Sunday Sermon: When You Give (Matthew 6:1-4)

You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabrielle Hughes, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe. If you would please remain standing and take your

Bible, turn to Matthew chapter 6, verses 1 through 4 this morning as we continue our series in the

Sermon on the Mount. These are the words of our Lord Christ. Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 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.

Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret, and your

Father who sees in secret will reward you. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, as we come to Your Word this morning, I pray that we would see the calling that is upon each and every one of us as Christians to care for those who are in need.

As the Apostle Paul said to the Galatians, let us, as we have opportunity, show charity to everyone, but especially to the household of faith.

And as Christians, we are called not simply to give, but to give expecting nothing in return, including the admiration of others.

We give because our King has called us to give. This is the way we are to be in the

Kingdom of God, caring for one another and helping to provide for others' needs, whether they are brothers and sisters whom we know or strangers whom we do not know.

We have received a blessing, so may we also share a blessing.

You have given us far more than we could ever ask or imagine. The giving of Your Son Christ, who gave up heaven, came to earth for us, lived righteously on our behalf, showed us how to live, and died on the cross for our sins so that all who believe in Him are forgiven and we have fellowship with God and everlasting life in Your eternal

Kingdom. What a remarkable sacrifice and gift. May we also be convicted of heart to sacrifice for others and give as we are able.

We do all of this to the glory of Christ our King, and it's in His name that we pray.

And all God's people said, Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. At the beginning of the

Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 .1, we read that Jesus' disciples came to Him.

And the verses that follow describe what the disciples of Jesus look like.

This is the section of the Sermon on the Mount that we refer to as the Beatitudes. Blessed are those, blessed are the meek, blessed.

That's what we read there at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. This is describing the disciples of Jesus. Jesus goes on to say to His disciples,

You are the salt of the earth, and You are the light of the world. Next Jesus says,

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

And what follows from that statement in Matthew 5 .17 is Jesus' teaching on the law.

His correct teaching as opposed to the Pharisees' false teaching. We finished up that section last week at the end of Matthew 5.

Today we enter into the third portion of the Sermon on the Mount. And we begin with this statement in Matthew 6 .1.

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people to be seen by them.

For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Everything we're going to study in Matthew 6 is going to expound on that statement.

These are instructions on practicing righteousness and doing so in such a way that is pleasing to our

Father in heaven. Not so that we would gain recognition by people on earth, but so we would worship our

God in all that we say and do. We start Matthew 6 by talking about giving.

Next week we're going to look at prayer. And then after that we consider fasting. So these three things in succession deal with how faith in Christ affects our regard toward these three principal interests.

The handling of our estate, that's what we look at today. The handling of our souls, that's regarding prayer.

And the handling of our bodies, the lesson on fasting. After that we have an instruction on laying up treasure in heaven.

And we conclude Matthew 6 with a lesson on anxiety. Now there are three things that I would like for you to receive from our study of this chapter.

First of all, you will notice that there is this recurring theme to focus on heavenly things, not on earthly things.

If our concerns are heavenly, we will be less concerned with those things that are earthly.

If our desire is to please our heavenly Father, we will not run ourselves ragged trying to gain the approval of men.

If our greatest joy is Christ, then we have no reason to be anxious about things that are on earth.

So that's the first thing. The second thing that you will see in this chapter is the tender reminder of God's love for us.

Now, we have certainly seen that all the while. All the instructions that we read in the previous chapter, all of those things were indeed spoken in love.

There were times that Jesus' words could sound rather harsh. And maybe you had been convicted as we were going through Matthew chapter 5.

But that was not because our Father in heaven is abusing us in any way, but rather He is disciplining us as sons and daughters of God.

All of these things were issued to us in love. God disciplines the ones He loves.

Here in Matthew 6, Jesus reminds us, and again, speaking to His disciples, reminding us,

His disciples, that God provides for even our basic needs.

You see that He provides for the birds. You see that He provides for the fields.

We even sang about that in our last hymn. So God will provide for you.

Jesus teaches us to pray when we get to the Lord's Prayer. Give us this day our daily bread.

He reminds us that God is watching over us. He says that we are of more value than anything else that God has made.

And therefore, being so loved by God, we have no reason to despair.

So Jesus tells us to look to God. He reminds us of the love of God. And the third thing that you're going to see in chapter 6 is the blessing of God.

Even in this opening statement, we're reminded that true and meaningful reward is granted to us not by men, but by our

Father who is in heaven. Consider what we are told in Hebrews 11 .6, And without faith it is impossible to please

Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek

Him. This is the blessing of our faith. God rewards those who love

Him. Look for those three things as we go through Matthew 6. You are to look to God.

You are loved by God. And you are blessed by God. These blessings that we receive from God, they are in the present as well as in the future.

The practical results are these. You will depart from evil, which is self -motivated.

And you will learn to do good, which is Christ -motivated. With such heavenly thinking and the behavior that flows from it, you will experience the comfort of the

Holy Spirit. And that's a very present blessing. But we also have the future blessing of a kingdom that awaits us.

Jesus saying, In my house are many mansions, many rooms.

If it were not so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you.

So as Christ is preparing us for this eternal dwelling with Him, this causes us to be filled with hope.

Not to despair in the things that happen to us here on earth, but we are filled with hope for the future promise of glory.

All of this begins with this verse that we have right here at the start of Matthew 6. Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Now notice that Jesus has cautioned you, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

That's critical to understanding this instruction. Don't miss that or you're going to get this idea that we shouldn't let our good deeds be seen by anyone ever.

On the contrary, we should show people our good works because our works show who we belong to.

Remember what Jesus had just said previously in Matthew 5 .16, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works.

For what reason? So that they may give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

It's not to call attention to yourself, it's to give the glory to God. So yes, you should let others see your good works, but what is your motivation?

Are you doing it to please man? Are you doing it to please yourself? Or are you doing it to please

God? Of course, our first desire should be to serve Christ our King. In Galatians 1 .10,

the Apostle Paul says this, For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God, or am

I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Remember that back in chapter 5, Jesus confronted several heart sins.

Heart murder, heart adultery, insincere oaths, a selfish sense of justice against those whom you believe have wronged you.

This instruction here in Matthew 6 is still given in that same spirit. Jesus is, if you'll pardon the expression, getting to the heart of the matter.

The hypocrites do good works in order to be seen by men. But the person who genuinely loves

God does good works because they love God, not to receive recognition from men.

This is quite contrary to the attitude of our day when so many people have become like their own walking personal

Wikipedia page. And they will boast highly of the most asinine things.

I watched a documentary recently about the old 80s arcade games. I'm a child of the 80s, so I was fascinated by this particular documentary.

And this was like the golden age of arcade, with games like Pac -Man, Q -Bert,

Space Invaders, Missile Command, Frogger, you know, all the good video games, right? And back in that era of gaming, people were actually concerned with the score.

You remember those digits that were up there in the top corner of the screen that no video game has anymore?

There's like numbers that would be into the hundreds of thousands and millions. Well, there was actually a time in which that score mattered to people.

And you were really good at that game if you set the high score. And when the game was just kind of sitting there before you even put a quarter in it, those high scores would come up.

There's my initials right there. I'm the second best in this arcade, right? That mattered to people.

Well, in this documentary, they interviewed the world record holders for all of these respective 80s arcade games.

And these guys that held these world records were so full of themselves.

It was absolutely ridiculous. You would have thought that they came up with the cure for cancer or something like that.

Have you really contributed anything of value to our culture because you set the high score in Donkey Kong Jr.? I just did not understand the ego.

But it is the American way to have something to boast about in yourself.

No one emulates this better than our president, Donald Trump.

If he said, I'm the best at boasting and no one boasts better than me, well, that's a statement

I could surely get behind. Now, plenty of people will dog on the president for all of the boasting that he does.

But the fact of the matter is the people who are criticizing him are just as much a braggart as he is.

How did he become president of the United States? Because he kind of reflects the attitude of a lot of us.

Whether you're a soldier, an athlete, a medical professional, or the world's greatest couch potato, everyone believes that they've got something to brag about.

But that is not the way that we as Christians are called to be and behave in this world.

Remember that Jesus said, Blessed are the meek, for the meek shall inherit the earth.

You can come up with the best boast that you've got over anyone else, and that boast is not going to give you the earth.

There's a comedian by the name of Brian Regan, and he said, if there's any story that I wish

I had over anyone else, it would be the story to say that I walked on the moon.

All those guys that have been on the moon, like all the stories you got at your backyard barbecues, don't even compare to the guy that walked on the moon.

You got that guy that's just going on and on and on about the great things that he's accomplished. Then you got Neil Armstrong just walking up, eating a potato chip going,

I walked on the moon. Boom, all your stories are instantly nullified and unimpressive.

But even if you could say that about yourself, you're one of 12 men in human history who set foot on the moon.

You still would not inherit the earth. You made it to the moon, but the earth isn't yours.

Who inherits the earth? Jesus says it's the meek. It's the humble.

It's those who are not looking for gain or adulation or recognition unto themselves, but who live lives of humility in glory to Christ and not to man.

We're told in James 4 .10 and in 1 Peter 5 .6, Now that's not to say it's a bad thing to get recognition for doing a good thing.

I find the Proverbs to be helpful here. Proverbs 27 .2 says, Consider also whom we refer to as the

Proverbs 31 woman. This is Proverbs 31 .28 -31.

That's a role I'm okay with. I'm good with celebrating all the great things that my wife has done, so she doesn't have to.

It's all right to list your accomplishments on your resume. That's not a sin. But the question here, once again, is what is in your heart?

Are you seeking your own glory, or are you desiring to glorify

God with all that you say and do? Your Father sees what you have done, and He will reward you for it.

Nothing that you say or do will ever go unrecognized if you are a citizen of the kingdom of God.

But God's approval is the only approval that you need. If your desire is the approval of man, then that's all you're going to get—the approval of man.

And how valuable is that, really, in the scheme of things? Look at verse 2.

Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.

That is a scathing statement, really, when you think about it. They're not going to get anything more than what they were after—the praise and the adulation of man.

Now, what Jesus is talking about here in Matthew 6, 1 -4, this is mostly in regards to the giving of alms, or the giving of money to the poor.

What we have in our Bibles as, give to the needy, in the Greek is poies elemusison, and it means to give mercy or to do an act of charity.

Many scholars believe that Jesus is making reference to putting money in the alms box in the temple, and that's possible, but I think that a wider perspective is in view here.

This is any kind of giving to the poor. Notice that Jesus says the hypocrites proclaim their giving in the synagogues and in the streets.

So it's not just about giving in the temple, or in our case, giving money that you would give to the ministry of the church.

This is about giving that you do anywhere. Also recognize that this verse begins,

Notice what Jesus doesn't say. He does not say, first of all, give to the poor.

And when you give to the poor, so see, there's not a commandment that is given, and then an instruction on giving.

Why do I point that out? Why is that relevant? Because with this instruction, Jesus presupposes that we're already giving to people who are in need.

He doesn't need to tell you to give because you already know you're supposed to give.

I mean, just look at it. Even the hypocrites are giving. Even the hypocrites know to give.

My friends, I believe it is not only the command of God that we help those in need, it is in fact built into the natural order that God has established that we help those who are in need.

Look around the world, and you see evil people giving all the time.

Now their moral compass is off, so even what they believe is charity may actually be wicked.

For example, the liberals believe that abortion is a charitable act, but it is one of the worst abominable practices that is protected by the rule of law today.

Proverbs 12 .10 says this, Even the compassion of the wicked is cruel. But the point remains, just about everyone knows it is right to give to those in need, and the person who doesn't give anything is generally thought of as being unkind, right?

Not only do most people know that you should help the less fortunate, you also know this, you also know that there is great reward for helping those who are in need.

Why else would the hypocrites go about waving a flag to celebrate their giving if there wasn't some kind of prestige that came along with helping the poor?

Speaking of waving a flag, June is just two weeks away. I know it feels like we're in kind of like the longest march in human history, but believe it or not, if you look at a calendar, it's

May, right? And there's two weeks left until June. But yeah,

June is almost upon us here. Somehow America has branded June as what month?

Pride month, right? A name that is self -appointed, and yet it is ironically appropriate.

Of course, we're talking about LGBTQ pride, the public celebration of lesbianism, genital mutilation, buggery, transvestite cross -dressing, and any other quasi -normal sexual perversity that they may have missed with that acronym.

That's what LGBTQ plus stands for, right? As you well know, this brand of pride has its own flag.

And once June rolls around, a good deal of American companies are going to cloak their logos in tacky

LGBTQ pride flag colors, quite literally parading in the streets that they love and care for marginalized people.

Newsflash, if a majority of Congress, the court of popular opinion, major American companies, including entire sports franchises, and the rule of law are all on your side, you are not marginalized.

But again, the point stands. There is a level of favorable notoriety that comes with having a reputation as a charitable person, or in this case, a charitable organization.

That even your capitalistic business gives charity to those whom society believes are in need.

There is so much recognition here that the culture will divide people up into social classes and determine by a secular standard of social justice which groups are marginalized or oppressed in order to signal virtue and parade righteousness in the public square.

So we know that there is recognition for giving to others.

It is right to give, but we must give in a way that God says is right.

You know without Jesus having to give this command that you should give, you must give.

And there is reward for helping those in need. But don't do it to gain something from it.

You're giving to others who do not have gain, not so you can receive gain. When you give to benefit yourself,

Jesus is saying here, that's hypocrisy. When you're giving to someone who is in need so that you would receive something from it, you're a hypocrite.

You are not actually considering the needs of others ahead of your own. That's the instruction we have in Philippians 2 .4, to consider others' needs ahead of our own.

When we give hypocritically, it corrupts the act of giving.

Again, just look at the way a secular society gives to those in need.

They will redefine how we give and whom we give to. Here's another example of this.

In our secular culture, free health care is considered a necessary right.

So, voting for political candidates who will give you free health care and paying your taxes to provide that free health care, that's considered charity.

But that's not charity. This is a faceless, heartless, impersonal view of charity.

You're not personally helping anyone with a legitimate need. You are delegating charity to the federal government.

The same government, by the way, that has defined the murder of unborn children as health care.

I think that many other current events that have been going on in our culture right now have demonstrated to us just how uncharitable and unfeeling the federal government can be.

Furthermore, this brand of charitable posturing that comes by delegating charity to the government seldom defines what health care is and who actually needs it.

So, when someone who doesn't truly have a health need dips their hand into the public coffer, they are stealing from a person who does have a legitimate health need.

But hey, that's not your problem, right? You did your solemn duty and voted for free health care. Now, great is your reward in heaven.

Selfish charity is godless charity. And then it's not really about helping others.

It's about looking like you're helping others. But what

Jesus is saying here is to give, as God has established in the natural order of things, to give to those who are in need.

But do not give as the hypocrites who benefit themselves. Give out of love.

Give out of genuine concern for the other person. Do not give out of concern for yourself.

Give out of concern for others. Jesus says, sound no trumpet before you in the streets or in the synagogues.

Jesus is being hyperbolic here. Don't throw a parade in your own honor as if you've done something worthy of a royal procession.

Don't go into the places of worship and preach sermons that proclaim your glory.

You don't give because you want the recognition. You simply give because you know it pleases your king.

If there's anyone that you want to receive recognition here, it's God. Once again,

Matthew 5 .16, So that they may see your good works and give glory to your

Father who is in heaven. Now, as you've heard me say many times before, our good works do not save us.

We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone and no other way. We are not saved by our works.

But that does not mean our works are unimportant. Ephesians 2 .8

and 9, which I just quoted to you here, says it is by grace you are saved through faith and not by works so that no one has any cause to boast in himself.

You have no grounds upon which to boast in your salvation. It did not come from you.

It was given to you by God. And you did not merit the favor of God by any good work that you had done.

The good work that has been done in your life is the work of Christ. However, if we go on to verse 10, it says,

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which

God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So you are not saved by your works.

But, my friends, the saved will work.

Another way that I have heard this said is, You are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone.

In fact, if you say that you are saved by faith, but you do not have good works that evidence that faith, then you've not actually been saved by faith.

That's what James means when he says in James 2 .17 and 18, So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Show me your faith apart from your works, I will show you my faith by my works.

Even here in Matthew 6, Jesus is not saying, Give to the poor that you may be saved.

Whom is he talking to again? He's talking to the saved.

All of his instruction presupposes that the saved are already giving to those in need.

Because that is the calling of the disciples of Christ, to give to others. How does your charitable giving look different than the world's charitable giving?

Well, you give according to how God defines giving. But you also give not to glorify yourself, you give to glorify your

Father who is in heaven. And he, at the proper time, will reward you. Look at verses 3 and 4 now.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

Now that's not literally possible, but I think you understand what

Jesus is instructing here. Don't do a giving in order that it may be seen or recognized by others.

Even in yourself, to glorify yourself, you're giving something to somebody and going,

Look how good a person I am. It's not even known to you how great a person you are.

But you give out of love for the other person, and especially out of love for God. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret, our Father who sees and knows all,

He will reward you. Consider these words from 18th century theologian

Matthew Henry. It is true our alms deeds do not deserve heaven, but it is as true that we cannot go to heaven without them.

It is pure religion, James 1 .27, and it will be the test at that great day.

Christ here takes it for granted that His disciples give alms, and He will not own those who do not give alms.

Now Henry touches on something there in reference to James 1 .27, which says, Religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Now too often that reference to orphans and widows is taken so literally, we may think that we must care for orphans and for widows.

That should be the focus of our care. But throughout the Old Testament, orphans and widows were the closest examples of those who were most in need.

An orphan had no parents to take care of them, and an aging widow had no husband to take care of her.

Neither of these two, the orphaned young child or the widowed old woman, is able to care for themselves, particularly their physical needs.

That doesn't mean that those who are most in need are limited to orphans and widows.

They are simply our examples from the youngest to the oldest. You may also consider soldiers or police officers who've been injured in the line of duty and can no longer take care of themselves.

You may consider persons who have a serious disease or a physical defect that prevent them from taking care of themselves.

You may consider someone who has lost a job and is experiencing a lapse in income.

That is something that is quite common in our culture right now. You may also consider a single mom who has been abandoned by her husband.

These are just a few examples of those persons who are in need. Even if someone does not need the charity, you just want to do something nice for somebody anyway.

Do it. But don't do it expecting repayment, reward, or recognition.

We must take that which God has blessed us with on earth and use it to bless others.

And once again, all of this is in view of heaven. We as Christians are following a calling that is higher than an earthly calling.

An earthly sense of charity is often faceless and unfeeling, as we've looked at a few examples of that.

It may be emotionally driven, but it is not for those who are legitimately in need.

A heavenly sense of charity is a solemn duty that cares for people as our

Lord Christ has cared for us. He left His place in heaven. He showed us what it meant to live righteously.

And He sacrificed even His own body for us on the cross.

So what do we receive from that? The forgiveness of sins, fellowship with God, everlasting life with Him in His eternal kingdom.

Surely you have heard it said, don't be so heavenly minded that you're of no earthly good.

Have you ever heard that said before? That is a lie from the pit of hell. Instead, I tell you, be so heavenly minded that you will be of earthly good.

Be of such a heavenly mindedness that you are not holding too tightly to the things that you have here on earth, and therefore you will be all the more willing to give of those things that you have to those who are in need.

You understand what I mean? Let me give you, let me paint for you a scenario.

Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar to you. You are encountered by someone homeless.

Someone who is a beggar, someone who is asking you for money. And you believe in your heart that the right thing to do would be to reach into your pocket and give that person some money so that they can buy food or whatever else it is that they need.

But suddenly your mind interferes and says to your heart,

Whoa, hold on. How do you know that that person is not going to use that money to go buy drugs and alcohol?

After all, statistically speaking, most homeless people became homeless because of a drug addiction or an alcohol addiction, and they may even presently have some sort of a drug addiction.

So if you give them your money, you might actually do more harm than good. What would be better for you is if you were to take them over there to that restaurant or take them over there to the grocery store.

That way you know that you're spending money on the things that they actually need and they're not blowing that money on things that they don't need.

Have you ever encountered this scenario before? You've had that very war in your conscience over giving to somebody else.

But then what inevitably happens? You neither give to that person who is in need nor do you even take them to the restaurant or the grocery store.

You may even reason in your mind you need to do this for them. You need to take them to the restaurant because then you also have the opportunity to have a conversation with them and share the gospel.

Now, if you have the chance to do that, do it. I've done that before. We've had members of this congregation who have shared stories with me before of doing that for other people.

But I want to do something for you here and let me help you understand why this reasoning

I shouldn't give to them because they're going to go blow the money on drugs. I want to share with you why that reasoning doesn't work so that the next time you encounter someone begging for money you will give to them freely and you will also be free from this war of conscience in your mind that you should not give to them.

If your reasoning is that you will not give them money because they will just go buy drugs so then you take them to a restaurant or a grocery store to buy them food are you not saving them the money that they would have spent on food to now go and buy drugs?

You understand what I'm saying? So, however you reason this you're still giving them money that they would go buy drugs.

Whether you're just handing them the money or you're taking them over to the restaurant to buy them food now they're saving the money that they're otherwise going to go and buy drugs.

But my telling you this, my point here is not to discourage you from giving to them my point is to encourage you to give to them.

What they do with the money is between them and God. Don't try to reason yourself out of giving to someone who is in need.

Just give. Billy and Kristen are not here they have moved to Tennessee so I can tell this story and not worry about embarrassing them.

But some of you probably remember Billy and Kristen there was one time I was down at Walmart and there was a man there on the corner it's usually right there by where Verizon is at and somebody will stand there on the corner and will ask for gas or food or money or something like that well

I went up to a man and I didn't have anything there wasn't anything that I could bless him with but I could just go have a conversation with him.

So I went up to a man who was there with a sign and we just sat there on the curb and we started having a chat and I shared the gospel with him while we were sitting there.

Well Billy and Kristen were pulling into the parking lot and they saw me sitting there with that man on the curb and so they came over to us and sat down and joined us.

And they came over so that they could invite the man over to the what is it the Chinese buffet that's right over there family buffet and they said hey could you come with us over to family buffet we're going to go over there to eat we would love to buy you lunch.

The man said sure yeah I'd love to go with you over to lunch. And so I didn't have anything that I could give to him right there but Billy and Kristen did.

So they came in took the man over to lunch and they took him out to eat and shared the gospel with him. I followed up with them later and they said well he seemed kind of hard -hearted he wasn't really interested in the gospel that we were sharing with him but nevertheless we've done an act of kindness not to our glory but to God's glory and hopefully the seeds that we've planted will be a work that the

Holy Spirit will do in his life later on. And none of this to gain recognition from anybody.

You probably never knew that story from Billy and Kristen but I can share that now in their absence and follow along with the verse in Proverbs let somebody else praise you and not your own mouth.

Again part of what we see here in Matthew 6 is a call to heavenly mindedness and Jesus wants us to long for the kingdom of God so much that we're not clinging too tightly to our treasures that are here on earth.

Now as we will read when we get to Matthew 5 21 where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

If you know that your treasure is in heaven then you will be more generous with the things that you have here on earth.

If you have the opportunity to share the gospel with a person who is in need ultimately that's what we want, right?

Not just to care for a person's body but most especially to care for their soul because we can provide for their physical needs but their soul still be on the way to hell.

But even if you do not have the time or the opportunity to share the gospel don't let that stop you from giving because ultimately you are giving not to serve the person but ultimately to serve

God. Amen? Now having said all of this

I think that we should certainly be responsible with our giving. When I'm at the grocery I'll just give you kind of a minor example of this.

When I'm at the grocery store or the fast food place and they'll have those charities where they like tack on a dollar to your bill and they'll say something like Sir would you like to give a dollar to the

Shelter for the Breast Cancer Homeless Plaid Ribbon Society? I'm like whoa, what? I don't even know what you just said.

I almost always say no to those things because I don't have any idea what they are.

I don't just randomly give money to any charity that comes and asks me for money because if that's the way that we are then we don't have money to give to those who genuinely have a need.

You've certainly heard it said that we are to be good stewards with that which

God has given to us, right? To be a good steward means to responsibly care for the property that belongs to someone else.

So ultimately we as Christians we understand that what we have what we possess is not really ours anyway.

It all belongs to God. So we handle responsibly those things that the

Lord has given to us. We as a church, I've told you many stories before about how we as a church have cared for others who are in need.

And I won't go into a lot of those stories now and therefore kind of heap up praise for ourselves as a church.

But we've cared for strangers and we've cared for people that are even within our own congregation.

We've cared for people we know in the community and we've cared for people who are passing through. And more often than not

I would say 90 % of the time the giving that we give to another person is not received thankfully.

It is often met with and it might have like that initial, oh thank you, thank you for giving to me.

But long term they don't really care all that much for what it is that we provided.

Somehow as if we were obligated to help that person. When we share the gospel with them they're totally not interested in that.

They just want what you can give to me right now. Is that going to stop us from giving?

No. Because ultimately our giving is not to receive a heartfelt thank you from the person that we are giving to.

Our giving is ultimately because God has called us to give. And that's what we want to do.

We serve God first. And we serve others? Absolutely. But it's not to get thanks and adulation and praise from them.

Folks, I don't even go into the community to give to others hoping that it's going to gain us another member of our church.

I hope that happens. But that isn't ultimately my goal. My ultimate desire is that God's glory would be exalted.

That the gospel would be preached? Absolutely. But we do all things to the praise and glory of Christ our

King. Let me give you two very small examples. Very minor examples here at the very conclusion.

These aren't one of these big help examples, but two very small things. An example of not giving and an example of giving.

Once I was in Kansas City and a homeless man came up to me and he asked me for some money so he could go buy a

Budweiser. So he's telling me exactly what he's going to use the money for. There's no question what he's going to do with the money he just said.

And I can kind of smell it on his breath already anyway. So I said to him, no,

I'm not going to give you money so you can go buy a Budweiser. And he responded to me with a very lewd comment.

And it was one of those things that I think I even sarcastically replied, oh, well, sir, you just changed my mind.

Here's my wallet so you and your friends can go get blitzed on me. That may not have been the best response, but that was probably how

I replied to him. So there's one occasion where somebody asks, somebody who's genuinely homeless who was in need asked me for money, but he told me what he was going to do with the money.

So I wasn't going to give it to him. On another occasion,

I was in Kansas City and this time I was with my son. And we were driving, well,

I was the one driving because he's too young to drive. But we were just going down one of the busy

Kansas City streets and we came up to an intersection with a stoplight and there was a man there on the corner with a sign and all the sign said was, homeless veteran, anything helps?

And he's right there within arm's reach of my driver's side window. So I rolled down the window.

I pulled all of the cash that I had in my visor and I handed it to him. And there's not time to share the gospel.

We're just there at a stoplight. But I think I said something to him like, turn your eyes upon Jesus, friend.

And he said, thank you. And I said, God bless. He said, God bless you. And then rolled the window up, light turned green and we were on our way.

In that particular moment, I was helping two people. I was helping this man who was in need, but I was also helping my son because I wanted my son to see an example of helping someone who is in need and helping someone in such a way that I'm not receiving any recognition,

I'm not getting any payback from this guy, nothing like that. It's just handing him some money because he says that he needs it and I'm not clinging too tightly to the things that I have that I cannot help somebody who is in need.

So my son sees that our Christian responsibility is to help others, especially those who cannot pay us back.

I showed him my good deeds, not so that he would say, wow, my dad is pretty cool. Because this was just a very small example anyway.

And there's been plenty of other times where I have been stingy and haven't been as giving with my money as I should be.

But in this particular small instance, though I could not share the gospel with this man, did not have the time to do so,

I could share it with my son and tell him, here is why we should give to others who are in need.

Because God gave to us when we were in need. We could never pay back what our

Lord Christ has given to us. He has made the greatest sacrifice and has given to us the greatest treasure.

And this is so you also will be willing to sacrifice that others would benefit and great will be your reward in heaven.

We read in 2 Corinthians 8 -9, for you know the grace of our

Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich.

Now, Christ has saved us, cleansed us from our sins, given us an inheritance in His eternal kingdom with God.

But it's by His example. He did this to do more than set an example, but we nevertheless have an example that we would follow

His example and give to others. As our Lord Christ has given so much to us, may we be willing to sacrifice and give to others.

Let me conclude with a few more verses from a few more Bible teachers here.

Some great names that you might recognize. They are James, John, and Paul.

James 2 .15 -16 says this, If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed, and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what good is that?

This word from John in 1 John 3 .17 -18. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth.

And finally, this word from the Apostle Paul, which I've shared with you briefly already, Galatians 6 .10. While we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

It is in light of the gospel of Christ, of what God has given to us, that we therefore go and do likewise.

God gave to supply for our need. May we follow the example of Christ and give to others who are in need.

He stood still by mornin'

With his blood divine

Stubbless, Lamb of God, was he

Though the tongue went dead in thee

How but a stain was he to thine

In his finish was his pride

Now in death exalted high

Alleluia, what a Savior!

Our glorious King All his ransomed home to bring

Then anew this song we'll sing Alleluia, what a

Savior! Thank you for listening to our weekly sermon presented by First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City, Kansas.

For more information about our church, visit fsbcjc .org.

On behalf of our church family, my name is Becky, inviting you to join us again this week, Growing Together in Christ, when we understand the text.