious years in my twenties he would often pull me aside and try to talk some sense into me. He told me how his own dad said to him, and his dad said to his mother in polish, “of nothing this one will become.”

After the decisions I’d made, it looked like that might be true for me, but my grandpa saw something different in me. And when he became a born again Christian, he gave me a Bible and began sharing the gospel with me, and it changed my life. I gave my life to Christ, and never looked back.

But I remember at his funeral there was a time of testimonies, where people could share about grandpa. And person after person came forward, sharing how grandpa had mentored them, prayed with them, helped them, gave them money, helped with a project, and I remember being absolutely shocked. The whole family was. He hadn’t told anyone about these things he was doing behind the scenes.

He was living for an audience of one, he was living before the Lord. The praise of people, well, he couldn’t told all of us about it, told the stories, but he didn’t. And we only discovered it after he died. Most of my family never knew he helped me until I shared about it.

As we go through this series about the sermon on the mount, and it’s impact on our heart. Let me ask you today: Where is your heart?

Is it to please an audience of one, your heavenly Father? Or is it to receive the approval and applause of others?

The good news is, we can always make a change. With God’s help of course.

So as we continue through this famous sermon, we recall how last week Jesus challenged us to guard our hearts, and live a pure life, and even, to love our enemies.

He gave us several areas of concern to avoid, anger, sexual immorality, and hate. Now he’s going to talk about three areas of the good we do, and how to do it in the right way. Jesus is going to ask us: What’s in your heart? And answer the question: How do we live before an audience of one?

We will be in Matthew 6:1-18.

Starting in verse 1 today: “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.”

This is the key thesis statement for our entire sermon today. Be cautious, Jesus tells us, to not get into the mindset, of doing good things. to.be.seen. By others… for the admiration of others. To show off.

And he explains the cost: If you do, you’ll have no reward from the Father, in heaven.

Every good thing you do for God, stores a particular reward for you in paradise. But, Jesus is going to show us how doing something good, and then telling everybody what you did, means the reward is removed.

First area Jesus will discuss is giving to those in need. First we get a bad example of giving.

Verse 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.”

Ever wonder where the expression “tooting your own horn” came from?

There was an entire culture apparently in this time in Israel, where those who gave to the poor made sure everyone knew about it. Did they actually blow shofars when they did it? Maybe. We don’t have any direct evidence of that, but it’s possible.

There was a trend on social media for a while, where influencers would take a selfie of themselves giving money or food to a needy person. But it quickly became something less than popular, for obvious reasons.

Jesus is saying, if we give to the needy, we shouldn’t tell others about it.

A heart dependent on the approval of others will be a heart lost in fear, stuck on constantly rolling seas, and a heart imprisoned by the opinions and praise of others.

Verse 3: “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing…”

Here is the good example. Someone gives some money to a homeless person, walks away, and never tells anyone. But Jesus takes it a step further.

He uses this fascinating phrase, “don’t let your left hand know what your right is doing.” The word Jesus uses for “know” is Ginosko’ in the Greek. He uses the word Ginosko twice, a heart knowing.

What’s Jesus really saying? Even when you do something good for someone, don’t contemplate it in your own heart, “oh look at me, look at how good I’m being, look at me, I’m a good servant of God.” No, simply give, with joy, and don’t contemplate it further. Or it may begin to build pride in us. And pride is the deadly enemy of every Christian. A prideful Christian is useless, for what they do, they do for themselves.

“Lord I give you all the glory” “For you Lord” Give it all for God. Not for you. Not to be seen. But before Him.

Verse 4: so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

The secret giving, is between you and the Father. No one else knows, well aside from the person you helped. But ultimately it’s a little wink and nod to your Father, quietly, Father, I love you, and no one else needs to get between that.

But we do need to balance this scripture with Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

OK, so, how can we obey both scriptures? God does this a lot in scripture, he gives us two scriptures that might seem to contradict each other, but they don’t when you look at the heart of it.

How do we “give in secret” but also “let our good deeds shine before others so they may glorify our Father in heaven.”

It’s about the heart. Yes, give in secret, don’t tell anyone if your heart desire is to show off how good you are, but if your heart is to show what God did in the situation, then share it freely.

Next, Jesus is going to switch to the topic of prayer.

Verses 5-6: 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.”

Jesus gives an example first of improper prayer. He looks to the heart. The crowd apparently is well aware of people who stand on the street corners praying out loud trying to get attention, and show that they are good people.

That is not the purpose of prayer, or giving. Does this mean we can’t pray with someone in a public place? Of course not. But we should make sure our heart is right, are we talking to God, or are we saying it’s a prayer, but we’re really talking to the crowd to show how good we are. This is not pleasing to God.

Again, it all goes back to the heart. And if our heart is right, we will want to get along with God, and pray. And God says, reward will be the result.

Next, verses 7-8: “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.”

During the time of Jesus, it was common for pagans, people who worshiped idols, to repeat the same prayer or incantation over and over and over, repeatedly, with the idea that repeating the same phrases long enough would “Wear down” the god or goddess to acquiesce to their request. Jesus says don’t do it the pagans do. You don’t need to repeat mindless phrases over and over. You need to pray from the heart.

I think we all can be tempted at times to pray in a way that is not from the heart, it’s just ritual, it’s just doing our due diligence, doing our duty, Lord bless so and so, and bless this person and bless that person. But there is no heart in it. There is no heart cry for their healing or salvation. I fall into this from time to time. And I have to remember, the Father wants our prayer to be heart-felt, an inner longing of our heart expressed to God, through the Spirit’s leading.

God knows what we need before we even ask Him. Yet God wants us to ask. Not in endless words. But in clear heart guided requests. Sometimes the most simple prayer can be the most powerful: “Lord please help me.” I do that one a fair amount when I’m struggling.

Next, Jesus is going to show us how to pray. Verse 9:

“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”

We are going to walk through the prayer Jesus gave us, and I think we’ll see it’s about positioning our hearts to embrace the truth about reality, the universe, and everything.

God is your Father. Is that real to you? Every time you declare it, and call God Father, it does something in your heart. You believe it more and more.

Holy or hallowed be your name. We declare to God, “you are holy” which reminds us to always view God that way, as perfect, righteous, good.

Verse 10: “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

This portion of the prayer positions our heart to desire God’s kingdom, not ours, and God’s will to be done, not our own.

We typically will tend to want our little kingdom to grow, and our will to be done, what we want to happen, God helps us to declare openly the opposite. And this helps our heart and molds us into that way of thinking.

On Earth as it is in heaven, is a reminder that the Earth is under the control of the evil one, and we desire the government of heaven, which is God, to reign on the Earth, one day soon.

Verse 11: “Give us today our daily bread.”

The prayer switches from declarations toward God, to requests we make of Him. God, please give us food and drink for today. The things we need. But again, it helps our heart. By declaring it as a request, we are saying to God: We rely on you. Not our bank account. Not our wallet or purse. But on you. It all comes from you, and no other source.

Verse 12: “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

I prefer the NLT’s rendering of this verse, Forgive us our sins and we forgive those who sin against us. Debts, sins, it’s the same thing Jesus is referring to.

This is a good reminder to our heart, for the need of confession. I asked the Lord the other day, Lord search my heart, are there any sins in my life I need to repent of, and God brought several things up, one after another. Our heart ought to always seek the Lord’s forgiveness for sins. Particularly, those sins we commit in the future. Or those we commit today. Less and less though, as we grow in His likeness.

But also notice it says, as we forgive our debtors. This is a declaration of saying, “Lord, I forgive those who have hurt me recently, I do not remember their sins against me any longer.” Powerful stuff. Heart changing stuff.

Verse 13: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

Two key statements made to God, first, lead us not into temptation. This statement to God is declaring our need for Him. There are dangerous temptations in the world, Lord, lead us away from temptation and toward yourself. We are reliant on you.

Second, deliverance from the evil one. We know the enemy is like a lion prowling around seeking someone to devour, so again we see our reliance on God, we can’t fight the devil on our own, we need God, Lord, deliver us from the evil one.

The Lord’s prayer is a prayer I memorized as a child raised in the Roman Catholic church. I knew how to repeat the words. But I don’t think I understood what it meant to declare it. Now, I pray the Our Father once a day at night before I go to bed, and I pray it slowly, thinking carefully about each phrase I say, at least I try to, because I know the words declared to my Father, will result in a slight shift in my heart attitude, toward the way God desires it to be.

Next, Jesus is going to stop to comment on one particular portion of the Lord’s prayer, which his quite surprising. He doesn’t comment on any other portion of it, but the portion about forgiving others.

Verses 14-15: “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.”

I think Jesus highlights this here because it’s so important for our hearts to be free from hatred of our neighbor. Hatred ruins our heart. Sets it ablaze with anger, rage, resentment, it does such terrible damage. So Jesus reminds us, the Father has forgiven so many of your sins, an endless record of sins from your past. And what the Father requires of you, is that you also forgive in a similar way, a much smaller debt that your neighbor owes you, for when they wronged you.

And it includes a serious challenge, Jesus says, if you don’t, if you refuse to forgive people who sin against you, he says, the Father will withhold forgiveness for some of your sins too. And we know where that will lead us. So Jesus is very serious about forgiveness.

He discusses this in one of his famous parables, where a master forgave his servant a massive debt of millions, and then that same servant refused to forgive someone who owed him a few thousand. And the master called the servant back and threw him in prison.

We are commanded to learn forgiveness. Why? Because God is mean? No, because he knows what unforgiveness does to our hearts. It turns them rotten with hate. All of this is about the heart.

So Jesus continues. He’s talked about how to help people in the right spirit, he’s shared about how to pray in the right spirit, now he’s going to tell us how to fast in the right spirit.

I hope and pray that every person in this church fasts and prays from time to time. I’ve talked to a few of you who have done it from time to time, and it’s always a blessing.

Here’s the excuses, I can’t because of my health. Nope. Not true. I don’t feel called to that. Yes you are, we all are. I will when God prompts me. If he hasn’t prompted you in the last year, you aren’t listening.

Jesus uses three big words: ‘When you fast’ which implies we are fasting and praying from time to time. Fasting is awesome though you guys. I think it’s a wonderful and exciting way to experience God in a deeper way. If you’re not sure how, I’ve got some great books on it, and if you want to talk about it more, just come to me, I’d be happy to discuss it.

Jesus says, “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.”

So, many in the time of Jesus would fast, but they would intentionally make themselves look rough, so others would see and say oh wow, look at so and so, they’re fasting again, how amazing of them. But Jesus reminds us for the third time, if we do with a heart to be seen by others, then that’s the only reward we will get.

Verses 17-18: 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…”

Because they lived in a desert nation, it was very common to put oil on your head to prevent cracking of the skin. So he says, intentionally clean up, and anoint yourself, wash your face, so people don’t know that you’re fasting.

If you’re fasting, you shouldn’t tell people. I think there are exceptions to that, you can tell me, I’m your pastor, I can give you tips and help guide you. If you’re fasting with someone, same thing. If you’re fasting for someone, it may be appropriate to let them know, in the right spirit. But in general, keep it secret.

And finally, last part of verse 18, so it won’t be obvious that your fasting to others, “but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Do it before God. Honestly, do it before God. When you give to someone whose needy, do it before God, and no one else. An audience of one. When you pray, do it for God. An audience of one. When you fast, do it for God. An audience of one. This is pleasing to your Father in heaven, and Jesus says three separate times here, your Father will reward you.

What reward does the Father refer to? The reward is waiting for us in heaven. Though I imagine some of these promises could include rewards on earth in some way. But I think in general Jesus is talking about heavenly rewards. What are they?

Mansions or homes in heaven, a living place for you.

Different crowns to wear, based on your actions in this life.

Authority and responsibility in heaven, leadership position.

And treasure in heaven. And ultimately, being with God.

The question in the end is, where is your heart? Are you stuck in this world? Then you’ll want praise from people. I think it’s natural that we all do. But, God says I have a higher way for you. The way of the heart after God’s heart. And if your pursue this way, more and more, you’ll long for the treasure of heaven. A heart that is focused on your Father, and on your future in heaven.