Sunday, October 25, 2009: Righteous Living

Righteous Living
Matthew 6: 1 – 4.

I. Introduction.

Last Sunday, we read Jesus’ most difficult teaching: Love your enemies. Remarkably, Jesus’ words don’t get much easier this week.

Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7 contain the longest collection of Jesus’ words. Traditionally, we interpret these words as a single unit and refer to them as the Sermon on the Mount. If our traditional interpretation is correct, then Jesus gave his most difficult teaching to love enemies and followed it up with a teaching about the least popular subject…Money.

I have never counted the verses in the New Testament before, so I can only repeat what I have heard others say. I’ve heard it said that Jesus spoke more about money than anyone else in the New Testament. If this is true, then I should not shy away from preaching about money…And…Christians like you and me ought to accept that there is a Christian way to think about our finances.

Even though Jesus preaches about money, he doesn’t have a lot to say about budgeting or whether or not to use credit cards and debit cards. Instead, Jesus’ words focus on using our financial resources in godly ways. If God is the source of our finances, then we ought to use our money in God-honoring ways. One God-honoring way is to give money to those who are in need.

Read Matthew 6: 1 – 4.

Jesus has just made a subtle shift in his preaching. He has just completed a series of six illustrations about Greater Righteousness. In Matthew 5: 20, Jesus said, “…unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

We usually think of the Pharisees as hypocrites. But that was not what Jesus’ original audience thought. The Scribes and the Pharisees were the most righteous people in first century Judaism. BUT…

The Scribes and Pharisees kept the letter of the Law and followed the literal meaning of every commandment in the Old Testament. They followed the Law with their bodies, but did not follow the Law in their hearts.

Jesus moved the boundary between sin and obedience from the body to the heart. The Greater Righteousness Jesus requires for his followers is a righteousness of heart and body.

For the past five weeks, we have read Jesus’ teachings and focused on what Christians think and feel and believe. But, today we witness a shift. Righteousness is not just about your heart and mind. Righteousness also requires that we do something.


II. Verse 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.


Notice how the words “acts of righteousness” are in quotation marks. Literally the verse reads, “Be careful not to do your righteousness before men…” In other words, righteousness is not simply a matter of the heart. Of course, the heart is an important part of what it means to be righteous. Righteousness is only possible when Jesus changes the human heart. However, when the heart is changed the external life will be different.

In some ways, Jesus seems to contradict himself in this verse. In Matthew 5: 16, Jesus said, “…let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

It seems like Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 to do “good deeds” in public and then in Matthew 6 to do “righteous acts” in private.

The key to understand this apparent contradiction is the way we interpret the purpose clauses… “praise your Father” in Matthew 5… “to be seen by them” in Matthew 6. There is a place for public acts of righteousness, as long as they direct people to give God the glory. There is no place for public acts of righteousness, if they are motivated by a desire steal the credit from God.

Also notice that Jesus did not say there is no reward for people who steal the credit from God. If you do good deeds or acts of righteousness so that others will congratulate you and applaud your actions, you will get a reward. In fact, you will get exactly the reward you are looking for. The problem is…This reward comes from human beings and not from God.

My dad used to teach me to look for the good in people instead of looking for the bad. He used to tell me, “You will find what you are looking for.” If you look for good qualities in other people, you will find their good qualities. If you look for bad qualities in other people, you will find their bad qualities. We can probably say the same thing about my sermons… If you look for mistakes, you will find mistakes. If you look for a word from God, you will find a word from God. We can say the same thing about rewards… If you want other people to applaud you and tell you how spiritual you are, that is what you will get. But, you will miss out on God’s rewards.


III. Verse 2…"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

This verse teaches us something about the way Jesus thought about his disciples and the way he thinks about you and me. Jesus assumes that anyone who is his follower is already doing righteous things. Specifically, Jesus assumes that you are giving money to the poor. Jesus did NOT say, “If you give to the needy…” Jesus said, “WHEN you give to the needy…”

Giving money to people in need is a requirement Jesus has for all his followers, both the ancient disciples and the modern Christians. It is such an obvious requirement that Jesus doesn’t even command us to do it. Instead, he assumes we already know about giving and that we already practice giving. How well do you measure up to Jesus’ assumption? Do you give money to the needy?

I like to think that Jesus has a sense of humor. In fact, the longer I serve in Baptist churches, the more I am convinced Jesus has a sense of humor. Just look around the room. Look at the different shapes and sizes, hair color, nose shapes and sizes, nose hair colors…It’s a reflection of the diversity of creation and the humor of God. There is no other explanation.

Verse 2 is another example of Jesus’ sense of humor. He describes a hypocrite leading a parade of people with shouting people and marching bands and trumpets blaring. I cannot imagine a person creating this much commotion just to show others that he is giving money to the poor. This leads me to believe Jesus is not referring to an actual event or a practice. Rather, Jesus is speaking in hyperbole…exaggerating about the way some people give their religious offerings. Specifically, Jesus is describing the hypocrites.

You have heard me say that the Greek word “hypocrite” is the word for an actor who wears a mask. Actors were regular people most of the time. But when they were on stage, they put on a mask and pretended to be someone else. They had a part to play. For some people, the church is a stage. Some people put on their masks when they walk through the doors of the church and pretend to be someone they are not.

When it comes to religious activity, there are two types of hypocrites. The first type of hypocrite is the most obvious type. This is the person who puts on a show so that others will think he or she is a very spiritual person. These are the people who seek the praise of humans over the blessings of God. Again, Jesus warns us…If you seek the approval and praise of other people, that is exactly what you will receive. But you will not receive the blessings of God.

The second type of hypocrite is a little more difficult to see. This is the person who does righteous acts in order to fool themselves. If I read the Bible, pray, go to church, give money to the poor, then maybe I will feel better about myself. Jesus has a warning for these hypocrites as well. Righteousness begins in the heart, not the body. Righteousness of the heart will always change the way you and I live in our bodies. But, changing our behavior will not change our hearts. Only Jesus can change our hearts.


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

This is the second time Jesus used the word “when.” Again, Jesus assumes that you and I are practicing righteousness. He assumes that we are making financial contributions to the needy.
God was consistent about this throughout both the Old Testament and the New Testament. God tells his covenant people to take care of the widows, the orphans and the strangers (or the aliens) living among us. These three people were the most vulnerable in the ancient world. They were usually poor, forgotten, overlooked and often oppressed by the people in power.

More than likely, Jesus is here referring to a Jewish offering for the poor that was taken up as a part of synagogue worship. Jewish synagogues collected numerous offerings. One was similar to what we might call a benevolence offering used to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and take care of widows and orphans. This is probably not a reference to direct giving from one person to another.

On one hand, there was no such thing as a Christian church when Jesus spoke these words. His disciples were followers of Jesus and still connected to Jewish synagogue worship. For this reason, it might be difficult to interpret this as modern day church giving.

On the other hand, there was no such thing as a Christian church when Jesus spoke these words…Notice that I said the same thing twice. I am using the same logic to arrive at two different viewpoints. Since there was no church, the only place the disciples could give their benevolence offering was the synagogue. Today, we have a church. The church has the same charge to take care of the poor as the synagogue. God did not change his mind about the poor when he changed his covenant with his people. The church has the same command to take care of the poor, hungry, naked, overlooked and oppressed in our society today.

However, taking care of the poor is not the only charge given to the church. We are God’s people with the assignment to do God’s work in the world. God’s work includes taking care of the poor and spreading the Gospel around the world. We also have the assignment to lead worship and to grow disciples. These assignments are God’s work and the work of the church. In this sense, I think we can interpret a parallel between giving to the poor and giving to the church.

Five ways to give…

1. Church Budget…Bring all the tithes into the storehouse.

2. Worldwide Missions (local, state, domestic and international)…

3. Benevolence…One percent of our $1.5 Million budget goes to Love INC; CISC; Mosaic Center; GodTel; and we plan to add Buckner Family Place in 2010. A small line item in our budget goes to benevolence ministries…Each time we observe the Lord’s Supper we receive a designated offering for benevolence…

4. Building Fund…We have a building fund that is available year round…The parlor renovations were completed using the building fund…

5. Designated Gifts…Certain projects in our church get accomplished through designated giving…

In my view of the tithe as storehouse giving, I believe we should all tithe to the church budget to accomplish God’s work in each area of church life. Gifts over and above the tithe can be given to accomplish specific elements of God’s work.


V. Conclusion (Verse 4)…so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Other people might not know how much money you give to the church, but God knows. Nothing is hidden from God’s eyes. God sees what is done in secret and will reward you for your secret giving.

But, what is God’s reward? Is it financial reward? That is what many TV preachers tell us. They teach stewardship as an investment strategy. Give to God, and he will return your investment with interest. I don’t find that in Jesus’ words or anywhere else in Scripture.

Be warned…If you serve God for money, then you will serve the devil for more pay.
I believe the reward Jesus has in mind is a reward of faith. The more we give, the more God blesses us with the faith to trust him. In God’s economy, 90% of our resources is greater than 100%.