Righteous Living: With a look at giving!

RIGHTEOUS LIVING: WITH A LOOK AT GIVING! Matthew 6:1-4 – MHAFB, 19 July 20 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------Series: Sermon on the Mount / Topics: Jesus; Life and Teaching of Jesus Christ; Teachings of Jesus; Sermon on the Mount/Plain; Giving; Offerings; Poor Before Worship: Pray with leaders! Openings Verse: Psalm 18:20-24 (24:1-6) Songs: Make Me a Blessing; Way Maker ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction Attention: 1. Early in the Old Testament Book of Job, the veil that keeps us from seeing much of the spiritual world around us is pulled back enough for us to see a conversation between God & Satan... a. God highlights the righteousness of His servant Job (Job 1:8) Job 1:8 CSB 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.” b. And Satan replies by questioning the motivation of Job’s righteousness (Job 1:9-11) Job 1:9–11 CSB 9 Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Haven’t you placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 2. The ensuing events... a. Strip Job of his wealth, family, & health— i. Leaving him as a destitute man with four close friends accusing him of unrighteousness. b. And the next 35 chapters share their dialogue, i. spurring us to think about many things— ii. Not the least of which is a question that Jesus highlights in his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:1-18— 1. Why should we live righteously? Big Picture: 1. Today we will be considering this very question in the sermon… a. SLIDE-Title: Righteous Living: With a Look at Giving! i. In this we continue to see that Jesus demands great righteousness from those who follow Him b. While Jesus works this concept out from vv1-18, our key verses will be Matthew 6:1-4 i. In this, Jesus introduces this concept and uses giving as an example of its application. ii. In future sermons, Ch Joseph & 2Lt Antoine will continue this discussion, 1. Seeing how Jesus applies this to both prayer & fasting. 2. SLIDE-Thesis: So, let us focus in on today’s passage, in which we will see that… a. Followers of Jesus live righteously because of who God is & what He does; our giving reflects this. 3. While the concepts of this sermon seem fairly simple, a. The application of the principle may hit us a bit deeper than we realize! Passage: 1. Context: a. And so, I invite you to… i. Open to Matthew 6 with me as we see Jesus continue His Sermon on the Mount— 1. Continuing to teach us the “Customs and Courtesies of the Kingdom” ii. Stand in honor of the word of God as we read this morning’s passage— 2. Verses-1 Slide: Matthew 6:1–4 CSB “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven. 2 So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 3 But when you give to the poor, don’t 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. 1 Transition: 1. May the Lord bless us through the reading & applying of His Word. 2. Please join me in prayer… a. Father, You have called us into Your Kingdom. i. Help us to walk worthy of the calling we have received (Eph 4:1) ii. Help us to imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1; Philippians 2:5; 1 Peter 2:21) in living righteously for You. b. Help us today to more clearly see Your heart and our own hearts i. And make us into the image of your Son (Romans 8:29; Colossians 3:10). c. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen! 3. As we now consider the question, “Why should we live righteously?” a. Let’s start by considering how… Main Point 1: Righteousness Reflects Our God Explain: 1. Foundational to this conversation is a right understanding of "Righteousness" a. The Hebrew root for this word appears over 500 times in the Old Testament… i. The Greek root for this word appears over 200 times in the New Testament… ii. Do you think it’s an important concept to grasp? 2. MP1: So, what is righteousness? Righteousness is… a. MP1: God’s “unique moral perfection” i. Which is seen in “His readiness to save sinners.” (“Dictionary of Bible Themes,” by Manser, 2009) ii. This is the foundation of righteousness— 1. Not human heart or actions, but our God’s; 2. He defines moral perfection. iii. Remember the context of this morning’s verses? 1. Just prior to our verses you find Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 2. Therefore, righteousness is totally grounded in and seen through the perfect nature of God (Exodus 9:27; Deuteronomy 32:4; Judges 5:11; 1 Samuel 12:7; 2 Chronicles 12:6; Ezra 9:15; Nehemiah 9:8; Psalms 103:6, 119:137, 129:4; Daniel 9:16; Micah 6:4) b. It is part of who He is. i. And as such, it flows into what He does! Illustrate: 1. I’m sure you’ve noticed how different company computers look very similar on the outside but perform very differently? a. Not to get into the Apple-PC debate, but have you noticed that several of the non-Mac computers have been designed to look like a Mac? b. The outsides may look similar, but the performance is VERY different! c. In the end, it is the inside, not the outside, that determines performance 2. The same is quite true with our God… a. His heart, nature, inner qualities are righteous b. And because of that, His actions, and thus His interactions with us, are righteous Expand: 1. Who He is determines what He does; Therefore, because He is morally perfect… a. MP1: His actions will always be righteous. b. Have you seen God’s righteous actions in your life? in another’s? in the Scriptures? c. Consider these three examples… 2. MP1: God gives to the needy a. Jesus today highlights that this is a quality of righteousness— b. Do you remember how Jesus shared that God gives to the poor last week (Matthew 5:43-48)? i. He provides sunshine & rain to both the righteous and unrighteous c. His equitable kindness on others is a natural outworking of His inner righteousness. i. Secondly… 3. MP1: God rewards the righteous a. Jesus emphasizes this throughout His sermon. b. Three times in this section alone, He highlights that when you are righteous and no one sees it, "your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:4, 6, 18) c. Many of us know the challenge of trusting God to actually do this… i. Throughout history many Christians have died because of their righteousness, 1. Never receiving God’s reward on this side of heaven. ii. But, because we can trust in His actions to match who He is, 1. We understand that His rewards is most greatly a future blessings & not an immediate payoff 2. Why can we have such confidence that God will bless them? a. Because who He is determines what He does— b. And He is an honest God (see Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18). iii. Third… d. MP1: God justifies the sinner, i. He makes us righteous! Transition: 1. Which actually brings us to our next main point… Main Point 2: Human righteousness flows from our relationship with God Explain: 1. The scriptures clearly teach that we cannot be righteous apart from God’s work (Isaiah 64:6, 61:10; Ephesians 2:8-10; Philippians 3:7–9; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 11:6), a. But in His amazing love, God has provided to make us righteous! 2. MP1: So, How do we receive this gift and become righteous? a. MP1: Through our faith, Jesus’ righteousness is applied (imputed) to believers (Romans 1:16-17, 3:21–26) 1. Through Jesus we see a. God’s greatest gift to the needy—our salvation. b. God’s righteous payment for sin fulfilled—His atonement. c. As Romans 3:21-22 shares, “ But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe…” 2. There is an external & internal application that takes place! a. Externally, His perfect righteousness is imputed upon us, giving us a right-standing before God! b. Internally, He gives us a new nature & changes our desires (John 3:3-8; 2 Corinthians 5:17) i. And just as God’s righteous nature is seen through His actions righteous … ii. Our new righteous nature is seen through righteous actions, thus… b. MP1: Maturing Christians demonstrate increasingly greater righteousness i. This is the right and natural way of things. ii. Bible authors express surprise and disappointment when they meet Christians that are not growing as they ought to (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12, 6:1) iii. Let each of us take a lesson here & be diligent to 1. “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” 2. All the while knowing that “it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12b-13) 3. MP1: At this point it may be helpful to revisit our definition of righteousness… a. While righteousness is totally grounded in and seen through the perfect nature of God, additionally we see that righteousness is… b. MP1: Our actions (to include words) & internal qualities (will, motivations, imputed righteousness of Jesus, etc.) that correspond with God’s moral perfection i. True righteousness is expressed through fulfilling God’s expectations externally (actions, words, social interactions, etc.) & internally (motivations, etc.) c. MP1: Actions that appear righteous are only truly righteous when the heart (internal qualities) matches them i. This is why Jesus talks about “hypocrites” Illustrate: 1. This word was used for actors in the old Grecho-Roman theater shows a. A hypocrite was known to convincingly do & say things that were highly insincere. b. And while there is no horrible stigma when people are doing this in a socially acceptable way (such as through theater, movies, etc.), i. Few people, if any, want a friend that is highly insincere with them through their words and actions… 2. Throughout the Gospels Jesus calls out religious leaders for their hypocrisy (e.g. Matthew 15:1-9) a. There was a great conflict between their external actions & internal attitudes b. And within our verses this morning Jesus highlights that people who do & say things to look righteous manifest hypocrisy because their motivations are not righteous. c. As He said, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.” Expand: In our key verses this morning, 1. We saw Jesus explain this idea through the example of hypocritical giving, saying, “So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people." a. The temple chests that people used to donate their money to the poor were interestingly known as “shofar chests,” having a trumpet-like shape with their wide opening that narrowed like a funnel i. The wide mouth provided the benefit of easily getting money in the box ii. While the narrow base made it challenging to quickly steal from the chest. b. Can you catch the play of words that Jesus is using here? i. People would ‘toot their own horn’ (or ‘sound the trumpet’) by drawing attention to how much money they put in these trumpet-chests, ii. Perhaps through noisily tossing the coins or dramatically presents them in some other way c. In doing this, they revealed the condition of their hearts… i. They had greater concern to be noticed for their gift than they had to be righteous in God’s eyes ii. “They loved human praise more than praise from God.” (John 12:43) iii. And indeed, the praise of man was the only reward they would receive! (Matthew 6:2) 2. And so with a form of hyperbolic language we’ve come to see Jesus use frequently in this sermon, a. He corrects us, i. “But when you give to the poor…” 1. As a quick side note—recognize His expectation that we will be giving to the poor— ii. “But when you give to the poor, 1. Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 2. So that your giving may be in secret…” (vv3-4a) b. Jesus’s instructions are not meant to imply i. That we cannot keep track of giving ii. Or that we should be irresponsible in the stewardship of finances iii. Nor that we should refuse to disclose how we spend our money c. On the contrary, He used dramatic language to highlight that… i. Actions are only righteous when the heart matches them ii. And a heart that craves the approval of man is not the heart that God desires. d. So, i. Let us give generously & cheerfully to the needy… 1. because we are children of a loving God that generously and cheerfully gives to the needy. ii. Let our righteousness be defined by God 1. And then flow from our relationship with God. Transition: 1. Now, let’s begin to wrap this up… Conclusion: Conclusion Reiterate: Followers of Jesus live righteously because of who God is & what He does; our giving reflects this. 1. Righteousness is totally grounded in and seen through the perfect nature of God a. His actions are always righteous because He is perfectly moral 2. Through faith in Jesus, His righteousness is applied to us— a. It justifies us & gives us a new nature b. And this new nature will be seen through consistently growing in righteousness i. Where our actions & internal qualities correspond more and more with God’s moral perfection Apply: So, how should we respond? Prayerful consideration… 1. Con: Behold God’s righteousness! a. Learn more about this through reading & meditating upon His word; i. Commit yourself to study & learn it better every week! ii. Within this you will see the amazing beauty of God’s holy righteousness b. Ask your chaplains and other mature Christians for resources (books, counsel, etc.) i. God has called us into community as His church for such reasons as this! c. Prayerfully reflect upon His incredible grace & kindness! (see Matthew 5:45; Luke 6:35–36; Acts 14:17; Romans 2:4) 2. Con: Pursue righteousness! a. Just a few verses later in Matthew 6:33 we find Jesus saying, i. “Seek first the kingdom of God & His righteousness.” ii. We need to intentionally decide to do this. b. This starts by first pursuing a relationship with God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22, 4:5, 9:30)! c. It then continues as we grow closer to Him i. Growing in love for and obedience to Him ii. Gain the head-knowledge & heart-change needed to live as He called us d. And I do want to ‘foot-stomp’ this point— i. While the righteousness starts in the heart—it doesn’t stay there! ii. While we must pursue righteousness, we also must… 3. Con: Demonstrate righteousness! a. We need to partner with God to do the good things He has called on us to do i. As we reflected on earlier, each of us is to “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” knowing that “it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12b-13) ii. And as Ephesians 2:10 shares, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” (also see Ephesians 4:1ff) iii. Which Titus 2:14 compliments by sharing that Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.” b. As God has changed our hearts, let us be diligent to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4) i. And though we do not do it for the praise of people— ii. May each of us “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16; also see Psalm 40:3, 71:6–8) c. And bearing Jesus’ words in mind this morning, let us also… i. Con: Generously give to the needy! ii. I encourage you to think about "needy" in a bit of an abstract way… 1. There are many types of poverty! iii. Most obviously, when someone has a true financial need that you can meet— 1. I encourage you to humbly give iv. But beyond finances, where else do you see great need? With our Airmen? Your family? Friends? Neighbors? Outcasts in society? Perhaps your generosity will be seen through... 1. …taking time to listen 2. …becoming a friend 3. … sharing the good news of Jesus v. We live in a world with great need 1. Are you willing to follow the heart and example of our God? a. Will you give to the needy? vi. And finally—as you demonstrate your righteousness, vii. Con: Guard against wrong motives! 1. Jesus starts this section with the word, “Be careful!” a. This is a present-tense word that reminds us of our need to be alert to a powerful temptation 2. Hypocrisy so easily creeps into our hearts, even when we regularly spend time in God’s Word (Isaiah 29:13; Ezekiel 33:31; Zechariah 7; Matthew 15:8–9; Mark 7:6–7) a. The ‘praise of man’ can have an addictive pleasure more powerful alcohol or any illegal substance 3. Let us guard our hearts from simply ‘doing good,’ a. Check our motivations b. Make sure our focus is on loving and glorifying God c. And so prove ourselves to be His daughters & sons Appeal: 1. You know, a. There’s a bit of fatherly pride in my heart when someone observes my children and reflects, i. “That is certainly your child.” b. Hopefully this isn’t for a pesky trait or habit, but rather for a manner of love that they show, a positive impact that they make on others… c. I am their father & as we maintain a close relationship it is only natural that they will reflect me in very clear ways. 2. In this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks about God as our “Father” 17 times. a. This highlights the close and loving personal relationship we have with Him (Matthew 5:9, 45; Luke 6:35; Romans 8:14; 1 John 3:1). b. But it also highlights that we should be living in way that shows the family resemblance. c. May God give us the grace needed to each grow as His child, i. Living more righteously, whether or not people are looking ii. Trusting in His care & reward as we sacrificially love others d. May we each be so greatly blessed to demonstrate an ever-greater family resemblance to our Heavenly Father throughout our life! Conclude: 1. We are about to take part in the Lord’s Supper a. As posted on Facebook, we had these handy wafer-cup sets available for pick-up at the chapel Friday & this morning. i. If you were not able to get one, you are welcome to use available resources at your house like saltine crackers and another juice. ii. Please feel free to pause the live-stream and pick these up now— 2. I will be praying now, as we make this transition a. As I do pray, I encourage you to remember the words of Paul in 1 Cor 11:27-28 1 Corinthians 11:27–28 CSB 27 So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. b. Invite the Lord to inspect your own heart, confess as He directs as we prepare for this time. 3. Please join me in prayer… a. Righteous God, i. Thank you for being our Heavenly Father ii. Thank You for your amazing grace and generosity— 1. For pouring out your love upon us in such a sacrificial way 2. For providing the way that we might become Your sons & daughters iii. Lord, how precious and vast are Your thoughts and love toward us 1. Thank You for the cross 2. Thank You that through repentance and faith we may… a. Enter into Your family b. Receive Your righteousness c. And become more like Christ. iv. Help us each to rise up to the high calling You have given us this morning. 1. And be with us now as we remember the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus Christ 2. For it is in His name that we pray, b. Amen.