The Motivation for our Charity

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I want to invite you to take out your Bible and turn to the sixth chapter of the gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter six.
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And today we are going to be looking at verses two through four.
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Writer and educator Kendra Cherry defined motivation as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal oriented behavior.
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She went on to say that motivation is what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce our thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge.
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It involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behavior and everyday usage.
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The term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does what he or she does.
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And there is an entire industry which is devoted to the idea of motivation.
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Millions of dollars a year are spent studying what drives people and what motivates their behavior, what can create more productivity with employees.
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There are professional motivational speakers who are hired by businesses.
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Many of them become pastors, I think, to use their extraordinary speaking talents to spur their employees toward success in their attempts to find out what motivates people.
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Many social scientists and psychologists have come to a consensus about what it is that really motivates any group of people.
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They separate them between two different types of motivation.
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They have the intrinsic and the extrinsic motivation.
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Intrinsic is inward motivation and extrinsic is exterior motivation.
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And they've come down to seven things, seven motivators that inspire people towards productivity.
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Things like mastering a skill, doing work that they're passionate about or having job security.
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That's part of those seven motivators.
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But the top of the list, all of this consensus, all of these social scientists, all of these psychologists, there was one that was at the top of all of their lists in regard to motivation.
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And it was this.
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People are mostly motivated by having their work noticed and appreciated.
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Most people are motivated, says the social scientist, says the psychologist.
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Most people are motivated by having their work noticed and appreciated.
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And that's a major motivational tool in the business world.
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Big corporations have entire teams and that's all they do.
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They spend their time recognizing good work, people who have excelled in their in their particular field.
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And this all proves a very simple point, which I imagine most of you came in here already knowing this morning.
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People like to be recognized when they do something good.
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Now, I mentioned all of this in regard to the motivation, because as we noted a few weeks ago, before we broke from our verse by verse study, we broke for Resurrection Sunday last week.
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But if you remember the weeks leading up to that, we have been studying verse by verse through the Sermon on the Mount.
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We had started in Matthew chapter five and verse one.
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We are now to Matthew chapter six.
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It's taken us about six months to get through the first chapter.
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We're now to the second chapter.
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And we see that the gospel writer is writing the words of Christ from this very important sermon.
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And he's giving us Jesus's words here.
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The first chapter of the Sermon on the Mount dealt primarily with Jesus clearing up misconceptions about the law.
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You have heard it said this, but I tell you this.
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Now, Jesus has moved on to piety.
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He's moved on to those things that we ought to do as believers.
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And he starts by confronting us with the question.
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Yes, you have all these things that you're supposed to do as believers.
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But what is the motivation behind why you're doing them? Why do you give? Why do you pray? Why do you fast? And are your motivations godly? Or do you have ulterior motives to do what you do? And Jesus points out something to us in chapter six.
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He tells us that even good behavior can have bad motivation.
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And that's important to understand, because God is interested not only in what we do.
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God is interested in why we do what we do.
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And though we may be able to hide our motivations from the world, we may be able to mask our motivations from our friends and even those most closely associated with us, even from our own family, we may be able to hide our motivations.
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We will never be able to hide our motivations from God who sees all.
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So this morning, we're going to look at the subject of charitable giving, because this is what Jesus is talking about in the Sermon on the Mount.
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And we're going to see what is the proper motivation for our charity.
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Let's stand and read the word of God together to give it its honor and reverence as it is due, for it is the word of God.
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And we will read Matthew chapter six, verses two through four.
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This is Jesus speaking.
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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.
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Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
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But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your right hand will receive its reward.
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Your giving may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you.
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Our Father and our God, we thank you for your word.
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I pray, Father, that you would first and foremost keep me from error as I seek to preach your word, for I know my own heart and I know how capable I am of error.
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And I pray that you would keep me from that.
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I pray that you would open the hearts of your people to the truth, that you would use it to encourage them towards righteousness and to warn them regarding wickedness.
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And Father, that ultimately that we would be moved by this study towards a closer walk with you and a better understanding of Christ.
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And it's in his name we pray.
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Amen.
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It is always with a sense of fear and trepidation that I speak on the subject of giving.
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This is so not because I am afraid to speak on what the Bible says, but because I know that many people, particularly people who have called themselves preachers, have misused the text of Scripture to teach and preach falsely on the subject of giving and as a result have soured many people's hearts and minds in regard to that subject.
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When Dr.
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R.C.
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Sproul, one of my favorite theologians, was a boy, he was at a baseball game with his uncle and his uncle was not a believer.
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And as they were going into the baseball game, walking into the stadium, there came out a man who was dressed in a preacher's uniform.
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He had the nice jacket and the collar, which is often associated with a minister.
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And as he walked out, Dr.
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Sproul, as a child, had not been to church.
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He was not associated with those things which are normally associated with church.
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So he he looks at his uncle, again, his uncle, an unbeliever, and he looks up at him and he says, uncle, what does that mean? Referring to the garb.
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And the uncle said, watch your wallet.
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Sad.
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It really is.
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But it's humorous at the same time to think that that's what the world often sees regarding the church.
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History is replete with stories of people who were willing to extort money from the people of God.
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I am reminded of Johann Tetzel, the Dominican friar who went about Germany selling the church's indulgences.
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This was during the time of the Reformation.
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They needed to raise money for St.
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Peter's Basilica, a place which I still consider to be one of the most wretched places because it is not a house of worship.
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It is built on the backs of men and women who gave sacrificially to a false system of belief.
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But Johann Tetzel would go out to Germany and he would promise the gift of forgiveness if you would simply purchase this indulgence.
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When a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs was the quote.
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And it actually rhymes in German just as well as it does in English, interestingly enough.
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But certainly Tetzel was not alone in history.
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There were those mentioned in Scripture who were.
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There are those rather mentioned in Scripture who were unscrupulous fiends willing to use the gospel for their own financial gain, and they are condemned in Scripture for having done so.
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And even today we see men and women who willingly stand before the people of God and fleece the flock with promises of health and wealth as long as you will sow your seed to their particular ministry.
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Such nonsense and such false teaching.
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But yet it is so prevalent as a result, as I said, speaking on the subject of giving can be difficult.
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Having said that, though, I want to mention something about our passage today that we should note.
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The passage is not really a command to give, if you look at verse two, it says thus, when you give notice that that doesn't say that you should give that assumes.
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That you will, the same thing is for prayer and the same thing is for fasting, and I would say of the three fasting is the one that's probably going to hit us the hardest because it's probably the one as believers that we would practice the least, but yet it's still a spiritual discipline that goes way back to the early church and to the apostles and even preceding the apostles.
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Fasting was a spiritual discipline, which was very good for the health and life of the believer.
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Jesus makes assumptions.
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He assumes that if you're a believer, you will give, you will pray and you will fast.
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As a result, today, I'm not going to stress the fact that we should all be givers.
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I'm going to assume that we all are.
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Maybe it's a dangerous assumption, but I'm going to make it anyway, instead of saying we should give, we know we should give.
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Let's talk about what should motivate our giving.
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We know we're supposed to do it, we know we should do it, but why? Let's look first again at verse two.
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He says thus, when you give to the needy.
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Now, I'm reading from the ESV.
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That is our standard pulpit translation.
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And I realize some of you bring different Bibles with you on Sunday morning.
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So I want to make mention that some of your Bibles may say when you give alms.
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And that's not a something that's typical in our modern vernacular, so I want to explain exactly what that means.
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The word alms is anything of value which is given to those who are in need.
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From the Greek, the original language is translated in the ESV to give to those in need.
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It's translated in others, the giving of alms.
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The Greek word means compassionateness.
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It is our compassionateness.
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It's the giving of a benevolent thing.
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It's the giving of something that is meant to build someone up who is in some way down.
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It comes from the root word Elias, which means mercy.
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So literally, these are mercy gifts.
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When you give mercy gifts, when you give gifts that are supposed to build up someone who is down in some way, maybe they're down financially, maybe they're down emotionally, maybe they're down in some other way.
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And Christ assumes that as the church, we're going to take care of these people.
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We're going to love these people.
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We're going to minister to those people who are in need of mercy because that's what we're supposed to be.
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We are supposed to be the arms and the legs of Christ.
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We are his body reaching out to those in need.
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The giving which is being discussed here is specifically giving which is intended to help and aid another human being in the moment of need.
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It's described to us in Deuteronomy chapter 15.
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If you want to hold your place in Matthew and turn with me, it's Deuteronomy 15, verse 7.
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So it does have Old Testament precedence.
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Deuteronomy 15 and verse 7 says this.
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If among you, one of your brothers should become poor in any of your towns within your land that your Lord, your God is giving you.
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Remember, he's speaking to the Israelites.
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He said, if any one of your brethren shall become poor, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother.
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Verse 8, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.
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Verse 9, take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart.
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And you say the seventh year, the year of release is near and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother and you give him nothing.
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And he cried to the Lord against you and be guilty of sin.
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And see what it was every seven years, there was this time where debts were forgiven.
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So if you were to give someone money close to that time and then the debt was forgiven, you wouldn't get your money back.
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So the point that Moses is making here, he said, there's going to come a time where you're going to give and not expect to get back.
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And that's going to be the hardest time to give because you know that that's going to be wiped away, but still do it.
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Verse 10, you shall give to him freely and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this, the Lord, your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake, for there will never cease to be poor in the land.
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That's an important point.
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Jesus reiterates later.
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Remember when the woman came in and was anointing him and the person said, oh, we should have sold that and given it to the poor.
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Oh, Judas Iscariot, because he wanted to take the money for himself.
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But he had to find some benevolent reason.
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Well, it would have been better to give that to the poor.
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And Jesus said, the poor you will have with you always.
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And that's the truth, for whatever reason, as part of the curse, there will always be those who are in some way poor and in need.
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So it goes on to say, therefore, I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in your land.
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You shall open wide your hand to those who are in need.
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Beloved, giving unbegrudgingly is the hallmark of Christianity.
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It's the hallmark of biblical theology.
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And it's demonstrated for us in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, it's not simply a New Testament concept.
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Sure, it's expressed in the New Testament, especially to us in parables like the Good Samaritan, who went out of his way to love someone who was, in fact, his enemy.
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But yet he loved him anyway in his pain and in his suffering.
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But that's not just a New Testament concept.
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Those people who say, oh, the God of the Old Testament was evil.
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The God of the New Testament is good.
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They don't know their Old Testament.
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They don't understand their New Testament.
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They don't understand that God changeth not.
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I am the same yesterday, today and forever.
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And the same God who commands our charity in the New Testament commanded also his people's charity in the Old Testament, that his people not hold their fists tight to those in need, but that they open their hands to those in need.
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And open them wide.
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So I've noted this is what verse two back in Matthew six.
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Now, if you want to turn back to Matthew six, it says thus, when you give to the needy, when you give the alms, when you give to the person who is in need, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others.
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What's interesting enough about this particular passage, as we finish out verse two here, is that there is actually no specific reference in Jewish history to there ever being a time where anyone had a literal trumpet that they blew whenever they would give.
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Now, there were trumpets that were blown in Israel, the ram's horn and different things were blown for different things, the announcing of feasts and what have you.
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There were also the boxes where the gifts were given were shaped like trumpets.
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And some people have said, well, maybe that's what Jesus is referring to.
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But there's no mention in historical data of there being literal, actual trumpets that went on, which could mean that Jesus is simply speaking metaphorically at this point.
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Sound no trumpet is another way of saying don't bring attention to yourself.
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Certainly that would make sense.
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Of course, there is also the case that it just might not be recorded in historical data.
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But there could have been people who literally had an entourage to announce their gifts.
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It still happens today in India.
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The Hindu priests have horns blown even to today when they come and they offer their beneficence.
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They come in and they have these horns blown as a result or to announce rather their giving.
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So whether or not there was a literal horn in Jesus's day or not, whether he's speaking actually or metaphorically doesn't matter because we understand the point that he is making.
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He's saying that the hypocrite is the person who does what he does as a show unto people.
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Remember what we talked about a few weeks ago, the word hypocrite is made up of two Greek words, Hupo, which means under, and Kresis, which means judgment.
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People say, well, does that mean that hypocrites are under judgment? Well, yes, but that's not what the meaning of the word is.
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The meaning of the word is they do what they do when they're under the watchful eye of someone else.
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They only do what they do when they're being watched or they're on display.
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The word Hupo Kresis is actually the word used by the Greeks for the actor in a play.
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He was a Hupo Kresis.
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He was the one who did what he did as a display.
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And when Jesus uses that word, he says it's the hypocrite, it's the one who does what he does as a display, who is doing it with false and inferior motivation because he's doing it to be praised by others.
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And that's what verse two goes on to say.
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It says, I tell you, they have received their reward.
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And the reward Jesus is talking about here is the praise of men.
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Now, we all appreciate praise in some form or fashion.
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We all like to know that we've done a good job and we all like words of encouragement from our peers which lift us up.
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But praise is a drug which is easy to become addicted to.
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I don't know if you ever heard it said that way, but I think about it.
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Praise is a drug which is easy to become addicted to.
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And when we are doing what we do for praise, then the praise itself becomes the reward.
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So the reward that Jesus is talking about here is the reward of the praise of men.
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Seeking God's praise is not wrong.
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In fact, did you know we're commended to seek God's praise? Think about the text where Jesus told the parable and he said in the parable, what is our goal that we might hear our father in heaven say, well done, my good and faithful servant? That's the goal of the Christian life, that we might have God look upon us and say that you did good, that you did well, well done, my good and faithful servant.
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The problem is many people don't care about God's praise.
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Many people care about men's praise because they think, well, God's praise is long time off.
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God's praise is not coming till after I die.
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I don't have to worry about I want to worry about right now the people around me whom I can impress.
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They want their names lifted in lights so that all men might adore them.
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They want their images engraved on stone so that all men would admire them.
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They want their achievements etched into brass so that all people would dote over them.
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One of the most fascinating things from the Reformation comes from the life of John Calvin, one of the great teachers of the faith from the Reformation time.
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John Calvin is often accused by many who disagree with him as being a tyrannical figure, that John Calvin was was a hard man.
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But I want to share with you something about John Calvin that I find most interesting in regard to his life.
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At the time of his death, he demanded that he be buried in an unmarked grave.
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Why? So that no man or no group would worship at his tomb, so that no one would laud him or memorialize him.
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Beloved, there are few today who follow Calvin's example.
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Instead, people often do all they can to see their accomplishments exalted and in doing so, they receive the only reward they will ever get, and that is the praises of men.
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So at this point in verse three, Jesus turns his attention to what we should avoid.
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From what we should avoid to what we should do rather.
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Verse three, he says, but when you give to the needy.
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Again, he says, when you give, that's an important part, the assumption you will do this when you give to the needy.
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Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that you're giving may be in secret.
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Now, that phrase left hand and right hand, not knowing what the other one is doing.
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That's one that's pretty common in business.
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I don't know if you've ever been to a business and said to yourself, man, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing around here.
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What does that mean? It means the business is in disarray.
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It means things are confused.
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The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.
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But that's not what Jesus is using it here.
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And I don't want us to confuse ourselves because often modern colloquialisms can be confused with biblical ones and phrases.
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We don't often need to bring the equal sign and say, well, this means it now.
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So this is what it meant then.
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What Jesus meant when he talked about not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing is he talked about the separation between what we do and the people who see what we do.
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The right hand represents our giving.
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The left hand is representing other people.
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The right hand represents our gift.
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The left hand represents the covering of the gift so that they might not see our charity.
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We are not to let others know what we are giving so as to seek their glory.
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It's as simple as that.
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It's actually a pretty easy statement.
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But there's also something else that the right and the left hand represent.
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The right and the left hand also represents ourselves.
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We are not to take note of our good works so as to pat ourselves on the back for having done good.
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You know, some people do that.
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They give in secret.
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No one else saw it, but they still go home and they pat themselves for the good that they have done.
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When we say, don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, perhaps Jesus meant this.
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Don't give with your right hand and pat yourself with your left.
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If what we do causes us to be puffed up internally, if what we do increases our pride, then our work is being done in vain.
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But how can we do this? How can we truly not let our right hand know what our left hand is doing? How can we keep our hearts in check? The answer is in Scripture.
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The answer is in Ephesians chapter two.
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We read it this morning as our opening text.
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It is my favorite text of the Bible, by the way.
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Outside of maybe Romans five, one, Ephesians chapter two, verses eight through 10 says, for by grace, have you been saved through faith? And that is not of yourselves.
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It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
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For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which he prepared beforehand for us to walk in them.
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Ephesians two, verses eight through 10.
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Here is how that gets to that issue of giving.
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Follow the concept for by grace.
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What is grace? Unmerited favor, something you didn't earn, something you don't deserve.
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The person who thinks they deserve to go to heaven is the person who is furthest from the kingdom.
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Think of the two men who went up to the temple to pray, one a publican, the other a Pharisee.
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The Pharisee walked straight into the temple, straight into the middle of the court.
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And he says, thank you, God, that I am a good person.
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Thank you that I do all these wonderful things.
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Thank you that I tie the tenth of all my income.
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And I do this and I do that.
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And the publican, the tax collector, he stood outside.
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He wouldn't even go closer to the gate.
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And he beat on his breast and he said, God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.
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And Jesus said it was that man who went home justified and not the other.
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For by grace, you have been saved.
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It is not of yourself.
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How does that affect the whole right hand, left hand? If we understand that our salvation is 100 percent of grace, not 99 percent.
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And we did our one.
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Not God voted against you.
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Satan voted for you or whatever.
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All that nonsense.
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You were dead in your trespasses and sins.
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You were completely, totally depraved and a hater of God.
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And God reached down into the muck and the mire of your sin.
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He pulled you up out of that desperate condition.
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He washed you as white as snow in the blood of the Lamb and seated you in heavenly places with him.
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And you contributed nothing to it except the sin which made it necessary.
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There, think of yourself that way and then pat yourself on the back.
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You can't you can't pat yourself on the back when you realize it is all grace and not of yourselves.
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That's how we understand the right hand from the left.
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We understand that Paul has told us it is by grace through faith and not of us so that we have nothing to boast about.
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What does the apostle Paul say? We boast in nothing except Christ.
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Only in Christ can we boast.
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Only in his work can we boast, not in our own.
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I love Luke 17 10.
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Luke 17 10, Jesus is talking about servants and he says, so when you have done all that you were commanded, say this.
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We are unworthy servants.
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We have only done what was our duty.
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How does that apply? Jesus is talking here about the fact that even when we do good, even when we do well, we're just doing what we're supposed to do.
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You're unworthy servants, you're only doing what you're supposed to do when you do something good.
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It's just the nature of who you're supposed to be.
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You have been saved by grace through faith and not of yourselves.
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It is the gift of God, not of works.
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Lest anyone should boast for you are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for what? For good works.
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God saved you for good works.
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He redeemed you for good works.
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He sanctifies you daily.
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So that you will live for him.
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Your works are the product of your salvation, not the cause.
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Thus, when we're in Matthew six, verse four, he finishes by saying, so your father who sees in secret will reward you.
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Beloved, I can think of nothing, nothing more precious, nothing more precious than to see the face of the father and to hear the words.
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Well, that is more precious than any accolade that any man could ever give.
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It is more precious than any certificate that any person could ever write.
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It's more important than any plaque that any engraver has ever cut to hear the Lord say, well done.
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So what is our motivation? That God, who sees in secret, has seen our acts of devotion to him, has seen our acts of love and mercy towards him, has seen our unseen expressions of piety and worship, and that he has been pleased.
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That is our motivation.
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I want to close with a quote from Brian Swartelli, who says this, the thrice holy God of Scripture who sees in secret is the main motivation for obedience in the text before us and should be a main motivation for obedience in general.
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If everyone could consistently live in the presence of God, all of the phoniness, hypocrisy, showmanship and plastic worship would cease.
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If every professing Christian would heartily live in God's presence every moment of every day, the effect upon Christendom would be profound.
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No doubt a great revival and reformation would break out all at once.
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And what a wonderful blessing that would be to individuals, to families.
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Beloved, we live in the presence of God.
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We live motivated by his praise and not the praise of man.
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Let's pray.
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Our Father, we thank you for this opportunity that we've had to study your word.
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We pray that you will use this time first to encourage believers towards proper motivation and all their works of piety.
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And Father, also, that if there are those who are here who have never heard the gospel, that they would hear the words of the Apostle Paul.
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That our sin is like scarlet, but that because of your grace, we can know Christ by faith and through him be saved of our sins.
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I pray that no one would be able to go from this place today and say that they have not heard the gospel, that they are sinners in need of a savior.
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And Christ Jesus is the only savior.
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We leave salvation to you, O God, for it is a work that only you can do.
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And we thank you for that work that you do.
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In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray.
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Amen.
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Beloved, let's stand together.
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And if you have a need for prayer, whatever be your need, please come as we sing.