Seeking external validation over inner worth leaves us empty. Rediscover your inherent value and meaning within. This is an excerpt from “The Secret Scoreboard.” To watch the full message from @elevationchurch, click here: 
• Who’s keeping score? | Gamechanger | … #faith #peace #hope #stevenfurtick #elevationchurch Chapters: 0:00 – I Don’t Need Your Validation 2:03 – Your Reason Determines Your Reward 4:04 – Grace Changes The Game 6:49 – Tell Them What They’ve Won 8:42 – Practicing Your Values 11:12 – Take Your Scoreboard Back Scripture References: Matthew 6, verse 4
I have to get to the point where I don’t
need validation from people to do what’s
right because it’s according to my values.
You don’t give so people will see you. Jesus
isn’t saying that you have to write your
checks in a closet and put it in the mail
and no one can ever know and don’t get
your tax-exempt status when you give.
Jesus is saying if that is your
reason, then that will be your
reward. Your reason determines your reward.
If the reason I’m doing it is to be seen,
then that’s my reward. If they see
me and if they say I did it good,
then that’s my reward, but if I have a
deeper reason, then I have a greater reward.
Here’s the game changer for me. I have
this Sunday school way that I see the Bible
sometimes that messes me up. I imagine stuff.
Like when it says “your reward in heaven” or
“your reward from your Father,” I always
used to picture a corner of heaven where
there were pots of gold. It was more like
Lucky Charms and leprechauns than the Bible.
It was like these big rewards
in heaven, treasures in heaven,
but I’m probably not going to need gold in heaven,
because up there it’s called gravel. There’s
not a monetary… It’s like V-Bucks in heaven,
so it’s not going to really buy anything. Now I’m
realizing that this is not a passage about “Hey,
give, and then when you get to heaven it’s going
to be like your Uber is going to be a Maybach.”
It’s not about getting this reward in another
place; it’s about getting it from another
place. “Then your Father…” This was the key
to unlocking the Scripture for me. It said he
sees what is done in secret. That used to
scare me. “Oh, God is watching me all the
time.” Now I see that it means he’s keeping
score, and that means nobody else gets to.
When I live that way, there is a certain
validation that only comes from him and living
according to the values he has given to me, and
the world can’t give that. When I’m not living in
alignment with that, then I get the car and the
car is my reward. When the smell of the car is
gone, then so is the thrill of owning it. If I do
it for people, then I have to get it from people.
One Scripture I like to think about when
I’m having a pity party is one time when
Paul was talking about preaching the gospel.
In certain situations Paul would say, “Don’t
pay me. I don’t want any money from you. I want
something from God.” He wasn’t always doing that,
but when he explained it to the church
at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 9 he goes,
“Hey, I have nothing to brag about.
I preach because I’m compelled.”
In other words, “God called me to do this,
so I almost have to do it.” If I do it out of
obligation, then it’s just a discharge,
but if I do it like it’s a privilege,
then it’s a reward. The revelation for me
was that my reason determines my reward.
If I’m doing this for you, then you hold
my reward, but if I’m doing this for him…
It applies in every area of life.
It applies to giving. Jesus said,
“I didn’t come to abolish the law; I came
to fulfill it.” That’s what he means by the
game changer. “I didn’t come to play the game
a little better, keep the law a little better,
like put more on top of it. I came
to change the reason you do it.”
One of those things is giving. In the
Old Testament you would see an obligatory
system of giving where I bring the tithe
because I have to or else I’m under a curse,
so I bring God the firstfruits of my produce and
the firstfruits of all of my increase because I
have to. It is obligation-oriented. That’s how
most of us live. But grace changes the game.
Jesus said, “I didn’t come to abolish
it but to fulfill it.” In other words,
“I came to give you a different reason.” Now
it’s not that I’m doing it because I have to;
I’m doing it because of the grace of God. It’s
a shift in perspective. Sometimes you keep doing
the same things, but you find a deeper reason to
do it, and then you find meaning in your life.
If you’re not careful, you run around
all your life changing the things you do,
but you find no meaning in the things, because
as long as you have shallow reasons you get
empty victories, but when your reason
gets deeper, when you start saying,
“You know what? I’m giving to God.
I’m serving God, not because I have
to or not because people might notice or not
because I’m going to go to hell if I don’t,
but just he has been good to me, just because
I know my Redeemer lives. That’s why…”
“Then your Father, who sees
what is done in secret,
will reward you.” Whatever is your reason
controls your reward. Do you believe that?
Do you believe that if you have a devotion
just so you can post on Instagram that you
had it with a picture of your coffee
mug sitting next to Colossians 3:7…
Do you believe me that if that’s why you
did it that’s what you get out of it? When
it only gets 12 “likes” don’t cry, because I
preached Matthew 6:1-4 and I told you that if
that is your reason then that is your reward.
I see it like a game show in my mind. “Tell
them what they’ve won!” It’s like, “Absolutely
nothing!” Because you did it for the reason…
People will go, “I left that church.”
“Why did you leave that church?”
“Because I got burned.”
“Were you in the cooking ministry?
Let me see the scar. Is it nasty?”
I get it. We get hurt, but sometimes the reason
we got hurt is because in our heart what we needed
from people was too much, and we shouldn’t
have been doing it for people to begin with.
Oh, the applause died down by 73 percent.
It always happens when you challenge the
values. I noticed a trend in my preaching
a couple of years ago that bothered me,
so I’ve been working on it. I was
preaching a sort of theology that
was a little perverted in this way, not
on purpose but you just shift toward it.
You say, “If you will, God will” and “God
is gonna…” and you fill in the blanks. Like,
“If you obey God in this area of your
life it will produce a blessing.” It
was a cause and effect. What I’m coming
to understand is while that’s true on
the surface the real blessing is built into
the process. The real blessing is built in.
When he says, “Don’t let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing when you give,”
that means it ought to be so automatic because
you’ve operated out of your values to the point…
Like these guitar players. When they play,
they don’t have to think about… (I would
play y’all “Talk Dirty to Me” by Poison, but
that’s not appropriate for church. That’s the
first song I learned, though. That’s what I
think about when I see an electric guitar.)
They do this with the right hand, and this with
the left hand, but they don’t… See, these hands…
If I’ve done that enough, this hand is going…and
this hand is going…and the left hand… What is
this? “Glycerine” by Bush, I think I’m playing, of
all the songs. Child of the 90s. If you’ve done it
enough, it’s not even a thing. Jesus said, “I
would like for you to get to the point where
my grace has changed you enough that you don’t
have to think about it or pray about it.” “God,
should I give to further your gospel
in the earth? I just need a sign.”
How about your common sense? So he challenges my
values. That’s what I’ve always loved about this
moment in our church when we are getting ready
to give or when we’re calling people to serve.
It changes the game. When your intention in coming
here is in what you get, then that’s your reward.
When your intention in coming is to give
something that God put inside of you,
you are no longer dependent on people,
and that’s the blessing. The blessing
is built into the process. I think we need
to take our scoreboard back. I think we’ve
adopted the world’s values in some ways that have
caused us to win some victories that are empty.
“Then your Father, who sees what is done in
secret, will reward you.” Not with pots of gold
in heaven, not with V-Bucks and cookies, digital
cookies, cookies made of pixels, compliments from
people and empty status that can be here one day
and gone the next. When you have crappy values
you will never have lasting joy. Popularity
is a crappy value. That’s in the Greek: crappy
values. Position is a crappy value. “I’m going
to work my way up.” Excavation before elevation.
Pleasure is a crappy value. It’s a great
by-product. It’s not bad to feel good and
enjoy stuff, but when that’s the goal
of the game it’s a terrible value. When
my values are shallow my victories
are empty. So I want God to run my
scoreboard. How about you? I need that.
Come on, I need that. It’s too stressful.
Life is too stressful. Too many people
have too many different opinions,
and there’s too much to keep up with, and
I can’t do it anymore. So I want my Father
who sees what is done in secret to keep score
for me. I want him to make the decision. “Was
that good? Am I a good dad today?” I certainly
can’t ask my kids what they think about that.
I can’t, because what I will need to do to be a
good parent in some seasons will mean sometimes
I am not popular, but if I’m parenting according
to purpose, if I’m living according to purpose,
I don’t have to consult all of these
other sources. Say this out loud:
“God is my source, and he is my reward. God is
my source, and he is my reward. God is my source,
and he is my reward.” Now clap your
hands if you want to live that way.