Removing the Buttons Part Seven - Secret Righteousness

As a weekly Sunday School teacher, I have a few "favorite" truths that my girls have heard over and over and over: 

If you love God, you obey Him.

Be weird.

Speak Truth.

And one of my all-time favorites: no secrets unless you know you'll be sharing it with balloons, a cake, and a bunch of people jumping out of a hiding place yelling, "Surprise!" Keeping sin a secret is a prime dwelling place for Satan. So you should have no secrets in your life. (Surprise parties are the exception :)) 

But I'm going to have to add to that truth about keeping secrets, because today's passage from the Sermon on the Mount actually tells us to keep secrets:

"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them....When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you....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, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men 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 6:1-18, various verses).

Acts of righteousness are to be done in secret.

Righteousness is a pretty simple concept: a person is declared righteous only if he/she is right before God. It takes faith to be righteous (Genesis 15:6). And we are righteous only because the blood of Christ makes us righteous. Nothing we do can make us righteous.

But we can choose to act in certain ways because God has declared us righteous because of our faith in Jesus' death and resurrection. 

Those would be our 'acts of righteousness.'

The verses above talked about giving to the needy, praying, and fasting. But there are so many more acts of righteousness that we should be doing every day: loving the kid that nobody else likes; sharing our food, our money, our time; spending time reading, applying, and memorizing God's word; looking for ways to love someone just because Jesus would.

In secret.

Because we aren't doing acts of righteousness to appear righteous. 

We're doing acts of righteousness because we are righteous. JESUS alone made us righteous. And we want to do things that show we love Him, we appreciate His sacrifice, and that we truly consider Him our LORD.

You probably noticed that the scripture said, "When you...." Jesus assumed that a follower of Christ would be praying, giving, and fasting. He's not taking away those acts of righteousness; He's making sure it's an act between you and God. Not something we do in front of others.

Now, of course you sometimes pray aloud in a group. Sometimes you give publicly. (How can you put your offering in the plate and no one see?!?!) And sometimes you get someone to help you in your kind acts. But as a general rule, your acts of righteousness are secret.

And God alone is glorified.

You get up early to do that Bible study without complaining about it when you're tired at lunch.

You genuinely befriend the weird kid, not making fun of her behind her back later.

You pay for the person in line behind you in the drive-thru and you make sure you're out of the parking lot when they find out. 

In Jesus' name. 

And...I hope you saw this...GOD. REWARDS. YOU.

You don't get any reward from people; they don't know what's going on. But your Heavenly Father sees it, and He's thrilled, and you get a God-quality reward.

Now it may not come in the form you gave it. (If you leave $5 in an envelope for the needy person in your neighborhood, it doesn't automatically mean you'll magically "find" $5 on your way to school the next day.) But you may know His presence the next time you pray. You may get clarity in a Scripture you've been pondering. You may just spend the rest of the day thanking God for all your blessings and the amazing peace that comes from being Jesus to others.

Which so, so, so much more of a reward than you could get from any person. 

I dare you to try some secret acts of righteousness today. And I can't wait to hear how God rewards you.

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