According to Shakespeare, “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” If Shakespeare had been writing in the Greek of the New Testament the final word in this sentence would have been ‘hypocrite’. Our word hypocrite comes directly from the Greek word for an actor. So when Jesus tells his disciples not to be like the hypocrites he is telling them to make sure that they’re not living some kind of lie – where the inside and the outside of their lives don’t match up. On Sunday we were looking at Jesus’ teaching on giving to the needy, prayer and fasting from Matthew 6:1-18. If you’ve not listened yet then you’ll find it here. 
Jesus’ assumption was that giving to the needy, prayer and fasting were all things that his disciples would do. His disciples were Jewish, his audience was Jewish and these were all aspects of Jewish life. And so Jesus is not trying to convince his disciples that if they want to become more like him they need to start caring for those in need, spending time in prayer and fasting. His assumption was that they would be doing these things. But he wanted them to make sure that their motives were right. That they were wanting to do these things out of their love for God and their desire to be more like Jesus. 
The hypocrites on the other hand were doing these things to be seen by others and to win their applause. Within our culture there is a very high probability that people will need to be taught biblical principles for giving, praying and fasting – and we’re going to be looking at these topics again next week, and on the 13th and 6th March respectively. 
But our motives for why we do what we do can be very complex. On Sunday I used the example of running. I’ve not run for several months because of a niggling injury that won’t go away – but when I was running there was never just one motive that got me out of the door. Sometimes if it was a really nice day I might just decide to go for a run because it is something that I enjoy. I enjoy the freedom, the countryside and I know that when I get back I will feel better than when I left. But if it’s dark, and I can hear the rain on the window, and the wind is blowing, then getting out of a comfy, warm bed sometimes just didn’t happen. 
Things that would help in that situation would be the knowledge that I was training for a specific event that people knew about. Or being involved in some online competition or challenge that meant I needed to log a run that morning. When it comes to our spiritual life I expect it is as equally challenging to try and untangle our motives for why we do what we do. Whilst we might agree that love for God, love for others and a desire to follow Jesus are the right motives for what we do there’s probably a lot more in the mix. Whilst we agree that it is only God’s opinion that matters I’m sure we are all effected by what others think and say. 
Doing my Bible reading because I’ve committed to reading the Bible in a year and I need to tick the box isn’t a right motive for reading the Bible – but reading the Bible is preferable to not reading the Bible. At least I am putting myself in a place where God can talk to me. I could go on – but I won’t. Keeping the commandments outwardly is one thing. Making sure our heart is right at the same time is something else altogether. Something that is only possible with the work of the Holy Spirit. Thankfully God is gracious and merciful and forgiving. And patient. Our loving heavenly Father. Within that context let’s examine our hearts to see why we do what we do. And invite the Holy Spirit to challenge and change us where necessary. | 
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