- Sermon - Mickey Anders

Text: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

I had the misfortune of growing up with an older brother. I say misfortune because an older brother by definition is always bigger than the younger brother. My brother was four years older than me so when I was six and he was ten, I found myself at a distinct disadvantage in almost everything that brothers do.

Sometimes we would wrestle. It sounded like a good idea to me until he got me in a headlock, which he invariably did. It looks like I would have learned not to do that, but every time we wrestled I thought I was going to win this time. I never did.

We would circle each other looking for our opportunity to attack. I would go in for the kill, sure that I would throw him on the ground. But very soon, he would have me in a headlock again and shout, "Give up?" I would squirm and pull awhile, but I never could get free. Finally, I would surrender and say the hated words, "Okay, I give up."

"Give up" meant surrender. It meant that I quit fighting. It meant that he won.

"Give up" is a phrase that is often associated with Lent. Many people decide to give up something for Lent. But Jesus warns us that there are good reasons and bad reasons for our spiritual disciplines.

In our text for today, Jesus emphasizes the proper approach to three spiritual disciplines: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. In each of them, Jesus says there's a wrong way to do it and a right way.

The paragraph begins with Jesus saying, "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven."

Then Jesus uses the same basic formula to teach us about each of these three spiritual disciplines. He starts by saying, "Whenever you." Notice that he does not say, "If you…" But "Whenever you…"

Then he explains that we are not to be like the hypocrites, and spells out how hypocrites perform each of these disciplines, which is the wrong way. He assures us that the hypocrites have received their reward. Then he says, "But when you," and proceeds to instruct us regarding the secret practice of piety. Finally, he promises us that God will reward us for piety practiced in secret.

In verse 2, Jesus assumes that we will give alms, and instructs us not to do it as the hypocrites do "so that they may be praised by others." Then he adds, "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."

There is a right way and a wrong way to give. Jesus makes it clear that if we are giving to make an impression on other people, we are wrong. We have received our reward. But if we give out of genuine piety, then "the right hand will not know what the left hand is doing.

In verse 5, Jesus assumes that we will pray, and once again he advises that we not pray like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray on the street corners so that they may be seen by others.

This verse always reminds me of the time I participated in a National Day of Prayer event. The organizers suggested a prayer walk through the downtown area, where we would stop and pray for the people in the courthouse, for the people in various businesses, for the people in the spouse abuse center, and for the people in the hospital. It was a good idea.

But when I arrived to begin the walk, I discovered that we were to go in groups with helium-filled balloons over us to indicate to passers-by that we were praying! The next year, I declined to participate because of these words of Jesus.

When we pray from genuine piety, we do not need to draw attention to ourselves or to the fact that we are praying. Jesus says, "Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

Then Jesus turns to fasting. In verse 16, Jesus does not say "if you fast" but "whenever you fast." Jesus assumes we will fast and says there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

He advises that we are not to look dismal like the hypocrites, who try to show others that they are fasting. He says that we should fast "so that our fasting may be seen not by others, but by our Father who is in secret."

I have found that fasting is not a popular spiritual discipline. It is not nearly as popular as giving and praying. But, in fact, fasting is most often associated with Ash Wednesday and Lent. In fasting, we give up something for God.

The forty days duration of the Lenten season is drawn from the length of time Jesus spent in prayer and fasting in the wilderness before he set out on his three-year ministry. It is probably from Jesus' fast that people got the idea that an appropriate sacrifice has something to do with food or drink.

The tradition of fasting during Lent is an early one, and originally was done between Good Friday and Easter morning, the forty hours that Jesus was in the tomb. Christians would partake of no food or drink at all during that time.

Some time between 300 and 325, the fast was extended to the forty days before Easter, and the fast was changed so that food would be eaten only after evening had come.

The idea behind the fast was to imitate Christ. In addition to fasting, Christians would devote themselves to making prayer a faithful habit. So "prayer and fasting" have been closely linked for a long time.

But Jesus' words remind us that there is a right way and a wrong way to give up something for Lent.

Some people may think this is a way to earn favor with God. But I think Jesus makes it clear that this is not the right attitude to take. Genuine piety is expressed in acts of gratitude for the grace of God rather than actions that try to earn God's grace. An earned grace is an oxymoron.

Some people observe fasting as a part of a severe and joyless religion. There is the underlying assumption that things that bring us joy and happiness are somehow wrong. They suppose faith is supposed to make us miserable. Clearly, Jesus would not approve of such a negative reason for our fast.

Jesus said it was wrong to fast in such a way that everyone knows we are fasting. He says we should wash our face and put oil on our hair so that we look normal, and not draw attention to our fasting.

I find that to be one of the difficult challenges of fasting. One year I agreed to fast for 24 hours on a certain date, and didn't realize until later that I would be traveling with my parents on that day. When it came time for lunch, we stopped, and I found myself in a spot. I discovered that you can't fast privately when you eat publicly. I felt like the hypocrite in Jesus' story when I said so piously, "You go ahead and order, but I'm fasting." I felt like I was bragging. I think my reward just went out the window!

And I find it difficult as a minister to set an example of giving something up for Lent and challenging my people to do the same without stepping over that line into hypocrisy again. If I challenge you to give up something for Lent, something big or something small, then I almost invariably wind up saying that I am giving up desserts for Lent, and there goes my reward.

Besides, I am famous for my desire for desserts! Sometimes I eat desserts first! And when the next church potluck comes along, everybody is going to notice when this preacher has such a radical change in behavior. Everybody knows I eat for dessert!

So how am I to give it up the right way? Surely the secret is to make it a matter of the heart. It has to be a tool to turn our minds and hearts to God.

Whether we decide to fast for forty days or for twenty-four hours, whether we decide to give up chocolate, bread or Diet Coke, whether we decide to give up smoking or overeating, whether we decide to give up thirty minutes a day to Bible reading and prayer, it is all merely a tool to turn our hearts to God.

Perhaps I am a bit shallow in my attitude, but I try to give up something I crave with the idea that I will remember to crave God instead. When I think about pecan pie or chocolate candy, I will deny that craving and turn my thoughts to God instead. Maybe it is just a trick, but it works for me.

I think this little act of self-denial can remind me to surrender my will to God. I know it is not some heroic sacrifice, but it is a symbol. It's my little way of saying to God, "I give up." I surrender my self to you.

When I was wrestling with my brother, and he had me in a headlock, he insisted that I give up. "Give up" meant surrender. It meant that I quit fighting. It meant that he won.

I suspect that many of us are still wrestling with God, like Jacob did. We struggle to maintain our desires and our wants. We want to pursue our selfish ways while God calls us to self-denial.

Maybe during Lent, we can realize that God has us in a head lock and asks, “Give up?” Lent calls us to quit fighting God and say, "Okay, I give up."

Lent means surrender to God. It means we quit fighting. It means God wins, and maybe through self-denial, we will find that we win too.