Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Problem With People-Pleasing | The Gospels | Matthew 6:5–18

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

Why do you pray, fast, and serve? Who are you really trying to impress? And what reward does your heart actually want? In today’s episode, Patrick explains how Matthew 6:5–18 shows us that spiritual disciplines are meant to draw us toward the heart of God, not earn the praise of people. Want to become a more consistent Bible reader? Download our free Ten Minute Bible Guide and start building a simple, sustainable habit of meeting with God through his word. Grab your guide here. Read the Bible with us! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and it's never too late to join! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: Matthew 6:5–18

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. No one ever asks me this question, but I'm going to answer it anyway. What's the hardest part about preaching? Well, I'll tell you what, it's not the study, it's not the writing, and it's not even the public speaking. The hardest part are my own motivations. Now, I wish I could say I always have a pure heart, but the truth is that I'm always wrestling with one question.

what will people think about me? Part of me loves the accolades and kind words I get after a good sermon. Part of me loves the impression that preaching gives people, that I'm a spiritually put together person, that I'm a super spiritual person. But here's the truth. I'm just a person. A person with mess and sin who's not a spiritual giant,

but a spiritual failure in more ways than I can count. And that's precisely why this temptation to care what people think, to like what they think about me, that's why it's so enormous. It papers over a reality that I wish weren't true. The problem is that when I preach with this heart, my sermons may be filled with truth. They may even do good things in the lives of people,

but my heart inside is rotten, and I know God sees it, because the preaching isn't for him. It's for myself. It turns out that this is a temptation much older than today, and it's a temptation, not just for preachers or people in public ministry, it's a temptation for all of us

in various ways in our spiritual, life. In the sermon on the mountain, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, and it's in this section that he gives them the Lord's prayer. Now, that's a prayer that's structured to draw us closer to God as our Father, lead us into confession, and enable us to lay our needs before him. It's, in many ways, the most important prayer in human history, and certainly the most prayed prayer in human history. But before Jesus talks about how to pray, where it gives those instructions, these are the words, he gets to the heart of the matter. He talks about why we pray. Jesus says this in Matthew 6, verse 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. But when you go 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. A few verses later, Jesus says something similar

about a different spiritual practice, which is fasting. He says in verse 16, when you fast, don't look somber like the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others that they're fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward and 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're fasting, but only to your father who is unseen,

and your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Now, these teachings, they actually sandwiched the Lord's prayer. They're on either side of it. And I don't think that's an accident. Jesus is saying that the reason why we practice spiritual disciplines is even more important to God than the disciplines themselves. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. You're saying, hey, I don't even pray in public.

And I don't even fast. So what does this have to do with me? And to answer that question, we need to expand the scope of our discussion. Because Jesus is asking us to be reflective about why we do anything spiritual. why do you go to church? Why do you read your Bible? Why do you pray? Why do you listen to this podcast?

Why do you serve other families or needy people or people in the church? And the truth is that all of us are tempted by people pleasing. We want people to see that we did our quiet time. So we put it on Instagram. We want people to see us at church. We want people to be impressed by our service. And the easiest way to know if you're doing this is twofold. First of all, do you tell people and say,

second of all, do you want to be appreciated? Now, the first is a lot easier to see. Do you tell people? Do you signal that you're doing these spiritual practices? And that's true even if you do it in really subtle ways. Maybe that's backdoor brags. Or maybe it's just bringing your Bible to a Bible study and making sure that people see how much highlighter you have on it and how many underlines and sticky notes there are. It might just be mentioning to someone in an offhanded way how you served someone or letting the small group know that you're praying throughout the day. Or maybe it's even asking other people to pray for someone else who is struggling with spiritual disciplines, but you say it in a way that makes it clear that you don't. But the way in which you broadcast

that you have these spiritual disciplines to other people so that they'll think highly of you, that's actually the least important thing. Because there's some of us who will never say anything to anyone. And yet inside your heart, you find yourself wanting to tell people. You find yourself wanting to have people notice, wishing that people knew. And that still shows where your heart is. that part of you is invested in your church, your small group, your Bible study, your prayer, because you want to appear a certain way before people, not because you want to draw near to the heart of God. And Jesus says, you'll get your reward, the praise of people, but you'll lose out on the joy of being close to your father. Let's talk about the second sign that your heart's motives are in the wrong place with your spiritual disciplines.

And that's the desire to be appreciated. Now, this one is much more subtle, but I see it in my own heart. When you show up faithfully to small group, you want someone to appreciate it, to notice it, and to thank you for being so consistent. When you serve every Sunday, you want someone to notice it, to appreciate you, to say thank you. When you give generously, you want someone to notice it and tell you thank you. You will never ask for the accolades, you'll wait for them, but if you don't get the praise, you start to grow bitter.

You feel this little disappointment in your heart, a quiet frustration. In your head, you think, I'm being underappreciated. Or maybe you think, I should. have more influence or people should give me more leadership because of all I'm doing. They should be noticing what I'm doing. I think it's different for each of us, but maybe you see that drive in yourself. You want to be appreciated. And again, I think that unveils our motives for serving, for coming to church, for giving, for praying, for reading our Bibles. There's part of us that wants to be seen and appreciated by others. And Jesus is warning us, we'll get the reward our

heartmost desires. If we desire the praise of fellow people, then we'll get that reward on earth. But if we desire the heart of God, then we'll have him in eternity. So which do you want? That's a hard question to answer if we're being honest, but I promise you this, there is nothing better than the heart of God. So what does that mean for you? Well, I think it's really simple. We have to get into this fight by repenting, by confessing our desire to receive the praises of other people, and even to use our spiritual practices and disciplines and activities to earn the accolades of others. And when we confess that to Jesus, he not only forgives us by his blood, but empowers us by his spirit to become the kinds of people who give and serve and pray and read our Bibles because we

want the heart of God. So look at your motives. Look at your heart. God can already see them, lay them down before him honestly, and then receive this gift, forgiveness and transformation.