In the first 18 verses of the sixth chapter, He emphasizes outward formal righteousness and gives us three illustrations of typical religious activities: giving, praying and fasting. In the last half of chapter five (verses 21-48), He emphasizes inner moral righteousness, providing us six specific illustrations of murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, revenge, and love. If you study Jesus’ entire sermon, you will see the progression of His message. It is important, however, to examine the motives behind why you made your giving known to others. It is not as important whether others know about your giving. Jesus is saying that if your motive for giving is to draw attention to yourself, then you are trading an eternal reward for a temporal one. In other words, we do not want to give because of what we might get from it-like others thinking more highly of us or paying us compliments, or to receive some special treatment because of our giving. He says that we should never do our giving in order to be seen by, and subsequently, to be praised by others. Jesus is really making a point here about our motives for giving. We can draw three very important lessons about giving from Jesus’ sermon. We must not ignore the rest of what Jesus says. It is good to remember that chapters 5-7 of Matthew are one sermon. In fact, we will have missed Jesus’ point entirely if that is what we conclude. Is this what Jesus is teaching? Not at all. I once heard a man tell an audience that by sharing his giving story with them, he would now be losing his reward. What Jesus is teaching here has led many believers to conclude that unless your giving is entirely anonymous, you will receive no reward from the Lord for your gifts. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 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. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 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. Here is what He actually says: 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. One of the most misunderstood passages in the Bible is found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount when He discusses giving.
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