Matthew 6:1-4 “Jesus & Generosity” Series: Jesus Uncensored

INTRO> One of the great things about studying the sermon on the mount is also knowing and looking at it’s affects upon christianity and history. The life, death and arguably the resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact. Around 130 A.D. We have a piece of history known as “The Apology of Arsidies” he was an ancient greek statesmen who was fascinated by Jesus and the early Christians and the lives they lived. He writes to the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was known for being a ruthless man. He writes to this Emperor describing what he is seeing in the lives of these so called “Christians.” “But Christians… show kindness to those near them; and whenever they are judges, they judge uprightly… they do good to their enemies… if one of them have bondsmen and bondswomen or children, through love towards them they persuade them to become Christians, and when they have done so, they call them brethren without distinction. They do not worship strange gods, and they go their way in all modesty and cheerfulness. Falsehood is not found among them; and they love one another… And he who has, gives to him who has not, without boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him in to their own homes and rejoice over him as a very brother… And if they hear that one of their number is imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity… And if there is any among them that is poor and needy, and they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food… Such, O King… is their manner of life… And verily, this is a new people, and there is something divine in the midst of them.”

CONTEXT> Today we see Jesus transition and show us in 3 vital areas of what i means to follow him, giving, praying and fasting. He highlights these 3 areas as a regular practice that we should be cautious about, why? Motivation. At the end of 5:48 he say’s basically “be perfect” now in 6:1 he is saying “be careful” We are essentially going to be saying the same thing these next three weeks:

Big Idea > In my relationship with Jesus, what I do is not as important as why I do it.

APP> Today we will see how this relates to giving.

1. We give consistently. v2,3

• • • “When you give” I make that point from just one word. Jesus’ chooses this word very carefully and deliberately. It’s almost as if he is assuming that this will be a regular practice of his followers.

APP> Did you know that in all the gospel 25% of Jesus’ teaching is on money. That means that if i was following Jesus preaching calendar I would teach about money once a month! *ILL> Fishing wth Roman and driving in the path down the field, we have worn a path. APP> Following Jesus is about creating consistent rhythms in your life. APP>As your relationship with Jesus grows, so will your giving.

2) We give freely. v2-3

• • “sound not trumpet before you like the hypocrites do” Jesus may be speaking figuratively here and he may be speaking literally in the way in which the offerings worked in the temple. Again, Jesus is addressing a motivation here, he isn’t speaking about the evil of money he is speaking about the evil motivation behind money.
  • “hypocrites” the history behind this word comes from the greek theater actor, who wore masks.

The hypocrites masks of giving:

• • • Status *ILL> Me and my Senior prom and borrowing my great Aunt’s Mercedes Benz.
    • Control

APP> Sin is so subtle that our selfless acts can be motivated by our own selfishness. “Ultimately our only reason for pleasing men around us is that we may please ourselves. Our real desire is not to please others as such; we want to please them because we know that if we do, they will think better of us. In other words, we are pleasing ourselves and are merely concerned about self gratification. That is where the insidious character of sin is seen. What appears to be selfless may be just a subtle form of selfishness. According to our Lord it comes to this: man by nature desires the praise of man, what he is really concerned about is his good opinion of himself. In the last analysis it always comes to this, we are either pleasing ourselves or we are pleasing God. It is a very solemnizing thought, but the moment we being to analyze ourselves and see the motives of our conduct we shall agree that it comes to that.” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Sermon on the Mount pg14 VII

• • • “do not let your left hand not know what your right hand is doing” That’s not a comment about keeping a budget or keeping track, it’s about watching yourself and your motives.

3) We give worshipfully.v4

• • • “so that your giving may be in secret” the words SO THAT are very important, they are like a motivation, follow Jesus’ words and his logic here.
    • “your Father” Most of the time the word “your” in the greek is actually plural, y’all. But here is it singular. Why? Because Jesus is pressing in on the idea that it’s “YOUR Father” not just “their father”

APP> Jesus is challenging what our ultimate desire is, What is the reward? I think the reward is God himself?! But there are also degrees of obedience that we see in Matthew’s gospel but don’t forget what our big idea is.

Big Idea > In my relationship with Jesus, what I do is not as important as why I do it.

Why should our response be worship? APP> Worshipful giving is motivated by the personal relationship with the Father. *ILL> When Roman and Andie come out of Kid’s Side and give me what they made!

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9

• • ‘What would it look like if when i sat down and budgeted, I budgeted with a cross instead of a calculator.?”