“How Not to Be a Dick” (CaD Matthew 6) – Wayfarer
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 6:1 (NIV)
My buddy Nathan is a senior in high school this year. When Wendy and I got married, she was the last of her “Golden Girls” friends group to get married, but none of the five of them had babies at that point. At our wedding rehearsal dinner, Nathan’s mom told the girls she was pregnant. Nine months later, Nathan was born. Wendy and I have enjoyed being a part of his life. His mother blames Wendy and me for instilling in him a love for baseball. I had the honor of mentoring him in his profession of faith. It’s hard to believe that in a few months we’ll watch him graduate from high school.
When Nathan was entering adolescence, I read a review in the Wall Street Journal of a clever little book by Meghan Doherty called How Not to Be a Dick. It’s a brilliant parody of the old Dick and Jane books that schools used to use to teach kids reading. Doherty uses the parody to teach young men some of the basics of how to be respectful and capable young men as it relates to being around others, girls, and adults. We gifted it to our young friend.
As I read the middle chapter of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” this morning, my heart and mind continued to notice the contrast between His instructions and the instructions God gave His people through Moses in Leviticus. Once again, I couldn’t help but notice that there are plenty of “dos” and “do nots” but they are different.
Take for example some of the “dos” and “do nots” from Leviticus 18 contrasted with Jesus’ “dos” and “don nots” from today’s chapter:
God in Leviticus: “Obey My laws and follow My decrees.”
Jesus: “Seek first [God’s] Kingdom.”
God in Leviticus: “Don’t have sex with family member, including in-laws.”
Jesus: “Don’t brag about how much you give to the poor.”
God in Leviticus: “Don’t take your wife’s sister as a rival wife.”
Jesus: “Don’t give showy public prayers to be seen by others.”
God in Leviticus: “Don’t sacrifice your children on the altar of Molek.”
Jesus: “Don’t worry about your life, clothes, needs, or future.”
Can you see the contrast?
Leviticus was like a Dick and Jane primer helping little children figure out some of the spiritual basics of life like my five-year-old self trying to figure out how to phonetically sound out words and read a simple sentence. Jesus in His sermon on the Mount isn’t calling for strict obedience to the parent’s household rules or dealing with prohibitions of incest and child sacrifice. Jesus is talking about choosing in to a hearts desire for the things of God and more addressing spiritual issues of the heart like sincere faith, doing things with right motives, and developing faith as an antidote to fear. It’s as if Jesus is addressing a humanity moving into adolescence how “not to be a Dick.”
In the quiet this morning, I’m thinking about entire churches I know who perpetually treat their members as children as if they are spiritually learning how to read. They approach life with black-and-white rules of morality, lord over people like strict parents hovering over toddlers they expect to be naughty, and punish disobedience with tactics of fear, shame, and the threat of being ostracized. God, however, calls on me to be “mature” and Jesus moved beyond such spiritual basics to address deeper matters of the Spirit and my heart’s motives and intentions.
As a child, I learned to obey behavioral rules because my parents demanded it. As an adult, I learned to avoid certain behaviors to avoid the painful consequences while maintaining other behaviors simply because I know they are the right and healthy things to do for myself and others.
As Paul put it in his letter to the followers of Jesus in Corinth: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”
In other words, somewhere along the line I graduated from learning how to read about Dick and Jane, to choosing not to be a Dick.
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
