[Jesus said] be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

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. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 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.

–Matthew 6.1-2, 5-6, 16-18 (NIV)

You have to love Jesus. Never one to be really concerned about outward appearances and certainly not impressed by human showboating and sham (just check out Matthew 23 if you don’t believe me), our Lord always cuts to the chase and tells us to be concerned most  about our inward motivations and desires. Why? Because we are thoroughly corrupted by our fallen nature. It is the sad and devastating effect of the Fall.

For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person (Mark 7.21-23).

In today’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds us to be vigilant about who it is we are really serving because in the Kingdom’s economy, it is never about outward appearances but rather about who’s your Daddy.

Notice in these passages (I used some from yesterday’s lectionary as well as today’s), our Lord tells us to examine our motives for doing what we doing. Who is it we want to impress? Do we want the praise of our fellow humans or do we want God’s praise? Do we want to advance our own shabby personal little kingdoms or do we want God to have all the glory? How we answer these questions makes all the difference in God’s economy. He is not at all interested in our efforts of self-aggrandizement because they must result in our continuing alienation and separation from him, and that is heartbreaking to our Lord. Instead, God is interested in us recognizing who our real Daddy is (helpful hint: it ain’t us or our futile agendas) so that we can begin to really live.

Notice too that Jesus throughout assumes that we are engaging in spiritual disciplines and doing acts of righteousness. He doesn’t say if you pray or if you give to the poor or if you fast. No, he says when you pray or fast or give to the poor, then do it for God’s glory because you love him and want to obey him. Do it because you realize, albeit imperfectly, the great gift you have been given in the cross of Jesus.

When our motives are right and our heart (in biblical terms heart refers to both mind and emotions–it is our core personality) is in the right place, we will also discover how tremendously freeing it is for us. We no longer have to worry about being a slave to what others think. We won’t be marching to the tune of some other drummer, tunes that are almost always fickle and transient (what have you done for me lately?).

But when our heart is fixed on loving and serving God, and being obedient to him, we never have to worry about whether our efforts are pleasing in his sight because we know they always are. If you doubt this, read again (or for the first time) the story of the widow’s offering. God’s heart is wonderfully beneficent and gracious, and he never, ever rejects that which we offer to him out of love and a desire to please him.

Now can God use our gifts and works even if he is not the Daddy we are trying to serve? Can he use our shows of ostentation to bring about good? Of course he can. But that begs the real issue here: Who’s your Daddy? If you care at all about living a life of purpose and meaning, you perforce must answer this question. If your daddy is the things of this world and popular opinion and praise, you will ultimately end up being terribly disappointed because people and their praise are quite fickle and even if they are not, they must ultimately die. We cannot find real meaning to life through self-absorbed navel gazing or self-serving behavior. If you don’t believe me, take a peek at the sad spectacle of Charlie Sheen and ask yourself if you’d like to be in his shoes.

On the other hand, if you set your mind and heart on loving and enjoying the One who created you and gave himself for you in a terrible and costly act because he wants you to live and enjoy life as he intends for it to be lived, you will not ultimately be disappointed because God does not change nor does he die. When you engage in the spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting, you are taking on the necessary fuel to go out and allow God to use you to help him bring about his Kingdom here on earth. This doesn’t mean you will not experience setbacks, failures, and/or heartache and disappointments. You will. In fact, Jesus reminds us that the world will hate you because you love him (John 15.17-19). But ask yourself this. Who can give you life and raise you from the dead? Who can promise you the hope of New Creation? Only God can do that because only God is our true Daddy.

If you are calling someone or something other than God “daddy” and acting like it, do yourself a favor and let God’s light shine on you. Take the plunge and ask Jesus to help you reorient your focus in life so that it looks outward toward God and people instead of inwardly on yourself. It will be the best decision you have ever made in your life because you will begin to realize how wonderful your real Daddy is and what a joy and purpose there is in serving him by serving others.