It's great to be with you this morning. Let's
pray. Let's ask God for help as we dig into his
word. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you that
you speak to us. We want to thank you that you
love us. Please, Father, would you help us to
listen carefully to everything that you have
to say to us today. And we ask this in the precious
name of Jesus. Amen. Well, my kids love playing
dress up. We've got a big bunch of costumes at
home, big costume box, and it is full of everything.
We've got masks, we've got outfits, we've got
props, a lot of lightsabers, I think, from memory.
And we've got everything. We've got pirates,
princesses, and Darth Vader. You can't go through
life without a good Darth Vader mask. If you
want to see me model it later, please come chat
to me. But my kids, they love playing dress -ups.
And that's a good thing. You know, there's something
good about kids pretending to be someone else.
You know, it's a fun form of play and imagination.
It's good for their development. But for us,
us grown -ups who are here, in society, we do
a bit of dress -up too, don't we? It's for a
different reason though. It's good when the kids
do it, not so good when we do it. And I'm not
talking about costume parties. See, what happens
is we get so concerned about what other people
think of us, we wear costumes. And actually,
especially in church, don't we? We come to church,
we go out into life and we dress up as what we
think we ought to be. Dress up as the mature
Christian. Dress up as the spiritual person.
Dress up as the virtuous Bible study leader.
We go through the right religious motions and
actions to look the part. And we can often do
this when inwardly things are not okay. When
our hearts are far from God. Now, such play -acting
is what Jesus calls hypocrisy. You know, when
we think of hypocrites, we tend to think, oh,
a hypocrite, you know, that's someone who says
one thing and does another. But in Jesus' day,
a hypocrite was an actor. It was about being
a mask -wearer. You're pretending to be someone
else. And this kind of hypocrisy, especially
this religious hypocrisy, that creeps into many
hearts and many churches yet it's one that we
can often be so clueless and careless about but
jesus won't let us stay oblivious to this danger
and that's why over the next three weeks jesus
is going to expose our religious hypocrisy so
that we can be rid of it And there's one big
thing he's going to repeat as we go through the
next three weeks of passages. Here's the big
thing we'll keep seeing. Who you are in secret
is who you really are. Who you are in secret
is who you really are. If there's one thing you
remember from today, I hope it's that. Who you
are in secret is who you really are. And so today
I want to ask you, who are you really? Where
is your heart really at? Are you truly virtuous?
Are you righteous? Or are you doing a lot of
play acting? Over the next three weeks, Jesus
will apply this principle of who you are in secret
is who you really are to three areas. These were
the three kind of pillars of Jewish piety. giving
to the poor prayer and fasting and today we're
going to see how this applies generally to kind
of virtue and righteousness but especially to
giving and there's three things we're going to
see as we look at this passage firstly guard
against hypocrisy that's what jesus is telling
us to do guard against hypocrisy secondly give
up public recognition stop caring what people
think and thirdly give to others in secret so
let's take them in turn let's start with the
first one guard against hypocrisy be great to
have your bible in front of you and if you've
got it there come with me to verse one jesus
says be careful not to practice your righteousness
in front of others to be seen by them if you
do you will have no reward from your father in
heaven jesus says be careful be aware don't neglect
this this is important what is well it's not
to practice your righteousness to be seen by
others so jesus is actually anti -virtue signaling
You know, virtue signalling, that idea of, yeah,
I'm trying to signal to the world how virtuous
I am. Jesus is saying, no, don't be like that.
We're not on about showing off our righteousness.
Being righteous, that matters. Looking righteous
does not. When appearances are your focus, when
you care so much about what other people think,
That's often when your heart is not in a good
place. The other day, Steve gave me a lift in
his MG. I don't know if he's picked a name for
it, like Kermit or something would be a good
one. It's a great little car. We had a lot of
fun, went out for coffee, and Steve had been
fiddling with the engine. It was really great.
It ran really beautifully, ran really well. We
felt the wind blow through our scalps. And it
was awesome. We had a great time. But imagine
if Steve was the sort of guy who ignored the
engine and just went, I'm going to only focus
on the outside of the car. I'm going to wash
it, polish it, buff it, wax it, cuddle it, whatever
he needs to do to make it look really pretty
on the outside. But if he did that and ignored
the engine, what would happen? The car would
clonk out, wouldn't it? The engine matters far
more than mere appearances. And it's the same
with us as people, isn't it? It's easy to forget
that. Because play acting seems so small. It's
not a big deal if I'm just keeping up appearances.
But actually, Jesus is saying it's deadly serious.
Why? Because when we engage in this sort of hypocrisy
that Jesus is talking about, we're being deceptive.
We're masquerading as virtuous and just papering
over the sin that's actually in our hearts. We're
being idolatrous. We're saying, my public honour,
my status. matters more than enjoying and knowing
God. It's actually corrupting of us. If our motive
is human praise, well, we're actually prostituting
acts of giving and worship for our own personal
gain. And as Jesus says in this passage, if we're
here performing for others, you'll have no reward
from your Heavenly Father. Can you see why hypocrisy
is something that we need to be alert to? So
I want to ask you, when was the last time you
stopped and checked your engine? You know, lift
the hood, have a look in your heart, see what's
going on. Where do you think your heart's at
right now? Have you been trying to play the part?
when your heart is not in a good place? If so,
can I suggest grab your phone now, not to play
Candy Crush, but open your calendar, pick a time
this week, put in time to do heart work, connect
with God, something like that, and spend some
solid time this week going under the hood and
working things out. Because it's so important.
Hypocrisy is dangerous. We need to guard against
it. But Jesus wants to show us some key ways
on how we do that, especially when it comes to
giving. And that's the second thing we're going
to see. Jesus says, give up public recognition.
Give up public recognition. Have a look with
me at verse 2. So when you give to the needy,
do not announce it with trumpets as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and on the streets to be
honoured by others. Truly, I tell you, they have
received their reward in full. So take yourself
back to the ancient world. This is a world with
no centre link. And so giving to the needy was
very important. And the hypocrites say they're
doing a good thing. Giving to the needy is a
good thing to do. But they warp this good act
by announcing it with trumpets. It's all about
gaining human approval and honour with their
giving. But doing that means they're exchanging
heavenly rewards for human ones. They get what
they wanted. What did they want? They wanted
public recognition. but they get no spiritual
gain from their giving. And sadly, this hunger
for human recognition is alive and well today.
I don't know if you remember Wave Aid. going
way back to the Boxing Day tsunamis. You remember
Wave Aid? They had like a big telethon at the
SCG to raise money for all the stuff with the
Boxing Day tsunamis. And many businesses and
rich individuals gave big bucks to help. A good
thing to do. But do you know what happened? Those
that did got their name broadcast on the scoreboard
at the SCG. It got put out on the media. It was
broadcast everywhere. Now, it's hard not to think
that their giving wasn't just about getting some
good PR and some good advertising. I don't want
to be judgmental, but maybe there was a good
side to it too. But it's hard not to think that
when you're doing it that way, there's not a
PR element. If they were genuinely generous,
they would have given without the recognition,
wouldn't they? Yet Christians aren't immune.
I remember years ago when I worked in Perth,
there was a church down the road from us and
a factory next door to it caught on fire. So
this church did something really good. They went
out and they gave water bottles and helped out.
The fireman helped out with people coming out
of the factory. And then it got twisted. They
took a bunch of photos and posted it all over
Facebook. Look how good we are, we're giving
water bottles in this fire. Or I think of another
church I worked at in WA where up the front of
the church there was a bunch of Bibles and if
you opened the front cover you'd find there was
a stamp on each one. This Bible had been given
to the church by such and such a family. A great
thing to give the church Bibles. But why did
they need the recognition? Why do some churches
have plaques everywhere giving people the recognition
for all the things they've done? But it's easy
to point the finger, isn't it? What about us?
How do we announce our giving with trumpets?
Maybe it's the humble brag. I struggle with that
one. Oh, how are you going, Brendan? Well, you
know, I'm so busy this week. I've been giving
so much time and serving at the church. Maybe
it's carrying around a tote bag for our favourite
charity or a bumper sticker. Hey, look at me,
I'm giving to this thing. How good am I? I'm
sure you know in your heart what it is for you.
But today I want to encourage you, Just stop.
Stop caring about what other people think. Care
about what you really are. Care about what God
thinks. That's far more important, isn't it?
That needs to be our focus. But that's not all
we need to do to guard against hypocrisy. Here's
the third thing Jesus tells us to do. He says,
give to others in secret. Come with me to verses
three and four. But when you give to the needy,
do not let your left hand know what your right
hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret.
Then your father who sees what is done in secret
will reward you. Now you've got to ask, what's
the reward that God gives here? What's the reward
that God gives to those who give to the needy?
And I reckon with any sort of righteousness,
it goes back to the Beatitudes, doesn't it? Remember
at the start of the Sermon on the Mount? And
when you sort of look at the Beatitudes and what
they're all about, it's about getting God. That's
the reward you get. You get God himself. You
get to become more and more like God. That's
what we've seen in the Sermon on the Mount. Be
perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. It's
that you get to spend an eternity with God, where
you enjoy and live with Him forever. That's the
reward of faith. If you believe this reward is
better than status and recognition, then you
will give in secret, won't you? You won't let
your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
Now, what's that about? That means just complete
secrecy. Think James Bond. Think secrecy of a
covert spy. That's what Jesus is saying. That's
the sort of secrecy you need to have. And when
we give that way, we do it because our giving
has no ulterior motive. See, when we don't let
our left hand know what our right hand is doing,
it guards against... Hypocrisy. Because it means
that Christians have an audience of one. They
only let God see what's going on. I don't know
if you're a big fan of The Simpsons. I love watching
old Simpsons episodes. And there's this Simpsons
episode years ago where Homer is at church and
he's actually become one of the ushers at the
church. And they do the collection with those
long stick and the giving baskets where they
sort of and he's you know putting the basket
in front of people and people are putting big
wads of cash in and then he comes to mr burns
the stingy billionaire and he puts in like one
little coin you know well homer then goes gives
him a little nudge and he puts in a bit more
and another nudge and puts in a bit more and
it's it makes sense isn't it that We want to
have giving out in the open because, hey, then
we can kind of pressure people into giving more
and, you know, the old collection plate, maybe
that's the Australian way of doing it. I don't
know. But here Jesus is saying, no, it's so important
that whatever giving we're doing, it be done
in secret. Because as soon as it's out in the
open like that, we're all looking around at what
everyone's thinking of us, isn't it? It's no
longer genuine. It's no longer a response to
God's generosity to us. That's the heart of giving.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, yet for your sake he
became poor, so that you by his poverty might
become rich. 2 Corinthians 8, 9. Our giving should
be in response to God and his giving to us. And
so when we give in secret, We're not compromising
that in any way. It's true worship then, isn't
it? And that's why I'm so glad here at Northern
Hope people give electronically. I mean, unless
you take a screenshot and flash it up on the
internet, no one's going to know what you're
doing, isn't it? Please don't go and do that,
by the way. Or there's envelopes up the back.
That's a great way to do it. But it's crucial
that we're secretive as we give. And not just
a church, whether we're giving to a friend in
need, whether we're giving to the homeless, whether
we're giving to a charity, we mustn't use giving
as a tool to elevate our standing. Because it's
a tool for something far better. It's a tool
for us to grow in our love for God and our love
for others in response to how he first loved
us. All right, well, let's draw some threads
together. We started by asking today, who are
you really? And I reckon there's three types
of people here today. See, there we go. Three
types of people here today. There's the authentically
unrighteous. So you're not wearing a mask, but
you don't care about all this stuff. You're going,
hey, I'm here. I'm not wearing a mask. I'm not
pretending. I just want to live my life for me.
Well, if that's you, I want to say to you, thanks
for coming. We're really glad you're here. But
you need to think about Jesus' death and resurrection
because he shows that there really is a reward.
He died on the cross for our sins. He rose again
as Lord of all, showing that there is life after
death. The reward from God is real. And if you've
got this attitude of, hey, I don't care about
this stuff, I want to ask, how about you and
I catch up for coffee? Let's have a catch up.
I don't know if Steve can give you a lift in
Kermit, but let's have a catch up for coffee.
Secondly, there'll be people here pretending
to be righteous. You know, you're the person
who... is wearing the mask and i want to say
to you you too need to remember jesus death and
resurrection because the hypocrites who put jesus
to death they did get their reward they got some
approval from the crowds but in the end they
lose don't they and all who persist in hypocrisy
and won't repent of it will lose If that's you,
I want to suggest to you this is the week to
do some heart work on it. If you need to talk
to someone, come talk to me. Talk to someone
here at church, but do some heart work on yourself.
And then finally, there's many of us here who
are authentically righteous. We trust in what
Jesus has done. We repent of our hypocrisy when
we see it pop up. We're not perfect. But we're
seeking to follow Jesus in this. It's kind of
like what Jesus says in the start of the Sermon
on the Mount. Do you remember what he says? Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Here's the foundation for the whole
Sermon on the Mount. To be right with God, to
be rewarded by God, you have to be real about
your spiritual bankruptcy. To depend on him for
grace. When you fail in a whole range of ways
and when you fail with hypocrisy as well. You
need to be someone who believes that Jesus died
for you, that Jesus is a sin magnet and a hypocrisy
magnet, taking all our sin and hypocrisy on himself
at the cross so that there will be none on us.
And when you depend on Jesus' death like that,
it changes everything. It changes your identity.
You start going, I'm justified by Jesus. What's
justified me? Just as if I were Jesus, that's
how God sees me. Just as if I'd never sinned,
that's how God sees me. And when you see that
that's how God sees you, you stop caring about
what people think. I don't need to justify myself
in front of other people because I'm justified
before God. And it changes our hearts. It moves
us to stop pretending. We go, I want to be someone
who's real. I want to be someone who's authentic.
I want to be someone who's generous, just as
God was generous to me. And it moves us to change
our outlook. The cross exposes how hollow earthly
rewards are. And we go, you know, I'm chasing
something better. See, when the cross grips your
heart, it changes you so that you're different,
actually different when no one's watching. So
if you're here today and you trust Jesus, I hope
you walk away today, I'm praying you walk away
today with renewed zeal to do the things we talked
about, to guard against hypocrisy. To give up
public recognition. To give to others in secret.
And to do these things because you believe what
Jesus says. This idea that who you are in secret
is who you really are. If we believe Jesus, we're
going to protect and cultivate the real us. But
sadly, churches can often become the exact opposite,
can't they? Churches often become breeding grounds
for hypocrisy. Everyone wearing their mask, probably
not Darth Vader, but wearing their mask to impress
each other. And I want to say let's not be like
that here at Northern Hope. Let's throw the masks
away. Let's be raw and honest with each other
and let's value what's inside. More than just
looking the part. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we want to thank you so much for Jesus. Thank
you for all that he's done for us. Thank you
that we are forgiven of our sins and our hypocrisy
by his death on the cross. Please help us to
trust him. Help us to follow him. Help us to
throw away our masks and to be raw and real with
one another. Help us to grow in generosity. And
may we do these things, may we do our giving
in secret so that our motives will be pure. And
we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.