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The Secret in Secrecy: Embracing Jesus' Counter-Intuitive Teachings

Discover the truth in the paradoxes from Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18, teaching to shift from ostentation to secrecy in godly practices and receive rewards from the Father. Learn how secrecy safeguards against seeking approval and praise from others.

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The Secret in Secrecy: Embracing Jesus' Counter-Intuitive Teachings

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  1. The Secret Is in Secrecy PARADOX Series [5] Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

  2. PARADOX: JESUS’ COUNTER-INTUITIVE TEACHINGS Paradox is truth standing on its head and waving its legs to get our attention. G. K. Chesterton • Paradox #1: “To find your life, you must lose it.” • Paradox #2: “The way up is down.” • Paradox #3: “To meet your needs, don’t seek them first.” • Paradox #4: “The last will be first and the first will be last.” • Paradox #5: “The secret is in secrecy.”

  3. THE DANGERS OF “CRAVING APPROVAL”[AKA. “MANAGING IMPRESSION”] • It creeps into our lives, taking over our motivation subtly. • It disguises itself as good things (even to ourselves), leaving us in denial of it. • It distorts our noble intentions, turning them into ostentation [act of displaying]. • It takes away the very goal of godly practices, pleasing people rather than God.

  4. JESUS’ WAY: A CALL TO SHIFT FROM “OSTENTATION” TO “SECRECY” • IN GIVING: “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.” (vs.3-4) • IN PRAYING: “Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” (v.6) • IN FASTING: “Anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret.” (vs. 17-18) • COMMON THREAD:

  5. DON’T [Ostentation]: "When you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, that they may be praised by others. ” (v.2) "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.” (v.5) "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.” (v.16) WHY NOT? [No More Reward]: “Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” (v.2) “Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” (v.5) “Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” (v.16) DO [Secrecy]: “And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (v.4) “And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (v.6) “And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”(V.18)

  6. JESUS’ WAY: A CALL TO SHIFT FROM “OSTENTATION” TO “SECRECY” • IN GIVING: “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.” (vs.3-4) • IN PRAYING: “Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” (v.6) • IN FASTING: “Anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret.” (vs. 17-18) • COMMON THREAD:

  7. JESUS’ WAY: A CALL TO SHIFT FROM “OSTENTATION” TO “SECRECY” • IN GIVING: “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.” (vs.3-4) • IN PRAYING: “Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” (v.6) • IN FASTING: “Anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret.” (vs. 17-18) • COMMON THREAD: Don’t practice your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven—keep it secret and “your Father who sees in secret” will reward you.

  8. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PRACTICE SECRECY IN DOING GODLY PRACTICES? • It does NOT mean: “And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”(vs.4,6,18) • That secrecy is a better way to impress others. • That communal godly practices are unnecessary and discouraged—e.g., giving/helping as a church or homegroup, corporate prayer meetings, corporate fasting/fasting-chain, etc. • To seek secrecy as an end in itself (no, it is only a means to abstain from craving approval/praise). • To practice secrecy indiscriminately in all situations (no, we are to “show when tempted to hide, and hide when tempted to show” – A. B. Bruce).

  9. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PRACTICE SECRECY IN DOING GODLY PRACTICES? • It MEANS: “And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”(vs.4,6,18) • To say no to our insatiable desire for approval/praise—“to be seen”—by others. • To abstain from causing our good deeds and qualities to be known. • To experience a continuing relationship with God independent of the opinions of others. • To live before an audience of ONE with a heart that “cares for neither praise nor blame” [Thomas à Kempis]. 

  10. Secrecy rightly practiced enables us to place our public relations department entirely in the hands of God. Dallas Willard

  11. HOW CAN WE PRACTICE SECRECY IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE? 1) Come out: of denial and face your insatiable desire for people’s approval & praise. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. (Romans 7:18-19) • To realize the truth that “nothing good dwells in me” is the beginning point of ending the denial within us. • For this reason, it requires us to humble ourselves and bring our hidden motive to the light by confession. • Then, in our brokenness we will vividly see our need for freedom from this craving—to shift from ostentation to secrecy in doing good deeds & godly practices.

  12. Ultimately our only reason for pleasing men around us is that we may please ourselves. Our real desire is not to please others as such; we want to please them because we know that, if we do, they will think better of us. In other words, we are pleasing ourselves and are merely concerned about self-gratification. Martin Lloyd-Jones

  13. HOW CAN WE PRACTICE SECRECY IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE? 2) Be intentional: to practice secrecy when doing good deeds. 26So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:26-27) • How? Begin with a decisionto practice secrecy in your life. • That decision should lead us to some practical ideas of practices in your life (e.g., give/help anonymously, fast a day without telling anyone, find a “secret place” to seek God, love/care for a “difficult person” in secret, etc.) • Then, we will be able to look to our Father who sees in secret and realize that the only thing we lost in practicing secrecy is our insatiable desire for approval & praise!

  14. HOW CAN WE PRACTICE SECRECY IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE? 3) Keep your focus on: pleasing God who sees in secret. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10) • Practicing secrecy helps us to be congruent in our rhetoric and life [behaviors + motives]: to make God’s glory as the ultimate purpose of life (1 Cor. 10:31) • In so doing, we must realize that we cannot please God and people—we must perpetually choose our goal and motive to please God. • Then and only then, we will see the power of the way of Jesus in this—it transforms us and makes us mature who lives freely with God apart from people’s opinions about us.

  15. Why Practice Secrecy? In the discipline of secrecy . . . we abstain from causing our good deeds and qualities to be known. We may even take steps to prevent them from being known . . . We learn to love to be unknown and even to accept misunderstanding without the loss of our peace, joy, or purpose . . . In practice of secrecy, we experience a continuing relationship with God independent of the opinions of others . . . We allow [God] to decide when our deeds will be known and when our light will be noticed… And that love and humility encourages us to see our associates in the best possible light, even to the point of our hoping they will do better and appear better than us. - Dallas Willard

  16. THREE PRACTICAL QUESTIONSFOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE • In what ways can I become more aware of my insatiable desire for approval/praise by others? • What must be changed in my godly practices/good deeds in order to follow Jesus’ way of godly secrecy?  3. What specific thing(s) can I do to practice secrecy in the coming weeks?

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