Mat 6:1-4; Giving to Others Is for God’s Eyes Only.
length: 57:05 - taught on Jul, 30 2024
Class Outline:
Tuesday July 30, 2024
Idea: Giving to others is a required worship of God that must be done for God’s eyes only.
Intro: The supreme matter in this life is our relationship with God. When one writer states this, he says, “One almost apologizes for making such a statement.” Yet it is often the source of our failure that we forgot about our relationship to God.
We must also remember that we are always in the presence of God. He is omniscient and omnipresent. Jesus reminds us of this - “Your Father who sees in secret.” This becomes even more important when we see the warning against doing righteousness so that we can see ourselves doing it.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,"
12 Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.
So, how is giving to others considered the worship of God? When a believer learns the knowledge of God and is commanded to be like Him (MAT 5:48; JOH 4:24; EPH 5:1), when the believer then longs to be like God in all the ways that he can, he worships God. When you could be or do other things, but your greatest joy is to be like God, especially being one who was once His enemy, you glorify His name. The worship of God is freely and joyously being like Him.
Today we look at the worship of God by being like Him in giving to others.
The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin;
But the wicked will perish;
And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures,
They vanish — like smoke they vanish away.
21 The wicked borrows and does not pay back,
But the righteous is gracious and gives.
22 For those blessed by Him will inherit the land,
But those cursed by Him will be cut off.
23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
24 When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.
25 I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or his descendants begging bread.
26 All day long he is gracious and lends,
And his descendants are a blessing.
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
2 "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. 3 "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.
Beware: This does not mean going out of your way to be unnoticed like a monk or ascetic.
We are the light of the world (MAT 5:14) and you should not hide your good works (being like God). What Jesus will not tolerate is the hypocrisy of doing worship to be noticed.
There is a delicate nature of balance and poise in the Christian life. On one end of the extreme is becoming a monk or hermit and the other is to be guilty of great ostentation.
Otherwise you have no reward with (from) your Father who is in heaven.
The main theme of this chapter is the conflict within us between God and ourselves.
When we seek to please others, essentially we are trying to please ourselves. In the last analysis it is either one or the other - “cannot serve two masters.”
We are to seek and anticipate the rewards that come from God for being like Him and serving Him (Epistles agree).
There is no reward from God for those who seek them from men.
Jesus calls this one a hypocrite - an actor.
Almsgiving does not only refer to money. I think it is safe to say that it puts us in the category of helping others by any means; money, time, any service.
It is completely wrong to draw attention to yourself.
Christ is making His point clear, and He leaves us to understand that we can do the same thing in very subtle ways. In essence, if we seek to be recognized we will have our reward in full. It’s not a mind game. Christ is freeing us to truly worship God through giving, serving, and personal sacrifice.
MAT 6:3 Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
Done in secret, meaning that the Father is the only one who sees for the purpose of keeping an account.
LUK 18:9-14 - Jesus creates the parable to perfectly portray the thinking of the Pharisee.
We are all tempted since we all battle our pride.
MAT 6:4 Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
You can keep a ledger in your mind.
Jesus helps us greatly here by promising us that God the Father watches, sees, and keeps record. Let Him keep the records, you do His will and then forget about it and move on.
We should have such love for God that we have no time to think about ourselves.
We shall never get rid of self by concentrating on self.
The only hope is to be so consumed by the Lord and love that we have no room to think about ourselves.
You must not keep the account. God does that.
Closing Scriptures:
Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. 3 But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. 4 For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. 5 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.
“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”
“What utter fools we are to keep our own accounts, not realizing that if we do so we shall get no reward from God. But if we just forget all about it and do everything to please Him, we shall find that God will have an account.” [Lloyd-Jones; The Sermon on the Mount].
Not one service done unto the Lord will be forgotten, to the smallest one.
God keeps the books. He is a perfect bookkeeper. I think that in this case we’re focused more on eternal rewards than those in time.
You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
Thousands upon thousands were attending Him,
And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him;
The court sat,
And the books were opened.
His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
The Lord is teaching us to keep our eyes on who really matters, the only one who should be worshiped, the only one worthy, the only one from whom life flows, through who love flows, the Almighty maker and Savior.
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