By Brother R. Michel Lankford
““Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:1–4, NKJV)
Previous Command Reminders:
#10-Give to him who wants to borrow from you do not turn them away (Matthew 5:42.
#11 - But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, Matthew 5:44) . Technically these commands are all lumped together, but to be precise they are actually four separate imperatives which define for us what actions we are to take towards our enemies, if in fact we love them. That's why you are cataloging Messiah's commands can be a little tricky because not everyone agrees on precisely where one can separate from another many of them overlap one another. The key point however is not the number that one assigns to a particular command of Messiah (says the numbers are really there to keep them in the right order on a computer hard disk.. The key objective is to make sure that all of Messiah's commands are well covered in some orderly fashion 30
#12-Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48 NKJV)
Specific commands in today's passage
#13 - Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them (Matthew 6:1)#14 - So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you... (Matthew 6:2)
#15 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing… (Matthew 6:3)
Messiah just finished uttering basically the first 12 commands that He gave in the New Testament before we ever reach this point of even talking about giving anything in Matthew 6. The commands and their explanations used a mere 50 verses of Scripture. Chiefly Matthew 4:17, Matthew 4:19 and the other 10 commands and explanations were found within the 48 verses of Matthew chapter 5.
Remember that in all those 50 verses Christ never really focused on any outward act of religious worship, service or ministry yet. Remember that Christ's first 12 commands in the New Testament were all about making sure that we really have, and then correctly maintain a right mindset, a right heart attitude, a genuinely right relationship with God, and then maintaining authentically right relationships with other people in our lives.
The reality is that God does not even accept our outward acts of worship unless our relationships with God and other people are in good order first. So, before we go to church, before we give an offering, before we contribute our time in service in ministry, before we offer our talents, time and treasure, we must always make sure that our relationships with God and others are first in good standing. Only after this is done, will our offerings and services be accepted by God.
Please make no mistake, this has always been and will always be God's primary concern. It is a principle as old as Genesis 4:1-8. Messiah reaffirmed it in Matthew 5:23-24 and spent the better part of the 50 surrounding verses just to make certain that we would not neglect this all-important point. Only after making sure that we are maintaining right relationships with God and others, can we then bring an offering acceptable to God, which Jesus begins discussing in today's focal passage.
The Guiding Principles behind These Commandments
After spending 50 verses making sure that our hearts, our mindsets and our relationships with God and others are in good order, Messiah continues in the same vein even when He finally does reach the point of speaking about bringing offerings and gifts before God. The first admonition about our giving, deals not so much with the gift itself, but rather with making sure that we maintain the right attitude, motives and frame of mind as we are bringing our gift before God."Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven (Matthew6:1).
Did you catch the word "beware" in Matthew 6:1? The word is an active imperative. That's an important six letter word, because it instantly turns our little verse into a command; an imperative from the Son of the Living God. The Greek word used in the New Testament is used 24 times and all basically with the same intent. The word basically means to give intentional special focus and attention to something.
Principle 1: "Beware" is our responsibility not God's
This is a critical principle, not only with this particular command, but also with a great many of the commandments that are found throughout the Word of God. The principle is this. A genuine relationship with God is exactly that, it's a relationship. Like all solid relationships there is a division of responsibilities, meaning that each person involved in the relationship has certain things they are responsible for doing or maintaining if the relationship is to continue thriving. For any successful relationship to work, each person involved must contribute and be personally engaged in providing something into the relationship. Otherwise the relationship or the unity of the two individuals will suffer some sort of lack.
In the case of our relationship with God, the Lord probably provides no less than 99.9% of whatever the relationship requires, but we still must contribute something to the unity of our relationship with the Lord. What do we contribute? We contribute our growing faith by trusting what God says. We contribute our growing love for God and His principles, and we contribute our obedience to what God commands. The great news is that God will even help us to do our part, but He will not do it all for us, because He wants us to have a share in the relationship with Him.
This is where many Christians miss the boat. That is to say that often times we fall into the trap of trying to help God do His part, all the while neglecting what is legitimately supposed to be our part in the relationship.
Here is a hint: God Almighty has never ever failed, but has always faithfully fulfilled every single promise He has ever made. At the same time, the vast majority of promises in the word of God usually have some condition attached that requires some kind of obedience on our part. This means that with almost every promise in God's word, there are things that we as believers must do to receive the promise with its desired benefits. This further means that if I am not experiencing some promise in God's word that I wish I was enjoying, it's my fault. That's because somewhere I have failed to meet the conditions that God has already set in order for me to receive or participate in the wonderful promise. I cannot do God's part for Him, and out of love for me and concern for my growth, God will help, but He will NOT do my part for me.
In the case of Matthew 6:1-4 the unstated yet all-important goal is to bring an offering, or to do a work of righteousness before God that God will accept and honor, is it not? In the case of our focal passage, what commands or conditions does Messiah declare must be fulfilled in order for our works of righteousness and our offerings to be accepted by God the Father? According to our focal passage we've just read, we must bring our offering with the motive of pleasing God and receiving His approval, not the approval and honors from other human beings, isn't that right? Here is a pop quiz. Are you ready? Here goes. In Matthew 6:1, what is the command?
According to God's word, whose responsibility is it to "beware;" to make sure to give intentional special focus and attention so that my motives and the way I bring my works and offerings to God will be accepted by God? Whose responsibility is that in our relationship with God? If for some reason my works of righteousness or my offerings of time talent and treasures end up not being accepted by God in heaven, then whose fault will that have been?
Principle 2: When you give to the Lord, everything counts.
Have you ever wondered why some ministry or outreach projects don't always seem to have the life changing or community changing impact that we wish they had? It's easy to blame Satan, or the fallen sinful condition of the world we live in, but in reality we as believers have more to do with how effective Christian ministry is in our world then does the sinful world. Some things in our relationship with God are God's responsibilities, other things fall squarely on our shoulders as responsibilities. That's what makes it relationship.
First, checking and maintaining our relationships is our job as believers. Is our relationship and unity with God and Jesus Christ truly in good order (Psalm 133; John 17:17-23)?
Second, are my fellowship and the unity with other believers truly in good order? Are my other human relationships in good standing? Have I done my best to maintain or repair those relationships that are not? People’s ability to believe Jesus Christ, and by extension their ability to be saved actually depends on Christians maintaining good relationships with God and each other (John 17:17-23)
Third, whenever I bring my gifts or ministries of time, talent or treasure am I doing it with motives and methods that will bring me the acceptance of God or the approval of other human beings?
If we do not learn to get these three things right in the church, then God will not accept our offerings, and our ministries in the world done in Christ's name will be much less effective.
When we give or do a service for the Lord the motives with which we give, the means and the methods that we use; they all matter. Every bit of it has a part to play in whether God will accept it, or He will not. Whether or not we are united with God, with Christ and with each other will play a major role in how effective our ministries and outreaches really are. When we give anything, let us give for God sake.
Practical Obedience
Here are some practical ways that we can obey this command from our Lord Jesus Christ.• Before you bring an offering to God of ministry, of time, of talent or of your treasure, make sure that your friendship with God is really in good order first. Make sure that you confess any sins and they are covered under Christ's blood. Make sure that your love, your trust and your obedience to God and Jesus Christ are in good order before you bring your gift.
• Make sure that your relationships with others are in good standing. Are you on good terms with members of your household? Are you on good terms with other brothers and sisters in Christ? Are you on good terms with other long-standing relationships (i.e. folks at work and so forth?
• Check your motives. Checking our motives and making sure that we bring our gifts to God correctly is our responsibility Am I bringing this gift or doing this ministry to be noticed by other people? Am I really doing it with the motive and in such a way that it will really please God? I warn you again as I have before, that if our relationship with God and other people are not in good order, God does not even accept our offerings, and our ministries and outreaches will not achieve eternally effective results.
Closing Prayer
Almighty Yahweh EL SHADDAI; Lord Yeshua Messiah; Lord Holy Spirit, You are good in Your mercy endures forever. Have mercy upon me. Save me according to your unfailing love. In Your merciful goodness, You have always provided us Your best.
Every good and perfect gift comes from above. When we were lost and hopeless, so full of wickedness as to be considered Your enemies, even then in Your enormous goodness, You did not withhold Your very best from us. Instead You graciously provided Your best gift; Your Precious Blessed One and Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ Yeshua, Who in turn provided His very best; providing His very life death and resurrection to rescue and ransom me from sin, death and hell. Thank You for Your great mercy and sacrifice. Thank You for keeping me in Your saving Grace.
Father God, I am repeatedly embarrassed by how often I need Your forgiveness and mercy. As I look back at all of the offerings of the time, talent, treasure and ministries that You have provided for me to give back to You, I am embarrassed to say that I have not always successfully followed Your example. I have not always been as thoughtful, careful and deliberate as I should have been when bringing gifts to One so worthy. I was not always as careful to "beware." I was not always careful to make certain that my attitudes and my heart and my motives were right with You.
On some occasions I have cared too much about what others have thought, and not enough about living a life, and bringing gifts that would please and delight You. Other times I have not been careful enough to make sure that my relationships were in good order before doing a mission or bringing a gift before the Lord. Please forgive me completely. Mercifully wash my every motive, every desire, every thought, every word, every choice and my every action in the sacrificial blood of Your Son Yeshua the Messiah.
Help me to earnestly repent. From now on help me to keep Your priorities as my priorities. Help me to live a life that brings true joy and delight to Your heart. Before I bring any gift of ministry, of time, of talent, or treasure before You, help me do my part to always keep our relationship in good order first. Help me to remember to go do my best to maintain or restore the human relationships in my life, and that I will always present my best gift with motives and methods that will bring delight to Your heart, so that my offerings will always be pleasing and acceptable to You. Amen.
Brother R. Michel Lankford
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