Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good morning Church!

I want to begin this morning by saying, wasn’t last week, Youth Sunday, such a blessing!

Just seeing all our kiddos participate and take part and just simply praise God!

That’s what it’s all about Church!

Teaching these little ones how to worship and more importantly WHO it is we’re worshiping!

That’s the most important part!

Let’s begin this morning by giving our youth another big round of applause for being courageous and getting up here and taking part in last Sunday!

Alright…today we are going to be making our way back to the Book of Matthew and we will be in a new chapter finally!

We have literally spent the last three months in Chapter 5 of Matthew and I’m sure some of you were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to get out of it but we finally made it!

Now, we’re going to move on to Chapter 6 and we’ll be continuing on in our study of what?

That’s right…the greatest sermon ever preached…Jesus’ sermon on the mount.

Isn’t it funny to think that Jesus probably preached this sermon in an hour or so and here we are and we’re 3 months in and have barely scratched the surface!

But you know, I believe as Jesus preached this message to the multitudes of people, everything we have covered over the last 3 months now, somehow, some way, resonated in the listener’s hearts!

I believe God just placed a deeper understanding of Jesus teachings in every heart that was present there that day and when they left, we can see at the end of the sermon, in Matthew 7:28 how the crowd felt about it...

They were astonished at the sermon they had just heard for He had taught them as one having authority!

The reason it seemed this way is because He was the authority, Amen!

The Word of God in the flesh taught the multitudes the word that was written by and about Him!

Listen, it doesn’t get any better than first hand knowledge, Amen!

Straight from the lips of the one the Book was written about came power from on high and it shook the hearts and souls of all who listened!

To some it brought conviction, while to others it brought about anger and malice!

To some it was life altering, while to others it was blasphemy!

To some it was life giving, while to others it was heart hardening.

Something for everyone but to everyone astonishment came because of the words that fell from the lips of our Savior that blessed day!

Wouldn’t you just have loved to have been able to hear that all encompassing, soul searching message that day?

I know I would have!

As we begin looking here in Chapter 6 of Matthew’s gospel, we are going to break about half of this chapter down into a three-part series entitled…Guarding Against Misguided Motives and today we are going to look at Part 1 of this series which I have titled “The Secret of Supplication.”

Now, don’t get the wrong message from the title here and think that it’s ok not to let your light shine for Jesus because that’s right the opposite of what we’ve just finished learning in Chapter 5.

But, what Jesus is saying here, is that there are certain parts of our personal ministry and worship that ought to be reserved exclusively between ourselves and God and not for the world’s viewing.

So, if you have your copy of God’s word with you this morning and you have it turned to Matthew Chapter 6 and Verse 1, would you say, Amen.

The Caution in Supplication — (Vs. 1)

The first thing I want us to look at this morning is the Caution in Jesus statement.

He begins by saying, “Take heed.”

The word “heed” used here is the Greek word (prosechō) and it means to be alert, to be on guard, to beware or consider carefully.

The NLT actually translates it as “Watch out!”

But what exactly is Jesus telling His listeners to watch out for?

Look what He says next...

“That you do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.”

What exactly are alms?

The word “alms” is the Greek word (eleēmosynē) and it speaks of acts of charity or acts of mercy towards the poor.

It can mean donations or good deeds.

Some have said that the word alms used here in Vs. 1 isn’t the same as the word alms in Vs. 2 and they have translated alms here in Vs. 1 from a Greek word which means “righteousness.”

I don’t think either way you translate it, it changes the point that Jesus is trying to get across here.

What Jesus is trying to say here is simply, don’t be doing good deeds, acts of charity for the poor, don’t be practicing righteousness to be seen of men!

Why?

Because then it becomes self-righteousness, Amen!

And notice the caution of supplication with the wrong motives…if you practice self-righteousness, if you do good deeds and help the poor to be seen of men and not God, then you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven!

Listen, there’s something I don’t want you to miss here...

Giving to the poor, helping the needy, providing for those who couldn’t provide for themselves or those who had fallen on hard times was such a given in this day and time that Jesus didn’t have to address the fact that people weren’t doing it, no, He was addressing the fact that they were doing it with misguided motives in mind!

Do you see that?

He didn’t say, “if you do alms” did He?

No, He said, “when you do them, take heed that you don’t do them before men to be seen of men!”

Listen, all throughout the Bible the thread of generosity stands out for all to see.

In the Old Testament, it was commanded to help the poor and needy.

Listen, when farmers gleaned their fields they were to leave certain portions for those who needed help.

Those who couldn’t provide for themselves.

Now, I’m not saying this morning that we are to keep up the dead beats who are too lazy too get out and work, too lazy for their own good as the old saying goes.

The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, if a man’s too lazy to work then he doesn’t even deserve to eat.

But dear friend, there are those who get up and go to work every single day and they work hard but something unfortunate has happened to them and they have fallen on hard times and they may need some help.

That’s who I’m talking about this morning.

Or those who have a physical problem and simply can’t work themselves.

Or those in foreign countries…they’re the ones that tug on my heart strings the most…the ones who work their hands to the bone in these 3rd world countries just to have a meal at the end of the day.

That’s who we are to be taking care of.

We sit here in the greatest country in the world, with probably more millionaires per capita than any other country in the world and we hoard our millions when these poor little children in some of these poor countries don’t even have shoes for their feet, clothes for their backs or food for their tables.

They are the ones that need help.

I feel no shame, no sorrow, whatsoever for those who live in this country begging for handouts because their too lazy to get up and get a job.

Listen friend, if we’d let a some of these lazy folks start starving for a little while like the Bible says to do, you know what would happen?

We’d see that unemployment # start dropping, Amen!

I’ve gotten off on a tangent here and I’ve got to get back on track!

Almsgiving…good deeds, charitable work, donations to the poor and truly needy, is a given but Jesus cautions them here not to do it to be seen of men.

He doesn’t say not to do it but not to do it to be seen of men.

Why?

Because if you do it to be seen of men, you will have no reward from our Father in heaven.

Why is that though?

Well that leads us to our next section...

The Cause of Supplication — (Vs.

2-4a)

Hypocrite — insincere person, pretender

Spurgeon said it best...

It is important that we have a right aim; for if we obtain the result of a wrong aim, our success will be a failure.

If we give to be seen, we shall be seen, and there will be an end of it: “Ye have no reward of your father which is in heaven ”: we lose the only reward worth having.

But if we give to please our Father, we shall find our reward at his hands.

Spurgeon also said…

You cannot expect to be paid twice, if therefore you take your reward in the applause of men, who give you a high character for generosity, you cannot expect to have any reward from God.

We ought to have a single eye to God’s accepting what we give, and to have little or no thought of what man may say concerning our charitable gifts.

The motive which leads a man to give, will form the true estimate of what he does.

If he gives to be seen of men then when he is seen of men he has the reward he sought for, and he will never have any other.

Let us never do our alms before men, to be seen of them.

If the action is not done in the Lord's service, but with a view to our own honour, we cannot expect a reward from above.

— Precept Austin

John G Butler said...

They do not lose all rewards, for "They have their reward" (Matthew 6:2) indicates there is reward in this pretentious almsgiving.

This reward is all they will get, however.

The word "have" means "receipt in full" (Vincent).

Whatever praise they get from men will be their only reward—not much of a reward to be sure.

Listen, we are to have good works, we are to be charitable and help those in need.

We just learned in the last chapter, one of J.C.’s favorite scriptures...

Remember that?

We are to have good works but with the right motive in mind.

Paul said it like this in...