The Dangers of Spirituality

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, pour out upon us the spirit of wisdom and understanding that being taught by you in Holy Scripture, our hearts and minds may be opened to know the things that pertain to life and holiness through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Our scripture this morning comes from the sixth chapter of Matthew, verses 1 through 6, and then 1618. You can find this in your pew bibles on page 787. Listen for the word of the Lord. Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them, and as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the street so that they may be praised by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret. And your father, who sees in secret will reward you. And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they may be seen by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is secret, and your father, who sees in secret will reward you. Now verses 16 through 18. And whenever you fast, do not look dismal like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face so that your fasting may be seen not by others, but by your father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. [00:02:48] Speaker B: Toby. Good morning, everybody. For any of you who are maybe new to Knox and maybe don't know me yet, my name is Josiah. I do a number of things on staff here, but one of my favorite roles is that I get to lead our youth groups of high schoolers and middle schoolers. Thank you. So a little while ago, I was talking to our middle schoolers about love in action and what that could look like. And I was looking for, like, a really good illustration or example to use. So I got on YouTube and I searched random acts of kindness. Have you guys ever seen some of these videos? All sorts of videos popped up with YouTubers, like giving money to people living on the streets or paying for people's groceries, or for some of the bigger YouTube accounts, giving people cars and Stuff like that. And some of it was really touching and inspiring. And some of the videos had millions of views and ad breaks in the middle and a call to don't forget to like and subscribe, of course. And some of the videos were filming people in, like, the hardest moments of their lives without really asking them permission. And all the comments, of course, were like, wow, you are so amazing. You're so generous. This is why I love this channel or this YouTuber so much. I don't know, those videos just never really sit well with me. It's like, man, can we do anything good in today's world without posting it all over social media? So I went back to my youth group and I made sure those students knew that when I do good deeds and random acts of kindness, I don't record it. So, yeah, you can be impressed with me. During this Lenten season leading up to Easter, we have just started a series on the Sermon on the Mount. As you know, this is Jesus most famous compilation of teachings. It's at the very beginning of Jesus ministry in the book of Matthew and. And he is laying out this revolutionary way of seeing the world and understanding faith. He's looking at scripture and spirituality and life with this very particular and compelling lens. In chapter five, he has this infamous cadence of, you've heard it was said one thing, but I say to you, this new thing you've heard, it was said, do not murder. But. But I say to you, if you're angry at your brother, you're liable to judgment. You've heard it was said, do not commit adultery. But I say to you, if you even look at someone lustfully, you've already committed adultery in your heart. In a way, Jesus is saying, stop trying to tow the line. Stop trying to see how close you can get to evil without doing evil. Sin goes even beyond our actions and to the posture of our heart. It's the same posture of the heart that Jesus then examines in chapter six, which we just heard, as he begins not just to look at the big bad sins that we should avoid, but rather at the good, the spiritual, the religious side of our life as well. Beware of practicing your piety or your acts of righteousness or your good deeds or religious duties in front of others in order to be seen by them. Jesus says, give to the poor. Yeah, but don't do it so that other people think you're so generous or such a good Christian. Pray to God. Absolutely. But don't do it in this public way just to make people think you're A real prayer warrior. Practice the spiritual discipline of fasting, but don't do it so that people feel sorry for you and recognize how spiritual you are. Hold on, though, let me play devil's advocate here a little bit, because less than a chapter earlier, Jesus was just saying, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. And for all the grief that I Give to the YouTubers and social media influencers for broadcasting their good deeds, they might argue, hey, I'm just shining a light into a dark world. And if someone can see that and give praise to God, or if that inspires someone to go out and show love and kindness to others, then that's got to be a good thing, right? I can't argue with that. And maybe, maybe I'm the judgmental one for seeing those videos online and just assuming they're in it for their own attention. Surely Jesus isn't saying we shouldn't pray publicly. Jesus himself prays publicly quite a bit. Public prayer can be powerful and transformative and important for communities of faith. Is Jesus saying every single donation we ever make needs to be anonymous and totally secret? Not necessarily, but all of these are examples. All these examples are lessons in doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. Jesus used this word hypocrite again and again. Fifteen times, actually, in the Gospel of Matthew alone, only five times. In the rest of the Bible. It's the word for an actor, a performer on stage, wearing a mask, putting on a show. They're being watched and they know it. They're doing what they do for the sake of their audience. They're so concerned with how they're coming across and how others are perceiving them. Even for those of us who don't necessarily wrestle with this temptation to, like, act spiritual for the attention of others, I think we just live in a culture where our image is highly curated, right? Just think about social media alone and the photos we choose to share and what stories we choose to tell, what filters we use, not just on our cameras, but in the kind of person we want to project to the world. I think a lot of us care about how we're perceived, and it's not even bad to care about how you're perceived. But at what point does that become the focus, or at what point does the perception become the motivation for what we do or don't do? Jesus calls out people for standing and praying on the street corners that they can be seen by others, and their main concern is how they look what others think of them, how their identity is being formed by the opinions of others. But honestly, what I see just as often is that many of us can be uncomfortable praying out loud at all because we're worried about embarrassing ourselves. We're worried about saying the wrong thing, or we're worried about what people will think. In a way, it's the flip side of the same coin. And listen, I'm guilty of it, too. I still remember one of my first Sundays here at Knox, leading the Lord's Prayer right here up front and saying, forgive us our trespasses instead of forgive us our debts. Okay, minor mistake, for sure. I'm pretty sure God knew what I meant, and yet it kept me up at night. Oh, man, I messed up in front of everybody. I swear. I swear. I know the Lord's Prayer. In fact, I know the Presbyterian version of the Lord's Prayer. I promise you. But Jesus says, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Not only is this about what others think of us, it's about what we think think of us. Don't even praise yourself for your giving. Don't start thinking highly of yourself for praying so eloquently. And maybe don't beat yourself up when your prayers are a little scatterbrained and you stumble over your words. It's okay. It was never about you to begin with. You see, there is a certain danger to spirituality that Jesus is warning us about. The same spirituality that can draw us to God, that can give us meaning and purpose, that can drive us to care for our neighbors and all of creation, can also be used as a tool of manipulation and coercion. Now, you guys aren't going to believe this, but there are people out there who might yet use the name of God for their own purposes. There are people out there who might take the words of scripture and use them to justify their own ambitions, to give a special weight and authority to their actions. There are people out there who might use their spirituality so that people might think of them in a certain way, so that they might gain some sort of influence or acceptance or. Or even power and church. We are those people. We are those people with the potential to use spirituality in this way. So be careful. Jesus is saying, examine your own heart. Check in continually about where you're getting your identity from, where you may be overly concerned about how others are perceiving you, where your motivations might go astray. Because ulterior motives can poison even the greatest acts of righteousness and spirituality. So that we are drawing the attention of people instead of drawing close to God. We are building up our own ego instead of becoming more like Christ. I'm glad to see a number of you have joined these Lenten small groups practicing spiritual disciplines in these weeks leading up to Easter. And if you haven't joined one yet, it is not too late. I know we've got groups before and after service on Sundays as well as Wednesday nights. They're still open. The spiritual disciplines are these beautiful tools and methods and ways of living that can draw us to God. But what's the purpose? Why do it? I remember when I first started fasting, trying this whole fasting thing. I was desperate for God to answer my prayers. And I thought maybe this would kind of supercharge my prayers. Maybe it would make my prayers impossible to miss. It was like, okay, I need an answer from God. And I wouldn't have said it like this at the time, but I think there was a part of me that was like, I'm gonna force God's hand, right? I'm gonna fast as I pray for an answer, and then God is going to give it to me because I'm fasting. Sometimes this is how we look at spiritual disciplines. Almost like God owes me some profound inside or spiritual awakening if I do this, and then if I don't feel anything, I'm disappointed it didn't work. It's easy to see it like, as some kind of exchange. No better than the quid pro quo social influence that Jesus describes in Matthew 6. You do this in front of people, and in return, you get the respect and admiration of people. You do this for God, and in return, you get God's favor and blessing and answered prayer. And it makes sense how we get there, doesn't it? Multiple times in this passage, Jesus says, the Father who sees in secret will reward you. Ooh, what's the reward? Is the reward an answered prayer? That'd be nice. Some televangelists would have you believe the reward is financial blessings or health. Or is this more about heaven? Maybe when you get to heaven, you'll have a really big mansion or extra jewels in your crown. No, no, no. This isn't the way of Jesus. And it goes against everything Jesus is teaching. No, the reward is God. God's presence. God with us. Not even necessarily the feeling of God or the experience of God. We know those can be emotionally heightened responses that can come and that can go, but the reward is God nonetheless. God gives us God's self. Spiritual disciplines are not a way to manipulate God. They're a way to be with God. They're a way to shape our souls into Christlikeness. And when we get distracted over how others perceive our spirituality or what God is going to give us in return, we or missing out on that opportunity to be shaped. Okay, so if ego is not a good motive for spirituality and public image or acceptance, tribal acceptance is not a good motive for our spirituality, and trying to control God is not a good motive for our spirituality, then what's our motive? Here's a couple ideas. First, I would say gratitude. We pray and we worship, and we serve others, and we practice spiritual disciplines out of gratitude. A natural, outflowing response to what God has already done. Jesus has accomplished everything, and thus our lives are shaped by Thanksgiving. Colossians 3:17 says, and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Okay, Second motive maybe would be love. First John 4:19 says, we love because God first loved us. As Christians, our identity is not coming from what anybody else thinks of us. It's not coming from how accomplished we are or what we do or how we fit into a certain in group or how spiritual we appear. Our identity comes from the love of God. Who are we? We are beloved. And if we are beloved by God, then we will love others and all of our spirituality will flow through that. And finally, I would say a good motive is Jesus. If we want to follow Jesus, then we may simply do the things Jesus does. Praying, fasting, loving our enemies, sharing the gospel, reading scripture, caring for the outcast. I don't fully understand everything Jesus does, but if Jesus did it, then I want to do it. And clearly, the way of Jesus is not always popular. Jesus says, if anyone wants to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Following Jesus may turn people against you, people that you love and respect, and people that truly you wish you could have the approval of. But that's where we're called to weigh the rewards of our spirituality. A spirituality that rewards us with the favor of others, or a spirituality that rewards us with God as our souls are shaped in Christlikeness. Let's pray together. Lord God, we do want to be shaped by you. Protect us from the dangers of spirituality, the temptations of approval, and the ways our selfish desires can hijack what you're calling us to do and the people you're calling us to be. Teach us to examine our hearts. We ask that you continually draw our hearts back to you and you alone. Amen.