Sermon Tone Analysis

“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.

“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.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”[1]

Canada is one of a handful of nations that encourage charitable giving.

The government does this through providing tax incentives.

Few nations beyond the English-speaking world encourage such benevolence through considerations under the tax code.

Consequently, the nations most noted for encouraging charitable contributions share in common a heritage of a Christian foundation.

Living in a nation that encourages generosity should result in marked benevolence among those living under such rules.

However, much of the generosity that has marked individual Canadians in years past has been stifled by the fact that governments tend to be “charitable” with moneys taken from taxpayers.

Fewer Canadians are eager to give generously when they believe they have already given generously through the decisions of politicians at various levels.

The giving that is done by Canadians is increasingly done on an emotional basis, rather than as planned giving.

Charities long ago discovered that photos of impoverished children and videos portraying heart-breaking destitution and scenes of major disasters motivate people to give.

However, such giving is sporadic and spasmodic.

However, the giving that is promoted in the Word of God is systematic and studied—it is purposeful and planned.

Undoubtedly, we will benefit from a reminder from the Master concerning benevolence.

*The Overarching Principle* — “Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.”

Let me read that opening statement from a freer translation.

“See to it that your effort to do right is not based on a desire to be popular.”[2]

Or, consider yet another translation that seeks to capture the thrust of Jesus’ warning delivered to His disciples.

“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it.”[3]

Taken at face value, Jesus’ words indicate that there is pronounced danger in performing religious duties, perhaps even in seeking God’s glory.

The danger is related less to what is done than it is to the motive for a particular act.

This should not be a surprise to anyone who is even moderately conversant with the Word of God, as God is always more concerned with motives than with actions.

It is an axiom of that Faith that */we can do the right thing while holding the wrong motive, and dishonour God/*.

It is not that actions are unimportant, but that doing the right thing for the wrong reason cannot honour the Master.

God examines the heart, testing the motive for our service.

The passage enunciates a principle that is unpacked in this portion of the Sermon Jesus preached—righteous acts are to be done quietly.

Whether fasting [*Matthew 6:16-18*], praying [*Matthew 6:5-15*] or giving gifts [*Matthew 6:1-4*], the child of God must check his or her motive.

There is within the human heart a perverse tendency toward seeking approval or admiration from others when we act.

However, God calls His followers to act quietly, not ostentatiously.

The text presents, if you will, a flip side to *Matthew 5:16*, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Underscore the frequently neglected principle in your mind—*/There must be balance in the believer’s actions/*.

We must seek God’s glory in all things, constantly assessing our actions in light of our motives.

Earlier, in Matthew 5:16, Jesus says that the entire life-style and character of the disciple must reflect the character of the Father.

The subject in our text is specifically religious actions.

The difference in the two passages is the difference between holiness and presumptive piety.

People should recognise that we are godly by our general demeanour and the character of our lives—we are honest in our dealings, we are sincere and fair in our treatment of others, we are conscious of the presence of the Lord.

However, through mere external acts, we can gain a false reputation for goodness.

It is easier to be a religious hypocrite than to gain an honest reputation for being a righteous individual.

Three of the greatest acts of piety in the Jewish Faith were fasting, praying and giving.

The Master uses these acts to teach a vital truth.

He assumes that they will be done, and therefore He builds on what would have been somewhat common actions for those among whom He lived and ministered at that time.

Things are not very different today.

We hold in high esteem—and rightly so—people who are willing to fast, dedicated to prayer and quick to be charitable toward those in need.

However, you and I know that a person can deny themselves every sort of comfort, recite multiple prayers or construct the most moving petitions, or give generously in addressing various needs and yet fail to honour God.

However, our actions must always be dictated by a desire for the Father’s glory, rather than seeking our own glory.

If we will please God, we must keep His desire foremost in our mind.

On the other hand, in seeking what is convenient, we may be comfortable, but we cannot ever be pleasing before the True and Living God.

There is no simple formula to make life easy.

The Christian life demands balance, and balance requires constant reassessment and adjustment to fulfil the will of God.

This is a restatement of the principle we just stated—a principle that must be fixed firmly in our minds if we will please the Master: */The Christian life demands balance, and balance requires constant reassessment and adjustment/*.

The context for biblical giving is the natural outworking of the Spirit in the life of a believer.

There is an innate desire to serve God in every believer.

From time-to-time, the child of God will become greatly exercised by some particular need, and they will be so focused on seeking the mind of the Master or on seeing the will of the Father fulfilled that they forsake normal pleasures.

Like David of old, they may avoid grooming themselves, or more likely, they will avoid food for a period until they have assurance that God has heard their plea and that His answer is on the way.

Likewise, the child of God will pray.

She will not be content to say prayers, but she will ask God for her needs, pleading for His glory and asking for His will to be accomplished in her life.

Should she become so busy with the mundane aspects of life that she neglects prayer, she will know that the resulting loss of power is because she has failed to speak to God in secret prayer and she will again seek Him and His will, asking for His glory to be manifest through giving her the answers she seeks.

Finally, you may be assured that the child of God will be generous.

He will be generous for two great reasons—he is taught to be generous and he has the heart of the Father.

These are the assumptions that we must now explore.

He will not be motivated solely by emotional tugs, but he will be motivated by the desire for God’s glory through his generosity.

He will act conscientiously, deliberately and systematically to glorify the Lord God through providing for the needs both of God’s people and the work which the Master has entrusted to His people.

Whatever else may be said of the child of God, he will be generous.

*The Biblical Assumptions* — The Master implies at least two assumptions concerning His people, either of which reveals the work of the Spirit in the life of an individual.

The Master assumes that His people will be compassionate and that they will exhibit selfless generosity.

Moments ago, I stated that the people of God will act in this manner because they are taught to do so and because they are prompted to be generous and to show compassion because the Spirit of God dwells in them.

*/The Master Assumes that His People Will Show Compassion toward the Needy/*.

“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.”

In Judaism, providing charitable gifts was a religious duty, not a philanthropic option.

Under the New Testament teaching, God’s people act deliberately and systematically in providing for God’s work.

God instructed His ancient people, “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.

Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin.

You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.

For there will never cease to be poor in the land.

Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land’” [*Deuteronomy 15:11*].

This is nothing less than a generalised application of the principle that guided the people of God under the Law.

The Lord provided a practical application of the Sabbath principle in *Exodus 23:10, 11*: “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat.

You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard.”

The land was not merely to lie fallow, but the poor were to be encouraged to glean among the untended fields, vineyards and orchards during the Sabbath year.

The principle was given to Israel as an ongoing expectation when God commanded: “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.

You shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard.

You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God” [*Leviticus 19:9, 10*].

The foundation for this generosity is that the Lord is generous toward mankind.

The Psalmist has written: [The Lord] “has distributed freely; He has given to the poor” [*Psalm 112:9*].

Therefore, the Word of God pronounces a benediction on those who are generous toward the poor:

“Blessed is the one who considers the poor!

In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;

the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;

he is called blessed in the land;

you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.

The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;

in his illness you restore him to full health.”

[*Psalm 41:1-3*]

In this Psalm, David anticipated the words his son would write in the Proverbs:

“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord,

and he will repay him for his deed.”

[*Proverbs 19:17*]