“A Christian’s Religion” – Matthew 6:1-6 & 16-18

Do you know who comedian George Lopez is? I’ve heard of him but I don’t know much about him. I saw this article on Fox News online the other day. Tell me what you think about it.

Comedian George Lopez claims he paid for a military service member’s plane ticket so that the man could be present for the birth of his first child. Lopez took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a story of a recent event he says happened at an airport bar. The actor and comedian explained that he was having a drink and taking pictures with fans when he noticed a young man next to him that appeared to be in the military. “I said to him, ‘thank you for your service, where are you headed?” Lopez wrote in a lengthy caption on Instagram. “He said he was taking leave to be at the birth of his first child, but he knew he wouldn’t make it “cause he had to go out of his way to report and he didn’t make enough to get an airline ticket.” The 58-year-old stand-up comedian says he then gave the man some money to buy a plane ticket to replace his bus ticket, which he was certain would not get him to the birth on time.

So, what do you think? Good story, huh? I’m glad he did that. I really am. Now, how do you think God feels about that story? Before I give my answer, let me tell you about another story I heard recently. Rick Perry, former governor of Texas, recently wrote an article for the Dallas Morning News that was titled, “Now that Ross Perot is gone, I can tell this story.” In it, Perry tells about meeting U.S. Army Cpl. Alan Babin Jr. who had been shot in combat the year before but was needing more medical treatment but couldn’t get to where he needed and couldn’t afford the treatment when he got there. So, long story short, Perry called Ross Perot and, without anybody else knowing about it, Ross Perot quietly flew the injured man to the hospital he needed to go to and then paid the hospital bill in full along with providing hotel lodging for his family and even bought him a handicapped-accessible van when he needed that later. Perot also insisted that nobody know it was him that did the good deed. That’s why Rick Perry waited until his death to tell it.

That’s a good story too, isn’t it? Which is better? Which one do you think God blessed more? Why? Do you think God blessed Perot more or Lopez more? Did God bless Perot more because he spent more? I bet Perot was richer than Lopez, so does that count?

Look, I don’t know the state of either man’s spiritual life. I don’t know if either or both are true Christians or not. But our scripture text for today tells us that one was blessed by men and one was blessed by God. Who would you rather have doing the blessing in your life? Do you want to be recognized and get glory and be blessed by the people of this world or by the Creator of this world?

That’s an easy question to answer sitting here in church but just wait until tomorrow when you have the opportunity to do something good for somebody. Are you going to take a selfie with that person you are helping and then put that on Instagram or whatever, with the story of how you helped them? It’s still good for you to help people. Just don’t expect to impress God with it. That’s all. Because the praise and glory of Instagram is all you are going to get.

Let’s read what Jesus said about it in Matthew chapter 6 where He actually says, “Thou shalt not put your good deeds on Instagram.” Do you believe me? That’s a mixture of the King James Version and the RNIV (Really New International Version). Ok, maybe not but if Jesus were here in bodily form today, I bet He would say something like that.

We have been studying the Sermon on the Mount for some time now and we have seen how a Christian is supposed to act and how we are supposed to influence the world and we saw Jesus said a lot about how to be righteous or be right with God. He said a lot of things that are counter-cultural about murder, adultery and divorce. Some of it has been hard to hear but if you truly want to be right with God, you will live this way.

Up until this point in His sermon, Jesus has focused on the teaching of the Law and what men believe or should believe. Now, we are going to see a shift and Jesus starts to teach on the practice of the Law or what men do or should do. The first section dealt with our inner, moral righteousness. The next part deals with our outward, formal righteousness.

Jesus starts by talking about giving which has to do with others. Then He talks about praying which has to do with God and then He talks about fasting which has to do with us. As we read this passage, I want you to notice that Jesus expects us to do all three. He says about all three subjects, “When you do this…etc” When you give, when you pray and when you fast. It’s not “if”, it’s “when.”

So, let’s read Matthew 6:1-6 and then skip over and read verses 16-18. We are planning to hit the Lord’s Prayer next week. Jesus continues in His Sermon on the Mount by saying, “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. 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 honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give 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. 5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Now, skip over to verses 16-18. "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, 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 others 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.”

Let me read that first sentence again one more time. “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.” Now, if you have been here and were listening (what are the odds?) this ought to make your ears perk up because this flat-out contradicts what Jesus just said in the previous chapter in verse 16 that we read a couple of weeks ago. There he said, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

So, which is it? Don’t practice your righteousness in front of others or let your light shine before men? The answer is both, according to your motives. The inner heart, the motivation, the reason you are doing something is what God looks at. If your desire is for God to truly get the glory, then He will get the glory and you will receive blessings by Him, some way somehow, in this life or the next.  If you kinda want Him to get the glory but, you know, you kinda wanna get some too, well then I hope you get a lot of it by the people that see because you get nothing from God.

It’s the same way with giving, praying and fasting so let’s look at those a little closer according to what Jesus said. Now, depending on what translation of the Bible you are using, in this first paragraph it may say “give to the needy”, “do your charitable deeds” or you gotta love the old King James, “doest thine alms.” Has anybody donest thine alms today? Mine alms hath yet to be donest, I’m afraid. (Gee, Todd, why don’t you use the KJV? If it was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me, right?)

It all means the same thing. It means to give gifts, to tithe, to give money or even time. When Morris comes up here during the week and spends hours working on the audio / visual stuff for our Sunday service, he is “doing his alms.” He is giving of his time and talent for the benefit of others and, by the way, doing it, not to receive glory or money, but to bring God glory.

I bring all this up because in pretty much every religion, giving alms, praying and fasting are part of what gets you to Heaven. Almost every religion says that giving, praying and fasting get you there and are proofs that you are going there. In the Koran, giving, praying and fasting are the chief duties laid out. It is said that prayer will get you halfway to the gates of Heaven. Fasting will bring you to the gates and alms will give you entrance.

As you can imagine, Christianity has a small problem with that. We believe that Jesus gets you halfway. Jesus gets you to the gate and Jesus gets you in. Period. But! Giving, praying and fasting are what Christians do. It’s what Christians are expected to do and if you aren’t doing these things, maybe you need to start with prayer right now, asking God if your relationship with Him is real or imagined. It’s that serious and it is between you and God and only you and God.

I say all the time that I understand that Christ Fellowship is not the church for everybody. Not everybody feels comfortable in a place with no rules. Some people might not like dogs. Some people might be intimidated by my height and rugged good looks. (It could happen!) And some people might not want to be part of a church that is called to minister specifically to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated. I understand that is not for everybody.

But if you are called to be part of this family, is there a better way to minister to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated than to give, pray and fast? Jesus says in verse 2 that when you give to the needy, don’t announce it. For Christ Fellowship, He says, when you give your time, talent and treasure to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated, don’t announce it. When you give your tithes and offerings, nobody else needs to know. When you give your time and effort to the church or the community, that’s nobody else’s business.

I don’t know how many times this has happened. It happened again just a couple of weeks ago. Somebody came to me and handed me an envelope with money in it and told me to use it to minister to somebody in need. They didn’t want to be seen or noticed or mentioned at all. They just did it to help. They “dids’t their alms” for the right reason. And one of my favorite parts of my job is when somebody from the church or in the community comes to me with a need and I am able to say more than, “Be warm and well fed.” I am able to meet that need because of somebody else’s generous gift.

That happened just lately and that is fun! That’s what I’m talking about when people ask how the church is doing and I tell them that we are just having fun. It is fun to give, even when you don’t get any glory for it in this life. I believe that’s why God says in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that He loves a cheerful giver. Most of you know that literally means a hilarious giver; somebody that has fun with it, knowing that their treasure is in Heaven and they just want to help somebody in need.

So, giving should be fun and exciting. But what about prayer and fasting? Huh? There’s no way that’s fun. Let’s talk about that for a minute. What is prayer? It’s just talking to God, isn’t it? How does prayer work? I don’t have a clue. Do you? Isaiah 46:10 says this of God, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure'. Well, if that’s true, why should we pray? If God already knows everything, including what is going to happen in the future and is going to do whatever He wants to do, then why should we pray? What does it matter? What good does it do?

I don’t know how it works. I just know that it does. I know God expects us to do it. Jesus said so in this passage. And I know it works. I know prayer changes things because I have seen it with my own eyes. I just don’t know how. But that doesn’t keep me from doing it. I don’t know how electricity works but I don’t sit in the dark. I pray because it works and because I am blessed when I do it and I am commanded to do it. Philippians 4:6 says, “Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything.” That’s a command and when you are obedient to that command, then God answers the prayer, blesses you and that is fun!

Oh, good grief, I said it again. Prayer is fun? Well, praying is work. We are going to see next week that there is a right way to pray and that it takes work. It is more than just saying, “Sup God? Bless me, okay?” There is more to it than that but when done correctly; when you humbly but expectantly march into the throne room of grace, the office of the Creator of the universe and ask for help in your time of need and you stay there and wrestle with God like Jacob did and you pray back to God His promises like Abraham did and you plead with God but submit to His will like Jesus Himself did, then you get the power and the wisdom He wants you to have to do what He has called you to do, making Himself known in your weakness…WOO! That’s fun!

That’s like a roller coaster. Get in. Hang on. Be still. Be scared. Have fun! So, prayer really is fun when done right and done biblically. And I think most of you would agree with that if you have ever done it.

But now let’s talk about fasting. Uh oh. I know what you’re thinking. “You had me til now, pastor. I’m not really into all that fasting stuff. I’m no super-Christian. I’m no apostle or deacon or elder of the church. Besides, fasting is so Old Testament. I’m under grace, not fasting.” That last sentence is best said quietly with fingertips together and with upturned gaze…maybe blink a few times. I don’t know why.

I hear ya. But let me tell you about the benefits of fasting. Again, I did some exhaustive research this week (a quick Google search) and found out that fasting is all the rage right now with people for all kinds of reasons. According to some website I’ve never heard of before (so it must be true) if done correctly, fasting can help with weight loss, reduce insulin resistance which lowers blood sugar, reduces inflammation, reduces bad LDL cholesterol, increases brain hormones, may extend your life span and even prevent some cancers. So, obviously that’s why Jesus expects us to fast. Right?

No. Those benefits are on top of the spiritual benefits that fasting brings. Fasting can be done in several ways. It doesn’t always mean not eating. You can fast from anything you enjoy as a way of spending quality time with God with no distractions. I know folks that have fasted from just certain foods or their favorite thing to drink or music or TV. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but I personally am fasting from all cauliflower. No, I’m kidding. But you can fast from anything that might be a distraction when you want to spend some deeper time with God. That’s why prayer and fasting go hand in hand.

You know that sin that keeps drawing you back; that thing you do that you don’t want to do or that thing you ought to do that you don’t do? You know what I’m talking about. It bothers you but you can’t break free. Paul said in Romans 7, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” You have gone to God in prayer and asked Him for forgiveness a billion times and you have promised to never do it again and you had good intentions but it wasn’t too long until you found yourself right back there. It’s time to fast.

It’s time to tell God, with your mouth and your actions that nothing is more important than getting His help. Nothing will come between you and Almighty God, not even the food that is required for survival. I don’t know about you but I get easily distracted when I pray. But there is something special about fasting that helps to focus your mind. It’s spiritual. It’s physical. It goes beyond missing a meal.

Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." I heard one pastor say that fasting was feasting on God. I like that. It’s time to go to God in prayer and say, “Here I am and I’m not leaving. I need your help. I need your wisdom. I need you and all of you and so I am giving all of me. I may get distracted but I am doing everything I know not to so that I can hear from you. Show me in your Word what I need. Show me. Tell me. Speak to me, God!”

Now, there is nothing fun about missing a meal. I obviously don’t do it often. But it’s not supposed to be done every day or every week. I think it misses something when you plan it out as a regular part of your calendar. Fasting is meant to be an intimate time between you and God when you need a breakthrough. When you are desperate and needing to hear from Him and needing to be with Him and just giving Him lip-service isn’t cutting it.

I want you to picture this with me. There you are, a sinner mired down; bogged down, desperate and absolutely sick of your own sin but absolutely helpless to overcome it. You’ve tried and tried hard. It works for a while but you find yourself back there over and over and over. The knowledge of the hurt you inflict on Jesus is painful and the consequences are more than you can bear but you can’t stop. So you go to God one more time in prayer and in fasting and you pour out your heart for as long as it takes, forsaking anything that would distract you. And when you finally get up off your knees and you wipe your bloodshot eyes, you find a peace that passes all your understanding.

What’s that worth? Tell me now what great food you were missing. In fact, tell me anything you were missing while you felt the presence of Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer, Redeemer and Deliverer. There is no better feeling than being right with God and I guarantee you that an hour and a half at church on Sunday morning is not going to get you there. It’s a good start but giving, praying and fasting should be part of your life; a part that nobody else knows about and done for the glory of God and Him only.

Now, all this giving, praying and fasting is only truly blessed by God when done by a true follower and disciple of Jesus. There’s nothing wrong with a non-Christian doing it, of course, but the real blessings of God for doing these things only come to those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. That’s what Jesus calls it when you admit you are a sinner and go to God for forgiveness and ask Him to come into your life and change it.

We have come to our time of prayer and invitation and I want to invite you to come to the front if you want to. Maybe you need prayer for wisdom. Maybe you have a physical need or a spiritual issue you need help with. Maybe you need Jesus as King and Lord of your life. Do that right now as the music plays.