Our Righteousness – Right or Wrong?

Introduction

I just want to take a few brief moments to give introduction to our speaker this morning. And as a way of explanation to our guests, this is a congregation in transition where we are seeking another man to come work with us full time. And we’ve been in that search for a little while now, and some short time ago, uh David Norfleet’s name came to our attention. He came highly recommended. And uh after hearing of his name and his qualifications, we sought to learn more about him. We brought him down, and the elders visited with him, and we’re greatly impressed with several things about him. He’s a hard worker. He’s an earnest and diligent student of the Bible. He has worked very hard, and I think you’ll find that he’s not a um a thunderous preacher.

His is not the fiery rhetoric of some. But it is an earnest, gentle, powerful presentation of God’s word that will come and pierce your hearts. We have been impressed with him. We have found that he has learned a great deal of the Bible and has been able to develop and has possesses the skills that we think would serve us well. But we brought him here so that you could meet him and he could meet you, and he brought his family with him too, so that we can meet them all, and they could meet us. So we pray that you will be listening attentively to the things that he presents and visit with him, and I hope you take took advantage of the opportunities we presented this weekend.

And after words this coming week, please let us know what you think. This is a mirror of sorts, you might think. We are joined together in the work in the kingdom. And uh we are looking to David to possibly join that family, and he is thinking about that too. So, with that, I will give her the bulk of the time to David to bring us the Word of God. As I mentioned earlier in our time together, I want to also repeat those words and express our words of thanks on behalf of NLR and my family for the invitation to come and spend some time with you this weekend. It is a pleasure to get to know God’s people. No finer people exist on this earth except those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ.

And so it has been a privilege to get to know you in some small way. And I’m also grateful that I was able to worship with you today, to share in this offering of worship to the one who made us and who sought to redeem us or reconcile himself reconcile us to him. And if you’re visiting here, has already been mentioned.

We are excited to tell you about our God, the one we serve, the one who we owe everything to. And we’re thankful that you’re interested in the things of God. This morning or in this lesson of this hour, I want to begin by a qu by introducing it by looking at a question together.

And the question is do we love God? Do we truly love God? Or do we merely love the idea of loving God? When I first read that question myself, when I first ran across it, I had to scratch my head a while. I was like, what is the point? I mean, this question has to do with motivation, doesn’t it? Why we do the things that we do. And I found this question quite strange, quite perplexing, because I had to ask myself, why would people engage in activity, often expending a great deal of energy, making sacrifice, if they didn’t love God. If they weren’t truly focused on God, why would people do some of the things that they do? And then I’d remind myself of my own heart.

1. A Busy Church That Left Its First Love

That in Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 9, the prophet Jeremiah makes a comment about all men’s hearts, that it is a deceitful place. Then times we just deceive ourselves into thinking that we may love God by just the things that we do instead of our devotion to him. The scripture quickly makes it clear that as you consider people’s motivations throughout time, that often their motivations were impure, despite the fact that they were very busy. Despite the fact that they were sacrificing, despite the fact that they were trying to add things to their lives, their motivations were not the purest. The fact of the matter is, if you look, if we’ll just look at a few examples together in Revelation chapter 2. As the book of Revelation opens, we’re introduced to these series of letters that are pinned really by our Lord to seven churches that are scattered throughout Asia Minor.

And in those letters, he details both positive and negative things. But notice with me, if you will, Revelation chapter 2, beginning in verse 1, the letter he pins to the church at Ephesus. Notice what he says. He says to the angel of the church in Ephesus right, the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands. He says this.

And you have perseverance, and you have endured for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you. You have left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen and repent, and be the deeds you did at first, or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. Yet you do that do have, yet this you do have, that you hate the beads of Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. When we think about the church and the saints that make up that congregation in the city of Ephesus, I do not believe.

I think that we know the most about them than any other church. We know of their beginnings and how so full of zeal for the Lord they built that great bonfire of all the occult materials that they have previously had in their lives. We know the persecution they underwent when Demetrius the silversmith would rise up. We know the warnings that the apostle Paul gave to the elders while they’re in Meletus to the church at Ephesus, and he said, There are going to be wolves that are going to be arise, even among your own souls, beyond God. And then we have the epistle to the Ephesians, and we think about all the times that Paul reminds them to walk worthy of their calling. Walk warily, walk in love in Ephesians chapter 5.

And yet we come to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 2, we see a church that’s busy. Right? I mean, just notice some of the things that Jesus says. I know your deeds, and I know your toil. The word toil really is the kind of idea, the sweat of your brow, your persistent efforts. These aren’t lazy people. They’re toil. He says, I know that. And I know your perseverance, your stick to itness. I know how you endure. Go on and look at what they do. You will not tolerate even men. You hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. And you put to test those who would call themselves apostles. It’s a busy church, active in the service to the Lord. And they did all this, putting themselves out there, putting themselves to risk, expending energy, sacrificing.

But what does Jesus say about them? But you have, I have this against you. You’ve left your first love. Now he doesn’t explain what that is. But I don’t think it takes a great deal of insight into the scriptures to come to the conclusion that he’s probably talking about the relationship and attitude toward God. And their attitude toward their Savior, their Lord. Again, I mentioned earlier in Ephesians chapter 5, he urges the saints at Ephesus to walk in love as Christ has shown you how to walk. Their attitude toward Christ, so everything they were involved in, it wasn’t because of their love for God. Isn’t that strange? It wasn’t directed by that. They were just merely being busy. They loved the idea of being in love with God.

2. Was It Actually for Me That You Fasted?

Maybe more than love for God for themselves. Turn with me, if you will, back to an Old Testament example in Zechariah chapter 7. Zephaniah, Zachariah, Malachi, the second to the last book of the Old Testament. Zechariah chapter 7. And just notice this question that some from the town of Bethel came to ask God’s prophet. Notice, if you will, verse 1. In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zachariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Kizlev. And I mean, that’s around December, December 7th. I mean, I believe as they reckon time, somewhere around 578 B.C., this group came. It says, now the town of Bethel had sent Shareser and Regimoac and their men to seek the favor of the Lord, speaking to the priest who belonged to the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets saying, Shall I weep in the fifth month and abstain as I have done these many years?

That’s the question. These men, this delegation sent from this town, they came to ask of the prophet of the Lord, shall we continue to fast as we have done these many years? Seems like a legitimate question, right? You know, because things are changing, because we have the promises of God and we’re returning from captivity, should we continue to fast as we always have? Now I want you to understand the motivation of that question. The question was, can we do less? That’s not the question. Do we have to do this? Is it right for us to keep doing that? Is the motivation of the question. They wanted to do something in the Lord’s name. But notice the response I think is interesting. Let’s begin in verse 4.

It says, Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, Say to all the people of the land and to the priest, when you fasted and when you mourned in the fifth and seventh month these seventy years, was it actually for me that you fasted? That was the first question you wanted to ask them. Was that were you doing this for me? Is that truly why you fasted and mourned these seventy years? You see, the people, other than the days that the Lord had commanded to fast, had instituted a number of national fasts in addition to the Day of Atonement. They fasted over the when the temple was burned. They fasted when Gedalia, one of the governors, were was assassinated. They just had a number of fasts that they began to include in their lives, and God asked the question, were you doing that for me?

And I want you to understand what’s at the heart of that question. What’s at the heart of that question is that is the supposition that I command this? Or is this something you made up on your own? That’s the first counter question that the Lord asked these delegation. Pick up in verse 5. So send to all the people of the land and to the priest. When you fasted, and we’re reading this again to the priest, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month these 70 years, was it actually for me that you fasted? When you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves? Are these not, are not these the words which the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets?

When Jerusalem is inhabited and prosperous along with its cities around it, and the Negab and the foothills were inhabited. Now, think about those last two points in verses six and seven. He says, When you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves? So that’s the counterpoint to this question by this delegation. Isn’t what you do centered on man? That’s really the thought of that statement. Is it truly focused on God or is it for your own benefit? And then in verse 7, God directs them back to what? To what he had spoken. He had told them what he required. He had told them how to honor him.

3. Fasting So They Can Obligate God to Act

The question was tied up into serving themselves. Did they truly love God? Or did they truly just on merely love the idea of loving God? Turn with me, if you will, over to Isaiah chapter 58. Another, if you will, example, I believe, in this text of this kind. Isaiah 58.

Just a word about this chapter, Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58 is really formatted as a dialogue between God and his people. So you’ve got to pay attention who’s speaking. Is it the Lord speaking or is it the people? So it’s shaped in the form of a dialogue. So if you’ll notice, let’s begin in verses 1 and 2. It says, Cry loudly, the Lord says.

Let’s stop there. Just from that one verse alone, we kind of get it, would seem or would probably project how this chapter is going to go. God is talking about a people who are filled with transgression. He’s going to talk to them about their sins. Now notice verse 2. It says, yet they seek me day by day and delight to know my ways, as a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask me for just decisions. They delight in the nearness of God. Those two verses don’t seem to go together, do they? In verse 2, he talks about all the things that the people of God were doing. Notice again, he says, they seek me day by day.

They delight to know my ways. They’ve done righteousness. They have not forsaken the ordinance of God. But yet in verse 1, God says, proclaim aloud their transgression and their sin. Those two things don’t seem to go together. What’s up with that? Notice verse 3. It’s the people speaking. It’s the people’s response to God. It says, Why have we fasted and you do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and you do not notice? Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire and drive hard all your workers. We begin to see a little bit of the motivation of the people. They ask a question of God. When we fasted, why didn’t you see? Why didn’t you notice us? Why didn’t you take note of us?

Why didn’t you respond? And I tell you, when you ask that kind of question, at least as this text in phones, it reveals why they’re fasting in the first place. It’s not, they’re not fasting because they’re mourning. They’re not fasting because they’re saddened by national sin. They’re fasting so they can obligate God to act for them. And not only that, did you notice in the latter part of verse 3? They not only were doing religious activity in one sphere of their lives, but in the other sphere of their lives, they would drive hard all their workers. It would be like, just to kind of put it in our modern-day vernacular in terms that we might understand. People who would come on the Lord’s day to offer worship to him, but on Monday, they cheat and they steal and they rob.

There’s two spheres of their lives. There’s two areas of their lives. And he says, that’s that’s that’s what I’m proclaiming against. Notice what the Lord says in verse 4. He says, Behold, you fast for contention and strife and strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast like this which I choose? A day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Would you call this a fast even an acceptable day to the Lord? Is this not the fast which I choose? To loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke.

Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless and poor into the house when you see them naked to cover him and not to hide yourself with your own flesh? He says, Isn’t that the kind of fast I dec desire, says the Lord? I desire fasting, I desire sacrifice. I desire people who have wholly given their lives to me, and that’s how you show yourself to love me. People who say all of their life belongs to me. Did these people truly love God? Or did they love just merely the idea of loving him? Because the fact of the matter is, again, see what they’re doing. They’re fasting. I don’t know how many in you have ever fasted in here, and I I’m not asking for you to raise your hands.

But fasting is not an easy act of worship to God. It’s not an easy ask, uh uh act. Whether it is because of personal sins or your mourning or trying to increase the focus of your prayers. It involves depriving yourself of something for some period of time. Food and water, however long you decide to fast. In their day and age, it would probably involve a change of clothing, a garment, something itchy and scratchy, putting on a bowlap sack, if you will. It might involve renting or tearing your clothes, their primary garments. It might even have involved setting in ashes. It was they were doing something. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t motivated out of a love for God. They said if we do this, God will notice, maybe, and then he’ll do something for us.

4. Practicing Your Righteousness Before Men

Those are three examples I’d ask you to consider, but I think maybe the most indicating along this line, and one we’re maybe more familiar with is found over in the book of Matthew. In Matthew chapter six. In this midst of the Sermon on the Mount, as we often recognize this section of Scripture. It’s a longest reading, but I’d ask you to bear with me. Because in a light, it’s about people who are doing religious things for all the wrong reasons. Not because they love God, but for some other reason in their heart that they would act the way they do. Jesus warns, beginning in verse 1 of Matthew chapter 6, he says, Beware of practicing your righteousness before men, to be noticed by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have the reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret, and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have the reward in full. But when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose they will be heard for their many words. So don’t be like them. But your father who knows what you need before you ask him. Pray them in this way. Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us, do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others, then your father will not forgive your transgressions. Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have the reward in full, but you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your father who’s in secret, and your father who sees what is done in secret. Reward you. Jesus, I believe, in this text points to really three areas of our lives. There are three areas of worship or righteousness or devotion. We might call these, first of all, service. When you begin in verse 2, when you give to the poor, an action of love, when you serve others.

When you go down into verse 5, when you pray, we might call that worship, whether it is private worship in your homes or publicly. And then I’ll just call the last one in verse 16 when you fast, an act of devotion to God. He mentions three different areas where people are actively serving God, but every one of these areas in this warning, they’re doing it for the wrong reasons. Do you see that? The first one he mentions here is that they do it so that they will be seen by others. And that’s what the most oft repeated, verse 1, before men, verse 2 by men, verse 5 by men. And on down through the text it goes.

I think we’ve heard this section of scripture talked about enough that we know that to be an improper motivation. But I tell you, that’s a little harder than we first think about it. Because back in Matthew chapter 5, we are to be seen by men. We are that city. We are that light. But here yet in chapter 6, he says, don’t act in such a way you’ll be noticed by men. So how do we reconcile those two texts? I bet we reconcile the two texts centered by the idea of what is our motivation for acting. Are we acting so people will see me? Are we acting so people will see God? If they’re acting for people to notice me in my actions, so that people will applaud me, so that people will give me a slap on the back so that I will receive notoriety, then our righteousness is done for the improper reasons, and we’re not expressing a love for God, but rather a love for self.

The second, we might just simply call this idea, is we act in such a way so that for ourselves. Did you notice in verse 3? We often use this phrase, but when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Sometimes we act, we even worship, we even do religious service so we can get a benefit out of it. I do it so I feel good about myself. I serve you so I can feel good about myself. I serve you and I worship God so that I can feel a sense of pride because of what I do. Jesus says, You’re not loving God for that. You’re not righteously serving Him for that. If that’s your motivation, then you better be satisfied with it.

Because you will receive no reward from your Father in heaven. And finally, he even points to people serving God for the improper reasons, even when they’re thinking about God. Did you notice again in verse 16 he brings up this idea of fasting again? And sacrificing and giving of yourself and giving up something for the sake of God? Why? He says, verse 18, so that your fasting will be motivated by God, who excuse me, so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your father who’s in secret, and your father who is done, he sees what is done in secret will reward you. That very last phrase.

Every good and perfect gift comes down from above. But if we start serving him with a mercenary attitude that if I just serve him enough, I’m just going to get a little bit more.

5. Because God Is a Loving Father

Us here this morning. Why did you come this morning? Why did I come this morning? Why did I choose to stand up and preach this morning? Why did I give this morning? Why did I sing this morning? Why did I pray this morning? Is it because of everything that He has done for me? Did you notice all throughout Matthew chapter 6 when we read it, the number of different times the word Father came up? That’s why we do what we do, hopefully. Is because we recognize that God is a loving Father who has done so much for us. And even though I owe it, I act out of a sense of gratitude because he has adopted me into his family. I have received the adoption of sons.

And my favorite, I mean, it’s my favorite passage to quote. The apostle Paul says, Therefore, brethren, I urge you, I beg you, I implore you by what? By the mercies of God, by considering how God has acted on your behalf. He talked about earlier in Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, how God acted while we were still enemies, still hostile to him. He says, brethren, I implore you by the mercies of God, the manifold mercies of God, to do what? To present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice. I mean, that’s what he implores us. He says, act because God first acted, and you recognize that, and you love him, and you want to serve him. The question that I asked at the beginning of the class was not my question to begin with, but it was a question asked to force us to examine our own motivation.

Conclusion

Do we serve because we love him? Or we serve him because we’re grateful to him. We owe him whether we feel that way or not. He is the creator and we are the creature. But over and over again, the New Testament implores us to act because of what he has done for us. And I just ask you, as I ask myself, why I do the things that I do in his name. Do you truly love God? Or do you merely love the idea of loving God? That’s the thoughts I prepared to share with you in this morning’s lesson. And I hope you’ll find them of benefit. And I ask you to reflect upon them and if there’s value or truth to apply them in your lives.

But before we dismiss this assembly this morning, we want to make sure everyone in our hearing knows about the invitation of heaven. God has made it possible that you can be forgiven and reconciled to him. And the question is, how? Well, I’ll tell you how. It’s through the blood of his son, who came and died upon a cross, who was buried, and who arose. And this day, if you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the one who took on flesh and tabernacled amongst us, if you believe that and you’re willing to confess him as Lord, not just a simple saying, but say he will be my Lord, the one I will follow, no one else. If you’re willing to today to repent of your sins as you’re confronted with them, then this day you can be immersed in water, into the likeness of his death, and be forgiven of your sins.

If you have a need that the gospel will answer, please come as we consider the words of these songs, this song as we sing to one another. Thank you.