“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.
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. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6: 1-4
Matthew 6: 1-4
…15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. 17Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.… Matthew 5: 15-17
In order to be seen by them - I posted the seemingly contrasting statement from the previous chapter, "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds", but look at the end of the sentences; it is the motive. In 6:1, the motive for the deeds was to be seen by men, to glorify yourself. This is the same spirit that will always water down the gospel, change it to make it more appealing, because it is about being liked and drawing men to you, as if this has any eternal benefit. In 5:16 the motive is that, in seeing your good works, your changed person, they will glorify God, your words and actions will be one, showing that God is your Father. The people, and by that I mean the people He was talking to and every other human being in the world, that do things for the approval of men, without an eternal perspective, they would rob God of His glory. The intent of the heart is, "look at me, honor me, put me on a pedestal." Because you run the fastest, yet God made you fast, because you are pretty, yet was that not God's design as well? What about the rich man who gives? In every instance it is nothing for you to glory in, because it all belongs to God, and you are merely a steward. It should be our honor that Christ is glorified, for in Him do we live and breathe. Look at the illustration below. It's talking about giving, and it is cyclic, like the planting of the field. The farmer throws down the seed, expecting a harvest, but he has not designed the seed to work this way, to die in the ground and grow into a plant, bearing fruit to harvest. He has no control of the weather, did not invent soil, nor the mind he uses to make the tools and implement the plans that will all work towards a successful farm. But, and listen to this, or ask yourself this, what will happen if he holds on to the seed and does not trust it to the ground? Giving should be as natural as farming is to the farmer.
…9As it is written: “He has scattered abroad His gifts to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.” 10Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your store of seed and will increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be enriched in every way to be generous on every occasion, so that through us your giving will produce thanksgiving to God.… 2 Corinthians 9: 9-11
C H Spurgeon's comments…
MATTHEW 6:1-18 THE KING CONTRASTS THE LAWS OF HIS KINGDOM WITH THE CONDUCT OF OUTWARD RELIGIONISTS IN THE MATTERS OF ALMS AND PRAYER 1. 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.
Our King sets men right as to Almsgiving. It is taken for granted that we give to the poor. How could we be in Christ’s kingdom if we did not?
Alms may be given publicly, but not for the sake of publicity. It is important that we have a right aim; for if we obtain the result of a wrong aim, our success will be a failure. If we give to be seen, we shall be seen, and there will be an end of it: “Ye have no reward of your father which is in heaven ”: we lose the only reward worth having. But if we give to please our Father, we shall find our reward at his hands. To the matter of our intent and design we must “take heed ”; for nobody goes right without carefully aiming to do so. Our giving of alms should be a holy duty, carefully performed, not for our own honor, but for God’s pleasure. Let each reader ask himself, how much he has done, in the way the King prescribes. (Commentary) - Precept Austin
Sound no trumpet before you - I remember when we were young kids, our family was considered poor, but we always had a roof over our heads and enough to eat. One year, a wealthy family wanted to do something for some children who didn't have as much as them, to give them an amazing Christmas, and we were chosen. The amount of stuff they brought over was unreal, overwhelming, and we could scarcely take it all in. They came over on Christmas morning to watch us open it, and it turned into a photo op, with a video camera. I am not going to say that me and my brother were children who did not act spoiled at times, but we were not ungrateful for the gifts, and we said thank you, yet the father had dressed up like Santa, and the film was rolling, but we weren't jumping up and down, dancing and carrying on like they had apparently hoped. One of them even said, "maybe they are too old for Santa." So they were obviously disappointed in their giving; it didn't go the way they had planned for it to in their minds. They wanted an experience, a video that show cased their philanthropic life style, an emotional high, a feel good moment with immediate returns. Now we have the internet, and all the temptations that come with being able to post snapshots of our lives on Facebook and other social media. Look who I gave to, here is where I volunteer, I did the ice bucket, mud crawl, whatever challenge, see who I am, I'm this person, yeah, pretty good, I know. These guys wanted to be seen, and it was so bad that it had become doctrine. They were Roman Catholic before there was Roman Catholicism. They had turned giving into a ceremonious, empty ritual, and they needed an immediate return on their investment. This is why we do it, it makes us feel good and it removes iniquities, our righteousness is confirmed by those who have witnessed our theatre.
Did you know that in the Apocrypha, for example in Tobit chapter 12, verse 8, it says “It is good to do alms rather than treasure up gold for alms deliver from the death and this will purge away every sin”? The Jews actually taught that they would purge away their sins by giving money to the needy. That’s how far they’ve gone. In Sirach 3:30 it says, “Alms will atone for sin.” I found several quotes out of the Talmud. “Alms giving is more excellent than all offerings and is equal to the whole law.” “Alms giving will deliver from the condemnation of hell and make one perfectly righteous.”
Now, that’s going a little far, isn’t it? 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 harder – 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 conception, see? Because they thought the rich could buy their way in easy because purging of sin came from giving away money.
By the way, the Roman Catholic Church picked this up. Leo the Great said this, “By prayer we seek to appease God. By fasting we extinguish the lust of the flesh and by alms we redeem our sins.” By the way, the Pope who just visited America believes that. That’s part of the system. They made it a saving element. And then they made it an element for piosity. Boy, they really put it on as a big display. And Jesus goes right by all of that stuff on the outside and says the only thing God cares about is your heart, not what you did, but why you did it. See? Two people doing the same thing, giving money to a poor man. Why did they do it makes the difference. - J Mac
William Barclay - The word hypocrite occurs here again and again. Originally the Greek word hupokrites (Greek #5273) meant one who answers; it then came to be specially connected with the statement and answer, the dialogue, of the stage; and it is the regular Greek word for an actor. It then came to mean an actor in the worse sense of the term, a pretender, one who acts a part, one who wears a mask to cover his true feelings, one who puts on an external show while inwardly his thoughts and feelings are very different. To Jesus the Scribes and Pharisees were men who were acting a part. What he meant was this. Their whole idea of religion consisted in outward observances, the wearing of elaborate phylacteries and tassels, the meticulous observance of the rules and regulations of the Law. But in their hearts there was bitterness and envy and pride and arrogance. To Jesus these Scribes and Pharisees were men who, under a mask of elaborate godliness, concealed hearts in which the most godless feelings and emotions held sway. And that accusation holds good in greater or lesser degree of any man who lives life on the assumption that religion consists in external observances and external acts. There is an unwritten saying of Jesus which says, "The key of the Kingdom they hid." His condemnation of these Scribes and Pharisees is that they are not only failing to enter the Kingdom themselves, they shut the door on the faces of those who seek to enter. What did he mean by this accusation? We have already seen (Matthew 6:10) that the best way to think of the Kingdom is to think of it as a society on earth where God's will is as perfectly done as it is in heaven. To be a citizen of the Kingdom, and to do God's will, are one and the same thing. The Pharisees believed that to do God's will was to observe their thousands of petty rules and regulations; and nothing could be further from that Kingdom whose basic idea is love. When people tried to find entry into the Kingdom the Pharisees presented them with these rules and regulations, which was as good as shutting the door in their faces. The Pharisees preferred their ideas of religion to God's idea of religion. They had forgotten the basic truth that, if a man would teach others, he must himself first listen to God. The gravest danger which any teacher or preacher encounters is that he should erect his own prejudices into universal principles and substitute his own ideas for the truth of God. When he does that he is not a guide, but a barrier, to the Kingdom, for, misled himself, he misleads others. (Matthew 23 - William Barclay's Daily Study Bible) - Precept Austin
They have received their reward - The hypocrites reward is the applause of the audience. He would have that over God's pleasure, the honor of glorifying God. He would so much prefer your approval that he would deny God, change what God has said, as so many preachers today do, turning the pulpit into a stage.
42Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. 43For they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in Me does not believe in Me alone, but in the One who sent Me.… John 12: 42-44
Do not let your left hand know - Your right and left hand are not separated by much, but so busy are you with doing honor to God, so much is your heart caught up in the Spirit of giving, that you have not contemplated the outcome. You have not bothered to think about who will see this, what will people think of me, but you are doing that which is natural for the truly redeemed. But take care, because so wicked is the heart, more deceitful than anything, that it may find reason still to exalt itself for doing this in secret. Don't seek fans, nor become your own biggest fan; everything belongs to God, so give it back to Him through serving others, trusting that everything you give comes from Him anyway.
…43Jesus promptly sent him away with a stern warning: 44 “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45But the man went out and openly began to proclaim and spread the news. Consequently, Jesus could no longer enter a town in plain view, but He stayed out in solitary places. Yet people came to Him from every quarter.… Mark 1: 43-45
…3So Jesus’ brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so that Your disciples there may see the works You are doing. 4For no one who wants to be known publicly acts in secret. Since You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.” 5For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.… John 7: 3-5
Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you - This contrast the hypocrites from verse one, who receive no reward from God. It is cyclic as I said before, and there is nothing wrong with doing with the expectation that God is going to bless it, as it so states here, but men will twist it too far materially and cling to a prosperity gospel, while others will go live in a monastery, both being confused. One is thinking, "I have a lot because I give and am righteous, the money and materials prove as much", the other is thinking, "I have nothing, and have removed myself from all temptations of society, this proves my righteousness."
…16By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him? 18Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.… 1 John 3: 16-18
…2You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures. 4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.… James 4: 2-4
…4My conscience is clear, but that does not vindicate me. It is the Lord who judges me. 5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. 6Brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written. Then you will not take pride in one man over another.… 1 Corinthians 4: 4-6
