Where is your heart?

Below is the talk I gave at this evening's Ash Wednesday service:


Many of us think about giving something up for Lent. Some of us actually do. Maybe you decide to give up chocolate, or coffee, or meat. Maybe you will skip lunch and instead spend the time reading your Bible or praying. Or, instead of giving up something, you decide to take something on: get up a half hour earlier to pray, read a chapter a day from the Bible, whatever. I think we all would agree that we should do more of something, should pray more, read scripture more, give more to those in need; or we should do less of something, less food, less television, less caffeine.
The question I want us to consider this evening is this: what is our motivation for taking on a Lenten discipline? Why are we doing this? Perhaps there are several motivations. One is because of a desire to be more devoted to God or more intentional about living out the Christian life, or to nurture your spirit. Maybe there's some guilt you want to alleviate. In other words, you want to prove yourself to God that you are committed. I'm not saying you want to "look good" before God. But you do feel an obligation to let God know you're serious. Maybe there is a little thought to how you appear before others, fulfilling perceived expectations. In other words, since the conventional expectation is for a Christian to take on a spiritual discipline during Lent, you don't want to be seen as a slouch by others. You want to fulfill the expectation, to show others that you're serious, that you are a committed Christian because you are taking on something or giving up something.
I want us to probe two of these possible motivations for taking on a spiritual discipline during Lent: one being to show God you are serious, the other being to show others that you are serious. And I want us to consider these two motives in light of this passage from Matthew.
This is a passage that is read just about every Ash Wednesday. It's a familiar part of Jesus' sermon on the mount. There is a formula in this passage. You have the hypocrites, who are the Pharisees, who do their pious acts in public for everyone to see how pious they are. They get their reward, the applause and admiration of others. But then you have the alternative, to do your pious acts in secret, and God, who sees what you do, will reward you in heaven.
I want to push this a little farther. First, on the issue of giving help to the needy in public or in secret. Let's ask a practical question. If you see someone in need, and you have the capacity to help them, but the person is out in public for all to see, what should you do? Should you try to help them on the sly, hoping no one sees you? Or do you not take the chance and just walk on by, regretting that it's not possible for you to help this person in a private way? Why would you refuse to help a person, just because someone might see you? Why limit yourself to only helping people in a private, anonymous way? Do you see what I'm getting at? Is it the technique that Jesus is challenging, or is it the motivation of the one who is giving?
I mean, in reality, it's more likely that someone will see you when you help someone in need, at the minimum, the person who you are helping. Helping others in need is generally a public act, not a private one. So, is the issue really about helping others in public, or is it a matter of motivation? I say, Jesus is not challenging helping others in public, but in one's motivation for doing so.
Part of this is because Jesus chooses to refer to the Pharisees as hypocrites. A hypocrite is someone who wears a mask, so that they appear to others one way, but in truth they are something else. Here, the Pharisees appear as compassionate and merciful to those in need. But in reality, they are exploiting the needy person to promote themselves before others. They are objectifying the needy person. They really don't care about the person, they really aren't compassionate and merciful. Instead, they see the needy as an opportunity to promote themselves. In reality, they are not full of compassion, but of vanity. Their external appearance is not consistent with their internal motive.
On the other hand, the person who helps without making a show of it, without letting the right hand know what the left is doing, or, in the words of Hampton Keathley, "when you give with your right hand, don't wave your left hand in the air," there is obviously a lack of concern about how you appear before others. Your motive is not to look good before others, it is not to exploit the needy to promote yourself before the eyes of others. You aren't thinking about getting the approval and applause of others, just helping is a good enough reward for you. And when the person says "thank you", you humbly reply, "glad I can help, don't worry about it, good luck." This all sounds good.
But, let me ask another question. When you help another person, are you mindful that God is watching you? Does the thought come to your mind that God is watching, so you should help this person? Do you think about earning another star in your crown, or proving again to God how good and sincere you are? Are you hoping that God noticed what you just did? If that is the case, then how is your motive much different from the hypocritical Pharisee? In this case, the needy person is being objectified again. Helping the other person is seen as an opportunity to "look good" before God, to prove to God that you are committed, and hopefully will be repaid accordingly when you get to heaven. The needy person is a means for your own promotion, not before others, but before God. That doesn't seem right. Can it be that helping another person with your eye on whether God sees you or not is just as sinful as helping another with your eye on whether others see you? Is it two sides of the same thing? Is not both motives essentially focused on self-vanity, concern either with how you appear before others or before God, a different audience, but the same motive, how you appear?
Think about this. Why do we take on spiritual disciplines at Lent? Is it to show others how sincere we are? Is it to show God how sincere we are? What is motivating us to show our sincerity? Are we that concerned with how others see us, or even how God sees us? Is there an alternative motive, of taking on spiritual disciplines without regard for what others see of us or even what God sees of us? Can we take on spiritual disciplines, help the needy, pray, fast, with no concern for what others think or even what God thinks about what we are doing? Is it possible to take on spiritual disciplines, with no regard for yourself?
Jesus gets at this dynamic of not being mindful of yourself, how you appear before others and God in Matthew 25. There, Jesus welcomes in those who fed him, and clothed him, and visited him, for they did it to the least of these. And they did not know they had done it to Jesus. I would suggest that they were not thinking about how they appeared before others, nor did they have in mind, "Hey, we're helping Jesus here!" No, they simply saw a person in need and helped them. Period. No thought about how that made them look before God and others. They just helped.
So, I ask the question again. What is our motivation for taking on spiritual disciplines in Lent? Can we honestly claim that we just do it, for no other reason than just we can? We're not thinking about how we might appear before others. We're not thinking about how we might appear before God. We are just doing it, because we can. We are helping others, because we can. We are getting up earlier to pray and read scripture, because we can. We are fasting, because we can.
I submit to you that this attitude, of living the Christian life, not for the sake of appearance before others, or to prove your sincerity before God, but just because you can, is a freeing attitude. It is not self-conscious at all. Instead, it is courageous, confident, and empowering. It is applying the truth about who you are. You are a child of God. You are a Christian. So, you live like one. You don't have to prove to anyone that you are a Smith, or an Orr, or a Brown. This is who you are. It's your name. You are a child of God. You shouldn't worry what others think of you, other's opinions don't change the fact that you are a child of God. You don't earn the right or privilege to be a child of God, for God has made you His child. You simply are. So, live like it. Be who you are. Take authority as a child of God to live like a child of God. You don't have to prove yourself to anyone or to God. Let me say it again, you have nothing to prove. That is an attitude that is freeing and empowering.
The last part of this passage is the proverb that Jesus quotes, "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Where is your treasure? There you will find your heart, your mind. Is your treasure locked up in a box? A literal box with a key where you have laid aside money, awards, plaques, degrees? Is it locked up in a box of imposed expectations, of narrow piety, and closed ideas and possibilities? If so, your heart and your mind are locked up in a box.
But what if your treasure is in heaven? What if your reward is a deferred payment? You aren't going to see it, it's out of sight and out of mind, it's some hoped for thing, that you just have faith that you will receive? You aren't thinking about it. It's just not factoring in to what your doing in your life. If that's the case, then your heart and mind are not locked up in a box, but in a wide open space, like heaven. You are free to just live your life, with no thought of what you might get, what reward you might receive, what accolades and admiration might come your way. You're just living your life as a child of God. That's it.
I invite us to give up something for Lent. I invite us to give up self-regard. I invite us to give up thinking about ourselves, particularly how you appear before others or even before God. I invite us to give up preconceived or externally imposed notions of what a good, sincere Christian does. I invite us to give up our locked boxes, and instead to step out into a wider space, to allow the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts and actions, our decisions and behaviors, and to simply live our lives with no regard for ourselves. I invite us, in fact, to die to ourselves, and discover new life in Christ.

Yes We Can

This link was sent to me and I enjoyed the video, particularly the star power.

Kevin

http://my.barackobama.com/yeswecan