Matthew 6:1 “Take Heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
The literal translation of Mathew 6:1a is “Beware of doing your righteousness before men, to be seen by them.” The word “beware” denotes danger; it is a call to be alert, to be on guard, to be careful and to not be taken unaware. In other places in Scripture we see similar warnings: Jesus said, “Beware the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees”. Peter wrote “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Here we have Jesus telling us to beware not of worship but in our worship. He is not telling us to be careful about worship but instead to be careful in worship. Why the warning? I mean, in our culture, what we call worship has become the balm for what ails us. Forgive me if it sounds offensive and please, follow me if it doesn’t make sense, but that might be exactly what Jesus was warning us to be careful about: calling something worship that seeks a response rather than our worship itself being a response.
Two weeks ago we talked at length about the difference between a response and a reward. A response is an imagined or desired outcome from God or from people, it is what we want to happen and often it is why we offer worship in the first place, so that something will happen to or for us. A reward is something that is given out of gratitude. When Jesus says that true worship results in rewards from His Father in heaven He is talking about God’s gratitude being poured out upon the worshipper, it is the overflow of gratitude that creates the manifestation of God’s character and presence in our lives. I believe this is where worship becomes peace, it becomes joy, it becomes righteousness, it becomes kindness, love, gentleness, patience and self-control. The fruit of the Spirit as outlined in Galatians 5 is not something that happens to us, it is the character of God birthed in us as the reward of His gratitude, because of being worshipped. We have to constantly ask God to search our hearts (which, may be the most worshipful thing we can ever do) and ask Him to reveal if our worship, if our acts of righteousness are to get a response or are they in and of themselves a response to God. There are two responses we must avoid: trying to get God to do something for us, and trying to get men to see something about us; those are the great temptations of worship and they are exactly what Jesus was warning us to avoid at all costs. Worship can’t ever be about an end it has to be an end in itself, it has to be our response to being loved, our response to seeing God’s greatness, to hearing His voice, to being spared from wrath and hell, to having our sins paid for and our hearts transformed. If worship is ever an attempt to get God to move, to speak, to heal, to help, to make me feel a certain way then it is not worship and it is not rewarded. If worship is ever for acknowledgement, to show maturity, to show anyone anything about us then it is not rewarded. Worship is only worship when it is wholly and completely to God because of God. Two weeks ago we talked about our bent toward worshipping to get God to do something for us, this week we are going to talk about the temptation of worshipping to get men to see something about us. People pleasing is a form of worship but it is not unto God and I believe we may even see today, it’s not even unto the people we act as if we are so desperate to please.