Motivation Matters (Matthew 6:1-4)

Motivation Matters in the Sermon on the Mount

Good morning. It is so wonderful to be with you all especially on this Lord's Day. Where we get to spend time in the Word of God together. I pray that our time would be edifying that we would learn from God's truth.

And so it's exciting to me to be able to continue along in our study of the Sermon on the Mount. Pastor Nathan has said many times that this is the greatest sermon ever preached and it's by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And so we are transitioning from Matthew chapter 5 into Matthew chapter 6. We've learned so many wonderful truths back in Matthew chapter 5 like starting out with the B attitudes. What it looks like for a man or woman of God to be blessed.

Truly blessed with God by faith in the only Savior Jesus Christ. And we realized that to have a blessed relationship with God is to find Contentment to find contentment in the things that he has given to us in his Word.

We have peace with God by faith in Jesus Christ. And so we are blessed we find happiness true contentment in the things of the Lord. And what Jesus was doing with the B attitudes is he's saying Contentment is totally upside down from the ways of the world.

We find happiness with the things of God in our relationship with him and the world looks to wealth. They look to power influence. These are the things that they think ultimately will bring happiness.

But they won't and so Jesus is presenting a totally counter cultural way of life with the B attitudes and that follows Into being salt in light as Christians. We shine bright in this dark and devious world because we've been changed by the gospel.

We are now walking with the only Savior. And so how we engage the world is different. They look to us and say why do you live that way? How can you have this peace that surpasses all understanding in the midst of trial in the midst of hardship?

And we tell them about our gracious God and the gospel that has the power to forgive sin and to transform lives and so on. Matthew chapter 5. After we learned that Jesus came to completely fulfill the law of God.

He is also able to shed light on the proper interpretation of the Mosaic law and as he did that he corrected the misinterpretation of the Pharisees. And so we see six different examples where Jesus is constantly bringing it back to the heart showing that the righteousness that pleases God is a heart.

Righteousness a heart that desires to give God glory in all circumstances. So Jesus in Matthew chapter 5. Building up to the last few verses. Jesus is correcting the Misunderstanding of the Pharisees and their understanding of the Mosaic law.

And so here in chapter 6 the Pharisees heart were was also focused. Wrongly their way of life was to receive praise from men. And so Jesus corrects their heart of worship. They he's coming to show how they've completely missed the mark in terms of living life and what that looks like in a religious Context.

So if you would turn with me and your copy of God's Word to Matthew chapter 6 I want us to examine the opening four verses together this morning. There we read Jesus says 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's pray again this morning Heavenly Father.

We just want to lift your holy name and praise you for all of who you are. Lord, I pray that you would bless our time together as we delve deep into your word. What I pray that your Holy Spirit would go forth and cause people to be able to have ears to hear and Lord I pray that we would remove all distractions.

That we'd learn from your word to realize what it means where the Pharisees got it wrong. Why they lived their lives to please others where God you tell us to live our lives in such a way to give you glory.

Jesus we pray these things in your name. Amen. Well, I'm not one to typically have a sermon title a lot of times I like to just have a number of verses and say hey, we're just gonna examine these things.

But the more I was sitting in our passage of Scripture.

I.

Thought you know what there is a title that I would love for us to have at the forefront of our minds and the title. The sermon is this motivation Matters and it's because God is actually concerned with the intention of our heart, right?

God is not necessarily pleased with how good we keep a list of do's and don'ts and the things that we do. Yes, we ought to love our neighbor as we love ourself but God can see right through that he can see to the heart to see if it's Genuine if it's a heart that wants to glorify him or he can see if your heart wants to glorify Yourself and so this is a very important matter.

That's why Jesus begins in verse 1 with a strong warning. He says beware. Now this really is a strong word. He is saying be on guard pay careful attention. He is saying beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.

Jesus is saying be extremely careful when you do good works. Because he's trying to show is this coming from a heart that wants to please man by pleasing yourself. Or is this a heart that seeks to glorify God now?

I tend to be a very literal person. And so when Jesus says beware of practicing your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. I think we got to be careful with this, you know hyper literal mindset because we may say well I guess I can't help anybody out because they're gonna see me.

They at least the person that I'm helping is gonna see me do that. And really that's not the point that Jesus is getting it here. That would be absurd if he is saying if anyone were to ever see you do something then don't do it.

Jesus is not Instructing us to never help somebody else out. And to avoid being perceived as noble or doing something kind.

In fact.

Jesus said something very similar back in Matthew chapter 5 verse 16 and we have to look at Matthew 6 1 and Matthew 5 16 Together because at first it seems like they're rubbing up against each other. But we have to understand that they are harmonizing with one another.

If you would look with me back a page in your Bible to Matthew 5 16 Jesus had this to say about good works. Let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your father Who is in heaven?

Now here Jesus is saying people see us live in this world as being salt and light. They should be asking us. Why do you live the way that you do? Something is different about you and in those moments as we are Loving on other people doing good works.

We point back to our father in heaven and we give him glory. We tell them about how our wonderful gracious God has radically changed our life. And what I want you to see is it's all back to the motivation of the heart.

Why are you doing good works? Why are you loving your neighbor as yourself? And as we see Matthew chapter 5 says it's always to give God glory. And so here in Matthew chapter 6 Jesus is warning about the motivation for doing good works or righteous deeds in order to receive praise from other men.

Now the biggest example of a people group that did this was the Pharisees. Their motivation for obeying the Mosaic law and doing pious religious acts was actually not to glorify God rather they did this to get praise from other men because really they were seeking to glorify Themselves.

Now, this is very clear by our Lord Jesus. He actually says later in Matthew's Gospel He rebukes the Pharisees and says this people honors me with their lips. But their heart is far from me in vain. Do they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men?

And so I want you to see that God is not impressed with the Pharisees when they Stand on the street corners and they pray loudly or when they give Good things to people in need. God is not impressed because he sees straight to the heart your motivation for doing these things actually Matters.

God wants your heart to love him with all of your heart soul mind and strength. And so if we are going to help other people and to do good works We must desire to glorify God in every aspect of life. And that is only possible by putting our faith in Jesus Christ because he is the only Savior.

And in fact, if you're not looking to Jesus to give him glory. Then everything that we do is actually detestable in the sight of God. Now you may say everything. Absolutely, the Apostle Paul said in Romans 14 23 for whatever does not proceed from faith faith in Christ is.

Sin.

And I want you to think about that. That means that if you're not resting in Christ looking to him as the Savior. Whatever you do, even if it's moral. Even if it's helping out somebody else in need it is detestable in God's sight.

The Bible tells us that our righteous deeds are like filthy rags before God. Why is that? Well, that's because it's tainted with sin. That means that there were selfish motives involved in helping other people it's because we want to glorify ourself in some way shape or manner and.

So this is really important as we are analyzing all the false religions of the world or humanistic Philosophy because everybody in some shape or form will say well Hey, you need to follow the golden rule.

And so what is the golden rule? It's treat others the way that you would like to be treated and what the world will say either worldly religions that are false. Or humanistic philosophy, they will say as long as you're doing the golden rule.

It does not matter the reason why you are doing it and friend that is wrong. That is absolutely wrong and it is on biblical. We really only have two options because God sees straight to the heart. He sees our motivation and intention.

And so when you are doing the golden rule, you are either Doing it to glorify yourself or you are doing it to glorify God. The reason behind the actions actually matter to God. And so as I was thinking about this concept, I want to share with you just a brief story a number of months ago I was actually having a conversation with a Professing Christian who's a handful of years older than me if I can say it that way and we had a really good conversation.

He said I think the younger generation They ought to tip their servers at restaurants two or three times. More than what they usually do and when I heard this, I mean, that's that's a good thing. I was agreeing.

I thought man, that is a commendable thing to tip your servers more than we actually do. And so that would be a form of the golden rule. How could I argue with that? And so I responded in the moment by saying that would be really nice.

I guess it's a matter of the heart and then he goes on to say I believe to whom much is given much is Required and if you know me, I'm thinking isn't that a Bible verse somewhere? And but I was just so I was.

I thought we were on the same page. I agreed with him and said yes, we should always seek to glorify God through blessing others. And as as I was studying through the sermon out of the time, I said this as well.

I said not helping others for the sake of being a good person because that would be vain and empty. And what he said next actually caught me off guard because I thought we were on the same page and we really weren't.

He said well if trying to be a good person and helping others is vain. Then I guess I'm just a vain person. And that struck me because I thought we were on the same page that yes We should exercise the golden rule if I was a server.

Then I would want other people to tip me more for working hard to serve them. But there's something wrong with the thinking that says I want to help others in order to be a good or better.

Person.

Friend hear me say that this is the philosophy of humanism that it's a mankind's goal to self Remediate and become better without any reference or help from God and so a common cliche that has emerged out of this humanism is Just be good for goodness sake and friend.

That is a meaningless statement. That is unreasonable. What does that mean? What is goodness? Surely man doesn't get to determine what goodness is. You may say you may have a definition of what goodness is, but that may be different from this person's understanding or definition of goodness.

Man does not get to determine what is good and what is bad and what is right and what is wrong? No God. He is the standard of goodness. Goodness reflects the unchanging character of God and guess what?

He gets to inform us how we ought to live in this world and how we are to interact with one another. And so Christians we have an underlying Reason for why we ought to do good works like tip our servers more and help other people in need and it is always to glorify God.

The scriptures are very clear about this the Apostle Paul says so whether you eat or you drink or whatever you do. Like tip your servers do all to the glory of God. And so as I was talking more to this gentleman, I'll spare you all the details to this conversation.

I told him that we must seek to help others in the context of praising and glorifying God. Now I felt like I should have get a Resounding amen from this individual, but instead he said well, I just don't think about it as deeply as you do Friends.

No, this is somebody that's walking with the Savior that is filled with the Spirit. We are constantly praying for opportunities in order to bless others to be able to point them back to the the Savior.

Not to try to be a better person. Right if we know ourselves at all and if we have read God's Word even a little bit I am NOT good. We understand that no one seeks after God. None is righteous. None is good except God and him alone.

And so we must think deeply as we are walking in life. And I don't even think it's thinking very deeply to try to give God glory in every circumstance. But even apart from that I do think God wants us to think deeply about the things we do in this life.

We are called to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts and with all of our mind. So that means we ought to be critically thinking we ought to be Discerning as we are going about in this world and we do this in such a way where we commune with God wherever we go in spirit from the heart and in truth a mind that is informed by God's revelation given to us and So a Christian's heart desire is always to glorify God in whatever we do.

We want him to be honored with our life. And so I want us to ask a question. I want us to ask ourselves. What is our Motivation motivation for what what is your motivation for coming to church? What is your motivation for reading the scripture?

What is your motivation for living life? And I think it boils down to one of two answers. Is your driving force for why you want to help others and do good works? Is it to glorify yourself or ultimately does your heart belong to Christ?

And are you wanting him to be honored with your life? Now understand a lot of us can fake it till we make it a lot of us are good about putting on a mask and fooling Everyone around us and we will get more into this, but you can't fool God.

God knows God knows the intention of the heart. So with that being said look back with me to verse 1 Jesus says 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 I want to I want you to look at this phrase with me. Jesus says to be seen or to be noticed now this word in the Greek is very interesting. It's the a oh my the a oh my it shares a similar root meaning to the to another Greek word of Theatron this is the word we get in English of theater.

And so I believe Jesus is using this imagery to almost paint a picture of somebody on a stage to be seen. Right when someone steps on a stage and all the attention goes to that person on stage. And so I think about the Pharisees right?

He is saying beware of practicing your righteousness in such a way to be on stage to be displayed before man, and so I think what further drives this imagery is also in verse 2 Jesus says 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. Now the Pharisees they were committed to putting on an absolute show Before other people and it's interesting that Jesus uses the word hypocrites here.

Hypocrites this word literally means to be an actor on a stage. In fact in classical Greek this word is used to refer to an actor on a stage who puts on a mask. To conceal their identity because they are assuming a role.

They are playing a part that is not true to who they really are. Wow, that really brings out the word hypocrite doesn't it? It's someone who puts on a mask and so Jesus is referring to the Pharisees. Perhaps they are the number one example of a particular people that are putting on an outward show.

Concealing their true identity concealing where their heart truly lies. And as Jesus describes the Pharisees here it almost doesn't seem real he says thus when you give to the needy sound no trumpet before you and Like I said, this almost doesn't sound real but sin.

Self-righteousness pride puffs up in such a way. Well, you will do extreme things to put on a show before other people and so when we read this imagery, right? They are sounding a trumpet someone they're basically saying to everyone look at me.

It's as ridiculous and absurd is if right before we take up the offering is if I was right here with the offering Basket just pouring my money in there saying hey everybody you really need this money, right?

And I just throw in there and I'm probably giving more than the rest of you. That's why you need my money so much. That's what the Pharisees did. They went up to the street probably to an alleyway. Where there was a lot of people in need beggars and they would probably say hey, I'm here your Savior.

Come look at me. Let me give you and provide for you. Look how awesome I am so that is what is going on here and We see that it is putting on a show before other people it's putting on a show and putting on a mask concealing your true Identity right, but God sees the heart.

So back in verse 2 Jesus says truly I say to you the Pharisees these people that are filled up on their own Self-righteousness to display it before others. They have received their reward. Now you may say so if I act like a Pharisee there's a reward in this deal for me.

Yes, there is a reward but it's a earth. It's an earthly reward. It's an earthly treasure that has no eternal value. It's something that is vain and fleeting and will not last. That's the kind of reward that the Pharisees received.

This reward is receiving praise from other people and that's it and friend. Let me just tell you a lot of people do not like it when somebody brags about themselves or puts on a show. And so I just want you to think about how lousy of a reward that truly is.

If your heart is set on pleasing yourself and praising or getting praise from others Jesus said back in verse 1 then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven. Jesus saying you have completely missed everything.

You may be going to church. You may be doing good works. You may be doing the golden rule. But you have missed what it means to truly serve the Lord if you are looking at yourself. And so friend, please do not tell yourself well, I have no idea who Jeremiah is talking about here.

But I hope all these Pharisees in the room are listening to him. Please don't say that because The person that's convinced that they are not a Pharisee in any way shape or form is perhaps the biggest Pharisee of all.

We are all Warring against the lust of our flesh. And so we understand that we have to war against these pharisaical tendencies in our life now. I love what pastor Nathan has said is that really all of us who have been saved by the grace of God is that We are recovering legalists.

We fight that temptation to do something good and we maybe even share the gospel with somebody. But what's something that we do in our heart? Sometimes we say good job Jeremiah. You do exactly what you're supposed to do.

We got a war against being a Pharisee. We are all susceptible to them. But there is good news Jesus gets here is there is a way to help other people in such a way to glorify God. How can we do that? Look with me at verse 3 Jesus says but when you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what your right hand Is doing so I want to emphasize he's talking about on a personal level.

Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. And so I think it's pretty obvious that the imagery here if someone is sounding a trumpet. We realize that you're trying to get attention from other people and that is not the way to glorify God.

But there's so many times a less Obvious trumpeter going on. We don't actually have a real trumpet and we don't always have a crowd surrounding us. But we are sounding a trumpet and it's in the quietness of our hearts and we're giving ourself.

Props.

And I think that's what Jesus is getting at here. Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, right? It takes more work to use two hands to sound a trumpet and bring special attention to yourself.

Right now that's obviously wrong. But in the quietness quietness of our heart. We may be helping somebody with the right hand, but secretly in our heart. We're taking out that notepad with our left hand and writing those notes.

Good job on this particular day. You helped this person out and you did such a fantastic job. And so we sound a trumpet on the inside. And so that's not that's not what we're called to do. We are called to love the Lord in such a way that when we're able to be salt and light.

That's just what we do. It's a natural way of life because we are God's children. So also I think that this is a proverbial saying this is probably a common expression in this ancient time of Jesus where they would say do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

And so what pastor Nathan has done a good job in these past number of weeks has been showing us in this ancient culture. The right side was preferred. It was honorable to do something with the right side.

And so Jesus has emphasized a number of times he's talked about the right eye. He's talked about the right hand and turning of the right cheek. The right side is a side of honor. And so when we really get into the context of this culture I believe what's being talked about here is that as you're going about your day-to-day life.

You work with the right hand, right? That is just something you naturally do you work with the right hand and then when you help someone you do it with the right? This would be a normal activity to help somebody out and you don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

You don't use that extra effort to give yourself special attention when someone's in need you help them with the right hand. You do day-to-day tasks with the right hand if someone needs help again, you help them.

You don't bring any more special attention. And so I think the idea is when you start to use both hands when you're letting your left hand know what your right hand Is doing you are starting to look to yourself.

And so you may be a super literal person like me. And I understand he's not saying literally let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. They don't know right but this particular context is everything was done by the right side.

And we're not to give any more special attention in our day-to-day walk. So the point Jesus once again is getting at is that helping other people should be a natural way of life. Christians we are called to be salt and light in this world.

So we came when we come across someone in need. What do we do we show them the love of Christ and will you experience blessing in that? Absolutely. Jesus said that it's more blessed to give than receive.

But when we do something we move on when we help someone else out. We continue on in our daily life and we give it no more special attention. We don't wait around for recognition for that person that we helped and we don't make those mental notes about how good we think we are and It doesn't matter if that person is grateful or ungrateful.

Our purpose is to show others the love of Christ. So look back with me at verse 3 Jesus says. But when you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what? Your right hand is doing so that you're giving may be in secret.

So we've been kind of talking about two extremes that go on when it when it comes to giving. Number one. We've been really talking about we do not give for show like the Pharisees did to draw attention to themselves.

And we mentioned this a little bit earlier. Number two a person can feel guilty. If they were actually seen by somebody when they did something kind and we really have to guard ourselves. From this mindset when we read what Jesus says so that you're giving may be in secret.

There are some people that might feel guilty if they can't do something to help others from a purely anonymous Context and so this person may conclude. Well, if I can't do this purely anonymously, then I'm just not going to help them at all.

And so that's a wrong understanding of this text member motivation matters. Jesus once again said in Matthew 5 16 let your light shine Before others that they may see your good works one. To give glory to your father who is in heaven this giving in secret always goes back to a matter of the heart.

Why are you helping somebody else? Is it to glorify God or is it to glorify itself? And so the Bible always drives everything back to the heart issue. 2nd Corinthians 9 7 says each one must give as he has decided in his heart.

Not reluctantly not under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. And so I really want us to capture this whole thought again in verse 3 look with me at verses 3 and 4. 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. And so we kind of get some clues here about the Trinity. Don't we we see God the Son Jesus Christ. He is modeling to us teaching us how we are ought to truly give from the heart and he is doing this in Relationship to the father.

Jesus is being a perfect example to us and we see that the father sees all things. He even sees the motivation of your heart that seeks to give him glory. Even if it's tucked away in the secret place of your heart.

Guess what God sees that God knows it all too well, and I believe that is a wonderful truth. The Bible teaches very clearly in Hebrews chapter 4 that no creature is hidden from God's sight. But all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account one day God sees all things and his presence is felt by all things and Many of you know that I get the honor and privilege of teaching with the youth on Wednesday night.

And this is a statement that I would I would make of saying God sees everything and his presence is everywhere and you know what The youth is gonna say. Oh, yeah. Well, what about in hell does he see everything that goes on in there?

It's his presence even in the depths of hell and I would and they just tend to ask me a good question. I mean, let me say this to the youth they are hungry for a theology and it is such an honor and a privilege to Talk with them about these things and they tend to ask me questions all the time that I'm just like hey I don't know, but I will look into that.

We will learn this together. But that's the kind of questions I get from the youth and it is awesome. And if they did ask me is God's presence even in hell, does he even see everything that happens in hell?

I would say yes. And the Bible actually speaks very clearly to this in the Old Testament. The psalmist says in Psalm 139 Where shall I go from your spirits or for where shall I flee from your presence if I ascend into heaven?

You are there if I make my bed and shield you are there. Jesus in the New Testament put it this way He said do not fear man who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul rather fear God who can destroy both body and soul in hell and The reason why I want to take a moment to talk about this is this is not a popular thought today that God is in Control of what goes on in hell.

It is his hell and this is probably contrary to popular thought in churches. I've been to some of these local church plays and as Unbelievers are being held accountable for their sin and going into the lake of fire.

What you see depicted is Satan with a pitchfork and his demons like ready to receive these people so they can torture him. Friend that is not what the Bible teaches hell is there because God is perfectly just and God is holy holy.

Holy.

Hell is felt by the perfect justice and holiness of God against law breakers. And I believe the hottest part of hell will be filled up with Satan. I think he will experience that. And Everyone who departs from this life not having their sin forgiven by the only Savior Jesus Christ and faith alone in him Will be there as well.

They will all experience divine wrath against the one who sees all things. This is why the writer of Hebrew says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And so our main point here is that the father God the father he sees all things.

His presence is felt by all things and God the father knows all things. He is Omniscient and this goes the same for God the Son and God the Spirit, right? We worship a triune God. I want us to be captivated by the truth to be in all and wonder of what God has done.

And so this is a magnificent reality that God the triune God is omniscient. He knows all things and so imagine if we woke up each and every morning. With this reality at the forefront of our mind that God sees my entire life and he knows.

I think that that would transform How we live our day-to-day life. We would desire to be holy as our father is holy. We would seek to give him glory and all that we do because he sees it. He knows even the attentions of our hearts.

We are ever present in the gaze of our Creator. And so there's two kinds of people that live on this world and this is important to note. You got the Saints and you got the ain'ts, right? You have unbelievers and you have Believers for unbelievers.

They are constantly under the watch of the Creator as the righteous judge and he will not be mocked. They will give an account of Their entire life before the righteous judge one day. But for us for those of us that are in Christ We are under the Creator's care and provision with him being our heavenly father.

That's why Jesus goes on to say in verse 4. And your father who sees in secret will reward you.

Now.

Many of you are in our discipleship groups called soul care. And a hermeneutical principle that we're learning as we look at a text is we make observations. We ask okay, how are we to interpret this? What did the original author mean when they said what they said and what is the takeaway?

Principle here and then what is the application for our lives? And so as I read this text, I asked the question what kind of reward is Jesus talking about here? And so I think this reward includes two aspects.

I think this reward is Talking about the blessings that we receive here and now on earth and he's also talking about eternal Blessings and so if you have a good old King James Bible or the New King James Bible translation.

This verse is rendered just a little bit differently and I want to bring this to your attention. The King James says your father who sees in secret will himself reward you Openly now as I was studying this I was looking into the Greek language.

There is a Greek word for the word openly and what we notice is this is actually not found anywhere in the text. So what this means is that this is an interpretive choice by the translators? And I actually think that they were on to something.