TRANSFORMED IN MY WORSHIP
JUNE, 5, 2016

THE POINT
Giving, praying and fasting are disciplines of personal worship.

THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
• Some people say religion is a private matter, and they keep any hint of faith from public view.
• Some people make a very public display of their religiosity, especially if it benefits them politically or in their business dealings.
• Some people may derive a sense of good standing of self-righteousness from publicly practicing their religion, but they miss the point of doing the acts—the spiritual disciplines—presented in scripture.
• Jesus shows us a better way to worship.

“An Aesop’s fable tells of a wolf who wanted to have a sheep for his dinner and decided to disguise himself as a sheep and follow the flock into the fold. While the wolf waited until the sheep went to sleep, the shepherd decided he would have mutton for his own meal. In the dark he picked out what he thought was the largest, fattest sheep; but after he had killed the animal he discovered it was a wolf. What that shepherd did inadvertently to a wolf in sheep’s clothing, God does intentionally. The Lord judges hypocrisy.”

Excerpt From: John F. MacArthur. “Matthew 1-7 MacArthur New Testament Commentary.” Moody Press. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

THE PASSAGE

Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18

THE SETTING

“Hypocrisy is, of course, true of all of us from time to time, but Jesus was encouraging genuineness and true spirituality as opposed to hypocritical self-righteousness. God despises appearance that is not reality (e.g., Ananias and Sapphira; Acts 5:1-10).”

Excerpt From: Max Anders & Stu Weber. “Holman New Testament Commentary - Matthew.” Holman Reference, 2000-01-01. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

“Matthew 5:21-48 focuses on the teaching of the law, on what men believe, and 6:1-18 focuses on the practice of the law, what men do. The first section emphasizes inner moral righteousness—giving six representative illustrations regarding murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, revenge, and love. This second section emphasizes outward formal righteousness—giving three representative illustrations of religious activity. The first has to do with giving, our religion as it acts toward others (vv. 2-4); the second with praying, our religion as it acts toward God (vv. 5-15); and the third with fasting, our religion as it acts in relation to ourselves (vv. 16-18).”

Excerpt From: John F. MacArthur. “Matthew 1-7 MacArthur New Testament Commentary.” Moody Press. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Matthew 6:1-4
1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
2 "When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
3 "But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing
4 that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
NASB

GIVE TO HELP OTHERS AND NOT TO CALL ATTENTION TO YOURSELF.

 I recognize You own all.
 I recognize You as my Provider and all I have is from You.
 I am thankful for my salvation in Christ.
 I want to join You in Your work in the lives of others.
 I recognize my giving is an opportunity to be Your hands and feet to the poor.
 I recognize that You reward faithful obedience, and even as I five, You will continue to take care of me.

“The most satisfying giving, and the giving that God blesses, is that which is done and forgotten. It is done in love out of response to a need, and when the need is met the giver goes on about his business, not waiting for or wanting recognition. What has been done should even be a secret to our left hand, not to mention to other people. Whether the person we help is grateful or ungrateful should not matter as far as our own purpose is concerned. If he is ungrateful, we are sorry for his sake, not our own.”

Excerpt From: John F. MacArthur. “Matthew 1-7 MacArthur New Testament Commentary.” Moody Press. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

VERSE 1:
 Righteousness refers to all spiritual acts of obedience to God, not just to helping the poor.
 Spiritual disciplines are biblically mandated practices that faithful believers practice in their worship of and service to God.
 Spiritual disciplines when performed correctly, please God and contribute to spiritual growth.
• What actually motivates your service to God as citizens of the Kingdom of God?
• The principle of proper motivation goes to the heart of walking with and serving Him.
• A firm grasp on the right motivation for serving Him enables believers to exercise key spiritual disciplines in a fulfilling way.
• Either we will seek the reward that comes from the praise of people, or we will enjoy the reward of the joy of serving Him out of a heart of pure love and sincere devotion.

“We must recognize, however, that the line between right and wrong motives is not the same as that between private and public obedience. Not all public acts of obedience are done for the wrong motives. Jesus has already commanded us, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father who is in heaven” (5:16). We are actually commanded to perform righteous acts of obedience before others. The difference is in whom others see as a result of our public righteousness. Do they see only us, or do they see our Father more clearly?”

Excerpt From: Max Anders & Stu Weber. “Holman New Testament Commentary - Matthew.” Holman Reference, 2000-01-01. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

VERSE 2:
• Jewish people embraced the responsibility for giving to the poor, and it became a distinctive part of their lives.
• However, giving to the poor could also attract the applause of people if they noticed it.
• Thus an opportunity to give could become a temptation to parade a person’s piety so everyone could see it and marvel at it.
• In the temple area, priests placed offering boxes so worshipers could make contributions.
• People would drop their coins down a brass funnel inserted at the top of the box.
• The larger the amount of money they poured down the funnel, the louder the noise of the coins clanging against the brass.

VERSE 3:
• Take extreme caution to avoid the temptation to be guided by the hypocritical desire to get people to look with wonder on what you give.
• We give because of the joy that comes with obeying Him with our resources.

VERSE 4:
• We practice the spiritual discipline of giving, but not so it will catch somebody’s eye.

“Matthew uses a verb meaning praise (5:16), whereas in the second and third examples, he uses another verb meaning “to make visible” (active), “to be seen” (passive). The meanings of the words overlap, but the concern is the tendency toward competition with God for glory.”

Excerpt From: Max Anders & Stu Weber. “Holman New Testament Commentary - Matthew.” Holman Reference, 2000-01-01. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

1. God commands that we help the poor.
2. Helping the poor should always be done in obedience to and for the glory of God.
3. Jesus warned against the hypocrisy of helping others to receive human applause.
4. Only those who give to help others for God’s glory will receive divine reward.
5. We should give anonymously to help others whenever possible; our gifts should not be given to draw attention to ourselves.

TRANSITION:
“As giving should not focus on ourselves but God and others, so the discipline of prayer should spring from the same kind of humility.”

Matthew 6:5-8
5 "And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
7 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
8 "Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him.     NASB

PRAY WITH HUMBLE SINCERITY.

VERSE 5:
• Jesus also applied the principle of proper motivation to the spiritual discipline of prayer in worship.
• The problem some Jews faced had to do with what really motivated them to pray.
• As He brought up public prayer, He called attention to people who misused it in worship, and He showed that their misuse started in their hearts.
• According to Jesus, such hypocrites in prayer needed to savor the accolades they received from the people on the street as it would be the only reward they would ever get.
• Jesus’ warning doesn’t diminish the value of public prayer in worship.
• When we pray in a worship service out of a proper motive, we talk to God in the company of others who are worshiping with us.
• Such a worship action makes a difference to God’s people.
• Something’s wrong with our motive when we give more of our attention to praying in public than we give to praying in private.

“When are believers guilty of meaningless repetition? For example, we add “in Jesus' name” as a mere punctuation mark at the end of our prayers. Would not it be better actually to pray in Jesus' name (with his authority, according to his will), instead of merely adding the phrase? We can pray in Jesus' name without using those words.”

Excerpt From: Max Anders & Stu Weber. “Holman New Testament Commentary - Matthew.” Holman Reference, 2000-01-01. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

VERSE 6:
• Jesus went on to teach that applying the principle of proper motive starts with private prayer.
• That’s why He directed the listeners to go to a private place.
• Once there, they should close out everything that will prevent focusing attention on conversing with the Lord.
• In the simplicity of such a secret setting, we can sense His intimate presence.
o He knows we’re there, and He meets us there.

VERSE 7:
• Another inappropriate motive for praying involved the pagan habit of rambling on and on with meaningless words or phrases.
• Jesus knew some of His disciples might be tempted to follow the example set by the idolaters, arriving at the notion that to get God to listen to them, they would need to repeat the words of their prayers over and over.
• Such a habit would be useless as they prayed and harmful in their spiritual growth.

VERSE 8:
• He pays attention to us because we belong to Him through Christ.
• He already knows what we need before we begin to think about what to pray.
 Prayer is simply to be with Him.
• In His presence, we praise Him, express our love for Him, and surrender to Him.

1. Prayer should always be directed to God alone.
2. Prayer is an essential component of the Christian’s walk with God.
3. Our greatest and most frequent times of prayer should be when we are alone with God.
4. God does not desire meaningless repetition in our prayers.
5. Prayer does not inform God of our needs.
6. God knows our need before we ask and always provides abundantly.

TRANSITION:
“Praying with humility will require us to deny ourselves without drawing attention to ourselves.”

Matthew 6:16-18
16 "And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
17 "But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face
18 so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.     NASB

KEY WORD: FAST
The practice of abstaining from food for a period of time for the purpose of growing closer to the Lord.

DENY YOURSELF WITHOUT MAKING A SHOW OF IT.

VERSE 16:
• Jesus brought up a third spiritual discipline often abused by people who wanted to make a spectacle of their spirituality.
• Fasting was probably more prominent in the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day than today.
• People wanted to manipulate the spiritual discipline could turn it into a stage performance.
• Before onlookers crowded into the public square or at the synagogue, they would display obvious signs of denial and the suffering that accompanied it.

VERSE 17:
• As we deny ourselves, Jesus instructed us not to display it so others can see it and be impressed by it.

VERSE 18:

“Hypocrisy is so dangerous because it is so deceptive. It uses things that are basically good for purposes that are basically evil.”

Excerpt From: John F. MacArthur. “Matthew 1-7 MacArthur New Testament Commentary.” Moody Press. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

• We fast because we want to grow in our walk with our Father.
• When that’s our motivation for denying ourselves, we will be glad we gave ourselves to it.
• The sincere motivation of seeking Him that’s prompted by a pure heart will sustain us as we make our way through the struggles that go along with fasting.
• The reward of His presence, guidance, wisdom, and strength will be ours to embrace and enjoy.

• Be sure to check with your physician before beginning a period of fasting.

1. Spiritual fasts are appropriate when done for the glory of God.
2. We are not to fast for the recognition, approval, or applause of other people.
3. We are not to draw attention to ourselves when fasting.
4. God rewards those who fast in their desire to seek Him and worship Him.

WRAP IT UP:
When we exercise these disciplines appropriately we will grow in our relationships with God and others.

 One step of self-denial. Fast for one meal this week and give the money anonymously to a person in need in your church family.
 Pray for your neighbors. Compose a list of ten people or families within walking distance of your residence. Take one day this week and pray for these people as you pass by their homes.
 Extended quite time. Shut down all electronic media for a weekend: No TV, radio, or computer. Use the quietness for intimate time with the Lord.

“The greatest reward a believer can have is the knowledge that he has pleased his Lord. Our motive for looking forward to His rewards should be the anticipation of casting them as an offering at His feet, even as the twenty-four elders one day “will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power’” (Rev. 4:10-11).”

Excerpt From: John F. MacArthur. “Matthew 1-7 MacArthur New Testament Commentary.” Moody Press. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.