Our Father’s Glory is Our Reward
Why? Why are we doing what we are doing? Why do we come to church? Why do we serve in church ministries? Why do we read, study, and teach the Bible? Why do we give to the poor and help the needy? Why do we pray? Why do we fast? Why are we living the kingdom life? What are our motivations? What is in our heart? Do we seek to impress people? Win their approval? Do we seek to impress ourselves? Do we want fame? Are we seeking glory?
Today we will see that we follow Jesus, practice the Christian faith, and live the kingdom life to glorify God and to proclaim God’s kingdom. Our Father’s glory is our reward.
1. Performance or Service and Worship?
Do we perform to be glorified by people or do we serve and worship to glorify God?
Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with the heart qualities that his followers must have. These habits of the heart enable righteous, kingdom living. We live the kingdom life so that we can be the salt and light of the world. So that the world can see our good deeds, our righteousness, and glorify our Father in heaven. Jesus tells us that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees and the scribes. He then gives us illustrations on how to do that by living the extraordinary, radically different, counter-cultural kingdom life.
However, there are two dangers that can prevent us from living the kingdom life and glorifying God. The one is the desire to have the approval of others, to life the kingdom life for our own glory. The other danger is the desire to establish our own security by means of material wealth.
So, Jesus gives us here the first of two serious warnings. We should not practice our righteousness, live the kingdom life, in order to be seen by people and receive honor, praise, and glory from them. When that happens our Father in heaven will not reward us. We have received our glory and reward from the world. Jesus gives three illustrations of how we should practice our righteousness in secret. He interrupts to teach more on how we should pray, and then returns in verse 16 to fasting.
But, isn’t Jesus contradicting himself here? In 5:16 he said that we should shine our light before the people so that they may see our good deeds, and now he says that we should not practice our righteousness before the people in order to be seen by them. The contrast or contradiction is not in Jesus’ teaching but between God’s glory and our glory. Why do we do what we do? Are we performing to receive glory or are we living, serving and worshipping to glorify God?
In 5:16 the people see, take notice of our deeds so that they will know and glorify God. In 6:1 they see our deeds like they watch and observe a theatrical performance. The word hypocrites is the Greek word for actors. Are we actors who lay aside our true identity and assume a false one, wear a mask? Do we treat the world as a stage where we perform the kingdom life to be glorified by the people? The word for praise and honor is the same word that is used for glorifying God in 5:16.
The question is not whether we are seen doing a good deed but are we doing a good deed in order to be seen. When we are doing something for our own glory, for reward, for recognition, we are taking over God’s rule and role in our life. We are not trusting God and his promises. We seek reward where there is no need for reward. We don’t need rewards. We already have the greatest rewards human beings can have. We have the new, eternal life in Christ. We have the kingdom. The kingdom of heavens belongs to us. We are God’s children. We are kingdom citizens. What more do we want?
When we perform the kingdom life for approval, for our own glory, our self, pride, and ego take over, and we push God out. We edge God out. We are saying he is not relevant, and we subject ourselves to the world’s rule. We look for rewards that come from the world and people. What happens? God steps aside and we receive what we want. We will have no reward from our Father because we have received our reward in full from the world. A reward that does not last, and quickly fades away.
So, whatever we do, we must examine our hearts and minds with brutal honesty. Are we giving to receive the praise of men? Perhaps we give in secret but we are quietly congratulating ourselves? Do we pray to make an impression on people, to be seen and heard by people? Well, that is our reward. We got it. Do we pray in secret but we pray to impress ourselves and impress God? That is an ego concern. We don’t have to impress God. He just wants us to trust Him. Why are we fasting?
We must listen carefully to what we think or say when we talk about ourselves, our spiritual lives, how we are living the kingdom life, how we are practicing the spiritual disciplines. We may discover with a shock that we are doing it to impress people, to win their approval, and be glorified by them.
ILLUSTRATION — own life and vanity. I have to pay extra special attention that my life and ministry practice is not guided, driven, motivated by the approval of people, the church, and the community.
2. The Discipline of Secrecy
It is easy to become enslaved by eyes, to perform the kingdom life only when people’s eyes are on us. What will we do when there is no one to see what we do? What will we do when there are no rewards, praises, or glory? Will we still give if there are no tax breaks for our donations, and no buildings are named in our honor? Will we still give, pray and fast? Will we still give, pray and fast in the same way as when eyes are watching us, or will there be a difference in how we do it? Are we enslaved by human eyes and the eyes of the world?
Ephesians 6:6-8 — “Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you (Greek — eye-service as people pleasers), but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.”
That’s why we need the discipline of secrecy, and why secrecy is central in Jesus’ teaching here. The discipline of secrecy helps us to break the grip of human opinion over our actions and souls. It helps to liberate us from the slavery of eyes. It frees us from performing before the world for our own glory.
This is so important that Jesus illustrates this with an extreme example. The left hand should not know what the right hand is doing. That is impossible! What does Jesus mean?
Again, it is all about what is going on in our hearts? I may give in secret. No one knows. But I know, and I perform for myself, to impress myself. We can be so proud of what we do that our service and worship turn into self-righteousness. We will not tell or show others what we are doing. But we should also not tell ourselves, show off to ourselves.
The Holy Spirit transformed our hearts. We are in Christ, and Christ in us. The righteousness of Christ, the kingdom life, flows naturally from our hearts. We do all of it automatically—giving to the poor, praying, fasting, all of it. We do it automatically, naturally because of who we are now in Jesus Christ. We don’t think about. We just do it. We hardly notice it, and we rarely remember it. It is no big deal. We don’t care what people think.
3. The Audience of One
Because we do what we do, we serve and worship, for our Father’s glory only. We live, we perform the kingdom life to love and please and glorify God only. So we do everything for his eyes only. We perform for the audience of One.
Col 3:22-24 — “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor (eye-service as people pleasers), but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
When we hear the word, reward, our Western, materialistic, individualistic minds think of something we receive. It could be concrete things like an award, a price, a title. It could be emotional rewards like joy, happiness, pride, feeling good about something or ourselves.
We do not live the kingdom life to receive a reward. We do not live the kingdom life to be saved. We do not practice our righteousness in order to become righteous. We are already saved. We are already righteous in Christ. We live the kingdom life because we are kingdom people, God’s children. So living the kingdom life is simply living out what we already are in Jesus Christ. We already received the kingdom and new, eternal life. And one day we will receive that inheritance, that reward, in full. Now, in this life and in this world we live the kingdom life, we practice our righteousness for one purpose only — to glorify our Father in heaven and to proclaim the kingdom. Our Father’s glory is our reward. We no longer live for ourselves. We have died to ourselves, to our own glory, name, and fame. Now we live for God’s glory and his kingdom.
Therefore we receive and experience our reward in the activity itself, in living the kingdom life itself. When we give and see a need relieved, when we see God’s love working and made visible in someone’s life. That is our reward. When we pray, we are able to talk with God, experience God’s presence, have fellowship with him. That is our reward. The answers to our prayers are our reward. When we pray, we seek God. We acknowledge him as God the Creator, God the Lord, God the Savior. And we are able to call him Father. We bow down in humble worship, love, and trust. And we experience his love and his peace. There is no greater reward than that. When we fast our reward is to experience God’s provision, his sustenance, his goodness, his life, his power in our lives. We learn to trust and rely on God. That is our reward.
We follow Jesus. We live, we work, we play, and we perform the kingdom life for an audience of One. For God only, and for his glory only.
Story of Bali dancers — Bali — world-famous for its dancers. Performances are the main tourist attraction. Julie Taymor, the director of the movie Frida—a movie about the life of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, told a story about her visit to Bali — in the forest, no one there — troupe of Bali dancers in their full regalia dancing giving their best performance — no observers, no people, no spectators, only the dancers dancing their hearts out — “They were performing for God … They did not care if someone was paying for tickets, writing reviews, they did not care if an audience was watching, they did it from the inside to the outside and from the outside in …”
For whom are you dancing?