Lenten Series
Don't Show Off Your Faith 

John
And our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ  

Both
Amen.  

John
The title of the sermon today, for all of you in grades 5 through 9 is  "Catch It If You Can"  So write that in the space marked title.  "Catch It If You Can." The text is from Matthew 6: 1-9, 16-18. Write down the theme in your notes: “Do not show be religious ‘show offs.’”   

Ed
Today, we continue our series of dialogue sermons on the Sermon on the Mount. This is the sixth of twelve sermons in this series. We recall that Jesus had been with crowd of people on the shores of Lake Galilee. Jesus left that crowd on the lakeshore and invited his disciples up into the high hillsides that overlooked the lake. Jesus then sat down with his disciples (not the crowd) and taught his true disciples, not basic doctrines, but a new moral code, a new sense of right and wrong for their daily lives.   

John
Jesus was going up on his mountain and was giving his new moral code, his new moral laws, for his new religion. The Old Testament laws for murder, adultery, divorce, anger and retaliation were no longer valid for his new religion for his new disciples. Thirteen hundred years before Jesus, Moses had gone up to Mount Sinai and had received the Ten Commandments, but the Old Testament moral law was no longer sufficient for New Testament Christians. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is giving us a new moral code for his new disciples for new way of life.

Ed
Please look at your bulletin insert. Highlight or underline, “beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them.” This is the issue: people were being religious in order to be see and praised. Highlight the phrase, “so they may be praised by others.” People wanted their religiosity to be seen in order to receive affirmation and glory. Underline the phrase, “do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.” This is an Aramaic phrase, an Aramaic colloquialism, that means, “keep it secret.” Highlight the phrase, “your alms are to be done in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Regarding almsgiving, prayer and fasting, all are to be done in secret so that your heavenly Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.  Jesus taught that we are not to show off goodness but keep it private.  

John
The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were showing off their religiosity. They would make a big public display of their prayer life, their almsgiving to the poor, their fasting by covering themselves with ashes and looking miserable. The Pharisees were show offs.  

Ed
Jesus taught his new disciples, “Do not worry about the praise and admiration you will receive from other people for your acts of kindness. If you do acts of kindness and generosity in order to receive honor and glory, then you will have already received your reward. Instead, be secretive as you give and walk a life of faith, and God, your father, will reward you.”  

John
As we continue this sermon, we need to look at the historical context of this teaching which was the Jewish synagogue. Jesus is referring to some of the common practices of Jewish temple religion.  We find that there are three pillars of the Jewish faith in Jesus time.  Three activities that every dedicated Jewish person would be involved in.  They are, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.  Write that down, kids. If you were a devout Jew in Jesus time, you would be faithful in all three of these.  These were the pillars of the faith, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. So Ed, what exactly is almsgiving.  

Ed
Almsgiving is giving to the poor. Write that down, kids. We, as religious people past and present, are concern about our financial offerings to help the poor and needy. Giving of alms in New Testament times is giving financial gifts at the synagogue, on the streets to beggars, and to other needy people. The word, almsgiving, comes from the same Hebrew word for “righteous.” In the Old Testament, “giving of alms” and “being righteous” use the same Hebrew word.

John
The next important activity of the Jewish religion is prayer.  The devout Jew is a person of prayer.  Now we are not talking about the prayer you and I think of when we think of prayer.  Not the quiet personal prayers we say when we do our personal devotions or at the dinner table or at night before we go to sleep or silent prayers.  No, these prayers of the devout Jew are much more visible and audible.  First you need the proper clothing like this prayer shall here.  You put it over your shoulders, place your kepa on your head, assume the proper posture, rock back and forth and chant your prayers out loud.  (John demonstrates this with the prayer shawl and kepa) When you saw this going on, you knew that this was a devout person in prayer. In other words, these people could draw attention to themselves that they were fasting.  

Ed
The next pillar is fasting. For the Jew, fasting was to abstain from eating, drinking, bathing, anointing one’s self with oil and having sexual intercourse. For the Jews, there was one national day of compulsorily fasting and that was the Day of Atonement. The Jews also developed habits of personal fasting e.g. not combing their hair, covering their faces with ashes, and wearing old clothing. In other words, these people could draw attention to themselves that they were fasting.

John
Another important word in the text today is "Hypocrite."  "Don't do these things like the hypocrites do.  Don't be like the hypocrites."  The word for hypocrite is the same word for "actor."  The hypocrite is an actor.  One who acts religious -- who does all the outward signs and actions of his or her religion but doesn't necessarily have the proper inner motivation.  The hypocrite is an actor -- a religious actor.  

Ed
So the attitude of the heart becomes very important at this point.  It is the heart that motivates. All three acts of piety can easily be transformed to be acts of self glorification. All three acts of piety can be done not to glorify God but to glorify one’s self.  The issue becomes one of motive. Many pious and devout Jews were doing the right thing but for the wrong motive. There is always the temptation for religious people to demonstrate their religiosity in order to receive praise, affirmation, and applause.

John
It seems, that Jesus here in this text is trying to inspire his disciples to live a life of non-public, hidden, secret, prayer devotion and giving.  This is not to be a show but an outpouring of love from the heart.  

Ed
How about some real-life examples of this from our lives today. What do we mean here?

John
I remember this elderly couple from years ago. Their names were Oscar and Myrtle Ringdal. Myrtle Ringdal had Alzheimer's and didn’t even know Oscar any more but he continued to go to the nursing home to visit and help feed her several times a week.  He talked affectionately about how she was like a little bird and opened her mouth so he could feed her.  He didn’t do it for some kind of outward reward.  He did it out of the love and devotion that was deep in his heart.  

Ed
For example, I heard a story the other day at the Senior’s Retreat over at the coast. It was a story from years ago about Don Binder who died much too young of bone cancer. Don was fighting bone cancer when Aiden O’Dell found out that he had prostate cancer. Don, as sick as he was, came over to Aiden’s house for six weeks, every day, to play cribbage with Aiden, as Aden began is treatments for cancer. Nobody knew about it. Don just came over and took care of his friend.  

John
The purpose of the text, then, is to inspire us to give and act out of our hearts, secretly without any expectation of reward. When Jesus Christ lives in our hearts, our acts of charity, devotion, and love are real and not phony.  They are genuine not fake.  They come from unselfish motives with no expectation of any external reward.

Ed
John and I have some favorite “pastor stories” that illustrate this teaching of Jesus that we are to give and pray in secret.  John tell the story that  you told me about the coal.  

John
A man moved into the small town and bought a little house across the street from the railroad tracks.  Every morning he noticed an elderly lady walking along the tracks picking up something and putting it into a bag that she carried.  The man got curious about this lady and so he went to the corner "Mom & Pop" grocery story that had been there forever and asked the owner about this lady. "Oh, that's the widow Jacobs.  Every day she comes half way across town to pick up the coal that is spilled on the tracks when the early morning train runs through town."  "But there hasn't been a steam locomotive using coal on these tracks for years," replied the new resident.  "That's right," said the store owner.  "When the steam train stopped running, old Mr. Simpson who runs the hardware store was concerned that the Widow Jacobs would no longer have coal to heat and cook with.  He knew she was too proud to take charity, so he decided to get up early every morning, take a bag of coal and drop it along the tracks.  The Widow Jacobs still thinks the steam train runs by here every morning.  I think Old Mr. Simpson has been doing that for about 5 years now. Ed, tell that story about the miser. I really liked that one.  

Ed
“There was a rich Jew who never gave alms to the poor or contributed to charitable causes. People in his small village never called him by name. They simply referred to him as The Miser.  

One day, a beggar came to the door of The Miser. “Where to you come from?” The Miser asked.

“I live in the village,” answered the beggar.

“Nonsense” cried the Miser. “Everyone in this village knows that I do not support beggars.”

In that same village, there lived a poor shoemaker. He was a most generous man who responded to every person in need and every charitable cause that was brought to his attention. No one was ever turned away empty-handed from his door.

One day  The Miser died. The village leaders decided to bury him on the edge of the cemetery. No one mourned his passing. No one followed the funeral procession to the place of burial.

As the days passed, the rabbi heard disturbing news regarding the shoemaker. “He no longer gives alms to the beggars,” complained one man. “He has refused every charity that has approached him,” declared another.

“Has anyone asked about his change?” inquired the rabbi?

“Yes,” replied the first man. “He says that he no longer has money to give away.”

Soon the rabbi called on the shoemaker. “Why have you suddenly ceased giving money to worthy causes?”

Slowly the shoemaker began to speak. “Many years ago, the man who called The Miser came to me with a huge sum of money and asked me to distribute it to beggars and charities. He made me promise that I would not reveal the source of the money until after he died. Once every month he would visit me secretly and give me additional money to distribute. I became known as a great benefactor even though I never spent a penny of my own money. I am surprised that no one questioned me earlier. How could anyone who earned the wages of a shoemaker give away as much money as I have all these years?”

The rabbi called all the villagers together and told them the story. “The Miser has lived by the Scriptures, keeping his charity a secret,” the rabbi told them. Then they all walked to the grave of The Miser and prayed. Before the rabbi died, he asked to be buried near the fence, next to the grave of the man known as The Miser.”

John
That is a great story. But it seems that there is a tension for us. Let me explain.  Every time we do a baptism we light a candle for the person that has been baptized and quote the Bible verse that says, "Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."  It does say, "Give glory not to you but to your Father in heaven.  So maybe there's not such a tension here after all. It does say here to let others see our good works.  Our motive is not to glorify ourselves but tomake sure we glorify God.

Ed
Jesus wants us to let our lights shine that others might see our good works of love, but we are not be show off our works of love. We can sense it when someone is carefully showing with with their kindnesses towards other. They let it slip that they are generous and loving people in such a way as to bring glory to themselves.  

John
The issue is: why are you doing this act of kindness. Because somebody needs it or to bring glory to youself.  

Ed
Because somebody needs it. I like that story about Bill Manderville who takes such wonderful care of his wife Barbie who has Parkinson’s and severe athritus, so much so that she rides around in her motorized cart. One day, when a friend complimented Bill on the quality of his compassion for his wife, Bill dismissed it. “You do what you need to do. Nothing big about that. That is the way it was during the battles of World War II. You would just do the job in front of you. Someone later, down the line, would say that such a deed was an act of heroism. But not to the guy doing it. He was just doing his job. Doing what needed to be done. Not for glory. He didn’t do it in order to be a hero.”

John
That’s good. You don’t do things in order to be a hero or receive praise, but just because the person in front of you needs love. That’s what it is all about.

Ed
John, what about the young people?  What about the children?  As a parent, I want our children to catch the vision of this kind of love and live it out.  

John
The way I see it  we do that by teaching our children about caring for the poor and giving a percentage of their allowance for that.  We teach them to pray and night when they go to bed and before each meal.  We teach them the importance of going to church, Sunday School and confirmation.  Then somewhere along the line the Holy Spirit takes over and they begin to do it just because they can't imagine it any other way.  When the Holy Spirit creates faith in them they begin to do these good works  simply because it is in their hearts to do so.  It's not premeditated or calculated.  It's just a part of who they are.  They don't expect any external reward or payback.  They just do it.  That's the vision we want our children to catch.  

Ed
That's definitely the vision we want our children to catch.  Catch it if you can.  

John
That is the vision we want everyone here at Grace to catch.  

Ed
Yes, catch it if you can.  

Both
Amen.


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