Rewards from Men vs. Rewards from God
Matthew 6:1-4
May 1, 2005
Introduction
I heard about a man who went on a trip to Israel. He was about to enter the famous and impressive Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv to take in a concert by the famed Israel Philharmonic.
The man was admiring the unique architecture, the sweeping lines of the entrance, and the modern decor throughout the building. Finally, he turned to the Israeli tour guide and asked if the building was named for Thomas Mann, the world-famous author.
"No" the tour guide responded, "it’s named for Fredric Mann, from Philadelphia."
"Really? I never heard of him. What did he write?" asked the tourist.
"A check," said the tour guide. (SermonCentral.com, Contributed by: Robert Rust.)
In Matthew chapter 6, we find Jesus continuing his famous Sermon on the Mount. In this passage he addresses how people do righteous things and give to the needy.
On the surface, it looks like Jesus is only addressing giving to the needy. And make no mistake, that’s a very important thing to be doing.
But I think it goes a little deeper than that. And in helping you see what I mean, let me give you a principle that you can use when studying Scripture.
One of the ways you can find out what a passage as a whole is addressing is to look for words or phrases that are repeated throughout the passage.
As I read through these verses, which form the basis for our message today, I want to demonstrate this, and I think that you’ll catch the drift of where I want to go today.
I’m going to read verses 1-4 of Matthew 6, which are printed in your note-taking guide.
"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.
2 "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. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Did you catch that? The word, "reward" is used three times in those four verses, and each time it’s in reference to our motivation for doing good things.
We can either do things primarily to look good in front of others or you can do them primarily to please the Father. And that’s the theme of my remarks today.
And in exploring that theme, I want us to keep a couple things in mind as we look at these verses:
1. Jesus was operating with the understanding that giving to the needy should be a normal part of the life lived for God.
Notice Jesus doesn’t say, "if" you give to the needy; he says, "when" you give to the needy.
How and when you do that is between you and God, and I won’t presume to tell you what you need to do.
But the point here is that we are to be giving to the needy as a regular part of our Christian life.
Second...
2. Jesus was operating with the understanding that we should care what the Father thinks.
Now that just kinda makes sense, right?
But why is that important? Because if we aren’t concerned about what the Father thinks, we fall into the trap of only trying to please people or worse, only trying to please ourselves. Both of these are a recipe for disaster.
Jesus makes a point here and throughout the gospels that the Father is who we’re to aim at pleasing, above all else. And that pleasing him brings reward.
By the way, just how does the Father reward us? Well, I can’t say exactly, but it stands to reason from the general scope of Scripture that the rewards of the Father can be given both here on earth and/or in heaven when we get there.
But one thing I can say, and that is that the reward mentioned is not heaven. It’s not salvation. We can never earn that, no matter how good we are.
Titus 3:5 says that God saved us, not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy.
So we can rule out that the reward Jesus is referring to here is not heaven.
But now let’s turn our attention to three lessons we can learn from this great passage.
The first lesson we find in this passage is that...
Right things can be done for the wrong reasons.
Listen to these words from a sermon entitled, "When Your Halo is Too Tight," by Kelsey Coleman:
"To the Jew there were three great cardinal works of the religious life- charity, prayer, and fasting. Jesus did not have a problem with these things. He just had a problem with doing them with the wrong motive.
"A person may give charity not to really help the person in need, but to demonstrate his own generosity so he can receive praise for doing it. You can pray in such a way that your prayer is not really addressed to God, but to man. You may fast, not really for the good of your own soul, but to simply show off your self-disciplined character." (Kelsey Coleman - Sermon, "When Your Halo is Too Tight")
His point, and Jesus’ point here in these verses is that often people do things, not because they are actually good things to do, but because they want to be seen as someone who does good things - even religious things.
I don’t think anyone here would deny that giving to the needy, praying, and fasting are good things. And if anything, we don’t do them enough!
But the key phrase to see here in Jesus’ words is the phrase, "to be seen by them."
One of the ironic things about political elections is that the candidates will do just about anything to be seen as someone who cares.
So they gather the cameras to make sure they’re seen doing something worthy, like scrubbing grafitti off buildings in the inner-city, volunteering at a soup kitchen, reading to disadvantaged children at a public school, or whatever. Have any of you seen this? Newscasts, commercials, and all sorts of stuff to give people the impression they care.
And truth be told, while they might actually have some amount of real, live care for the people, it’s secondary to the real issue: approval of people so they can get elected.
What are the chances that most of these politicians will do anything of meaning after they’re elected or out of office? Will their "compassion" see the light of day when no one cares to see it?
Outside of former President Jimmy Carter, who has thrown his life into building homes through Habitat for Humanity, I’ve yet to see much of anything from politicians.
"But Brian, if people are truly being helped, doesn’t that kinda cancel out the wrong motivation thing? I mean, if someone gets more food, and I happen to make sure that a lot of people know about it, isn’t the fact that I fed someone more important?"
Well, there’s no denying that someone may benefit. That’s not the issue. Yes, people need to be fed, clothed, and sheltered. And I would hope that whatever your motivation, you would do something to alleviate the suffering in our world.
The problem comes from the fact that godly concern for others is pushed aside to make room for selfish concern for your reputation. Needy people become a tool for you. And this does not please the Father one bit. This is what Jesus is talking about here in this passage.
People are made in the image of God, and weren’t created for people to use for an ego trip or to further your reputation in some way.
This also goes beyond just giving money. He mentions these "acts of righteousness," and later in the book of Matthew he discusses praying on the street corner so people can see them.
But think about it for a second. Do you realize that it’s possible to pray and have devotions for the wrong reason?
If all you’re trying to do is show how "super-spiritual" you are, that’s wrong, and you’re no better off than the hypocrites Jesus is blasting.
And yes, even coming to church can be done for the wrong reason. If it’s done to give people a favorable impression of you, then that’s the wrong reason.
So don’t expect God to reward you if all you’re in it for is the applause of other people.
You might be asking, "Brian, what about the tax deduction I get for giving to charity? If I give anonymously, then I can’t report it to the IRS!"
I don’t think that’s what Jesus is talking about. It’s one thing to write a check and receive a receipt. It’s another thing to walk over to our treasurer and say, HI JIM! HERE’S THE CHECK FOR MY OFFERING. AND YOU CAN BET THAT IT’S WAAAAAAYYY OVER MY TITHE. AND IF YOU NEED MORE TO HELP SOME POOR SOUL IN NEED OF A MEAL, JUST LET ME KNOW - I’LL BE GLAD TO SACRIFICE SOME MORE- ALL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, OF COURSE...
So write your check and take advantage of what the law allows. Just don’t make a big deal of it.
Right things can be done for the wrong reasons. The second lesson we can learn from this passage is that...
Rewards from men do not equal rewards
from God.
Hey, you know what? I like it when people tell me I’ve done something well.
Because, like most, if not all people, I like to be noticed and appreciated. That’s just part of who we are. Most of you could stand up with me and say, "I’m an approval addict," right?
We all like to have people come up and give us an "atta boy" or "atta girl." Well, I don’t like to get "atta girl’s," but you get the idea.
And if there’s an area that I think the church of Jesus Christ can do better, it’s to be more encouraging to people. I’m not talking about empty praise, or flattery, but honest appreciation of people for who they are, what they’re doing, and what we see God doing in them.
Back to the point: No one would deny that giving to the poor is a good thing. Again, Scripture is very clear that we are to do that.
What Jesus is knocking here is that the giving was done to gain public approval and applause.
And Jesus is saying that if that’s what you want, go for it. But don’t expect any reward from God, because you have already received your reward: the applause of others.
Listen to the words of Richard Foster, in his book, Celebration of Discipline:
"Self-righteous service requires external rewards. It needs to know that people see and appreciate the effort. It seeks human applause -- with proper religious modesty of course. Self-righteous service is highly concerned about results...The flesh whines against service but screams against hidden service. It strains and pulls for honor and recognition. It will devise subtle, religiously acceptable means to call attention to the service rendered." [Foster, "Celebration of Discipline", pp. 112, 114] (SermoCentral.com, contributed by Alan Perkins)
You see the tension there? We don’t like to serve, but we hate to serve and not be recognized and appreciated for it. Right?
Now sometimes, when we are working to please God, others will reward us with good publicity. That’s okay. And I’m not saying that giving can never be public. But we aren’t to be giving for the sake of getting attention.
Rewards from men do not equal rewards from God.
The third lesson we can learn from this passage is that...
Acts of righteousness done privately are
rewarded by God.
The man I mentioned at the beginning of the message has his name memorialized on a building. He has his reward for writing that check.
But what about those of us unable to finance large buildings with our names on them? Most of us will never be able to give in such a way to attract much attention.
The Bible is very clear that nothing is hidden from God’s sight. He sees everything we do, and he knows the motives behind them.
When we don’t get appreciation from others, or even acknowledgment that we’ve done something beneficial, we wonder if it’s really worth it sometimes.
Well let me encourage you that yes, it is worth it. The Father sees it, and the Father will not forget it.
So keep it up - the reward may be on earth, it may not come until you meet the Father face-to-face.
You know, this church gave almost $1800 to World Hope for the tsunami relief effort. That’s huge!
Some of you gave to help Ron and Richard get their feet on the ground after their fire. That’s wonderful.
And some of you gave for the medical expenses of Tiffany Hinden. That’s awesome.
And I want you to know that this message isn’t about putting people on a guilt trip about giving to the needy. In that sense, I think I’m preaching to the choir.
Some of you gave, some weren’t able to. That’s not the point. The point is that I couldn’t tell you who gave. But the Father knows. And he won’t be forgetting.
This brings up a question: should we do things for the purpose of reward from God? In other words, should we seek the reward from God as our motivation for doing things like giving to the needy?
I’ll be honest with you here: I don’t know. To me there seems to be a bit of a struggle. Obviously, rewards from God are good. We do desire them. And he only gives them if they are deserved.
But do we deserve them if we’re striving for them?
As I was looking at what other preachers have said about that question, and I got different answers. Some said yes, we should use the motivation of reward in our giving (not the "prosperity gospel" people, necessarily), and others said no.
But let me must tell you what I think, and you’re free to disagree with me on this.
Remember what I said at the beginning of the message, that Jesus operated with the understanding that we were to give to the poor as a natural part of the life lived for Jesus?
I think that what Jesus is telling us is that we give because the need is there, and that when we give without the publicity, the Father rewards that. So I’m of the opinion, at least for the time being, that we obey not out of a desire for heavenly rewards but out of obedience.
So don’t be going to God saying, "Yo God! Did you see that? I gave to that needy person, and no one else knows about it. So what’cha got for me?"
That would be presumptuous, to say the least!
Conclusion
So let’s review: right things can be done for the wrong reasons; rewards from people don’t mean rewards from God; and acts of righteousness done privately are rewarded by God.
The bottom line here is this: who are you trying to please - people or God? It’s pretty much that simple.
I’m guessing I haven’t told anybody here anything they didn’t already know, at least to some degree.
So here’s the application: do the right things, but check your motives.
Can you give to the needy and not worry about anyone noticing except God? Or do you need the ego-boost of someone patting your back for being so generous?
If you need the ego boost, it’s time to ask God to give your motivation a reality check. Because the only reward for giving in such a way as to attract attention, is attention.
And I’m guessing, and just guessing, mind you, that the rewards given by the Father will be much more worthwhile than the fleeting praise of people.
Would you agree? Let’s pray.
