PASSAGE: Matthew 6:1-18
SERIES SUMMARY
As Jesus steps onto the scene of history, Matthew paints a picture of him that invites our participation in what Jesus is doing. The portrait is that Jesus is the True King who is bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth. This good news is not reserved for especially religious people in a distant future; it’s good news, right now, for ordinary people who come to Jesus in faith.
And while Jesus inaugurated the kingdom among us through teaching and serving in dozens of ways, he ultimately brought heaven to earth by embracing the cross as his throne and wearing thorns as his crown. In doing this, he broke the powers of the kingdom(s) of this world and opened up God’s new world through his resurrection. Now, because of these things, discipleship to Jesus is about praying and living “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” It is about whole-life transformation and embodying kingdom realities. It is about becoming people who naturally live out what Jesus taught. Today, because of Matthew’s witness and Jesus’ ministry, the kingdom is coming in our own lives, “on earth as it is in heaven.”
PASSAGE GUIDE
This text sets up for us a diagnostic for everyday discipleship: many of our biggest questions show up in visible categories, sexual, financial, racial, and digital life, because they surface in public choices and habits. But the point isn’t just to have “right answers” on visible issues; it’s to recognize that the visible life is downstream from something deeper.
Using the iceberg image, we see morality is the part above the surface, good deeds, righteousness, observable behavior. Jesus wants that kind of visible goodness. But the larger conversation is what’s under the surface: ethics, the inner “why” that holds the outer “what” up. Jesus isn’t satisfied with correct behavior alone; he wants congruence, doing the right thing for the right reason.
Which leads to the central question: In the kingdom, why do you do the good that you do? Let’s press this into real life: serving the vulnerable, giving time and money, parenting decisions, and even “spiritual” activities like church involvement, Bible reading, prayer, small group, and mission trips. The danger isn’t doing these things, it’s doing them to be noticed, to manage guilt, to gain approval, to feel superior, or to subtly treat God like someone you can put in your debt.
Matthew 6:1–18 then becomes Jesus’ case study through three practices, giving, prayer, and fasting. These have a repeated pattern: don’t practice righteousness to be seen, because public praise is the reward; instead, do it in secret before the Father who sees in secret. The “reward” is framed less like points and more like relational reality, living before God, known by him. If we do good so people pay attention to us that isn’t kingdom good; doing good so that we, and others, pay attention to God is true good.
- Goodness is a gift of grace that embodies the kingdom now and anticipates its fullness in the future...
- Jesus is not condemning almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, He’s condemning performative and indulgent spirituality…
- Jesus is not ‘anti-external good works’, He is anti-you wanting the glory and the attention for the good works…
- Jesus is not against people seeing you do good deeds, He is against people NOT-seeing through you to God’s ultimate goodness…
*We are a church located in Greenville, South Carolina. Our vision is to see God transform us into a community of grace passionately pursuing life and mission with Jesus.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COMMUNITY GROUP QUESTIONS
Remember, these are “suggested” questions. You do not have to go through every single one of them. You do not need to listen to both sermons at both campuses to participate in the discussion.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS (Read Matthew 6:1-18)
- What was encouraging, challenging or confusing to you about the text or sermon?
- When you hear the phrase “to be seen,” what’s the first example that comes to mind in everyday life?
- Where in your life do you see the iceberg idea here: visible righteousness supported by invisible motives?
- If someone watched your life for a week, what would they assume your real “reward” is?
- What do you think “your Father who sees in secret” is meant to do inside you: comfort you, confront you, free you, reorient you?
- When you don’t get noticed for doing good, what happens inside you, resentment, relief, indifference, sadness, anger,...?
- What would change if the main “reward” you expected was being known by God rather than being approved by people?
- Where in your life is it the hardest for you to do the right thing for the right reasons without recognition?
- What would it look like for your life to become a window, so people don’t stop at you, but “see through you” to God?
- What is one thing that can change for your “right things” to be done for the “right reasons?”, having congruence?
- Where in your life is Jesus teaching in Matthew overlapping with what you are learning outside of Matthew?
RESOURCES