Remember Whose You Are

Transcripts are computer-generated and may not be 100% accurate.

Debbie: Well, welcome everyone. It's good to be back and I say be back because I have had some good time with God this week because a week ago I got a double ear infection and my ear ruptured and I can't hear anything. So I am just like in all this quiet space that I'm not used to. And if I talk a little loud to you, just remind me as my husband keeps doing, you're yelling right now, but I'm back. Feeling better, just can't hear.

You know there's a season in our Table history for about six and a half years where my co-lead pastor was Matt Moberg. And as I was thinking about this, I was thinking about how funny it is that there's probably some people in this room who don't even know who that is. But Matt is a funny, talented, gifted speaker. And for the last couple years of his ministry here at the table, he would start every sermon the same way. I never ever got up and started that way because it was sort of Matt's thing. I loved it. I believe in it. But here's what he'd say, “If you walk away with nothing else this morning”—well, he'd say evening because it was evening—"know this: Who you are is more important than what you do, even if what you do gets more attention than who you are.” It fits beautifully with our text today. And that's why I repeat that this morning.

Our text this morning introduces us to a whole new section of the Sermon on the Mount. We continue in that series in which Jesus offers instruction and interpretation of three foundational aspects of Jewish piety or righteousness. Piety meaning loving, devotion, reverence, obedience to God.

The three practices that he talks about are almsgiving, praying, and fasting. Now Jesus would have been talking to a crew of people that would have understood all these things and would have been doing all these things as part of the practices of their life of faith. But what Jesus is doing here is raising the bar on what that is and cementing sort of that this will be the foundation of who this group of followers are in this new community.

And the issue about those practices isn't the practices themselves. It's about the how and the why of the practices. And I think it's going to be a bit of an interesting thing for us to hear in a culture that is pretty obsessed with visibility because what Jesus is talking about in this text is about doing these practices in secret, in a hidden way. And I think that practicing the ways of Jesus, which is a commitment we all make here at the table, it's not about performance. It's about presence. It is about an authentic relationship with God. It's about our outer life matching our inner life. So here we go, we're in Matthew chapter six this morning.

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound the trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may be praised by others. Truly, I tell you, they've received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing and that your alms may be done in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they've received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into a room and shut the door and pray to your Father who's in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And whenever you fast, do not look somber like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they're fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face so that your fasting may seem not by others, but by your Father who is in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

I think the first line is kind of an attention grabber. Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them. Jesus continues to talk about people who do things so that they'll be praised, who do things so that they'll be seen, to do things as to show each other what they're doing. And while we might not intentionally be thinking that way, it certainly is a part of our culture. It certainly is something that I think we're all familiar with in one way or another.

I was thinking about how hard it is. Those messages that are constantly bombarding us, and you think about it, it comes from the top, our top leadership that is constantly talking and posting about how great they are and all the great things they're doing and how, I mean, it is at us all the time on every level of our culture and in our community. We are surrounded. But each of these three practices of piety, they're all introduced with the phrase, "Pray," or, I'm sorry, "Give, pray fast," and they're followed by a negative example, which then is followed by Jesus giving instructions on how he'd like to see it done.

And what he's doing in this text is he's contrasting the practices of the Pharisees with what he hopes would be the practices of his followers, of his disciples. And I think what's important is he continues to talk about hypocrites, and I think we need to understand what that word means, because hypocrite comes from the Greek word for "stage actor." And in ancient times, stage actors often wore a mask that would hide their true identity. And that word, what it would mean, the connotation would later mean that it be about others who act in a certain way publicly that's different than the way they live privately, concealing their true nature. And throughout Matthew's gospel, he continually uses that word to describe Pharisees and others who, in observing the law and living out righteousness, often did it for public approval and adulation.

Now, I think it's important, Jesus isn't talking about everybody. This isn't something we apply to Jewish practices at all. But what he's doing here, he's contrasting. He's contrasting the performance of piety for human approval. He's contrasting it with the practice of a deeper piety for a true, deep relationship with God. A practice that comes out of somewhere deep inside, a love for God. I think in today's text, what it shows us is that we too easily and quickly seek and settle for something less than God wants for us. Because over and over again, Jesus tells us that we don't need to seek validation or approval or identity from other people. That we already have all of that in God. And I guess my question as I'm looking at this text and studying this week is, how are we doing, team? Because I will tell you, I think it's a challenge.

It's a challenge in our everyday life, and I said earlier in our culture, but you know where it's a real challenge? For those of us in my line of work. Most of us come to this ministry with a heart for God, a heart for others. But I'll tell you, there's never a time that I don't get up here to preach that in the old days I wasn't like, "Oh, yeah, I don't know if I'm quite as good of a speaker as Matt is." Or I don't think, "Oh, how's this going to be?" Or afterwards, "I wonder if anybody liked my message." And every single week, and I promise you this to be true, I stop those thoughts and I start praying. And I'm reminded that God brought me here with the unique way I'm wired, and that all I need to do is look to God to remind myself it isn't about me and how great I am or what I can do. It is about how great God is. But over and over, again, excuse me, because I'm sorry for that. It's a challenge and it's something that happens every day. It's ongoing.

About a month ago, I was at the capitol. There was a press conference with clergy leaders and leaders from moms who demand action. And it was asking our state and local government to put a ban on assault weapons. I was asked to say something at the press conference. And right before I was to go on, Doug Pagitt from Vote Common Good, who was running the whole thing, he said, "Hey, by the way,”—we had a little agenda, who was speaking—"Our rabbi didn't show up, so I'm slipping in Dewayne Davis before you.” Anybody who knows Dewayne Davis, he's preached here. He's amazing. He's this incredible gifted speaker, but he's also running for mayor. And he gets up and he is bringing it. I mean, people are cheering and clapping and he's just like a revival. And I'm standing back there going, "Oh my gosh, I got to speak after this guy." And it was in that moment that I had to say to myself, "You are not Dewayne Davis. You are you. You are called to this moment and you need to just speak from the heart the way God wired you, the message that God has for you to say."

But I guess my point in sharing that is it's a constant battle to not care about what everybody else thinks and how you're performing and how you're doing, but reminding ourselves that it's sort of about honoring God about what God thinks. In our human condition, in this culture, there is a temptation for performance. Jesus says it over and over again and the hypocrites, they sound the trumpet.

It got me thinking about that blow your own trumpet or toot your own horn. And that originates from the literal act of a herald or a musician using a horn to announce like someone of importance or to proclaim one's own merit. And Jesus is saying, "Give in secret because here's what happens when we give and we pray and we fast in secret. It shifts the focus from me. Look at me, look at me." And it puts the focus on God and His love. And that's our call, right? To practice quietly. And when we pray, the issue isn't about public prayer.

I want to be clear about this. This isn't about praying or giving or fasting so much as it is the motive behind it because I think public corporate prayer, and we do that here sometimes, can be beautiful and meaningful and relevant in a way to connect us deeply to God and one another. But it's the motive behind it. And the problem arises when those who are engaged in prayer are more concerned about their performance than about what the prayer actually means.

I feel like it's confession day, but I will tell you, and I've shared this years ago, but my old role in pastoral care at the church that The Table came out of, Christ Presbyterian Church, quite often, I bet at least once a month, I would have the role of doing prayers to the people during the worship service. There's a thousand people sitting in that sanctuary some days. And when I first got invited into that, this is decades ago, I was coming in from a team of really great pray-ers. People who got up front, man, they had the most incredible words and the most incredible prayers, and they just knocked it out of the park. And I was so intimidated by that. And it was another moment that every time I'd get up there that I'd have to stop myself from letting those words come in that you're not going to be as good. How are you going to do this? I had to stop those words and remind myself once again that it ain't about you, girl, that it's about God. But that's what Jesus is talking about, about prayer. He invites us into this inner room, the space of intimacy with God. And the practice of prayer is cultivating just that presence and honesty and silence rather than performance.

And the same with fasting. That might not be a practice that we regularly take on, but in Jesus' day they did. And fasting wasn't about dramatizing the spirituality, but it's about connecting with God. And just like prayer, where in Jesus' day, the reason he addresses it, there were those in religious leadership that would step out into the streets and pray loudly so everyone saw it, similarly with fasting. They made sure everyone knew that they were fasting. Their beard and their hair would be tangled. They'd smear ashes on their face. But Jesus is saying, "That's performance. That's play acting. Real fasting is between us and God."

And it's those sort of quiet, hidden disciplines that actually build a foundation that allow us to be a witness to God's love out in the world. In each of these practices, Jesus continues to point to the same thing. Why are you doing it? What's your motive? And I think what it really asks us is to ask ourselves, "Who's our audience?" Because Jesus sets the bar higher. He reorients the approval we desire away from people and toward God. But I think the question for us today is, "Why is that so hard to live out?"

I know I can look back on my own life. I assume most everybody here can, and I can see those places where I look to other people's opinions, their approval, their praise. Now, I'm kind of a people pleaser by nature, so I really got to watch out for that. I like to keep peace. I like everybody happy. When we look for ourselves and what others think and say about us, I think it's like the words to that song I'm going to date myself. "Looking for love in all the wrong places," because I think that's what we do, because I think our life should be about seeing ourselves through God's eyes, not the world's. St. Augustine says it like this, "You, God, were within me, and I was outside of myself, and I searched for you in that exterior world."

Have you ever felt like you weren't enough? Have you ever spent time comparing yourself to someone else or competing with others? Have you ever spoken or acted in a particular way to get someone's approval? How much is your own worth tied to what you do or what others think or say about you? Have you ever tried to prove yourself by working longer and harder? Have you ever put on a good front, pretending to maybe even be someone you weren't exactly, just so you'd fit in, so you'd be accepted?

If any of those things sound familiar at all, you probably know what it's like to search in that exterior world that St. Augustine was talking about. And in some ways, those things and thousands of others that I think hit us in big and small ways in our daily lives are symptoms of just who we are as human beings, because what they do is they reveal a legitimate and authentic need and desires that we have. Because what it reveals is that we all have this desire to be seen, to be known, to be loved, and what I'd say is that in itself isn't bad. I'd actually say we hold that as a value here at the table, being seen and known and loved. We want to do that.

Actually, I was thinking about just the last two days. There's been some really great news to celebrate and was shared with me. There was a baby born yesterday in this community, and there was someone who, after a long journey and hard work passed the bar, those are the things we want to hold up and celebrate, because that's what the life of community is too, is cheering each other on and affirming each other. So that's important too, but what we're talking about is the motive behind it, because I doubt that Corey Glynn did all that work of going to law school and passing the bar so that he could say to me, "Look at me, I did it!" It's the motive behind it. And ultimately, what it reveals is a longing that we all have, a longing for something bigger than us, something holy, something transcendent, and it's this longing that we can't give ourselves. It comes from somewhere much bigger than us.

I actually wasn't going to say this in the sermon, but it does remind me. I was talking earlier about my last co-lead pastor, and I happened to sit with him at a reception at a wedding last week, a week or a half ago, a week ago. And we started talking about a post that he put online about church and whether it was worth going to church or not. We had a great conversation about it, and what Matt ended up saying was, "I think the value of going to church is that we're reminded over and over again that there's something bigger than us and that it matters to be in community and be reminded of God's love and our call to love one another."

But again, today's gospel isn't as much about almsgiving and prayer and fasting as it is about the motivation behind those things. Our need and our desire to be seen, praised, recognized by others, the temptation to value the rewards of others over that of God, and those ways that we invest ourselves in the illusion of what others can give us. That's not only about the practices of righteousness, it's also about the way we live, how we live. And maybe even a question about finding ourselves.

There's an author, speaker, pastor, he actually co-hosts the Holy Post podcast named Skye Jethani, and he says this about this text. In his book, "What if Jesus Was Serious," which is kind of a cool book:

We all want our lives to matter, but in our celebrity saturated culture, we become to believe that our lives only matter if they're noticed. This deep longing to matter by seeing is fueled by social media. We want someone, anyone, to take notice, to care about us, to see us, and like us. We go online to find a witness to our life, but what we're really searching for on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter is someone telling us, "You matter. Your life counts." And in this selfie culture of ours, Jesus is saying, "What matters most is what you do quietly, is behind the scenes, is often in secret, because real intimacy with God and each other, it requires privacy and steers clear of publicity."

And this is the way that Jesus calls us to the practice of giving, of fasting, of praying, without being noticed by others. God's the only witness, and that happens because we have the heart for God, that we understand that we have an audience of one.

I want to circle back where I started. Who you are is more important than what you do, even if what you do gets more attention than who you are. I think there's one little thing I'd like to add to that today There's a bunch of profs. If you've gone to seminary, you'd recognize some of the names from the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, and they wrote a book called "The Life Worth Living." Actually, a book. I read one of my small groups. Really good. And I like what they say in their book about a life worth living:

We don't have to demonstrate our value by being perfect or pure or super impressive. Our value doesn't come from what we do or who we are, but from the one who loves us. And that love is thoroughly, unconquerably, unfailingly dependable. Nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord to use the Apostle Paul's language.

We belong to God wholly, exclusively. And I think that the question and the text, it's twofold. Who's our audience and who do we belong to? I think it's something we need to ask ourselves every day. In the moments when we really need it, we need to remind ourselves whose you are is more important than what you do. Whose you are is about who you are.

Will you please pray with me? God of hidden places, you see what's done in secret and you meet us in the quiet places of our hearts. Teach us to practice the ways of Jesus, not for recognition, not for applause, but for the joy of belonging to you. May our lives shine with the hidden life of Christ for you alone, our audience, and your love is our reward. Amen.