The Sermon on the Mount appears so basic, with teachings on food, clothing, and shelter. We learn to love the scriptures (5:17-18), to pray the Lord’s Prayer, and to build a house on the rock (7:24). This simple message can simplify our lives.
Well, maybe. While accessible, the teachings feel nearly impossible. Jesus says the kingdom belongs to people who are hurting, hungry, and humble. But then he tells us to be perfect (5:48), more righteous than the Pharisees (5:20). What counts is what’s on the inside (6:18), but we are judged by our fruit (7:20). Don’t worry about food (6:25), but pray for your daily bread (6:11). We should learn to live on less (6:19), but keep praying for more (7:11). Jesus tells us not to judge and then refers to other people as hypocrites (7:5), dogs (7:6), and swine (7:6). Who knew simplicity could be so confusing? I wish the red letters were more black and white.
The most obvious contrast comes when he warns against doing righteous acts to attract the attention of others (6:1), while also letting our light shine so that others will see our good deeds (5:16). So which is it?
It is here that churches in a city will struggle. We want to be active in the community, but we also want to be known for being active in the community. A person once told me that they wanted to be part of a church who is known in Memphis for caring about the poor. I hope they can settle for a church who simply cares about the poor. It’s hard to control the perceptions of others. It’s even harder to ignore them. Making Jesus famous can sometimes feel a lot like making ourselves feel popular.
It is unimaginable in 2026 to be discreet. Anonymity is an anomaly. Sure, no good deed goes unpunished; it is even rarer for a good deed to go unpublished. A wise man once said discretion is the better part of valor. I bet he was terrible on Instagram.
Perception might be reality, but a church cannot become beholden to its reputation. For the church, too much publicity might be a tough habit to kick. Every good deed in the community comes with church merch and a Facebook story. Yes, a good reputation can bring positive attention to the causes we champion. A church can help its community know about the brokenness of the foster care system or the need for recovery programs. Messaging matters. In fact, being silent about our work in these areas might even hurt our evangelism. Can you imagine every single unreached person having no idea that churches did anything to help the poor or to heal the sick or to love the immigrants?
And yet there is a real danger in attending too much to our reputation. The church who forgets to live for the applause of one will get addicted to the applause of many. Soon we love our homeless ministry more than we love the homeless. The attention steals our attention. Leaders start loving the Ministry more than the ministry. We can no longer imagine praying in a closet, wearing makeup while fasting, or giving anonymously. Our entire life of righteousness becomes public. And we find ourselves performing for the wrong audience. Optics matter, but they don’t matter most. Jesus says we should tear out our eye if it causes us to sin (5:29). He doesn’t tell us what to cut off when we live for the attention of someone else’s eye.
Jesus’s teaching seems to come down to motive. We do not do our acts of righteousness to be seen in a way that draws attention to our obedience. But we let our light shine so that people will glorify God. Jesus calls us to pure motives. We are simply showing the world around. We are the docents, not the artists. Every church should give more attention to drawing people to Jesus and less attention to getting noticed.
If our communities talk about our church then we might be doing some good.
But it’s much better if they start talking about Jesus.
There is no confusion about that.
