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V Matthew 6:1-4 (ESV) Giving to the Needy
1“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.
V Matthew 6:5 (ESV) The Lord's Prayer
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
What are some acts of righteousness? Some acts of spirituality? Some acts of religiosity? For those of us who call ourselves “religious” or “spiritual”, some acts of spiritualities for example are like when we go to the temple or places of worship. For those of us who call ourselves Christians, some acts of righteousness and spiritualities is that we go to church, we give money to church, we pray, we sing songs, we trying to live good lives, we try to do good.
Nothing wrong with spiritual disciplines. Everything wrong with the motive.
For God's people, the three main acts of righteousness, by the time Jesus appeared two thousand years ago, was giving, praying and fasting. And notice that in all three, Jesus is not denying and condemning these 3 acts of righteousness, He is condemning the motive, the reason, for doing so. So the acts of righteousness – giving, praying and fasting, have nothing wrong with them. Given by God, desired by God and demanded by God. But everything wrong in the reason and motivation when God’s people were doing these three acts of righteousness.
So, when it comes to giving money, Jesus says, “Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”; when it comes to prayer, go into a room and pray in private, shut the door. And when you fast, don’t walk around showing people that you are fasting. When you fast you must be like those who go to gyms and Fitness First around the world, where even though they're running on the treadmill they're smiling away, it looks so unusual, right?!
What is Jesus teaching us? Jesus is not teaching us to be unconscious when we give. An example of “unconscious when we give” is when men walk into a gadget shop, phone shop or a car showroom, they forget what their left hand and right hand is doing, and just start signing the check or signing the credit card, no matter how expensive! When women walk into a sale especially when they see shoes, they are unconscious what the left hand is doing and their right hand is just signing away on the credit card. Is Jesus meaning that? No, of course not! Jesus is not teaching us to be unconscious when we give, private when we pray, unreal when we fast although we are so hungry and tired, we're supposed to look happy and be happy!
Nothing is wrong with the spiritual disciplines, but everything wrong with the motive. So whether it was Jews standing at street corners during sad times, or whether it was Pagan or gentiles babbling with many words in temples, thinking that with their many words that can influence their gods into listening. The people then, and us now face the same danger. What danger? The danger of doing things in the name of God, but when they are actually things that we do for ourselves. So nothing wrong with the spiritual disciplines, but everything wrong with self-glory while pretending to do things for God's glory. That is the important thing that Jesus is highlighting.
The true killer of spiritual fellowship with God and friendship with neighbours is self-importance, self-interest and self-glory
So, if that is true, then it leads us to the second lesson: Self-importance. Self-importance when we give, self-importance when we pray, wanting people to hear our prayers; self-important when we fast, wanting people to notices us. Self-importance is the greatest killer of true fellowship with God and true fellowship with neighbours. So it is known all around the world the three top killers are heart disease, cancer and for us now in much of Asia – diabetes, leading to long-term fatal illnesses. The true killer of spiritual fellowship with God and friendship with neighbours is self-importance, self-interest and self-glory.
As John Stott said in one of his commentaries, that every time you find division, disunity, lack of peace in friendships especially in Christian fellowship, the diagnosis of the disunity and broken fellowship is that someone is being self-important or self-interested at the expense of others.
You think about it for your married life, your family life, your business, your work, your ministry in church, every time there is a friction and fracture, every time there is break down and break up of relationships, somebody is actually quietly, silently proud in their heart; somebody is actually seeking their own interest, their own name, their own glory at the expense of others. Could be a husband expense of the wife, could be children expense of the parents could be parents’ expense of their children, could be members’ expense of leaders, and leader’s expense of others. Self-importance is really a killer and a breaker of true friendship with God and others.
And why is this so important principle that Jesus is teaching us? Because when He comes and He preaches the Sermon on the Mount, He is come as God’s End-time and Eternal King. And He is come as God’s end-time and Eternal King, He is comes to ushering the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is the starts of God rightful rule over us, it is also the end of Satan and our wrongful rule over ourselves.
What do we means by Satan and our wrongful rule over ourselves? Which means that without God, when we take life in our own hands, we think what we like to think, we say what we like to say, we do what we like to do, we are like little gods of our lives! This is the lifestyle that Jesus has come to forgive, to cancel and offer a new way of living, where you and I are not the centre of the universe but He as King, is the centre of our new universe.
So sad stories told of a young family is breaking up, breaking down and finally the mother left the family. That night after she walked out on the marriage and family, leaving the husband and the young son, the young boy prayed as they sat at the edge of the bed, “God Heavenly Father, I am sad, daddy is sad, please bring mummy home so that we can sleep on the same bed again.” What do you think this young boy of 4 or 5 years old was praying? If a young boy of four-five years old knows that when a mother walks out, a father walks out, when parents split, this is not life as God meant it to be. If a young child can know that, again pray a very sincerely prayer “Please bring mommy back so we can sleep on the same bed again’ if a child knows that, how much must we as adults know that? How much more does God who kindly made us in His Image know that, and feel for that. When you and I live our live our own way, think our own thoughts, says our own words, do our own deed, regardless of how we wrong God and wrong others, this is not the kingdom He invited us to live in.
And so we may be in charge as Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer of hundreds of people in our companies, thousands of people in the factory floor, we may be in control of others but you know we cannot control where our fingers take us on our computers! What our eyes look upon? What our heart lust after? If that is true of you and me, there are on one hand we seem to be so much in control but on the other hand in our private life, behind closed doors, we cannot even control what we look at, what we long for, what we lust after, it tells us that our kingdom is totally a fake kingdom and a destructive Kingdom.
So Jesus has come to destroy that Kingdom – a kingdom of self-interest, self-importance and self-glory. When Jesus addresses these 3 acts of righteousness, He saying to us as Kingdom people, we must die to every ambition to self-glory. And unless we die to every ambition to self-glory, the glory of God will never shine through us in our friendships, our marriages, our families, our business, our work and our communities.
Do you know life is supposed to be heaven, created by God, redeemed by Jesus? But so often time you and I feel and I hear so often as a pastor that “Pastor Chris, my life now has become a living hell! My wife and me, my children and me, my colleagues and me, all the time we are fighting over small matters”
A young teenager was sharing with me, “Every week on the Sunday, we go out to eat a meal. But by 3, 4 o’clock, my mother is suggesting which restaurant, which place we can go to? Then my father disagree, he says it is a lousy idea. Then when he suggests he's restaurant or his eating places, the wife says that is a lousy idea. And before long they are fighting about it, and before long as we go out for dinner on Sunday night, it's no longer a nice dinner. It is how on earth that we get so petty over our food, over our day to day living, because we no longer live by God’s words, to love each other! We no longer live to glorify Him, we live for self-glory.
Life becomes a living hell when our big ego fights over very petty and small matters. Is that your life? Is that my life? You are still practising righteousness, you are still going to churches, to worship, to Bible study, is still praying, but if there is no sense of God's rightness and no sense of God's peace, maybe you do not know what it means to surrender yourself completely to Jesus, and His righteousness.
May we listen to Jesus, find new life, and live with the truth, love and joy that He gives us.
Reflection
May we seek less of our own self-importance, and own egos. May God help us to listen to Jesus, and live according to His word daily.
Prayer
Heavenly father we bow before you, we acknowledge that in our fallen world and sinful nature, we are so weak and so prone to always be seeking, our self-importance, and our self-glory. And doing so we are always we are always concern about what people think of us, we are always concern about out big egos. We are so sorry that our big egos fight over small matters and our life becomes a living hell. We are so sorry when we become little illegitimate kings, rulers of our lives, we wrong you, and we hurt others. Teach us to listen to Jesus, and accept only Him as our king and to live according to His word. We pray that by the power of your spirit, by your long suffering grace, you will conform us and change us to the likeness of your son, who will never live for his glory, but for your glory. In His name we always pray, for newness and goodness of life, Amen.