Sermon Series: Sermon on the Mount

Which Applause Will Be Yours?

Matthew 6:1-4

PSBC 4/9/00

In a nutshell: The practice of giving is a matter between you and the Lord. To receive praise from people for what you give is all the reward you will get. God only rewards giving that's done in secret.

I. Introduction

A. "Really Huge" donation

You probably saw the announcement on the front page of the Desert Sun, on March 24th...
"Really huge" donation to be unveiled tonight. The story went on to say that a major donation that will establish a University of California, Riverside educational center in the valley was going to be announced at UCR's Gala 2000, which is a huge party for the school's 400 most prominent donors. Gov. Davis was going to be there, Gerald Ford and Walter Annenberg were going to be there, and this gift is going to be used for entrepreneurial management training, conferences and higher education partnerships.

Well, that night with a lot of hoopla, celebration, and a special press conference, it was announced that Richard J. Heckmann, the founder of the USFilter company and chairman of the board of Vivendi Water, and his wife Mary were the donors of a 6 million dollar gift to the University.

Now, let's do a contrast...

B. Another "Really Huge" donation

In December of this year, another husband and wife who live in this valley, who are part of our church family, felt led of God to give a large donation that was ear-marked to completely pay off the remainder of our church mortgage. To this day, only the Treasurer of our church knows who those people are–as pastor of this church, I don't even know who gave that gift. And it will always stay that way.

Now, here's the contrast... We have two large gifts given to two worthwhile organizations. One was given with much pomp and circumstance, the other given in secret. Which is the model for Christian men and women to follow.

Now, you may be thinking, come on, Tom, I know what Jesus is going to say. But what's so wrong with announcing what you're going to give to a worthwhile causes? Especially when it comes to really huge gifts. That's just good business. And I agree–that is good business to give recognition to large donors. But is it good Christianity?

Let's go to the source of truth this morning, and take a close look at what Jesus says to us regarding giving donations and gifts to worthwhile causes.

Matthew 6:1-4
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.
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.
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. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

C. Illustration: Dr. Steve Hoke

Dr. Steve Hoke was chaplain at Seattle Pacific University, he is now a professor at Fuller Seminary and Vice President of Training for Church Resource Ministries in southern California. Knowing Steve, when he was a young man, you just knew that he was going to amount to something significant in his adult life. I first knew Steve, because he played second string fullback for Wheaton's football team when I was playing.

Steve got his big break at Parent's Day, when our first string fullback got hurt. Steve took the hand-off from the quarterback, and rumbled through the line and made it into the open field. That's when it became evident why Steve was second string. He had no speed. Despite an open field, and defenders having been knocked down by exceptional blocking, Steve didn't score a touchdown. He was brought down from behind...not by a tackle, but by embarrassment.

You see, a defender managed to catch up with him just enough to grab the back of his football pants and pulled them down to his knees. Steve, realizing his "exposure", fell to the ground, ended the play, and had to pull his pants back up around his waist.

On the following Monday night, when we watched the game films, our coach played the scene of Steve getting de-pantsed over and over and over again. And the team photographer got a picture of the act happening, and it was posted all week in the team locker room. To this day, no one who played with Steve, can remember much of his football playing, but they all remember his unfortunate exhibitionism on that Parent's Day in 1970.

D. Transition

Well, it is the idea of exhibitionism that Jesus addresses in this passage. But not Steve Hoke's kind of exhibitionism. What Jesus is addresses is what I call...spiritual - exhibitionism...

To quote one commentator, "according to Jesus the secret of religion is to practice religion in secret." God doesn't want you to expose the way you respond to His leading, for everyone else to see. Jesus makes a very strong statement at the beginning of verse one...

"Be careful not to do your `acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them."

Having laid down this principle, Jesus illustrates it with examples of religious activity, such as giving, praying, and fasting. We'll get to the praying and fasting parts later in this series, but today we want to look at the principle itself and then illustrate it with the practice of giving.

II. Do Not Display Your Piety

Let's look at the overall principle first, then we'll look at how it applies to "giving" later.

A Exhibitionism is a real danger in the Christian life.

Using the overall principle of secrecy, Jesus addresses a real danger for Christian men and women. It is a danger that can be seen in public worship services, it can been seen in church ministry, and it can be seen in our devotional exercises.

Illustration: When the 1980 Olympics were going on, some of us on the pastoral staff at Wheaton Bible Church played a joke one week. As we sat behind Dr. Chris Lyons, after his sermon, we held up cards that read, "6.0; 5.9; 5.7, etc." like the Olympic judges would do. That joke later made it into Leadership Magazine as a cartoon.

I had one of my high school students come up to me after a message at my last church, and hold up a "6.0" sign in front of me after a particular sermon that really spoke to him. I appreciate that kind of support. That's fun stuff, and it's gratifying when you are appreciated for your efforts. All pastors, musicians and anyone else who leads people in a public forum, like a worship service, appreciate being appreciated.

But friends, let me tell you,
–every minister who preaches,
–every singer or musician who uses their talents in a worship service,
–every person who prays out loud,
–every person who teaches the Word of God publicly...
...runs the danger of spiritual exhibitionism– Getting glory for ourselves, rather than giving glory to the Lord.

Something that has helped me, is a poem someone gave me when I first went into the ministry. It's written by Ruth Harms Calkin, and is entitled, "I Wonder."

You know, Lord, How I serve You
with great emotional fervor in the limelight.
You know how eagerly I speak for You at a Women's club.
You know my genuine enthusiasm at a Bible study.
But how would I react, I wonder,
if You pointed to a basin of water
and asked me to wash the calloused feet
of a bent and wrinkled old woman
day after day, month after month,
in a room where nobody saw and nobody knew?

You and I need to ask that question from time to time. "I wonder?" How faithful would I be if no one was watching?

A prayer everyone of us should pray is, "Lord, deliver me from spiritual exhibitionism."

B. We are to be like the Lord Jesus.

I have been reading a lot in the Gospel of John for my personal devotions recently. And one of the things that is impressing me is Jesus commitment to give glory to God by doing what God wants done.

John 6:38-40
38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.
40 For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life...."

This passage says that...
–The words Jesus spoke were God's words.
–The works Jesus did were the works the Father had given Him to do.
–The life he lived was totally given to glorifying God.
–He wasn't double minded...He didn't keep one eye on self and the other eye on God. He kept both eyes fixed on God.
–He lived entirely, always and only for the glory of God. His goal was not to please Himself or receive praise from people. It was to do God's will.

III. No Rewards for Spiritual Exhibitionists

A. Father will reward you.

In verse four, Jesus tells us what happens if we follow His teaching, and seek glory for God rather than for self: He says...

Matthew 6:4
4 ...Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

This is in contrast to the last part of verse one...which says... There is no reward from God for those who seek it from men.

B. Practical application

Let me bring it home to where I live and where you live. If I am concerned as I preach on Sunday mornings, with what you all think of my preaching, then the only reward I will get is the praise of you all; I will get nothing from God.

If your service of singing in the choir, or teaching in Sunday School, or working with AWANA, or ushering, or sharing special music talents... are laced with concern as to how others think of you, then the only reward you will get is the applause of humans; and you will get nothing from God.

You see, a part of this spiritual principle that Jesus is teaching in this passage is that if you're seeking a reward from men for what you give or what you do, then there is a good chance that you'll get it, but that's all you'll get!

Think about your religious life, your devotion, your worship, your service in the church and service to others. If you have done anything for the praise of people, you've received all you're going to get. Was it worth it? Did you enjoy it? Because that's all there is. That's a very sobering thought.

IV. How You Give

Now that we have looked at the general principle let's see how it is to be applied when it comes to the matter of giving money or things.

Some people have a lot of money to give; others have little. But Jesus doesn't make any distinction about how much anyone has to give. The issue for Jesus is whether you give in the right way or the wrong way.

A. The wrong way is to announce our giving.

Matthew 6:2
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.

The wrong way is to announce your giving.

Illustration: There were many poor people in Jesus' day. And we know that the rulers of the
synagogues sometimes started public assistance programs, when the problem of the poor got really bad. When that happened, men from the Pharisee party who were the rich business owners and entrepreneurs of Jesus day, arranged for a special distribution of their money in the streets.

This is what they would do: they would hire professional trumpeters, who would march in a procession through a poor section of town, and blow their trumpets in the street. The wealthy individual would be following the trumpeters and would pass out money to the poor who gathered.

It was kind of like those annoying ice-cream trucks come through your neighborhood, playing the same toon over and over and over again, over their loud speaker system. Kids hear the music and flock to the truck.

Well, that's what the poor would do to the man who was distributing the money.

But instead of this being an act of genuine kindness, and true religious conviction, what really took place was this distribution of money became a public event in a public place, which brought public recognition to the man distributing the money.

And Jesus condemns that system. He calls the Jewish leaders who acted this way "hypocrites." Their main purpose was to be praised by the poor and by others who watched the event. In other words, they did this "to be honored by men."

Jesus points to an evil here, which I think has spoiled a lot of giving in the church over the years.

There are people who are only willing to donate large sums for Christian organizations or institutions on the condition that a plaque with their name on it be placed somewhere in the building, acknowledging their gift.

Illustration: I was chewed out by a person in one of the churches I served several years ago, because their gift of some furniture had not been listed in a "Book of Remembrance" that the previous pastor had set up on a stand in the narthex. This man was angry at me because he had not received public recognition for his gift, like so many others had for things they had donated.

You see, what Mr. and Mrs. Heckmann did for UCR's educational center was magnanimous and generous, but they got their reward. The recognition they receive in this lifetime is all they will get. It will not count in eternity. God wants the men and women of the His Kingdom to operate differently.

B The right way to give

So, if the combination of generosity and publicity is the wrong way to give. What, then, is the right way?

Matthew 6:3-4
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. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

You've probably heard that phrase of "left and right hand" on plenty of occasions. But what does it really mean?

C. Custom in the Orient–a close friend

It was customary in the Oriental world (the world of the Bible), to call an intimate friend your left hand. In that case it was Jesus' intention to say that you should not inform even your most intimate friend how much you give. In other words, do not announce to anyone, in any way, shape, or form what you are doing.

Illustration: Some of you of you have heard me refer to the great English Baptist preacher of the latter part of the 1800's , Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Spurgeon and his wife raised chickens as a hobby, but some accused the Spurgeon's of being miserly because they sold all the eggs their chickens laid and wouldn't give any eggs away. Because they always made a profit on their eggs, rumors circulated that they were greedy.

The Spurgeon's, however, took the criticism graciously, and only after the death of Mrs. Spurgeon was the truth revealed. The records showed that their entire profits had been used to support two needy, elderly widows whose husbands had spent their lives in serving the Lord. The Spurgeon's had refused to defend themselves because they did not want to call attention to their giving.

The left hand/right hand idea implies that contributions of church members should be kept secret by those who are in charge. And so we do. Only the Treasurer and Financial Secretary of our church know what people give. I don't know what anyone gives, and I don't want to know, unless someone feels its necessary because of circumstances, to give me that confidence.

V. Conclusion

Friends, in closing, I want to use the words of Max Lucado to drive home the point Jesus is making in these verses...

"I'll be home soon. My plane is nearing San Antonio. I can feel the nose of the jet dipping downward. I can see the flight attendants getting ready. My wife is somewhere in the parking lot, parking the car and hustling the girls toward the terminal.

I'll be home soon. The plane will land. I'll walk down that ramp and hear my name and see their faces. I'll be home soon.

You'll be home soon, too. You may not have noticed it, but you are closer to home than ever before. Each moment is a step taken. Each breath is a page turned. Each day is a mile marked, a mountain climbed. You are closer to home than you've ever been.

Before you know it, your appointed arrival time will come; you'll descend the ramp and enter the City. You'll see faces that are waiting for you. You'll hear your name spoken by those who love you. And, maybe, just maybe–in the back, behind the crowds–the One who would rather die than live without you will remove His pierced hands from his heavenly robe and...applaud."

Which recognition are you working for–the applause like the Heckmann's received, or the applause of heaven?

Amen