S.O.T.M. Living the Righteous Life [Matthew 6:1-4]

Stand for the reading of the word of God [Matthew 6:1-4]

We come now to a new section in the sermon, and it runs right through this sixth chapter. Here we have what we may well call a picture of the Christian living his life in this world in the presence of God, in active submission to God, and in entire dependence upon Him. Read this sixth chapter and you will find that this reference to God the Father keeps on recurring.

So far in the sermon, we have been looking at this Christian man who has been told something of his characteristics, who has been told how he is to behave in society, and who has been reminded of what it is that God expects of him and demands from him. Here in this section we have a picture of him going on to live that life in this world; and the great thing is that he does it all in the presence of God. That is something of which he should constantly be reminded. Or, to put it in another way, this section presents a picture of the children in relationship to their Father as they make their way on this pilgrimage called life.

The chapter reviews our life as a whole, and it considers it under two main aspects. The first one is dealt with in verses 1 to 18; the second from verse 19 to the end of the chapter.

The first is what we may call our religious life, the nurture of the soul, our piety, our worship, the whole religious aspect of our life, and everything that concerns our direct relationship to God. But of course that is not the only element in the life of the Christian in this world. He is reminded by it that he is not of this world, that he is a child of God and a citizen of a kingdom that cannot be seen. He is but a sojourner, a traveller in this world. He is not a worldling and does not belong to this world as other people do; he is in this unique relationship to God. He is walking with Him. Nevertheless he is in this world, and though he is not of it any longer this world keeps doing things to him, and he is in many senses subject to it. And, after all, he does have to walk through it.

So that the second picture is that of the Christian in his relationship to life in general, not so much as a purely religious being now, but as a man who is subject to ‘things of this world’, a man who is concerned about food and drink, clothing and shelter, who may have a family and children to bring up, and who therefore is subject to what is called in the Scriptures ‘the cares of this world’.

Those are the two great divisions of this chapter, the directly religious part of the Christian life, and life in general are both taken up by our Lord and dealt with in considerable detail. In other words, it is vital for the Christian that he should be absolutely clear about both these matters, and he needs instruction about both. There is no greater fallacy than to imagine that the moment a man is converted and becomes a Christian, all his problems are solved and all his difficulties vanish. The Christian life is full of difficulties, full of pitfalls and snares. The Scriptures are clear on that.

These detailed instructions from our Lord and in the Epistles would be unnecessary if all our troubles were gone when we become a Christian. The reality is in this life you will have trouble. And here our Lord deals with how to handle certain things in this life with great detail.

You might as well know from the start that this chapter 6 is a very searching chapter, in fact I might say it’s a painful one. I sometimes think that it is one of the most uncomfortable chapters to read in the entire Scriptures. It probes and examines and holds a mirror up before us, and it will not allow us to escape. There is no chapter which is more calculated to promote self-humbling and humiliation than this particular one. But thank God for it. Because the Christian should want to know himself truly.

The natural man thinks he knows himself but in that reveals his basic trouble. He evades self-examination because to know one’s self is ultimately the most painful piece of knowledge that a man can ever acquire. And here is a chapter that brings us face to face with ourselves, and enables us to see ourselves exactly as we are. But, I repeat, thank God for it, because it is only the man who has truly seen himself for what he is who is, a sinner before a Holy God, is likely to fly to Christ, and to seek to be filled with the Spirit of God. Here in this chapter it our Lord moves from emphasis on doctrine or teaching, that was emphasized in chapter 5, to the practical aspect of living the Christian life.

In this section of the sermon verse 1 is an introduction to the message that is consistent from verse 2-18. He lays down the general principle regarding ‘living the righteous life’ or the Christian life before God not before men. He then goes on to give us three illustrations of the principle in the matters of giving, prayer, and fasting. There, ultimately, is the whole of one’s religious life and practice. If we analyse the religious life of a man we find that it can be divided into these three sections: the way I do my giving and helping others, the nature of my prayer life and contact with God, and the way in which I should mortify [deny] the flesh.

The fundamental principle is laid down in verse 1, ‘take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds[righteousness] before men’ The original language uses ‘righteousness’ in verse one as opposed to almsgiving used in the Authorized Version. While almsgiving or giving is the illustration, doing good is the principle, i.e. living the righteous life, the Christian life. We do good to please God not to get praise from man. That’s what our Lord is concerned with here laying down the principal then going on to illustrations of that principle. I want us to consider this main principle before we look at the matter of giving. In your bulletins there are three secondary principles about our Lord’s main principle in regards to living the righteous life before men. Let’s first consider...

The delicate nature of the Christian life

The Christian life is always a matter of balance and poise. Here’s what I mean. It is a life that gives the impression of being self-contradictory, because it seems to be dealing at the same time with two things which are mutually exclusive. We read the Sermon on the Mount and we come across something like this: ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.’ Then we read, ‘Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father which is in heaven.’ And a man looking at that says, ‘Well, what am I to do? If I am to do all these things in secret, if I am not to be seen of men, if I am to pray in my closet having locked the door, if I am to anoint my face and wash myself, thus giving the appearance that I am not fasting, how can men know I am doing these things, and how can they possibly see this light which is shining in me?’

There is, of course, no contradiction here but we are called to do both these things at one and the same time. The Christian is to live in such a way that men looking at him, and seeing the quality of his life, will glorify God. He must always remember at the same time that he is not to do things in order that he may attract attention to himself. He must not desire to be seen of men. But, clearly, this balance is a fine and delicate one; so often we tend to go to one extreme or the other. Christian people tend either to be guilty of being showy and ostentatious or closed off from others like hermits. As you look at the long story of the Christian Church throughout the centuries you will find this great conflict has been going on. They have either been ostentatious, or else they have been so afraid of self and self-glorification that they have segregated themselves from the world. But here we are called to avoid both extremes.

The Christian life is a delicate life, it is a sensitive life; but if we approach it in the right way, and under the leading of the Holy Spirit, the balance can be maintained. Of course, if we just take these things as rules which we have to put into operation we shall go wrong on the one side or the other. But if we realize that what matters is the great principle, the spirit, then we shall be saved from the error on the right hand and on the left. Let us never forget this, the Christian at one and the same time is to be attracting attention to himself, and yet not attracting attention to himself. Hopefully that will be seen more clearly as we proceed. The next principle...

The choice between pleasing self and pleasing God

This may sound elementary, but it’s necessary that we emphasize it. We may look at this ‘take heed you do not your charitable deed before men’ and may think it’s ultimately a choice between pleasing men and pleasing God, but that’s not it…it’s a choice between pleasing self and pleasing God…here’s why I say that. Ultimately, our reason for pleasing those around us is that we will please ourselves. We have to look deeper than the surface, the ultimate reason for being a people pleaser is selfishness… our real desire is not to please others as much as it is to please ourselves because when we please others we know they will think better of us.

If we’re not careful are real concern is self-gratification. That’s the character of sin, selfish, prideful, self satisfaction. What appears to be so selfless may be just a very subtle form of selfishness. According to our Lord it comes to this: man by nature desires the praise of man more than the praise of God. In desiring the praise of man, what he is really concerned about is his good opinion of himself. In the last analysis it always comes to this, we are either pleasing ourselves or else we are pleasing God. It is a very solemn thought, but the moment we begin to analyse ourselves and see the motives of our conduct we shall agree that it comes to that. Which brings us to the next principle...

The supreme matter in this life is our relationship with God

As I worked over this in my mind I thought that perhaps the greatest cause of all our failures in this life is that we constantly forget our relationship to God. Our Lord puts it like this. We should realize that our supreme object in life should be to please God, to please Him only, and to please Him always and in everything. If that is our aim, with the spirit’s guidance, we cannot go wrong.

Here, of course, we see the perfect example of the outstanding characteristic of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. Is there anything that stands out more clearly in His life? He lived entirely for God. He even said that the words that He spoke were not of Himself and that the works He did were the works which the Father had given Him to do. His whole life was given to glorifying God. He never thought of Himself; He did nothing for Himself. What we are told of Him is this, ‘A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench.’

In a sense He seems to be there unseen and trying to hide Himself. We are told about Him that ‘he could not be hid’, but He seemed to be trying always to do this. There was a complete absence of ostentation. He lived entirely and always and only for the glory of God. He said constantly in various ways: ‘I seek not My own honour but the honour of Him who has sent Me.’ And He put it negatively in this way: ‘How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?’ ‘That is your trouble’, He says in effect. ‘You are so concerned about man and the praise of man. If only you had a single eye to the glory and honour of God, then all would be well.’

We must keep in mind we are always in the presence of God. We are always in His sight. He sees our every action, indeed our every thought. In other words, if you believe in having texts placed before you in a prominent position on your desk or on the wall of your house, there is no better one than this: ‘God sees me’. He is everywhere. ‘Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men.’ Why? ‘Else ye have no reward with your Father which is in heaven.’ He sees it all. He knows your heart; other people do not. You can deceive them, and you can persuade them that you are quite selfless; but God knows your heart.

Our Lord pointed that out to the religious leaders of his day, that they put on a good show before men, but he knew what was in their cold hard hearts. I would go so far as to say that there may be no better way to life than to remind myself of this truth constantly, God knows my every thought, He knows my true intent. And I am in His presence at all times. It is not a bad thing to say to ourselves: ‘Throughout this day, everything I do, and say, and attempt, and think, and imagine, is going to be done under the eye of God. He is going to be with me; He sees everything; He knows everything. There is nothing I can do or attempt but God is fully aware of it all. “God sees me”.’ It would revolutionize our lives if we always did that.

Just imagine how different our lives would be if we would live under this principle at all times. Living as if God is looking at all, aware of it all, and is recording it all…friends, He is. I truly believe we would experience a real revival in the church if our teaching and preaching was focused not so much on marvellous experiences aimed at solving peoples problems, but focused on the fact that we are always in the very presence of God! The realization of that truth my friends will cause a person to fly to the arms of Christ and his cross and plead to be filled with the Holy Spirit that I might live solely for you. This would affect how we give.

The final point is...

The matter of giving

The matter of giving follows the principles that have been laid down. Our Lord says in effect there is a right way to give and a wrong way to give. Almsgiving, giving, charitable deed, simply means helping people, giving a helping hand to someone in need be it by giving money, time, or whatever that is going to help people.

The wrong way to give is of course by announcing it. “therefore when you do your charitable deed to not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.” Now some have suggested that some religious leaders would actually do this, they would have trumpeters with them to blow the horn when they were doing a charitable act or gave an offering. Whether this is true or not we don’t really know for sure. But we do know those people who “blow their own horn.” Right! These type, nothing they’ve done goes unnoticed by others because they are constantly blowing their own horns… ‘look what good thing I’ve done’ Oh they may even be subtle about it, but as soon as they get a little recognition they go on and on about it.

I recall talking with a fellow years ago who went on and on about how religious he had been in the past, about all the good things he had done for people and on and on he went blowing his own horn. I said to him, ‘wow that’s really good, so how’s your relationship with the Lord now.’ To which his response was that he didn’t go to church anymore and he didn’t help people anymore because he didn’t get the recognition he thought he deserved. I tried to point out that the good we do for anyone, as a Christian, should be done in response to the good done for us in Christ Jesus, and it’s not to be done with the mindset of getting praise or recognition from people. The emphasis should be on our relationship with God…that in turn will affect our relationship with people.

This is where so many go wrong, as Christians if we are doing good and helping others with the expectation of getting something we’ve missed it. This is why Christians get burnt out on helping others because the focus is in the wrong place. The right way to give is to give seeking to please God. People will be ungrateful, people will take advantage of your generosity, people will use you if you put yourself out there, that’s just the truth of it…the fact is, that doesn’t matter if you’re concern is pleasing God. How people respond won’t matter if your focus is on pleasing God. You won’t grow tired of doing good if you’re pleasing God.

Our giving and helping should be second nature as a child of God. Jesus uses this strange illustration, “when you give, don’t let your left hand know what the right is doing.” Yes we are not to announce our giving to others..but don’t even announce it to yourself??? The idea is as a Christians generosity is second nature. The picture is when you run across someone that has a need your left hand is just dangling there minding it’s own business and your right hand hanging out over hear in your pocket sees the person in need and just reaches out automatically in assistance. There’s no pre-thought, or pre-meditation, you just respond to someone’s need.

And when it’s done you just go on about your day like nothing ever happened. You don’t keep score or account or record of what you’ve given, you do as the Spirit leads you to do. How is this done? Well we will never do it by concentrating on ourselves. It’s done by being consumed by the love of Christ…when we are consumed by Christ’s love we’re not consumed by ourselves. To implement this teaching of Christ we must look the to cross of Christ, think of His life and all he endured on that cruel cross, the suffering He endured for you and me. As we realize what Christ has done for us and the enormous price He paid for our sin upon the cross, what He gave in order to give to us...we won’t grow tired of seeking to please Him.

And you know the result of this? It’s glorious. Our Lord puts it this way, He says, the charitable deeds done in secret your heavenly Father sees in secret and rewards openly. Friends just as God knows all the bad we do He also knows all the good we do in His name, even the smallest acts of love are remembered by our heavenly Father. And Christ says He will reward us. We may not receive that reward until we reach glory.

Here’s the picture for us Christ is painting, when we get to heaven by the grace and mercy of God in Christ we will stand before Him and He’ll be rewarding us for our charitable deeds done for His glory. He’ll say well done for feeding me when I was hungry, well done for giving me drink when I was thirsty, and we’ll respond, when did I see you hungry and thirsty? When did I do this for you? And He’ll say when you did it for one of the least of these my children you did it for me. You see no good deed done for that brings God glory will go unnoticed, it may in this life but it won’t in glory ...but know this the greatest reward, we who are in Christ, will receive is God Himself. I may get a gift, but even better is I get the gift giver. And I get Him for all of eternity… That reward is more than enough. Friends don’t grow weary of doing good but seek Christ and His glory always!