When Jesus preached, He didn’t leave any stone unturned. One of biggest issues Jesus addressed (not just in the Sermon on the Mount) relates to our spiritual motives. Why do we do religious things? Why be spiritual? Why pray, or fast or give or serve or worship? Why be a churchgoer, or even a Christian?
We can easily find ourselves going through the motions even of religious activities all the while our hearts being cold, far from God.
Giving Gone Wrong
One example Jesus offers in Matthew 6 relates to giving. Matthew 6:1-4, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven. 2 So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 3 But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (CSB)
Little explanation is needed right? Something really good, like generosity, can easily be corrupted when we’re doing it for social status. If you want to read an eye opening book grab Peter Greer’s book “The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good.” You’ll feel sick to your stomach when he describes how the world’s poor are exploited even by Christian leaders, Christian organizations, and yes even Churches for photo opportunities.
These days everyone wants to take a selfie standing in front of poor people—but our photos are more about our ego, more about our virtue-signaling, our pride/self-righteousness… more about fundraising, power, and greed… more about a lot of things, than it is about truly serving the poor. Take the trumpets and fanfare out of the equation. Leave your selfie stick at home. Schedule a “secret” mission trip without hourly social media status updates. Then let’s see who really cares. Peter Greer, “The Spiritual Danger of Doing Good.” His book suggests ways we can bring integrity back to our works of charity. Check it out.
Praying Gone Wrong
A second example Jesus gives us this kind of cold, hypocritical, dead spirituality relates to prayer: Matthew 6:5-8, “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.” (CSB)
In one of the churches I served, they had this tradition, where at the start of every service the minister, song leader, Elders and Deacons would march down the aisle and sit in the front of the church. The Elders and Deacons all had to sit together in the front row. But the song leader and I got to sit in large wooden chairs, on the stage, facing the congregation. Well, I’ve always had allergies, and it’s not unusual on a Sunday morning for my eyes to tear up, or even turn a little bloodshot. Sometimes my eyes even start burning, and the worst thing you can do is start rubbing them. So instead, I typically blot inside of my eye.
So sometimes I’d be up on the stage, and sure enough, my allergies would kick in. And I’d see someone out there nudging their spouse and pointing at me. They’d be like, “Hey look, the preacher’s getting emotional…” Sometimes I’d call on a family and ask them why they attended my church. And they’d say, “We’d never been at a church where the pastor gets tears in his eyes, or is so sincere when he sings, or prays, or preaches.”
There are many things I love about ministry, yes really! One of the things I’ve enjoyed "less" is the public aspect of ministry. People watch you closely. There is a pressure to want to look and sound “pastoral”, to always be sincere/spiritual/in-the-zone, or to impress people with high-minded thoughts/prayers. Ministry is never more spiritually lethal than when you feel your pining for the church crowd. Our godliness is never more hallow and worthless than when the furthest thing from our hearts is God himself. Are we praying to pray, or perform?
Fasting Gone Wrong
A third example relates to fasting. Jesus says, in Matthew 6:16-18: “Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (CSB)
Presumably, when you fast, you're denying your flesh of something it craves, like food. But when you fast, you’re denying your flesh, you’re making some sacrifice, to instead focus on God. For example when you fast, you might say to yourself through the day, “Man doesn’t live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Fasting strengthens the power of the mind over the flesh. Instead of being governed by this desire or that, you’re giving greater strength to the heart and mind over the body. It isn’t just hunger, but any kind of pain, that can cause us to focus on God. But instead of taking the occasion to focus on God, what do we do? We broadcast our suffering hoping to engender sympathy, attention, or even admiration from others! In Bible College, I remember some guys would ask the whole campus to pray for them while they fasted! What’s the motive there?
I don’t know how relevant these three examples are to you. Are you sitting there evaluating your generosity, your prayer life, or your fasting? In the American church, we give far less, pray far less, and fast far less than other generations of Christians. In fact, the thing that most distinguishes American Christianity isn’t generosity, prayer and fasting… it’s actually consumerism. Not what am I giving, “but what am I getting?” Not who should I pray for, “but whose praying for me?” Not what should I fast or surrender to serve God, but “why isn’t this church catering to my felt needs? My preferences, my wants and desires?” Not, “Our Father in Heaven your kingdom come, your will be done.” But rather, “my kingdom come, my best life now, my happiness now, my way now, my will be done, God do everything on my terms, God endorse me, bless me as I walk on the path I’ve chosen.”
Spiritual Narcissism
Is it possible that our spirituality can mostly evolve, not around God, but me pleasing myself, or you pleasing yourself? Absolutely yes! Spiritual narcissism is poisoning the American church. But spiritual narcissism isn’t anything new.
In 2 Timothy 3:1-5 Paul warns Timothy about spiritual narcissism: “But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, 4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.” (CSB)
If your life is getting harder. If your life lacks any Holy Spirit Power, or evidence of transformation, or true joy… might I suggest to you that your spirituality might be evolving more around your consumer self than the Living God!
Family Pressures
Sometimes our spirituality doesn’t evolve around ourselves so much as family expectations. A lot of men feel like their being held spiritual hostage by their wife. A lot of children feel their being held spiritual hostage by their parents. Paul rather candidly observes what happens in families over in 1 Corinthians 7:33-34 : “the married man is concerned about the things of the world—how he may please his wife—and his interests are divided. . . But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.” (CSB) Couldn’t we imagine Paul just as easily writing, “the child is concerned about how to please his or her parents…”
I see this dynamic with young couples. Some young person wants to win the heart of a prospective boyfriend or girlfriend. So as a couple is dating, the boyfriend feigns spiritual interest. He goes to church. He attends a group or class. He may even get baptized. But it's all for impressions. Once the guy “wins the prize”, he totally disengages spiritually. It was never about God, it was only about getting the girl! And then the couple marries and what happens? One spouse wants to grow spiritually and the other totally quenches their fire!
When Lara and I started dating, I wanted to sit by her in chapel like other couples. For the longest time she was like, “No way. Sit by yourself. How can you focus on God when you’re sitting next to me? How can other people focus on God when you’re sitting there twirling my hair?” Bless her heart, she wanted to make sure I was sincerely in love with God.
I’ll you this much, when you come before God, it better not be to please yourself. It better not be to please a parent, or your spouse, or boyfriend or girlfriend. If you’re a pastor it better not be to impress people with your spirituality. Because if it's not truly about pleasing God it has no value. It has no affect. It has no power It has no reward.
The Acid Test of Spirituality
Here is the acid test of spirituality… is this thing really just about you pleasing God? God doesn’t want a bunch of hypocritical play actors, or performers. He wants our hearts. He wants a spirituality of the closet. Not coming out of a closet, to announce our defiance against God, and flaunt our spirituality, and seek the applause of the world. But our going into a closet, to quietly, secretly, commit our heart before the Lord. What happens in the closet is the only optic that matters.
Right smack dab in the middle of these three examples of our religion can become a charade, and our motives can get all out of whack… Jesus teaches his disciples how to cultivate a truly sincere heart before God.
In Matthew 6:8 Jesus says, “You should pray like this…” But we shouldn’t think of what Jesus says so narrowly as him only telling us how to pray. Jesus is telling us how to truly, sincerely offer our hearts to God. Whatever the spiritual thing we’re doing, especially prayer, but not just prayer, what is our focus? What is our motive?
"“Therefore, you should pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
your name be honored as holy.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."
- Is it one of worship? “Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.”
- Is it one of surrender? “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
- Is it one of trust? “Give us today our daily bread.”
- Is it one of grace? “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
- Is it one of obedience? “And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
Now take a moment and contrast the Matthew 6 Lords Prayer kind of spirituality with the 2 Timothy 3 form of spirituality. Do you notice the stark contrast between a God-centered spirituality and a kind of self-centered spirituality? 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, 4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.” (CSB)
If our spirituality is void of God-focused worship, God-centered surrender, God-dependent trust, Christ-like mutually reciprocal forgiveness, or Spirit-led obedience… then our hearts are not where they should be! By sharing this prayer, Christ is giving us an invitation to come back to the heart of worship. You can’t pray this prayer insincerely. Everything about this prayer sifts our hearts and motives. Is all of this really, and simply, and even secretly about pleasing God?
Spend time committing the Lord’s Prayer to your Heart this week, phrase by phrase, word by word… And it can begin right now. As our worship team lead us in song, truly let these lyrics you’re about to sing be your prayer…