No Show offs in the Kingdom — Sam Caldwell

And I trust it will really help us and challenge us and brought us on forward. So let's open to Matthew chapter six, and we're gonna read verses one through four. Let me set it up in this way. Remember what we were doing in studying this sermon.

Jesus Speaks Through the Sermon on the Mount

It's very simple. We are hearing Jesus speak to us directly. These beautiful red letter words on the page that save us, that teach us what the kingdom of God is all about. Here, we want to imagine ourselves sitting down on that mountain and looking up at our Lord and watching him as he speaks to us.

And I want to give you all this outline of the Sermon on the Mount. You can write this down. We'll try to remember to give it to you every week for the next few weeks. The Sermon on the Mount is Matthew chapter five, chapter six, and chapter seven, right?

Matthew chapter five is about our living in light of the law of God. Matthew chapter six is about our living in the presence of God. And Matthew chapter seven is about our living under the judgment of God.

But with judgment day approaching, let me give you those three things again. And I want you all to start to memorize that. That's a really good way of thinking about the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter five, the law of God.

Matthew chapter six, the presence of God. And Matthew chapter seven, the judgment of God, okay? So we're in Matthew chapter six. And what's that about? Presence, amen, the presence of God. It's the most amazing chapter.

We're going to see our Lord drive us into the presence of the Father. That's what he is emphasizing all throughout this chapter, the presence of the Father, how we live in the presence of the Father. So here we go.

Chapter six, verses one through four. So take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise ye have no reward of your Father, which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men.

Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. That thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father, which seeth in secret himself, shall reward thee openly.

Praise God. Such a beautiful text. Let's pray once again. Lord Jesus, these are your words. Lord Jesus, this is your sermon. And Lord, I ask that you just allow me to point people to your words today.

Lord, allow us to exposit your word and to hear every word here in a crystal clear way. Lord Jesus, we need the presence of the Father in this room. Lord Jesus, we need the power of the Spirit in each one of our souls.

Lord, wake us up to the glories of your word. Help us each to live in light of this scripture right here. Lord, help us to see it as very, very precious, every word that you speak right here. We bless you for your perfect and precious word, Lord.

Speak to us on that mountain. Help us to be as if we're sitting under your feet today, learning directly from you. Oh, Lord Jesus, we say hallelujah to your name. We worship you. We exalt you. We praise you, Lord.

We ask for your presence in this room. Lord, we need you. We need you. We need to learn from you, oh, prophet of God. We need you, Lord. Lord, come to us now. Get me out of the way. Get each one of us out of the way and help our lives to be consumed with Jesus, completely and utterly consumed with you, Lord.

In your name, amen. The title of this message today is No Show-offs in the Kingdom. No show-offs in the kingdom. No show-offs in the kingdom. No showing off in the kingdom. And the center of our Lord's words is in verse one.

Look at it with me. Take ye that ye do not your alms before men. Anybody have a different translation there for alms? Charitable deeds. Charitable deeds, amen. Anybody else? The charitable deeds about, yeah.

Mercy Ministries and Bringing Relief to Others

That's the center of this passage. It's about alms or charitable deeds. Literally in the Greek, the word is mercies, mercies. Have you all ever heard about a church having mercy ministries? You've heard that designation?

Mercy ministries. They get that from this verse right here. Matthew chapter six, verse one. We're talking about alms. We're talking about charitable deeds or mercies. And the idea behind mercies or mercy ministries in the Greek is this.

Bringing relief to people. Bringing relief to people. That's what that word mercy in the Greek means. Bringing relief to people. This is so vital. So before I even get to the sections of this sermon, I want you all to think about that one word and make sure you're defining it properly.

Our Lord says, take heed that ye do not your alms before men. Your charitable deeds, your alms, right? Very important. First, we should even just ask ourselves, do we do any alms at all? Do we do any charitable deeds at all?

Do we do any mercies at all? The Christian has these things going on all the time. Whatever you want to call them. Let's call them mercies. The Christian at all times in the home is doing little mercies for people.

The Christian at all times in the workplace is doing little mercies, bringing relief to people. The Christian at all times in the church is doing little mercies for people, bringing relief. And finally, in all of life, if we're Christians, we should be bringing relief to other people.

Isn't that a beautiful image? We should be relieving other people in little ways. That's at the center of this word, alms or charitable deeds. Let me give you three examples of what these charitable deeds are, and then we'll get into our sermon here.

If you go to the Thursday night community dinner downstairs, you serve a meal to someone who doesn't have fellowship, and doesn't have a meal otherwise, then what are you doing there? You're bringing relief to that person.

You're having mercy upon that person. That is a charitable deed or an alms, amen? Second example, if you see someone struggling in this church, let's say there's someone struggling with an eating disorder, you have a choice.

You can either do a mercy ministry to that person and talk to them about it and try to bring relief to the person and try to help them out of it, or you can ignore them, right? Those are the stakes of mercy ministries.

You can either try to bring relief or you ignore. Or how about this, a third example. In daily conversations, are you asking others about their needs and bringing relief to them, giving mercy to their life, or are you just talking over them and ignoring them?

I hope you all see what I'm getting at here. I'm trying to define this term that's in verse one. Take heed that you do not ignore alms, your charitable deeds, or your mercy ministries before then. The first thing I just wanted to establish is that if we are Christians, we must be doing these mercies.

And really, our life should have an aroma of them. It should be we're going through life and we're always asking, how can I bring relief to that person? How can I bring relief to that person? How can I ask them about their needs and help them out?

Shifting Our Thinking About Recognition

Okay, so you all see that word? It's so very crucial. Now, our Lord wants us to go deeper. He just assumes that we're gonna be doing mercy ministries. And now, he wants to tell us how we do them in such a way that we are children of the kingdom, okay?

So those are the stakes of this text. Now, I'm gonna give you three S words, three points for this sermon. Shift, show off, and secret. And that's gonna take us through the text right here, the first four verses.

First of all, we have to make a shift in our thinking. Second of all, our Lord is gonna teach us how to not be show-offs. And thirdly, he teaches us to be with our Father in secret, okay? So the point of this sermon is no show-offs in the kingdom.

We've talked about mercy ministries. We're trying to do mercies for people all throughout our lives. And now, our Lord teaches us how to do them in a godly way, in a Christian way, in a kingdom-minded way.

First, verse one, he calls each and every one of us to make a shift in our thinking. And this is so crucial. So read with me right now, verse one. Jesus says, take heed that ye do not your owns before men to be seen of them.

Otherwise, ye have no reward of your father, which is in heaven. Okay, first word, take heed. That's a beautiful word in the Greek. And it's the same word for when you stretch out your arm, okay, or if you wanna bring a boat into the harbor.

When you see a boat coming into the harbor, it's the same word as taking heed. In effect, our Lord Jesus is saying, Christians, this ship has to come into the harbor. Or we were just on a plane coming back from Texas.

There was all that turbulence right at the end, right? And then everybody starts to, well, feel and be actually shaking, right? And then it's such a relief when you hear the pilot come on the plane saying, it's 15 minutes to landing, right?

Stewardess says, please prepare for landing. Our Lord right here is saying, Christians, this plane must land, okay? That's what the word take heed means. You gotta get this. If you don't get this, there are eternal consequences for not getting this.

So take heed, it's like, get that ship into the harbor. Land that plane, okay? So we cannot ignore this at all. Why? Let's look. What does he say? You do not your alms before men to be seen of them. So he's telling us, you're gonna do alms, right?

You're going to do charitable deeds, these mercy ministries, but you cannot do them for recognition. That's profound. And why is that so profound? Because in Christ's day, everybody was drunk on recognition.

The Pharisees around him, drunk on recognition. And in our day, have you ever noticed that people are still and even more drunk on recognition? We want Facebook recognition for everything we do. We want Twitter recognition for everything we do.

We want Instagram recognition for everything. Even our devotional times, we want people to see. We want people to recognize. We want TikTok, I don't know much about TikTok, but we want TikTok, apparently, recognition, don't we?

In effect today, we wanna do everything to be seen. What's Christ's language right here? Before men, to be seen of them. I mean, we could say that this is a generation that is drunk on what he's telling us not to do right here.

So this is a hard plane to land, isn't it? This is a hard ship to get into the harbor because we're obsessed, are we not? I'm sure every one of us in this last week has felt some temptation to do something and then to post about it.

And if I don't post about it, I'm not even sure that I did it. Has anyone ever felt that? You don't have to raise your hands, but you know that's going on. You know that our souls are drunk on recognition.

So this is a timely word right here. And you know, the thing is, Christ is telling us this has to do with good deeds, with really good things, right? You bring mercy to me. And he says, but don't tell other people about it.

Don't do it before men. But we're drunk on even more than that, aren't we? We don't just post our good deeds. We don't just post our mercy ministries. We post when we take a bath. We post when we find something funny.

We post all of our family interactions. And I'm not saying all of those things are bad, right? But I am saying that we need to let Christ's words come and just hit us right in our heart. We need to make sure that we're not posting, what's his language right here?

Before men, to be seen of them. And if that's at all the attitude of your heart, then you better get off all those thingamabobs, whatever they're called. Okay, why else is this a hard plane to land? Let's look at what he says at the end of verse six.

Otherwise, and that's a scary otherwise. Otherwise ye have no reward of your Father, which is in heaven. I told you point one of this sermon is shift, right? You gotta make a shift in your thinking. And what Christ is saying right here is this.

If you don't make this shift of thinking, you have no reward. Commentators are divided on this, wondering if Christ in verse one is talking about, is he saying, you won't get any heavenly benefits? Or is he saying, you won't even get to heaven?

And I think he's saying both. He's saying, if you don't make this shift in your thinking and stop doing things for recognition, you could get to heaven and have no rewards whatsoever. But he's also saying, if you don't make this shift in thinking, that's so vital for the Christian soul, you could get to the gates and have no heaven whatsoever.

You see it there? Otherwise ye have how much reward? How much reward? If you're still looking for recognition, you get a little bit of reward with your Father? No, he says you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

So this is super serious. My first point for us was, you have to make this shift in your thinking. You have to land this plane. Amen? Second, show off. So he's basically told us what has to happen. You gotta make this shift.

Rejecting Outward Showmanship

And now in verses two and three, he says, this is how you stop being show offs. This is the method. This is how to stop showing off. Let's follow our Lord. What he says here is so beautiful and so convicting.

Verse two, therefore, okay? So he's told us what to do. Now he says, here's how you practice it. When thou doest thine alms, do not. Now I want you all to just gather these images right here. Do not sound a trumpet before thee.

Here I come, here I come, everybody watch me. Isn't that a beautiful image? Don't do that. Don't go around your lives saying, watch me, watch me, watch me. I need your approval. It's like a funny image, isn't it?

Do not sound a trumpet before thee. Look at these other images. As the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, that they may have glory of men. There's the second image. They're trying to get glory.

They're trying to get weight. They're trying to get purpose in their lives. From where? From men, from other people. They sound the trumpet and they're saying, if only someone would affirm me. If only someone would give glory to my life.

If only someone else would show me that my life matters. Would make it so that my life is serious. Our Lord is just pegging us with these beautiful images. And there's a third one here, let's read. End of verse two, he says, verily I say unto you, they have their reward.

What does Christ mean when he says that? You've all read him saying that many times, haven't you? When he looks at the Pharisees and says, they have their reward, what he means is, they get a reward in this life and then they go to hell.

Have you all noticed that? Look at all the places where Christ says they have their reward. And what he's saying is, they have a voluntary reward. They might look real good for a few weeks or months or days and then they perish in the flames of hell.

That's always implied in his phrase. So think of all those images. You want to sound the trumpet for him? You want to get affirmation from other people? And you want to have a little reward that lasts just for a time and then you go to hellfire?

Christ is saying, no, give that up. So verse two, mark this down, brothers and sisters. He tells us to stop showing off in this way. Stop showing off before others. Stop showing off before others. It's as simple as that.

Don't get your glory from others. Don't sound your trumpet before others. Don't get your reward from others. I had two cousins, I'm not gonna name them by name, but one was a show off and the other one was quiet.

The one, we went skateboarding together. I could never really skateboard, but he would always show off. He would always say, someone watch me. He'd sound the trumpet and then he'd say, someone grade me, right?

He wants glory from someone else. And then he'd get his reward right then, right? Everybody's watching, I'm so awesome. The other cousin was just quiet. He'd go skateboard by himself. And now he's a very successful carpenter because he's just steady.

And he's not looking for other people to affirm him. He's just moving on. The lesson of verse two is stop showing off to others. And is that enough for everyone? Well, Christ wants to bring us even deeper.

Rejecting Self-Recognition

In verse three, he says, don't only stop showing off for others, stop showing off to yourself. Well, this is what we really, really need. We need this to just pierce our souls. Verse three, but when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.

That's amazing. You all catching this? Not only should you not show off to one another, but internally, you should not show off to yourself. You shouldn't have this little hand over here looking at this hand and saying, wow, you're amazing.

Or this hand over here saying, well, look what you just did, right? This hand gives, and then this hand comes in and says, oh, this hand is giving so well. Or this hand comes in and gives mercy to someone.

And the other part of your soul says, wow, you're amazing. You all see what I'm getting at? Verse two, stop showing off to others. Verse three, stop showing off to yourself. And this is where it gets so difficult.

Imagine a man who is not outwardly fideful or outwardly showy, but is inwardly calculating. Does that describe any of you? You never sound the trumpet before you. You never ask others to affirm you. But deep in your mind, you're saying, I did that?

I'm pretty amazing. I deserve some recognition. I'm too prideful to ask for recognition from someone else. But deep in my mind, I'm saying, I wanna recognize myself. That's where our Lord has taken us in verses two and three.

Isn't that beautiful? Stop showing off to others, but that's not enough. He goes straight for the state of our hearts and says, don't even let your hand show off to your other hand. Don't have internal show off syndrome, amen?

Jesus Christ is the best teacher. I don't need to say anything about this passage. You all can just go read it for yourselves. It's so crystal clear. He moves us from thinking about those Pharisees and their outward showing off to this most beautiful image that everybody, even non-Christians know that, don't they?

Don't let your left hand know what your right hand's doing. Well, we gotta just say, you know what that really means? Don't show off to yourself. We talked about making a shift in verse one. We talked about his method for ceasing to show off in verses two and three.

Living Before the Father in Secret

And let's end with this, the secret in verse four. Read it with me. That thine alms may be in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret himself, shall reward thee openly. The final thing we have to learn here is this purpose clause.

Christ says, I've been talking about all of this so that your alms may be in secret. Or so that your mercy ministries may be in secret. He's been trying to drive home the point that here is the final purpose.

So that ultimately, you're only doing this between you and God. And that's the place we really wanna get to, brothers and sisters. Your mercy ministries must ultimately only be between you and God. Think of what I mentioned at the start of this sermon.

You go to the Thursday night community dinner. People are gonna see you, right? And you're gonna know that you did. But you have to make sure you don't sound the trumpet. And you have to make sure that you don't congratulate yourself on it.

And finally, right here, you have to make sure that you're ultimately only doing it before God, your father. So, isn't that a beautiful lesson? In verse four, Jesus locks out everyone else. He says, you lock out those other people.

You lock out even your own self-recognition and you're only before your father in heaven. That thy alms may be in secret. And thy father, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly. I love that last phrase, your father.

He's watching you in secret. He's watching the very intents of your heart. And what does he promise to do? Your father promises to reward you. And where is he gonna reward you? I don't know. But Christ says, openly.

And I think that means two things. It means, one, in this life, the reward is gonna come and it's gonna be obvious and it's gonna be a blessing and it's going to build you up. And then finally, in heaven, he's going to reward you openly.

You're gonna meet your father and he's just going to bless you to your face. I wanna give us seven brief applications to drive home this message. And I wanna give you seven applications to drive you into point three, into this secret place with the father.

Because all of us could get the message of this sermon, but we could miss point three. All of us could make this shift in thinking and say, okay, I don't wanna be a show off. All of us could seek to be hypocrites.

We could cease to be hypocrites. Then all of us could cease to congratulate ourselves, right? But the final purpose is verse four, which is that you start to live a life of blessing in the presence of your father.

That's what I was telling you all that chapter six of Matthew is all about. It's all about living in the presence of your father. So I'm gonna give you these seven applications. Take them home. Take them home.

Seven Applications for Secret Acts of Mercy

First, enjoy the thrill of doing good in secret. Has anybody ever enjoyed that thrill? Just there's something very thrilling about doing things when no one else knows. Two, do some good things and don't tell anyone.

Anyone ever done that? You don't have to tell me. Just do something good. Offer mercy to someone else, someone on the street, and then don't post about it. Don't tell anyone about it. Don't tell your spouse about it.

Just keep it in secret. Third, look forward to the mysterious open rewards from your father in this life. I love them. Look forward to them. He promises, right, you're gonna do things quietly, in secret.

You're not gonna seek glory from others. And one day, he's just gonna bless you. He's gonna bless you. And I'm sure he's done it to all of you. We want that more and more. And quiet in what I do, but the father is open in what he does.

And in how he blesses us. Fourth, let there be many things in your life that only you and God know. Think about it. Are there things in your life that you do not talk to your kids about or to your spouse about?

It's only between you and God. Even a conviction you have, an assurance you have, knowing something you did in the past and you're looking for it to have some ramifications in the future. Only you and God know.

Live that way, Christians. Live that way. Fifth, cultivate the intimacy and the sensitiveness of this passage. Hasn't it been a beautiful passage to study? Each line here just sculpts us. It sculpts our souls to the point where we're intimate and we're sensitive to the things of God.

That's why Christ speaks this way. Sixth, check yourself every time you realize that you want recognition. You know, if you're having a nice devotional time and the first thought that comes to you is, oh, that's a cool scripture, I'm gonna post it on Facebook.

Check yourself. Don't do it. Or you could do it, as long as your heart is right and you've checked yourself and you've gotten rid of that desire to blow your trumpet before men. You see what I'm saying?

And seventh, instead of all that we've talked about, seek recognition from your Father alone. And this gives us that childlike attitude, doesn't it? I want recognition from my Father in heaven. And in order to get that, I gotta cut off all other channels.

And I just wanna be His child. And I want Him to see me. I don't want you all to see me. I don't want other people to see me. I want my Father to see me. That makes us children of the King, doesn't it?

Makes that shift, Christians. Stop being show-offs, Christians. And live in secret, Christians. Amen? Let's pray. Lord Jesus, You are good to us and Your words are so deep, Lord. Your words are so convicting.

And we love You, Lord, that You would start our lives in such an intimate and sensitive way so that we would live before the presence of our Father. Lord, we love You for this. We praise You for this forever.

Please make us more like this passage here, Lord. Please take away that desire we have to sound the trumpet, that desire we have to recognize ourselves even, Lord. Please take it all away and bring us into intimate fellowship with our Father.

Please, Lord, do that this summer as we're outside. Bring us into fellowship with our Father, Lord. In Your name, amen.