Jesus' Sermon: Intention of the Law on Giving

The first of Jesus' three examples on hypocritical religion concerned
(A) Giving:

“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 others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full." (Matthew 6:2)

To the Pharisees giving money was the most sacred of all religious acts. In fact the Jews used the same word, tzedakah, for both “righteousness” and “almsgiving.”

Trumpeters at the temple would announce when someone was about to pour a large sum of money into the money box, like a tithe, or in response to a religious vow. This was the signal for people to admire and build that person up for making such a magnificent offering. “Wow, that person must really love God, what a sacrifice, how awesome and holy they are!”

+ Why do you give what you give, and how big of a deal do you make out of it?

+ Do you find a way of working it into the conversation?

+ Is it a matter of pride that you give what you do?

+ What would happen if nobody acknowledged what you gave?

Let’s say even the person you gave to, or the institution you gave to, never said thank you to you.

What do you really love:
The good feeling inside when people admire you and approve of you and give you big thank-yous?

..........Or the satisfaction and joy of pleasing God?

It’s not wrong to be thanked and admired, in fact that’s a good thing, to thank people. But Jesus says if that’s what you really love, all the attention, then you’ve already gotten everything you’re going to get out of your religious donations.

God has nothing for you.

You’ve already been paid in full.

God calls us to take care of people in need,
* To give material gifts, like money and food and clothes and a place to stay, stuff like that;

* And to give spiritually, like the gospel, wise counsel, comfort, forgiveness and love, things like that.

* And to give emotionally, like friendship, time in relationship, to mourn and also rejoice with others.

But if you and I are just looking for strokes and admiration, there will be no treasure stored in heaven for us on that account.

If you look for status among people, you will get it, but you won’t have any status with God. You will actually be robbed of deep communion with God, and all the blessing of contentment, joy and spiritual power that being full of God’s Spirit brings, even though the gift you give might actually help someone.

"But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:3-4)

The secret is what’s going on in your heart. Not all giving is done anonymously, and that’s alright. If you read about the early church in Acts, everybody knew who gave what.

But the person Who counts is God. He reads what’s in your heart, and He will reward your love to Him as He is glorified in what you do, and as you grow spiritually.

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Jesus' Sermon: Going Deeper

Let’s pretend that you’re single and you meet the man or woman of your dreams. This person is amazing -- everything you could have ever imagined a beloved could be, and more. All the others just adore him or her, including you.

Now let’s pretend you and this person start seeing each other. Yeah! But you begin to notice something kind of funny. Your beloved only pays attention to you when other people are around. When you go out, it has to be with other people.

Your beloved is very affectionate, but never looks at you when holding your hand or giving you a kiss; instead he or she is always looking around to see if anybody else is paying attention to the fact that you are being treated so nicely. Your beloved doesn’t remember special days with you, not even with a card, or just saying “Happy Birthday,” unless other people are going to be there as well.

After a while you realize that you and your beloved are never alone together, and the couple times you happen to see your beloved alone he or she acts embarrassed and quickly gets away. How about it? This sound like a great relationship?

In His Sermon on the Mountainside, Jesus has been teaching on the theme of real righteousness. What does it look like; how is it different than pretend righteousness that's just done for show?

In today's text, Matthew 6, Jesus goes deeper.
(1) He talks about the difference between righteousness that reflects a real relationship with God, and what’s just posing, faking it.

(2) Jesus is saying that if the relationship is real, then the only righteous thing to do is to put your full trust in God.

Jesus gave three examples of using religion to cover up sin.

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." (Matthew 6:1)

A hypocrite, in the biblical use of the word, is someone who deliberately uses religion, and religious activity, to cover up their sin and promote themselves. The Greek word translated “hypocrite” means “an actor who wears a mask.”

The Pharisees practiced their acts of righteousness in such a way that they would get maximum applause from everybody else. They were racking up points, in their minds, to obligate God to treat them well, and they were racking up points with the people in their community. What they weren’t looking for was the reward of an actual relationship with God, filled with a deep sense of His presence, His love and forgiveness.

Watch out, Jesus is saying, don’t use your Christian life to show off to other people, or show off to important people like your pastor so you’ll get their approval and gratitude.

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Blended Gospels: Jesus' Sermon on the Mountainside, Going Deeper

"Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

"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.

"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. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"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. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

"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. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

[Blended Gospels: Matthew 6:1-18, Luke 6:26]

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Jesus' Sermon: Daily Application of the Law

Think of someone you know you're supposed to love, and you can hardly admit to yourself, let alone anyone else, but you just don't love them.

You're searching around in your heart, and the love simply isn't there.

+ Maybe it’s a family member, or an in-law.
+ Maybe it’s someone you work with,
+ Or that neighbor you dread seeing.

How willing are you to commit, every day, to getting down on your knees and asking God in expectant faith for Him to fill your heart with genuine love, sacrificial agape love for that person, for God to spread love into your heart and spirit for that person?

--> How willing are you to start praying for that person instead of just about them?

--> Asking God to bring joy and spiritual wealth into that person’s life, to give them the desires of their heart, to seek their good?

--> Asking God to show you how you can be a blessing in that person’s life, then really doing it?

This is exactly what God wants for that person,

"...love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.(Matthew 5:44-45)

You will discover that when you pray for someone God begins to work that person into your heart.

The more difficult it is to love, the greater its power to change lives. But even if your enemy remains unchanged, or your persecuter doesn’t stop persecuting you, you have still experienced the love of God in your own heart and have grown in grace.

To love like God loves is to be perfect like God is perfect.

Genuine love must be just like God's love. For you and me today, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, this is what the normal Christian life is to be --
* Being a pleasure to live with,
* Being a pleasure to work with.

When you meet people like this, who are living out the genuine agape love of God, they are a real delight -- you love to be around them, you love to work with them, you find them pleasant and approachable. The power for all this comes from being constant, or faithful, in prayer, staying in communion with God, remaining consciously aware of His presence, surrendered to His Holy Spirit.

It is only through Jesus' righteousness that a person can enter the Kingdom of Heaven

A jeweler can tell with one look the difference between a synthetic gemstone and a genuine one. So can God instantly tell the difference between righteousness that just looks good, and His own righteousness that He has put in a person’s heart.

Jesus came to fulfill the law, which had always pointed to Messiah. True knowledge of the law, and true obedience to the law could only result in repentance and faith in Christ.

--> The scribes and Pharisees were trying to make God submit to them by rewarding them for their diligent observation of the law. But real righteousness far exceeds that.

--> Real righteousness, the perfection of God through Jesus Christ, is only given to those who humble themselves and submit to God.

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Jesus' Sermon: The Law of Love

The overall message you and I should be understanding in this passage is that there is no way we can, on our own, do what Jesus is saying here.

Even if we could muster up the kind of faultless and unflagging outward obedience that the scribes and Pharisees prided themselves in, we would still never make it in. We’d have to exceed that kind of righteousness.

"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

Remember that in the Kingdom of heaven you are perfectly loved, inside and out, all the time. Unless you and I are perfect the way God is perfect, we have no hope of entering the Kingdom of Heaven.

God understands our failure and has provided His own true righteousness, His perfect righteousness, in place of the righteousness you and I do not have.

Nobody can have true righteousness without repentance and receiving God's nature, being born again of the Spirit. It is given to us freely, without any contribution on our part, as we have faith in Jesus Christ. This is called justification, which means that we are now "made right" or "just" before God on the basis of Jesus' achievements.

God's kind of love, the love He has poured into your hearts and mine, through His Holy Spirit, is sacrificial. The king of kings set aside His glory and His throne so He could associate with the lowly, and finally He gave up His life so that you and I could live in harmony with Him.

He repaid our evil with His good.

This is the kind of love that Jesus said people would immediately recognize as God's kind of agape love, and it is every bit as sacrificial for you and me to display, as it was for the Lord Jesus.

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Jesus' Sermon: Perfection in the Law

(6) Jesus sixth and final illustration in today’s text has to do particularly with love.

Each time Jesus says the word “love” in this passage, He is using the word “agape,” meaning God's kind of love: pure, unselfish, sacrificial.

* You think about the other person and what would be the very best for them, even if there is a personal cost to you.

* The kind of love that flows out from the center of your heart, you really feel it, it isn't pretend.

* Genuine love has a cheerful heart which shows in your smile, in your voice, in your gentle words and warm affection.

Hopeful, joyful patience that leaves no room for complaining, or blaming, or shaming people.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' (Matthew 5:43)

God’s law actually says to love your neighbor as yourself, that’s back in Leviticus 19:18. But the Talmud, the rabbinical traditions, added the second part about being allowed to hate your enemies.

"But I say to you, Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44)

Being kind and considerate, love does not want to hate an enemy, love seeks to change an enemy into a friend. This is what God did with you and me, He kept loving us, and provided everything we needed to become His friend.

Jesus added even more

"...and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44)

The most revealing test of love comes when love is rejected.
* What do you do when someone twists your motives, doubts your sincerity, or repays your goodness with meanness?

* What happens when you are offended?

* When you work at getting along with people who are not friendly to you, who are on the opposite side of you, who persecute you in some way?

Jesus says love them and pray for them.

Sometimes you and I make up our minds to show love to somebody, no matter how hard it’s going to be, and then find out that we can't keep it up on our own.

That's because this isn't about gritting your teeth on the inside and putting on a command performance of being nice on the outside.

Love is not just an action word. Agape love is about being filled up, heart, soul and spirit, with God's love through the Holy Spirit, which overflows to other people in the way you talk to interact with them.

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Jesus' Sermon: Intention of the Law is Love

Jesus was saying that love is generous.

You and I can recognize that we have received everything in abundance from God, so you we can give liberally, gladly, and freely. We can freely give
* love,
* help,
* money,
* care
* ... and whatever else God gives us to give.

Give what you have, give it generously, give in love and wisdom, just as God gives you what He has, freely and generously, in love and wisdom.

It will be costly, there will be sacrifices, but God's supply is inexhaustible, so don't worry about running out -- God Who supplied you with everything in the first place will supply more; you and I don't have to hoard what God gives.

This is a matter of the heart, a matter of love and wisdom.

Let’s say you have someone in your life who is an alcoholic and they’re begging you for a drink. Jesus is not telling you to give them a drink. That would not be the loving or wise thing to do for them.

What you can say, like Peter said to a beggar who put his hand out to the apostle, “I’m not going to give you what you’re asking of me. I am going to help you, though. I have something much better than what you’re asking for that can transform your life if you’re willing to receive it.”

God requires our hearts to be right, not just our actions

--> It’s not enough not to hurt somebody. Can you say you’ve never even wanted to hurt somebody, ever?

--> It’s not enough to have never had sex with anyone except your spouse. Can you say you have never even imagined sexy thoughts with anyone but your spouse?

--> Can you say that your “yes” is always yes, and your “no” is always no, that you never have to say “I swear,” or “I mean it,” because sometimes you don’t mean it, and sometimes you don’t tell the truth?

--> Have you never wanted to get back at someone? And it’s not even enough to run away from a mean person!

--> Can you say that you always stick it out, turn the other cheek, give your cloak too, go the extra mile, give generously, even to people who don’t deserve it, who have done evil to you?

Where do you recognize yourself in these examples?

This is the kind of righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees.

Jesus says that anything besides what comes from God's perfection comes from evil. You might be feeling a little overwhelmed at this point. By the time I got to the part about turning the other cheek I thought, “this is ridiculous! Who does this?!”

Hang in there, this part is the bad news, but there is good news.....

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