Giving-Matthew 6:1-4

Intro: Jesus has moved on from ‘moral’ righteousness to ‘religious’ righteouness. Giving, prayer, fasting. But here again, Jesus sees beyond the action:

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount A Christian’s Religion: Not Hypocritical but Real (Matthew 6:1–6, 16–18)

The essential difference in religion as in morality is that authentic Christian righteousness is not an external manifestation only, but one of the secret things of the heart

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount A Christian’s Religion: Not Hypocritical but Real (Matthew 6:1–6, 16–18)

It is our human cowardice which made him say ‘Let your light shine before men’, and our human vanity which made him tell us to beware of practising our piety before men

Jesus’ condemnation of showboating

Carson-Pg 60

Jesus moves on from in some sense, matters of the heart, to outward reflections of our worship such as giving, prayer and fasting. the point is, these are by nature things people may see or pickup on. the issue is not if they are seen, but what OUR motivation is. Jesus will have none of our hypocrisy:

Matthew Henry:

‘Take heed of hypocrisy, for if it reign in you, it will ruin you. It is the dead fly that spoils the whole box of precious ointment’

This is a warning, ‘beware.’

though we are to let our light shine before others, the goal is NEVER to be for the praise of man but the praise of GOD!

who would of thought that giving, praying and fasting could so be distorted?

John Stott:

‘Our good works must be public so that our light shines; our religious devotions must be secret lest we boast about them’

What kind of giving glorifies God?

Generous- ‘so when you give’

The New International Version Chapter 15

anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. 8 Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need.

Jesus says, when you give. God’s people have always been called to be a generous people. Jesus wasn’t condemning generosity but the attitude of people’s hearts when giving.

2 Coninthians 8:1-4-midst of a very severe trial, their overflwing joy...

Matthew Stott:

‘The question is not so much what the hand is doing (passing over some cash or a cheque) but what the heart is thinking while the hand is doing it’

Barnabas in Acts (Acts 4:36-37)

Widows Mite (Luke 21:1-4)

2. Self forgetful

…to be honoured by others.’ that is what the hypocrites were doing.

Matthew 6:2–3 NIV

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

now obviously, you can’t train your brain (or maybe you can) to give with the right hand and have your left hand unaware of it. the POINT is to be avoid all showboating or attention grabbing. AND, we ourselves shouldn’t be caught up with our own generosity. You see, the pharisees were caught up with OTHERS seeing them give but the temptation for some of us may be more internal. Maybe we get caught up and puff internal chests up with our generous giving. The heart is so deceitful that it will find a way to twist our good works and make them rubbish if we are not careful.

John Stott:

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 1. Christian Giving (2–4)

The question is not so much what the hand is doing (passing over some cash or a cheque) but what the heart is thinking while the hand is doing it

3. Secret

Matthew henry:

‘conceal it as much as possible; industriously keep it private. Do it because it is a good work, not because it will give thee a good name’

Barnabas (sold a field)-people will find out about our generosity, but the goal is put our heads down and not draw attention to our selves

Matthew Stott:

‘By this expression’, Calvin writes, ‘he means that we ought to be satisfied with having God for our only witness.’

some of our giving will inevtibablly be public, but again, the point is that we should make an effort to conceal our giving so as to not draw attention to ourselves.

4. heavenly reward seeking

‘…so that your giving may be in secret. Then you Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.’

Matthew Henry:

‘Note, When we take least notice of our good deeds ourselves, God takes most notice of them’

Jesus is the perfect example of giving!

He gave himself!