Having the Right Attitude in Worshiping and Serving God

Matt. 6:1–8, 16–18

I. Introduction

A. When you give a gift to someone, do you do it to make yourself look good or to show how you feel toward that person?

B. It is really a question of motives.

1. If you give the gift to make yourself look good, then your motives are selfish and self-centered.

2. If you give the gift out of love, then the motive comes from your heart.

C. In a somewhat similar way, Jesus talked about our motivation in serving and worshiping God.


II. Don't be a performer (6:1)

A. "acts of righteousness"

1. This word is also translated as "good deeds" (Phillips, CEV, NLT), "religious duties" (GNB), or simply "righteousness" (NASB, ESV).

2. These are public demonstrations of devotion to God.

3. In Judaism there were three: giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting.

B. Jesus said to not "do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them."

1. The followers of Jesus are not to draw attention to themselves or seek the praise of others.

2. As Christians we must have the right attitudes and motivation in serving and worshiping God.


C. In Matt. 5:16 Jesus said to let your light shine before others, so that "they can see your good works."

1. It is the same expression, but the context is different.

2. In Matt. 5:16 Jesus was saying that we should show our faith to others by doing "good deeds."

3. Here in chapter 6, Jesus was talking about calling attention to ourselves so that others can see how "good' we are.

4. Peterson translated this as: "Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it." (Message)

D. The primary target of Jesus' statement was the Pharisees.

1. John Stott noted: "A ravenous hunger for the praise of men was the besetting sin of the Pharisees." (Stott, p. 128)

2. John wrote in John 12:43 that the Pharisees "loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."


III. Giving (6:2–4)

A. Giving to the poor was one of the most important religious duties in Judaism.

B. Jesus used this as an example of how to worship and serve God.

1. Jesus expects his followers to be generous, but generosity is not enough.

2. Jesus again went to the heart of the matter—motivation.

a. Some may give out of duty—legalistic motivation.

b. Some may give to seek the praise of others or to congratulate themselves—selfish motivation.

c. Jesus wants us to give to glorify God and be motivated by love.


C. "Do not announce it with trumpets" (v. 2)

1. "Do not make a big show of it." (GNB)

2. Some of those that Jesus was criticizing may have actually had a fanfare.

3. Jesus may have just been using irony to describe them.

D. Jesus called them hypocrites ("play actors").

1. A hypocrite is someone who says one thing and does another.

2. They were doing the right things, but for the wrong reasons.

E. "They have received their reward in full." (v. 2)

1. It literally means "paid in full."

2. They had wanted the praise of others, and that was what they received.

3. There was no reward from God, because their motivation was wrong.

F. It is easy to be critical of the Pharisees, but we can fall into the same temptation.

1. Tell story of the man with a $100 bill at Northridge C of C.

G. Right hand/left hand (v. 3)

1. Jesus used this interesting illustration on giving.

2. Some have taken this very literally.

a. Tell story of collection bag at Goldendale, WA church.

3. Verse 4 is the key to understanding what God wants.


IV. Praying (6:5–8)

A. Jesus point here is to not pray just to impress others.

B. The Jews usually prayed three times a day: morning, afternoon, and evening.

1. The custom was to stop wherever you were at the time of prayer and turn toward the temple and pray.

2. It is thought that some people tried to be in a conspicuous place at the time so that others could see them pray.

3. Jesus did not condemn praying in public, only praying to be seen by others.

C. Instead, Jesus gave us these instructions.

1. Pray in private whenever possible.

2. Do not babble like the pagans.

V. Fasting (6:16–18)

A. The only day of fasting required by the OT was the Day of Atonement.

B. Some Jews at the time, such as the Pharisees, fasted two days a week.

C. Jesus says that some of them went to extremes—ashes on their head and face, and maybe sackcloth to make them look more pitiful and call attention to themselves.

D. Once again, Jesus concentrated on the motivation—don't fast just to make yourself look religious.

E. What about us today?

1. There is no command to fast in the NT. Some people do it for health reasons and others for religious reasons.

2. If fasting helps you to be closer to God, then fast; but don't do it to just show off or make yourself look more holy than others.

VI. Conclusion

A. Jesus used three examples of religious practices that were common at the time to explain proper attitudes and motivation in worship and serving God.

B. The main point is to worship and serve God for the right reasons.