Word of Salvation – Vol. 47 No. 01 – January 2002

 

Our Duty to Give

 

Sermon by Rev. J. Haverland on Matthew 6:1-4

Scripture Readings: Deut 15:7-11; 26:12-19; 2Cor 9:6-15

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

It is all too easy to slip into the pattern of doing the right thing for the wrong reason.  You can do good deeds but do them from the wrong motive.  For instance, you can come to worship every Sunday and sit here, not because you want to honour and praise God and hear His Word, but merely out of habit and to make a good impression on others in the church.  Or, you can have a family devotional time at the table after your meal when you have a visitor because you want to make a good impression, not because that is your regular pattern.

In this passage, Jesus condemns this sort of religious hypocrisy – He condemns our tendency to do "acts of righteousness" before men to be seen by them, so they get noticed, so we make a good impression, so others think well of us.  Jesus is talking about things like attending worship, reading the Bible, prayer, giving gifts to the needy and fasting.  All of these are good practices and good habits, but they must be done from the right motive.  The mere action or activity in itself is not enough.  It must come from a pure heart.  Jesus is not only concerned about what you do but also about why you do it – what’s driving your actions, what prompts your deeds.

Jesus gives us this main principle of doing good deeds from a pure heart in verse 1, and then He goes on to give us three illustrations and applications of this, namely, He applies this to our duty to our neighbour, to God and to ourselves.

Our duty to our neighbour calls us to give to them (vss.2-4); our duty to God obliges us to pray to him (vss.5-15); and our duty to ourselves calls us to fast (vss.16-18).

In this sermon we want to consider our obligation to give to our needy neighbour.

OUR DUTY TO GIVE

Notice that Jesus says, “When you give to the needy...”.  He doesn't say, "If you give to the needy...".  He assumes that we will be giving to those in need.

The Lord clearly commands us to give to others who are in greater need than us.  But it is possible to follow the letter of the law and do the right thing and still miss the point of the law.  It is possible to do what you should do but do it in a way that is displeasing to God, because your giving must come from your heart.  So Jesus goes on to illustrate wrong giving and right giving.

1.  WRONG GIVING

In verse 2 Jesus says that our giving could come from a wrong motive (read vs 2...).  Jesus condemns the giving of the hypocrites who give so as to be "honoured by men".  A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be someone he is not.  It comes from a word meaning "actor".  These hypocrites acted out a role that wasn't true to themselves.  They gave the impression they were giving, when their real motive was to receive they gave money to receive praise.

But before we are too hard on them, let's examine our own hearts.  We all have this tendency to do good deeds, not for the pure love of our neighbour, but for some benefit to ourselves.  We want people to notice us and think well of us.  We want people to think better of us than they do of others.  We want to receive the praise of people, to go up in their estimation.  Our motives are wrong.  When we give from this wrong motive, we also give in a wrong manner.

The wealthy Jews made a show of giving.  Scholars aren't sure about the meaning of this reference about the blowing of trumpets.  Jesus may be caricaturing their desire for public recognition – making fun of them – just as we talk about someone “blowing his own trumpet".  Or He may be referring to the special fasts the Jews had that were announced with trumpets; those times of fasting were also associated with giving to the poor.  Whatever the exact meaning here, the wealthy Jews were drawing attention to their giving both in the synagogues and in the streets.

Giving to charities today is often very public as well.  Unbelievers motivate other unbelievers to give by promising them recognition.  There are some very wealthy public figures who give away huge amounts of money and who employ people to process all the requests for donations.  There are large charity events where a great ceremony is made of a person's giving to a university or a charitable organisation.  Giving like this is a public relations stunt.  Then there are the published lists of donations that are produced in newsletters of various organisations – even in Christian ones.

We may not be as brazen and bold in our giving as some are, but all of us can slip into this.  We are usually more subtle – we drop a little hint to let others know about our generosity, or that we also gave to that cause, or that we also helped that person or family, or the Christian School, or the Bible Society or the Reformed Theological College.  But when we do this we are seeking the recognition of men; we are looking for their approval; we are seeking their praise.  It is all too easy to turn an act of mercy into an act of vanity.

But we should not give to feed our pride or to get a pat on the back.  This is what Jesus condemns.  They have had their reward, He says.  If you give like this, He says in verse 1, "you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." You have already been rewarded by men and so you will not be rewarded by the Lord.

Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full."  The word He used here referred to giving a receipt for an account that had been paid in full.  If you receive the praise of men, then you have been paid in full.

If this is wrong giving, what is right giving?

2.  RIGHT GIVING is described in verses 3-4

Right giving comes from the right motive.  Jesus doesn't explain what our motive should be, but the rest of the Scriptures make that very clear.  It teaches that we must give out of obedience.  God commands us to give.  We should not give only when our hearts are stirred by pictures of starving children in Ethiopia or the Sudan.  No, our giving ought to be regular and planned and thoughtful.  We ought to be giving according to biblical principles.

One of those important principles is that of the tithe – giving ten percent of your income to the Lord and His work.  In the Old Testament that money went to the Levites to support them in their temple work and they also used that money to provide for the poor and the widows and orphans.

In Deuteronomy God also urged the people of Israel to be generous and open-handed to the poor and needy in the land (15:11).  Here, then, is another principle.  And there are many proverbs in the Bible that urge us to care for the poor.  For example, Proverbs 21:13, "If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered."  The prophets of the Old Testament strongly rebuked the people for not following these laws and for neglecting and oppressing the poor.

Are you thinking about those principles?  Do these principles guide your giving to the church, to the poor, to Tear Fund, World Vision, the Leprosy Mission, the Bible Society, the Bible League, the Christian Blind Mission, etc.?  Are you giving in obedience to God's command to give?  We must also give out of love for our neighbour.  One of the central biblical commands is that you must "Love your neighbour as yourself."  This calls us to love all the people we come across, regardless of how they treat us.  We are to love even our enemies.  It's easy to love the lovable.  The real test comes when we love those who are difficult and awkward; when it is inconvenient and costly and demanding.  Are you loving your neighbour as yourself in this area of giving?

We must also give out of gratitude.  This is the driving motive behind all Christian love and service.  This is the mainspring of Christian obedience.  This is what drives all we do – gratitude to God.

Do you realise all that God has done for you in and through Jesus?  Do you think about all the blessings He has given you?  Are you overflowing with thankfulness to Jesus for His love and His life and His death for you?  Are you seeking to express your gratitude in obedience and service and giving?

These are Christian motives for giving: obedience, love for your neighbour, and gratitude.

Not only must we give from the right motive but we must also give in the right manner.  Give in secret, says Jesus, so that your left hand does not know what your right hand is doing.  This is clearly impossible and we cannot take this literally.  Jesus is giving us a picture, a metaphor, to make His point of giving secretly.

It isn't always possible to give secretly, nor is it always essential to keep it secret.  The giving that took place in the early church was public; people sold their possessions and took the money and laid it at the Apostles feet.  They shared what they had and people knew about it (Acts 4:32-37).  The Apostle Paul also used the giving of some Christians as an incentive for others to also give generously (Acts 11:29- 30, 2Cor.8).

Nor does this mean that you should not keep an account of your giving; nor does it mean that you cannot receive a receipt and claim a tax return on your giving.  Jesus is more interested in the attitude of your heart.  What is going on inside of you?  Are you doing this to be seen by others?  To be noticed?  This is why Jesus wants you to give in secret.  Don't make a song and dance about your giving.  Keep it quiet.  Keep it between you and the other person and the Lord.  Don't seek the congratulations of others.

And don't congratulate yourself either – that’s also possible.  To give and then tell yourself how good you are; how generous you have been; what a fine fellow you are.  Don't go over your giving in your mind or heart.  Don't be too self-conscious about your giving because that can decline into self-righteousness.  The best giving is when you give and then forget about it.  This is what Jesus is getting at.

Then you will receive a divine reward (vs 4b).

We don't give in order to receive a reward as our primary motive.  Our motives, as we saw before, ought to be obedience, love for our neighbour and gratitude.  But those who give out of these motives will receive a reward.  We will receive rewards in the present and the future.

There are rewards the Lord gives us now.  There is the satisfaction of seeing the hungry fed, the sick made well, the naked clothed, the ignorant educated, the homeless housed and the oppressed freed.  The reward is partly the joy of seeing others helped or relieved or assisted in some way that their lives are improved to some degree.

There is also the blessing of giving.  Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).  There is the blessing of a good conscience – a clear conscience before God and our neighbour that we have done what we can within the boundaries of other responsibilities.  But there is also the reward the Lord will give us in the future.  The reward of heaven, the joy of our eternal inheritance, and the full salvation God has promised to His people.

The writer of Hebrews encourages us with this incentive as well: "God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them" (Hebrews 6:10).

The Apostle Paul also encourages us to look ahead with these words: "Judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.  He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts.  At that time each will receive his prize from God" (1Cor.4:5).

Here is an incentive for right giving – the praise of God.

Don't give so that others will notice.  Don't make a display of your giving.  Don't seek the praise of men.  Rather, give from the right motives, quietly and secretly.  "Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

Amen.