Today we begin our final month here at 250 Stevenson. We will not be able to livestream the next 3 Sundays, Nov 10-24…so we’d love for you to spend our last month here in person with us.

I probably don’t need to tell you what has most people’s attention right now in this nation. We are two days away from the presidential election. On this same day, residents of San Francisco will elect our next mayor. There is much at stake this week. It has been a fascinating election season. We’ve had an attempted assassination on a former president who is running again. We’ve had a current president decide to withdraw from the race four months before the election. It has been very interesting to say the least.

And I know people are filled with high hopes and overwhelming fears regarding how this election will turn out. I want you to know I believe this is really important. I want all of us to be informed about what’s going on so that we can play our part as citizens. But I don’t want any of us to be most formed by who becomes president or mayor or what policies will be instituted in the coming years.

The vision of Epic Church is to see an increasing number of people in San Francisco orient their entire lives around Jesus.

There are so many new people coming to Epic right now and you need to know that we are thrilled that you are here. Wherever you are on your faith journey, you can find a home here. And wherever you are, we want you to know what we’re aiming for as a church. We want all of our lives to be most formed by who Jesus is. I’m assuming most of us want some part of our lives to be formed by some of Jesus.

If we aren’t careful, we will be informed by Jesus, but mostly formed by the world.

Jesus isn’t meant to be one of many inputs or sources of influence in our lives. Jesus is Lord. What is the unifying big idea of your life?

Jesus is meant to be the LEAD STORY in each of our lives.

Who or what are you illuminating with your life? Who is getting the attention? And who’s attention are you trying to get? As you think about whose attention you’re trying to get, what is it you want them to see in your life whenever you get their attention? We’re going to discover what we’re meant to spotlight with our lives in a new series we’re kicking off called A City on the Hills.

It’s interesting what we seek to display in our lives and what we choose to keep hidden. We like to show our accomplishments, our successes, and anything that makes us appear like we’re winning in some area of our lives. And we tend to hide our failures and any image that conveys the opposite of success.

Matthew chapters 5-7 record the longest public teaching Jesus ever gave, also referred to as "The Sermon on the Mount". This teaching is deep and rich – all about what the good life is and what that life looks like in the kingdom of God. And in this teaching, Jesus shows us what is meant to be hidden in our lives and what is supposed be made visible. I’m calling this message, “Making Your Hidden Life Visible”. I want to read a number of verses from this teaching, that will be found first in Matthew 6 and then from Matthew 5.

Matthew 6:1-2 “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. 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.

Matthew 6:5-6 “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. 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.”

Matthew 6:16-18 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 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.

Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

At a surface-level hearing, Jesus seems to be contradicting himself. At one point, he says we should let our light shine to be seen by others and then he says to do everything we do in secret. Which is it? Jesus is getting below the surface to help us understand the differences. He’s talking to us about motives and who we’re aiming to bring glory to. He’s making sure we keep private what’s meant to stay between us and Him, but that we make public what’s meant to be seen by the world. But so often here is what you and I do:

We hide what is meant to be seen and we show what is meant to be hidden.

Here’s what this looks like in real life for us. We tell ourselves that because faith isn’t a popular reality in San Francisco, we should keep this part of our lives to ourselves. So we’ll talk about anything else in our lives – our favorite restaurants in the city, we’ll post our accomplishments on LinkedIn, and we let people know how we spent our weekends…we will tell them everything we did except between the hours of 9am – Noon on Sunday.

Our hidden life with God is meant to empower the parts of our lives that are eventually seen.

Do you have a secret life with God?

Set apart time with Him. Expressing and surrendering your desires to Him. Taking in His word to you. Praying for your family, your friends, your coworkers, and even your enemies. Asking God to speak to you about what needs to go from your life, what you need to engage in or receive more of into your life. Praising Him – telling Him He’s worthy of everything and you want your life to be all about Him. And here’s what is amazing:

If you truly have a hidden life with God, it will be impossible for that to stay hidden.

I’m not talking about the people who read their Bible for seven minutes this week and they make sure you know everything they read. I’m just saying that when you’ve been in the presence of God, it will show on your face and in your life. When you start speaking to your wife with more grace and patience than usual, she’ll know there’s something unique about your life. When your colleagues see you having peace in circumstances that used to always cause you to be stricken with anxiety, they’ll know something’s different with you.

God wants the aim of our lives to shine the spotlight on Him, not us.

So Jesus says, “Don’t do things in front of other people for the purpose of being seen and honored by them. This is what the hypocrites do.” A hypocrite was literally an actor with a mask on. In other words, a hypocrite is a person who puts on a performance pretending to be someone they’re not actually.

It comes down to whose glory you want to live for. Here’s a question we all need to answer and I don’t want us to respond too quickly to it. Every human faces the temptation of answering this question in a particular way.

Who’s name are we really going to live for?

There is a temptation for each of us as individuals and collectively for us as a church to make it all about our name. There are amazing people in our church. Our church is growing and we’re seeing some incredible fruit in this season. But can I lovingly remind us that it really matters why we’re doing all we’re doing and it especially matters who we’re really doing this for.

Genesis 11:1-4 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

They gave into the same temptation we face – to make a name for ourselves. But Jesus warns us against this. And at the same time, he says that we are a city on the hill. And as a city on the hill, we must shine. We are the light of the world. You don’t light a lamp and put it under a bowl. But remember, you don’t light a lamp so that the light can be seen. You light a lamp because it illuminates everything else you want to see. As people who belong to Jesus, we are the city on a hill – meant to bring light to everyone in the world.

We show them our good deeds, not so they’ll think we’re amazing…but so they’ll come to know Jesus and glorify our Father in heaven.

Response:

-Put your faith in Jesus today.

-Who’s name will you/we make great through our lives?

-Greater commitment to helping us declare this as Epic Church – praying. Inviting. Serving. Giving.