Matthew 6:1-34 continuing…

Chapter six of the Sermon On The Mount deals with our true worship toward God. It involves our character. All practices of worship are to be focused upon the Heavenly Father and God of all creation.

Anything, short of God, which we seek for fulfillment, peace, joy, and/or justification, is idolatry and covetousness.

“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:1-4 (KJV).

This may come across as sounding somewhat out of the norm, but we ought to GIVE WITH CAUTION. On one occasion as Jesus teaching in the temple and his disciples with him we are told,

“And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” Mark 12:42-44 (KJV).

Now, the reason Jesus tells us to “Take heed” to our giving and charitable deeds is because the Pharisees, and the wealthy made special note of your “Much giving”, thus being awarded the praise of man. God finds no pleasure in our boastful acts.

It is far better to give and no one know the amount of giving or even that you give, and glorify God, because He will know and He will be the one to bless you; than it is to give with pride, openly that all may see how much you give, and receive all the accolades of men, and miss the blessing of God. For the religious hypocrite giving is a means of gaining favor with God and their fellow man. In fact God frowns on the motive of self-exaltation (Acts 5:1-11). The praise and rewards of man hinders the blessing of God.

Give without calling attention to your act –

“If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:26-27

When we give with the sole purpose of giving back to God, recognizing His blessings to us, without calling attention to ourselves we grow spiritually; God is glorified, and others are helped by the generosity which came from our hearts. I would much rather have a blessing from the Lord, as to have a temporal recognition from God. Usually those who lavish recognition because of their giving, or works are doing what they are doing with the wrong heart and motive