They Have Their Reward In Full

Introduction

Well, indeed, that will be a glorious day. And may we watch and pray so that joy will be ours on that day. That’s a good song to sing to remind us where everything is going and our need to be prepared. And tonight’s lesson will hopefully give us some things to think about in that vein. Since I got here, which I was a little late as I was told, at about 10 till 5, I’ve seen at least two people yawn. And what I say about that is that I can’t be held responsible. Because they were yawning before I ever started preaching. That’s good. Because I don’t want to be the one putting people to sleep. But it is great to see you tonight. Again, we appreciate all of our visitors for being here.

I have some plans to preach on some specific subjects in the upcoming Sunday nights. Of course, I’ll be gone one Sunday a couple of weeks from now, and we’ll have a guest speaker, a grandson. And I know you’re all looking forward to that, a young man that we support. And while I’ve put off my sermon on Hollywood marriages that I said that I was going to well, because the Olympics are gone. It’s all their fault. I said, well, there’s at least three teenage young people right there that I really want to hear this lesson. And Macy and Maggie aren’t far behind. And I said, well, I’m going to hold that off for one more week. So maybe, and then my son-in-law says he wants to hear it.

So they’re supposed to be coming next Sunday night. So be prepared. I’m going to try to get that sermon ready this week, Hollywood Marriages, and what we learn about that. And I’ve had some requests for some other topics that I want to be covering. So tonight, I’m going to preach to you from the Sermon on the Mount. And I will never make an apology for that. Because we will invest ourselves for a few minutes looking at kingdom living successfully, and some important things that might get overlooked in this grand sermon that Jesus preached. In fact, I’m going to go ahead and tell you, these are the verses that we’re going to be looking at. Probably, if there is a neglected part of the Sermon on the Mount, it would be these verses.

And so let’s read them together and we’ll make a few observations and be done tonight. Matthew 6, verse 1. Certainly we can see the relevance of Jesus’ words here. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. We better pay attention to that. When therefore you give alms, and that’s simply a generous gesture toward one who has need, do not sound a trumpet before you. Now I don’t know that anybody literally did that. Blows the trumpet. That wasn’t a very good trumpet sound, was it? I don’t do a trumpet sound very well, but you get the idea. Blow the trumpet and everybody look. Do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets.

They’re not blowing a trumpet, but their behavior indicates they want other people to see what they’re doing. That they may be honored by men. And then notice this, truly I say to you. Now the first verse said, They have no reward with their father in heaven. This verse says, truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Well, I got that right. That your arms may be in secret, and your father who sees in secret will repay you. And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners in order to be seen by men.

Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room. And when you shut your door, pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who is in secret will repay you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your father knows what you need before you ask him. And then he supplies what we call the model prayer. And you’re probably familiar with that. But he goes back to these thoughts afterwards in verse 16 when he says, and whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face, as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men.

Truly I say unto you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your father who is in secret, and your father who sees in secret will repay you. This section about religious service describes offerings to God, both acceptable and unacceptable. Which we could use this text to simply point out that any offering given to God or done for God is not necessarily acceptable because it’s given to him. And yet that’s sort of the mindset today, as long as it’s worship, as long as it’s done for God, well, it’s okay. Well, this passage would say not necessarily, merely because it is offered in the name of religion.

In the King James Version of these passages that I’ve read, the word reward appears seven times. So that’s a word of some significance as we read this text.

1. Religious Performance to Be Seen and Noticed by Men

Four times for the first, three times for the latter. Reward is used three times negatively in regard to a temporal payoff when he says, they have their reward in full. Did you see that in verse 2 and in verse 5 and in verse 16? They have their reward in full. And one time of God’s decision to prevent them from receiving his reward. And it’s used three times positively of receiving God’s reward for our righteousness. And of course, the whole context here, I’m going to make three observations about this, but the whole context here has to do with hypocrisy. And I think we’ve seen that. I don’t think I have to go into great detail to explain, but that’s what Jesus is talking about here. People who engage in religious performance to be seen and noticed by men.

When we think of sin, I just say the word sin. Pick a sin.

Stealing, lying, the homosexual, a drug addict, a drunkard, a liar.

When I first was introduced to the truth.

That was sort of my initial view of what righteousness was. And as I got older and matured, and that started in my college years, and then it began as I started preaching at around the age of 21, I started to see more. And that it’s not just what we do, but why we do what we do that also matters to God. It’s not just adultery is a violation and drunkenness is a violation and homosexuality and murder are violation of God’s law. It also has to do with doing things that in their form may be absolutely right things. But to do them for the wrong reasons or with the wrong motives, and then I discovered that even worship can be rejected. Like in the days of Amos when God says, take away from me the noise of your songs.

I don’t care how beautiful it sounds, I don’t care if it’s not corrupted in some way by some unauthorized worship. He’s saying, I’m not going to accept your songs. Because your heart isn’t right. I don’t want your sacrifices. Your animals aren’t going to change this until you change your heart. And that’s what he’s saying here about religious people of the first century. And if you think this was a problem for people in the first century, do you think this could be a problem for people in the 21st century? Doing things with ill motives. So here’s the question. Why do we do the things that we do? What do we love the most? Who is first in my heart? You see, there are some very dangerous and subtle forms of sin that Jesus is talking about in Matthew chapter 6.

How can giving alms be wrong? You know, we take out our wallet. Here, that’s $20, $40.

How could that ever be wrong? Well, it could be wrong if you give it for the wrong motives. And we’ve talked about the story of Ananias and Sapphira so many times. As they were struck dead because they lied about, but they were giving. And probably gave pretty substantially in what was sold and what was laid at the apostles’ feet. But this was the very problem that Ananias and Sapphira had. They gave the indication that they had given it all. Look at us. Generous. Ananias and Sapphira. And God demonstrates how he feels about that kind of hypocrisy in regard to what we do for him. And so this is a challenging text. And he repeats this three times in these verses. They have their reward in full.

What’s so insidious about it? There must be something insidious if you would strike somebody dead for it. I mean, if you think about it, we are doing something that’s supposed to be a result of our faith in God and our devotion to him, and we’re using that to promote ourselves rather than him. I mean, you see, that’s the insidious part of it. And here’s what he says about that. Well, what do you get out of that? When you do your alms to be seen of men? When you pray and say, hey, everybody, look at me. I can pray this really eloquent and long prayer. And he talks about their meaningless or vain repetition. Oh, just flowery words. What rhetoric. These must be the most spiritual men alive.

And when they get done praying, Jesus says, Let me tell you about their reward for that. They got it. When they got that honor or that accolade or somebody to notice them, say, man, he’s really spiritual. Boom. That’s what you get for that. You don’t get anything else. The ego is stroked. You are noticed. Icon of righteousness by other men. And that’s what you get for that. You get something out of that. Yeah, the ego gets stroked. You got what you were wanting. You were noticed by men. But I want to tell you, that’s your reward, and that’s the total of it, because you’re getting nothing from God. When someone acknowledges, oh, I’m so impressed. Isn’t he righteous? If that’s what you were looking to get, you got your reward in full.

And that reward, as obviously you can see, is very short-lived. And really rather empty. Self has been praised, but God is not honored, and God is not pleased. And again, such motives were not only found among first century Pharisees. And if we think it’s been relegated to just first century, you know, those bad Pharisees, how bad they were. But there’s nobody like that today. Come on. And if we’re not careful, we can slip into that desire to receive praise from others. We want people to think good things about us. And that’s not wrong in and of itself. I mean, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and favor is better than silver and gold. I mean, we don’t want to have a reputation as a low-life scoundrel.

2. The Pursuit of Hedonism and Materialism

We want people to think well of us. But foremost, our motives are to please God and honor him and ourselves only as his servants, as we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 5. So I started thinking about this statement. They have their reward in full, and I thought of some other applications I want to share this with you. The pursuit of hedonism and materialism. And the reward of that. And I thought of Solomon’s words back in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and verse 10, when he made his pursuit of pleasure. He’s going to test himself with pleasure. I mean, he had all the financial wherewithal to do that. And he pursues all of these things, and he tells you all the things that he did from enlarging his works and making gardens and ponds of water with irrigation, and he had slaves and wives.

He had all kinds of things, and he was great and increased more than all who had preceded him. And besides, he had wisdom to go with it. And he says in verse 10 of Ecclesiastes 2, and all that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. For my heart was pleased because of all my labor. And this was my reward for all my labor. And so you expect that to go on and say, okay, the reward was, this was my reward for all my labor. What follows that? Nothing. You know why? Because what he’s telling you is that was it. What he did, what he got, that was it. And I’ll tell you, this is an important lesson for us.

A lot of people think, you know, I the spirituality thing. It just really cramps my style. Well, I could be having a lot of fun if I wasn’t sitting there for that whole long hour of worship. You know, it’s really big restriction of my time. If I wasn’t in that long hour of worship, think of all I could be doing. You ever notice how quickly an hour goes by when you’re doing some things? You turn around and say, Where’d that go? And even if you’re doing something really fun. And you spend that hour, when you spend it, what do you got? Well, what you did is what you got. And that’s what Solomon is telling us in Ecclesiastes chapter 2. And when people say, you know, spiritual things, you know, you’ve got to buckle down and you’ve got to exercise some self-control and try to stay awake when the preacher’s preaching and sit there and listen.

And when you’re singing, you’ve got to, you can’t just be a zombie. You’ve got to invest something. Well, I think I’ll just, who needs that spiritual thing?

Other people seem to be having a lot more fun. Well, I’ll tell you when you think like that what you get out of such a course in life. If you’re going to set God aside and say, I’d have so much more time to do the things that I want. And after you’ve done all those things that you want to do, let me tell you about your reward. And it doesn’t matter how much money you have, because Solomon had about as much as you can have. When you get done with that course and you pursue all those things, and when all the fun is there to be had, what you get out of it is what you get out of it, and that’s it. That’s your reward.

3. A Service to God Which Completely Disregards Self

And here’s one who had done it all. And have you ever seen, why are some rich people so miserable? They may not know why. But they have discovered that things don’t make you happy. Now, they don’t know the fix to that sometimes. But they realize that as they’ve gone down this path of hedonism, of just grabbing all the material things that they can get out of life, that once they’ve gotten all of those things, it didn’t make them happy. Their reward is what they got. That’s it. They have their reward in full. Now, let’s go back to our initial thought about humility, and let me tell you about the reward for that. What Jesus commends is a service to God which completely disregards self. Now, if you don’t get anything else out of what I’ve said tonight, I want you to get that.

The service that Jesus is commending to us here is a service that completely disregards self. It is so easy to inject self into things. And what other men see or don’t see, what other men acknowledge or don’t acknowledge is really irrelevant. Well, you know, I just don’t think Tony prays that much. Well, I could fix that. I could pray in such a way that everybody could see me. Pray. But Jesus has said, go to your closet and pray. What does that tell you fundamentally about religion? Yeah, there’s a corporate aspect to all of this, but let me tell you what religion is really all about. It’s about you and God. And the biggest moments in the expression of your faith are going to be in a closet.

Now he’s not saying that’s that’s the only place you can pray, is your closet. But it might be in your automobile. It might be while you’re taking an evening stroll in your neighborhood. Just you and God. And God says, okay, this person of faith right here who’s praying to me, he doesn’t care. She doesn’t care. If anybody else sees what they’re doing. This is not about anybody else. But you know what they’re expressing?

That they need me. That I’m here. They believe in me. And that’s why Jesus rewards this. This selfless service. I’ll tell you. I won’t tell you what destroys churches. You know, adultery causes problems. Especially if it’s adultery between two members. Someone who’s practicing homosexuality or someone who’s indicted for some crime and someone who has made a big splash with their sins. Okay, those are problems for churches to deal with. But the greater problems that churches deal with most often have to do with people who have left a proper view of self. And when you read and hear about churches that have divided and fussing and fighting and bickering and gossip and backbiting and all of those kinds of things that really destroy local churches. This is the sermon that they needed.

And that’s why there’s passages like Galatians chapter 6 and verse 3 that says, when a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. That passage in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 3 is not trying to destroy your self-esteem, but it is telling you that you are only something because of him, and so you must not get carried away with yourself. Or thinking that I’m somehow indispensable to the kingdom. And how in this world could this church ever go on and thrive without me? No, it’s about him, and it’s always about him. And if it’s not, we’ve got problems, or we’ll create problems. A man ought not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. That’s pretty clear. Romans chapter 12 and verse 3.

So we need to take precautions. And I’ll tell you, I don’t think I can talk about this enough. This is some of the greatest work you’ll ever do. To this one will I look. The one who is lowly and contrite of spirit. And who trembles at my word. Isaiah 66, 2 and 3. You know, I signed on to this a long time ago. Well, I know. I did too. But this has got to be a constant pursuit of ours. Humble ourselves. He will exalt us. Let’s look for our exaltation from him and not from others. If we’re looking for pats on the back, you know, man, Ernie, you did a really good job. You know. Well, if that’s what Ernie and I are looking for, when that person path us on the back, that’s what you get.

You got your pat on the back. But you’re not going to get the reward that’s beyond description.

4. Man Will Not Always Judge Accurately

So there’s some practical things that flow out of these thoughts in Matthew 6 that I think are so very important for us. And I think we ought to read these texts from time to time in Matthew chapter 6 on the Sermon on the Mount because of how important they are. I think one thing that flows out of this is that man will not always judge accurately. You know, men may look at these Pharisees, and some did and say, Man, they’re really awesome. People, awesome, spiritual, religious people. And they made proselytes, and Jesus said in Matthew 23, it’s a very telling statement. He said, You make them twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Don’t follow in their footsteps. And so men will say, wow, these guys, they are spiritual paragons.

5. If We Perform Greatly, Think Nothing of Ourselves

Men do not always judge things correctly. God always does. And you can fool a lot of people. That’s what hypocrisy does. It fools a lot of people. But you need to be foremost concerned about what God sees and how God assesses things. And secondly, there’s a fine line. I really mentioned this already. There’s a fine line between being a good example and desiring and craving recognition. Yeah, we should want to be a good example, but like Paul said, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. Ultimately, we want to point people to Him. We’re all sinners who have fallen short of the grace of God. Jesus did not sin, and we are pointing people to Him. He is our Savior. Thirdly, if we do perform greatly, we should think nothing of ourselves.

You know, if you’re serving as an elder and you’re the greatest shepherd of sheep that ever was, who ultimately gets the credit for that? God has employed us in his service. If you’re an effective preacher or an effective teacher, or just a diligent member, who gets the credit for that? If any man boasts, let him boast in the Lord. It is by his doing. And I love this passage in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30. And this is in a context where people say, Oh, I’m a Paul and I’m Apollos, I’m a Cephas. And they were divided. It’s all about men. And he says, look, it is by his doing that you are in Christ. And it’ll always be. It doesn’t matter how much you do.

If you’re the hardest worker in the local church, this would be a great thing. Who’s going to be the hardest worker in the church? And let’s knock ourselves out. Not because we want at the end of the day for somebody to get up here and say, oh, by the way, the winner of the hardest worker in the local church contest was.

6. The Savior Is Eager to Reward Lowly Service

No, but wouldn’t it be great if we all strove to be the hardest worker in the local church because we wanted to bring glory to him. And at the end of the day, if we could actually be the one that received the reward as the hardest, most effective worker for the Lord in the local church, even if we could receive that reward, it’s all about him. It’s only what we ought to have done. And without him, where would we be? So, whatever we are able to accomplish, if you perform greatly, think nothing of yourself. It’s only what we should have done. And then this final consideration. The Savior noticed this and is eager to reward lowly service. He’s not unjust to forget our work and labor of love that we’ve shown toward his name and having ministered and in ministering to the saints.

Who are you serving? Have you thought about that lately? Who are you ministering to? Well, no, in one sense, you’ve ministered to me today. We’ve ministered to each other as we’ve come here to encourage each other by this collective worship together. And we need to think of it that way. I think sometimes when people are skipping assemblies and missing assemblies, they’ve forgotten this important area of ministry. We’re here to encourage them. Everybody talks about, you know, I’m so discouraged when people miss services for flimsy reasons. This is an opportunity to serve other people. And look how many people you get a servant once. An act of hospitality. You have some folks over. Maybe it’s only two or three. You’re ministering to someone. When you pray to someone, pray for someone.

When you send a note of encouragement. You see, our involvement in the local church gives us an opportunity to minister to others. To be servants just as Jesus was a servant. You know, we sing that song, make me a servant just like your son. We love that song. We’ve sung it here a lot. Well, how are we ministering? Who are we ministering to? It could be just a word of cheer, a word of encouragement, a smile. Sometimes it goes a long way. A hug. A genuine expression of concern for someone. And so I think we need to think in these terms. Who am I serving? To be more like our master. And the master will reward that. Especially when our goal is, you know, I want other people to see me serving other people.

Conclusion

Don’t let that be your motive. Because again, you’ll get your reward and it’ll be in full. But it won’t be enough for you, I promise. But you want your reward from your heavenly Father. It isn’t interesting as we come to the end of this. When he talks about reward and repay and treasure, what are the verses that follow that? Did you keep reading? In verse 19. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. That’s where he goes with that in the Sermon on the Mount. The ultimate reward. Invest there, not here. You see, that’s what he’s been saying in verses 1 through 8 and 16 through 18. Don’t invest here in accolades and praise and recognition and being honored here. Invest there. And it pays the ultimate reward.

Where’s your heart? He asked. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And so where is your treasure? What do you seek? What reward are you looking for? And have you made an investment in ultimate things? The sermons on humility that we hear, the sermons on selfless service that we hear. I don’t think they can be too frequent. Humility is simply a proper regard for who we are in relation to God. Not in relation to someone else. Humility comes from understanding who God is and who we are in comparison. And we need to think about that often. And that’s why there is so much said to young men in particular. That’s interesting. Young men, humble yourselves, clothe yourselves with humility. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.

And he will repay you at the proper time. 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 5 and 6. And in our service to each other, how important? How many divisions in local churches could have been avoided? How many fights and squabbles could have been fixed? If folks had just listened to Ephesians chapter 4. You know that passage talks about endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace? I remember that verse from the time I was a little kid. We’ve got to work, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. I understand that better now. Because I realize now there are a lot of very different people in the kingdom. And that’s why it requires endeavoring. Why are y’all grinning?

I guess I’m one of the most different people around.

But you know what’s the verse before that’s involved in that endeavoring? When he says, with all humility, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love. We’ll not be diligent and find unity in the local church without people with a humble spirit. Where are you investing? Who are you trying to please? Can you say as you leave this place and start your day tomorrow? My goal is to please the Lord. To be his servant, to acknowledge him in prayer when nobody else is around. Because I believe in him. And he is one day going to reward me. And it’s going to be out of this world. Figuratively and literally. Have you set your affections on things above? Are you investing in the things that matter ultimately?

If you’re not a Christian, we encourage you to humble yourself, be submissive to the King, and to enjoy the rewards of serving the risen Savior. If you need to respond, come now as we stand and sing together.