Beware! Religious Performance Now Showing, Part 2

Today on Insight for Living, a lesson on integrity from Chuck Swindoll. There is no such thing as a hidden sin.

There is no such thing as an unspoken motive. He sees and hears it all. So you can't fake it. You can't act like you're a little more holy, which is an impossibility. Then someone else, the father who sees in secret, would love in secret to reward you.

And he does. Generous acts of charity go hand in hand with the Christian faith. From inception, providing for the poor has been a central theme in our mission. And yet Jesus made it clear that those who lend a helping hand should never do so with fanfare. Helping the marginalized, Jesus taught us, was not an occasion to show off. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll is teaching from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus warned his followers about practicing their righteousness in order to be seen.

Chuck titled today's message, Where? Religious performance now showing. Let us for the next few moments transform this large worship room into a private place where you bring your needs to the Lord, lay your burden there, lay it out, refuse to take it back. In a few moments, I will close the time in prayer.

May we bow together. Today our Father, we have sung to you our words of praise. We have heard from you in the words from your book.

Now we speak to you. It is with deepest gratitude that we thank you for helping us through the week. Some have traveled many miles. Thank you for protection on the journey. Some have sat beside those who were dying, showing compassion and care for them. Thank you for the strength you gave to do that.

Some have ministered to those families who have been left following the death. Thank you for their words of hope and renewal and refreshment. Our Father, we need you throughout our day and into and through the night when darkness falls and often weeping accompanies the darkness, fears, uncertainty about what lies ahead, but joy comes with the rising of the sun in the morning.

Perhaps for this reason, David would write, evening, morning, and noon. Well, I pray and cry aloud and you will hear my voice. All the prayers that have been sent up from this room you have heard and you know what is best. Help us, we pray, our Father, to have ears to hear now that we will be sitting and listening. May our minds not wander. May we be able to focus as if we were among the group who sat there along that slope where Jesus taught and heard words they had never heard before.

Give us that kind of interest and attention. And as a result, may our giving and our praying change as it falls in line with what he has taught. And finally, Lord, we uphold those who fight for existence, who look at a place that was once home and they see nothing but a pile of stones, who walk streets that are now split apart, who face the barrenness of a future where their lives have been shattered. Feed the hungry.

Give drink and relief to those who are starving. And remind us again, our Father, that we hang the very heavy weight of our security on the thin wire of our trust in you. Keep it strong, we pray. We give now for your greater glory. In the matchless name of Jesus, our Savior, everyone said, Amen. Now the message from Chuck titled, Beware, Religious Performance Now Showing. Telling the truth, speaking it, declaring it. And there's something intimidating about being around a man of God who declares the truth of God without any apology, especially if he is, as the original prophets, the very mouthpiece of God.

They wouldn't lie. As God's mouthpiece, the people heard what they often didn't expect and didn't want to hear. Take Micah's message, for example, in Micah chapter 6. He has told you what is good. What does the Lord require of you? If you haven't ever marked this verse, here are words to mark. To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly. As we say today, it doesn't get better than that. Oh, it can be more complicated.

It can certainly be more expensive in earthly goods. But when it comes to character deep within, it doesn't get any better than doing what is right, showing kindness, compassion, and care for others, and especially walking in and modeling humility. When we turn to Matthew chapter 6, we arrive at the greatest of all priests, prophets, and one who would be king, Jesus himself. Interesting, he begins the sermon at chapter 5 by sitting down among those who were sitting around him. Folks often don't think of the Sermon on the Mount delivered while the speaker is sitting, but in those days rabbis sat as they taught.

And it wasn't long before the teaching turned into the fire of a prophet, especially when you get to the center section of the sermon. And he begins with a word of warning. Beware.

Look at it. Beware. Take heed.

Watch out. They don't know what's coming, but he now has their attention. He begins to talk to them about religious performance.

Look at his words. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men, to be noticed by them, otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. If you're a show-off with all your religious piety, you've just at that moment gotten your full reward. Their applause is all you'll ever get from that act. They're being impressed. That's the limit of the reward.

In fact, other versions render this interestingly. Beware of practicing your piety before men, the RSV reads. The New International or the New English Bible says, be careful not to make a show of your religion. J.B. Phillips paraphrased, beware of doing your good deeds conspicuously to catch others' eye.

I especially like Eugene Peterson's The Message. Be especially careful when you're trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. And with that, he moves into the three most public, often public, and the most obvious expressions of devotion.

Look at it for yourself. Verse 2, so when you give, he covers that down through verse 4. Verse 5, when you pray, he covers that down through verse 15. And when you fast, covered in verses 16 through 18. Learn when you read your Bible to observe the structure of the verses. Jesus' words are very logical, begins with giving, and I've marked that in a bright color in my Bible so I won't overlook it. I've marked when you pray in verse 5 and I've marked when you fast in verse 16.

Interestingly, following each of those settings, he adds, do not do something. Verse 2, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet. Do you know that Pharisees would carry with them or bring with them trumpeters who was there on their way with their gifts to the offering box would have the trumpeter blast the sound like ringing a bell. When you give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets so that they may be seen.

They may be honored by others. Don't do that. Don't do that. In fact, there are several do nots.

Do not do that. Verse 2, do not let your left hand know what the right hand is doing. Verse 3, do not pray using meaningless verbiage.

Verse 7, verse 8, do not be like the Pharisees. Stop following those who are show-offs. Stop being enamored of those who love to display their piety. Don't follow leaders like that. You're not walking humbly with their God.

I don't care how famous they may be. Be discerning. Men and women, learn from Jesus. In fact, he says in verse 16, when you fast, don't walk around in tattered, dirty clothes, making people, oh, my, how much he's been giving up.

Please. We'll know by your life if you're sacrificial. We're not looking at your clothing.

Jesus certainly didn't. We're looking at the heart. So, now, let's go to this matter of giving and let's analyze it a little bit more carefully because I don't want you to get the wrong impression. He's not against giving.

Please. God's work is supported by God's people, not by unbelievers, nor should it be. But we who are God's people participate in the financial support of his work. We who have hearts for the poor give to the poor. We who hear of some disaster find our hearts unable to remain restful. We're uneasy until we help with that need. It's just part of being a believer in Christ. None of it is to be done to get our name etched in bronze or our picture on some wall or an announcement made that so-and-so gave so much.

That's all a part of what this is about. Don't sound a trumpet. And I say this to all of you, whatever may be your status financially, and I give thanks for every one of you who gives with the right motive. But I warn all of us about that motive.

Why? Look closely at the repeated statement. Verse 4, your father who sees what is done in secret. The original simply says, your father who sees in secret.

And that's not the only time. Verse 6, your father who sees in secret. Verse 18 closes, your father who sees what is done in secret. When you see something repeated like that, listen. Look.

Believe it. In the margin of your Bible, you could write Hebrews 4, 13, which says, among other things, all things are naked and laid bare before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. You live your life naked before God. There is no such thing as a hidden sin.

There is no such thing as an unspoken motive. He sees and hears it all. So you can't fake it. You can't act like you're a little more holy, which is an impossibility, than someone else.

You're either holy or you're not. And giving publicly, that's all the reward. The father who sees in secret would love in secret to reward you.

And he does. Those of you who give and often give sacrificially, and I tell you, I haven't the words to describe my gratitude for you. It's not important. My gratitude is the father's delight in you. You have rewards that you can't even put into words. You have a great sense that a need has been met, and you were able to participate in that. You have the joy of realizing that your occupation provided you with a sufficient amount that you could give to this, and you hear the results and you just are so grateful. That's a reward, not to mention rewards awaiting you. Your father who sees in secret is ready to take note of that. In fact, look at verse 3. It's so secret your left hand doesn't even know the right hand is about to do that.

Sort of a rundown. When you give, don't display it. When you give, don't keep remembering it. When you can, do it anonymously. And always do it with purity of motive.

That's what verses 2, 3, and 4 are teaching. Your giving which is done in secret will be seen in secret. I love the way one man writes this. The only reward any gracious giver wants is seeing the need met. The situation relieved, the naked clothed, the sick healed, the disabled encouraged, the building built and furnished, the broken mended, the lost saved, the forgotten found, the wayward and disobedient restored to wholeness and dignity. Such acts of generous love and action bring with them their very own private rewards.

It doesn't get better than that. So it is forgiving. Now we're ready for the second one which is even more convicting, beginning at verse 5 when you pray.

Look at what it says. You are not to be like the hypocrites. John Stott writes this about the hypocrites. In classical Greek, the Hippocrates was first an orator and then an actor. So figuratively the word came to be applied to anybody who treats the world as a stage on which he plays a part. He lays aside his true identity and assumes a false one. He's no longer himself but in disguise impersonating somebody else. He wears a mask and Stott clarifies it. Now in a theater there's no harm or deceit in actors playing their parts.

It is an accepted convention. The audience knows that they have come to a drama. They are not taken in by it. The trouble with the religious hypocrite on the other hand is that he deliberately sets out to deceive people. And there's a lot of that that goes on.

I want to speak to my fellow minister friends who are hearing me right now. Some in this audience and some in an audience later on. We have to guard against this kind of hypocrisy stuff.

Deliberately. We have people trusting us to be who we are. Not playing a part behind a mask.

Acting like something we're really not. Jesus rebukes such hypocrisy. In fact he says, look at it, verse 5, they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen. Wow. Look at that. Holy person. Really? That's holy?

Can I share with you some places that you ought not be praying? The end zone of a football field. Please.

If you're an athlete and you're gifted enough to run that ball without getting killed all the way over the line, just drop the ball or give it to the referee. No. Please.

Please. If you're in the pro ranks they're paying you a lot of money for every yard you run. We're not impressed with the piety. Furthermore, you ruin your testimony when you show it off.

How am I supposed to respond? Exactly like Tom Landry did. The late Tom Landry. No longer to be seen along the sideline with a heart for God but an interest in the game.

If you're going to play the game, play the game. Faithful in church attendance, regular in service. I served on board of corporate members with him in Dallas Seminary. It was an honor to be sitting at the same table with him for lunch.

He's one of the few men that the better you got to know him privately, the greater he was. That is true spirituality. Save your end zone prayers. When you're in a lunchroom surrounded by students, isn't a good time to go, and now may I pray? Dear Father, forgive these people who have started eating without praying. And on and on and on and on we do.

That's what we're thinking. Nobody came to lunch to hear you pray. You want to pray at lunch in a public place? Pray. Just keep it to yourself. Do it in secret. Sometime you don't even have to pray.

It's okay. I mean the Lord is not going, that first bite is going to make you vomit because you didn't pray. Please, we're not serving a God who demands perfection. We worship a God of grace who understands sometimes he's in a flash hurry and you're doing your best to choke it down before that next meeting or whatever may be the reason. And on the street corner in lots of traffic, don't choose that place.

He even mentions it. They love to stand on the street. Why would anyone love to stand on the street corner and pray? To be seen.

Pray only to the Lord and have your best prayers reserved for privacy. It's helpful to overlay Jesus' first century Sermon on the Mount and to visualize its application to life in 2021. And there's much more Chuck Swindoll wants to show us. He titled his message Beware, Religious Performance Now Showing. And this is Insight for Living. To learn more about this ministry or these messages, please visit us online at insightworld.org. We hope our current study about Jesus' renowned Sermon on the Mount has piqued your curiosity to learn more.

If so, we invite you to request Chuck's book on this topic. It's called Simple Faith. In addition to the issues he addressed on today's program, Chuck also explains what it means to keep our walk with God very simple. And he writes about the dangers of putting on a show to impress our friends and family with our spiritual virtue.

After all, Jesus exposed the dangers of hypocrisy and he made it very clear that we can easily replace performance-based religion with the far better joy-based kingdom living. So to purchase a copy of Simple Faith, give us a phone call. If you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888.

Or using your mobile device or computer, go directly to insight.org slash store. Insight for Living Ministries is a nonprofit organization made possible not by the purchase of study tools but through the voluntary gifts of grateful friends. To help us continue providing these daily programs and all the related resources, you can give a donation by calling us. If you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888. When you give a donation, your gift is channeled directly into supplying this daily program so people here at home and around the world will know the power of Simple Faith. And we have ample evidence through thousands of phone calls, emails, and comments that your gifts are truly making a difference. So again, call us if you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888.

Or give online at insight.org. Tomorrow Chuck Swindoll concludes his message about the dangers of religious performance right here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Beware, Religious Performance Now Showing, was copyrighted in 2015 and 2021. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.