Giving Without Hypocrisy
Matthew 6:1-4
Take your Bible, if you will, and look with me at Matthew Chapter 6, Matthew Chapter 6. We are continuing our study of the Sermonon the Mount.
Jesus comes to the Pharisees and the scribes and those who adhere to the system of traditional religion passed down by the rabbis and says in effect, "you have emasculated the divine standard. You have torn it down and you have reconstituted a standard you can keep that is nothing but human.
Jesus said, I am not come to destroy the law and the prophets. I am come to reaffirm them. I am not come to aside one thing of God's law. I am come to reassert it. I am come to re-establish that which has always been established in God's mind."
And so we saw in Chapter 5 that he said your theology is inadequate. You've got the wrong doctrine about hate, anger, murder, divorce, swearing, telling lies, taking oaths, you've even got the wrong theology of love. And he re-established what God's view was.
Later on as I said in Chapter 6, verse 19 He tells them they have the wrong approach towards the things of this life. They shouldn't be anxious for what they eat or drink or wear. They have the wrong approach to theology and the wrong approach to things.
But here in the middle section, verses 1-18, He tells them they have the wrong approach to worship. He says the problem your worship is phony. It's hypocritical. Look at verse 1. "Take heed," or beware, "that you do not your alms," or really the text says "your righteousness," your deeds of righteousness, your righteous acts "before men to be seen by them."
Stop right there. He says the problem with your religion is, it's a show. And then in verse 2, He calls them hypocrites. You're nothing but an actor on a stage doing what you do for the applause of the people who watch. Your religion is just as bad as your theology. And He picks out three elements of their religion to attack. One is their giving, two is their praying, and three is their fasting.
Their giving is the element of religion that deals with others. Their praying is the element of religion that deals with God. Their fasting is the element of religion that deals with themselves and the mortification of their flesh.
So He really sums up the whole arena of religious responsibility. Whatever it is that I am in my worship, it should be coming from the depths of a pure heart not hypocrisy. Your giving is phony, your praying is phony, and your fasting is phony. And so He really unmasks hypocrisy.
In dealing with this, the first element that He talks about is
Giving
Verse 1-4
In other words, He says, now when it comes to your giving it's hypocritical, but it ought not to be so. So He tells them what's the problem and then He offers them the solution.
Now when you get into the area of giving folks, you really open up at least in our day a real can of worms.
I don't know if there's ever been, in fact, I'm sure there has in a time in the history of the church when there's been a greater bombardment for our money from "Christian causes" than there is today.
With all the airwaves of radio and television and media, it is so hard for us to avoid being literally drowned in a sea of needs from many well meaning Christian organizations. And just knowing how to give is very difficult. And even in the church, there is always a project, a ministry or a mission that requires funding.
But when you shuck it all down, Biblically speaking, there are only two kinds of giving.
One is systematic, structured, regular giving to the church. We know the Bible teaches that. 1 Corinthians 16 tells us that we are the first day of the week to lay by and store as God has prospered us.
And then there's a second kind of giving and that's giving to the poor and needy. That's unstructured, unspecified, and spontaneous and it is over and above the giving to the church.
Throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, you have that kind of giving where the needy person crosses your path and you are to reach out your heart to that individual.
Now beyond those two things, the Bible knows nothing about giving to the church and to the needy. Those are the perspectives Scripture gives us.
It’s pretty easy to figure out which one of the two Jesus is addressing here. This text is not talking about our regular, systematic tithing down at the church on Sunday. We are to do that, but that is not the point of this text.
This text is dealing with giving to the needy and responding to the needs that we come in contact with on a personal level.
The Old Testament made it abundantly clear that the people of God were to give to the poor. In fact, in Leviticus 25:35 it tells people to give to the poor whether they're a sojourner or whether they're somebody who belongs in the land. In Deuteronomy Chapter 15, it says if you come across a poor person, make sure you meet his needs. If he needs a place to stay, give him your house. Make sure his supply of food is met.
Make sure all of the necessities of his life are cared for, because that is how people are to act when they name the name of God.
You can read it in Psalm 41:1. You can read it in Proverbs 19, Proverbs 21, Proverbs 29, again and again and again. It says when you give to the poor, you give to the Lord. Why?
Because all giving is stepping into the cycle of blessing. All giving is investing with God, you see. And part of our giving is to be directed to those who cross our path who are in deep need, deep need. And so the Lord approaches this matter of giving, because obviously the scribes and the Pharisees and the people following them were not living according to these kinds of principles. They weren't giving to get into the cycle of God's blessing. They weren't giving selflessly. They weren't giving out of a pure heart. They were giving to put on a show.
And so the Lord directs His thoughts at that. Now we had three points last time. Let me just mention what we talked about. First was the practice of righteousness. And we said that the practice of righteousness is not to be before men. But God was saying I have a standard for the practice of righteousness and you do not do it before men.
Now let's go to point two,
The Peril Of Religion.
What is the peril of religion? We've already said it. It is hypocrisy, verse 2. When you do your alms or when you do your supposed deed of righteousness, beware that you don't do it hypocritically. That's the peril of religion.
Now listen to me: once a person has become a Christian, one thing that Satan loves to do is to shove them in the category of hypocrisy so that they really negate the validity of their witness and they lose their reward. The peril of religion, and we all face it, is that we would play the hypocrite.
Now hypocrisy can work two way. On the one hand, someone might pretend to be a Christian but has never been saved. On the other hand, a person might be saved but putting on a show about how close to God they really are.
You can be a phony by being a non-Christian pretending to be a Christian and you can be a phony by being a Christian who's carnal but pretends to be spiritual. And both are really covered in the principles He gives here.
Even though the first group is perhaps the scribes and the Pharisees who were the hypocrites. It is also possible that the disciples just as well could have manifested hypocrisy in their lifestyle even though they believed. So the message is for all of us.
Now the peril of religion is illustrated in alms. The word alms there is the word from which we get an English word eleemosynary which means nonprofit or charitable organization. In fact, if you look it up in the dictionary, the first definition is: of or pertaining to alms, charity, or charitable donations; charitable.
It has to do with being charitable. Whatever funds you receive are for the giving to those in need and so that's where that word comes from. In fact, when you look at the structure of what Jesus was saying here, it means to have mercy upon or to succor the afflicted; to give help to the wretched, or to rescue the miserable.
And I think it would be important to notice that it is not a verb that speaks of an attitude but instead speaks of an act. There is no attitude without an act in this term. So there is not the feeling here of a longing to help the poor or a compassion or an empathy or sympathy but the very deed itself.
So that almsgiving is the actual act itself, not just sympathy feels, but never does anything to help. Not just saying how bad we feel and how much our emotions are touched and putting on a show but never responding.
What he's talking about is an actual act of giving. So he's saying when you do it, and do it you should, this is not the way to do it.
It's interesting to me that He uses the word when, not if. Why? It is assumed that you would do this. Giving to people in need is an assumption. How could we possible say we're Christians and not do that? 1 John 3:16, "If you see your brother have need and you close up your compassion then how dwells the love of God in you?" In other words, your testimony is suspect. Your claim is questionable.
James says you tell me your faith is legitimate. I'll tell you this, "faith without works is," what, "dead." If somebody comes into your midst and is destitute and naked and you say to them, brother be warmed and be filled, you give them a lot of encouragement and you don't do anything to give him what he needs, your faith is questionable says James. It's questionable. You see, it's when because it is assumed that one with the heart of God dwelling within him is going to reach out to one in need for the heart is God is toward the poor and the needy.
Now the Pharisees were used to doing this. The Scribes the Jews, this was a long part of their heritage. They had always done this from the time they were in the land. They had always cared for the poor. They had always extended themselves to the needy.
The Jews actually taught that they would purge away their sins by giving money to the needy. That's how far they've gone.
They believed you could get perfectly righteous by giving your money. You see that's why the Jews believed that the richer you were, the easier it was to get in the kingdom, because you bought your way in.
And so when Jesus said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven, it devastated their whole concept. They thought the rich could buy their way in because purging of sin came from giving away money.
The y made it a saving element and boy they really put it on as a big display. Can you imagine them going around blowing a trumpet?
Some say Jesus is just making a caricature of a guy coming down a road and he's got some guy with a fanfare and he blows this big fanfare while this guy gives his money so everybody sees.
Some people say they actually did have a little silver trumpet and he used to go in the streets and blow it, and it was kind of like all you poor, come one come all. Your great benefactor has arrived.
And all the poor would come at the blowing of the little trumpet and the guy would start doling out the money. Our Lord pictures a pompous, self-righteous Pharisee on his way to put money into the hands of the poor. In front of him march the trumpeters blowing the fanfare to draw a crowd as he says come and get it, and passes out everything. And he does it all for appearance sake.
Now whether it really happened this way or not, Jesus makes His point fairly well, doesn't he? And we say it's disgusting. But you want to know something?
We all have our own little silver trumpets. Have you noticed? You know, we do something for somebody in need and we don't want to say anything, but inside we can't wait till somebody brings it up so we can say, well, of course, the other day I had the opportunity to be gracious unto another. . .
And we all fight that kind of thing. We have our own little trumpets. We want to let people know we gave. We go home to our wife and say boy what I've done for him, you'd think that he could treat me a little different. And we want to find somebody that we can tellWe don't want a big trumpet, just a little trumpet. And then we get appeals from Christian organizations, if you will give us money we'll send you a certificate for your wall. Now that is a trombone folks.
And then if you want a tuba, you can get a plaque. You can just...you can have a whole band in your office blowing all over the place. You can be a member of the inside group. We'll send you a special gift. We'll write your name on a thing, you know. That's not what the idea is at all. There are so many unbiblical approaches to motivate people to give today it's just disgusting to our Lord.
Whatever you do whether it's in reference to the church or the needy, don't blow a trumpet, because that's hypocritical. You just give to the one in need.
So there's a peril in religion even in the area of giving that we be hypocrites just like the Pharisees.
That leads me to the last point. We go from the practice of righteousness to the peril of religion to
The Promise Of Reward.
You see the point is this, how you do this area of giving is going to result in how you're rewarded. Some people get all hung up on rewards, they think that's kind of a crass motive. It doesn't have to be. God has established this and God is an absolutely holy God and He must have a holy reason for it.
There are some things that deserve a reward and that's in God's mind and that's the way He set it and so that's fine. And if I read the Bible properly, I'm going to take any reward that I would ever get and so will you and cast it at His feet in adoration and praise.
And I should seek to have a reward if for no other reason that I might show Him my love and giving Him all that I have. But there are rewards.
Notice the promise of reward in verses 1 and 2.
Now in verse 1, it says you have no reward and in verse 2 it says they have their reward. Now do you or don't you? The point is simple. You have a reward in verse 2, but it is not from your Father who is in heaven. Who's it from? Well, who did you want it from? Who were you doing your thing for? For men, right? You get your reward. They saw it, that's it.
The key is your Father who's in heaven. You get an earthly reward, not a heavenly one. You get something from men and nothing from God. You forfeit that. If you're an actor on a stage, if you're a hypocrite, if you're just doing your thing for the applause of men, what you get is the applause of men, that's it.
And I want you to notice something interesting. They have their reward. The technical term there is a verb that means a commercial transaction.
In fact, it is translated by in one lexicon as to receive in full and give a receipt for.
In other words, if you do it for men, you are fully receipted, the debt is over. God owes you nothing. It is humanly receipted in full. You got your reward. You wanted to do it for men, you did it for men, they gave you the reward that you wanted and that's it. That's it.
You know what God owes a hypocrite? Zero. He owes a hypocrite nothing. He isn't bound at all. But there is a reward for those who give out of a right heart.
Verse 3 tells about it. "But when thou doest alms, mercy giving, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." That's a funny statement, isn't it? People have wondered about that. It's a funny statement.
Some believe it was a Proverb of the time. For doing things so spontaneously that you didn't really think about them and I agree with that. It's as if you're walking along and the right hand was usually the active hand, most people being right-handed. You're walking along the street and here's somebody with a need.
And without a long process of calculation, without a lot of thought and analysis and checking out your bank book or whatever, here's a need and you just reach in and you stuck over there and your left hand which is down here by your left hip doesn't even know what's happening. That's the idea.
The idea is the freedom and the spontaneity without calculating it. Just give it. In fact, I think that is the greatest part of the verse.
This is not the calculated, weekly, planned, proportionate giving to the church. There is great blessing in that and we ought to do that. But the greatest blessing to me is that right hand thing that the left hand never knows about. That to me is the biggest joy, to just give and not even think about how much or can you, you know, can you afford it. You respond to the need. That’s what the Lord is talking about.
When not only don't people know, the other side of you doesn't even know. It's kind of like give and forget. Don't even make it enough of an issue for half of you to be aware of it, just do it. Now some people give to the needy and then they wait to see if the needy are grateful. And if the needy aren't grateful, they'll never do that again.
Listen, if you give and somebody's ingratitude bothers you, you gave for the wrong reason. You gave for gratitude from men. If you didn't get that, you didn't even get that reward, but you'll get nothing from God. Give it and forget it. Boy that's indicting, isn't it? Because we remember our good deeds. Don't forget Lord, I did it. I hope it's on your books.
We remember. We should forget. Let me tell you something folks, you do it and forget it, and God will remember it and reward it. You do it and remember it and God will forget it and there will be no reward. Take your choice. You want it here and now or you want it forever. You want the blessing of God or the applause of men? Don't keep mental books on your giving.
One historian ways that the temple had a special place where the bashful benefactors, he called them, could come. They wanted to give to the poor, but they were bashful. And so they would just come and they would just put money there. And then there were the bashful poor, who didn't want to ask and the bashful poor would come in another place and they would take what they needed. And the name of the place was Silence; Silence. I love that.
And what happens at the end of verse 4? "When you do your alms in secret, your Father who sees in secret shall reward you."
I think the best understanding of the teaching would omit the word “openly”. It isn’t in the manuscripts. Why? Because the contrast isn't between secretly and openly; it's between the reward from men and the reward from God. God sees your heart. He'll reward you.
God sees. He sees everything. He knows. He knows your heart. He knows if your religion is real or false.
And so as you live your Christian life, make sure you're real. As you give, give God's way. Give to those in need and give without a thought or a remembrance. Don't be a hypocrite.
Some of you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, but are faking it, that's the severest hypocrisy of all. Unless you truly know Jesus Christ, the sin of hypocrisy is on you forever.
Let's pray together.
