The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew 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 thus would you give to
the needy sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do
in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised
by others truly I say to you they have received their reward
But But when when you you give give to to the the needy needy,
do do not not let let your your left left hand hand know know
what what your your right right hand hand is is doing doing, so
so that that your your giving giving may may be be in in
secret secret. and your father who sees in secret will reward
you and when you pray you must not be like the hypocrites for
they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street
corners that they may be seen by others truly I say to you they
have received their reward but when you pray go into your room
and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret And
your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for
they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by
others. Truly I say to you, they have
received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your
head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by
others, but by your Father who is in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth
and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but
lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor
rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also
the gospel of the Lord. Well, good evening and welcome
to Emmanuel Anglican Church. Welcome to Ash Wednesday in
talent. My name is Matt Osterkamp.
I'm one of the lay lay leaders here at Emmanuel.
I'm a member of the preaching team.
And so I will be bringing the message tonight.
We are going to be looking at our gospel text, those verses in
Matthew chapter 6. But before we do that, let me
just open with a word of prayer. The Lord be with you.
Heavenly Father, I pray that you would come and dwell this place
this evening. May your Spirit come and
minister to us. Give us ears to ear hear and
eyes to see. May you use my words to glorify
you and edify your church. We pray in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Amen.
So you can find our text in your bulletins or in your Bibles.
But before we read the words of Matthew, I want to open with
these words from the Gospel of John, John 3 verse 17, where we
read For God did not send his son into the world to condemn
the world, but in order that the world might be saved through
him. Not to condemn the world, but in
order that the world might be saved through him.
When you hear of somebody or something being saved, you have
a a story or something that comes to mind.
Maybe a time when you or someone you knew was in sudden and
immediate danger. And then there was some
intervention, some rescue, and the danger was removed and there
was relief and there was salvation.
I think back four years ago in 2022 and March 6, I woke up to a
phone call. I know some of you have received
these phone calls from my father that my mom was having an active
heart attack. Her heart was failing.
But we talked on the phone. He was at the hospital, the
local hospital, waiting for a helicopter to arrive that would
fly my mom to the Regional Hospital where she would have
emergency heart surgery. See, multiple arteries had
become so blocked that blood was only trickling into her heart
and she would need 5 stints. And through the mercy of the
Lord, her life was extended. That comes to mind is I think of
somebody being saved. And, and what we learned as a
family that weekend is that heart surgery.
It is painful that it it makes you and leaves you in a very
vulnerable place. But when the blood, when the
arteries open and the blood flows again, there's new life
and there's strength and you're not always tired and you didn't
you have energy again. And I share this because I think
in the season of Lent and even as we look at these scriptures,
the Lord wants to work on our hearts.
He wants to open up arteries that have maybe become clogged
and blocked. See, these verses aren't here to
just make you feel guilty, to make you feel embarrassed or
inadequate when you worship. The Lord is giving us some
warning because He wants His love, his abundant life to flow
through US, the power of the Holy Spirit to indwell us.
And so as we hear these words, let us remember He does not say
this to condemn us. His mission is to save us.
So let us now turn to Matthew chapter 6, starting with verse
one. 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. So the context here, as some of
you know, and we're in the Sermon on the Mount, this is
Jesus's great oration. It kind of announces in Matthew
his ministry, and he goes up onto the mountains and his
disciples are at his feet and the crowds are beyond the
disciples. And he begins with this
beautiful poetic vision of the Kingdom of God, the poor being
blessed, those who mourn being comforted, the hungry being
filled. There's something so compelling
and so beautiful about those early Beatitudes.
And I imagine the crowd just their attention, increasingly
riveted to the Messiah who's giving them his agenda, the one
they've been waiting for. And then he pivots from those
beatitudes to a retelling of the law.
And he says, you have heard it said do not commit murder.
And maybe they're sinking. Yeah.
And I haven't, I haven't done that.
But then Jesus says, but I say to you, whoever is angry with
his brother is in danger of the fires of hell.
And now things are getting uncomfortable.
You've heard it said, love your neighbor.
Yeah. Yeah.
Mostly I say to you, love your enemies.
And as he keeps telling the law and he talks about OS and
adultery, I imagine them seeing the chasm between themselves,
their lived reality and the Kingdom of God, that initial
vision just growing wider and wider.
And they're sitting there and they're thinking, how are we
ever going to get into this Kingdom?
And probably there's some rabbi's kid, I'm a preacher's
kid myself, some rabbi's kid sitting there and he's thinking,
I know, I know. The spiritual disciplines we
need to reconnect with those ancient practices that's going
to get us to God. And for a 1st century Jew, those
disciplines, as Father Aaron said, would have been practicing
alms, doing acts of generosity and mercy.
They would have been praying and calling out to the Lord
Almighty, the great God and deliverer of the Hebrew people,
and they would have been fasting, taking a break from
your regular rhythms and routines to turn your attention
to God to the great story of redemption.
And they thought these are the ways and Jesus turns to these
exact things right in this sermon.
But he doesn't just give an uncomplicated go do it instead.
He he talks about these things. Prevents the full experience a
full relationship of God that prevents those blood from
flowing into your your spiritual heart be careful even here even
when you're doing these spiritual practices We're going
to find a word in this text that's translated into English
as hypocrites the Greek word would be a word that'd be used
for actors it could mean an actor on a stage it could also
be translated as performer we might say that this is kind of
performative religion in our current language I'm going to
use the word performer I can stick a little softer than
hypocrite but we're going to look at a performer who is
engaging in spiritual disciplines But not connecting
not fully connecting with God maybe not connecting at all with
God and I want to ask three questions and I think these can
be 3 questions we sit with during the 40 days of went
question 1 is how do we see ourselves how do we see
ourselves question 2 is how do we see other people how do we
see those around us and then question 3 is what story are we
living out What What story story?
what is the story that defines and drives our lives so read
with me now we're in verse 2 of Matthew 6 truly when you give to
the needy sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do
in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised
by others truly I say to you they have received their reward
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing so that you're giving may be done
in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
I was reading an interview with Internet pioneer and fellow
Illini Marc Andreessen the other day.
He's from way back in the 90s dot com boom and they were
asking him what motivates the leaders in Silicon Valley.
You know, all of these famous mostly men that we hear so much
about. Some years they're heroes, some
years they're villains, but what motivates them?
Is it really just about making money?
The reporter asks and and Marc Andreessen replies, making money
that that's like goal number 5 or something.
I, I would say goal number one is I'm a good person.
I'm a good person is wildly more important than profit margins
wildly. And I think the performer in
Matthew 6 would totally agree with the Silicon Valley mogul.
In fact, he's so invested in raising moral capital that he's
he's giving away financial capital.
He's giving out his money trying to build this narrative that
he's a good person. He's not like those exploitative
capitalists who are are just taking from the masses.
He's he's giving back. He's not just signaling virtue.
He's actually doing virtue over here.
I'm doing it like you're the trumpet.
I'm doing the thing. I'm giving away the money.
You know, sometimes we get caught up in needing to prove
that we are not like those people.
When I say those people, you know who I'm talking about might
be different for each one of us, But I think we often have these
categories. Like I am one of the good guys.
I'm not like them and this self righteousness like plaque in our
arteries, it starts to clog out our connection to God.
I've been there. Maybe some of you have been
there. I think the performer here, he
might be caught up in this need to to communicate to other
people to continue to say like I am one of the people who gets
it. I'm one of the people who's
doing the right thing. Look at me.
I need you to validate that. I need you to hear me.
Or Or maybe maybe there's there's another another reason
reason, or or maybe maybe it's it's sometimes sometimes related
related. maybe it's not so much that he's just like thinks he's
the the you know the big self-righteous the the star
student maybe he's worried and he's trying to convince himself
and he's not quite doing it Maybe he's worried and he's
trying to convince himself and he's not quite doing it, that
he's not the same person that he is at his worst moments.
That those really cringy moments, you know, those moments
you might wake up in the middle of the night and you're like,
how did I really do that? I, I wish I could do that again.
I should have called them back. Did I really say that thing?
It could have been a secret shame that he was hoping the
voices of the crowds would drown out his own interior monologue
that he was not worthy. And he was hoping by by showing
off and being so demonstratively generous that he could start to
believe himself that he really was a good person.
But maybe he really, really struggled to believe that.
And I think what Jesus is warning us here, He's warning us
particularly about our own inner monologues.
I think it's interesting. He says like, do not let your
left hand know what your right hand is doing.
He's targeting how do we, how do we think of ourselves?
And he wants us to stay grounded in the reality that each one of
us are sinners. Each one of us are sinners, We
each need a Savior, but that each one of us are loved by God,
that we are worthy of being loved through the mercy and
grace of God Almighty. We are saved through the blood
of Christ. He's saying, don't believe your
own hype and don't give in to that nagging voice of shame that
says you are not worthy, for you are a Sinner.
But there is grace and the avenue is made for you to come
and approach God, not in a flashy, showy way.
You don't need the affirmation of the the audience.
Just go and do it in secret and experience the love and the
freedom of Christ. As we say tonight when we put on
the ashes, repent. Repent from yourself,
righteousness from your claims of moral superiority and believe
the gospel, the gospel that every single one of us is worthy
of being loved, that God loves every single one of us and he
wants to redeem every single one of us.
No matter what you've done, no matter where you've been.
How do you think of yourself when you stay resting in that
place of I'm a Sinner, but I'm saved by grace.
Second second question, second vignette here.
We're going to go to verse 16 now skipping down or actually
went out to verse 16, yet pages are out of order.
Verse 8 or verse 5. And when you pray, you must not
be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the
synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by
others. Truly I say to you, they have
received their reward. But when you pray, go into the
your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in
secret, and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
Question 2 is how do we see other people?
And again, I think the performer in this this vignette, and we
don't know fully what the motivation are, but I imagine 2
possible motivations for them. Why are they praying?
Why do they love to pray on the on the stage, in the corner, in
the synagogue? Why?
Why do I love to pray sometimes on the stage in the synagogue?
Is Is my my audience audience that that I I need need to to
please please? maybe some of you remember the
old TV show Top Chef I don't know if it's still on and we see
other people as like the spiritual Tom colicchio's who
are going to come in and appraise our lives and we still
want their approval we still want to oppress impress them we
want that spread in bread and wine magazine you know we want
to be the top Christian and we start to see other people as our
judge but maybe that wasn't it and as I get older And as I get
older, I feel a second motivation creeping into my
heart. And maybe these Jewish elders,
these religious worshippers were looking around in the 1st
century and they had this thought.
Kids these days and you've seen what they're into.
They're into all this Roman stuff and this Greek philosophy.
I don't know that they really know how to pray.
I don't know if they really get it.
I need to show them what it's like to seek God with all of
your heart, with all of your mind.
They need me to stand there and demonstrate to them just what
it's like. You ever feel that pressure in a
changing world that we need to be visibly Christian or
Christianity will fail? If we're not out there, if we're
not doing it, this whole thing could collapse.
Maybe that was what they were feeling is they're on the street
corners and in the synagogues. And as I reflect on this, I
think about how religious performance isolates us, but
true worship connects us to God and it connects us to other
people. But as we connect to God in
secret and then we go out to the table, it's not some crappy
reality TV show meal where we're all kind of envious and we're
all jockeying with each other. I mean, what a messed up picture
of hospitality, right? It's we're just sitting down and
enjoying good food and good company.
We're free from all that pressure to perform and we don't
need to take on the burden and to see ourselves as the saviors
of the world who have all that pressure and see other people as
projects. See, I think as we connect with
God, we see that we are not little saviors out to redeem the
world. We can approach other people as
neighbors who walk with them to the cross of Christ.
We're going with you. We're a neighbor.
We're a fellow Sinner. We can love you in a non anxious
way. We can be present in your lives
because we're connected and grounded to God in prayer and
we're showing up not to impress you, not because we feel like if
we don't do this, this whole thing is going to fall apart.
See, the God who was is the God who is, is the God who will be
world without end. We don't need to hold on to that
pressure. We can connect with God through
prayer and secret. Now we go to our third vignette,
skipping down to verse 16 of the gospel text.
And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for
they disfigure their faces, that their fasting may be seen by
others. Truly, I say to you, they have
received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your
head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by
others, but by your Father who is in secret, And your Father
who sees in secret will reward you.
The American author Joan Didion once wrote, we tell ourselves
stories in order to live. We tell ourselves stories.
We are narrative creatures. We like to organize things and
some sort of narrative arc. We like to picture ourselves and
structure our lives in some kind of story.
And fasting in the 1st century, scholars tell us, would have
been performed for one of three reasons.
Either people would have fasted as a sign of repentance and as
an as a physical, bodily discipline that was helping them
turn away from the things of the world and turn towards the
things of God. Fasting was was orienting their
lives towards the redemptive story of God or fasting was an
act of remembrance. It was clearing out space so
they could stop and reflect on the great works of deliverance,
particularly in delivering the Hebrew people out of the land of
Egypt in the land of slavery. Fasting would be repentance,
fasting could be remembrance, or fasting could be preparation.
But But in in each each case case, fasting fasting is is
orienting orienting us us and and connecting connecting us us
to to the the great great story story of of salvation salvation,
to to the the story story of of our our creator Creator God God
who who has has promised promised us us blessings
blessings and and promised promised to to bless bless the
the nation's nation's through through us us. and now we know
his promise through salvation through the blood of his son
Jesus Christ so why no gloomy face fast why why can't we be
gloomy about this and as I was thinking about this I think it's
a warning And as I was thinking about this, I think it's a
warning to to look for the right reward, to look for the right
story. You see, the hustle is not the
story. Our own experience of
deprivation, while maybe poignant in the moment, is
really just preparation to be part of a much bigger story.
And I think Jesus is saying don't lose the plot, don't
forget the story. Your fasting is preparing you or
is a is a occasion for you to reflect and remember the great
works of God, to celebrate the great power of God, the
salvation of God. When we focus on our own
experience of, of deprivation, of missing out, we're choosing
the wrong story, choosing a very small story of personal striving
and, and personal effort. And we're, we're missing a
chance to connect with the story, the true story, the holy
story, the story of God's love. So this Lent, I would encourage
you to reflect as you think about the Savior who came to
save the world, desire anxiety to be seen as a good person.
Does it block our ability to connect with God?
Can you let go of that anxiety? This is our shame and our
feelings of the, the the feelings that I think come from
the enemy, that we are unworthy. Does that get in the way of us
connecting with God? How about the way we're we're
seeing others? Do we fall into the trap of
feeling that we must perform, that they're going to judge us,
that we need their approval? Can we step into the inner room
and just connect with a God who loves us even while we were yet
sinners, He died for us? Or are we feeling the pressure,
the pressure to see other people's projects who they so
need us? Can we see them as neighbors
instead of projects? Can we trust that the Lord who
worked in our lives to bring salvation can also work in their
lives, That we can go together with them to the cross of Christ
and find our salvation there? For For smaller smaller stories
stories, for for individual individual stories stories, for
for a a story story of of this this moment moment and and lost
lost sight sight of of the the story story of of the the ages
ages. can we use this lint to reorient ourselves to remember
to repent of of and turn from worldly things to remember the
great deliverance of God and to prepare ourselves for the Easter
feast when we will encounter God see nowhere in this text are we
are we are we told to not look for rewards It's always look for
the right reward. And Jesus says, for where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.