Secret Service

FULL SERVICE: *See SERMON ONLY below

SERMON ONLY:

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Questions on Secret Service (Matthew 6:1)

Matt 6:1 “Be especially careful when practicing your righteousness before people, so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. 

1. I took the imagery of the fraud, the imposter, or the hypocrite, as the central thing Jesus was speaking against. Do you remember where the word “hypocrite” comes from?
2. What is the significance of the image and personal experience?
3. How is this related to the superior kind of righteousness which surpasses the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees? (Matt. 5:20)
4. When Matthew talks about our standard as a righteousness of perfection (Matt 5:48), can you see what Jesus is now talking about? 
5. In the story of the husband apologizing for his hypocrisy, she said that “the apology was for me, but you were giving flowers to yourself!” what’s going on? Do you have any other examples of the same principle?
6. We moved on to the analogy of life as an iceberg. Describe the surface. So, what about what’s beneath the surface? Think this through – “what’s beneath the surface fuels what’s above the surface.” Of course, this depends on what’s fueling it, doesn’t it? Give this a little more time and plunge (no pun intended) a little deeper. When the life is fueled by a wrong motive, what happens? What happens next? What happens after that? Now, what about when the life is fueled by God’s grace in the gospel?
7. It’s a sin to attract the glaze of people when the motive is for our glory and honor. But why?
8. I say, “when that gains a foothold it exposes a massive insecurity. It means that we have not found our security in Christ alone.” So, I ask, how does Christ create security in us, and what does that security look like in practice?
9. “In the desperate desire for the spotlight we develop in bondage to another’s perception.” Can you see that? 
10. We fixed our attention on the grace of God as the motive for kingdom righteousness. I said that “we don’t ever have to be captured by the vicious cycle of damage that a false motive enslaves us to.” How does the grace of God revealed in the gospel do that? 
11. Lastly, we landed on Christ’s substitutionary atonement, in that whatever is ours is transferred over to Him (our sin) and whatever is His (forgiveness, accredited righteousness, fellowship with God, a new heart, a new family, and an eternal inheritance, etc, etc) is transferred over to us! I said that “His perfectly detailed righteousness in thought, word and act are accredited to us.” What should that do to the heart? I ask now, will you accept that? Will you glory in that? Can you understand your liberation to be a zealot for good works, in that? Will you now reach out, and with open hands, grasp what can only be accepted by as a free gift?