SCRIPTURE | Matthew 6:1-4
PRACTICING AUTHENTIC RIGHTEOUSNESS: STUDY FOR 5 WEEKS.
We Will Compare Traditional Judaism To Biblical Christianity.
So, The Jews During The Time Of Jesus Obviously Had A Religion;
They Thought It Was Biblical.
It Was At Least Sophisticated And Certainly Complex,
But It Was Substandard.
Their Theology Was Faulty.
Their Theology Was Inadequate.
Their Attitude Toward Mundane Things Is Inadequate.
Their Doctrine About Love, Hate, Anger, Murder, Divorce, Swearing, Telling Lies, Taking Oaths WAS WRONG.
That’s Clear From Chapter 6:
THEIR ATTITUDE AND MOTIVES
TOWARD THEIR RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY
WAS INADEQUATE.
JESUS REESTABLISHED GOD'S VIEW
ON BEING AUTHENTIC.
Jesus Comes To The Pharisees And The Scribes.
Who Adhere To The System Of RABBINIC TRADITIONAL JUDIASM.
WHY IS RABBINIC TRADITIONAL JUDIASM A FALSE RELIGION?
Originally Judaism Was Godly: It Taught Scripture Correctly.
Love The Lord God With All Your Heart, Mind, Soul, Strength.
Love Your Neighbor As Yourself.
An Internal TRUE Religion:
Being Humble Toward God,
Repenting Of Sin According To The Moral Law Of God,
Turning Toward God For Forgiveness Of Sin,
Finding Salvation By Faith Alone In Him.
It Fell Away Into Apostasy:
Became Works Based, Tradition Focused, Self-Righteous, False.
YOU KNOW IT IS APOSTATE WHEN:
TRADITIONS AND INTUITIONS OF MEN WERE MORE AUTHORITATIVE,
THAN THE AUTHORITY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.
WHEN IT IS NOT INTERNAL HEART CENTERED WORSHIP,
OF THE ONE TRUE GOD THRU JESUS CHRIST THE SON.
Scripture Is Very Clear: There Is One God And Only One God,
There Is One Lord And Only One Lord,
God In Christ Has Been Revealed As Savior, Redeemer, And King.
There Is One And Only One Inspired Revelation, The BIBLE.
There Is Only One Accurate Correct Interpretation Of The BIBLE.
There Is Therefore In The Bible ONLY ONE Plan Of Salvation.
Apostate Judaism And Christianity ARE NOT COMPATABLE.
The Apostate Form Of Judaism That Existed Even Before Jesus,
Continues To Exist Without Christ For Centuries And Even Today.
The TRUE Religion Of The Old Testament Was Fulfilled In Christ.
The Judaism That Rejected Christ Is A False Religion.
JESUS CAME AND SET A CORRECT STANDARD.
HE Explained To Them:
You Have Torn Down The DIVINE Standard.
You Have Reconstituted A HUMAN Standard.
Your Human Standard Is NOT Acceptable To God.
HE Says To Them:
I Am Not Come To Destroy The Law And The Prophets.
I Am Come To Reaffirm Them.
I Am Not Come To Set Aside One Thing Of God’s Law.
I Am Come To Reassert: True Righteousness.
I Am Come To Re-Establish: God's Established Standard.
I Am Come To Explain: God Sees Even Covert Action Of Hypocrisy.
SO: In Chapter 6: Jesus Tells Them:
They Have The Wrong Approach Towards The Things Of Life.
They Shouldn’t Be Anxious For What They Eat Or Drink Or Wear.
They Have The Wrong Approach To Theology.
They Have The Wrong Approach To Worship.
THEY ARE PHONY AND HYPOCRITICAL.
He Really Sums Up The Whole Area Of Religious Responsibility:
OUR WORSHIP TOWARD GOD,
IN OUR ATTITUDES AND MOTIVES,
SHOULD BE COMING FROM THE DEPTHS OF A PURE HEART.
Your Giving: Phony, Your Praying: Phony, Your Fasting: Phony.
So, He Really Unmasks Hypocrisy.
OUTLINE:
I. THE PRINCIPLE (MATTHEW 6:1).
II. INAUTHENTIC GIVING (6:2).
III. AUTHENTIC GIVING (6:3-4).
Jesus Commands His Listeners:
Of Practicing Your Righteousness Before Other People.
What Does The Phrase Your Righteousness Mean?
Does This Refer To Good Works Or Practices We Must Do To Earn Our Way Into Heaven, Our Eternal Reward? No!
The Bible Is Clear That We Cannot Earn God’s Forgiveness Or Do Enough To Be Awarded The Opportunity To Spend Eternity With Him In Heaven.
Think Of This In These Terms:
TO PRACTICE YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS
A DEMONSTRATION OF HOW GOD,
HAS TRANSFORMED OUR LIVES.
Practicing Your Righteousness In A Way That Is:
To Show That Christ Has Made All The Difference In Your Life.
To Show That Christ Has NOT Transformed You: By Trying To Impressing Others.
We Lose The Approval Of God
When We Seek The Applause Of Men.
Righteousness To Be Noticed By OTHERS Is Self-Righteousness.
KEY TAKEAWAY:
BELIEVERS SHOULD BE GENEROUS WITH THEIR POSSESSIONS.
BE CAREFUL TO GIVE QUIETLY SO OTHERS DO NOT NOTICE.
MATTHEW 6:1–4: BEING GENEROUS WITH OUR RESOURCES.
THIS ELEMENT OF GIVING DEALS WITH HOW WE TREAT OTHERS.
I. THE PRINCIPLE (MATTHEW 6:1).
RIGHT THINGS FROM THE WRONG MOTIVE:
THE KINGDOM LIFE IN THE REAL WORLD:
HAVE YOU EVER DONE THE RIGHT THING,
FROM THE WRONG MOTIVE?
To The Jew There Were:
Three Great Cardinal Works Of The Religious Life,
Three Great Pillars On Which The Good Life Was Based:
Giving | Prayer | Fasting.
Jesus Would Not For A Moment Have Disputed That;
Jesus Was Troubled About The Wrong Motives.
A Man May Give Alms,
Not Really To Help The Person To Whom He Gives,
But Simply To Demonstrate His Own Generosity,
And Seek Praise From Others.
Three Times Jesus Uses The Phrase:
Truly I Say To You, They Have Their Reward.
Translated: They Have Received Payment In Full.
IN YOUR GIVING:
This Indicates That God Will See Even The Most Covert Actions.
God Will Ensure They Are Properly Rewarded, Because It's NOT
That You Give BUT HOW YOU GIVE.
GIVING TO THE NEEDY
1 Beware Of Practicing Your Righteousness Before Other People In Order To Be Seen By Them,
For Then You Will Have No Reward From Your Father Who Is In Heaven.
THE GOSPEL CHANGES EVERYTHING ABOUT US:
THIS SHOULD BE EVIDENT,
IN OUR GENEROSITY WITH THE RESOURCES GOD HAS GIVEN US.
In Judaism, Nurtured As It Was On The Old Testament Scriptures,
There Was A Strong Concern For Charity, Particularly The Giving Of Alms.
The Old Testament Taught This Duty.
Proverbs 19:17 Says, He Who Is Kind To The Poor Lends To The Lord, And He Will Reward Him For What He Has Done.
Proverbs 29:7 Says, The Righteous Care About Justice For The Poor.
Psalm 41:1 Pronounces A Blessing Upon The One Who Does So, Saying, Blessed Is He Who Has Regard For The Weak.
The Rabbis Even Amplified This Teaching, Adding That Alms-Giving Delivers From Death And Will Purge Away All Sins (Tobit 12:9).
The Problem: Charity In Judaism:
Like Other Aspects Of Morality,
Was Largely External.
And Although It Was Far More Common Than In The Cultures Of Greece Or Rome, It Was Performed, Nevertheless, With Similar Motives.
Only With The Coming Of Jesus Christ Did Motives Change,
Only In The Power Of His Spirit Did Charity Flow From The Heart.
From A Divine Love Welling Up Internally.
II. INAUTHENTIC GIVING AND AUTHENTIC GIVING (6:2–4).
HOW NOT TO GIVE AND THE MOTIVE OF GIVING:
2 Thus, When You Give To The Needy,
Sound No Trumpet Before You,
As The Hypocrites Do In The Synagogues And In The Streets,
That They May Be Praised By Others.
Truly, I Say To You, They Have Received Their Reward.
Jesus Commands Us To Give In Secret In Order To Avoid Giving For The Praise Of Others.
But This Is Not Always Possible.
Sometimes Giving Will Inevitably Become A Public Matter.
Furthermore, Jesus Had Recently Told His Readers, “Let Your Light Shine Before Others” (Matthew 5:16).
How Should We Reconcile These Difficulties While Remaining Faithful To What Jesus Says.
The Fundamental Warning Jesus Issues Is Against Practicing Your Piety Before Men In Order To Be Seen By Them.
At First Sight These Words Appear To Contradict His Earlier Command To Let Your Light Shine Before Men, That They May See..
In Both Verses He Speaks Of Doing Good Works ‘Before Men’:
And In Both The Objective Is Stated, Namely In Order To Be ‘Seen By Them.
But In The Earlier Case He Commands It,
While In The Later One He Prohibits It.
How Can This Discrepancy Be Resolved?
The Contradiction Is Only Verbal, Not Substantial.
The Clue: Jesus Is Speaking Against Different Sins.
In Our Human Cowardice:
Which Made Him Say ‘Let Your Light Shine Before Men’,
In Our Human Vanity:
Beware Of Practicing Our Piety Before Men.
‘Show When Tempted To Hide’
‘Hide When Tempted To Show’
Last Five Words (“TO BE SEEN BY THEM”) Are Critically Important,
Because They Help Us See How This Does Not Contradict Jesus’s Command To “LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE OTHERS” (5:16).
AGAIN: THE ISSUE IS ONE OF MOTIVE.
BE CAREFUL: Command Calling For Constant WATCHFULNESS.
When We Do Good Works: ASK YOURSELF:
Why Am I Doing Them?
DO YOU LONG FOR APPROVAL FROM YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER.
So When We Give, We Should Do It Quietly And In Secret.
God Sees What We Give And That Is Enough.
If Others Do Hear Of Or See My Giving:
It Only Is To Encourage Them In Faithful Stewardship,
Not To Exalt Me.
Hypocrite Can Help Us Sense Why Jesus Condemns These Actions.
HYPOCRISY: Jesus Used This Word To Explain This Display.
One Who Lays Aside His True Identity And Assumes A False One.
He Is No Longer Himself But In Disguise, Impersonating Somebody.
It Is An Issue That Concerned Our Lord; Therefore, It Should Also Concern Us.
3 But When You Give To The Needy,
Do Not Let Your Left Hand Know What Your Right Hand Is Doing,
This Is Metaphorical And Somewhat Hard For Modern Readers To Understand.
Our Left And Right Hands Should Ideally Work Together And Thus Know What The Other Is Doing.
Jesus Is Asking Us To Avoid Allowing Even Close Contacts,
People Who Would Typically Know Every Move We Make,
To See Us Giving.
The Right Hand Is Normally The Active Hand.
So Jesus Assumes We Shall Use It When Handing Over Our Gift.
Then He Adds That Our Left Hand Must Not Be Watching.
There Is No Difficulty In Grasping His Meaning.
DO NOT TELL Other People About Our Christian Giving;
DO NOT EVEN TELL YOURSELF SUBCONSCIOUSLY.
For Self-Consciousness Will Deteriorate Into Self-Righteousness.
4 So That Your Giving May Be In Secret And Your Father Who Sees In Secret Will Reward You.
God Is Present In Our Lives And Observes Our Actions Even When We Don’t Recognize Him.
Thus, If Our Charity Is Never Known Or Acknowledged By Others,
We Should Feel Confident That The Only One Who Matters,
Sees Our Generosity And Will Acknowledge It In Heaven.
Although We Can Keep Our Giving Secret From Others,
We Cannot Keep It Secret From God.
No Secrets Are Hidden From Him.
So Your Father Who Sees In Secret Will Reward You.
To The Jew Giving Was The Most Sacred Of All Religious Duties.
The Same Word: Both For Righteousness And Giving.
To Give Alms And To Be Righteous Were One And The Same.
To Give Alms Was To Gain Merit In The Sight Of God.
To Even Win Atonement And Forgiveness For Past Sins.
There Was Even A Rabbinic Saying:
Greater Is He Who Gives Alms Than He Who Offers All Sacrifices.
GIVING STOOD FIRST IN THE CATALOG OF GOOD WORKS.
So, It Was Inevitable:
The Man Who Desired To Be Good Should Concentrate On Giving.
They Taught That Giving Alms In Secret is Greater Than Moses.
They Taught Giving Which Saves From Death Is Giving In Secret.
They Taught GIVE NOTHING Is Better Than GIVING SHAMEFULLY.
CUSTOM CONNECTED WITH THE TEMPLE:
There Was A Room Called The Chamber Of The Silent.
To Make Atonement For Some Sin, One Could Give Money Here.
Poor People Who Were Struggling Financially Were Helped.
But, Too Often The Giver Gave So That All Men Might See The Gift.
These Givers Gave Mostly To Bring Glory To Self Than To Help.
Also, During Worship, Offerings Were Taken For The Poor.
These Givers Were Recognized For How Much They Gave.
THE MOTIVES OF GIVING:
(i) A Person May Give From A Sense Of Duty.
Some Feel That Giving Is An Inescapable Duty.
Some Feel Their Purpose In Life Is The Duty Of Giving To Poor.
And Thus To Acquire Merit In The Sight Of God.
(ii) A Person May Give From Motives Of Prestige.
Some May Give To Get The Glory From The Giving.
Some Might Only Give When It Is Attached To Publicity Only.
Unless Duly Thanked And Praised And Honored There Is No Giving.
Without The Attention From Giving, Some Are Sadly Disgruntled.
Some Do Not Want The Glory To Go To God.
Some Give To Gratify Their Own Vanity And Sense Of Power.
(iii) A Person May Give Simply Because Their Heart Demands It.
Some Give Because Their Overflowing Love Demands It.
Some Give From A Sense Of Responsibility For Other In Need.
We Have The Pattern Of This Perfect Giving In Jesus Christ Himself.
Paul Wrote To His Friends At Corinth:
For You Know The Grace Of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
That, Though He Was Rich, Yet For Your Sake He Became Poor,
So That By His Poverty You Might Become Rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Our Giving Must Never Be The Self-Righteous A Sense Of Duty,
Our Giving Must Never Be To Enhance Our Glory Among Others.
It Must Be The Instinctive Outflow Of The Loving Heart;
We Must Give To Others As Jesus Christ Gave Himself To Us.
