1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:05,960 Good morning. We are in the book of Matthew 2 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:07,760 chapter 6. I'm going to read verses one 3 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:09,880 through 4. That's our verses for today. 4 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:11,880 So I'm going to get I'm going to read it. 5 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:15,440 Then we're going to pray, and then we will hear what God has 6 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:20,760 to say about this, starting in verse one of chapter 6. 7 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,440 Beware of practicing your righteousness before other 8 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,520 people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no 9 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:29,680 reward from your Father who is in heaven. 10 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,760 Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before 11 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:37,520 you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, 12 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:39,400 that they may be praised by others. 13 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,920 Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 14 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,960 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know 15 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,520 what your right hand is doing so that you're giving may be in 16 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:55,400 secret, and your Father who sees in secret, will reward you. 17 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:59,160 This is the word of the Lord, Amen. 18 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,280 Would you pray with me? Father, we come to you this 19 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:08,880 morning so thankful for your faithfulness to us. 20 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,160 We do get caught up in needing to use technology and all kinds 21 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:17,120 of different things to go about our lives as normal. 22 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:22,320 And yet we can worship you in simplicity. 23 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:26,840 We don't need anything but our our hearts and minds and the 24 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:29,680 scriptures, your your word. And we can. 25 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:34,160 We could worship you in a shack on the mountain anywhere in the 26 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:39,520 world. But you do call your people the 27 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,440 Saints to gather together on the Lord's Day to do this as 28 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:46,800 corporate worship. And even here, we don't need all 29 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:49,080 of the technology. We still just need our hearts 30 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:54,760 and it together and your word to be prayed and sung and read and 31 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,080 preached. And so we will continue to do 32 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:02,480 that by your grace until you come back to get us. 33 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:05,040 We thank you for keeping us here safely. 34 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:07,360 I pray that you would speak through me. 35 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:12,560 Lord, help me to get out of the way of the words that you want 36 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:15,680 to deliver to your people. And I pray God that you would 37 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:17,880 bless us through the preaching of your word today. 38 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:20,000 And it's in Jesus name, I pray. Amen. 39 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:26,280 You guys can have a seat. All right, so today I have 40 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:32,920 entitled this message worship God and not man through giving. 41 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,320 Worship God and not man through giving. 42 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:43,040 And we'll be in Matthew chapter 6 verses one through 4. 43 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:51,480 Now, not to put any shade on today's message at all, but just 44 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:57,360 so you know, being transparent, talking about giving or, or 45 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:02,560 money is probably one of my my least favorite topics to talk 46 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:05,400 about or preach about. We're certainly not a church 47 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:09,240 that's going to do, you know, a four week giving series to try 48 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:16,080 to get our funds up. It's obvious that in God's word, 49 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:20,880 God talks about money a lot. Jesus talks about money because 50 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:26,040 it can so easily become an idol and we can use it for sin, but 51 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:28,600 we can also use it for God's glory. 52 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,760 And in fact, the Bible says that God owns everything. 53 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,160 He owns the cattle on 1000 hills. 54 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:37,640 All the silver and the gold in the world is God's and. 55 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:44,080 And he does call us to glorify him with what he has given us. 56 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,840 Everything that we have is only by his grace and mercy. 57 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:52,000 Last week we talked about this idea of common grace, how God's 58 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,600 the sun rises on the just and the unjust, and he causes the 59 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,600 rain to fall on the just and the unjust. 60 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:04,600 And God has given this common grace to all people to have the 61 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,000 ability to provide for their families and to have food and 62 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:14,200 clothing and shelter. And he also uses it to get the 63 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,880 message around the world and so that his people can gather to 64 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:21,720 keep the lights on. And so something's wrong here. 65 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:23,480 We need to step it up. I'm just kidding. 66 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:28,400 I'm totally joking. But it's today. 67 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,200 The message, you know, about giving is probably not going to 68 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:35,400 be one that's a normal one that maybe you've heard before. 69 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:40,600 And so enough setting it up. Let's just get into this. 70 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:43,600 We've been in this Sermon on the Mount. 71 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,880 Matthew chapter 5 through 7 is Jesus's famous Sermon on the 72 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:52,080 Mount where he takes time to start teaching the new 73 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:56,000 principles of the Kingdom that has come on earth. 74 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,800 And we've set up that Matthew. The whole theme of Matthew is 75 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,760 that Jesus is the king. He is the king of the universe 76 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:07,720 and he is now stepped down on earth 2000 years ago and he is 77 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:13,200 declaring and proclaiming his rule, and now people are going 78 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,520 to follow him. And that is the church, which 79 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:18,600 starts later in the book of Acts, but he's preparing the 80 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:22,720 church to start by telling his disciples what it looks like to 81 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:26,560 live in the Kingdom in, in his Kingdom on earth. 82 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,120 And we are separate from the Kingdom of the world, yes, but 83 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:32,440 we're not called out of the world. 84 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:33,920 We're in the world, not of the world. 85 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:36,720 And, and so, but we are going to look different. 86 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,880 And one of the things Jesus does in this Sermon on the mount kind 87 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:48,320 of the the main theme of it I would say is a a summary of the 88 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:53,680 10 commandments which is the 2 greatest commands in the Bible. 89 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,920 Jesus summarizes the 10 commandments in the Old 90 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,240 Testament law of God in Matthew 2237. 91 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:05,400 He says you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 92 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,000 with all your soul, with all your mind. 93 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,400 This is the great and 1st commandment and the second is 94 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:12,560 like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 95 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:17,000 And on these two commandments depend all the law and prophets. 96 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:21,800 So later in the book of Matthew, when Jesus says these summarize 97 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,840 all of God's law in the Old Testament, it actually, it's not 98 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:29,640 going away, the law of God, it's going to be clarified. 99 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:33,480 And that's what Jesus has been doing in the Sermon on the 100 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:35,680 Mount. And each piece of the sermon 101 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,840 has, you know, different things it focuses on. 102 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:45,520 And the whole thing is focused on those two commandments 103 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:48,600 though. And what we call the 10 104 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:53,600 commandments are the 2 tables of the law which summarize what 105 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:58,040 Jesus is saying. The 1st 4 are about loving God 106 00:06:58,040 --> 00:06:59,840 with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 107 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,080 And the last 6 are about loving your neighbor as yourself. 108 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:07,880 That's the 10 commandments and how they're laid out and why 109 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:12,400 it's called the two tables of the law is because when Moses 110 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:16,600 went up the on the mountain to get this law that was physically 111 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,760 written by the finger of God into tablets of stone. 112 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:24,840 It's it, it records this in Exodus 2412. 113 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:27,760 It says the Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain 114 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:31,560 and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone with 115 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:35,400 the law and the commandment, which I have written for their 116 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:39,240 instruction. And then later in verse 3215 and 117 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,200 16, it says, then Moses turned and went down from the mountain 118 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,920 with the 2 tablets of the testimony in his hands, tablets 119 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:50,760 that were written on both sides, on the front and on the back 120 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:54,200 they were written. The tablets were the work of God 121 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:58,240 and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. 122 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:02,040 We call these the 2 tables in the King James Version. 123 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,600 It doesn't use the word tablet. It uses the word table. 124 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:10,400 Now a table holds something, right? 125 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:12,000 That's what a tables meant to do. 126 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,560 And these are the 2 tables of the law that hold very 127 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:20,120 important, the most important information, God's own written 128 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:23,680 word written on both sides, by the way. 129 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:27,840 And you can, instead of calling a tablet, you could call it a 130 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:31,240 table at right, like a table. It's not a full table. 131 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:35,280 It's a small piece of stone that he could carry in his hands, 132 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:37,919 right? Like you've heard the same word 133 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:40,600 about you have a kitchen, a full kitchen upstairs. 134 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,360 But if you have a mother-in-law kitchen in the basement, it's 135 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:46,200 usually called a kitchenette, right? 136 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:50,880 Or I like to call 25 minute sermons A sermonette, you know, 137 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:54,320 not a full sermon, the sermonette. 138 00:08:56,280 --> 00:09:03,560 But these are tables containing the law of God holding and 139 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:07,080 upholding something that will never go away. 140 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,440 Christians live by these commandments, not for our 141 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:16,880 salvation, but as disciples, as Christians following the King. 142 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:22,960 He has a standard, a rule by which we will live and what he's 143 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:27,800 done in chapter 5 has said all of this stuff will come out of 144 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:31,920 you because you're a Christian. This isn't a law for you to 145 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:35,080 follow so that you can reach me, like climbing a ladder. 146 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,560 This is something that will happen because I put my spirit 147 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:43,760 in you because of faith alone. This will mark you out as a 148 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,400 Christian. You will look at these commands 149 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:49,680 that I have said. You will want to do them, not 150 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:53,080 perfectly, but you will do them. And so that's what we walked 151 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:56,320 through in Chapter 5. But then when we get to Chapter 152 00:09:56,320 --> 00:10:03,160 6, it focuses on the first table, which is our relationship 153 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:05,160 to God, and it kind of zeroes in on this. 154 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,680 In Chapter 7, it's going to focus on the second table, our 155 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:14,160 relationship to man. In this first section of chapter 156 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:20,280 6, it talks about a focused sincerity of religion or 157 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:25,920 devotion of a heart towards God and it's expressed in these 158 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,440 three practices that are mentioned in this chapter and 159 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:32,360 chapter 6, giving prayer and fasting. 160 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:39,320 And so all of these these practices, you could call it 161 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:41,840 part of your religion. Now what is religion? 162 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:43,960 Religion? The word religion has gotten a 163 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:48,000 bad rap over the years. What it really just means is 164 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,360 practicing your faith. Now there are bad religions out 165 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:56,280 there that are works based religions that say I have to do 166 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:58,320 this in order to be right with God. 167 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:06,800 Christianity is the the the one stand alone religion that has 168 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:11,560 that order opposite. It's I get right with God by 169 00:11:11,560 --> 00:11:13,720 faith alone. He makes me right with him. 170 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:20,160 And now he causes me to want to do things for him to practice my 171 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:25,320 faith so that I can grow closer to him, express my love toward 172 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:28,880 him. And so religion, a good religion 173 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:33,720 is practicing and expressing your love to God and to others. 174 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:40,120 The two tables of the law. Now in this section, Jesus in in 175 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:42,800 chapter 5, he was pretty harsh with the Pharisees, the 176 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:45,280 religious teachers of the day. They were standing around his 177 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:50,240 disciples hearing a lot of the challenges that Jesus was having 178 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:53,240 against false religion. And he hasn't forgot about them 179 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:58,120 in chapter 6. Actually, he's not only just 180 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:01,280 calling out their bad theology, which he did in chapter 5. 181 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:04,560 They had bad theology, a bad interpretation of the Old 182 00:12:04,560 --> 00:12:07,960 Testament, which he corrected. Now in chapter 6, he's going to 183 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:11,640 correct their bad practices of religion. 184 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,040 They were not only false teachers, but they were 185 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:18,040 hypocrites as well. They didn't live out their own 186 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:20,640 teachings, they just made-up their own laws and rules to get 187 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:22,760 out of them. And when they did try to 188 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,440 practice their religion, it was wasn't firstly to the Lord, but 189 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:31,760 it was for others to see so as to obtain praise and favor from 190 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:36,720 the people. So from verses one through 18, 191 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:40,800 in each of these teachings about giving prayer and fasting, Jesus 192 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:45,720 used the word don't be like the hypocrites who do this this way. 193 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:52,120 Instead do it this way. Almost very similar to the 194 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,600 antithesis of Jesus in chapter 5. 195 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,600 You've heard that it was said, but I say to you now he's saying 196 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:04,080 you've seen them act like this, but I say act like this. 197 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,800 You've seen them have a hypocrite heart, and I'm saying 198 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:14,280 have a sincere heart. But before we're too hard on 199 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:18,920 them, maybe we ought to use this to look at our own heart 200 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:22,920 motivations and allow the Word of God to correct us on how the 201 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:27,280 God of the universe deserves for us to be wholly devoted to Him 202 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:30,440 and sincere in our love for Him and for others. 203 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:36,720 He sees right through our religiosity, our going through 204 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:40,000 the motions, and even our hypocrisy. 205 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:46,680 So my first point is we get into these verses is that sincere 206 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:54,520 worship is for God alone. God alone deserves a fully 207 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:57,760 devoted heart. That's what it means when it 208 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:01,200 says love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. 209 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:09,800 It must be sincerity, not hypocrisy, outward action, but 210 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,280 not inward sacrifice and motivation. 211 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:18,120 So verse one says in chapter 6, Beware of practicing your 212 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:21,720 righteousness before other people in order to be seen them, 213 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:25,000 for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in 214 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:30,200 heaven. Beware of practicing your 215 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:33,240 righteousness before other people in order to be seen by 216 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,520 them. So let's break this down. 217 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:38,120 What is this righteousness that he's talking about? 218 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,160 Beware of practicing righteousness. 219 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:45,520 That word there means adherence to what is required according to 220 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:49,600 a standard, for example, a moral standard. 221 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:57,800 So righteousness is not only a positional thing of being holy, 222 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,360 but also it works its way out in our hands and our feet, in our 223 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:07,080 actions, what we do. And So what he's talking about 224 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:09,520 here is not our positional righteousness. 225 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:14,880 What we need to understand is Christ has made us righteous by 226 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:18,120 his sacrifice. The Bible says he, he swapped 227 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:20,400 places with us when he went to the cross. 228 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:24,560 We deserve to go to the cross for the sins, but God made him 229 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:28,080 sin, who knew no sin, so that we could be the righteousness of 230 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:32,160 God. Second Corinthians 521 We now 231 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:36,640 have the righteousness of Jesus. The sinlessness of Jesus applied 232 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:42,760 to those who believe. And so positionally, when God 233 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:47,000 looks at us as believers, we are right before him. 234 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,240 That's what righteousness is. But now it starts to work its 235 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,840 way out. And righteousness in this form 236 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:58,400 is the practice of what it looks like to have a righteous heart. 237 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:05,680 Ephesians 424 says put on the new self created after the 238 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,640 likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. 239 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:11,600 Not only are we positionally righteous, we're called to do 240 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:15,120 righteous deeds. Nothing wrong with trying to be 241 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:16,760 righteous, striving to be righteous. 242 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:22,400 God commands us to do that. And in fact, if we go back to 243 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:31,280 chapter 5 verse 16, the verse says in the same way let your 244 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:34,200 light shine before others so that they may see your good 245 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:38,120 works and give glory to the Father, your Father who is in 246 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,840 heaven. Are these two verses in 247 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:43,720 contention with one another. Don't practice just right your 248 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:48,520 righteousness before when men but then it says let let people 249 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:51,480 see your good deeds. Here's the difference here. 250 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:58,880 This one says so that your Father in heaven is glorified in 251 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:02,240 verse 16 of chapter 5, give glory to your father who is in 252 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:08,319 heaven versus in our verse it says in order to be seen by 253 00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:16,040 them. So the difference in works based 254 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:23,599 religion versus faith-based religion is that one says I'm 255 00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:26,400 righteous because of Christ alone and what he's done. 256 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:29,680 But because that miraculous work has happened in my heart and has 257 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:35,000 turned a dead, Stony, stubborn, sinful heart into a tender, 258 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:36,920 responsive heart that wants to do his will. 259 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:41,360 Now my acts of righteousness can be seen before other people and 260 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:44,720 and people are like, how did that person start to be a 261 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:47,480 religious person and be a good moral person? 262 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:51,600 Well, the only possible way is through the power of God. 263 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:55,520 If people can look at you and say, wow, give glory to God. 264 00:17:56,360 --> 00:17:59,600 And if that's your motivation, then that's a righteous 265 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,920 motivation. But if our motivation is to go 266 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:07,040 do these things right, we wait. We wait until people are 267 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:11,080 actually around watching and then we're like, OK, I really 268 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:14,800 want people to see how good I am. 269 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:24,120 That is self worship, that is really not wanting to give God 270 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:26,240 glory, but to give yourself glory. 271 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:29,160 And and our point here is sincere worship is for God 272 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:32,800 alone. God is to be worshipped alone. 273 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:37,680 As the first commandment said, you shall have no other gods be 274 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:44,720 for me, including yourself. And so then if we're doing 275 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:49,360 things so that people will see us and give us some kind of a 276 00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:54,000 praise, then we're trying to get worship from other people. 277 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,120 We're not giving any glory to God. 278 00:18:56,120 --> 00:19:01,080 We want to be noticed. And that is exactly what a 279 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:05,160 hypocrite is. It's a person who professes 280 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,920 beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold. 281 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:14,240 And in order to conceal his or her real feelings and motives. 282 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:17,960 So someone can act like a Christian, they can act like a 283 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:22,760 follower of God, but yet all along they're wanting people to 284 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:25,560 look at them and give them the praise, the glory, and the 285 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:29,360 honor. In the Greek, the word it, it 286 00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:33,080 literally means an actor in a play with a mask. 287 00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:40,360 He's a pretender, someone who loves the spotlight, being under 288 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:43,120 the spotlight. And everybody can see me and 289 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:46,280 look at all this wonderful stuff that I do, the serving that I 290 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:51,000 do, the charity that I give to look at people or or let people 291 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:57,400 see me pray and be so pious. And yet, when he gets off the 292 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:03,200 stage, out from under the spotlight, his life is full of 293 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:06,840 greediness and wickedness and darkness and. 294 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:15,720 Hypocrisy hypocrites like others to see them for the accolades 295 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:19,480 and the praise. Now we can all be like this. 296 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:24,680 I want you to know that even myself, I once I'm going to be a 297 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:27,440 little transparent here. I had talking with a mentor a 298 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:33,240 long time ago and you know, I, I asked him this question 299 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,960 sincerely. I was like, why is it easier to 300 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,840 serve at church than it is at home? 301 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:44,040 Like for years before I ever became a good servant at home to 302 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:46,760 my wife and kids. And I wouldn't say I'm, I'm not 303 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:48,640 praising myself. I don't think I'm that good at 304 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,160 all. But before I ever learned how to 305 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:55,760 do that, for some odd reason, I could do it at church. 306 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:58,800 I could be serving in every position and setting up the 307 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:02,280 chairs and tearing them down and stay at church all day long. 308 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:06,160 And you know what he said to me? He said, well, at home you don't 309 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:09,320 get any of the accolades. At church, people are like, 310 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,920 thank you, God bless you. We we, we appreciate you so 311 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,040 much. And there's nothing wrong with 312 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:19,920 appreciating people for serving. And I'm not saying you can't 313 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:22,120 serve with right motives. You can. 314 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:24,840 And it's OK to do that in front of other people. 315 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:29,160 But what I am saying to you is, is that we're all hypocrites in 316 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,720 the sense that if we can't go serve in all the areas of life 317 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,960 where nobody sees and you're not going to get the accolades in 318 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:38,080 the praise, there's something wrong. 319 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:42,080 There is hypocrisy there. And I'm willing to bet that we 320 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:47,640 all have a little bit of that. Which leads me then to my second 321 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,880 point in the context of our scriptures. 322 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:56,440 Now hypocritical giving is self worship. 323 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:02,760 Verse 2. Thus, when you give to the 324 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,800 needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the 325 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,600 synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by 326 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,240 others. Truly, I say to you, they have 327 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:18,640 received their reward. So let's break this verse down. 328 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:25,600 He says when you give. So first of all, I want to point 329 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:31,560 out that Jesus is saying here that he does expect Christians 330 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:36,840 to give, to be generous as an act of worship. 331 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,320 He's saying when you are going to go about your Christian life 332 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,720 and you are going to be a generous person, and why are we 333 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:45,880 generous people? Why do we give? 334 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:51,120 Because God is the best giver who gave everything right? 335 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:57,800 He John 316 for God so love the world that he gave his one and 336 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:02,240 only son his most prized possession, the person and the 337 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:07,280 thing that is the most valuable to him in all of the universe. 338 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:11,360 God says I'm going to give. And if we're going to be 339 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:14,160 Christians, the word means little Christ. 340 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,000 We're being like Christ. We're we're trying to be in 341 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,440 righteousness and holiness like God. 342 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:23,160 Then we do give. We give to the church, we give 343 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:24,720 to the needy, we give to the poor. 344 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,200 I'm going to get into some practical things about what that 345 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:32,480 means later in this message, but it is implied here that 346 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:34,960 Christians are givers and they should give. 347 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:40,040 And that is first an act of worship. 348 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:43,840 Although giving to the poor or giving to your church to keep 349 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:47,760 the lights on or to to take care of the benevolence fund or or 350 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,360 whatever it is, is helping other people first and foremost. 351 00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:57,840 In this context, our giving is an act of worship. 352 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:03,520 We are saying God, OK, I don't trust in this more than I trust 353 00:24:03,520 --> 00:24:05,960 in you. I don't find my security in the 354 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:11,000 things that I own more than I find my security in the 355 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:16,680 sovereign Lord of the universe. You deserve for me to prove it 356 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:22,240 to you that I don't worship money. 357 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:34,680 So Matthew 624 says no one can serve 2 masters, for either he 358 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:37,680 will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to 359 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:41,680 the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 360 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:46,560 Part of our giving away the things that we have, our 361 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:52,440 finances to the church and to those in need comes from a place 362 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:56,520 of saying, I'm not going to make my money an idol to me. 363 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,360 I'm going to give because you gave everything. 364 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:06,720 You own everything. And as we talked about last 365 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,920 week, there's an ordered, ordered love that we should 366 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:12,840 have. And God's our first love. 367 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:18,040 You know, if you think about our second love or third loves in 368 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:22,240 our lives as our spouses and our children or those closest to us, 369 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,000 and we think, you know, we're, we're going to be generous with 370 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:27,840 them. We're going to buy everything 371 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:29,840 that they need. We're going to provide for them. 372 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,440 You know, when, when birthdays come up, we want to surprise 373 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,880 them with something amazing. Christmas is coming up. 374 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,000 We want to get them some, some big gifts, right? 375 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,520 And, and hopefully we're not doing it to get praise from 376 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:43,840 them, but it's because we love them. 377 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:48,720 We want to, we want to experience the joy of just 378 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:53,720 seeing them, feel the love and excitement of our generosity. 379 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:59,160 OK, well then if God is our first, top, first priority, then 380 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:03,160 do we do that with him also? Do we give gifts as an act of 381 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:09,240 love? And giving to other people also 382 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,840 is an act of worship to God and it's commanded by God. 383 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:19,240 Actually in the Old Testament, Leviticus 1910, God has always 384 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:23,600 said you should take care of those who are in needy, in need, 385 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:27,200 who are poor, who need your support. 386 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,040 It says, and you shall strip your vineyard bare. 387 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:32,800 Neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. 388 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,080 You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner. 389 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:39,080 I am the Lord your God. There are certain things that 390 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:44,040 God put into the society and the the the the the structure, the 391 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:49,920 civil structure of his chosen people that they would they 392 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,680 wouldn't have pour among them that if they were that their 393 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:57,520 hearts would would cause them to say, look, my God's a giving and 394 00:26:57,520 --> 00:26:59,920 generous God. Therefore I don't want to see 395 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,800 people in need like God's people first and foremost should be 396 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,800 provided for. And then even people outside of 397 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:11,360 that, the sojourner, the people outside of us, outside of our 398 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:15,480 very close context. All right. 399 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:21,880 So then it says sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do 400 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,160 in the synagogues and in the streets. 401 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:28,520 Apparently in the synagogues and in certain places where the poor 402 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,760 were assembled, there would be announcements as to who gave 403 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,040 what. It would be like, OK, so and so 404 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,120 gave this, you know, if you've ever been to like a charity 405 00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:42,160 banquet or something, right? They're always there like, hey, 406 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:46,680 if you put give $1000, we'll give you this table and we'll 407 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:52,080 put your name on a placard that says you're a silver, silver 408 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:56,080 level giver or a gold level giver, a platinum level giver, a 409 00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:59,360 partner. You know, apparently they were 410 00:27:59,360 --> 00:28:03,480 doing this in, in churches, you know, like plaques or, or making 411 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:06,320 announcements. And so and so did this and so 412 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:10,640 and so did that. And sometimes the motivation of 413 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:13,880 giving was, oh, announcement time's coming up. 414 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:18,200 I can't wait to hear my name. And people are going to be like, 415 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:27,400 wow, that person is generous. And even in the temple court 416 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,760 itself, not just in the synagogues, but in the temple 417 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,680 court where people would come and bring their tithes and 418 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:39,480 offerings, there were these giving boxes that the, the top 419 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,760 of it was shaped like a trumpet. Actually, it was like a big 420 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,080 funnel. And you dropped money in and 421 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:49,520 often times it was coins. And so the more coins you threw 422 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,160 into the thing, the more noise it would make. 423 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:54,080 Ching, ching, ching, ching, Ching. 424 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,080 You ever been to, you know, Vegas or Wendover or whatever, 425 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,880 you know the Ching Ching, Ching Ching and, and, and the poor 426 00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:04,960 person would give a little little tinkle down the trumpet 427 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:12,960 and however loud the noise was when you were giving, apparently 428 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:16,200 determined how holy you were. At least this is how the 429 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:22,240 Pharisees were acting. If you Fast forward to the story 430 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:26,840 about the woman who gave only two copper coins, she gave all 431 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:30,880 that she had to live on. Jesus praises her for her 432 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:33,920 sacrifice and her her right heart in giving. 433 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:39,080 While the Pharisees gave an an abundance dropping much coins, 434 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:43,080 it wasn't about the amount it was about the heart while doing 435 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:45,360 it. And so again, going back to my 436 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:51,000 point, hypocritical giving is self worship when I'm giving to 437 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,480 make a big noise or a, a name for myself. 438 00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:58,200 And I'm not saying it's wrong to, you know, go to these 439 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,560 banquets, you know, where like the probably the most recent one 440 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:05,440 was the pregnancy care center. And they do do those things 441 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,720 where you can buy a whole table and, and the money goes towards 442 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:11,800 a, a meal, but a lot goes to supporting their ministry and, 443 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:15,680 and, and you in your own conscience need to make 444 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,240 decisions about these things. And if you have the right heart, 445 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,480 you, you have the freedom to do things like that. 446 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:28,840 The main point here is that it's not about self worship, it's not 447 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,760 about getting the accolades, it's about the generous heart 448 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,960 towards giving. That's what Jesus is getting at 449 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,600 here. And the problem is Pharisees 450 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:44,600 worship themselves. Works based religions create 451 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:50,280 little Pharisees that want to show all of their works to 452 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:53,720 everybody around so that they can get other people's approval 453 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:57,320 'cause they not only worship themselves, but they worship the 454 00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:01,400 approval of others. They want others to worship 455 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:03,760 them. They want others to like them. 456 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:09,280 Again, these are idols church and I know that we can all be a 457 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:15,280 little bit Pharisaical sometimes when we when we want the 458 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,520 approval of other people, often times I use this word and it 459 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,600 seems to just keep coming up people pleasing. 460 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:25,840 When we are people, please, we're doing the same thing. 461 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,440 We are worshipping other people's approval. 462 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:32,880 And when you have to be a people pleaser over telling the truth 463 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:38,000 or being genuine or being sincere, there might be an idol 464 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:44,560 problem or a sin problem there. We've got to be having our 465 00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:49,960 priorities right, pleasing God above man and all things. 466 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:58,200 Satan desires worship. That's why he was kicked out of 467 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:01,720 heaven earlier. If we go back to Matthew chapter 468 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:06,280 4, verse 10, when he was tempting Jesus in the 469 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:10,440 wilderness, Jesus tried to get or Satan tried to get Jesus to 470 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:14,320 worship him. He said, I'll give you all these 471 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,760 kingdoms and everything you see, all these cities, if you'll just 472 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,920 bow down and worship me. Satan said, and Jesus said, be 473 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,160 gone Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your 474 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:28,960 God and him only shall you serve. 475 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:37,120 And he was quoting the first of the 10 commandments there again, 476 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:41,520 when we give with the wrong heart, it is self worship. 477 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:44,880 It is idolatry. It is we are worshipping 478 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,880 someone, something other people's approval or ourselves 479 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:51,960 above God and God's always watching. 480 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,680 We can't fool him. Why are we trying to Why are we 481 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,600 trying to, to play or put the mask on when we are 482 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,800 hypocritical, when we are doing our our righteous works before 483 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:07,040 people coming to church with a, a pretend mask on. 484 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:10,920 Didn't you know that this is the place, as the Bible says, for 485 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:14,800 the sick, like it's the sick who need a physician, not those who 486 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,400 are well. And, and let me just illuminate 487 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:22,880 you to the truth that all of us are sick and this is the place 488 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:25,560 where we don't have to come with the mask on. 489 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:28,720 We can come and we can come and have a lot in common. 490 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:31,600 Actually, I was having a, a conversation with a brother as 491 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:36,080 we were going to get the generator and I said, you know, 492 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,360 I was always living in, in, in shame and Guild and, and that's 493 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,600 probably why I self medicated and was, you know, struggling 494 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:44,120 with addiction early on in my life. 495 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:47,120 And when I started reading the Bible, what I found out was all 496 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:52,880 these people are really messed up and God still loved them and 497 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:56,800 used them. And I'm like, OK, I think I can 498 00:33:56,800 --> 00:34:02,160 fit in with this, these people. And then I started realizing my 499 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:04,120 heart was broken. For the people that don't 500 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:09,000 actually know the truth of what's in these words, they 501 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,360 could have freedom from their shame and guilt, knowing that 502 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:14,480 their God accepts them for who they are. 503 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:17,600 He sees everything. We our hearts should be 504 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:19,440 repentant. That should be truthful. 505 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:21,880 Like I am a Sinner, I am a hypocrite. 506 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,520 I don't need to put on a show. I don't care what other people 507 00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:27,400 thinks more than what God thinks. 508 00:34:28,679 --> 00:34:32,239 That is what it looks like to be a Christian. 509 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:36,880 And when you and I or any religious person are doing 510 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:39,360 religious works to be seen by others, we're sinning. 511 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,760 And then those works actually don't count towards pleasing 512 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:46,760 God. They don't count. 513 00:34:48,199 --> 00:34:52,880 Now, of course, you know, it's funny, like you probably don't 514 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:56,320 hear a lot of sermons that say, you know, another title I was 515 00:34:56,320 --> 00:35:02,600 going to give for this point was was something along the lines of 516 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:08,560 when you give hypocritically, you actually in debt to God. 517 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:13,400 You think you're gaining something from God by giving and 518 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,640 doing this good work. You do it the wrong heart. 519 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:17,560 You're actually falling into debt. 520 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:23,080 The Bible says that sin is a debt that we owe to God. 521 00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:26,480 Actually, you go to the his prayer later on and in Matthew 522 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:31,800 chapter 6, it says forgive us our debts in other translations, 523 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:34,360 sins, transgressions, trespasses. 524 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:39,840 We're in debt to God if we give hypocritically, if we do works 525 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:41,920 hypocritically. That's why I look out at all the 526 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:44,920 works based religions and I'm like, man, you guys are sinning. 527 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:49,480 And again in this conversation we are having there, what we 528 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:52,520 what we find out is that there are two types of sinners in the 529 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:55,120 world. It's the ones that you just, you 530 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,840 can look at and be like, yeah, I know you're, you're in complete 531 00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:02,080 rebellion to God and it's obvious through the way you live 532 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:05,600 and you just don't care. But then there are the other 533 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:10,120 Sinner that Jesus probably challenges more than this side 534 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:16,880 is the the religious ones, the hypocrites, the ones that are 535 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:28,880 doing all these outward works. Isaiah 113 God says to the 536 00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:32,200 nation of Israel, Bring no more vain offerings, incenses of 537 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:35,160 abomination to me, new moon and Sabbath and the calling of 538 00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:38,800 convocations. I cannot endure iniquity and 539 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:40,880 solemn assembly. Your new moons and your 540 00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:45,280 appointed feast my soul hates. They have become a burden to me, 541 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:53,720 and I am weary of burying them. Religion, false religion, 542 00:36:53,720 --> 00:36:58,400 workspace religion becomes idolatry to God and he can't 543 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:02,720 stand it, even though maybe on the outside it might look like 544 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:07,000 faith. He's looking at our hearts. 545 00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:12,080 And then it says there's no reward from your father. 546 00:37:12,720 --> 00:37:16,320 If you've if you're looking for the praises of man, there will 547 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:21,160 be no reward from your father. There's no reward. 548 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,960 You've already got your reward, which was a quick little good 549 00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:26,480 job. You know what? 550 00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:29,920 That doesn't last for very long. When people look at you and say 551 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:32,000 good job, that was great. Why? 552 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:35,160 Because they'll keep expecting more and more and more from you. 553 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:38,760 And when you fail, they won't be praising you then. 554 00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:47,400 No man, no pastor, no Pope is worthy of worship. 555 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:53,040 No person walking to the giving box and wanting people to see 556 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:55,920 we. We just need to accept that God 557 00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,480 is God and we are not. We are his servants. 558 00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:03,040 We are humbly saved by his grace alone, by nothing that we can do 559 00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:05,280 or have done. And it's only through Him can we 560 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:07,160 even do good works in the first place. 561 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:15,600 You know, in light of it being Reformation month, October, the 562 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:18,000 end, October 31st is Reformation Day. 563 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:22,720 In the 1500s, Martin Luther, you know, started the Reformation 564 00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:29,280 process of, of, of nailing his 95 theses to the door of the 565 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:33,600 church in Germany. And what he was talking about 566 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:37,880 was their hypocritical use of money. 567 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:42,240 They were building these huge buildings and they were going 568 00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:46,200 around telling people you can earn your way out of purgatory 569 00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:51,000 the more you give. And they were teaching this 570 00:38:51,000 --> 00:39:00,880 religious, hypocritical giving. And I'll tell you what, I'm 571 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:04,360 afraid there's one man on earth I'm probably afraid for more 572 00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:10,640 than most would be the Pope himself, who is called the vicar 573 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:15,880 of Christ, which means, by the way, the substituted one or the 574 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:19,440 delegated 1 vicor comes from the word vicarious. 575 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:24,360 He's basically playing the role of Christ on earth, saying that 576 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:28,040 he has the same power and authority of Christ over the 577 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:35,320 church and he's being worshipped and by so many people he doesn't 578 00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:38,120 stop it. He might point to Jesus and talk 579 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:43,800 about Jesus and talk about the Bible, but these are people that 580 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:48,560 we need to steer clear from hypocrites, false teachers, and 581 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:50,680 false religions that are based on works. 582 00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:59,640 Again, when we do righteous acts with the wrong heart, it is sin. 583 00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:05,320 Sin equals debt, and we're in debt to God when we do it with 584 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:07,960 hypocrisy. When you give for your glory, 585 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:09,840 you're actually stealing from God. 586 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:16,080 So we need humility and not the praise of men. 587 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:22,000 So with all that, my last point, I want to try to get as 588 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:26,640 practical, practical as I can on how to give for God's glory and 589 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:31,200 not your own. Verse 3 and 4, when you give to 590 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:34,200 the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand 591 00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:36,200 is doing. So that you're giving may be in 592 00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:40,800 secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 593 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:48,120 Again in the New Testament, not just in the old, Paul was told 594 00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:52,360 to remember the poor. In James 127, he says religion 595 00:40:52,360 --> 00:40:55,280 that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this to 596 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,160 visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep one 597 00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:01,320 unstained from the world. And so it's still good. 598 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:06,720 Again, he says it again when you give, and then he uses this 599 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:11,760 proverbial expression, don't let your left hand know what your 600 00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:17,240 right hand is doing. Rather than doing it so 601 00:41:17,240 --> 00:41:19,920 everybody can see, wanting people to see. 602 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:24,800 He's saying do it in such a way that part of you knows what you 603 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:29,040 gave, but part of you doesn't. Like you basically give and then 604 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:33,080 you forget what you gave. You go and you give and you're 605 00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,040 not. Now, it's not wrong to keep 606 00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:37,880 track of it for your tax purposes in your budget, which 607 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:42,760 I'll get to, But in the sense of not keeping a tally, saying to 608 00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:46,320 God, wow, I'm a good giver, aren't I? 609 00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:50,400 God, I did it again. Are you going to reward me this 610 00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:51,240 time? No. 611 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:57,600 Instead of patting ourselves on the back and hoping someone else 612 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:02,880 is watching, we privately tell God how worthy He is and not be 613 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:06,440 concerned with man's attention and praise for a righteous act. 614 00:42:08,240 --> 00:42:13,240 This pleases the Father and it says in in our verses and your 615 00:42:13,240 --> 00:42:18,200 Father who sees in secret. The point there is that when you 616 00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:22,280 give out of pure love and generosity, as I said, God is 617 00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:23,960 sovereign. He's everywhere all at once. 618 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:26,520 He sees everything. We can't fool Him with our 619 00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:30,440 hypocrisy, but He also sees when we do things from the right 620 00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:35,880 heart and there are rewards. Maybe it's not in this life. 621 00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:40,040 Maybe you're not going to, you know, give and get a ton back 622 00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:43,040 and God's going to give you a completely different social 623 00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:45,440 status in life. Maybe that's not what's going to 624 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:46,800 happen. But what is going to happen is 625 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:50,320 when you get to heaven and you're going to hear well done, 626 00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:55,200 good and faithful servant, you don't need that from people on 627 00:42:55,200 --> 00:43:02,600 earth. Proverbs 1917 says whoever is 628 00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:05,320 generous to the poor lends to the Lord and he will repay him 629 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:09,360 for his deed. So what does it mean to give to 630 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:11,600 the needy? Give to the poor that that word 631 00:43:11,720 --> 00:43:14,880 give to the needy. Actually in its original 632 00:43:14,880 --> 00:43:18,560 language, it's it's merciful giving, charitable giving 633 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:22,760 donations. And so does this mean that every 634 00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:25,400 time I see somebody on the corner holding up a sign, I need 635 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:29,000 to give them money? No, I don't think so. 636 00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:33,520 You have, again, discernment. You can decide. 637 00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:36,840 First of all, the Bible says take care of your own people 638 00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,800 first, your family first, things like that. 639 00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:43,880 God first, then family, then church, then others going back 640 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:50,640 to our ordered loves. And by the way, historically in 641 00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:53,440 the churches and in the synagogues, the giving was 642 00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:56,240 collected and then distributed by the churches. 643 00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:59,760 So when it talks about the this giving, Jesus is talking about 644 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:03,320 when you're going to give, even generally, when you give 645 00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:07,040 generally to your churches and they distribute it or use it for 646 00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:10,400 certain means, do it with the right heart. 647 00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:14,760 In Acts chapter 2, when the church first started, it talks 648 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:17,960 about they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching the 649 00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:19,600 fellowship, the breaking the bread and prayers. 650 00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:22,360 Mike did a sermon, stand alone sermon on this and our one year 651 00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:24,920 anniversary talking about what a healthy church is. 652 00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:28,400 And you can see why we do what we do at church based on those 653 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:30,640 things in there. But later on it talks about how 654 00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:33,240 the church is growing and it says and they were selling their 655 00:44:33,240 --> 00:44:37,640 possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all 656 00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:39,680 as any had need in the early church. 657 00:44:41,240 --> 00:44:46,160 And and it got more organized in the New Testament that people's 658 00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:51,240 giving was collected at church. Actually in First Corinthians 659 00:44:51,240 --> 00:44:54,320 16, one it says now concerning the collection for the Saints, 660 00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:56,800 as I directed the churches of Galatia. 661 00:44:57,320 --> 00:45:01,400 So you also are to do on the first day of every week. 662 00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:04,320 Each of you is to put something aside and stored up as he may 663 00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:08,040 prosper so that there will be no collecting when I come. 664 00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:12,000 He's talking about Sunday, you know, So giving on Sunday is a 665 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:18,840 good thing and it does keep the lights on and pay pastors 666 00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:22,640 salaries and go towards benevolence funds and help with 667 00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:27,280 rent and and missions, global missions around the world. 668 00:45:27,280 --> 00:45:34,080 Taking care of people not just locally but globally and giving 669 00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:38,040 to the church helps the message get to the spiritually poor. 670 00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:43,160 When we're giving, like I said before, we're being like God, 671 00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:49,720 sacrificial and merciful. 2nd Corinthians 8-9 For you know the 672 00:45:49,720 --> 00:45:53,120 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for 673 00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:57,920 your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might 674 00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:02,720 become rich. Jesus, God who was in heaven, 675 00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:08,800 had everything in his possession, decided to empty 676 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:13,240 himself, as Philippians says, come down, be born like a baby 677 00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:17,640 in a Manger in the middle of nowhere, where he got no praise 678 00:46:19,400 --> 00:46:22,440 other than by the angels and the shepherds. 679 00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:27,000 That's what that's talking about. 680 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:30,800 He made himself poor all the way to be the enemy of the state and 681 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:35,640 crucified on the cross so that you could be spiritually rich. 682 00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:40,480 We're spiritually poor in our sin, but now we have the 683 00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:43,880 abundance of blessing and grace and faith in Jesus Christ. 684 00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:47,880 So here's what I'll say. I'll end with these practical 685 00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:49,760 things. Give sacrificially. 686 00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:57,440 Give and forget what you gave. Don't have buyer's remorse when 687 00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:01,000 you give. I've heard people say I've been 688 00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:04,400 giving, you know, to the mission of God for a long time and I 689 00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:07,600 have never missed one single dollar, one single cent. 690 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:14,520 And I hope that that's true. Give regularly, not 691 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:19,280 sporadically. Again, we're trying to be with 692 00:47:19,280 --> 00:47:22,800 the heart of Christ in this, that it's a regular act as 693 00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:26,320 Scripture says. Now, it doesn't have to be every 694 00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:27,800 week. It can be, you know, once a 695 00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:32,880 month or whatever it is, but a regular, a regularity to it, as 696 00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:38,440 Scripture says, make a high priority on your budget, as you 697 00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:42,600 would with other things that are very high on your priority list 698 00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:46,600 in your life. And don't brag about your 699 00:47:46,600 --> 00:47:49,400 giving. Yes, write your name on the 700 00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:55,640 envelope so that you can get tax deductions, but you just don't 701 00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:58,920 need to brag about it, even to yourself. 702 00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:04,880 And then there's this idea of this tie. 703 00:48:04,880 --> 00:48:10,240 The word means 10 tenth or 10%, and I personally believe that 704 00:48:10,240 --> 00:48:15,720 you can make a case for it in Scripture that 10% is not a 705 00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:21,680 religious have to, but it is a a goal and it is biblical is what 706 00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:24,960 I'd say. So I would make that a goal one 707 00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:26,440 day. If you can't get there, start 708 00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:29,000 with a few percent, which would make you regular. 709 00:48:29,000 --> 00:48:30,600 At least you're putting it in your budget. 710 00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:34,680 But Matthew 2323 when he talks to the scribes and Pharisees 711 00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:38,720 again calls them hypocrites, says woe to you scribes and 712 00:48:38,720 --> 00:48:42,400 Pharisees hypocrites. You tithe mint and deal and 713 00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:45,240 cumin and have been neglected the way to your matters of the 714 00:48:45,240 --> 00:48:47,880 law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. 715 00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:51,360 These you ought to have done without neglecting the others. 716 00:48:51,360 --> 00:48:54,400 So right there Jesus says, these you ought to have done. 717 00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:58,120 If Jesus says you ought to do something, then I'm, I should 718 00:48:58,120 --> 00:49:01,560 probably desire to do it as a Christian. 719 00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:07,560 But again, they were doing it neglecting the real more 720 00:49:07,560 --> 00:49:10,560 weightier matters of the faith. Giving isn't, you know, some 721 00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:13,440 religions, Again, these workspace religions, they're 722 00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:16,360 keeping track of what you give. They're saying you're not worthy 723 00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:19,640 to go to the temple if you don't have your tithe up. 724 00:49:20,640 --> 00:49:24,320 I mean, you may not. And then that makes it so you 725 00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:27,800 can't to go to what they believe their highest level of heaven. 726 00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:30,520 I mean, we're talking about hypocrisy here and false 727 00:49:30,520 --> 00:49:32,720 teaching. Be aware of that. 728 00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:37,880 You could never give a dime. God doesn't need your money. 729 00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:41,800 God doesn't need my money. He owns everything and He's 730 00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:45,040 going to provide and make his plans happen no matter what. 731 00:49:45,240 --> 00:49:48,080 He doesn't need it. It's an act of worship from us. 732 00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:53,640 2nd Corinthians 9 says each one must give as he's decided in a 733 00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:56,440 in his heart. Again, it comes from a matter of 734 00:49:56,440 --> 00:50:01,840 the heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a 735 00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:05,640 cheerful giver. So start making some goals to 736 00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:10,160 grow in your faith with the Lord in some of these practical 737 00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:14,080 things and we'll get into prayer and and other things. 738 00:50:14,080 --> 00:50:17,720 But make sure that all the religious and think practicing 739 00:50:17,720 --> 00:50:23,440 of our faith that we do do is that we give it to the glory of 740 00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:28,840 God and not ourselves. The glory of God is the number 741 00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:32,320 one purpose of every believer's life. 742 00:50:33,160 --> 00:50:38,480 Let's pray. Father, thank you for your 743 00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:41,440 generosity to us. Thank you for providing for us. 744 00:50:41,440 --> 00:50:43,880 Thank you for our careers. Thank you for our homes. 745 00:50:43,880 --> 00:50:47,040 Thank you for the cars that got us here, the clothes that we 746 00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:49,160 have on our back, the food that we get to eat. 747 00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:54,160 And often times we forget because of the work that and the 748 00:50:54,160 --> 00:50:58,080 stress and the toil that we do out there, that it's ultimately 749 00:50:58,080 --> 00:51:02,960 you that provides that possibility in the first place. 750 00:51:03,960 --> 00:51:07,680 Father, forgive us for our hypocrisy and religion and a 751 00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:10,680 wrong heart. Lord, you know that we are 752 00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:15,760 battling this, our old nature versus this new nature that you 753 00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:17,680 gave us. But thank you, Father, that You 754 00:51:17,680 --> 00:51:22,720 are so gracious and kind that we are righteous before You without 755 00:51:22,720 --> 00:51:28,960 a single work by faith alone. Now You deserve us to worship 756 00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:33,040 you in every way you've made possible and made clear in Your 757 00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:35,000 Word. So help us to worship you, 758 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:36,760 because we cannot do it on our own. 759 00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:39,000 And we ask these things in Jesus name, Amen. 760 00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:41,960 Amen. Would you stand and sing in 761 00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:43,040 response with us?