Big Idea
Our faith should be He centered, not me centered — when we make it about ourselves, nothing ever really changes.
Real transformation, peace, and life come when our faith is centered on God rather than on ourselves. Jesus, in Matthew 6, exposes how easily religious practice becomes a performance for others or even a transaction with God. Instead, He invites us to check our motives, get honest with Him in private, and trade performing for real, listening prayer — because He already loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves.
Key points
1Check your why
Pastor Bill unpacks Matthew 6:1, where Jesus warns against doing good deeds publicly to be admired. The Greek word for 'admired' (theathenai) is related to theater — performing for applause. He notes that even religious motives can be a lie, since some serve God to earn His love rather than out of relationship, and a wrong why turns worship, giving, and service into a burden.
2Get alone and get real
Working through Matthew 6:2-4, Pastor Bill explains that Jesus calls people to give and serve in private rather than with trumpet blasts for attention. He teaches that what we bring into public worship is directly connected to what happens in our private time with God during the week, and that a me-centered performance produces only a momentary, 'paid in full' reward, while a He-centered life produces the ongoing reward of real relationship with the Father.
3Spiritual arrogance and self-loathing are both symptoms of a me-centered faith
Pastor Bill describes how a performance-based faith swings people between feeling superior when they succeed and filled with shame when they fail, breeding contempt for others rather than love. He applies this to Christians who judge other churches or mix political ideology with the gospel, arguing that the mission of the church was never cultural dominance but salvation through Christ.
4Peter shows what restoration through love, not performance, looks like
Pastor Bill retells Peter's denial and Jesus' restoration of him by the shore, noting Jesus never brings up the failure but simply asks, 'Do you love me?' He highlights the Greek wordplay between agape and phileo to show Jesus meeting Peter in his weakness and still calling him back into ministry.
5Stop performing and start praying
Turning to Matthew 6:5-8, Pastor Bill contrasts the hypocrites who prayed loudly on street corners and the Gentiles who babbled repetitive chants with real prayer, which is a two-way conversation involving listening as well as talking. He illustrates this with a story about his grandson refusing to listen and only wanting his own way, showing how babbling prayer treats God like a vending machine instead of a Father with a bigger perspective.
6A personal story of catching him me-centered motives at a conference
Pastor Bill shares how being billed low on a conference speaker list stung him briefly, and how encouragement from friends before he spoke started to make him anxious in a way that never happens to him. He explains that getting alone and praying revealed the root: he likes to be liked, and left unchecked that desire could shape him into a preacher who says only what people want to hear rather than what God wants said.
Application
Pastor Bill's charge is to check your why, get alone and get real, and stop performing and start praying.
Check your why
Ask yourself honestly why you're serving, giving, worshiping, or showing up at all — a wrong why turns faith into a burden and a right why turns it into a want-to.
Get alone and get real with God
Build a private, inside-out practice with God during the week rather than only performing in public, trusting that He already knows and loves you better than you know yourself.
Stop performing and start praying
Trade rambling, one-way babbling for real conversation with God that includes listening, not just repeating what you want.
Trade contempt for love
Whether you feel spiritually arrogant or defeated by failure, let go of comparing yourself to others and rest in the fact that Jesus already loves and accepts you.
Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI
