6 verse 1, as we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus now makes a transition where He's been covering the spirit and the heart of the law, and now turns to external deeds of righteousness. Well, Christianity is all about the heart. It's all about a relationship with Christ that's inside, and so it is. But Jesus now makes clear there's something that justifying righteousness received by faith then gets worked out in life. And so I read from Matthew 6, verse 1, "...take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven." My title today is, Your Father in Heaven. Now that title stems from two things. One, Jesus uses the phrase or the term Father ten times in 18 verses. Why does Jesus emphasize the fatherhood of God? Number two, Matthew uses this phrase, your father which is in heaven, almost exclusively to a Jewish audience. Luke one time, your father which art in heaven. Why? Why does Jesus and Matthew want to emphasize the fatherhood of God and the location of his fatherhood, which is in heaven? Now, if the Lord is willing, I hope at the end of this message, and that's a big hope, to land this plane on that platform, these two questions. Why the fatherhood of God and why the location in heaven over and over again in Matthew's Gospel? Now, we're going to use verse 1 sort of as a header, a platform which three sections will flow out of this header. The three sections, as we look at 18 verses with an overview, not in detail here, will be almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Jesus opens a window on prayer that we'll come to, perhaps next week, where He expounds on how to pray. But in these three streams that flow from this header, this fountain, in verse 1, is going to be sacrificial giving, self-denial in prayer, or self-discipline in prayer, and self-denial in fasting. Now, some of the early manuscripts would use, in some translations, acts of righteousness in place of doing alms. Now, people that know this kind of thing would say there's good evidence for either one of these phrases. I lean towards acts of righteousness for these two reasons. One, it fits the flow of Jesus' arguments. From this header, These deeds, acts of righteousness comes, therefore, in verse 2, alms, prayer, and fasting. So it fits the context. Secondly, among the Jews, they often used one part for the whole. For the Jews, righteousness would often be expressed in one word, almsgiving. So it's likely Jesus is using doing alms as an expression of deeds of righteousness. Either way, either translation, there's no damage to the text that follows. But we're going to look at the header in terms of practical, practicing righteousness that flows in these three areas. So the outline goes like this. First, there's a principle to be practiced in verse 1. Second, there's a heed, a warning to heed. And number three, there's a reward to gain. A principle to practice, a warning to heed, take heed, and a reward to be gained. Otherwise, you have no reward, which means what? We should be interested in the reward of the Father. So, first of all, the principle to practice. Jesus uses the word do. Do alms, or practicing righteousness. The word means perform, carry out, execute, accomplish, do. We understand that word. Now, there are two implications we draw beginning in verse 2, where he says, therefore, when you do alms, verse 5, and when you pray, verse 16, moreover, when you fast. So, two observations here. One, is that Jesus assumes these activities, doesn't He? These are not commands, they are assumptions. Meaning, He takes for granted that in His audience, people are doing what? They are giving, they are praying, and they are fasting, specific acts of self-denial. That's the first assumption. Therefore, based on this heading, Don't do it like this, but when you do it, when you do it, He's going to tell us how and how we should not do it. The second observation is the particle when is a particle of time, which implies what? Structure. Planning. Now here's the principle to practice that emerges on the implications of that word. Jesus is telling us that the life of a Christian is a regulated, structured, planned, deliberate activity. When you do this, when do you do it? When do you pray? So much of the time in Christianity we've taken a view of the Holy Spirit, the moving of the Holy Spirit. the inclining of the Holy Spirit, being led by the Holy Spirit as impulsive, spontaneous, and unplanned. We often call that real spirituality, right? For example, someone is driving in Huntsville, and they get an inclination to take a right turn at the next street, so they do so. And then again later, they get an inclination, they're moved to take a left turn. And all of a sudden they notice somebody on the side of the road that needs help. They stop, help the person, share the gospel, there's a conversion. And we're hanging on the edge of our seat, as someone explains, the moving of the Holy Spirit that was spontaneous and inclined them, without deliberation, without planning, without regulation, without structure, to go to a certain location. Now, if that story fits the principles of the Bible, praise the Lord, because there are no conversions without the Holy Spirit. Now, suppose after that story somebody turns to you and says, how is the Spirit moving in your life? Well, I got my schedule out on Sunday and I plan to pray at 8 a.m. five days a week. Is that spiritual? According to Jesus, it can be and should be. You see, beloved, the life of a Christian and the principle of practice is if you don't deliberately plan to do these things, It won't take place. How many of you pray spontaneously as a routine way of life? I'm not suggesting it doesn't happen that way. That would be good if it does happen that way. But how often do you routinely pray and give, and particularly fast, when it's something that you're just inclined to do? Well, in my life, I'm not always so inclined, if I don't think about it, and regulate that activity. Now, I know that can be a bad word, especially among the legalists that we're talking about in the Bible. Regulation? Well, to regulate means to control or direct an activity. What is the activity? Giving, prayer, fasting. How is it directed? by deliberate planning. When you fast, when you pray, when you give is suggestive of time, amount, location, and all that would go in that particle time. Now, a few examples. 2 Corinthians 9, verse 7. Every man as he hath purposed in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, nor of necessity." Why? For God loves a cheerful giver. Every man means every person who's a member at the church of Corinth. Every single person here that's a member, or a member of any church. I don't care what your age is. I don't care how young you are. If you profess the gospel of Jesus Christ and you're a member, So let him give. Now your income may not be very much. It may be allowance from week to week, but that's an income. And the obligation of church membership is give. How? As you purpose in your heart. The word means to choose for oneself. So there's a decision. So you have to look and say, how much do I make? How is the Lord prospering me? What is coming in? And so prayer, decision, this is what I'll give. Not grudgingly, out of grief, Necessity? Well, the church doesn't need any more money at this time, so I'll hold back. No, it's not a necessity. It's not a need. It's as you purpose in your heart. And God loves a cheerful giver. Why? Because your cheer in giving shows that God is more valuable than what you're giving. Right? So there's purpose, there's intention in giving. What about prayer? Mark 1.35, Jesus, a great while before day, rises up, goes out of the city into a solitary place, and He prays. Why? Well, the night before, He's at Simon Peter's house. Simon Peter's wife had a fever which Jesus healed. She ministered to them, and now everybody comes out to the house, to be healed of diseases, sickness, and devils to be cast out." Now, it's nighttime. We don't know how long this took place, but somebody at some time had to say, listen, the Master's tired, we're tired, we need to go to sleep. Now, suppose you were the next in line at the door, and they said, sorry, gate's closed. You'll have to come back tomorrow. If you're sick, if you're diseased, if you've got a devil that needs to be cast out, what's gonna happen? At sunset, you'll be there. Jesus goes to bed, we assume. What is He thinking? If I wait to pray at sunset, all the people that I didn't get to will be knocking at the door. So He sets His clock. He gets up a great while before day. He goes out of the city. Speculating, what if somebody's up early and they see him? He goes out of the city in a solitary place, and there he prays. How long does it take to get out of the city? How long will it take him to get back? How long does he want to pray? The life of Jesus, who had the Spirit without measure, is a regulated life. Was he moved by the Spirit? Was he inclined by the Spirit? to the fullest degree. And yet, when Jesus was going to pray, He decided, He chose the place, He chose the time, He put it on the schedule, and He went to pray. Beloved, we are likely not going to be the kind of prayer people we should be, unless we understand that Jesus and the principle that's emerging through this one-word win is that the Christian life, inclined by the Spirit, filled by the Spirit, is a life that is regulated and structured. When is the last time you prayed? When is the last time you deliberately went to prayer? When is the last time you thought, I'm going to pray at this time? Now, don't misunderstand. Spontaneous prayer. Lord, help me. Lord, I need you. is part of a Christian life. But Jesus makes very clear here that these deeds, the practicing righteousness, this principle is, it's a life of structure also. And then fasting, which we would call deliberate acts of self-denial. In Isaiah 58, when Jesus corrects, or the Lord corrects the nation of Israel for their fasting in error, He would say, you choose this kind of fast. This is the day of your fasting, which still implies there was a day, there was a choice in how they were going to fast and what they were going to do. The problem was they were doing it with a heart that didn't honor God. But nevertheless, it was choosing and deliberation and doing fasting to loose the bonds of wickedness and to loose every oppression in your life. Isaiah 58, you can read about that. So Jesus makes clear the principle that emerges from this section three times He repeats when you give alms, when you pray, and when you fast, which means there is decision and structure. Number two, the warning to be heeded. The warning to be heeded. The word take heed means beware. It was originally used of a ship being brought near to land. You can imagine how much caution was needed to bring one of those big wooden ships to land so that the dock nor the ship was destroyed as you bring it into harbor. Then it became used to be cautious, to take heed, to pay attention. So Jesus says, when you're doing your alms, when you're practicing righteousness, when you're structured, deliberate, and your life is being regulated as a Christian with these three things, take heed to this warning. Now with this warning, as He repeats in the three illustrations that follow, verse 2, verse 5, and verse 16, He's going to repeat the danger and the threat that we all have when we engage in these Christian activities, or anything that would be called an act of righteousness or right living before the Lord and before men. What is the threat? The threat is hypocrisy. Verse 2, Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before them, or before thee. as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have the glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Verse 5, And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Verse 16, Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. So in all three illustrations, Jesus tells us the danger, the threat that all of us potentially succumb to. It's the threat of hypocrisy. The word originally meant to put on the mask. In the ancient plays and dramas, they did not use makeup and they did not get trained in the profession to look sad or to look happy. They simply put up a mask that was already designed with a happy face or a sad face, which obviously meant the face on the mask was always different than the face under the mask. Note, when Jesus ends chapter 5, Be therefore perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. We saw that word to be mature and whole. Be careful that when we're seeking to be whole, we're really half hearted. We're playing the part of hypocrisy. This is still part of our fallen nature, isn't it? It's still something that can easily overcome us, particularly in a religious setting like church. What were they doing? Sounding a trumpet in the synagogues and the streets. We might say the church now. They would love praying standing up in the synagogues and in the corners of the street. Corner means external angle, probably at the intersection, because you can be seen far easier at the corner than you can in some other spot on the street. And then fasting, the sadness, the disfigured face, so that somebody, somewhere would say, brother, why are you so sad? I've been fasting for 30 days. Why are they doing this? Why would we do this? The glory of men, to be seen of men, and to appear to fast unto men. All three of these can be summed up in the first heading, in verse 2. To have the glory of men. Now, if you did what you do in this respect, or as a Christian, to have the glory of men, that would make you a glory seeker. And that is our fundamental problem, isn't it? To seek the glory of men. Now, glory seeking could be a good thing, right? If it were the right kind of glory. But here, glory seeking, to have the glory of men, is the wrong kind of glory. See? They're using Giving, praying and fasting as a means of self-seeking glory. Imagine giving alms to the poor, not to help the poor, but to use the poor to secure your own glory. Glory seekers. Job, in the book of Job, this is spoken of, the hypocrite, in Job 27 and verse 8, I think it is, where the speaker there says, What is the hope of the hypocrite when he has gained, when God takes away his soul? Now, that gives insight as to what's happening with the scribes and Pharisees and the righteousness that will not get them into the kingdom of heaven, a righteousness whose hope seeks a gain, because they expect that gain to deliver on that expectation of good and desire and fulfillment, for which God takes away the soul. Why? Because their gain is the wrong kind of glory. It's not God. It's the gain of the glory of men, to be seen of men, to be loved by men, to be approved by men, to be praised by men. Now, that's hypocrite as a noun. We understand that Jesus clearly says in the Gospels, they were of their father, the devil. But what about the hypocrisy that we still struggle with? See, it's not a question if you're a glory seeker. You need to understand that you are a glory seeker. From the smallest to the greatest here, from the youngest to the oldest, every single human being is a glory seeker expecting something to deliver on their expectation of gain. And sin has so distorted it that that expectation is faded glories of creation and the glories of men. And we all struggle with that problem. Don't we? So what are some of the implications for us? And how does that affect us? How much of relational conflict is created because we are glory seekers of the wrong kind? Imagine the man that comes in to the synagogue, and his whole aim is to sound the trumpet to get the glory of men as it relates to his good marriage. You see, if you're going to sound a trumpet, you've got to parade your righteousness, your assumed righteousness, before men so you can get the glory you seek. It's a necessary part of being a glory seeker. You've got to put on display, you must showcase something about yourself, your family, your children, so that people will glory in what you are. So the trumpet has to blast. There's a standing that takes place and the sad countenance and the disfigured face is all designed to get the glory. Now suppose the wife is not cooperating with glory getting. Oppression. Anger. Manipulation. Control. Now that goes two ways. I don't know if this kind of glory-seeking is more a problem of men than women, but it's a problem of humanity. See? If you're not getting the glory you're after in the synagogue, in the streets, or in the church, relational conflict rises because you can't get the delight that you're after. What about the family or the children? The children are not performing properly as they should be. Parents are upset, angry. They dish out the punishment. Why? Because they're failing to hear the sound of the trumpet and to act accordingly in the synagogue, in the street, in the church, so that the parents can get the glory that they're after. How many parents will go to great lengths to get their children to perform some way just so they can get the glory of the publicity of men. And don't say you've never done that, right? It's our problem. We are glory seekers. And sin has distorted it. Christ created all things by Him and for Him, and by Him all things consist. Everything was created for the glory of Christ. And we have taken what He created for His glory and turned it into an occasion to glory in creation and men and things that fade. That's what sin has done to us. And while we look at the scribes and Pharisees and we understand what Jesus is saying, we ask ourselves how we struggle with the same problem. Jesus says, take heed. Beware. These things need to be done. We've already said there's a principle of practicing these things. But when we do them, be careful that the aim of preaching, and praying, and giving, and self-denial is not seeking the glory of men, but seeking the glory of God. How is it with you this morning? Do you struggle with this problem? Do you struggle with glory-seeking? Job 20 would echo similar words about the hypocrite. He would say, the triumph over the wicked is short, and the hope, the joy of the hypocrite is but a moment. See, that's what we've exchanged for the glory of God. A momentary delight that only lasts as long as we do. And then the hope, the expectation of the true hypocrite, the scribes and the Pharisees, those outside of Christ, it comes to an eternal end. It's just a vapor, it's just a moment, and then forever, it's over. And so, what is it that Jesus would have us do in response. In other words, He tells us, don't be as the hypocrites, don't sound the trumpet in the synagogues and in the streets. Don't pray for the aim of what? Be seen of men. And when you fast, don't be sad and don't disfigure your face so that you appear to men to be fasting. Now here's the counter and this gets us to the last point. The last point is this, the reward to be gained. I think what Jesus is telling us in verse 1 when He says, otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven, is that this is the solution to our struggle with hypocrisy. This is the remedy that Jesus gives us for our struggle of being glory seekers of the wrong kind, seeking the glory of men, the glory of their approval. The glory that we may seek on social media. How many times we as Christians have gone to social media, maybe with the motive of getting something about ourselves known. Something about something good we've done, by the grace of God to be known. Something about our prayer life. giving or something about our self-denial. Now, this is not a call to judge people in what's in their heart. Jesus is saying we should judge ourselves. What makes us say the things we say when it comes to these acts of righteousness that Jesus is referring to? It's so subtle, this sin, that we can take something God has done good in our lives, even a testimony, and turn it to an occasion that at the end of the story, All that here making much of us, rather than the grace of God. That's just how subtle it can be. We're wowed by the person. And the grace of God is nowhere to be found. Why? Because we're all glory seekers. And what is this reward? And what is Jesus telling us about the remedy? That we should be looking for the reward of the Father, otherwise you won't have it. The implication is, that's what we're after. This is not the first time we've seen this in the Sermon on the Mount, is it? Great is your reward in heaven, Jesus said, when you're persecuted. And all manner of evil spoken against you falsely. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Why? Because great is your reward. So Jesus holds out before us in Matthew 5, and now here again in Matthew 6, three times. And he tells us this, when you pray, or when you give alms, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret, because your Father, which seeth in secret Himself, will reward you openly. Then again, the next section. When you pray, don't pray as the hypocrites who love standing in the synagogues and in the streets, but when you pray, go into the closet, shut the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father which sees in secret will reward you openly. And then number three, when you fast, wash your face, anoint your head, use that dry shampoo stuff you spray on your head, fix it up, smile, go out in the public, go out in the church, so that you don't appear to be fasting to men, but you appear in secret to your Father. to be fasting, and your Father which sees in secret will reward you openly." Now here's the question. Why would Jesus hold before us a reward of the Father if He did not intend for us to seek it? That would make no sense. Why would He say, otherwise you won't have a reward unless you should want the reward? And so it's very clear, Jesus holds out before us the reward of the Father which is in secret. First of all, let's talk about secrecy. What is Jesus saying here? Obviously, somebody is going to know that you gave something. That's just impossible, isn't it? If you give alms to the poor, the poor person at least, if there's nobody else on the planet, is going to know that you helped them and gave something. If you give to the church, which we've already established, that is something we're to do, specific amounts, set aside a specific time that I'm going to give based on income, prosperity, and maybe the time you receive that income. Somebody is going to know because somebody takes the check, does the tally, puts it in the bank, and gives you a record of that at the end of the year. Somebody likely will know that you prayed. We had prayer this morning, and someone was standing, and they were praying. And there may be times when someone does know, maybe in your close circles, that you're fasting, or you have identified specific acts of self-denial that you're engaging in. So, we must not take the word secret to mean that if anybody on the planet finds out, you're sinning. Rather, Jesus says, don't let your left hand know what the right hand is doing. In other words, don't announce it. Don't broadcast it. Don't blow the trumpet. Don't go out telling people with the motive of people knowing so that you can get the glory of man. So he's dealing in secrecy here with the issues of the heart. He's not saying, well, nobody better find out about this, right? Now think about it, at the moment of secrecy, at that moment, when you don't tell the left hand, You go into your closet and shut the door. Or you wash your face, anoint your head, put the dry shampoo on and start smiling. No one on the planet, presumably, except maybe one or two, knows what you're doing. What's your motive? At that moment, the most likely motive that you have has nothing to do with man. They don't know it. They don't have a clue. You're smiling. You didn't tell anybody. The left hand doesn't have a clue what you just did. The only motive you could possibly have is that now you're a glory seeker in the right way. Because the only person that knows is your Father which is in heaven. Which means you're doing it to please the Father and not men. And that's the point of Jesus. He's not saying nobody better ever find out. He's saying at that moment of secrecy, at that moment you know your motive. Even though then, it's hard to examine motives. Even Paul said that. He said sometimes I may not know, I leave that to the Lord. But at that moment it is most likely this is for the glory of God. So that's the secret part. But now, the reward part. The reward. Now, we started the message by saying, why does Jesus emphasize the fatherhood of God? And why the location of God in heaven? That's not accidental. Over and over. Your Father which is in heaven. Your Father which is in heaven. That's the way we're supposed to pray. Our Father which is in heaven. Why? I'm going to suggest two reasons. One, it was because of the scribes and Pharisees view of a relationship with God and what they had taught the people. Jesus now is going to emphasize the fatherhood of God because they had a faulty view of a relationship with God. And then secondly, Their view of the kingdom of heaven. Their view of heaven itself and the kingdom of heaven here consummated in heaven. Alright, let's start with the first one. Their view of God relationally was professional, not personal. You know what a professional relationship is at work? It's solely based on work performed to advance your career. That's it. That is it. So much work for so much pay. It's purely professional. That's how the scribes and Pharisees approached God. It was just professional. We'll bring you so much work, called our self-righteousness. You affirm that. We'll take that. We'll go to the people. We'll seek their glory. And we'll get the reward of men. Using a job description called the law, which they polluted and perverted. And they taught that. And so the people were burdened with this idea of a deity, a distant God, that required you to work and labor and work and labor. And Jesus says, your Father. Beloved, your Father doesn't need your work. He doesn't want it. He welcomes you. the helpless, the poor, the defiled, the sinful. He welcomes you into His arms as your Father. Now the Jew may say, what about all the works of the law? Your older brother performed it. It's done. He satisfied the law. He bore the wrath. And now God wants you to know Him as a Father. He's God, but He's your Father. They did not relate to God as a Father. If you don't relate to God as a Father, your hypocrisy is going to rise. Because your relationship with God will be professional. What's personal? There's a bond, there's a connection, there's a tie, there's an emotional connection. What is it? It's a Father. Your Father has planned your salvation. through the older brother. He's an eternal Father. There's an eternal Son. He invites you into the family of God to own Him as a Father. And everything that God is as a Father, He is that for you. Name something He is as a Father. Anything, He is that. He wants to be that. He gloriously is that for you, right here, right now. That'll break the power of cancelled sin. That'll help you battle hypocrisy. That'll help you go secretly into giving and prayer and fasting before your Father. Your Father. No wonder Jesus says, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. It's all about Him. That's the first thing. The second thing, it was a view of the kingdom of God that was paradise and not presence. This is one of the things that separates Christianity from Islam. Paradise, but no presence. For the vast majority of Muslims, their view of heaven is paradise with no Allah. No presence. It's harems, it's virgins, it's all these things, but it's not presence. That was the view. of the Jews of the Kingdom of God. It was wealth, it was power, but it was not the presence of a Father. Your Father, which art in heaven, is implying by Jesus, He's present in the Kingdom. He's in the Kingdom, and He's with you as a present Father. That'll break the power of cancelled sin, because He's with us, is He not? Now to Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless, but for the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." His presence! And the Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He tabernacled, He came, He tented. John said, we beheld, we embraced, we saw the Father, the everlasting Father. It's not just paradise, it's presence. The parable of the prodigal that we read this morning. The prodigal wanted his inheritance. He left, spent all of his inheritance in righteous living. When he came to himself, he remembered his father, right? I'll go and say to my father, Father, I've sinned in thy sight, no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. Problem. Did you catch the problem? What's the problem? Sons are not for hire, friend. You don't hire a son. Servants are hired. He thought of God, his Father, as a master-servant professional relationship. Now it's going to change. There are no hired sons. There's just adopted children. And to express that to the Son, what does He do? He puts a robe on Him, puts a ring on His finger, kills the fatted calf. Some commentators suggest the fatted calf represents Jesus. I like that, I can't prove it, but I certainly like that. The fatted calf was killed, sacrificed. The Son was welcomed home. He's not on probation. He doesn't have to work to get into the Father's house. He's a son. He's a son. That's glorious. So there's merrymaking. There's joy. There's personal relationship. No longer professional. Now the older brother, which you will remember, the whole point of the prodigal son is to get to the older son. Because Luke 15, 1 and 2, the scribes and Pharisees murmured because Jesus was with publicans and sinners. So the publicans and sinners in the parable are represented by the prodigal son. But the scribes and Pharisees, the legalist in the Sermon on the Mount, are represented by the stay-at-home prodigal, right? He's always at home. He hears word. of what happened. The servant comes out, and what's all the dancing and singing and joy? He said, well, your son, your brother's come home, and the father's killed the fatted calf. He's angry. He's a glory seeker. Is he not? So he's angry. He's not getting the glory that he's after. So the father comes out and treats him, and the son answers, Lo, all these years I have served you. Translated, I have labored, I've worked, I've worked, and I have worked. Neither at any time transgressed I thy commandments, and yet you never gave me a fatted calf that I may make merry with my friends. Note, professional, not personal. He has a professional relationship with his father. I've been working solely based on work. I've been laboring so hard. I'm angry now because you didn't give me the reward so I could go out to my friends and get my glory seeking thrill as they make much of me over what I've done. There's no personal relationship with his father. It's just professional. He's a hypocrite. Then listen to what the Father says. I want you to mull over it just for a minute. Based on what's been said. Then the Father said, Lo thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. You caught it, didn't you? Presence. You have always been present with me. And all the paradise is yours as well. What's the problem? Paradise. Yeah, I want the fatted calf. No presents. I'm not interested in you as the Father. All the elements are there in the stay-at-home prodigal that Jesus is warning us against in the Sermon on the Mount. When we give, when we pray, when we fast, in secret, so that the motive is not glory-seeking from men, faded glories, but glory-seeking of God, eternal realities. And so, the sad plight of the older prodigal is that he has a professional, not a personal relationship, and he's just after a paradise. of what? A paradise where he gets his payoff of the fatty cash, he takes it to his friends, and they begin to make merry over the son. While all the while, there's a big party going on with the father. And the younger son loves the presence of the father. Why? Because he's been redeemed. He's been welcomed. He's been embraced by the Father, purely on the basis of the Father's grace. Now we know the Father represents God. Oh beloved, have you ever tried to work for God? Have a professional relationship? It won't work because your heart is seeking glory. You're a glory seeker. It'll be distant, it'll be aloof. And we'll approach God on the basis of what we're doing, what we're saying, what we're praying. And then we'll be looking somewhere for the glory that all the while the Father says, I'm your Father. I think Jesus is very intentional with this phrase and word over and over again. Your Father will reward you Himself. Your Father will be there in secret. Your Father is present. Your Father loves you. Embrace your Father and fight hypocrisy. And then finally, Astoundingly, the secret goes public. It's kind of strange, isn't it? Your Father will reward you openly, publicly. I thought we were supposed to do it in secret. Now it seems to go public. What is that about? Remember, Jesus is talking about motives. We find in Matthew 5, 16, "...let your light so shine before men, that others may see your good works, and glorify your Father. But in verse 1 he says, take heed that you do not your alms before men, but over there the light is shining before men. What's the difference? To be seen of them. In 6.1, in 5.16, for the Father's glory to be put on display. Do you see the difference? Boy, that's a huge motive difference, isn't it? You see, beloved, after The giving and the praying and the fasting, or I should say, in it, what's happening? Sacrificial giving is owing to the presence of the love of God the Father that goes out, even when it's secret. That's the power of it. Prayer is going into the closet and saying, I need you, Father. You remember times when you needed your Father desperately? When you wanted to call? When He just knew everything. How much greater is your heavenly Father than any earthly Father? Do you need Him? You go into the closet. I need you Lord. I'm struggling with hypocrisy. I'm struggling with glory seeking. I need you desperately. The Father is present. And then in fasting, specific acts of self-denial. Why? To increase my yearning for the Father. I give up this. I want to long for You more Father. Now out of that, out of that love of God the Father in secret, needing God the Father in prayer, and then fasting, yearning for more desire for God the Father, what goes public? It's your joy and your contentment and your peace that displays the glory of God, even when people don't know. You just gave, you just prayed, and you just fasted, because your Father was present. He was there. And out of that presence of God the Father flows what Jesus says, Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Let your light so shine. The light that's shining, when there are deeds that are seen and done, just because sometimes they are, what's being reflected, what goes public, is that you're a glory seeker of God and you're rejoicing, puts Him on display. So we see the principle to practice. We should be deliberate in serving God. We see the warning to heed. We all struggle with glory seeking. But praying and giving and fasting in secrecy, the Father's present. He's there. That's the glory we seek. That's the reward. Is it no wonder Jesus says at the close of this chapter, seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? What's He saying? Seek your Father. And the reward, that secret reward goes public. And that's the power of overcoming. Not a professional relationship, a personal. And not just a paradise. It is, right? But it's not paradise without the presence of Jesus. May God help us. Let's pray.