Message

Life Upside Down

Pretentious Giving

Matthew 6:1-4

May 6, 2018

Introduction

This morning we will begin chapter 6 in Matthew.  But we are still in the midst of Jesus’ sermon that He preached to a crowd of people on a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee.  It is what we call the Sermon on the Mount.  So far, we have learned from Jesus that the attitudes of a Kingdom Citizen are very different from our world today as He expounded on eight beatitudes of Christian living.  Jesus has made it clear that our lives are to influence this world just as salt influences substances that it comes in contact with and as light influences a darkened room.

Jesus has made it clear that our righteousness is never enough to warrant God’s favor, it is only by His righteousness as it is applied to us that we can be accepted by God.  Over the last couple of months, we have looked at 6 of the distorted teachings of the Scribes and Pharisees where they thought they were right with God through their self-righteous works.  But Jesus has made it clear to us that it is a matter of the heart producing righteous works, it is not a matter of doing righteous works to make our hearts right with God.

Jesus has been contrasting the self-righteous teachings of the Scribes and Pharisees with what a genuine heart for God looks like.  Now in Chapter 6, Jesus changes it up a bit.  Before He was contrasting their teachings, now He contrasts their practices with what genuine righteousness looks like.  These things the Scribes and Pharisees were doing were supposed to be acts of worship for God, but in reality, they had turned them into pretentious displays of righteousness.  In other words, they wanted everyone to look at how righteous they were by the things they were doing.

Let’s begin by reading our passage this morning.  Matthew 6:1-4.

1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

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.

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. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Jesus begins by addressing the:

Motivation of Righteous Practices (v .1)

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Now I want to point something out which I think is an important difference in our translations.  The word “righteousness” in the ESV is translated “alms” or “charitable deeds” in translations like the KJV.  In older manuscripts, a word that means righteous deeds is used in the original language.  In latter manuscripts a word that means to give alms or charity is used in the original language.  It doesn’t really make much difference except I see verse one as setting the overall theme for the verses that follow.

In other words, verse one says we need to beware of our motivation for any acts of righteousness.  Thus, Jesus begins with a broad statement applying to all acts of righteousness.  Then beginning in verse 2 and following we find specific acts being talked about.  Verse 2 talks about this area of alms or charitable deeds.  There is nothing really changed by the two different words found in the original manuscripts.  I think the word used for righteous actions conveys the theme of the rest of the verses very well.

So, Jesus is giving us a warning about practicing righteous deeds, whatever deeds those may be, with the motivation of just being seen by others.  Jesus is dealing with the motivations of the heart.  In other words, true righteousness is a matter of the heart, not the righteous deeds we do.  We must be careful that we don’t take this to mean that we are to put our faith in a box so that no one can see what we are doing.  Remember, we are to be salt and light to the world and we are to be encouraging to other believers around us in the things we do.

So, what does Jesus mean here?  It sounds like we are not to do anything religious in front of other people.  For instance, verses 3 and 4 says we are to give in secret, verse 6 says to pray in secret, and verses 17 and 18 say to not let others see when you are fasting.  This seems to contradict what Jesus said back in Matthew 5:16:

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

I don’t believe Jesus is contradicting Himself, rather, He is warning us to examine our motivations.  Are we doing what we do to gain glory from others, or are we doing what we do to give glory to God?  Over and over in this chapter Jesus challenges our motivations for doing what we do, no matter what righteous acts we are doing.

Someone might say, “Why is our motivation important?”  Isn’t the fact that righteousness is done before others the important factor?  The simple answer is that it does not bring glory to God if our motivation is to be seen of others.  Having the approval of the religious leaders in Jesus day was huge.  For instance, when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and spent the week teaching people about Himself and God, many of the those in leadership believed Jesus, but listen to what was said in John 12:42-43:

42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;

 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Jesus tells us that if our motivation for doing righteous acts is to be seen of people, there is no reward from the Father.  Why?  Because we have received our reward which is the of exaltation from people.

The challenge of verse one is simple, why do we do what we do?  What motivates us to come to church?  What reason to we want to become a member of the church?  Why do we want to serve in many different capacities in this local assembly?  What is our motivation for serving the Lord at all?  Is it for the praise and exaltation of people or is it simply to glorify the Lord?  What is your motivation?  We should be consumed with our love for the Lord and desire to exalt Him, not receive exaltation from others.

Jesus has set the theme, our motivation for righteous acts.  Now in verse 2, He uses a specific example of giving to the needy.  In this example, Jesus tells us that we need to:

Avoid Grabbing Attention of Others (v. 2)

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.

Jesus uses an example that is expected of us, did you notice that?  He did not say “if” you give to the needy, Jesus said “when” you give to the needy.  This is not something new. All throughout the Old and New Testaments we are told to take care of the poor and needy among us.  In other words, as a person of faith, we should be characterized by our generosity to the poor.

Now as we mentioned a couple of weeks ago when we talked about Matthew 5:42, we are not to enable people to be poor, but we should take time to help them overcome their circumstances that cause them to be trapped in their situation.  But our giving should be a natural part of who we are in Christ.

Jesus tells us that when we do give to the needy, avoid calling attention to it!  This is what the Scribes and Pharisees were doing.  They wanted to call attention to the fact that they were giving to the poor so that they would be thought of as a very righteous person.  We might ask, “Were they really blowing trumpets?”  I don’t know, but it may be that Jesus was using this as a metaphor for calling attention to themselves.  Somehow, they made sure everyone knew what they did and how righteous they were they did it.  They would call attention to their actions.

Jesus calls these people hypocrites.  So, what they were doing is proclaiming something they are not.  They are putting on a façade to make themselves look good.  Not only that, but their giving to the needy took place in public places like the synagogues and city streets.  Places where they would certainly be noticed by others.  They would give to the poor, but it was in pretense to appear generous to those who would see them.  They were hoping to appear very righteous by their acts of generosity when in reality, their main concern was what other people thought about them.  They sought the praise of others.

Jesus says, they have their reward.  What reward is that?  The praise of others!  Their only reward will be what people say to them, there will be no reward from God.  We have already been told that in verse 1.  Some have said this may be the origin of the saying we commonly use today when someone brags about something they have done; “to toot your own horn.”

We are easily susceptible to this in our day even in our churches.  We want people to know we have given to a specific need in our church or we want an engraved plaque or brick in our name.  We want people to know we spent 3 days preparing to teach a class, or many hours working on the grounds.  It is like we are seeking acknowledgment about our sacrificial service.  Now I am not saying we shouldn’t acknowledge and thank those who serve us, but if the motivation for the one giving or serving is that acknowledgement, then they have their reward.

Rather than grabbing the attention of others, Jesus says give without calling attention to it.  Give from a heart that seeks to please God.  Jesus elaborates on that in verses 3 and 4.

Heart of Righteous Giving (v. 3-4)

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. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

This is giving from the heart rather than the selfish acknowledgement of honor.  It is a heart that shuns attention and works quietly without calling attention to itself.  Your right hand was often considered the hand of action and would do many things without the involvement of the left hand.  So, the idea is that our actions being done by the right hand does not need to involve the left hand in the act of giving to the poor.  Giving should be so normal to us that no consideration would even be given as to what someone else might think.

Not everything we do will be done in secret.  There are times when others will see your good works and hopefully glorify God more so than exalting you.  But when we do things not to be seen of others, it is as if we are doing it in secret.  Maybe others will not know about it and that is fine if you are acknowledged for it, but give the praise to God, don’t get puffed up by it.  Our motivation for doing righteous acts should be to glorify God and He certainly sees what you have done, and He will reward you for your gift or your service.  I don’t know about you, but I would much rather receive a reward from God than other people.

Conclusion

For many of us, we struggle in giving to others in the first place.  But when we realize that God is prompting us to give toward a need or to a specific person either in money or service, we need to examine our motivation in doing so.  Is it for the praise of others or the glory of God?

John MacArthur and Scott Harris give several principles that should guide us in the practice of our giving of money or service to others.

Giving from the heart is investing with God.

Luke 6:38

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you."

Giving from the heart should be sacrificial.

The rich had large donations and a widow had two copper coins.

Mark 12:44

For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.

Giving from the heart is not a matter of abundance.

We should teach children to give from small allowances.

Luke 16:10

"One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

Giving from the heart indicates what your real treasure is.

Matthew 6:19-21

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Giving from the heart is to meet needs, not wants.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.  For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.  Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

Giving from the heart is personally determined.

Ten percent is not a minimum nor is it a cap.

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Giving from the heart is both planned and spontaneous.

It is both planned and responds to needs of others.

1 John 3:17

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 

There is so much more that can be said, but about giving.  But what must be clear from Matthew 6:1-4, is that giving from the heart is not pretentious.  The motivation is not to call attention to the gift or the giver.  It is not wrong for others to acknowledge a gift, but if the giver is seeking acknowledgment, they will receive their reward, the praise of others.

What is our motivation?