Have You Received Your Reward?

Andrew Katay visited and preached on Matthew 6:5-18 in a sermon titled “Have you received your reward?” We were convicted by Jesus’ warning in His Sermon on the Mount of the dangers of using acts of righteousness to serve ourselves — in other words, the dangers of hypocrisy.

Christ asks us the important question of whether we are ‘spiritually acting’ in plays of our own creation, created to satisfy ourselves and find man’s affirmation, rather than seeking to satisfy a heart that hungers and thirsts for righteousness. Indeed, whether giving to the needy, prayer, fasting…. we can do almost any act of righteousness for the purpose of being seen by others. And in this world, we are given the outcome we expect — a like, or a pat on the back, …but that’s it. We get our rewards from man, but not from God.

But Jesus knows our desires and needs, and knows that all our behavior is ultimately channeled towards a purpose or end goal. And here’s the thing — Jesus wants that for us to be God Himself. Not something tacked on. Not things from God, but to be known and loved, regarded as precious by the living God of the universe. Christ embodied this for us, as someone who bore all our sin, self-righteousness and hypocrisy on the cross, so that God would not turn His face from us. If we truly knew this, our hearts would not be occupied with the trivialities of being seen by others, but would be filled with the joy of knowing our Father in heaven.

Indeed, God is unmatched in His glory, full of mercy, beauty, majesty, perfect love, holiness. The God of the universe gives us Himself. In joy and grace and love, He is our reward, forevermore.