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Sermon preached at
The American College Chapel
On Feb 5, 2006
Piety
Some good Christian words have gotten a bad reputation. Now they need rehabilitation. A business manager once said that he was going to take some of his employees to church, and by that he meant something like taking some naughty children to Sunday School to mend their shortcomings.
There are also jokes about preachers and preaching and sermons and sermonizing. Quite often the adjective “preachy” is used to criticize a play, movie or book.
After all, these words didn’t get tainted without reason. The words sermon and preaching have gained their shady reputation only because folks have been subjected to many bad, boring, and moralistic sermons resulting in congregations with flaring nostrils as members hide their yawns.
The only way to rehabilitate the words ‘sermon’ and ‘preaching’ is by a regular diet of sermons that are not moralistic and irrelevant, but which find the mark, speaking not so much to us but for us, reflecting God’s great work of bringing order to our confused lives by means of His word.
Another Christian word that needs rehabilitation is “Piety” or “pious”. What does the word “pious” conjure up for you? A nose in the air? A smug-self-righteousness? A religious show-off? Someone who takes his religion too seriously?
I very much regret that the word pious has gotten such an unattractive reputation because as I see it, it is derived from a word that is one of the most beautiful in our theological and religious vocabulary. That word is “Piety”. “Piety” is a beautiful sounding word meant to speak of something equally beautiful in life. “Piety” is a word traditional to us Christians and one we should use instead of “spirituality.” Piety is a state of being that comes from the keeping of life-shaping disciplines that deepen one’s love for God and for God’s work. Yes, it stands for practicing life-shaping disciplines.
So, let’s set aside pre-conceived notions of what it means to be pious and give a fresh hearing to a pious life from the sermon delivered by Jesus in Matthew chapters 5 and 6. Evidently, the word earned a bad reputation even in Jesus’ day and he wants to address a false piety that has given true piety a bad name.
To me the word ‘Piety’ stands for acts of devotion, charity, duty or love. A pious Christian is one whose life-style is inter-woven with such acts of devotion, duty and dedication.
We have already listened to the portion of the Sermon on the Mount taken from the first part of chapter 6 from the Gospel according to St. Matthew. The Revised Standard Version uses “righteousness” instead of “piety”. Let me read again some of those words of Jesus:
“Watch out that you do not do your righteousness in front of other people to be noticed by them; if you do, you won’t have any reward from your Father who is in heaven.
When you give money, don’t even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret; and your Father who sees what happens in secret will reward you.
“And when you pray, don’t be like the phonies; they love to stand praying right out on the streets and at the main intersections so that people may notice them
When you pray, go into your supply-room, lock the door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what happens in secret will reward you.
“When you pray, don’t go on and on like the pagans do, because they think that the more they talk, the more likely they will be heard. Don’t you be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you even ask him.”
“And when you fast, do not be like the ‘performers’ who put on a very pious face. They screw their faces up so that it can be clearly noticed by people that they are fasting. Amen, I tell you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that people won’t notice that you are fasting at all, but only your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Previously in the Sermon on the Mount, in chapter 5, Jesus urged the disciples to “let your light so shine before people that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Don’t hide your faith, in other words, but let it shine in full view, even suffering the persecution that comes from being so open. But now Jesus is telling the disciples not to show off their righteousness in order to be noticed.
The difference has to do with integrity. There should be no disconnection between the inner and outer life. It is hypocritical to be one kind of person in private and another kind of person in public. On the one hand, that means living out your deepest commitments regardless of the consequences. On the other hand, that means not faking one’s faith in public that is not true in private.
The difference can be more sharply defined by where attention in drawn. In chapter 5, Jesus commends good works that draw attention to God. Here in chapter 6 he is condemning good works that draw attention to oneself.
In chapter 5, Jesus didn’t want the church to hide its piety in order to escape risk and persecution: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.” In chapter 6 he doesn’t want one’s faith to become a showing off, a billboard advertising one’s moral superiority. Such an elevation of oneself goes in the opposite direction of the piety that Jesus himself lived. He resisted the temptation to show off when the devil asked him to jump off the Temple and be rescued by angels because his way is down, not up. He goes down into the water at baptism, down to wash the disciples’ feet, down to service of those desperate for a good touch and a helpful word. “Christian good works are not works that set the Christian above others.”
To illustrate proper piety, Jesus offers three examples. Jesus doesn’t mind addressing sensitive subjects head on because his first example has to do with money. Normally, Jesus is concerned about getting money selfishly, but here he is concerned with selfishly giving money away. That sounds like an oxymoron, a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory term appear together, for how can you give money away and be selfish? Well, you can do that by using your generosity to gain personal advantage or glory.
There is nothing wrong with generous people being thanked and being a role model of generosity for others, but there is something fundamentally different between the one who gives to help and the one who gives simply to be noticed and praised. But make no mistake, our Chapel will accept both contributions because in such cases it will leave the judging to God. All gifts are baptized here and used to God’s glory.
Ironically, Jesus doesn’t see anything wrong with giving to receive attention. Only, it is God’s attention we should seek. But if it is only our delight we look for, then we better be satisfied with people’s praise, because that will be our sole reward and, when not praised, our special resentment.
Secondly, Jesus makes the same point with fasting. As a spiritual discipline, fasting invites a hunger that reminds you of your need for God. Perhaps I should not bother addressing this practice though because there are not many of us who participate in this spiritual discipline. It was a common practice in Jesus’ day and some were really good at it; wearing sackcloth and ashes, and facial expressions betraying the pain and sacrifice of skipping meals. But I believe that for some reason, we members of the mainline Churches are content to leave the fasting to the Pentecostalists.
Still, I suggest that there is a similar habit practiced by many today who want the world to notice the sacrifices they make for their children, friends and community. They seek the reward of other’s admiration or sympathy. Jesus would suggest that there is joy in sacrificing for it is a joy of love. But if one’s sacrifices are simply an effort to be impressive before others, then their noticing will be your sole reward… and their not noticing will again be your special resentment.
Between these examples of giving and fasting, Jesus addresses a third act of piety, that is the abuse of a spiritual discipline of which many - probably all of us- are guilty to some degree: the abuse of prayer. "And when you pray,” Jesus says, “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." (Could he have added, "or standing around in front of a mike while the cameras are rolling?") He also said, "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases."
If we took Jesus seriously here, we would hear a massive indictment or accusation of a great deal of prayer offered to God in public places, including the church. Psychologists talk about “triangling” when one tries to work issues out inappropriately through a third party. A lot of triangling prayer goes on in pulpits, as ministers pretend to speak to God but instead unload on the congregation, or use prayer as a disguised attempt to get the congregation do what the minister wants them to do. Prayers are also sometimes attempts to show off one’s verbal dexterity.
That kind of prayer is a blemished sacrifice, a spiritual means used to manipulate others. Such prayers do not speak for the listeners, but rather to the listeners, though they are supposed to be addressed to God.
As an alternative, Jesus tells his listeners to take their prayers before the spiritual alter of God. "When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Jesus is not against public prayer but is against agenda prayers offered to prove something or to demonstrate to the world one’s own special piety, prayers offered with one eye open to see who is noticing. A prayer is not to be a political tool or a disguised sermon, an “intelligence briefing with God; it is to be an intelligent conversation with [God].”[1][1] Sometimes it is simply groaning.
It is at this point that Jesus offers the Lord’s Prayer as a model for selfless prayer. Having told the disciples what not to pray, he does them the favor of putting on their lips a proper prayer. Notice the prayer begins by asking for God’s name to be honored, not one’s own. It asks for God’s kingdom to come and His will be done, with heaven’s priorities dictating what should come to pass on earth. Then come the petitions for daily bread, for the power to forgive, and to be spared from temptation and delivered from evil.
The prayer stretches from heaven to hell; from the will of God in heaven to the temptations here on earth.
We are all capable of good works. We all possess great abilities and talents. And certainly we don’t hesitate to exhibit our feats of good conduct, our generosity in giving something to others and helping people who are in need. But whose attention we are seeking - God’s attention or people’s attention?
Now I want to share with you a secret that is related to this theme of piety. The secret is that secrets shape our lives, and it is their secrecy that gives them the power to shape our lives.
We are good at distorting what Jesus said, especially when we forget the most basic principle that it's a secret that has the power to shape our lives. It is humorously said -
A certain man was coming out
of church one day, and the preacher who was a fairly bold man, was standing at
the door as he always is to shake hands. He grabbed the man by the hand and
pulled him aside and said to him, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!"
The man replied, "I'm already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor."
The Pastor questioned, Then, how come I don't see you except at Christmas and
Easter?"
The man whispered back, "I'm in the secret service."
People use this passage as a justification not to give to the church because then somebody, at least the treasurer comes to know how much he gives. I am sure people have used this Biblical passage as a justification not to attend church or not to pray in public. We are good at distorting what Jesus said.
Jesus is simply saying that our secrets shape our lives. In the area of our passionate spirituality, this is so profoundly true. What we do in secret with our Father in heaven will shape the passion, the excitement, the desire, the growth that we have in our faith like nothing else.
I believe the reward that Jesus is talking about in the passage in Matthew has everything to do with character, courage, power and passion.
In contrast to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, we simply need to learn one basic truth. That which we do with our Father in secret has the power to shape our lives and create the growth that shows up in pietistic passion.
Let me close with just one more illustration that will make this point a little more clearer.
Those hypocrites in Jesus’ time were certainly very poor gardeners. They should have realized that you cannot expect a plant to flourish if every day, or every week, for that matter, you pull the plant out of the ground to boast about how big its root system is getting. The very process of ripping the plant out of the ground sets it back in terms of its growth and health. That is exactly what the hypocrites of Jesus’ time were doing with their practices of faith and devotion. Those things which should have remained hidden they were exposing for everyone to see and the consequence was that they would receive no benefit from being rooted in God.
It is when we keep a positive secret with God - it is when we let our roots in him grow deep without being disturbed by public perception, that our spiritual vitality and passion grows stronger and stronger. It is in the secret, in the quiet place, where we are formed. It is in quite times of prayer and meditation in a closed room that the Spirit is really at work.
Our Piety should not be like up-rooting a plant – exposing the roots to public attention.
Hymns
1. PH – 8 Joyful, joyful we adore Thee
2. PH – 416 In Christ there is no east or west
3. PH – 332 Lord Thy mercy now entreating
4. PH – 414 Christian rise and act Thy creed
Bible Reading
1. I Samuel – 1: 9-18
2. St. Matthew – 6: 6-13