Why Do You Give?

At the church where I serve, we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled Jesus uncut. During this series, we are spending our time together looking at perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus ever preached, which is referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. During this series, we are going to see Jesus reveal to the crowds listening to His sermon, and to us here today, the true nature of what God demands of humanity in order to experience a right relationship with Him and what it truly means to obey the message and teachings of the letters that make up the Bible. And during this series, as we see Jesus uncut, our hope and prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in a way that enables us to wrap our heads, hearts, and hands around the lifestyle that Jesus calls us to live as one who is living in a right relationship with Him. 

This week, I would like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off last week. And as we jump into the next section of this famous sermon that Jesus preached, called the Sermon on the Mount, which is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew, we are going to discover another timeless truth from Jesus uncut. So, let’s discover that timeless truth together, beginning in Matthew 6:1:

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

As Matthew continues to give us a front row seat to this famous sermon that Jesus preached, we see Jesus, after revealing the reality that being right with God involves more than external obedience; after revealing the reality that the character and behavior that meets God’s demands to be right with Him involves moving past external rules and regulations to having the heart and character of God that is revealed in us as we live a life that is lived in obedience to God by doing the right thing; makes the crowd listening to Him aware of a potential danger that can occur while we are living out our relationship with God. When Jesus uses the word beware, this word, in the language that this letter was originally written in, means to be in a state of alert.

Jesus here was warned the crowds listening to His sermon to be on alert when we are living out their relationship with God in the presence of others. Jesus then explained to the crowds that what they needed to be on the alert for is the desire to be noticed by men. Now this word notice literally means to do things in a way that impresses others. So, in essence, Jesus is warning the crowds listening to His sermon to be alert to the danger of living out their relationship with God in a way that is focused on impressing others.

Jesus then explained that the reason that they were to be on the alert against the danger of living out their relationship with God in a way that is focused on impressing others is that when the focus of their spirituality was to impress others, they have no reward with your Father in Heaven. But what does that mean? What is Jesus talking about when He refers to rewards in Heaven? When Jesus speaks of the concept of rewards in Heaven, He is speaking about the amount of recognition one will receive from God for the quality their faith.

The point that Jesus is making here is that those who live out their faith with a focus on impressing others will not be recognized by God as having a high-quality faith life. After making the crowds aware of the danger, Jesus then gives three examples of spiritual practices that reveal the difference between living out a relationship with God in a way that is focused on impressing others and living out a relationship with God in a way that demonstrates a right relationship with God. We find the first example in Matthew 6:2. Let’s look at it together:

"So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

Here we see Jesus point the crowds listening to the spiritual practice of giving to expose those who live out their relationship with God in the presence of others with the goal of impressing others. To understand what Jesus is communicating here, we first need to understand what Jesus means when he talks about giving to the poor. In Jesus day, there was no welfare. There was no such thing as Medicaid, Medicare, or unemployment insurance. Even in America, prior to the great depression, the church was the primary vehicle for taking care of the poor and needy, not the government.

So, in Jesus day, the poor were ministered through the church as part of the church’s budget, along with individual acts of generosity. Giving was also done a little different in Jesus’ day. In Jesus day, they did not pass the plate, or a basket. Instead, the temple had a large box where people would deposit what they gave. And, in these verses, Jesus points out that there were some who, when they came to church, would make a grand entrance into the sanctuary and act so that everyone saw that they were giving and how much they were giving.

Jesus responds to this situation by telling the crowds that people who live out their relationship with God in a way that demonstrates a right relationship with God do not sound a trumpet before they give. Now Jesus is not referring to a literal trumpet. Jesus point is that a person is not to publicize their giving so as to draw attention to themselves. Jesus continued by telling the crowd that the motive for publicizing their giving was so that they would impress and receive the praise of others.

Now here is something to consider: how easy is it for us to fall into the same trap. How often can we fall into the trap of trying to impress others by our giving? Let me paint a picture for us this morning. You are in church and it is time for the offering. And as you are singing, you watch the ushers begin passing the basket. You begin to grab for your wallet or purse. It comes to your row. You are still fumbling through your purse, or your pocket. Now let me ask you a question. What is going through your mind at that moment? Is your mind focused on God, or the things of God? Or is your mind focused on what the usher is thinking? Or the rest of the people in the row?

At that point, we need to be on the alert. We need to be on the alert that we do not fall into the trap of practicing our faith in the presence of others with the goal of impressing others. Because, as Jesus states in verse two, when we fall into that trap, we are a hypocrite. Now when Jesus uses the word hypocrite, we need to understand what He means. A hypocrite creates a public impression that is at odds with one’s real motivations or purpose. In Jesus day, this word was used to refer to someone who was an actor or a pretender. In our culture, we might refer to such a person as a poser.

Jesus point is that the person who gives to impress others is a poser; that person is not spiritually mature and is not displaying the character and behavior that is focused on pleasing God; they are only focused on impressing others. And because of that reality, Jesus stated that those who seek to impress others had received their reward in full. Since they only sought the approval of their peers, nothing else was coming. Now a natural question that could arise here is “Well then how does Jesus want us to give? Jesus provides the answer in verses 3-4:

 "But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

When Jesus uses the phrase do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, He is painting a word picture to reveal the reality that people who live out their relationship with God in a way that demonstrates a right relationship with God do not draw attention to what they are doing when it comes to their giving. Instead, people who live out their relationship with God in a way that demonstrates a right relationship with God give out of their love for God, not to be loved by others.

People who live out their relationship with God in a way that demonstrates a right relationship with God invest of treasure in God’s kingdom mission solely to please God and in a way that is known only to God. People who live out their relationship with God in a way that demonstrates a right relationship with God only seek the recognition that comes from God as having a growing and mature faith.

Tomorrow, we will see Jesus move from the spiritual practice of giving to the spiritual practice of prayer..