Who Are You Trying to Impress

Who Are You Trying to Impress? Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18

Who are you trying to impress? I want to raise this question with= you today because in the passage before us, it seems to me that this is the question Jesus is raising. My question= s to you don’t really matter much, but His do!

Jesus knows us well—as in completely—= ;all there is to know! He knows th= at most of us live our lives trying to impress somebody. So in His Sermon on the Mount, He = invites us to take an honest look deep inside here (heart) and ask ourselves, “Self, who are you trying to impress?”

One morning last week, Suze Orman was a guest on= the Today Show. She’s sort = of a secularized version of Dave Ramsey, if that helps. It’s gotten quite popular in t= hese tough economic times to have guests who talk about our finances and encoura= ge us to do things we all should have been doing before we got into this finan= cial mess.

This advice is a case in point. She said that if your friends are = better off than you are financially, but you cannot resist the urge to try to keep= up with them in terms of the stuff they have—you know, houses, cars, club memberships, big-screen TVS, nice clothes, expensive trips, etc.—THEN= —and this was her advice—get a different set of friends!=

I can hear it now. “Will you be my friend?̵= 2;you seem poor enough! What size TV screen do you have, and where did you go on vacation last year? Nothing impressive about that—you’ll do just fine!” Hey, she gets paid big bucks for t= his stuff!

Everybody is trying to impress someone—most everybody anyway. I suppose t= here are some who have given up trying to impress anyone—some for good rea= son! And then, SOME have stopped d= oing it for the right reasons.

But most of us do our best to impress! This urge begins early. “Look, Mommy. Watch me, Daddy.” And from our parents’ reacti= ons, we assume we must have done something really impressive—and if itR= 17;s grandma that’s watching us—it may seem as though it was more impressive than anything done ever before in the history of the world!=

So it comes as a rude awakening when we get a li= ttle older. Let’s say, a tee= nage boy, for instance—we all know who they are trying to impress, whether= or not they’ll admit it! I suppose the same is true for teenage girls—I’ve just never been= one of those to know for sure.

At any rate, who is it in your life? Your teacher, your boss, your spou= se, your friends, your golf or tennis partners, your congregation? Who is it that you try real hard to impress?

I wonder how many auto accidents happen because somebody behind the wheel is trying to impress someone who isn’t? More often than not, our attempts to impress others don’t turn out so well either--yet we still try!

In the teachings of Jesus before us today, He te= lls us that there is only one Person that you and I should seek to impress: GOD—especially when it comes to worship, God is the Only One that sho= uld matter to us. If this is not the cas= e, if our intention is not to impress God and only God, then we have a problem!<= /o:p>

Lis= ten to how Jesus begins this section of His sermon: "Be careful not to do your 'ac= ts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no = reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6:1)

In the Judaism of Jesus’ day, there were t= hree great “acts of righteousness.”= There was giving, praying, and fasting. These were the big three that demonstrated a person’s allegiance to God, so Jesus addresses each of these in the following verses. Look at how He does this:

1) GIVING (v. 2): "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synago= gues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

2) PRAYING (v. 5): "And when you pray, do n= ot be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues an= d on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have recei= ved their reward in full.”

3) FASTING (v. 16): "When you fast, do not = look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

Giving, praying, fasting—Jesus says that t= hese good acts of piety and worship have been contaminated with bad motives. Acts of righteousness have diminis= hed into acts of self-righteousness. The purpose is no longer to honor and obey God, but to impress one’s fellowman—which leaves God very unimpressed!

Wherever we put our faith into action, whether, = as Jesus observed, we do this in the synagogue or on the street corners, it is essential that we remember who this is for.

When I was a boy, my mother baked so many cakes = and pies to take to others, the sick and the bereaved, that whenever I smelled = those wonderful aromas coming from the oven or saw those delicious treats cooling= on the counter, I would ask her, “Is that for us…or for somebody else?”

When it comes to our worship, our giving, prayin= g, our acts of love and devotion in whatever form they may take, our Heavenly Father wants to know, “Is this really for ME, or is it for someone else? Could it actually be mo= re for you—motivated by a desire to make yourself look better in someone else’s eyes?”

Maybe this is not as big a problem now as it use= d to be, though. There was a time = not so long ago when church was the place where you wanted to be seen. It was good for your standing in t= he community, your business, political campaign or reputation.

Mixed motives were much more troublesome then, don’t you think? That&#= 8217;s not to imply the problem is solved; I just don’t believe it’s p= resent to the same degree as it was years ago.

In Jesus’ day, there were people who had transformed religious acts into an art form—as in the “dramatic arts.” This becomes cle= arer when we consider the New Testament Greek.

The phrase that Jesus uses, “to be seen by= men,” is the Greek word “theathenai.” It’s the word from which we g= et our word “theatrical.” It’s fine to enjoy the theatre, but nothing that we do for the Lord should ever qualify as a theatrical performance! We don’t do the Lord’s work “to be seen by men.”

We can take this one step further. The word “hypocrite,” = which Jesus uses in all three sections that we’re considering today, comes = from the name given to the Greek actors who would fill several different roles in the same play.

They did this by wearing masks. Those watching the play didn’= ;t see the actor’s face, but only his mask.= So…what people saw was not who the actor really was—thus= the term “hypocrite.”

Jesus strongly condemned what He was seeing among the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law.= He witnessed too much “theatrics,” too much “hypoc= risy.”

A. His first example is GIVING. The devout in that day were to give their tithes at the synagogue and then give their alms to the poor who were= out on the streets.

Now, both forms of giving were done where others could see what was taking place. Jesus even called attention to this on one occasion by pointing out = the generosity of a poor widow—remember the widow’s mite?

But some had resorted to theatrics that were abo= ut as obvious as “blaring trumpets.” When they made their gifts, they wa= nted “to be seen,” so they “tooted their own horns.” They got what they wanted, Jesus s= aid. They impressed those whom they wer= e so concerned about impressing.

B. It was the same way with PRAYER. The good people were to pray three= times a day, preferably at their synagogue…or the Tem= ple, if they were in Jerusalem.

But if they couldn’t get to church to pray, they were to turn facing in the direction of the Temple--and then pray. Again, some did their praying with= grand theatrics. Look at me! Notice= how holy I am. They made sure the= y were seen!

C. FASTING had also been corrupted this way. I realize that as Baptists we don’t know much about fasting. One fellow told me he well understood what fasting was. Whenever he was hungry, he got foo= d as fast as possible.

Fasting is supposed to help us discipline our li= ves, to exercise control over basic hungers in order to focus more on our devoti= on to God.

We’re in the season of the church year cal= led Lent. Many Christians refrain= from eating meats or desserts or whatever during Lent. Whenever the urge strikes to eat something they’ve given up, that hunger is a reminder to pray instead= .

The Jewish community of which Jesus was a part w= as supposed to fast one day a year, on the Day of Atonement. The super-pious crowd had decided = that was not enough, though, and they had begun fasting twice a week.=

Then, to make sure that everyone understood how religious they were, they would intentionally look like they were suffering from this food deprivation. I= guess stomach growls were not enough!

Well, I got to thinking about this. I’ve only known a few people= who practice fasting—and I only know about them because they told me they were fasting! How else could I know.

I think I understand now why I didn’t feel entirely comfortable with them sharing this little spiritual secret with me. At the time, I thought I = was just feeling guilty because I wasn’t fasting too. But maybe it was because I also se= nsed that THEIR fasting was really none of MY business.

Done right, only they and the Lord would know ab= out it—right?!? That’s what Jesus said. And the same is true for the perso= n who brags that HE only gives in SECRET, or that He had a special PRAYER CLOSET built in his new house! Why n= ot just reach above their heads and adjust their halos!

Jes= us said, ‘Be careful. Don’= t do your 'acts of righteousness' before men.&n= bsp; If you do religious stuff to be seen by them--well then, they’= ve seen you—and that’s the only reward you’ll ever get!̵= 7;

I don’t know if I’ll ever reach a place in my life where I have absolutely no desire to impress anyone but God, but I know I will be a bett= er person and a more truly devout follower of Christ the closer I come to that goal. And the same is true fo= r you.

I l= ike this story—any Father would—but I think it really applies here. In 2002, American tennis player Se= rena Williams won her first Wimbledon Championship. She was clearly not the favorite pl= ayer, though, for many of the British fans; so after her impressive victory, a reporter asked her if this had bothered her.

She= said, “No.” She went on= to say that she knew that some people had rooted against her her whole life. But she still wanted to win for he= rself.

The= n she added, “Besides, my Dad was sitting in those stands. I knew he was rooting for me, and I wanted to please him.”

May= be the reason we try so hard to impress others, friends, is we have never truly ta= ken to heart the Gospel message that: >we have a Father God who is “ro= oting” for us,

>= ;loving us with an unconditional love,

>= ;forgiving us when we fail,

>= ;picking us up when we fall,

>= ;literally dying for us to love Him in return,

>= ;to know in our heart of hearts that we are HIS CHILD,

>= ;and that He’s proud to call us His own!

Lis= ten: until this Good News takes hold of our hearts, we will knock ourselves out trying= to impress others. We will spare= no expense, we will take unnecessary risks, we will do things that are silly a= nd dumb and embarrassing--all in a desperate effort to impress someone who in = all likelihood WON’T BE!

Onc= e we finally get it, though, that we are the deeply loved and completely accepted childr= en of our Heavenly Father, we won’t be so desperate to impress others any longer. Our heart’s des= ire will be to impress Him, and Him alone.

Liv= e like that—to impress the Father, to bring glory to Him— live like that, love like that, se= rve like that, be as faithful and genuine and consistent as that—and I promise you, without even try= ing, you will live a most impressive life!

Matthew 6 Giving to the Needy

&nb= sp;¹"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by th= em. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. <= /span>

²&qu= ot;So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocr= ites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you t= he truth, they have received their reward in full. ³But when you gi= ve to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,= ⁴so that your giving may= be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.=

Pra= yer

&nb= sp;⁵"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standin= g in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pr= ay, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. T= hen your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷= And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they wil= l be heard because of their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Fas= ting

&nb= sp;¹⁶"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head = and wash your face, ¹⁸so that it will not be obvious to men that you= are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees = what is done in secret, will reward you.