Sermon Transcript:

People often think that the key to success is knowing what to do but it is often just as important to know what not to do. One of the most successful investors of the 20th century was Charlie Munger, the partner of Warren Buffet at Berkshire Hathaway. Charlie said that one of the keys to his success was figuring out what not to do, something he called inversion. He said he first put this into practice in the Army Air Core when he was a weather forecaster. Charlie said the first question he asked was how he could kill the pilots who depended on him. He realized that there were only two ways in his job he could kill a pilot. He could get him into icing that the plane couldn’t handle leading to a crash. Or he could get him someplace where he would run out of fuel before he could get back. Charlie said he simply focused fanatically on avoiding those two things. Charlie brought this logic of inversion to his work as an investor with massive success.

As we begin chapter 6, Jesus gives us something like a spiritual inversion. He not only tells us what to do, but he tells us what not to do. He tells us how even seemingly good things can actually be unrighteous. Jesus began the sermon on the mount by describing what a faithful person looks like. “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, “blessed are those who thirst for righteousness”, and so on. Then he began giving a true interpretation of the Law, correcting the false teaching of the scribes and Pharisees with a series of “you have heard”, “but I tell you” clarifications. 

Next, He will address how true citizens of God’s Kingdom should go about doing the good deeds that God calls us to do. Just like the prior sections, His overall message is that true righteousness is not merely external, but internal. Righteousness is not merely our words or deeds, but the disposition of our heart. He will distinguish good works done for our own glory from those done for God’s glory and the main point of this section is that…

True faith seeks God’s approval, not man’s applause, God’s glory, not our own.

That is the main point of our message today as well. True faith is fundamentally about pleasing God and not other people. 

There are certain behaviors that naturally overflow from the lives of God’s people. Three of the major works every Jew expected of righteous people were giving, prayer, and fasting. Everyone; the people, the Pharisees, Jesus, everyone agreed that these were works that should characterize the people of God. 

Therefore, Jesus uses these three examples in the coming verses to contrast the external and thus false righteousness of hypocrites, and the true righteousness of those who live for God’s glory. He begins in verse 1 with a warning.

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.

Jesus says there is a way of living that is filled with good works that results in no eternal reward. There is a way to do all the good things and to be a great blessing to those around you that will not be compensated with any eternal blessing from God. It would be easy for us to think this warning was just for legalistic Pharisees, but that would be a mistake. Remember, Jesus is talking to His disciples. This warning is for us.

We don’t want to come to the end of our race only to find that all our works are burned up and there is no reward. A righteous act is only righteous if it’s truly done for God. But if it’s done to boost our reputation, it’s no longer an act of faith, it is self-promotion disguised as worship. 

One of the greatest traps of man-made religion is to be satisfied with a reputation for righteousness rather than the real thing. To perform to be seen by men rather than to be sincere in motives and thus pleasing God. You don’t even need faith to get a reputation as a good person. Many people do good things for selfish reasons. Only God can weigh our hearts.

Jesus doesn’t demand that we simply agree with His ethical teaching. He calls us to orient our entire lives to the service of God. The Bible tells us that anything not done in faith is sin and that apart from faith it is impossible to please God. God may use even unbelievers to meet physical needs and do civic good. Even unbelievers can build hospitals and schools, but nobody who does any of these things for their own glory will receive a heavenly reward.

As I reflected on this verse I was deeply convicted and overwhelmed with how much pride and idolatry is in my own heart and part of the visible churches in our day. I think of how often we drop little hints in our conversations to fish for compliments or try to impress people. Social media is a sea of attention seeking people desperately looking for the affirmation and attention of the world. We live in a mutual admiration society where just being a normal decent person makes you “awesome” or a “rock star”.

Even Church websites and advertisements appeal to our need to be the center of attention and are filled with subtle brags about how awesome everyone is. Mission trips, benevolence ministries, and outreach are all photo ops to make everyone feel like they are important and contributing. But Jesus calls us to humble ourselves. To die to Self and to serve Him, even in suffering at times, because what He offers is greater than what the world offers.

I think we all greatly underestimate how much of what we do, even those seemingly godly things we do, are actually more about us than about God’s glory. How much of our time and our words this past week were really directed toward building God’s kingdom vs. our own? The troubling thing is that this can be what we are doing even when we are serving and doing so-called good works. Even when we are engaged in the good works of ministry, if we are not careful, we will make idols out of them that result in us worshiping ourselves instead of God. 

Jesus is going to specifically look at giving, prayer, and fasting and today we are going to focus on what He says about giving. Jesus says in verse 2,

 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.

The first thing to point out is that Jesus says “when” and not “if” we give to the needy. Giving to those in need is assumed. Starvation and extreme poverty was pervasive in most places, for many people, until fairly recently. In our day of social programs and mobility there are a lot more options but we are still called to be compassionate people who are charitable. We should be people who give generously to those in need. That is a natural outgrowth of faith.

I sometimes hear believers make excuses for their lack of giving. Beggars are assumed to be scamming, lazy, or they will just use the money for drugs or alcohol. All of that is possible, but that is not on us. We are called to be faithful to what God tells us to do. Those who are frauds or abuse our generosity will answer to God for themselves. We must use wisdom and certainly not enable those whom we have reason to believe are dishonest or irresponsible, but we should not question the motives of people without evidence. 

Of course, we have to use wisdom and should not enable those who we can see are taking advantage, but if someone asks for help, unless we have reason to believe they are dishonest, we should be willing to help. Our responsibility is to be faithful in giving. If they are lying or scamming, that is between them and God. Again, be wise, but God calls us to be giving. Knowing we have an inheritance in heaven that can’t be lost should free us to be generous now with these less valuable gifts that we know we cannot keep.

But Jesus warns us that if our generosity is displayed to bring glory to ourselves, we have not done anything commendable. He says as you give, don’t sound a trumpet to call attention to yourselves as the hypocrites do. The word hypocrite in Greek refers to an actor, someone playing a part. That’s what false righteousness is, an act, a performance. 

As far as we can tell, people at that time didn’t literally blow trumpets as they gave and so this is probably a figure of speech. He is essentially saying “don’t toot your own horn” like the hypocrites do. Don’t call attention to yourself as you give. Believers, we have been raised with Christ to an inheritance that is undefiled, unfading, and unending. We have the promise of being raised from the dead and seated with Jesus in glory. It should not be important to us that other sinners have a high opinion of us. All that should matter to us is what God thinks of us. 

If we go to court, we aren’t worried about what the other people waiting to bring their cases to the judge think of us or our case. The only opinion we are concerned about is that of the judge. Why do we have wisdom in such unimportant matters and yet act foolishly when it comes to eternal matters? The only thing that should matter to a child of God is what our Father thinks. He looks at our motivation and regardless of the outward act, He is pleased when we are motivated by faith and trust in Him and displeased by anything else.

We already have God’s approval, which was freely given so why should we try to earn the favor of other sinners? Instead, we should do good deeds because we desire to be like Jesus and for God to be glorified in caring for us. Faith in Jesus frees us to have a completely different motivation for how we use the money and resources God has blessed us with. We come to realize that we are merely stewards of God’s resources. It makes no more sense for us to take credit for being generous with what God gave us to give than it does a deliveryman to take credit for a gift that someone mailed to you.

Why would we want credit anyhow? Giving generously doesn’t earn us righteousness before God. If we put our faith in Jesus, we already have perfect righteousness because God gives us as a gift, the perfect righteousness of His Son. We cannot outgive the God who gave us Christ, His Spirit, and every blessing of salvation.

While we chase glory, Jesus laid His aside. While we grasp for reputation, He made Himself of no reputation. He humbled Himself, becoming like us and He lived a perfect life as one of us, so that He could give Himself as a perfect sacrifice in our place on a cross. Jesus became poor so that He could give His very life for us dying on a cross. Three days later, He rose from the dead, proving that the gift had been accepted. The justice of God was satisfied so that the love of God could be given.

It is like if we had racked up a bunch of parking tickets all over town and were arrested and brought before the judge. If someone else paid the fines, the Judge can let us go. Justice has been satisfied. Jesus died to pay our fines. That is what He was doing on the cross. Then on the third day, He walked out of the grave, which is like that clerk stamping “Paid in Full” on our file. Our debts before God are paid and we have been given a new life. We cannot outgive God.

It is knowing that we are secure in Christ that allows us to be generous. It is knowing that God has already promised us unimaginable treasures and that He can be trusted that free us to give not to call attention to our own goodness, but to be generous so as to point to His goodness.

Jesus says those who give to be praised by others already have their reward. If our goal in doing works of righteousness such as giving is to gain a reputation then that is all we will get. We will get exactly what it is we invested to obtain. In the end, what will that do for us? Nothing at all. 

It is only when our confidence in God is such that we are willing to lose our reputation among men that we might have His approval that He will reward us. Another way of saying it is that God rewards our faith in Him. This is grace, that God should call us, cause us to be born again, and grow in faith, so that He may reward our faithfulness because that is the very thing that exalts Him.

There are so many temptations to seek our own glory that directly compete with this simple faith in God’s goodness. These are the weeds Jesus speaks about that choke out the seed of faith so that it produces no fruit. The desire for a reputation independent of God is what turned angels into devils. It is what cast Adam and Eve out of the garden and it is what shipwrecks the faith of countless people even now. As the puritan Thomas Brooks observed,

“Thousands have been destroyed by the world’s frowns, but millions have been destroyed by its smiles.”

Jesus warns us not to pursue good works for our own glory. Few if any works are as closely connected to the true condition of our heart than how we manage money and the material resources God gives us. It is not difficult to get an assessment of the true priorities of our hearts. All we need to do is to look at our credit card and bank statements. That will tell you very accurately what our priorities are and where we seek our satisfaction.

We don’t pressure people to give here because if people give with wrong motives, there is no reward for them. God calls believers to give in proportion with their desire to invest in His kingdom and to use what He has blessed them with to support gospel ministry. We don’t do pledges or drives. We don’t even pass a basket because we are confident that as the word is preached, the Holy Spirit will be at work in God’s people and as they grow, they will desire to give generously.

I think that Jesus is clear that we are not to make a production of our giving and so we don’t make a production of our collecting. Jesus says in verse 3,

3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

The point here is that we are not to call attention to our giving. Through the years I have heard several odd applications of these verses and so I want to take a moment to address a few of those. 

First, this verse is not saying that we should not turn in our giving for tax deductions or put our name on our offering, etc. The context shows us that Jesus is addressing people who were putting on a show of compassion for the poor while aiming to secure a reputation for being godly. It wasn’t mercy they loved, it was admiration. Jesus is not saying that personal accounting for our giving is somehow sinful.

To say that our left hand shouldn't know what our right hand is doing is a figure of speech. Obviously, this is literally impossible, but the idea is that our desire should be for the gift to be given rather than for us to be acknowledged. We should be humble. There may even be times where being discreet in giving is impossible or impractical, but being acknowledged should never be the goal. We should be satisfied that God knows. As 20th century English pastor John Stott said,

“Christian giving is to be marked by self-sacrifice and self-forgetfulness, not by self-congratulation”

Another misunderstanding is the modern idea that somehow our faith is personal and should be kept to ourselves. While our faith does involve a personal relationship, it is never merely personal. The Bible does not teach that we are to keep our faith to ourselves, quite the opposite. Our faith should inform everything we think, do and say. In fact, just a few verses earlier in Matthew 5:14–16, in this same sermon on the mount  Jesus said,

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Jesus isn’t telling us to keep our religion to ourselves. He is specifically focusing on our motivation. Jesus says,

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.

…but He says instead,

let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. 

This may seem like a subtle difference, but it is the difference between heaven and hell. It is the difference between trying to justify ourselves or trusting instead on the completed work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. The entire goal of the Christian life is to become increasingly like Jesus. For us to decrease and for Him to increase so that when people look at us, they see Christ.

This isn’t just spiritual. It is very practical as well. If our hearts are tethered to this world and if our satisfaction is found in the things of the flesh, we will find it difficult to invest resources in the Kingdom of God. We will find it hard to be generous to those in need or to help fund the ministry of the church. 

Rather than being an occasion of joy, our giving will be a calculated financial transaction. It will be a cost-benefit analysis that places no value on the joy of our Father in heaven. But when the joy of giving comes from a settled confidence that people need to see Christ rather than us, it is a joy to be generous even when nobody sees it.

The last misunderstanding is that this passage does not provide a free pass for people to be irresponsible. We cannot, for example, use this teaching of Jesus to justify hiding our spending, even if it is for a generous purpose, from our spouses. It is a sin to be irresponsible with what God has entrusted to our care and that includes being irresponsible in how we approach charity. The Bible says that one who does not take care of his family is worse than an unbeliever.

I have met several people in my life whose charity was unwise and the result was that they enabled others to be sinful or they were themselves drained completely dry in a way that was not God honoring. Sometimes there are differences of opinion about what is or is not responsible and acceptable and those things need to be worked out prayerfully and openly. We cannot twist the words of Jesus to justify unloving and irresponsible backchannels for spending, even if it is for good causes.

The key is found in verse 4 where Jesus says,

4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 

Our giving must come from a heart-wrought faith in God. That means that we trust God for any recognition. Our only concern is that God would be pleased with us and that we are convinced that He is able and willing to meet our needs and that the promises we have in Him are far greater than anything we could ever get from the world. 

This is what it all comes down to. Are we going to live for our own reputation or for the reputation of God? Are we willing to be made nothing so that His name is made famous, knowing that nobody who puts their faith in Him will ultimately be disappointed? When it comes to faith, the rubber meets the road in our pocketbook. We can talk all we want about what we value, but are we literally willing to put our money where our mouth is? Are we willing to be faithful to God in our giving and invest in His priorities and His kingdom or are we going to use our resources to build our own kingdoms?

Remember our main point, True faith seeks God’s approval, not man’s applause, God’s glory, not our own.

So let me ask the question plainly. Whose reward are you living for? Whose glory are you pursuing? One day, every hidden motive will be brought to light. Every act of false holiness will burn like straw, but every act of quiet faithfulness done for the glory of God will shine like gold. So don’t live for applause that echoes only in this life. Don’t give to be admired. Give because you’ve already received more than you could ever repay. Give because your Father sees. He knows. And He doesn’t reward pride, but faith. 

Jesus says some who are first shall be last and some who are last will be first. There are many whose names we don’t know who will be great in the Kingdom because the only reward they cared for was the one God gives. When we are faithful, the world may never see it but heaven will. And that should be enough for us.

As we finish this morning, considering these truths Jesus teaches, I would like to end with the words of the apostle Paul as he puts the value of worldly possessions vs the value of our salvation in Christ into perspective. In Philippians 3:7–11 the apostle Paul says,

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.