Introduction:

Good day to you ladies and gentlemen. Tonight is the eight of the ten questions that we are studying at Church. I have been taking notes and I am going to try and portray what I heard at Church onto here. The eight question of the ten questions is this: Why don't you practice what you preach? This is another fine question which correlates to how people act in the Church but they don't apply what they learned outside the Church in real life. It is also known as the car park miracle or Sunday best.

Sunday Best

Matthew 6:1-18 NIV

Giving to the Needy

6 “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.

2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Prayer

5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Fasting

16 “When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces [B]to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

I have highlighted the important points. To be seen by other people. We have all heard of the car park miracle that happens every Sunday. You have an argument in the car with your family and when you park your car and get out and go into Church, suddenly you have all become little angels. Yet this will only last through Church until you get back into the car and drive off. During the week there is no such thing as the Sunday Best. You put on your Sunday Best dress, yet you look different on the Monday. We all know that it is an act.

For the first time in the series of the 10 questions, Jesus himself asks the exact same question to other people who want to look their best. They are called the Pharisees.

Luke 20:46 NIV

"Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets."

Jesus himself despises the Sunday Best routine. Jesus likes to use a word for these kinds of people, they are called "hypocrites."

Matthew 23:27 NIV

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.

Now when it comes to real life we do not want actors, we want the real thing. We do not want a partner who gives their wedding vows that they will always be there yet when it comes to push and shove they don't back up their vows.
We do not want friends who claim to be there for you through thick and thin, rain or shine yet they are only there for you when the sun is shining. They are called hypocrites.

Matthew 6:2, 6:5, 6:16, 15:8 NIV

2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
8“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me."

The Bible teaches us to do things in private and not to be seen by other people. The reason lies in 15:8. These people are doing the right things but for the wrong reason. Got is not impressed when that happens. Now it also says that they have received their reward. That means that they did get their fame and glory, that is their reward.
However, your father will reward you if you do it in secret. The act of trying to impress people means you are doing it for yourself and to be seen by others. There is your reward. Nothing else will happen.

Now in reality, nobody has ever practised what they have preached, ever. All except one. We've heard stories where some people lecture others on how to do things and how you shouldn't do these things yet they are the very ones who do that same thing they taught you not to do. They are the hypocrites.
Now how can you give advice when you yourself don't live up to your own standards? If you can't live up to your own standards how can you possible live up to God's standards? It is plain and simple, you can't.

Romans 3:10-11 NIV

10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.

Yet there was one person who did practice what he preached. His name is Jesus. He preached forgiveness and how he was going to fulfill the prophecy.

He showed this at the cross. When he was at the cross one of the things he said was this:

Luke 23:34 NIV

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

Now this brings me to my next point, which is not the Sunday Best but the Best Sunday ever!
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Best Sunday

Easter Sunday. There is Good Friday where Jesus died and there is Easter Sunday which is the Best Sunday in history.

Now it is very easy to point the finger of judgement at others and maybe even sometimes to ourselves. Plainly and simply we all should not be doing that. Instead we should point our fingers to Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4:5 NIV

5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

Now if you want someone to practice what they preach then let it be this: We are all sinners and our only hope is Jesus. If you follow me around for a week you will see that, that will hold true. The same will hold true if I follow you around for a week.

Now it is time to forget the acting, it is finished. The Church shouldn't be treated as a place where we pretend we have it all together. The Church is a place where we get real and share our struggles with each other. The car park miracle is all an act.
Putting on the Sunday Best is not what we should be doing, we should instead be pointing to the Best Sunday in the history of the world. That is Easter Sunday which is in fact, next week!