August 15, 2025 • 21 mins
What if the beautiful flowers we showcase on social media were just the perfect frame hiding a garden overrun with weeds? That carefully curated image represents how many of us approach not just our online presence, but our spiritual lives as well.
In this deeply introspective exploration, we examine the concept of spiritual authenticity through the lens of Jesus's teachings in Matthew 6. Like those famous London townhouses with perfect facades hiding completely empty interiors, we're often tempted to craft a religious persona that looks impressive from the outside while remaining hollow within.
Jesus presents us with a profound choice: we can perform our good deeds, prayers, and generosity to receive immediate acclaim from others, or we can practice these disciplines privately and receive a lasting reward from God. "Your method points to your motivation," and that motivation determines which reward you'll ultimately receive.
The contrast is stark between serving others for social media content versus serving them simply because they matter. When we exploit vulnerable populations for photo opportunities or turn prayer into a performance art, we've chosen human applause as our payment. But Jesus invites us into something far more meaningful – a genuine relationship with God that doesn't require public validation.
This isn't about never serving publicly or praying corporately. Rather, it's about examining our hearts and asking uncomfortable questions: Would I still give if no one knew? Would I still pray if no one could hear except God? Would I still serve if I couldn't post about it afterward?
Though we'll all fail at maintaining pure motives sometimes, God's grace covers our shortcomings. The invitation remains: choose the reward that honors Him rather than ourselves. Will you accept the challenge to cultivate a life of authenticity, integrity, and presence with God, even when no one's watching?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I want to start by saying it is August.
It is finally August.
I think August is like the mostwonderful time of the year
Anybody else you guys are like.
Well, christmas is when theyhave that song, right.
But August is my favorite.
It's sunny outside and brightexcept for today, of course and
(00:23):
then the bees get to buzz allover the place and butterflies
and dragonflies and all kinds ofcrazy birds just everywhere.
It is peak gardening season,which most of you know.
I am kind of on this crazymission to turn my entire yard
(00:44):
into gardens because I wouldlike to have pretty things and I
want to be able to eat and Iwant to be able to support the
pollinators and, mostimportantly, I hate mowing the
lawn.
So I'm on this mission to turnmy yard into this garden, right.
And so from May until October,my social media posts are the
(01:08):
majority of them are flowers,right, they're pictures, and I
brought one along because I liketo show off.
Maybe we can there it is, isn'tit great?
I have a confession I sometimestake like 10 pictures of one
(01:31):
flower just to get the rightangle and the right look and all
that stuff, because socialmedia is crazy, right, and I
know you guys all do this withselfies, so don't be judging me.
We want to present ourselves inlike the best possible way we
can and sometimes we throw inlike some sort of humor or
(01:51):
something that went wrong, justso people don't think we're
stuck up and snobby, right.
But we're carefully curatingthis image that we present to
the public and we do thisbecause we want people to like
us right.
We want people to appreciate usand sometimes we want to be
complimented and admired.
I mean, that's normal humannature and in some circumstances
(02:15):
it's easy to show thesehighlight reels.
It's not hard for me to lovethat picture of the beach with
the sunset that you posted, evenif you don't have it perfectly
framed right, even if I can seesome little bit of chaos on the
side, I still love it.
But if I back up and take awider lens, look at this flower
(02:37):
you would see that, right, it'snot just that one little flower,
it's this thing, and I thinkthat still looks pretty great.
I'm still impressed with myself.
But other times we can zoom inand we can show a highlight kind
of like that one which looks anawful lot like the first
picture I showed you.
But if we zoom out of that one,you get a different view.
(03:00):
It's a lot more chaos.
There's a mess in there, right?
I know that there's weeds andthe mulch needs refreshing.
It's not filling in how Iwanted it to yet.
And I don't share that zoomedout picture very often, right,
because I don't want people tosee that.
I don't want them to see thechaotic mess.
(03:21):
I want them to see the beauty.
Them to see the chaotic mess.
I want them to see the beauty.
And if I'm honest with thecrazy amount of time and energy
I spend gardening, I want peopleto think it's time well spent.
If I have ridiculously horriblenails and dirt embedded in
every pair of jeans I have thistime of year, I want people to
think it's because I'm good atit, but I don't want to show
(03:43):
them that, right, I want to justshow the close-ups.
I don't want people to knowthat if I plant 10 things, I'm
really hoping that five stayalive.
I just focus on the five thatmade it.
I want to focus on the goodthings.
I mean, how else are peoplegoing to compliment me?
I wonder what we would see ifwe zoomed out on some of your
(04:06):
pictures.
What would we see if yourprivate life was more public.
Being authentic kind of revealshow messy things can be inside
and around us.
There is a wealthy neighborhoodin London and they have this
lovely row of townhouses which Ithink we have a picture of
(04:28):
there.
It is a lovely row oftownhouses and when they were
running the train through thecity they had to actually go
through this row of townhouses,so that train eventually became
the Tube, which is kind of liketheir version of the subway.
But they needed to go throughright where number 23 and 24
were.
So 23 and 24 were replaced by afacade in the front so that it
(04:53):
just blends in with the rest ofthe homes.
These people are on thewealthier side so they don't
want it to just look like a bighole there.
They want it to look nice.
It keeps that appearance of apristine row.
But if you look at the back,there it is.
There's this big ugly brickwall with a hole in the middle.
(05:13):
While driving or walking downthe street in London, at a
simple glance it just looks likea normal row of beautiful homes
, but numbers 23 and 24 arecompletely empty inside.
They're completely fake.
It's just a facade.
If we're not careful, ourspiritual life can become like
(05:36):
this too Close-ups, highlightreels, beautiful facades on the
outside, but empty, messy,chaotic inside and behind the
scenes.
So Jesus had a little somethingto say about this.
Go figure.
Today we're going to be lookingat Matthew, chapter 6.
If you want to follow along,you can.
(05:57):
Matthew 6, starting at verse 1.
It says Be careful not topractice your righteousness in
front of others to be seen bythem.
If you do, you will have noreward from your Father in
heaven.
So when you give to the needy,do not announce it with trumpets
, as the hypocrites do in thesynagogues and on the streets,
(06:17):
to be honored by others.
Truly, I tell you, they havereceived their reward in full.
So when the Pharisees wanted togive something to people who
were struggling, it was theircustom to go down to a busy
street corner in Jerusalem andblow a trumpet.
And the purpose of the trumpetwas supposedly to call all of
(06:38):
the people that needed somethingtogether to receive those gifts
.
But it also afforded quite theopportunity for others to see
all of their good works.
Jesus said that when thePharisees do it this way, they
have their reward.
So what's the reward?
It's exactly what they wereafter Jesus said they did it to
(07:02):
be honored by others.
They blew the trumpet andeverybody came running out to
see how generously they gave andto see them and that was their
reward.
Their giving was not betweenthemselves and God and I'm
wondering do you guys ever seesimilarities in the way people
give today like this?
(07:26):
Sometimes we take missions tripsand we have all these photos
right, and the best ones to postare preferably the ones with
children of color and theirmeager homes in the background,
right.
Sometimes we serve at ahomeless shelter and we take
pictures of all the food webrought.
Sometimes we serve at ahomeless shelter and we take
pictures of all the food webrought or bringing supplies to
(07:48):
the park for the unhoused peoplethat are staying there and
snapping a picture with yourfriend, putting friend in quote,
because I'm wondering if that'sreally your friend.
I mean, do you trust andconfide in one another?
Do they know how to contact you?
Do they know where you live?
Do you get together regularlyor is there a power differential
(08:11):
there and they need what youhave so they're willing to pay
with a photo while you exploitthem for applause?
Jesus is telling us here thatyou only get to pick one reward.
You can either be honored byGod or you can be honored by
people.
Your method points to yourmotivation.
(08:31):
If you're doing something kindout of your desire to live
generously, to treat people withdignity, to help someone with a
need, you will just do it.
You don't need to blast it onsocial media.
You don't need to tell everyperson that you come across
about your good deed.
Your reward will be from God.
If your motivation is toimpress people, absolutely do
(08:56):
all those things, because peoplewill be impressed.
They will.
They'll applaud your generosity.
They'll tell you how kind youand giving you are.
But you need to know that thereward that you have chosen is
the one that was given.
So pick your reward.
Know that one is fleeting andone is everlasting.
(09:18):
We don't know the names of thepharisees, who they helped or
what they did to help them.
Of the Pharisees who theyhelped or what they did to help
them, no one even cares that2,000 years ago, people gushed
at them about how great andgenerous and holy they were.
No one cares how much moneythey gave, how much time they
spent or even the sacrificesthey made to make it happen.
(09:41):
They made to make it happen.
That reward didn't last throughthe ages.
Does anybody care about thatvirtual signaling repost from
six months ago or even last week?
That social credit burns outreally quickly, doesn't it?
The Pharisees had to pick areward and they got it.
(10:02):
So these people that Jesus iscalling out, they shouldn't be
expecting anything further.
Verses 3 and 4 say this.
That can be confusing.
(10:25):
How do I not let my left handknow what my right hand's doing?
We're connected, right, butJesus is promoting something
really radical here.
Not only don't let anyone elseknow, but try not to even let
yourself know why.
Because you can sit around andthink about how awesome you are,
right, and that will be thereward that you want and get.
(10:49):
So it might not be to impressother people, but it might be
accidentally impressing yourselfwith how religious you are, how
good you are, how generous youare, how you've clearly earned
the favor of God.
Good for you.
Jesus is showing us that thereis no point in keeping these
(11:12):
religious disciplines to provehow wonderful we are to others
or even ourselves, because thewhole thrust of this kingdom
value that Jesus is puttingforward is that the whole thing
has to be for one purpose andseeking one reward only, and
that is the glory of God.
It is to honor God.
(11:33):
Despite what social media would, let us believe we can serve
people without telling the worldabout it.
We can make some sandwiches,gather some blankets, head down
to the park, actually haveconversations with the people
that are there and never postabout it.
Now, jesus didn't directly saythis part, but I feel like I
(11:57):
need to because I have a soapbox.
So here it is.
Unless you are doing advocacywork, you don't need to talk
about it.
You don't need to share someoneelse's story.
It's not your story to tell,it's theirs.
You don't get to buy theirstory with a sandwich and a
blanket.
Please stop.
Not anybody personal, but I seeit happen over and over and it
(12:22):
just it breaks my heart.
Okay, so that was me.
But let's get back to whatJesus said In verses five and
six.
It says when you pray, do not belike the hypocrites, for they
love to pray standing in thesynagogues and on the street
corners to be seen by others.
Truly, I tell you they havereceived their reward in full.
(12:43):
But when you pray, go into yourroom, close the door and pray
to your Father, who is unseen.
Then your Father, who sees whatis done in secret, will reward
you.
And when you pray, do not belike the hypocrites.
Ouch, jesus used some stronglanguage here.
(13:03):
They have received the rewardin full.
They pray so they may be seenby people.
They were seen the end.
Jesus says when we pray likethat, we have our reward, we get
what we want and that is to beseen, maybe even admired, for
(13:25):
our eloquent prayers and ourholiness.
So I want to stop and pause andtalk about corporate prayer for
a minute, because there is atime and a place for it,
absolutely for sure, positively.
James 5.16 says Therefore,confess your sins to each other
and pray for each other so thatyou may be healed.
The prayer of a righteousperson is powerful and effective
.
Obviously, this is aninstruction to pray with each
other so that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteousperson is powerful and effective
.
Obviously, this is aninstruction to pray with each
(13:48):
other.
Pray together.
Specifically, though, I wantyou to notice that it says
confess your sins to each other.
Now, who wants that done inpublic, right?
I'm guessing we don't do thatfor attention.
We do it for the prayer.
We do it for the prayer.
We do it for the prayer of therighteous person, because who
doesn't want powerful andeffective prayer in their life?
(14:11):
If we're confessing our sins toeach other, we have the chance
to have someone with thosepowerful and effective prayers
pray with us.
Right, and sometimes we need tobe a little bit careful in
corporate prayer because it caneasily move into being
manipulative or even braggingright.
(14:32):
For example.
God, thank you for blessing ourfamily with a much-needed
vacation to the Bahamas.
We soaked up the beauty of yourcreation in each of the 12
sunsets we experienced themajesty of the ocean just
reflecting the vastness of yourlove for us.
It's humbling, lord, torecognize that you found us
(14:55):
worthy of such a glorious way tounwind and recharge so that
we're able to continue the workthat you have called us each to
do.
Lord, I pray for those aroundme and those that are here with
me today that they would beblessed as we have been blessed.
Gross, right, it's gross, andprayer can also be gossip.
(15:18):
Maybe you've heard somethinglike this.
Oh God, please be with SisterKaren.
She's having such a hard timemanaging her emotions at Walmart
.
You are all-knowing andomnipresent, so I know you saw
the incident she had last week.
She was trying to do right byyou, but her anger just got the
best of her.
Teach her to be humble.
(15:39):
Give her patience.
Help her to see others how yousee them Also gross right.
When it comes to prayer, jesusis telling us it should be
sincere, it should be from ourhearts.
An honest and authenticconversation between us and God.
That kind of conversation thatyou have with that person or
(16:05):
those people in your life whereyou don't have to keep social
norms.
You know what I'm talking about.
They understand you and theydon't judge you for just venting
, for having frustrations outloud.
The people or person that youwant to tell something that
happens when it's absolutelycrazy or super amazing.
That is the kind of authenticconversation.
(16:27):
That is what God wants from usand with us.
And, let's be honest, that kindof raw, unfiltered, unedited
conversation happens in private.
I don't think Jesus is saying wehave to physically shut
ourselves into a closet in orderfor God to be happy with our
(16:49):
prayers, but it does give us apretty good word picture of
privacy.
Jesus is telling us that prayeris not the time to show the
highlights in public.
Prayer is a time for the fullpicture to be shared with God.
Now, I also want to be clearthat this is not an excuse to
(17:09):
avoid being obedient in some way.
It is a wrong interpretation ofthese verses and a wrong
interpretation of what I'msaying to read this and pray,
and refuse to pray in public andrefuse to offer prayer, refuse
to participate in corporateprayer or some other action,
(17:30):
refuse to genuinely givegenerously to serve, because you
don't want to be seen serving.
Right?
That is not what we're sayinghere.
That's not what Jesus is sayinghere.
That's spiritual management.
Right, that's not the heart ofJesus.
(17:52):
Do not hide behind thesescriptures.
Take them for what theyactually are.
In these six short verses herein Matthew, jesus is calling us
to cultivate a life ofauthenticity us to cultivate a
life of authenticity, integrityand presence with Him.
(18:12):
He is explaining that we onlyget to pick one reward, and he
encouraged us to pick the rewardthat honors Him.
I'm wondering if you're up forthe challenge today.
Are you up for the challengethat Jesus has presented us with
?
Are you willing to serve people, simply to serve them, and
honor God, even if nobodynotices, even if nobody says
(18:35):
thank you?
It can be hard to not do whatwe've been conditioned to do, to
show and tell all the peopleall the good things we've done,
how we helped someone.
But remember, you only get onereward.
Can you be generous withoutpatting yourself on the back,
(18:57):
without silently complimentingyourself for being so selfless?
Can you be generous withoutsilently judging those who gave
less or didn't give at all?
You only get to pick one reward.
Are you willing to spend yourdevotional time with God without
posting a picture of yourcoffee and your open Bible?
(19:19):
Are you willing to use thatBible app even if no one you're
connected with has been noticingthat you have been powering
through and are right on trackreading through the Bible in a
year?
What if nobody even noticesyou're reading it at all?
You only get to pick one reward.
Are you willing to pray if noone hears you except God While
(19:46):
you're talking to God?
Are you willing to be honest,open, authentic?
True, it's a big challenge,isn't it?
And we will all fail at somepoint.
Right?
Romans 3, 23 tells us, for allhave sinned and fall short of
the glory of God.
All, we all fail, each andevery one of us.
(20:11):
But the next verse is alsoimportant Romans 3, 24,.
And all are justified freely byHis grace through the
redemption that came by ChristJesus.
So do we understand what thatmeans?
It means that Jesus issued usthis challenge.
His hope was that we step upand apply this and change our
(20:32):
lives, that we would simplyserve to love our neighbors,
that we would give out ofauthentic generosity, that we
would have a relationship withhim that is personal and we
would do these things with apure heart, motivated to honor
him.
And yet Jesus knows us, doesn'the?
(20:52):
He knows us.
He knows we mess up all the time.
He knows that on our best daywe'll get this right, but also
we're going to get this wrongsometimes.
He knows we need practice andhe knows we'll all fail
sometimes while we're working onit.
And he died for that.
(21:13):
He died and was resurrected sothat when we screw up not if,
but when when we screw up, ourrelationship is not severed.
When we screw up, ourrelationship is not severed, so
that our relationship can berestored, so that, even when we
pick the reward of beingapplauded in public, just like
(21:34):
the Pharisees did, despite that,we can still be in a right
relationship with God.
So let's do this, you guys.
Let's take up this challenge.
Let's accept His grace, hismercy, as we strive to be more
like Him.
I want to start by saying it is August.
It is finally August.
I think August is like the mostwonderful time of the year
Anybody else you guys are like.
Well, christmas is when theyhave that song, right.
But August is my favorite.
It's sunny outside and brightexcept for today, of course and
(00:23):
then the bees get to buzz allover the place and butterflies
and dragonflies and all kinds ofcrazy birds just everywhere.
It is peak gardening season,which most of you know.
I am kind of on this crazymission to turn my entire yard
(00:44):
into gardens because I wouldlike to have pretty things and I
want to be able to eat and Iwant to be able to support the
pollinators and, mostimportantly, I hate mowing the
lawn.
So I'm on this mission to turnmy yard into this garden, right.
And so from May until October,my social media posts are the
(01:08):
majority of them are flowers,right, they're pictures, and I
brought one along because I liketo show off.
Maybe we can there it is, isn'tit great?
I have a confession I sometimestake like 10 pictures of one
(01:31):
flower just to get the rightangle and the right look and all
that stuff, because socialmedia is crazy, right, and I
know you guys all do this withselfies, so don't be judging me.
We want to present ourselves inlike the best possible way we
can and sometimes we throw inlike some sort of humor or
(01:51):
something that went wrong, justso people don't think we're
stuck up and snobby, right.
But we're carefully curatingthis image that we present to
the public and we do thisbecause we want people to like
us right.
We want people to appreciate usand sometimes we want to be
complimented and admired.
I mean, that's normal humannature and in some circumstances
(02:15):
it's easy to show thesehighlight reels.
It's not hard for me to lovethat picture of the beach with
the sunset that you posted, evenif you don't have it perfectly
framed right, even if I can seesome little bit of chaos on the
side, I still love it.
But if I back up and take awider lens, look at this flower
(02:37):
you would see that, right, it'snot just that one little flower,
it's this thing, and I thinkthat still looks pretty great.
I'm still impressed with myself.
But other times we can zoom inand we can show a highlight kind
of like that one which looks anawful lot like the first
picture I showed you.
But if we zoom out of that one,you get a different view.
(03:00):
It's a lot more chaos.
There's a mess in there, right?
I know that there's weeds andthe mulch needs refreshing.
It's not filling in how Iwanted it to yet.
And I don't share that zoomedout picture very often, right,
because I don't want people tosee that.
I don't want them to see thechaotic mess.
(03:21):
I want them to see the beauty.
Them to see the chaotic mess.
I want them to see the beauty.
And if I'm honest with thecrazy amount of time and energy
I spend gardening, I want peopleto think it's time well spent.
If I have ridiculously horriblenails and dirt embedded in
every pair of jeans I have thistime of year, I want people to
think it's because I'm good atit, but I don't want to show
(03:43):
them that, right, I want to justshow the close-ups.
I don't want people to knowthat if I plant 10 things, I'm
really hoping that five stayalive.
I just focus on the five thatmade it.
I want to focus on the goodthings.
I mean, how else are peoplegoing to compliment me?
I wonder what we would see ifwe zoomed out on some of your
(04:06):
pictures.
What would we see if yourprivate life was more public.
Being authentic kind of revealshow messy things can be inside
and around us.
There is a wealthy neighborhoodin London and they have this
lovely row of townhouses which Ithink we have a picture of
(04:28):
there.
It is a lovely row oftownhouses and when they were
running the train through thecity they had to actually go
through this row of townhouses,so that train eventually became
the Tube, which is kind of liketheir version of the subway.
But they needed to go throughright where number 23 and 24
were.
So 23 and 24 were replaced by afacade in the front so that it
(04:53):
just blends in with the rest ofthe homes.
These people are on thewealthier side so they don't
want it to just look like a bighole there.
They want it to look nice.
It keeps that appearance of apristine row.
But if you look at the back,there it is.
There's this big ugly brickwall with a hole in the middle.
(05:13):
While driving or walking downthe street in London, at a
simple glance it just looks likea normal row of beautiful homes
, but numbers 23 and 24 arecompletely empty inside.
They're completely fake.
It's just a facade.
If we're not careful, ourspiritual life can become like
(05:36):
this too Close-ups, highlightreels, beautiful facades on the
outside, but empty, messy,chaotic inside and behind the
scenes.
So Jesus had a little somethingto say about this.
Go figure.
Today we're going to be lookingat Matthew, chapter 6.
If you want to follow along,you can.
(05:57):
Matthew 6, starting at verse 1.
It says Be careful not topractice your righteousness in
front of others to be seen bythem.
If you do, you will have noreward from your Father in
heaven.
So when you give to the needy,do not announce it with trumpets
, as the hypocrites do in thesynagogues and on the streets,
(06:17):
to be honored by others.
Truly, I tell you, they havereceived their reward in full.
So when the Pharisees wanted togive something to people who
were struggling, it was theircustom to go down to a busy
street corner in Jerusalem andblow a trumpet.
And the purpose of the trumpetwas supposedly to call all of
(06:38):
the people that needed somethingtogether to receive those gifts
.
But it also afforded quite theopportunity for others to see
all of their good works.
Jesus said that when thePharisees do it this way, they
have their reward.
So what's the reward?
It's exactly what they wereafter Jesus said they did it to
(07:02):
be honored by others.
They blew the trumpet andeverybody came running out to
see how generously they gave andto see them and that was their
reward.
Their giving was not betweenthemselves and God and I'm
wondering do you guys ever seesimilarities in the way people
give today like this?
(07:26):
Sometimes we take missions tripsand we have all these photos
right, and the best ones to postare preferably the ones with
children of color and theirmeager homes in the background,
right.
Sometimes we serve at ahomeless shelter and we take
pictures of all the food webrought.
Sometimes we serve at ahomeless shelter and we take
pictures of all the food webrought or bringing supplies to
(07:48):
the park for the unhoused peoplethat are staying there and
snapping a picture with yourfriend, putting friend in quote,
because I'm wondering if that'sreally your friend.
I mean, do you trust andconfide in one another?
Do they know how to contact you?
Do they know where you live?
Do you get together regularlyor is there a power differential
(08:11):
there and they need what youhave so they're willing to pay
with a photo while you exploitthem for applause?
Jesus is telling us here thatyou only get to pick one reward.
You can either be honored byGod or you can be honored by
people.
Your method points to yourmotivation.
(08:31):
If you're doing something kindout of your desire to live
generously, to treat people withdignity, to help someone with a
need, you will just do it.
You don't need to blast it onsocial media.
You don't need to tell everyperson that you come across
about your good deed.
Your reward will be from God.
If your motivation is toimpress people, absolutely do
(08:56):
all those things, because peoplewill be impressed.
They will.
They'll applaud your generosity.
They'll tell you how kind youand giving you are.
But you need to know that thereward that you have chosen is
the one that was given.
So pick your reward.
Know that one is fleeting andone is everlasting.
(09:18):
We don't know the names of thepharisees, who they helped or
what they did to help them.
Of the Pharisees who theyhelped or what they did to help
them, no one even cares that2,000 years ago, people gushed
at them about how great andgenerous and holy they were.
No one cares how much moneythey gave, how much time they
spent or even the sacrificesthey made to make it happen.
(09:41):
They made to make it happen.
That reward didn't last throughthe ages.
Does anybody care about thatvirtual signaling repost from
six months ago or even last week?
That social credit burns outreally quickly, doesn't it?
The Pharisees had to pick areward and they got it.
(10:02):
So these people that Jesus iscalling out, they shouldn't be
expecting anything further.
Verses 3 and 4 say this.
That can be confusing.
(10:25):
How do I not let my left handknow what my right hand's doing?
We're connected, right, butJesus is promoting something
really radical here.
Not only don't let anyone elseknow, but try not to even let
yourself know why.
Because you can sit around andthink about how awesome you are,
right, and that will be thereward that you want and get.
(10:49):
So it might not be to impressother people, but it might be
accidentally impressing yourselfwith how religious you are, how
good you are, how generous youare, how you've clearly earned
the favor of God.
Good for you.
Jesus is showing us that thereis no point in keeping these
(11:12):
religious disciplines to provehow wonderful we are to others
or even ourselves, because thewhole thrust of this kingdom
value that Jesus is puttingforward is that the whole thing
has to be for one purpose andseeking one reward only, and
that is the glory of God.
It is to honor God.
(11:33):
Despite what social media would, let us believe we can serve
people without telling the worldabout it.
We can make some sandwiches,gather some blankets, head down
to the park, actually haveconversations with the people
that are there and never postabout it.
Now, jesus didn't directly saythis part, but I feel like I
(11:57):
need to because I have a soapbox.
So here it is.
Unless you are doing advocacywork, you don't need to talk
about it.
You don't need to share someoneelse's story.
It's not your story to tell,it's theirs.
You don't get to buy theirstory with a sandwich and a
blanket.
Please stop.
Not anybody personal, but I seeit happen over and over and it
(12:22):
just it breaks my heart.
Okay, so that was me.
But let's get back to whatJesus said In verses five and
six.
It says when you pray, do not belike the hypocrites, for they
love to pray standing in thesynagogues and on the street
corners to be seen by others.
Truly, I tell you they havereceived their reward in full.
(12:43):
But when you pray, go into yourroom, close the door and pray
to your Father, who is unseen.
Then your Father, who sees whatis done in secret, will reward
you.
And when you pray, do not belike the hypocrites.
Ouch, jesus used some stronglanguage here.
(13:03):
They have received the rewardin full.
They pray so they may be seenby people.
They were seen the end.
Jesus says when we pray likethat, we have our reward, we get
what we want and that is to beseen, maybe even admired, for
(13:25):
our eloquent prayers and ourholiness.
So I want to stop and pause andtalk about corporate prayer for
a minute, because there is atime and a place for it,
absolutely for sure, positively.
James 5.16 says Therefore,confess your sins to each other
and pray for each other so thatyou may be healed.
The prayer of a righteousperson is powerful and effective
.
Obviously, this is aninstruction to pray with each
other so that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteousperson is powerful and effective
.
Obviously, this is aninstruction to pray with each
(13:48):
other.
Pray together.
Specifically, though, I wantyou to notice that it says
confess your sins to each other.
Now, who wants that done inpublic, right?
I'm guessing we don't do thatfor attention.
We do it for the prayer.
We do it for the prayer.
We do it for the prayer of therighteous person, because who
doesn't want powerful andeffective prayer in their life?
(14:11):
If we're confessing our sins toeach other, we have the chance
to have someone with thosepowerful and effective prayers
pray with us.
Right, and sometimes we need tobe a little bit careful in
corporate prayer because it caneasily move into being
manipulative or even braggingright.
(14:32):
For example.
God, thank you for blessing ourfamily with a much-needed
vacation to the Bahamas.
We soaked up the beauty of yourcreation in each of the 12
sunsets we experienced themajesty of the ocean just
reflecting the vastness of yourlove for us.
It's humbling, lord, torecognize that you found us
(14:55):
worthy of such a glorious way tounwind and recharge so that
we're able to continue the workthat you have called us each to
do.
Lord, I pray for those aroundme and those that are here with
me today that they would beblessed as we have been blessed.
Gross, right, it's gross, andprayer can also be gossip.
(15:18):
Maybe you've heard somethinglike this.
Oh God, please be with SisterKaren.
She's having such a hard timemanaging her emotions at Walmart
.
You are all-knowing andomnipresent, so I know you saw
the incident she had last week.
She was trying to do right byyou, but her anger just got the
best of her.
Teach her to be humble.
(15:39):
Give her patience.
Help her to see others how yousee them Also gross right.
When it comes to prayer, jesusis telling us it should be
sincere, it should be from ourhearts.
An honest and authenticconversation between us and God.
That kind of conversation thatyou have with that person or
(16:05):
those people in your life whereyou don't have to keep social
norms.
You know what I'm talking about.
They understand you and theydon't judge you for just venting
, for having frustrations outloud.
The people or person that youwant to tell something that
happens when it's absolutelycrazy or super amazing.
That is the kind of authenticconversation.
(16:27):
That is what God wants from usand with us.
And, let's be honest, that kindof raw, unfiltered, unedited
conversation happens in private.
I don't think Jesus is saying wehave to physically shut
ourselves into a closet in orderfor God to be happy with our
(16:49):
prayers, but it does give us apretty good word picture of
privacy.
Jesus is telling us that prayeris not the time to show the
highlights in public.
Prayer is a time for the fullpicture to be shared with God.
Now, I also want to be clearthat this is not an excuse to
(17:09):
avoid being obedient in some way.
It is a wrong interpretation ofthese verses and a wrong
interpretation of what I'msaying to read this and pray,
and refuse to pray in public andrefuse to offer prayer, refuse
to participate in corporateprayer or some other action,
(17:30):
refuse to genuinely givegenerously to serve, because you
don't want to be seen serving.
Right?
That is not what we're sayinghere.
That's not what Jesus is sayinghere.
That's spiritual management.
Right, that's not the heart ofJesus.
(17:52):
Do not hide behind thesescriptures.
Take them for what theyactually are.
In these six short verses herein Matthew, jesus is calling us
to cultivate a life ofauthenticity us to cultivate a
life of authenticity, integrityand presence with Him.
(18:12):
He is explaining that we onlyget to pick one reward, and he
encouraged us to pick the rewardthat honors Him.
I'm wondering if you're up forthe challenge today.
Are you up for the challengethat Jesus has presented us with
?
Are you willing to serve people, simply to serve them, and
honor God, even if nobodynotices, even if nobody says
(18:35):
thank you?
It can be hard to not do whatwe've been conditioned to do, to
show and tell all the peopleall the good things we've done,
how we helped someone.
But remember, you only get onereward.
Can you be generous withoutpatting yourself on the back,
(18:57):
without silently complimentingyourself for being so selfless?
Can you be generous withoutsilently judging those who gave
less or didn't give at all?
You only get to pick one reward.
Are you willing to spend yourdevotional time with God without
posting a picture of yourcoffee and your open Bible?
(19:19):
Are you willing to use thatBible app even if no one you're
connected with has been noticingthat you have been powering
through and are right on trackreading through the Bible in a
year?
What if nobody even noticesyou're reading it at all?
You only get to pick one reward.
Are you willing to pray if noone hears you except God While
(19:46):
you're talking to God?
Are you willing to be honest,open, authentic?
True, it's a big challenge,isn't it?
And we will all fail at somepoint.
Right?
Romans 3, 23 tells us, for allhave sinned and fall short of
the glory of God.
All, we all fail, each andevery one of us.
(20:11):
But the next verse is alsoimportant Romans 3, 24,.
And all are justified freely byHis grace through the
redemption that came by ChristJesus.
So do we understand what thatmeans?
It means that Jesus issued usthis challenge.
His hope was that we step upand apply this and change our
(20:32):
lives, that we would simplyserve to love our neighbors,
that we would give out ofauthentic generosity, that we
would have a relationship withhim that is personal and we
would do these things with apure heart, motivated to honor
him.
And yet Jesus knows us, doesn'the?
(20:52):
He knows us.
He knows we mess up all the time.
He knows that on our best daywe'll get this right, but also
we're going to get this wrongsometimes.
He knows we need practice andhe knows we'll all fail
sometimes while we're working onit.
And he died for that.
(21:13):
He died and was resurrected sothat when we screw up not if,
but when when we screw up, ourrelationship is not severed.
When we screw up, ourrelationship is not severed, so
that our relationship can berestored, so that, even when we
pick the reward of beingapplauded in public, just like
(21:34):
the Pharisees did, despite that,we can still be in a right
relationship with God.
So let's do this, you guys.
Let's take up this challenge.
Let's accept His grace, hismercy, as we strive to be more
like Him.
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