Jesus’ Surprising Warning About Religious Practices

04/29/24 • 54 min

2 Listeners

Sermon on the Mount E18 – In Matthew 6, Jesus turns his attention to religious practices of his day, specifically generosity to the poor, prayer, and fasting. But Jesus gives a surprising warning about these practices: if you do religious practices to get praise from people, then you're missing the point. In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss these three religious practices and reflect on the pitfalls of making religious devotion about yourself.

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Timestamps

Chapter 1: Honor in Jesus’ Day (00:00-6:32)
Chapter 2: Giving to the Poor (6:32-26:00)
Chapter 3: Prayer (26:00-34:15)
Chapter 4: Fasting (34:15-54:14)

Referenced Resources

Fasting: The Ancient Practices by Scot McKnight
Christianity's Surprise: A Sure and Certain Hope by C. Kavin Rowe
Check out Tim’s library here.
You can experience our entire library of resources in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.

Show Music

Original Sermon on the Mount music by Richie Kohen
BibleProject theme song by TENTS
“Descend” by dryhope
“Polaroid” by Ward Wills

Show Credits

Jon Collins is the creative producer for today’s show, and Tim Mackie is the lead scholar. Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer; Cooper Peltz, managing producer; Colin Wilson, producer; and Stephanie Tam, consultant and editor. Tyler Bailey is our audio engineer and editor, and he also provided our sound design and mix. Frank Garza and Aaron Olsen edited today's episode. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Today’s hosts are Jon Collins and Michelle Jones.

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View more resources on our website →

Timestamps

Chapter 1: Honor in Jesus’ Day (00:00-6:32)
Chapter 2: Giving to the Poor (6:32-26:00)
Chapter 3: Prayer (26:00-34:15)
Chapter 4: Fasting (34:15-54:14)

Referenced Resources

Fasting: The Ancient Practices by Scot McKnight
Christianity's Surprise: A Sure and Certain Hope by C. Kavin Rowe
Check out Tim’s library here.
You can experience our entire library of resources in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.

Show Music

Original Sermon on the Mount music by Richie Kohen
BibleProject theme song by TENTS
“Descend” by dryhope
“Polaroid” by Ward Wills

Show Credits

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Previous Episode

What "Hypocrite" Means to Jesus

Sermon on the Mount E17 – In Matthew 6, Jesus transitions from sharing a vision for righteousness that fulfills the Torah and Prophets to talking about how true righteousness impacts religious practices. Religious practices—like prayer, serving the poor, or generosity—are meant to align our hearts with God. But Jesus noticed that many people in his day were doing religious practices to promote their own name and status. He called this behavior hypocrisy, which meant something different to him that it does to us today. In this episode, Jon and Tim discuss the original meaning of the word “hypocrite” and the differing motivations people can have for doing right by God and others.

View more resources on our website →

Timestamps

Chapter 1: The Meaning of “Hypocrite” (00:00-10:06)
Chapter 2: Seeking Reward from People or God (10:06-15:38)
Chapter 3: A Reward of Honor (15:38-31:16)

Referenced Resources

Check out Tim’s library here.
You can experience our entire library of resources in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.

Show Music

Original Sermon on the Mount music by Richie Kohen
BibleProject theme song by TENTS
“Silk” by El Train
“Brush Strokes” by Blue Wednesday and morningtime

Show Credits

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Next Episode

Why Say “Kingdom of the Skies” Instead of “Kingdom of Heaven”? – Sermon on the Mount Q+R 2

Sermon on the Mount Q+R 2 (E19) – How do we reconcile Jesus’ words about the Law with other New Testament teachings? How is God’s justice with gehenna different from karma? And why does the BibleProject translation of the Sermon on the Mount refer to the Kingdom of Heaven as the Kingdom of the skies? In this episode, Tim and Jon respond to your questions on the first four case studies about righteousness (episodes 9-14) in the Sermon on the Mount series. Thank you to our audience for your incredible questions!

View more resources on our website →

Timestamps

Why are there so many sets of threes in the Sermon on the Mount? (1:42-8:06)
How do we reconcile Jesus’ words about the Law with other New Testament teachings? (8:06-18:10)
Does Jesus contradict his teaching in Matthew 5:22 when he calls the Pharisees “blind fools” in Matthew 23:17? (18:10-26:06)
What is the difference between God’s justice with gehenna and the philosophical idea of karma? (26:06-32:19)
Why does Jesus not mention abuse as a legitimate reason for divorce? (32:19-42:12)
Would Jesus say not to legally swear to tell the truth with your hand on the Bible? (42:12-46:14)
Why do you refer to the Kingdom of Heaven as the Kingdom of the skies? (46:19-53:46)

Referenced Resources

Style and Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative by Jerome T. Walsh
Four Views on Hell: Second Edition (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology), by Zondervan and edited by Preston Sprinkle
Interested in more? Check out Tim’s library here.
You can experience our entire library of resources in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.

Show Music

Original Sermon on the Mount music by Richie Kohen
BibleProject theme song by TENTS

Show Credits

Jon Collins is the creative producer for today’s show, and Tim Mackie is the lead scholar. Production of today’s episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer; Cooper Peltz, managing producer; and Colin Wilson, producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising editor, and Aaron Olsen edited and mixed today’s episode. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Audience questions compiled by Christopher Maier. The hosts of today’s episode are Jon Collins and Tim Mackie.

Powered and distributed by Simplecast.