Sermon for Ash Wednesday by Canon James Juhari

The Sermon on Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21

Tonight, as we begin our observation of Lent, I want to talk about one temptation that we may not even consider as temptation. It is the temptation to be people-pleasers: to make other people to think good about us.    

The problem that can come about when we always want to please other people is that it can make it hard for us to overcome peer pressure or to say “no” to anyone because we fear they may not like us. We shall always wonder what people will say, what people will think, how people will respond if we say “no”. It is hard to live a life that is dependent on what other people think of us. When people approve us, we are up, but when someone is upset with us we are devastated.   

When it comes to spiritual life, it creates even more serious problem for us. For example, tonight as we begin our service, we find ourselves being confronted with the First Commandment: “I am the Lord your God: you shall have no other gods but Me. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength”. If we are very concerned about what people think, instead of seeking God’s approval, it is hard to love God as He demanded us.  

That is why we need to pay attention to Jesus’ words that encourage us to seek only God’s approval. Let us first look at Matthew 6:1, which is a warning against self-promotion. It says, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”  

We all instinctively want to be liked. From the time we are born we until we reach our adulthood, we want approval and attention. Little children like to receive praise. Young people want to be popular among their friends. As adults we also worry about people’s approval. So we have to keep up our image in order to get the approval.     

 We care what people think of us and that is not altogether bad. In fact the Bible teaches us to show good examples and be sensitive to our witness to others. You read Matthew 5:16 and you hear this“… let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” 

What is the problem really? The problem with people who aim to please others is they become overly concerned with what other people think. Jesus’ warning in this passage is not about the danger of doing evil but about the danger of doing good just to impress people. He is talking about our motive in doing good.  

So, it is the self-centeredness of it all that Jesus warns against. It is the question of why we do what we do. Jesus wants us to do good but not with the intention of wanting other people to notice our goodness. And there are a few good reasons why Jesus tells us not to please people and why we should not worry about pleasing other people.  

First, people are fickle. They can applaud you one minute and condemn you the next. The fact is that we can’t please people because we humans are so inconsistent in both praise and condemnation. Also, when we worry about what people will think, we restrict ourselves. I cannot preach anything if I am worried about what you think of me.       

Second, most people don’t really care about us as much as we like to think. That is the truth. So why do we need to spend so much time worrying about someone else’s opinion when they really don’t notice?  

Third, the most popular people are those who don’t try to please others. It is kind of a paradox that made Jesus that drew people to Jesus. Jesus attracted crowd of people to Himself because He was not very concerned about the opinions of people. In fact one of the people who tried to trap him said to Jesus in Matthew 22:16: “We know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are”. 

Fourth, in the end only God’s evaluation matters. In John 5:30 Jesus says: “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” James 4:12 says, “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.” Paul says in Galatians 1:10, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? …If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

In our reading today, Jesus pointed out three religious things that we do, which can be both beneficial and meaningless - depending on why we do them: i,e, when we give, when we pray, and when we fast.   

In Matthew 6:2-4a Jesus said, “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets…” In another incident in Mark 12: 41 we read: “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.” On both occasions Jesus was commenting about giving just to show-off.

We do not have good examples in ancient literature of people actually announcing their giving with the sound of a trumpet. It may be what Jesus had in mind was the gifts given during feast times, which were signaled by the blast of a trumpet. And people might use these occasions to show off. 

However, in the Jewish system of worship, people put in their offerings in metal treasury boxes which were set outside the worship area. Money was in forms of coins and they made loud clanging noises as they were being put into the metal boxes. The rich people were making use of the occasion to show off how rich and generous they were. Hence, Jesus raised the issue by saying: “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”  

How are we to give then? Jesus isn’t telling us that we shouldn’t keep track of what we give for income tax purposes. He is not saying that it is wrong to write out your name on the envelope of your offerings or write out cheque because someone is going to find out. It simply means that when we give, we should “give and forget”. Be satisfied with having no one know what you give but God. When you help someone out, just do it quietly. 

I also believe that Jesus was not just criticising the givers, but the very system of giving used at the house of worship itself, which encouraged show-offs. What about giving during church’s fund-raising dinner, when the names of donors and the amount given are often announced? We cannot stop people who want to give for personal publicity and honour. Jesus said they have received their rewards. But, if you want your giving to be just between you and God, you can give anonymously. In that way, you receive your reward from your heavenly Father. 

The second issue is on how we are to pray: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full”.  (Matthew 6:5).

How do we pray like hypocrites? It is praying so that we are seen and heard by others who are not praying with us. What we are now doing in Church on Sunday is public worship, where we do things together, and we can see what each other is doing. But if we are using loudspeakers to broadcast out what are doing inside in church to the public outside, we are praying like hyprocrites. However, if we are conducting an evangelistic rally in stadiums or procession in the streets, or broadcasting our service online, it is a different matter. We are doing it not to draw attention to ourselves; we are trying to show Jesus to the world. The online services are for the purpose of inviting other worshippers to join us. What about if you meet a friend in the street, who is desperate: is it right to pray for him in public? I believe in that case you can take the person to a more secluded place where you can pray quietly. What about saying grace before you eat at kopitiam? There is nothing wrong with it, if it is done quietly without drawing people’s attention. The important thing is the intention of your heart when you pray.  

Jesus also speaks about fasting: “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting.”  

What is fasting? Quite simply, fasting is abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. Fasting is different from dieting, which is a tool to lose weight. Fasting is the practice of losing ourselves in God. There are a couple of ways fasting shows up in the Bible: 

Fasting is one of the means when a person or group of people wanted to seek God for some particular direction or blessing. The Bible have few stories about people who fasted when they were faced with a major decision, or a major crisis, in order to concentrate more fully on prayer. Esther, before she approached the king to plead for the lives of the Jews, urged Mordecai to gather the Jews and have them fast while she and her maids did the same (Esther 4:16). Ezra and the Israelites fasted to seek God’s protection before their return from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezra 8). Jesus fasted for 40 days immediately before his public ministry began (Matthew 4:2). The church of Antioch fasted before sending Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:3). And Acts 14:23 says, Paul and Barnabas themselves fasted before appointing new elders in every new church they planted. 

Fasting is also an expression of sorrowful turning from sin. In Joel 2:12 we read, “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” That is the language of repentance. Repentance is accompanied by abstaining from food. In Acts 9 tells us that after Paul (at that time still called Saul) met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he fasted for three days, as a sign of his repentance from sin.

But do we still need to fast today? In Matthew 9 when Jesus was questioned by John’s disciples about why His disciples did not fast, He said, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is still with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast…” (Matthew 9:15). Jesus made it clear that He expected His disciples to fast after He was physically gone. Jesus Himself fasted, and His instruction about fasting implies that He expected us to continue the practice. Yes, fasting is still legitimate today.  

How do Christians fast? In verse 17 Jesus says, “But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you”. 

When the Pharisees fasted they made it as obvious as possible. They smeared ashes on their faces, so that people could see their pain. Tonight, we have the ashes put on our foreheards as sign of our repentance before God. It is supposed to be private matter between us and God. It is not for show. So, I don’t encourage you to take photo of yourself and post it on your social media.  

The church does not have strick and well-defined rules on how you should fast. But there are few ways you can fast during Lent. First, it is important to remember that Christian fast is nothing like how fasting is generally practised in Malaysia. Christian fasting is not eating nothing during daytime and eating as much as you like at night. The 40-day period of Lent is not about food and religious rules. But fasting is part of the observation of Lent because we believe that it can help us to put our focus on God.

How you fast is up to you. You can have total fasting on certain days of the week (e.g. Wednesdays and Fridays); or partial fasting everyday of the week (e.g. not taking lunch or snacks); or abstaining from your favourite food and drinks, or simply eating less. And while you do it, you keep your business as usual, without telling people you are fasting. But, the most important thing to remember is the fact that in the Bible, the words prayer and fasting often go together. This does not mean that whenever we pray we have to fast. But it does suggest that when we fast, we certainly need to pray.   

The important lesson for today is the fact that our God is not just concerned with us doing the right thing: we must do the right right thing with the right motive. We are not to carry out our religious practices in order to impress other people or because it makes us feel good about ourselves. Every good thing has its own reward: if your good work is for your personal publicity, the people’s praise is your reward. We, however, are only to seek the approval of our Heavenly Father. Because in the end, it is only God’s favour that matters.