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EP 123: How Should We Give? (Matthew 6:1-4 – Sermon on the Mount Series)

by Marci Ferrell
Christian Living Encouragement Podcast Sermon on the Mount Theology

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When we grasp our relationship with God as our Father and rest securely in His care and love, it will change what we do and why we do it.

When we grasp our relationship with God as our Father and rest securely in His care and love, it will change what we do and why we do it.

We will not be looking for the approval of men but only of God, and there is where we receive the greatest reward that isn’t lost because it is done out of love for our Father in Heaven, and He has seen it, and He will reward us.

Matthew 6:1-4:
“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.

When we grasp our relationship with God as our Father and rest securely in His care and love, it will change what we do and why we do it. Click to Tweet

Our passage starts off with a warning—beware—it’s in the present imperative, so it tells us to be on guard and watch out for this danger continually we have as believers of practicing our righteous deeds out of the wrong motivation.

As those citizens of the kingdom, we are reminded again and again in Jesus’s sermon that God is seeking the heart. Our lives are to reflect holiness that is inward and outward. When we are in Christ, we will desire to do righteous deeds. James reminds us that faith without works is dead.

In Matthew 6:1, Jesus doesn’t tell us not to practice righteous deeds, He doesn’t just tell us not to do righteous deeds before men, but he goes further and tells us not to do them to be “seen by them.”

It comes back to our motives.

Sinclair Ferguson reminds us:
“Why we do something is significant as well as what we do.”

Our lifestyle should not be one of practicing our righteousness before others. If we do this, they’re not righteous acts anymore; they’ve now become self-righteous acts.

Martyn Lloyd Jones stated:
“Ultimately, our only reason for pleasing men around us is that we may please ourselves. Our real desire is not to please others as such; we want to please them because we know that, if we do, they will think better of us. In other words, we are pleasing ourselves and are merely concerned about self-gratification.”


Listen to the Podcast Below:

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Resources:

Sermon on the Mount Podcast Series

Free Homemaking Resource Library

Free Resource Library

Grab a free copy of my guide to Daily Time with the Lord. It is to walk you through time in the Word and help you to meditate on and apply what you've read.  @mferrell

Daily Time with the Lord (free PDF)

Spiritual Disciplines Podcast Series

Spiritual Disciplines Podcast Series

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd Jones

The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom by R. Kent Hughes

The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn


Articles:

31 Radical, Liberating Questions to Ask God About Your Giving @Randy Alcorn

Six Keys to the Treasure Principle @Randy Alcorn

Will Christians Receive Rewards in Heaven @Ligonier

What’s the Appeal of Heavenly Rewards Other Than Getting Christ @Desiring God

Should Christians be Motivated by Eternal Rewards? @Grace to You


Show Notes:

There is no reward from God to those who seek it from men. ~ Charles Spurgeon Click to Tweet

“Here is the life to which we are called, and I maintain again that if only every Christian in the Church today were living the Sermon on the Mount, the great revival for which we are praying and longing would already have started. Amazing and astounding things would happen; the world would be shocked, and men and women would be drawn and attracted to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 

~ Martyn Lloyd Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount


“Why we do something is significant as well as what we do.

Jesus also clears away another general misconception by what he says here. The principle he expounds in Matthew 6:1 is illustrated in three different ways:

giving (Matthew 6:2-4), praying (6:5-15), and fasting (6:16-18). He indicates in what he says about each of these activities that sacrifice, self-discipline, and self-denial are called for in the Christian life. He assumes our lives will be well regulated, properly structured, and that we will show an increasing mastery of our own desires. Jesus does not assume that these things will come naturally. Rather he sees them as quite deliberate activities in the life of his disciples.”

~ Sinclair Ferguson, The Sermon on the Mount


Ultimately our only reason for pleasing men around us is that we may please ourselves. Our real desire is not to please others as such; we want to please them because we know that, if we do, they will think better of us. In other words, we are pleasing ourselves and are merely concerned about self-gratification.

~ Martyn Lloyd Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount


You cannot expect to be paid twice, if therefore you take your reward in the applause of men, who give you a high character for generosity, you cannot expect to have any reward from God. We ought to have a single eye to God’s accepting what we give, and to have little or no thought of what man may say concerning our charitable gifts.

~ Charles Spurgeon


The rewards we gain in heaven are not like the rewards we earn here on earth. We tend to think in material terms—mansions, jewels, etc. But these things are only representations of the true rewards we will gain in heaven. A child who wins a spelling bee treasures the trophy he receives not for the sake of the trophy itself but for what that trophy means. Likewise, any rewards or honor we gain in heaven will be precious to us because they carry the weight and meaning of our relationship with God—and because they remind us of what He did through us on earth.

In this way, rewards in heaven glorify God and provide us with joy, peace, and wonder as we consider God’s work in us and through us. The closer we were to God during this life, the more centered on Him and aware of Him, the more dependent on Him, the more desperate for His mercy, the more there will be to celebrate. 

GotQuestions.org


Regarding this matter of rewards, we are in error if we believe we must never seek rewards. Some think that serving with an eye to a reward is crass and mercenary, even when the reward comes from God. Why not give just to give? Such a view comes from a mistaken understanding. The rewards that God gives are not ribbons or medals but actually something of himself. C. S. Lewis explained it perfectly:

We must not be troubled by unbelievers when they say that this promise of reward makes the Christian life a mercenary affair. There are different kinds of reward. There is the reward which has no natural connexion with the things you do to earn it and is quite foreign to the desires that ought to accompany those things. Money is not the natural reward of love; that is why we call a man a mercenary if he marries a woman for the sake of her money. But marriage is the proper reward for a real lover, and he is not mercenary for desiring it. . . . The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation.2

Men who do works so they will be seen by men receive the applause of men. Those who do works for God’s glory receive God’s smile. The reward for the latter is overwhelming—and always will be.

Nothing we do will be forgotten by our Lord. 

~ R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount


The best part of all Christian work is that part which only God sees. ~ Andrew Bonar Click to Tweet

Scripture References:

  • Matthew 6:1-4
  • Matthew 6:5-15
  • Matthew 6:16-18
  • Matthew 25:35-40
  • Matthew 25:23
  • James 2:17

Recommended Resources:

  • Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd Jones
  • Sermon on the Mount The: Matthew 5-7 Expositional Commentary by James Montgomery Boice
  • Matthew 1-7 MacArthur New Testament Commentary by John MacArthur
  • Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Matthew by J.C. Ryle
  • The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom (ESV Edition) by R. Kent Hughes
  • Sermon on the Mount by Sinclair Ferguson
  • The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 by Thomas Watson
  • The Message of the Sermon on the Mount by John Stott
  • Sermon on the Mount Teaching Series by Sinclair Ferguson at Ligonier Connect
  • Logos Bible Software
  • Bible Memory App
  • Study Guide for Sermon on the Mount
Free Library of Resources

Related posts:

  1. EP 86: Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount Series {Matthew 5:1-2}
  2. EP 90: Hungering and Thirsting After Righteousness (Matthew 5:6 – Sermon on the Mount Series)
  3. EP 89: Blessed are the Meek (Matthew 5:5 – Sermon on the Mount Series)
  4. EP 112: Jesus, the Law and the Christian (Matthew 5:17-20 – Sermon on the Mount Series)


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Marci Ferrell
Patience is our ability, under the control of the Patience is our ability, under the control of the Spirit, to persevere and endure in times of suffering or hardship.⁣⁣
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Come listen in (or read) EP 118: Cultivating Patience with One Another at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
By affliction, Christ . . .⁣⁣ shows us our em By affliction, Christ . . .⁣⁣
 shows us our emptiness and weakness,⁣⁣
 draws us to the throne of grace,⁣⁣
 purifies our affections,⁣⁣
 weans us from the world,⁣⁣
 and makes us long for Heaven.⁣⁣
~ J.C. Ryle⁣
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Read more of Trusting God in Your Trials at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wi I know we can all relate to self-pity as women, wives, and mothers.  How many times do we focus on our needs that aren’t met?  Unfair situations or circumstances?  Self-pity is a selfish tendency that takes our eyes off Christ and puts them on ourselves. ⁣⁣
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We forget that “God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” Are we able to give God “thanks in all things”?⁣⁣
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Come listen in to EP 105: Practical Steps to Overcome Self Pity at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)⁣
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#rootedinChrist #rootedintheword #christian #christianity #thankfulhomemaker #bedeeplyrooted  #christianblogger  #christians #treasurechrist #joyinchrist #inchristalone #deeplyrooted #martynlloydjones #selfpity
Grab a free copy of my weekly planner 🥰⁣ ⁣ Grab a free copy of my weekly planner 🥰⁣
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Weekly Menu Planning Free PDF is at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
"God's written Word, the Bible, is God's greatest "God's written Word, the Bible, is God's greatest earthly gift to his people, second only to the living Word, Jesus. And because the living Word perfectly lived out the written Word, we are blessed beyond measure. Jesus fulfilled every precept found in Psalm 119, keeping the principles and commandments of this psalm, and he did so on our behalf.⁣
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Our failure to live wholeheartedly is covered by Jesus, who lived it perfectly for us. Ultimately, he is Psalm 119 in human form, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14)."⁣
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~ Taken from Sing a New Song: A Woman's Guide to the Psalms by Lydia Brownback⁣
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With my whole heart I seek you;⁣
let me not wander from your commandments!⁣
I have stored up your word in my heart,⁣
that I might not sin against you.⁣
~ Psalm 119:10-11
Accept the cost of good deeds in time, thought, an Accept the cost of good deeds in time, thought, and effort. But remember that opportunities for doing good are not interruptions in God’s plan for us, but part of that plan. We always have time to do what God wants us to do.⁣
~ Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness⁣
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Listen in to 10 Things Helping Me to Manage My Days as a Homemaker at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
I’m sharing a walkthrough of various tools and s I’m sharing a walkthrough of various tools and systems that help me to get things done. It’s a practical episode, and I hope to encourage you, if nothing else, to take a look at how your days are going and ask yourself some simple questions like:⁣
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What is working and what is not working?⁣
Where do I find myself wasting time?⁣
Where can I make better use of my time?⁣
Can I simplify my days or various tasks or automate them?⁣
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These are just a few questions to ponder, and there are many more you can ask, but the main one is to seek the Lord and ask him, are you a good steward of your time? Is your desire to honor Him amid your days and in how you spend your time?⁣
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Many more than ten systems or tools help me manage my days, but these items top my list. I’ve shared more in detail on some of these in past blog posts or podcast episodes, but I wanted to put together an episode that walked through how I use each one.⁣
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An episode like this one is more helpful to me than you because it helps me to think through my days and systems and tools and determine what is working for me and what isn’t.⁣
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Listen to 10 Things Helping Me Manage My Days as a Homemaker at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
Who doesn’t want to save money, time, their sani Who doesn’t want to save money, time, their sanity, reduce stress, eat healthy and avoid the dreaded question, “What’s for dinner?” It sounds great, right, and we’d all love to do it, but how do we get there?⁣
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Menu planning is the answer to all those questions above. We have a jam-packed episode today filled with tons of tips, examples, and ideas, so stick with me, and I know there will be something that will appeal to each of you in some way.⁣
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Listen in at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image).
Though gradually, though no one remembers exactly Though gradually, though no one remembers exactly how it happened, the unthinkable becomes tolerable. And then acceptable. And then legal. And then applaudable.⁣
~ Joni Eareckson Tada⁣
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Come listen to EP 70: Finding Forgiveness After an Abortion at the link in my profile @thankfulhomemaker (click on the link under the blue arrows and then this image)
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