Hide Your Acts of Righteousness
Matthew 6:1-8;16-18
Harry Stoliker
July 13, 2008 EBC
Listen
What have we been talking about these last few weeks? What has Jesus Christ
been preaching upon in his sermon on the mt.? Matthew 5:20 has been the pivotal verse:
"For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus is telling his disciples
that they have to have a better religion than the Pharisees. The religion
of the Pharisees was external, it was all for show, it was driven by
pride, it was heartless. It didn't change their hearts or
their behavior. It only pretended to obey the letter of the law but wasn't
concerned with the heart or will of God. It never rose above
rituals, rules, or attempts to get around true obedience. It had all the forms
and none of the power of God in it. It loved the praise of men and
not the praise of God. Jesus says in Matthew 6:8 "Do not be like them…"
The true Christian is called to live out a kingdom righteousness. The sermon
on the mount is about living out the gift of righteousness that Jesus gives
us at our justification. Our character has to be Christ-like, our
influence on the world has to be as effective as salt and light,
our love has to extend even to our enemies, and our obedience
has to flow from a joyfully submitted heart. Your life and mine must give
off the aroma of genuine spiritual life and genuine experience of the power
of the Holy Spirit.
The issue of practical piety we are dealing with this morning is capture
is 5 key words in Mt. 6:1. The verse states: Matthew 6:1 "Be
careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them.
If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." The 5 keys words
are "to be seen by them…" Jesus isn't forbidding us to do acts
of righteousness, nor is he saying that every act of righteousness we do
must be completely hidden from all human sight. He is cutting to the motives
again, as he has done frequently in this great sermon. He is exposing the constant
tendency in our hearts to look for human approval with an outward show
of religion. Secret piety is juxtaposed with eye-pleasing, man-pleasing
piety. God see the one; man sees the other.
We are supposed to do "acts of righteousness." Eph. 2:10 tells us
clearly that God has ordained that we do good works. Ephesians 2:10 "For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them." V.2 When you give to the needy…
Jesus isn't telling us NOT to give to the needy, but HOW to give to
the needy. V.5 Jesus isn't telling us NOT to pray, but HOW to pray,
and to WHOM to pray. V.16 Jesus isn't telling us NOT to fast, but
HOW to fast. Theme of passage: Do not seek the applause, honor, audience,
approval, or praise of men, but of God. Examine your motives
to see whether you are in love with approval of people or of God. What drives
you to do what you do? What is your greatest treasure: God's approval
or man's recognition?
If you pretend to give, pray, and fast as a true Christian ought to, BUT
you do it with a desire to be congratulated by other men, you are
a hypocrite. If you want people to see you be religious, to
know about how much you have "sacrificed" for the church, to observe how
you do good deeds for others, then you are trying to be seen by men.
Hypocritical religion nauseates God. God is not impressed with showy religion
in the least. External religion doesn't move Him at all. God doesn't look
kindly on religious show-offs who are trying to impress other people
with their plastic piety.
Listen to how strongly God spoke through the prophets of Israelabout
this:
Amos 5:21-24 "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your
solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will
not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of
your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness
like an ever-flowing stream."
Isaiah 1:13-17 "Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to
me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity
and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they
have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your
hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not
listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove
the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good;
seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's
cause."
Israel certainly had a lot of religion! They had feasts and assemblies and
offering and sacrifices, and loud songs and musical instruments and special holidays
and serious meetings, and lifting up of hands and many prayers – but they didn't
live out kingdom righteousness!
Jesus is calling His new people to live by the power of the Holy Spirit in
them.
So how does this apply to us this morning and how does it apply to all that
we do in the church and in life?
1. V.2-4 When you give money to the Lord's work, don't tell anyone
about it, don't tell them how much you gave, don't let it slip out
of your mouth in your conversations about the projects. When we ask you to give
to a project such as the missions trips, never tell anyone
how much you gave. The likelihood is that if you tell someone, you're bragging
about it. Watch over your heart for it loves to brag about itself. Proverbs 27:2"
Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own
lips." Proverbs 25:27 "It is not good to eat much honey, nor is
it glorious to seek one's own glory."
Jesus uses a bit of hyperbole in V.3 to get the point across: "But
when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand
is doing." Hands are usually meant to work together, which means
they know what the other is doing. The idea here is do it in absolute secrecy.
Jesus is saying that we should even try to hide what we give from ourselves!
If you get proud of yourself about how much you give, your give is tarnished
in the eyes of God. He is saying: Protect yourself even from yourself!
Charles Spurgeon and his wife, according to a story in the Chaplain magazine,
would sell, but refused to give away, the eggs their chickens laid. Even
close relatives were told, "You may have them if you pay for them." As a result
some people labeled the Spurgeons greedy and grasping.
They accepted the criticisms without defending themselves, and only after
Mrs. Spurgeon died was the full story revealed. All the profits from the
sale of eggs went to support two elderly widows. Because the Spurgeons where
unwilling to let their left hand know what the right hand was doing, they
endured the attacks in silence. Spurgeon wrote in his commentary on Matthew
6: "To stand with a penny in one hand and a trumpet in the other is the posture
of hypocrisy. The glory of men is a thing which can be bought; but the honor of
God is a very different thing." God isn't as concerned with how much
you give as He is with 'why' you give!
Just an aside: It occurred to me that I didn't know Spurgeon's wife's name
so I looked it up and found a little story that made me smile. As you know,
CHS became one of the greatest and most famous preachers of all time! Here's
the quote: "London buzzed with raves about the eloquent nineteen
year old preacher, but Susannah Thompson was decidedly unimpressed when she
first saw and heard him December 18, 1853. That was the first Sunday the young Charles
Spurgeon preached at New Park Street Church. She commented: "So this is his so-called
eloquence! It does not impress me. What a painful countrified manner! Will he ever
quit making flourishes with that terrible blue silk handkerchief! And his hair --why,
he looks like a barber's assistant!" Spurgeon affectionately called his wife "Susie."
Somebody once said: "There are three kinds of giving: grudge giving,
duty giving, and thanks-giving. Grudge giving says,
"I have to"; duty giving says, "I ought to"; thanksgiving says, "I
want to." We could add to this: Man-centered-giving, which says:
"Hey, look at what I'm giving!" And there is Holy/Secret Giving which
says: "I don't want anyone to know but God what I'm giving."
Kingdom living for the glory of God calls for a constant monitoring
of our motives. This spiritual monitoring system is like those expensive
water filtrations systems in new houses that keep the water pure and healthy
and inviting to drink. The apostle Paul has a name for this spiritual
motive monitoring system in Galatians 5:16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit,
and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Galatians 5:25 "If
we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." If you are walking by
the power of the Holy Spirit you are not addicted to the
praise and opinions of men. You don't get your good feelings by trying
to make men think you are better than you really are.
Secondly, there's the act of righteous praying mentioned in V.5-15.
Wanting people to notice how eloquently you pray to God is another proof of
a hypocritical heart. The scribes and Pharisees so loved human approval they
would make it a practice to pray even on the street corners, out in public
where everyone could see and hear them. Jesus isn't saying we can't pray
out loud in church. He's saying that your motives must be God-centered and God-saturated;
not man-centered. Don't go on these long babbling rants in prayer to try
to impress people with your theological knowledge. Keep your prayers Cross-focused,
simple, right to the point, relatively short – and if you can't control your
motives, then keep them in your private prayer closet, until you
can.
Prayer should be a motive purifier! Prayer should be a time of God-focused,
God-blessed fellowship with our Father that cleans our motives up. What a travesty
to pollute our prayers with the desire that other people think much of us
rather than through our prayers thinking much of God. Public prayer should make much
of God, so that those who listen to you pray, say: "Isn't our God great and majestic
and holy!"
V.16-18 addressed the same topic when we fast. Fasting is expected
in the NT of believers. Fasting is an 'act of righteousness' by which we
abstain from food because we are so burdened to pray about something. On July
27th we are asking you to join us in a fast for Christians
in Zimbabwe. Our friend, John Bell, who leads a church in Harare, writes
of the desperate trouble there because of an evil president.
When the Spirit of God leads you to fast and pray, no one should be able
to tell whether you are fasting or not. Your physical appearance should not
indicate that you are on a fast. If you want them to think you are very spiritual
because you are fasting, you're a hypocrite. John Stott said: "For the
purpose of fasting is not to advertise ourselves but to discipline ourselves, not
to gain a reputation for ourselves but to express our humility before God and our
concern for others in need." Hypocrites try to advertise themselves,
not humble themselves.
Conclusion: Jerry Bridges concludes the matter well in his wonderful book:
Transforming Grace. He says: "God searches the heart and understands every
motive. To be acceptable to Him, our motives must spring from a love for Him and
a desire to glorify Him."
The challenge facing us this morning is to be in tune with your motives
and to purify your motives so that God's glory is the controlling reason
for everything you do in life. Ask yourself these good questions often:
- Why did I say that?
Was it to bring attention to myself?
- Why did I dress like that?
Am I trying to get people to look at me?
- Why am I going on this missions trip?
Is it so people will think I'm real spiritual?
- Why am I playing this sport so hard?
Am I trying to impress someone with my abilities?
- Why am I volunteering to help at the church?
Is it because I want recognition?
- Why did I give that much money in the offering?
Is it because I want someone to notice the name on the check?
Ask God to purify your motives through the power of the Cross. Ask God to
give you a heart to please Him and not to hunger for the praise of other
people. That is what it means to live to His glory and pleasure. May He give us
grace to live holy lives…. Let's pray.
Let's pray,
H.