Giving to the Needy
Matthew 6:1-4 (ESV):
1 “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.
3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. In December of 1996, The Los Angeles Times broke a news that caught the attention of our coun try. It was the sale of one of the world’s largest manufacturers of computer memory products for $1.5 billion dollars. The company was Kingston Technology Corporation, and 80 percent of its assets were owned by two men, David Suna and John Tu. What made the news remarkable was the decision of the two major owners to share their payout with their employees. Every employee received a bonus pay ment that averaged over $75,000 dollars. They explained their decision to share, saying:
“To share our success with everybody is the most joy we can have.”
Isn’t this a heart-warming story? We don’t see this unselfish act very often nowadays, let alone in big companies. Usually, many people want to take it all for themselves. It’s unfortunate that even God’s people can be so selfish as well. The truth is that this behavior should be unacceptable to us as Christians. Why? It is because all throughout the Scriptures, God did not just command His people to be unselfish and generous, He Himself is a very generous God. Let’s talk about it for some time. Here are direct commands for us to be generous:
Leviticus 25:35-37 (ESV):
35 “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.
36 Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. 37 You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. 2 Timothy 6:17-19 (ESV):
17As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the un certainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.
18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
Both passages plainly command God’s people to share their possessions with others freely. God’s people should never set their riches as their ultimate source of hope. Instead, they should always think of it as their means of storing up treasures in heaven.
But another very important truth is that God Himself demonstrated generosity when He gave His one and only Son to the world. The Bible declares:
John 3:16 (ESV):
16 “For God so loved the world,[a]that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life.
God, by nature, is a generous God. From His generosity, He gave us His great
est gift, His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. We don’t deserve Him, but God knew that He should not withhold His Son. Do you know why? It is because it is through Jesus Christ that He can give those people who believe in Him the greatest blessings in life, which include eternal life. One more passage:
Romans 8:32 (ESV):
32He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
God is generous, and we can experience this generosity to the fullest in Jesus Christ.
Now, with the studies we have been doing on the Sermon on the Mount, the big idea of being righteous is attached to the idea of imitating God. In other words, true righteousness will not only come from being pure in heart, but it will also come from imitating God. Listen to the very last verse in chapter 5, which we covered last Sunday, says:
48 You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
This statement clearly provides the transition from the previous text to the next verses in chapter 6. As you read verse 1, you read - “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in or der to be seen by them . . .” If you read this statement in the New International Version, the words “practicing your righteousness” are translated as “acts of righteousness.” What are they? You see, in our pursuit of God, there are certain actions or practices we must be willing to do to demonstrate that we are seriously living for God. Jesus will begin talking about them beginning in chapter 6:1-18. If you read these verses, there are three specific “acts of righteousness” that Jesus will talk about - giving, praying, and fasting. There’s no way, we can cover the three this morning, so we will only limit ourselves to the first one, which is giving. Do we see giving as a righteous act? How and why are we giving? Obvi ously, these are issues in giving that matter to God. Let’s examine our text and discover three significant reminders about giving:
I THE INJUNCTION IN GIVING (v.1-2)
As Jesus began the discussion on the “acts of righteousness,” He immediately gave an injunction or a command for us to be more careful. Verse 1 immediately opens with the word “Beware.” Literally, this word could be translated as “be careful” or “take heed.” Time and again, we read signs like “Beware of dogs” or “Beware of pickpockets.” Once you read these signs, they give you the warning to be careful because there’s the danger of being attacked by dogs or being taken advantage of by pickpockets. In the same way, we are being warned regarding the danger of performing the “acts of righteousness” in a hyp ocritical way.
When can we be guilty of giving hypocritically? Reading verse 2 will help define it for us - “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 re ward.”
If you are wondering what is the meaning of “sounding the trumpet” when giving, Bible scholars suggest that during the time of Jesus Christ, there were some rich religious people who hired trumpeters to call the attention of the poor when they gave donations to them. Jesus exposed their practice as hy pocrisy because they were not actually calling the poor people to come; they were calling the attention of people to praise them for their good deeds. Can we be guilty of doing the same thing?
Before we go further, let’s try to examine the word “Hypocrite” that Jesus
used in verse 2. The Greek word used refers to an actor or a stage performer. During those times, the actor is someone who wears a mask on the stage, portraying a char acter, but in reality, it’s all a show. The performer pretends to be someone that he or
she is not. It is simply a performance designed to impress those who are watching. So, here, the Lord warns us that we need to be careful to practice giving to
simply impress the people around us and look good. This practice is dangerous because although we can definitely impress the people around us, we can never deceive God. He hates hypocrisy. Here’s a passage in Isaiah that drives across this essential truth:
Isaiah 1:13-15 (ESV):
13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assem bly.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
15When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
In this passage in Isaiah, God conveyed His frustration to His people because they were doing many religious activities while they continued to live in sin. The reality is that everything they did was empty because they did them hypocritically. John R. W. Stott, in his teachings on the Sermon on the Mount, gave this warning about hypocrisy:
“Hypocrisy is hideous. What cancer is to the body, hypocrisy is to the church. It is a killing agent. Unfortunately, hypocrisy is also addictive. And even though Jesus reserved His most severe words of condemnation for the hypocrite, we still seem to prefer that lifestyle than to truth and authen ticity.”
I pray that we will heed this very warning given by the Lord here regarding hypocrisy. Examine now your life and see if this is present in us. Let’s be quick to address it because it presents great danger to our relationship with God.
II THE INTENTION IN GIVING (vs. 3)
In addition to the idea of not sounding the trumpet when we give, the Lord Jesus even went fur ther in verse 3 to the idea of giving in secret. These words may sound absurd to you - “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” You see, since most people are right-handed, the right hand will be the normal hand used in giving. But is it possible for the left hand not to know when the right hand is giving? Of course not. However, to emphasize the truth that we should always try our best to give in secret and not try to get special attention, Jesus uses this hyperbole.
It is quite evident that the main emphasis of Jesus is not on the question of whether we should give. But it is our motivation when we give. Do we give so that people around us will be impressed with our righteousness or goodness? Or we give because we want to honor the Lord in sharing our blessings. It is interesting to note that giving in the Book of Acts has not always been anonymous. Take this for ex ample:
Acts 4:34-37 (ESV):
34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold
35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,
37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
This passage talks about how the pioneer members of the church of Jerusalem chose to sell their lands to help the needs of the church in providing board and lodging to the thousands and thousands of new converts who came to know the Lord during the day of Pentecost. With their newfound faith, they decided to stay longer in Jerusalem to listen to more teachings from the apostles. However, it became impossible for the church to finance their stay, so there were people who stepped in, sold their proper ties, and then turned over the sale to the apostles. One of them is Joseph, who earned the name Barna bas, meaning son of encouragement. It was known before the church of his unselfish giving.
In contrast, we move to Acts 5:1-11, where we find the account of Ananias and Sapphira. Let’s read a portion of the passage to get the gist of what happened:
1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,
2and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.
3But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
4While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your dis posal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”
5When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.
The story about Ananias and Sapphira also selling their property and pretending that they gave the apostles the entire amount of the sale when, in fact, they kept some of the money to themselves. After Peter confronted them for their lies, both of them were struck dead by the Lord because of their hypocrisy.
What’s the point of these two stories? You see, even if the giving is not done in secret, what is important to God is the intention or the motive why we are giving. The same is true even today. In our church, we have many opportunities to give. I know our passage speaks of giving to the poor. But the same principle is applicable to our tithing and other giving to support our different ministries. We, as a church, are able to help out and do ministry to people because of the generous giving of our people. We have to faithfully examine our motives why we are giving. The Lord did not miss in helping us recognize that there are certain attitudes He wants to see from us whenever we give. Paul noted them in 2 Corin thians 9:6-8:
6The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully
[a] will also reap bountifully.
7Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compul sion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency[b]in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
When you read these verses, don’t miss the keywords in every verse:
♦ v. 6 - “Bountifully” - Our giving must always be bountiful or generous because God gives back to us in the same way we gave to Him. So, let’s give generously.
♦ v. 7 - “Cheerfully” - Our giving should not come from a heavy heart. We should be glad for the privi lege that God is giving us to partner with Him in His great work. So, let’s give cheerfully.
♦ V. 8 - “Sufficiency” - Our giving becomes the channel for God’s grace to abound in our lives. We must trust the Lord, who promises that He will provide everything that we need. He will always be more than sufficient for our needs! So, let’s give in great faith.
Are we faithful in our giving today? Again, when we give, we must always examine our motives and make sure we give to honor the Lord and not ourselves. One more story before we move to the last point - In one of the magazines for pastors, there is this story about Charles Spurgeon and his wife. It has been said that they sold the eggs their chickens laid and refused to give them away, even to close rela tives and friends. They always told people, "You may have them if you pay for them." As a result, there were some people who labeled the Spurgeons greedy and selfish.
They accepted the criticisms without defending themselves, and only after Mrs. Spurgeon died was the full story revealed. All the profits from the sale of eggs went to support two elderly widows. Be cause the Spurgeons were unwilling to let their left hand know what the right hand was doing (Matt. 6:3), they endured the attacks in silence. I love the story because it reminds us that in our giving, our rep utation before God is always more important than our reputation before the people around us.
III THE INCENTIVE IN GIVING (vs.2-4)
If you go back to verse 2, you will read these words - “Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” Then you compare them with verse 4, which reads - “so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
You see, both the hypocrite giver and the faithful giver will receive their rewards. The main differ ence is where the reward will come from. For the hypocrite givers, their reward will come from the ap plause of men. Kent Hughes, a Greek New Testament scholar, points out that the word in verse 2 for “reward” is a technical term for commercial transactions, and it literally means “to receive a sum in full and give a receipt for it.” In other words, after the business transaction, after you rendered services, you were paid in full. And so, you have nothing more to expect; you have nothing to look forward to. What is sad is that whatever praise they will get from men that will be their only reward.
But then, the second reward is far more exciting because it will come from our Father, who has seen everything that we have done for Him. This promise is a real incentive for our giving. Why? I believe that God’s rewards are always far more special because they are so much richer, satisfying, and long lasting.
Think about the praises of men. All the medals, plaques, and trophies will one day end up in the garbage bin or they will be corrupted. But God’s rewards will always be the best rewards because they
are something we can look forward to, and they will have an eternal impact. So, which of these rewards would you rather have? Would you settle for the applause of men or the approval of God?
Here are the words about Christ’s second coming:
Revelations 22:12-13 (ESV):
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
When Jesus returns, He promises that He will properly reward those who did everything to honor Him. I hope and pray that we will not be weary of living for Him and will continually look forward to that great day when we will stand before the judge and be rewarded for everything we have done!
Let me end with this quote from Dr. Albert Mohler during an interview with Kirk Cameron regard ing the Culture Shift Shaking America and the Church’s Role:
“Many Christians will take the immediate feedback of the world’s applause at the cost of Christian faithfulness.”
Let’s all be vigilant to guard ourselves from this tragic trend of sacrificing our faithfulness to Christ because of the world’s applause.