Post by Cindy on Sept 6, 2015 9:02:17 GMT -5
I noticed something in Matthew 6:1 that I hadn't noticed before and it really clears up some things that we often take the wrong way. This is part of the Sermon on the Mount. Let me quote the first 4 verses for us. ““Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1–4) We often take these verses to mean that we're to do everything literally secretly, and not let others know anything about it. The next example the Lord gives is about prayer, so some folks actually think we're not supposed to pray except in secret. But this is wrong, both about giving, and praying, and about acts of righteousness. Jesus isn't saying that it must be secret in order to do it the way the Father wants us to. If He was, then the Bible would be contradicting itself!
To show you what I mean about contradicting Himself, just a bit earlier Jesus had said, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) I'm sure now we can all think of many other scriptures that say something similar, as well as the many scriptures through out the old and new testament that tell us who did "deeds of righteousness" such as donating to the temple, and even how much. We're even told in Acts 4:36–37 about Joseph who sold a field and gave the money to the apostles for the early church. Jesus praised the widow who gave two small coins publicly, (Luke 21:1–4) and did not suggest it was wrong in any way for her to have done so. So what is it that Jesus is trying to teach us here? The part of Matthew 6:1 that should be stressed is "to be seen by them". It's once again about the attitude of our hearts! There's nothing at all wrong with doing good deeds, giving or praying in front of other people, or of others knowing about what we're doing. What's wrong is when we are doing any of those things in order to get the recognition of other people.
There's actually another thing that's wrong though, and that's when we refuse to do any of these things so that others can see. People do that, as I've said, thinking they're doing what Jesus said, but they're not. Instead, what they're doing is denying others the opportunity to see their good works and glorify God, and they're not encouraging others to give, or do good deeds or pray etc, but not showing them how they do it. Speaking of which, they're also not showing new Christians how to do those things. They're not showing others what it looks like to follow Jesus. If it hadn't been for the godly people the Lord put in my path when I was first saved, I would have never learned how to pray aloud, and in fact, would have forever been stuck praying prayers that had been written by others instead of just praying what was in my heart. We need models to show us things like this! Desperately!
We most certainly should not brag about the things we've done, for that's doing things "to be seen by them". But when we see a need, then we should give, we should pray, regardless of where we are or who's watching. We're not to make a big production out of it, but we're to do it humbly in order to give glory to God, and to help others, not to bring glory to ourselves. Another example I've seen are people who refused to post on prayer requests and let folks know they were praying because they thought that would be going against what Jesus said here. That's just so wrong, and it broke my heart, because those people were denying encouragement to the ones who'd posted the prayer requests. How would you feel if you told a brother or sister of a desperate need and they said nothing at all in reply? That's exactly what happens when we don't bother to let people know we will pray for them. On the other hand, we most certainly should not say we will pray if we aren't going to either. I love this verse in the OT as I think it shows this principal: “The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly.” (1 Chronicles 29:9)
I know that response well, and I'm sure some of you do as well. I'll never forget the times the Lord allowed me to be part of the giving here at Fresh Hope when people came together first to pray and then to give to another member in need and amazing amounts of money were given! I was so amazed each time this happened, that I cried with joy to be a part of this wonderful Body of Christ! It most definitely glorified God and none of us! It glorified Him because it showed the love He'd placed in our hearts was bearing fruit and was doing just exactly what He intended it to do. We could sure use a lot more of that in our world right now! And if we adults don't show others how to pray, how to give, and to do good deeds, then how are the children ever going to learn? They don't learn from our words anywhere near as much as they do from our actions.
To show you what I mean about contradicting Himself, just a bit earlier Jesus had said, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) I'm sure now we can all think of many other scriptures that say something similar, as well as the many scriptures through out the old and new testament that tell us who did "deeds of righteousness" such as donating to the temple, and even how much. We're even told in Acts 4:36–37 about Joseph who sold a field and gave the money to the apostles for the early church. Jesus praised the widow who gave two small coins publicly, (Luke 21:1–4) and did not suggest it was wrong in any way for her to have done so. So what is it that Jesus is trying to teach us here? The part of Matthew 6:1 that should be stressed is "to be seen by them". It's once again about the attitude of our hearts! There's nothing at all wrong with doing good deeds, giving or praying in front of other people, or of others knowing about what we're doing. What's wrong is when we are doing any of those things in order to get the recognition of other people.
There's actually another thing that's wrong though, and that's when we refuse to do any of these things so that others can see. People do that, as I've said, thinking they're doing what Jesus said, but they're not. Instead, what they're doing is denying others the opportunity to see their good works and glorify God, and they're not encouraging others to give, or do good deeds or pray etc, but not showing them how they do it. Speaking of which, they're also not showing new Christians how to do those things. They're not showing others what it looks like to follow Jesus. If it hadn't been for the godly people the Lord put in my path when I was first saved, I would have never learned how to pray aloud, and in fact, would have forever been stuck praying prayers that had been written by others instead of just praying what was in my heart. We need models to show us things like this! Desperately!
We most certainly should not brag about the things we've done, for that's doing things "to be seen by them". But when we see a need, then we should give, we should pray, regardless of where we are or who's watching. We're not to make a big production out of it, but we're to do it humbly in order to give glory to God, and to help others, not to bring glory to ourselves. Another example I've seen are people who refused to post on prayer requests and let folks know they were praying because they thought that would be going against what Jesus said here. That's just so wrong, and it broke my heart, because those people were denying encouragement to the ones who'd posted the prayer requests. How would you feel if you told a brother or sister of a desperate need and they said nothing at all in reply? That's exactly what happens when we don't bother to let people know we will pray for them. On the other hand, we most certainly should not say we will pray if we aren't going to either. I love this verse in the OT as I think it shows this principal: “The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly.” (1 Chronicles 29:9)
I know that response well, and I'm sure some of you do as well. I'll never forget the times the Lord allowed me to be part of the giving here at Fresh Hope when people came together first to pray and then to give to another member in need and amazing amounts of money were given! I was so amazed each time this happened, that I cried with joy to be a part of this wonderful Body of Christ! It most definitely glorified God and none of us! It glorified Him because it showed the love He'd placed in our hearts was bearing fruit and was doing just exactly what He intended it to do. We could sure use a lot more of that in our world right now! And if we adults don't show others how to pray, how to give, and to do good deeds, then how are the children ever going to learn? They don't learn from our words anywhere near as much as they do from our actions.
!!
