Why Do We Do the Things We Do?

Why Do We Do the Thing We Do?

Matthew 6:1-4

Have you ever wondered why people do the things they do? When we were at the children’s homes that we served in, and a kid would do something that we did not understand or something that he knew was wrong we would ask that inevitable question; “Why did you do that?” Anyone that has worked with kids already knows the answer but without delay every time we asked that question we got the same answer: “I don’t know.” At first I thought the kids were just not wanting to tell me why they did what they did but the truth of the matter is they really had not thought about why they did what they did they just did it. This drove me crazy for a while. Then I began to realize something. Raechel and I have been married for quite a few years and I can just about tell you what she is going to do in almost any situation. But I cannot for the life of me tell you why. And when I ask her, just for my future references, why she did what she did she usually either says; “I don’t know or she has to stop and think about why she did what she did. Just for the record it goes both ways, I do the same thing. So the thing I began to realize is that we seldom look at our motives when we do something or respond to something. Today we are going to be looking at Matthew 6:1-4. I titled this sermon; Why Do We Do the Things We Do? Last week I was a little long winded so hopefully I will make up for that today. We are only looking at 4 verses instead of 31. Let’s pray and get started.

Let’s go ahead and read the entire passage. Matthew 6:1-4 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.[1]

In the ESV, the NASB, the NIV and the HSCB they translate verse one to say; “do not do your righteousness or your righteous deeds before men…”. That is a fair translation because the Jew taught that there were three great pillars of righteous deed, alms giving (giving to those in need), praying and fasting. To be honest I could have included this morning much more of chapter 6. In verses 1-4 Jesus talks about the righteous deed of alms giving or charitable deeds, in verses 5-15 the righteous deed of praying, and in verses 16-18 the righteous deed of fasting. But in each of these passages about those righteous deeds Jesus makes sure that His disciples, those He was training to look and act like Him, understood the importance of their motives. In verse 1; 1“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. “ In verse 5: 5“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. And in verse 16: 16“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. So the sermon this morning is not going to be as much about charitable giving as it is about our attitude and our motives in charitable giving remembering that our attitudes and motives also apply to our prayer life and our fasting.

A lot of times when I am preparing a sermon the way the Lord deals with me is to place questions in my mind. So this morning I am going to ask you a few questions. The interesting thing about a question is that as soon as the question is asked the hearer begins to formulate an answer. Whether they know anything about the subject or not they begin to try to come up with an answer, even if the answer is, “I don’t know”. When I ask this question you will begin to come up with an answer.

Question # 1 – In charitable giving, praying or fasting who do you want as an audience? I remember when I was younger and in High School playing football I really loved to play home games. When we would score a touchdown the old school bell that was rolled out on the sideline would be rung once of each point we had scored that game and then the band would play the fight song Dixie; of course that fight song is a thing of the past. At home games I was playing in front of people who knew me but more importantly I was playing in front of people who cared about me. They were people who wanted to see me succeed. There were veterinarians and teachers and city councilmen, and school board members that knew me by name who would cheer for me and the rest of the team but to make this personal they were cheering for me. But when we would have to travel to a game it was different. People in the stands cheered when something happened, everyone in Texas loves a good football game. Sometimes even the opposing team’s fans would say good things about you but they didn’t know me. They didn’t really care if I succeeded or not, in fact they would have preferred that I did not do well even though they cheered for a good play. The difference was when I was home I was cheered on by people who loved me, away from home, not so much.

I guess the point of all of this is; when you give something, whether it is your time, your money, your talents or anything else you can give, who do you want to be the one who takes notice of it? Who do you want to be your audience? Do you want it to be the people who will slap you on the back and honor you because you wrote a check for $10,000 for the preacher’s new pick-up (that is not a hint). The ones who when you walk away will not remember your name or even care to remember your name. The ones who will sing your praises while you can see them and then talk about you behind your back. The ones who will only come back to you because of what they can get from you. The ones that really do not care whether you succeed or not.

Or do you want your audience to be the One Who reconciled you to Himself. The One who made that personal command to follow Him because He wanted a relationship with you. The One Who is so concerned about you that He put in His love letter to you “for we know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are the called according to His purpose.” The One who said: “Whosoever has the Son has life.” The One Who said: “I have come that they might have life and that more abundantly.” The One who came in the form of a servant and was obedient to His Father unto death even the death of the cross. You know who I’m talking about, Jesus, the King of kings and the LORD of lords. Who do you want to be your audience?

The next question that you are going to have to answer to yourself this morning is:

Question #2 – Who do you want to receive your reward from? Now these two questions go together because whoever you choose to be your audience is who you receive your rewards from. After a home game in football it was great, whether we won or lost there was always a crowd waiting outside the field house waiting to tell us how proud they were of us and to recount what impressed them about what we had done. On Monday walking down the street the store owners would stick their heads out and tell us; “good game, way to represent Mansfield”. They would even ask us about any injuries we may have received. The owner of the Dairy Queen who was also the mayor of Mansfield, TX would give the football players a free ice cream cone. The cafeteria ladies would give us extra chicken fried steaks and fish sticks. We got our rewards from people who knew us and cared about us, these people truly wished us the best.

But when we played an away game it was a lot different. After a game you would go out and shake the hands of the opposing team then you would tell the opposing coach good game and then lie thanking the referees for a good job done. But when you walk off the field you had received all the reward you were going to get from them. You got a “good game” and a slap on the back.

So, from whom do you want to get your rewards? If your rewards come from those who see you do a good deed or from those who receive your good deed then they are simply responding to what they got or what they could possibly get. They do not really care about you, only your provision or good deed and how it can benefit them. Or maybe I’m a little cynical. Perhaps they are truly impressed with what you did but your reward is simply going to be what they say and their honor of you. With that, according to Jesus, you have received your full payment. And since you are doing it for that payment then the act of giving to someone is just that an act. Jesus called the people who did that hypocrites. The word “hypocrite” literally means play actor, it is a theatrical term. Jesus warned about sounding a trumpet to get the attention of people. Do you really want your reward from people who you have to urge to pay attention?

Or do you want your reward from One who is always paying attention, who is always your audience and whose rewards are not just rewards they are banked in your account. When Jesus talked about getting your rewards from man He is talking about a simple payment. He used the word “misthos” and it is the same as wages, getting what you earn. But when in verse 4 He talked about God Himself rewarding us openly He uses a different Greek word that I’m not going to try to pronounce which means to render to an account. I’m no genius but it seems to me that Jesus is telling His disciples and you and me that when we get our rewards from the Father they are so great and so much more than we can imagine that they are stored up for us. We have no concept really of what our Father has in store for those who love Him. Do you want your rewards as a payment from man who really cannot give you anything that you cannot get for yourself? Or do you want your reward from the Father Who owns all the cattle on a thousand hills? Or from the One who we know can supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus? Or from the One who measures the world with the span of His hand and clothes the lilies of the field and cares for even the sparrows. So much greater is His reward than we can even imagine.

Who do you want for an audience and who do you want to receive your reward from? Now…

Question #3 - Who do you want to receive the recognition or glory? This sports analogy may not be that close to what we need to see here but I am going to give it a try. When the game was over and the local newspaper sports writer and radio sports reporter came around and would begin to ask questions of the players you could tell which of the kids had their heads on right. Some would begin to talk about their exploits on the field and every other word out of their mouths would be “I”. But some of the players recognized who should get the recognition, it was the team as a whole. The guys that had their heads on right refused to take the glory for themselves, they always gave it away and pointed somewhere else.

Here is where we must be very careful. We are commanded in Scripture to take care of those who are in need. Matthew 25:31-40 31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides hissheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take Youin, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’[2]

Galatians 6:7-10 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.[3]

I could come up with many, many more examples in Scripture where we are told to do good, to and for others. But how can that always be in secret? Besides didn’t Jesus say back in Matthew 5:16 to let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works? But Jesus did say not to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, do your good deeds in secret. Now what I am about to say is just coming from George. I am not positive that this is what Jesus is saying here. What I am about to say is true and the principle can be borne out to be true I’m just not positive that this is what Jesus meant by the left hand and the right hand. The left hand in Hebrew thinking, and in Arabic thinking and even in Western thinking is evil. The English word “sinister” comes from a Latin word that means “left handed”. In the Middle Ages if someone wrote with their left hand they were possessed by a demon. It could be that Jesus is saying, “don’t let your evil nature take over what you are doing that is good”. Don’t let the left hand know what the right hand is doing. Don’t get so caught up in the good that you are doing that you begin to take the credit for it. So who do you want to get the glory for whatever good you do?

Jesus did give us the answer back in Matthew 5:16 that I quoted part of just a moment ago. Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and GLORIFY YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN”. When we begin to try and take God’s glory and place it on ourselves or even try to take some of the glory we have put ourselves in a precarious position. God takes it very seriously when His creatures attempt to steal His glory. How seriously does He take it?

Numbers 20:7-12 7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him.10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”[4]

God takes it very seriously when we try to take glory for ourselves. That is exactly why Moses only got to see the Promised Land and not enter it. When God told Moses to speak to the rock to produce water, Moses stood up in front of the people and said “must we make water come from this rock?” Moses was trying to give himself glory along with God for the water. Who do you want to get the glory? Give God the glory.

When you do your good works like charitable deeds or when you pray or fast what are your motives? Who do you want as an audience those who really don’t care if you succeed or not or the One who loves you and reconciled you to Himself for eternity? Who do you want to receive your reward from those who can only provide what you can provide for yourself or the One who owns it all and places your reward in your account for eternity? Who do you want to get the glory; yourself? If so then you have received all your going to get. Or do you want Him who deserves all the glory to receive the glory? So I’ll end where I started; Why do we do the things we do? Very clearly it is not just what we do it is why we do it. Give God the glory. Let’s pray.

[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 6:1–4). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [2] The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 25:31–40). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [3] The New King James Version. (1982). (Ga 6:7–10). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [4] The New King James Version. (1982). (Nu 20:7–12). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.