The Heart of Good Works Pt 1

We thank you, Lord, that you're in control and we can trust you in every area of our life. We give you praise, Lord. Keeper of the stars, would y'all stand? Lord of time and space,

of my God who came to save. Thank you for the cross.

Lover of our hearts, Lord. Friend of sinful man. Holy, mighty God, we thank you for that.

Father, you know each of our hearts this morning, what we're bringing to the church this morning as we're sitting amongst one another. We would ask, Lord, by your Holy Spirit, that you would cause us to be real before you, cause us to trust you, look to you,

struggle with even really thinking clearly with all that's going on around us, Lord. But by faith, we come to you this morning asking that you would strengthen us with your heart. Help us in that area. Because our flesh is a mess. We know we fight against, not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities in the air. Lord, our flesh is the world system

that we face every day. But you are able.

The shadow of the sky.

Jesus, fill. Let us sing with unrestrained. Let's take this fear to Jesus. We worship you, expressing to you your worthiness.

Splendor. He is our God.

Praise your word, Jesus. We thank you. You are great. You're awesome. You're a holy God. You express it, Lord, in the cross, in your resurrection. And we give you praise. In Jesus' name. Again, bless Ryan and anoint him by the power of your Holy Spirit to bring forth your word this morning. In Jesus' name. Let's have a little fellowship, guys.

Glad you can be with us this morning. If you would, go ahead and locate your seat.

Grab a bulletin. We'll go over a few announcements. As always, the things on the left-hand side are all happening as usual this week. Over in the center section of your bulletin, some things to remember. First of all, our potluck is after second service today, so join us for that. Marriage and family study will be tonight. They've had to switch their weeks this month,

so marriage and family will be the first and third weeks this month. And so that means that usually the first Sunday of the month is our intercessory prayer night. That will be the first Sunday of the month. That will be next week. So those are the things that are going on. Also, a reminder that Operation Christmas Child boxes are due back next Sunday. Remember that one time when Ross was like,

hey, Sunday the 14th of November is going to come really fast, and in the back of your mind you were like, no, it's not. Well, it did, okay, because it's next week. And with that being said, Ross has something he needs to share with us.

Good morning, everybody. Yesterday, I drove all the way from Wichita to Arkansas. I drove all the way to Ark City to finish wiring the little house across the street. I got down here, and my wife called and said, what did you go to Ark City for? Well, to wire the house next door. I said, why didn't you take your switches and outlets? You left them in the garage.

The point being, she wrote everything down I needed to say today so I wouldn't forget.

Thanks, hon. She keeps me on track here. Nick. Ryan already said it. You know what next Sunday is, right? Last day. It's the final stop. Next Sunday is the collection day when all these boxes over here are going to take off and head to the collection centers, okay? So for us procrastinators, it's the end of the line. So for those of us who are still putting together shoeboxes,

what is the most important thing you can pack in a shoebox? Prayer. Okay, that's exactly right. What is the one thing, you should not pack in a shoebox?

We'll take that out. Right? At the center. What's the most important thing not to pack in a shoebox? Air. They have air where it's going, right? They don't need any air, right? So let's fill them up if you're still working on getting it put together. And please pray for the box before we send them and pray for the boxes next week. And most of all, let's pray for Operation Christmas.

Because trucking, transportation is, well, as Franklin Graham has said, that's now becoming their most precious thing that is going to choke the supply of these boxes, is transportation. So if you don't have the $9 to put in the box for shipping, for those of us who just are packing them and you forget the $9, don't worry about that. That'll get taken care of. Some way that'll get covered.

So by all means, let's make sure we have them in here next Sunday because next Sunday these boxes are all going to hit the road. So I think I covered everything. She'll let me know. Thanks, honey. Thanks, everybody.

Thanks, sir. My youngest daughter hasn't learned to be a procrastinator yet. So for the past two weeks, she said, Dad, we need to pack a box. And I keep telling her, Nora, we have time. I'm going to train her to be one eventually. She's going to become a procrastinator and she's going to be really good at it. Doggone it. So for those of us that have made it,

we're going to learn an art out of this next Saturday. That's our day, right? All of us will be at the Dollar Tree together packing these boxes. So I know because in years past, I've gone, hey, you're my people because I've seen other people from church there. So, okay, those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced.

And then for our responsive reading this morning, we're going to be in Psalm 67. Psalm 67 is always looking at the new American standard just so we know what's going on. We're going to be in Psalm 67. We're going to be in Psalm 67. We're going to be in Psalm 67. So we all say the same thing at the same time and then you can go back to reading the translation that you brought if it's different.

As you are turning to Psalm 67, if you will stand in the honor of the reading of God's word,

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even verses. Psalm 67. For the choir director with stringed instruments, a psalm, a song. God be gracious to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Say, Your way may be known on the earth, your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you will judge the peoples with uprightness and guide the nations on the earth. Say, Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let the peoples praise you. The earth has yielded its produce. God, our God, blesses us. God, our God, blesses us. God, blesses us that all the ends of the earth may fear him. And Father, we do thank you and praise you for who you are

and what you do for us, Lord, in this month that is set aside to give thanks. Lord, we do want to give thanks and praise you for who you are and how abundantly you provide for us. And so, Lord, continue to reveal yourself to us in new and amazing ways. And Father, I pray that as we spend time in your word this morning that you would strengthen us in you, that you would guide us in you, and that you would teach us exactly what it is that your Holy Spirit wants us to learn this morning.

In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 6.

Matthew, chapter 6. Today we move into a new section within the Sermon on the Mount. Still the Sermon on the Mount, but we move into a new section today. But before I tell you about this new section, let's recap, because we kind of took a week off from the Sermon on the Mount, so let's get our heads back together. And back in what Jesus has been talking to us about.

The Sermon on the Mount has been about the kingdom. And so the first thing he told us was about the heart of the kingdom. And within the heart of the kingdom, he gave us those beatitudes. Those beatitudes that taught us what a kingdom citizen should look like, think like, and act like. And so he gave us that heart of the kingdom. And then he moved on and started telling us

about salt, light, and the law. He said, you're the salt of the earth. The question is, what kind of salt will you be? Will you be the kind of salt that preserves life? Or will you be the kind of salt that destroys life? As a kingdom citizen, acting the way that a kingdom citizen is supposed to act, you should be the kind of salt that preserves life. And then he told us about light,

that we are the light of the world. The question is, what kind of light will you be? Jesus told us that we need to be the kind of light that when we shine, we glorify our Father who is in heaven. And then, of course, he segued into the next section by telling us about the law. He said, I didn't come to destroy the law. I came to fulfill the law. As a matter of fact, there's not even going to be

one smallest part of the law that won't be fulfilled by me. And then he went on to tell us, as a matter of fact, the law is so important that if your righteousness does not exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, that you can't make it into the kingdom of heaven. He then went on to describe what that looks like to have your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. Because for the Jewish mindset at this point in time, the scribes and the Pharisees were the standard for righteousness.

In an outward way, they probably were the standard for righteousness. The problem was their outward righteousness was not matched with a heart that was also righteous. And so he began to teach them about the heart of the law when it came to murder and adultery and divorce, taking of oaths, retaliation, and even loving our enemies. He told us what the heart of the law looked like, that it wasn't just the outward action that God was concerned with, though he is concerned with the outward action.

He's also concerned with the outward action. He's also concerned with the outward action. He's also concerned with the outward action. And so he's the heart behind the keeping of that outward action. Because though we can do everything right on the outside, we can still be guilty before God because it's still in our heart. And so now as we move on to this next section,

we look at the true heart of good works. And that's exactly what I've entitled this message is the heart of good works. And it's gonna be part one. I didn't put part one in your bulletin because I didn't know how far we'd make it, but we're not gonna make it all the way through. So we're just gonna look at part one this morning. And so we pick up. in chapter 6, verse 1, and this is what it says. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men

to be noticed by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets so that they may be honored by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know

what your right hand is doing so that your giving will be in secret and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Now, as we move into this section on the heart of good works, Jesus in verse 1 of chapter 6 is going to lay out for us the principle. The principle that he will then describe in three different ways. According to three, different good works or acts of righteousness that he will use. And so the first thing I want

to do is I want to spend some time looking at this principle that Jesus lays out in verse 1. The first word I took note of there was the word beware. Perhaps some of your translations say take heed, but the idea is there. The idea is that we pay attention to what's about to be said. Now, anytime in the Bible that we see the word beware or to take heed or to pay attention,

something should immediately happen to us. We should immediately begin to, I think you know what I'm going to say here, we should immediately begin to pay attention because this is going to indicate to us that there is a struggle that we have that we are not always aware of. And so Jesus has to make us aware of it. You ever noticed in your life that there's things that other people notice about you or that scripture points out and you didn't even realize you struggled with that? You didn't even realize

that was an issue until scripture pointed it out or God lovingly said, he uses a brother or sister to point that out to you and you go, I had no idea that's what I was doing. I had no idea that that was a struggle that I had in my life. And so when scripture says to beware, we should begin to search our hearts or better yet, ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts so that we can be aware of these issues in our lives. The issue that Jesus is going to bring up, which we'll talk about in just a minute, is this issue of practicing our righteous deeds to be seen by people.

And so he says, you need to beware, take heed or to pay attention. And we must beware of things that come up in scripture that are warnings for us. Then he begins to describe what we need to beware of. He says, beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Practicing your righteousness. The phrase there could actually be translated,

your good deeds or the good that you do. Now, as kingdom citizens, we should be doing good unto others. We should be doing good deeds. We should be practicing acts of righteousness because the redeemed soul will begin to reflect the life of a redeemed soul. I was having this conversation with my daughter the other day about what it looks like to be a Christian. Can you still be a Christian and do these things? What should you do when you're a

Christian? And I said, well, when you become born again, our lives should be continually walking away from the things that we do. And so he says, beware of practicing your righteousness before men to of sin and continually walking toward a life of good works. Not so that we can achieve some sort of merit in God's eyes, but because that's now who we are. That's now who we've become is an individual

who has been born again and redeemed in every aspect of our lives. And so our lives should be marked by good works. He said, but he still gives us this warning. Beware of the way that you practice your good works. He says, beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by your righteousness before men. Now, the first thing I want to tell you is what this is not.

This is not a prohibition of ever doing a good deed that can be seen by people. It's not. Sometimes there's things that we do that are good deeds, that are good works, that are acts of righteousness, that we cannot avoid the fact that people see those things. I had a young man when I taught Bible class a few years ago, we had these servanthood hours that we had to do. And I had a particular

student who tried to say this is why he shouldn't have to write down that he does servanthood hours is because he says, no, no, the Bible says not to practice your deeds before men to be seen by them. And I said, that's right. Don't tell anyone else that you did it. Just write it down on that piece of paper and turn it into me and it'll just be between us. He didn't like that answer.

It's not the prohibition of ever doing anything good for people because quite frankly, if I see that you have a need in your life, perhaps I come alongside you and you have a flat tire and I stop and help you change your flat tire. I can't be like, Oh, look over there, hurry up, change your tire to where you don't see it. And then say, Oh, nevermind. It wasn't paying attention. Nothing was actually over there. Sometimes people are going to see the good

deeds that you do, even in the things that are going to be brought up, giving, praying, and fasting. You can't always avoid that people take note of the fact that you do those things. And so when he says, beware of practicing your righteousness before men, he's not saying, you should never practice your righteousness in front of people because he uses this next qualifying statement. What he says next is, beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Well, now we have the heart of the warning.

The heart of the warning is this. Why do you do the things that you do? You see, Jesus very clearly indicates that you do the things that you do. You see, Jesus very clearly indicates that you do the things that you do. You see, Jesus very clearly indicates to us that we can do all of the right things for all of the wrong reasons. I've discovered a new form of idolatry that I see not

only sometimes in my own life, but I've observed it in the lives of other people as well, especially in the culture that we live in right now. And the idolatry that I have discovered is the idolatry of opinion. Because many of us at times can bow down to the opinions of others. Sometimes we do it in really big ways. Sometimes we do it in really big ways. Sometimes we do it in really big ways.

Sometimes the big ways that we do it is we actually change the way that we live our life based upon the way that others are going to think of us. And it keeps us from taking a stand for righteousness and it keeps us from doing certain things. But, you know, I think the other way that the idol of popular opinion or the idol of the opinions of others can take hold of our lives is that we begin doing things for the opinions of others, for the statements of others. And I believe that this form of idolatry is the way that we can do it. And I believe that this form of

idolatry has taken a very strong hold on our culture, particularly through the social media culture that we live in right now. Because right now you can do something really good for someone and you can post that on social media and you can get 365,000 likes and 255,000 comments on how wonderful that thing is that you did. And you can absolutely violate what Jesus says right here because you just did your good deed. For men to be seen by them. And it's because all of us in the world that we live in right now

can struggle with the idol of popular opinion. And we like to tell people the things that we've done. We like for people to take notice of the things that we've done. Forgetting the fact that to be a servant means to act like a servant, even when you're treated like a servant. Do you know what that means? It means that sometimes people won't notice what you did. And that's okay. As a matter of fact, sometimes people

will misjudge what you've done. And that's okay. Because you didn't do it for their opinion. You did it for God's opinion. You see, I find that I get the most upset about things when I'm serving. I get the most upset in ministry when I worry the most about what other people are going to say. When I worry the most about what other people are going to think. You see, when I do

that, when I have that worry in my heart, it keeps me, first of all, from serving wholeheartedly. It keeps me, it makes me, second of all, second guess everything that I do. And third, it makes me do everything from a selfish perspective and not from an other-centered, God-centered perspective. The idol of opinion. And so Jesus warns them. He warns them against this. And really what he's

doing is he's expounding upon that statement. He's going to expound upon that thought here. And so he gives us this principle. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. But take note of the result if you do this. This is still a part of the principle. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Now, this brings up a really interesting point to us.

You see, there are many people who I would call overly pious people who say, you should just do good for the sake of doing good. You should not be interested in rewards. Really? Have you read the Bible? Jesus talks a lot about rewards. Paul talked a lot about rewards. There are heavenly rewards that I'm seeking. I'm seeking those things that are above because

that's what Jesus tells us we're going to be honored for. Jesus tells us there will be rewards. Paul goes into talking about this. As a matter of fact, go with me two different places in Scripture. Look over there. Look over there. Look over there. Look over there. Look over there. Look over at the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 3, and I want you to look at verse 10.

1 Corinthians 3, verse 10. This is what it says. According to the grace of God, which was given to me like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man build, builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,

each man's work will become evident for the day will show it because it is revealed with fire. And the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work, which he has built on it remains, he will receive, take note of what it says, a reward. If any man's work is built up or is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved.

Yet so as through the work of God, which he has built on it, he will receive a reward. So Paul, as he's talking here, says we're fellow workers. All of us, including the apostles, were workers in the field, were builders that God had called to do the work of the ministry. But as you do the work of the ministry, there's two things that are really important. Number one,

that you build on the right foundation, which is Jesus Christ. And as you're building on that right foundation, you must build with the right kind of materials because you can either build with wood, hay, and stubble, or you can build with all of the fine materials. So Paul, as he's talking here, says, we're fellow workers. All of us, including the apostles, The wood, hay, and stubble means their works of the flesh.

The things that I have done to be honored and seen by men. The things that are the gold, the silver, the precious jewels. Those are the things that I have done simply for the glory of my Father. Those that are wood, hay, and stubble, the things I've done for the reward of men, those will just simply burn up. Why? Because Jesus will explain momentarily that if I do it for the reward of people and they tell me

how great I've done, and that's the only reason I did it, then the reward I get of, hey, really good job, appreciate what you did, and the 5,000 comments I got on Facebook or on Instagram, that's my only reward. And you know what happens to that reward in eternity? It burns up. But if I do my good works to be seen simply by my Father and to be rewarded by Him, then I'm building with gold and silver and precious stones. Therefore, when I stand before Him, I will

have not sought my reward here on earth, I will have an eternal reward. And that reward will be forever. One more place I want you to go to. Go over to 2 Corinthians, next book over to your right. And I want you to go to chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 9 and 10.

And it says this,

We'll all stand before God for the things that we've done. Not in a way of judgment, meaning do you get to go to heaven or do you get to go to hell? Well, that's sealed. You put your faith in Jesus Christ. This is the judgment seat where God gives out rewards and everything that we do will be tested. Why did you do what you do? Why did you live the life that you

lived? Why did you act the way that you did? Was it so that you could be seen by your Father in heaven and He can receive glory? Or was it so that I could receive glory and have everybody tell me how wonderful of a person that I am? I will stand before God based upon that. And so he says, we must pay attention because we will receive rewards and there's nothing wrong with that. You should seek heavenly

rewards. But the second thing that I want you to pay attention to is this, nothing in our lives is hidden from God. Because here's the great thing about God. God not only sees what we do, but He peels all of that back and He sees what was going on in our heart. As a matter of fact, we're told in the book of Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 13, you don't need to turn there, but it might be a good one to

write down over to the side, that He sees the secret things of your heart. He sees the secret things of your heart. That can either be the most encouraging verse you'll ever read or it can be one of the scarier verses you'll read. If you're living a life that is simply trying to seek the glory of God, trying to seek the things of the Father, and you're hitting a point where you're like, I'm trying to do all this good and it just seems like nobody ever notices any of the things that I do. Nobody ever notices

that I'm working extra hard. Nobody ever notices that I am living a godly life. I never hear about that. That's okay because your Father sees all of those things. Nothing is hidden from Him and He's going to reward you. But if you're living a life that is constantly for the opinions of others, you have to sit back and go, but God sees all of those things that are in my heart. And I need to be aware of the fact that

He knows that I'm not doing this for the right reason. So, Jesus lays out this principle. When you do your good deeds, beware. Beware that you don't do them before men simply to be seen by them. No, because then you'll have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. There's going to be three subjects that He deals with. He's going to deal with giving, He's going to deal with fasting, and He's going to deal

with prayer. As He deals with those three subjects, those are very important because those are the three pillars that the Jewish community felt made them pious or made them religious in the eyes of God. They were three of the strong pillars for the Jewish community. If you did those three things, you were doing pretty good. Now, in the same way that Jesus had a pattern

that He followed when He dealt with those issues of the law, there's also going to be a pattern that He follows with these three things that I want you to pay attention to. The first thing He's going to do is He's going to give a warning. He'll give a warning. And the warning will be not to seek the praise of men. The second thing that He will do is He will

give an assurance. He will give an assurance that you already have your reward if you sought only the praise of men. The third thing He'll do is He'll give a command. A command to instead now do those things in secret, simply before God. And then the fourth thing he will do is he will make a promise. And the promise that God will make, or the promise that Jesus will make, is that God will reward us. Now as we get ready to move into these three

subjects, there's one other thing that I would like to point out to you. And the thing that I would like to point out to you is this. I don't know about you, but anytime I receive these warnings of things that I should be aware of that I'm doing wrong, God often reveals to me that I am doing some of these things wrong. And sometimes in the process of it being revealed to me that I'm doing these things wrong, I can find myself a little bit condemned. Not always convicted,

but condemned. Just so we know there's a vast difference between conviction and condemnation. The Holy Spirit will never bring about condemnation in our lives. He'll always bring about conviction in the life of the believer. You see, conviction will always draw us to the Lord because it will say, this is what you're doing wrong. Now come to Jesus so that you can do it

right. Condemnation will always push us away from the Lord and say, this is what you're doing wrong. You can never do it right. So as we move into this, what I would consider an area of correction that I think we all could probably use. a little bit of. If you sense that condemnation, know that it's not the Holy Spirit. Because if the Holy Spirit is showing you an area in your life where you're wrong,

it's so that you can be made right. And so if you're sensing that condemnation like I can sometimes do, allow yourself to be reminded that the Holy Spirit simply wants to draw you closer to Jesus. And He wants to reveal areas in our lives that need changed so that He can do the work in us to draw us closer to Him. And so we move into this. This first section, which is giving. Notice what he says, verse two.

So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may be honored by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving will be in secret and your father who sees what is done in secret. The Holy Spirit will reward you. He says, so when you give to the poor. Now, with each of these three

things Jesus is going to say, He's not going to say if, He's going to say when. He's going to assume that these actions are happening in the lives of kingdom citizens because these actions were happening in the lives of the Pharisees as well. He says, when you give to the poor. Now, it's important to take note of something. In Deuteronomy chapter 15, verse 11. Again, you don't need to turn

there. It might just be a good one to write off to the side or in the margin of your Bible. In Deuteronomy chapter 15, verse 11. In the law, the law says, you will always have the poor with you. But it also says that you should always remain open-handed with those who are truly in need. And so the law instructed them that one of the things that they should do is to be open-handed

with those who were in need. But like many of the other things, the Pharisees had taken this to an extent that it should not have been taken to. They had taken it, first of all, to an extent where they equated forgiveness of sins with giving. As a matter of fact, the thought was that the more you gave, the greater chance there was of God forgiving your sins. Does that sound familiar to anyone? You see, we can't purchase our way

into forgiveness and we can't purchase our way into heaven. And yet that was one of the prevailing thoughts at that point in time amongst the Pharisees. And so Jesus, as he addresses this, wants to make sure and correct the thought. It's perfectly good for us to give to the poor, to give to those that are in need. We're giving you a program right here through

Operation Christmas Child to do that exact thing. Because we'll always have people among us that are in need and our hand should always be open. But let's make sure we do so in the right way. He says, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do. He says, don't sound a trumpet. Now, I've read several different commentaries on this

and I've tried to decide if this was actually a practice that took place or if it was not a practice that took place. Depending on the commentator that you read, they all create some different thoughts in your mind. Some say, this practice never actually took place. It was simply hyperbole on the part of Jesus. Kind of like if your right hand causes you to sin,

cut it off because it's better to go into heaven maimed. This is simply hyperbole. However, some of the other commentators that I read said that the Pharisees at this point in time would go on to a street corner and they would actually sound a trumpet to alert all of the poor people to know, hey, at the corner of Fifth and Main, there's a Pharisee giving out money to the poor people. We should all go there.

I don't know which it is. Some commentators even said that they would make such a spectacle of their giving in the temple because there was one box that was for the giving to the poor that they would have an entire train of people that would accompany them to that benevolence box so that everybody knew just how much they would give. Which of those three is right? I don't know. I don't know. And so when I don't know, I always say, but what's the

principle that's being given here? Jesus says, don't make a spectacle of your giving to the poor. He says, don't sound a trumpet. Can you imagine if every time you got ready to bring your Operation Christmas Child shoebox or you saw somebody on the street that needed a little extra hand or something like that, that you made sure that there was a trumpet that was blown?

That you made sure that you told as many people as you possibly can? I just want you to know that what I'm doing right now is I'm giving to someone. I am helping someone who is in need, right? It's like knowing somebody that does CrossFit. Like you have to be around an hour to know that they do CrossFit because they've told you within that first hour of talking

to them. It's okay. I do CrossFit, right? It's the same way with giving. Like that's not how we want to be. He says, you don't need to make a spectacle of the fact that you give. You don't need to alert the world because that's what, and he uses an interesting word here, and he'll use this word for the next three things. He says, that's what the hypocrites do. Oh man. Is there, is there any

sounds more dirty in the mind of a Christian than the word hypocrite? Now we need to understand what that word means. That word does not mean that you can't ever fail as a Christian, right? I think one of the most important things for us to own up to as believers in Jesus Christ is we'll never be perfect. We'll never do everything correctly. And I think that we need to own up to

that. And so when you sin, it does not necessarily make you a hypocrite. Matter of fact, I've always had when, when somebody says, well, I don't like to go to church because of hypocrites. And I just say, well, you just need to understand that we're all in church. We're just recovering hypocrites, right? Like I've always said, we should call it hypocrites anonymous because we're

all just trying to recover from being hypocrites because a hypocrite is simply an actor. That's actually what the word that they used at one point in time for who actors were. It was one who wears a mask, one who wears a mask. And the mask would be this. The mask would be, I use my religious activity to hide all of my sin. You see, at the time of Jesus's walking on earth,

when there was someone who would play act to become a different character, they would actually put a mask on their face so that they would hide their true identity. You see, that's what a hypocrite does. A hypocrite wears a mask of religion to hide their true identity of sin. And in the world, around them, they make themselves look as good as they possibly can when really what's going on on the inside is nothing but sinfulness. You see, as believers in Jesus Christ, I think the best way

that we can own up and defeat the enemy of hypocrisy is simply to own up to who we truly are. You ever watch the movie, the drama movie where somebody figures out what somebody did and they blackmail them and they blackmail them and they blackmail them and they blackmail them and they blackmail them and they blackmail them and they blackmail them and they blackmail them and they hold it over them and they say, oh, the whole world's going to know who you really are unless you do what I tell you to do. You know what I think in every single one of those? Just come out and admit what you did and all of a sudden all of the power is gone. You see, when we come out and are

open with who we really are, the fact that I'm simply a sinner saved by grace that still struggles with sin, that still struggles with saying words Jesus doesn't like sometimes and thinking thoughts that Jesus doesn't like sometimes and doing things that Jesus doesn't like sometimes, all of a sudden you strip all of the power from the enemy and you strip all of the power from the critics because they can't say, he's a hypocrite. You say, I know. And then they can't say anything else against you because you've already owned up to every bit of power that they have over you. See, that's the beautiful thing that confession does for us. But when we

become somebody who starts to give in such a spectacle sort of a way, we start putting a mask on ourselves. Trying to hide all of the things that we really are by some simple act of religion. He says, when you give to the poor, don't go sound a trumpet. That's what the hypocrites do. And why do they do it? Notice what it says. As the hypocrites do, middle of verse two,

in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may be honored by men. So that they may be honored by men. I was thinking about this last night and this morning and thinking, so in what ways, I wonder, would somebody through their giving try to allow themselves to be honored by men? What are some of the reasons behind that? What are some of the things that might stick out to you and I as far as why people would give and sound a trumpet while

they do it? So I came up with four reasons, four ways that they could be honored by men. Number one, when we give and make a spectacle of it, sometimes we do it to appease a guilty conscience. To appease a guilty conscience. I think that there's people all over the world right now, particularly in our nation, that give not because they want to glorify the Lord,

but because they feel so bad about the things that they've done. And the way that they can appease that is they can write a check. And they make sure everybody knew that they wrote that check so that they can make themselves feel a little bit better about the lives that they live. That's why oftentimes some of the most morally debased people give some of the most money, is because they want to feel good about themselves. And I can't feel good about myself in any other way

because I'm not willing to give up any of my sin, but I can feel good about myself by writing a check to charity. And maybe I'll get a building named after me out of it. And while we may not be a bunch of rich people in here that can get buildings named after ourselves, sometimes we can find ourselves giving not because we love Jesus so much, but because we feel kind of guilty and it helps. Sometimes we give out of a guilty, to appease a guilty conscience. Number two, second reason that we can give to be honored by men is to

appear righteous. To appear righteous. It can be the putting on of that mask so that we can make ourselves feel like we're a pretty good person. So that we can appear to the whole world around us, look how righteous they are. I can't believe how good they are with the things that they do. And you know, maybe all those rumors about them are wrong. We do it to appear righteous.

Number three, we can do it to receive praise from people. Now I think we start getting to probably what many of us can sometimes struggle with. We can do it to receive praise from people.

It's an unfortunate thing when we start to give to those that are in need. So that everybody will tell us how good of a person that we are. So that everybody will pat us on the back. So that everybody will praise us for who we are. You can see it. You can see it in people. We can do it to receive praise. But then the fourth way that sometimes we can try to receive praise from men is we can actually allow giving

to control others. You ever known that person that gave you a really good gift and when they gave you a really good gift, they then expected something out of you? They then started saying things like, but wait a minute, but I gave you, can't you just help me? And you're like, wait a second. Did you not just give that to me because you just love me? Because you just care? No, it's

because they wanted to control you. And you can see it sometimes happen in the lives of individuals. When you've helped somebody enough, sometimes you can start thinking that they owe you and you can try to control people with your money. But what's even worse is when people try to control churches and what takes place in church. And you can't control people with your money. And you can't control

churches with their money. And they start saying, no, I think you should do it this way. You know why I think you should do it this way? Because I gave you all of the money to do that. Therefore, I want to control the way that it's done. That's why guys like Alan and I never know who gives money and who gives what. We don't pay attention to that kind of thing. As a matter of fact, we try very hard not

to ever know that kind of thing because we don't ever want money to be what controls anything that takes place in a church. And those are ways I think that sometimes we can give in order to receive from men. He says, don't do that. That's not the way you're supposed to be. He says, truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. And may I say, if that's the heart that anybody has behind the way

that they give, you'd better soak up all the attention that you can get on this side of eternity. You'd better soak up all of the good things that you can get on this side of eternity, all of the likes, all of the comments, all of the pats on the back, because that's all you're going to get. Because when you stand before God in eternity and you say, Lord, I help so many people, and he goes, I don't know what you're talking about. You already received your reward. Truly, they have received their reward in full. So

we've seen the warning. We've seen the assurance. And now we're going to see the command and the promise. He says, but when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving will be in secret. He says, when you give to the poor, you should do it in such a way that your left hand doesn't know what your right hand is doing. Now, if you're like me and you're as clumsy as I am,

my left hand rarely knows what my right hand is doing. So this is really not much of a problem for me, which is why I fall down and run into things a lot and drop things a lot because my left hand rarely is aware of what's taking place in my life. So I'm going to do it in such a way that it's taking place in my right hand. But he gives us this illustration and the illustration he gives us is really twofold. Number one, he says, it should be so secret. There should be so much

privacy that your left hand doesn't even know what your right hand is doing. In other words, it should be done to where nobody really knows. As a matter of fact, it's a little bit of a shock to you that it's even taking place. I heard a guy teach on this one time and he was talking about the ways we can give in ways that we've never been able to before because of technology. And

one of the big ways that you can give is GoFundMe. And he said, there's nothing wrong if you allow on GoFundMe because there's some genuine needs with that where people need things. I did see somebody create, well, never mind. I've seen GoFundMes created for absolutely the wrong reasons. But when they're created, sometimes you can go on and you can click that you were the one that

gave X amount of dollars. And there's nothing wrong with that. If you click that, you know that person and you want them to be aware just to show, hey, I love you. And so I gave this money. He goes, but the hardest thing to do is to click anonymous, especially if it's somebody that you want them to know that you're reaching out. To click anonymous is a really hard thing to do because then nobody knows what you gave.

Nobody's even aware. As a matter of fact, it could potentially cause somebody to say, I thought they loved me. Why didn't they contribute? He said, but sometimes when the Lord says click anonymous, you got to click anonymous. Because you only want it to be for the Father. There should be extreme privacy in the way that we give to people. After Erin and I got married, we were sitting around at her parents' house and

we were opening all of the gifts. And it was fun, kind of a fun time to be able to open up all the gifts. And everybody had left the room and there was one envelope and I just assumed it was a card with 20 bucks in it or something like that. So I opened the card up. And as I opened the card, I look at it and there were four $1,000 money orders in it. To this day, I have no idea where

that came from. It was completely left anonymous and we have tried and tried and tried to figure out who that was. And we have never been able to figure out who that was. And you know what the great thing about it is? I can't send anybody a thank you note. You know why? Because they didn't want a thank you note. And to this day, I just say, thank you, Lord, for getting us started as

a couple. Because it was really important for us to have that, to get started as a couple. That's the kind of extreme privacy that he's talking about with giving to the poor. Now, there's another point I want to make on this that I think is kind of interesting. And R. Kent Hughes made it in his commentary. He said, well, I absolutely agree that what he's talking about is extreme privacy with the idea of your left hand not knowing what your right hand

is doing. He said, but I want to present a different thought to you. And the different thought is this. If you know a well-trained actor, and you know a well-trained actor, and you know a well-trained actor, and you know an athlete, you know that they spend hours and hours and hours practicing so that certain things become second nature to them. They develop what's called muscle memory. Muscle memory is where

they don't have to think about the reaction. They've done it enough that they know this is how I react. As a former wrestler, I understand exactly what that means. Because part of the problem I had as a wrestler is I thought too much. And in wrestling, you can't think. You have to react with muscle memory. And that's the idea. He said, when you look at those athletes, you know they don't have to think about the action.

They simply respond because that's what they're trained to do. And they don't even have to think about it. He said, I want you to ponder a thought when Jesus says, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. While I believe he's talking about extreme privacy in the way that you give so that only God sees it, maybe there's another aspect that he's pointing out.

Maybe he's pointing out the fact that you don't have to think about the action. You don't have to think about it. That giving should be such a natural reaction in our lives that we don't even have to think about it. That the benevolent side of us when we see those in need is so trained with muscle memory because of our great love for Jesus that when we see one in need, we simply respond without letting anyone, even ourselves, know about it. Because that's what we've trained ourselves

to do. I found that to be an interesting concept. That giving would be so natural to me, that helping those in need would be so natural to me that when I see the need, I don't even have to think about it. I simply extend the hand to those that are in need. I think that's kind of what Deuteronomy chapter 15 verse 11 is talking about when he says, you always have the poor among you, therefore you should remain open-handed

with them. Not only so that only God sees it, but so that it's our gut reaction because of the great love of God that flows through us. And so he says, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. And then he follows with the promise. Verse four, so that your giving will be in secret and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Your father who sees in secret, your father who is able to peel back

all of his sin, will reward you. And so he says, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Don't let your left hand know what your heart is doing. Don't let your left hand know what your heart is doing. Don't let him know what it is doing. He will reward you. Sometimes it's hard in the culture that we live in right now to do things secretly, especially as Christians, because we want people to know Christians are good people.

We're not evil people. We're not out to ruin the world. We're out to show Jesus to the world. And yet Jesus says, don't worry about what the opinions of others are. You do things for the sake of people, not for the sake of others. And so you're not going to do things for the sake of the world. You're going to do things for the sake of others. You see, as believers, we're to be building up eternal rewards,

eternal things in heaven. Paul tells us in that book of 2 Corinthians that we are not to seek the things that are down here because the things of earth are temporary, but the things that are spiritual are eternal. And so Jesus gives us this indication, this understanding of what it looks like to be one who does not do our good works before men to be seen by them, but to do our good works simply to be seen by the Father. As we close up here this morning, I'll spend a few minutes talking about communion.

Today is Communion Sunday. It's the opportunity that we have as believers in Jesus Christ to celebrate the life that we have in Jesus, to celebrate the unity that not only we have with Jesus Christ, but the unity that we have with each other. And of course, in just a few minutes, the ushers will come down and they'll hand out the elements and we'll partake together. But before we do, I am reminded that it's important to take time to talk about the sanctity of communion and why it's important for us.

You see, the one place of unity that we have is that work. The work that Jesus Christ did for us, that ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for us. And on that last great night of the feast, of course, he held up that bread and he broke it and he said, this is my body which has been broken for you. And then he took that cup and he said, this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood which is to be shed for you.

And we're told in the book of 1 Corinthians that as often as we do these things, we proclaim, the death of Jesus. And so we're told to do so in a worthy manner. So as we do so in a worthy manner, I think that means two things. As always, the two things are these. Number one is that as we do so in a worthy manner, it means, first of all, that we do so as true believers in Jesus Christ.

You see, if you eat this bread and drink this cup without being a believer in Jesus Christ, all that is is juice and crackers for you. It's really a pretty disheartening snack. And so it is. It doesn't really mean anything to you. And so in order for it to mean something, you must belong to Jesus. And so if you're here this morning and you've never asked Jesus into your heart

to be your Savior, then today is the day that you can begin to do this in a worthy manner. But the other way that we do so in a worthy manner is we do so as those whose hearts are clean before the Lord. We do this once a month, and I'm well aware that as we go throughout our month, there are things that come up in our lives. There are issues in relationships that stir up.

There are issues of sin that stir up. There are things that need confessed in our lives. Things that need to be cleaned out. Sometimes they're wrong motives behind the things that we've done. Sometimes it's though we've done the right thing outwardly. We've done the very wrong thing inwardly. Sometimes we've just out and out done things that don't please Jesus very much.

And so as we sing this last song, and as the elements are handed out, I would encourage you to allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart, to see if there is any wicked way in you, and then confess those things to the Lord and allow Him to do the work of cleansing that can be done. Because as we proclaim the death of Jesus, we proclaim that there was only one sacrifice for sins, and that was Jesus Christ. And that this sacrifice is what makes us unified with Him. And the one thing that separates us from Him is sin.

And so if we're declaring this, if we're declaring that unity while there is truly separation, then that declaration isn't really taking place. So allow God to do the work that only He can do in your heart. Allow God to do that work of conviction and then allow Him to do that work of cleansing that takes place through the blood of Jesus. So I'm gonna ask Dad to come up and sing the last song and then I'll ask the ushers to come down and hand out the elements.

And as you receive those elements, please stand and then we'll partake. Let's partake together.

Father, we come before You. And Lord, I just want to thank You for who You are. I thank You for the sacrifice of Your Son. Lord, I thank You for the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, His body that was broken for us and His blood that was shed for us that guaranteed our salvation. Lord, I thank You that You rose again. Lord, promising us new life. And so Lord, as we take time to partake of these elements,

I pray that first of all, You would keep us ever in mind of that great sacrifice. That great sacrifice that You've made for us and that great love that knows no bounds in our lives. And Father, I also pray that as we partake, we would be reminded of the unity that we have with You and the unity that we have as the body of Christ. Lord, that we are not individuals that attend a building.

Lord, that we are a family that is a church, a called out assembly that is to love each other and care for each other. Father, we thank You for who You are and what You've done for us and pray that You would continue to do that work in our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's partake.

Would you bow with me one more time? Father, we thank You for the lessons You've taught us this morning through Your Word. Lord, I thank You for Your unchanging character and nature. And Lord, I pray that You would continue to do Your work in our hearts. Be with us as we go out from here. And may Your Holy Spirit continue to move in us as You see fit. In Jesus' name, amen.

Be blessed.

Rejoice, Your people cry out.