Audio - Sermon On The Mount 11 of 18

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The Sixteenth Sunday After Trinity
Sermon on the Mount, the 11th Sermon
September 15, 2002
 
NKJ Matthew 6:1 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 "Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 "But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 "that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
 
This morning we continue with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount—Matthew chapter 6 is the second part of this most perfect sermon preached to the 12 in preparation for being sent out on their own to preach
 
Preached for the benefit of the multitudes—Pharisees, scribes and Jews who followed Jesus to the mountain top to listen
 
And preached for the benefit of every Christian from that moment until Jesus’ return on Judgment Day
 
In Matthew chapter 5 we heard Jesus’ teachings to correct false teachings and misunderstandings of the Old Testament Law
 
In Matthew chapter 6 we will hear Jesus’ teachings on false piety—the bringing of attention to ourselves for worldly glory and praise—instead of doing good works to bring attention and praise to God
 
TEXT: 1 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
 
Jesus is saying these words soon after He stated chapter 5:16
 
NKJ Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
 
If Jesus said earlier that men should see our good works—and Luther states that there is no greater good work that can be done than to give to the poor—then why does Jesus now tell us that we should not give charitable deeds—like giving to the poor—before men??
 
Let’s further look at the very beginning of the Christian Church of the Apostles
 
NKJ Acts 2:44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
 
Surely men witnessed the selling of the goods and the giving to the poor—these Christians were being watched very closely—I think this was a very public act of Christian love
 
Paul had received word that the people of Corinth were ready to give to support the ministry—and this is what he wrote in his Epistle to them
 
NKJ 2 Corinthians 9:5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation. 6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
 
Again—we rely on Paul—a Hebrew’s Hebrew—to give us deeper understanding of the things Jesus is teaching in this sermon
 
Paul is telling the Corinthians—don’t give anything out of consideration of what he or any other man might think of them for their generosity or lack thereof—give out of love in your heart
 
God will bless you accordingly—the gift and the blessing are between you and God
 
When Jesus says “do not do your charitable deeds before men”—He means don’t give the gift to attract credit from men to yourself—but to glorify God through your action as a Christian
 
Don’t become entrapped when people flatter you for doing good things—don’t do good things to obtain more attention from men—that’s what Jesus is teaching us here
 
The end of this verse of our text has another message—“ Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
 
The message is this—there is a reward for good deeds—but not one that may be visible on earth—and there will be no reward for deeds done to impress men—the motivation of your heart for giving is the key—give for God—in public if you must—in private if you can—to reduce temptation to take the credit from God
 
Otherwise your only reward will be the empty praise of man—and you will be chasing after worthless things
 
TEXT: 2 "Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
 
Notice Jesus says WHEN you do a charitable deed—not IF you do a charitable deed—He expects us to give
 
When Jesus says “do not sound a trumpet”—He seems to be speaking figuratively—there was not a custom of blowing a trumpet to gather the poor for the outpouring of gifts from the Pharisees—and you certainly wouldn’t blow a trumpet in the synagogue
 
The key here is—don’t advertise that you are giving a charitable contribution
 
The words “in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men”—on the other hand—are probably intended quite literally—that’s how a man would do his giving if he wanted to attract attention to his generosity
 
Closing the thought of this verse of our text—Jesus says “Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.”—They have their reward already—they wanted the attention and the glory of men—and they receive that immediately
 
If anyone thinks they are also going to obtain a reward from God—they are mistaken—Jesus’ words are quite clear—THEY HAVE THEIR REWARD—lest you doubt—consider these familiar verses which Jesus spoke to teach His disciples about Judgment Day—just prior to the end of His ministry on earth
 
NKJ Matthew 25:31 " When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 "And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' 41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 'for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 'I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' 44 "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45 "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
 
When the offering plate is passed today—or on any day—never place your offering in it because you consider it your obligation
 
God doesn’t need your money—do you think for one minute that the very God who said let there be light—and there was light—needs the money of man to buy or build anything?
 
If God wanted us to have a building to worship in—boom!--there would be a building—how arrogant of anyone to think that God needs anything we could give
 
God wants your heart to be a loving—giving—Christian heart—like that depicted in Acts chapter 2—where the Christians sold everything and gave the money to those who needed it
TEXT: 3 "But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 "that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
 
When you give a contribution—don’t do it for attention from men—but do it in secret
 
The old Jewish temple had a special place where a person who wished to share with the poor could place their money in a special box—and it would be distributed anonymously to the needy
 
This place was simply called the place of silence
 
Jesus is teaching us here that we should give in silence—so that even one hand—although in very close proximity to the other hand—does not know that giving took place
 
That way there is no danger of contributing being motivated by the attention of men—thus Jesus says—your reward will be from God the Father—and it will be a heavenly reward—and it will last for an eternity
 
To summarize the lesson—we should never give—or stop giving—nor participate in a good work—or cease to participate—because of what other people think
 
These good works must come from the heart—and they must be performed as a means of serving God