Private Worship Through Giving
Notes
Transcript
Today we continue our series from Matthew, the Greatest Sermon Ever, where we are studying the word of Jesus as he gave the greatest sermon ever. This passage is known as the sermon on the mount and is 3 entire chapters from Matthew 5-7.
At the end of February, we finished up chapter 5 and today we’ll tackle the first few verses of chapter 6. We come into chapter 6 with Jesus address those who have observed the letters of the law, but have done so without observing the heart or purpose of those laws.
Jesus takes a bit of turn here in chapter six as he addresses righteous acts and the manner in which they are practiced.
How many of you like to hear someone tell you that you’ve done a good job? Feels good right…nothing wrong with telling someone they’ve done a good job. In fact I recommend it.
Let me ask this question another way. How many of you have done a good job just so you could hear someone say good job?
When we approach doing something good so that someone will notice, Jesus has something to say to us about that in the next section of the sermon on the mount.
In particular, there are three practices that Jesus wants us to get right: giving to the needy, prayer and fasting.
Let’s start off with verse one...
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
This verse by itself serves as the introduction and the foundation off which Jesus teaches us about giving, prayer and fasting. I want to pick this verse apart for a few moments...
First, “practice your righteousness”. This phrase is more literally translated “do your individual good works or deeds”. The implication here is that we are to individual engage in and do good things, but we are not to do those good things in order that others would see us doing them.
Jesus tells us to be careful of this. I think if we are honest with ourselves, there is this prideful piece within us to be recognized and honored by others. If we are not careful, sometimes that need to be seen drives what it is that we do.
Jesus is really getting at our motivation for doing our individual good works. Are we doing them for the praise of man, or are we doing them because it is something commanded of us to do?
Yes, you heard that right, I believe we are commanded and expected to do good works…to practice our righteousness, but we are do them in a way that honors God, and not ourselves.
As I’ve said, there are three things that Jesus is going to specifically talk to us about: giving to the needy, prayer and fasting. I want to compare the first verse of each of these sections. They all follow the same pattern..watch this...
***Going to point out the pattern below the verses. We’ll cycle through them all three times.
Verse 2...
2 “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.
Then verse 5...
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.
Then verse 16...
Matthew 6:16 (NIV)
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
The pattern:
When you...
Implies that this will be done. It is not an ‘if’, instead it is ‘when’.
There is an expectation that we will do this individually.
Do not…hypocrites
hypocrite: Someone who does or says one thing, but is really someone else.
I believe the greatest hindrance to someone hearing the Gospel are hypocrites in the church.
Truly I tell you....received reward in full
The praise of man is the full reward. That is it. God has a greater reward for those who humbly follow him.
Here is the next verse in each of those passages…they also follow a pattern:
***Same thing with these 3 verses
Verse 3
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. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Verse 6:
6 But when you 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.
Verse 17-18:
17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
The pattern:
But when you...
Again implies that this is something that Jesus expects that we will do.
Private way of practicing righteousness
Not known, behind a closed door, not seen and not obvious to others.
Your Father, who see what is done in secret, will reward you.
Personal…your father. This is a revelation from Jesus about our relationship to God. This personal, individual…he is my father, he is your father.
God the Father sees what is done in secret - this is good news in this case because we are doing a righteous thing, but this also speaks to a Father who is always present and is always seeing no matter how secret we try to be.
He will reward you.
I want to use the rest of our time this morning and give you three different types of giving and then four Biblical Principles of giving
First the types of giving…
1. Tithe
Tithe literally means a tenth. Here is a reference from Genesis...
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
Without getting into specifics here about this, the tithe is an Old Testament concept that the law required of God’s people. We do not see any affirmation of this from Jesus or any of the disciples as a standard that we are to follow. Instead, the New Testament encourages generosity and giving well beyond the 10%. In fact, an argument could be made for 100%.
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
I personally believe that 10% is a great starting point for our “tithe”. At the end of 1 Corinthians, Paul says this:
1 Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
Paul doesn’t specify a percentage, but says to set aside a sum, keeping with your income. This is an example of a New Testament tithe. A pre-determined, decided amount that will be given on a regular basis that is in keeping with your income.
2. An Offering
An offering is generally above what has been pre-determined. In many cases an offering is given to meet a specific need. We see this in Exodus after God gave Moses the command to create the tabernacle and the items for it, they needed materials to complete the work...
4 Moses said to the whole Israelite community, “This is what the Lord has commanded: 5 From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze;
There is a list of items needed after this…From time to time we make know the needs for moving forward with a particular project or program.
The key is that the offering is done in addition to the regular giving. Lastly
3. Alms or giving to those in need
We saw this in our passage from Matthew, but there is also a reference in Acts...
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.
The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.
God chose to speak to this man who regularly helped those in need. This vision would lead to Peter coming to Cornelius’ house and the Holy Spirit blessing them.
principles…
1. Giving is first on our budget
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
The tendency is to get our paycheck, Uncle Sam takes his part, we set some aside for retirement (hopefully), then we pay our bills and buy the food/provisions we need. After all of that we see what is left to give. This Proverb is just one of many passages in scripture that tell us to make our giving to the Lord the first.
2. Giving is proportional
1 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
How can the two small copper coins be more than the wealth? We see the check with lots of zeros as better than a couple of nickels, but the Lord sees our giving differently. This is why Jesus was talking in Matthew 6 about doing our righteousness privately - it doesn’t really matter what man sees as more or less. It matters what God thinks about our giving.
3. Giving is sacrificial
1 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.
Sacrificial giving is giving beyond one’s ability, The Macedonian churches pleaded with Paul to participate in this way. Notice also their overflowing joy…that is our fourth principle.
4. Giving is a cheerful act
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.