When Prayer Becomes Idolatry
Matthew 6:1-6
St. John’s United Church of Christ
Greeley, Colorado
March 3, 2024
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes
It has been exciting to look at The Lord’s Prayer. Now I’d like to for us to focus on a passage that precedes The Lord’s Prayer, specifically Matthew 6.
The goal of our prayer theme is to be drawn to the Lord by his spirit and to find ourselves focused, even in the quiet place. I want to review where do we pray and what do we say?
As we consider the developmental stages of a child, toddlers at the age of three or four, they begin to ask why? Why is the sky blue, why do I have to go to bed by eight? Then in middle school and high school they being to ask why not? “Why can’t I do this?” as we start to push the boundaries.
I want us to wrestle with the word “why” today. Speaker, author Simon Sinek presented one of the most watched TED Talks of all time. The title was “Start with the why,” and his premise is that most organizations, great leaders, ask the question “why?” We often focus on the what and the how, but more important is the why.
Now, we have to know the what, as a church, what our mission is. What am I doing here? What is my life about? How do I do this? The strategy, if you will. But the why gets to the heart of motivation. We could argue this, Jesus starts with the why. A key question for the disciples. Those of us who are apprentices of Jesus find ourselves responding to his grace and giving our lives fully to him- that’s what the beatitudes and the sermon of the mount is all about.
Again, in the context of the sermon of the mount, he is talking to kingdom people. These aren’t normal people; these are people who are radically devoting their lives to Christ. The question that I want us to ask and it is a questions that I ask over and over again in my life, “Why am I doing this, really?”
Some of you know the story of Samuel in the Old Testament. The prophet is looking for a king in Israel. He’s going to find David, ultimately. He goes to Jesse’s house and he sees Eliab, you assume that it is going to be him. Then the Lord said this:
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.
For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
He looks on the heart, why we do what we do. Now think about this, so much of what we do in our spiritual life is seen in public. Especially those of us who are in leadership ministry position, we are seen. This is why this passage is convicting for us all, those of us who are seen, doing our spiritual thing in front of others really need to test our hearts. But this is for all of us. We go to church and we are seen. You’re affirmed for being seen today. Maybe you felt good that you were here. This is good, we serve and we’re seen by others.
It is in our private lives that we’re not seen. Jesus said, “You want to test your heart? It’ll happen in the private place, because God sees. The father sees.”
We give to the church and often not seen. This gets very interesting. We want to put our names on things. Universities do this, donors, parks are named after them, statues, art work is named after a patron or benefactor. We kind of like to put our names on some things, in fact, this may be why some of us are motivated to give, maybe outside the church.
The challenge of the inward/outward relationship of the heart is drilled in our daily activities too.
Why are we sometimes one way at home and another way at home? Why is it that sometimes we’re the kindest to people who we don’t know and sometimes we’re really harsh with people that we’re supposed to be loving well?
Have you ever been in a conversation and conflict and then the phone rings? “Hey, how are you doing, having a wonderful day, actually…”
You show up at church, you’ve been arguing all the way here, with the family, and then we show up at church: “Hey, brother, it’s a great day to worship the Lord.”
We all do it. We all wrestle with it. WE all know children and youth that used to go to church and then they abandon the faith and they blame this on the duplicity they see in their parents.
This is very important: Jesus wants us to live lives of integrity.
Consider Matthew 6. “True spirituality, righteousness,” Jesus said, is different.” We live differently. Most of what we do that matters in eternity is not seen. He wants us to live lives of integrity, integer, it is a whole number. A whole life, not a life of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy literally means “separated.” Our heart and our actions are separated. Now, most of us would understand. Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship.
It’s different from all other religions. It’s not us trying to get to God, a holy God, how good do you have to be, right? Perfect! Instead it’s God coming to us in the person of Jesus. He comes not only to die on the cross to forgive us, yes, but even before that, he lives the perfect life. He comes not simply as an example, that would be a religion. He comes as our substitute, two very different things. We enter into relationship with him as we receive his gift of grace, his forgiveness, his sacrifice on the cross for us and now we enter into relationship with him. My entire Christian life is marked by the fact that now I have a relationship with God, through Christ, with the Holy Spirit living inside me. Would you agree with me, that is what Christianity is, relationship, not religion?
How is that going for you? Is your life completely focused? Your number one pursuit is an ongoing, abiding, relationship with Jesus Christ, the Father, Son, and the Holy spirit. Living in that Trinitarian dance, that is the passion of your soul.
If not, you may not be a believer, and certainly, not be a disciple. “Because those who are disciples,” Jesus says, “will live a life born out of private prayer life before a holy God and love all of mankind, everyone.
It starts with the why. Why do I do this? Do I do this to be seen? Do I do it for public praise or do I do it because I love him?
Here’s the tension, Matthew 5:16, he’s already said, “Let your light shine before men, before others, that they might see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven.” But we get our motives twisted and this is where Jesus is going to teach us today. A key focus today is this phrase that I want us to hear over and over again and I want us to review in our minds this week,
“Hypocrisy happens.”
It happens for all of us, in different ways.
In the sermon of the mount, Jesus gets to the heart of the matter. Then he does something very interesting, it must have been so radical for his first hearers. We start to realize why the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and other religious came around him, because with the sermon of the mount, this manifesto for Christian living, he has this parallel pattern throughout. He first says, “Here’s a command, and we’ve all heard it,” and everyone shakes their heads.”
“However, but I say…” Jesus says, “You’ve got it all wrong.” He gets underneath the command to the heart of God in the command. And then he offers a call to action. It’s why he says in Matthew 5: “Anger is murder,” “Lust is adultery,” he does not separate the two. You’ve got to love others, enemy love, it means going the extra mile. And he closes his teaching in the latter part of chapter five: You’ve got to be perfect, whole, like your father is whole. He is saying, the only way to living this out is not simply by doing the right things, but doing the right things for the right reasons.
This is at the heart of his teaching. He says, “Hypocrisy, will be the constant challenge for the disciple.
In Matthew 6, he says:
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
He offers the motive: In order to be seen. Here in chapter six he is going to offer three practices that are part of every Hebrew life and every disciples’ life: When you give, give like this, then he says, when you pray, pray like this (The Lord’s Prayer) and he says when you fast, do it like this. Not “if,” these are assumed expected practices of every believer.
He says, “Beware of doing these things to be seen.”
During my trip to South Texas to participate in the Franklin Graham crusade, on Sunday morning I attended the church of Paulino Bernal, Valley Worship Center. Shortly after the service I watched the testimony of Paulino. This man who was the king of polka music in South Texas and beyond said, “God wants three things for you: 1) Salvation, 2) Health/Healing, and 3) Prosperity.
What do you want or need in your life today? Come to God with a sincere heart and pray to Him.
Hebrews 11:6 remind us, “Without faith it is impossible to please God and those who come to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.”