Don't Act Right, Be RIght (Matthew 6:1-4)
Gary McManus, 10/23/2022Part of the Life With Jesus is Better series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
October 23, 2022 Matthew 6:1-4
October, 2022 = MinistrieS / MinisterS appreciation month. The Lead Pastor is minister to the ministers—all of you.
Today, a strange statement of our Lord Jesus.
It is often misinterpreted: Matthew 6:1.
Jesus, here, is all about motivation, not the action.
By all means practice piety. But do it for God’ glory,
not for others to see you do it.
One conversation Pastor had. . .
Notice, it isn't wrong to show off.
But showing off is its OWN reward.
Someone WILL benefit from your alms giving,
Jesus is saying, it won't be the giver if the gift is done to show off.
Another conversation. . .
But if you did it for the old lady and for God,
the Heavenly Father WILL give you a reward--in heaven. In the Twenty-first Century, giving so others will know that you are giving is harder now because most people do everything on their phone.
More issues in impressing others. . .
Alms?! Alms: acts of charity / give to the needy /
The sacred duty of giving alms: Deuteronomy 15:11.
Jesus’ concern is for hypocrites=actors.
(Matthew 23:23) Jesus wants justice, mercy and faithfulness.
Jesus doesn’t want followers to play at being pious.
Again, being pious isn’t condemned—the emphasis here is on the word BEING rather than acting pious.
So, left hand, right hand?
Our giving and acts of service should disregard ourselves. Disregard ourselves TWO ways:
1.We give for the sake of the needy, not so we can
--pay fewer taxes.
--to relieve any sense of guilt.
There are right ways to deal with guilt before our Lord. They are much more effective and helpful.
Liberal giving doesn’t make anyone good parents,
good grandparents, good Christians or good Pharisees.
That is Jesus’ point.
We give to those in need and we are merciful to glorify God. We at DCC are not good people, but Jesus makes us do good things.
AND 2. We want to give God glory, so don’t keep too close a track of what you are doing for others.
Tithes AND offerings? Maybe
But once you’ve given the tithe, don’t stop giving.
If you reach the budgeted amount of giving to the church/mission in October, Jesus is saying, don’t use that as an excuse to stop giving.
[Another case Jesus speaks against limiting our giving. (Mark 7:11)
Give when you feel led by the Holy Spirit to give.
Your left and right hands shouldn’t keep too close a track on what each are doing with their gifts. Better way to understand this:
“don’t let your wallet let your purse know what it is doing.” But Jesus isn’t just about money. . .it is about acts of charity—in whatever form they take.
See Jesus’ parable about the generous landowner, Matthew 20:15.
Jesus concluded much of his teaching in Matthew with his story;
the last parable in Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew 25
Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of man comes in his glory, . . . hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? 38 And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? 39 And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’
We don’t serve our Lord, in order to be recognized, we serve our Lord because it is the Jesus thing to do. Amen.
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