The Christian's Life in Secret - Giving — Tim Conway

The Sermon on the Mount and the Kingdom of Heaven

We are in an ongoing study, the Sermon on the Mount. We find ourselves right at the beginning of chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6. This is the first sermon from this chapter. If you basically boil down Matthew chapter 6, you're going to find that the vast majority of this chapter, in fact we might say all of it, pertains to prayer and fasting and to giving money, wealth, possessions, food, clothing.

The whole chapter deals with these things. Now the first 18 verses are very unique, and then that which follows is unique. We really break this chapter up into two sections. But remember, our Lord is teaching us about the kingdom of heaven.

I want you to pick up reading with me in Matthew 5 .48. I want to pick up that last verse, because obviously when Jesus was first speaking this, there was no chapter division. He just said this at the end of Matthew chapter 5.

You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Jesus is dead serious. Then chapter 6, beware of practicing your righteousness. In other words, as you're striving after that imitation of your heavenly Father, beware.

There's something to watch out for. Don't practice 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.

Hearing and Doing the Words of Christ

Is Jesus Lord? Very basic question. But see, not just answering with a quick yes is sufficient to Christ. Because you know what He says. You call me Lord and you don't do what I say. In other words, there's a contradiction.

If you call me Lord, you should act like you believe I really am. But when you don't submit to Him, you don't actually live like you believe He's Lord. That's a good question. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things I say?

Now listen, when we get to the end of this Sermon on the Mount, everyone who hears these words of mine, which these are included that we're going to look at today, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, is like the wise man who built his house on the rock.

And you know there's a storm coming. The rains fall, the flood comes, and the guy that's built his house on the rock, it stands. This is a person who hears and does. What's my point here? I'm going to talk to you about some of the words from this sermon that Jesus is referring to very specifically.

And I want you all, each one of you, you know what you don't want to do? You don't want to be a sermon hearer only. Something should change. Something should constantly be changing in your life when you hear these words.

In mine as well. We should be challenged by these. A change should take place. So, who among us is going to hear and bow to Christ as Lord? That's it. And who's going to say, Lord, and not do these things?

Pursuing Perfection With Spiritual Alertness

Now, did you catch the transition? The reason I read 48 is this. This jumps out. Be perfect, beware. Don't you like that? Be perfect, beware. Be perfect, but be careful. That's where he's going at. Be perfect, but be in a state of alert.

Be perfect, but pay close attention to how you pursue that perfection. Because the reality is this. Not everything that appears to be good and right is actually good and right. There are a whole lot of religious things that people do that God doesn't approve of at all.

That's why he's saying beware. I don't know if you have this. Do you get beware of dog signs here? You don't really have dogs here like we have in the U .S. Where you've got pit bulls and rottweilers that are on chains and running around in the yard.

And ready to devour you if you take a track to the door. Here everybody's dogs are very well mannered. It's very rare you see any dog out of order here. But in the U .S. you get beware of dog signs. You ever get those here?

Okay. Yeah, a little pipsqueak of a dog. But anyway, beware. I mean, listen. Going to church feels right. I mean, that's a religious thing that people do. You know, a guy asked me that yesterday. Did anybody see the guys that were wearing the kilts?

Yes. Yeah, they were a rough bunch. And I was talking to the guy about the truth. And he said, do you go to church each week? You see, that's kind of the measure, right? A lot of people, Christianity, we're going to measure it by do you go to church?

Well, the reality is if we really want to know what a man and a woman is before God, it's not really whether they go to church or not. Our Lord says not so fast there. If you really want to see what someone is, look at them in the secret place.

The Secret Place and Self-Examination

Look at who people are when no one is watching. That's really what these first 18 verses are all about. If you're really interested in perfection, don't primarily consider life in the church. That's important, undoubtedly.

But find out who and what people are in secret. Look at these first 18 verses. Two words characterize this section. It's these two words, in secret. And you see them repeatedly, six times. And what I've entitled this sermon is, The Christian's Life in Secret, Part 1, Giving.

So I don't know how many parts there's going to be yet, but I just know this is Part 1. Our Lord is here touching on something that is going to help each one of us to really know ourselves. Do you remember the Apostle Paul?

He said, examine yourselves, whether you're in the faith. Test your own selves. It is important for us, listen, if you really care, this is kind of like physical health. You know, if you've got something, like one of the elders in San Antonio that just found out that his wife has a tumor around her heart, Hodgkin's lymphoma.

You know, there are people who just ignore things. You know, they have some kind of pain, or they have something wrong, or they're out of breath, or they get a cough, and they ignore it. We don't want to do that spiritually.

You know what, that's detrimental physically. It can be very, very, very detrimental spiritually, just to ignore things. Examine yourselves. But you know what, this is exactly what the world doesn't want to do.

And I'm talking the lost out there, they don't want to examine themselves. They don't really want to know the true case of their situation. But you know what happens in the church. Oftentimes you get people in the church, you get religious people, they don't want to examine themselves either.

Why? Because it's very uncomfortable. It takes you into a realm that can be devastating. It can just be painful. But listen, if I've got some cancer growing in me, I want to know. Don't you want to know?

If you've got a spiritual cancer, do you want to know? I mean look, if you think you're saved and you're really headed to hell, don't you want to know that now? While there's time to do something? Listen, Spurgeon, I was thinking, Spurgeon said something about this and I searched it and thank the Lord it came right up.

Spurgeon said this, For my own part, my constant prayer is that I may know the worst of my case. Whatever the knowledge may cost me, I know that an accurate estimate of my own heart can never be otherwise than lowering to my self-esteem.

Don't you like that? Basically what he's saying here is, you know your true state, it's going to humble you because it's always worse than you think it is. Rarely is it better. It's humbling. But God forbid, this is Spurgeon again, but God forbid that I should be spared the humiliation which springs from the truth.

Amen. He said, The sweet red apples of self-esteem are deadly poison. Who would wish to be destroyed thereby? Don't you like that? Men are destroyed who don't want to take time to examine themselves.

This is Spurgeon, The bitter fruits of self-knowledge are always healthful, especially if washed down with the waters of repentance and sweetened with a draught from the wells of salvation. He who loves his own soul will not despise this.

That's key. And you know what happens? Scripture brings us face to face with ourselves. It probes us. It's like a mirror that doesn't allow us to escape. You go and look at yourself and you see things and see we're all getting older.

Our physical situation is much like the spiritual. You know, if you really look at yourself close in the mirror, you say, Wow, I'm really ugly. And look at those blemishes and this isn't good. But brethren, there's nowhere in Scripture more calculated to get at who we are than this.

What are you in secret? I mean, if you really think, when I'm out of the eyes of all the brethren. You know, there's a way we act in front of each other. And then you know how it is, we have a diminishing crowd that we're comfortable around.

Until you get right down to, you know, it can be your spouse. And you begin to open up and be more who you really are. But there is a way, even when the spouse isn't around, how we are up here. And how we are when we're all by ourselves.

And I would almost say, I actually put this in my notes to say, when it's just us and the Lord. But you know, I think there's a better way to say it. When it's just us and how we imagine the Lord is. Because you know what happens when we're all alone?

We have a concept in our mind of how God is. And that concept of how God is, governs how we are when we are all alone. See, there are people that do all sorts of things, but they do them because they have a very small view of God.

And when they're all alone, they do things and they think certain things. And it does not square with truth. Not at all. So, the secret place. Just you and your own level of awareness of God. What are you in that place?

Because I'll tell you this, that's the true you. That's the true me. I mean, sometimes we're in the secret places right here. I mean, you can be sitting out there, and things are going on up here, and you're thinking things, and no one else but you and God know.

But then we can be out in the field. We can be at home alone. You see, six times Jesus uses these two words in these first 18 verses. In secret. There's something. Over the years, I've had people ask me.

I'm wrestling. I'm lacking assurance. I don't know if I'm really saved. That's a good question to ask. That's not a bad question. Because that's examining myself. I'm concerned about myself. I want to know, am I in?

Am I out? And one of the things that I tell people, it's derived right from these 18 verses. What are you in secret? That is so telling. How do you think in secret when nobody else is watching? What's happening?

What do you do? And I know. All of us, we all let down our guard in secret. That's just obvious that we are going to do certain things different in secret. Because there are certain things that are socially not correct and right to do in front of a crowd that is necessary to do when you're by yourself.

I recognize we do change in that sense. You groom yourself and you do different things that you wouldn't do in front of other people. I recognize that. But you know, that's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about righteousness here. We're talking about good and evil. We're talking about how we act in secret. You know what the deal is? A Christian is a believer. You say, well, we recognize that.

Yeah, but listen. Everybody believes something. What is it that makes a believer different than everybody else? Everybody believes something. We don't call everybody a believer. No, you call somebody a believer that believes the truth.

That really believes the truth. And see, we can say, well, of course I believe there's a God. Yeah. But when you're in secret, it shows what you really believe. Because listen, if you're in the secret place, if you're genuinely saved, I'll tell you what happens.

God gives us an awareness of Himself that we never had when we were lost. This is exactly where the psalmist goes in Psalm 139. Lord, You've searched me. You've known me. You know when I sit down. You know when I rise up.

He says, You know my thoughts are far off. You search out my path, my lying down. You're acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is out of my tongue. And you see what's happening. The psalmist is recognizing.

The Lord knows. The Lord knows what I think. He knows it. I can try to be as far off. I can try to be as near. I can run away. He's there. He's before me. He hems me in. He's behind me. He lays His hand upon me.

He says, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It's high. I can't attain to it. Where shall I go from Your Spirit? How can I flee from Your presence? If I go to heaven, You're there. Make my bed in Sheol, You're there.

Take wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. Even there, Your hand shall lead me. Your right hand will hold me. You see, when a person gets saved, one of the reasons that their life in secret changes is because they suddenly have an awareness of God.

You know what? There are certain things that I won't do in front of You. Because it's not appropriate. But You know full well it's appropriate for me to do at home. By myself. Because I see You here. I see You watching.

I'm aware of Your presence. The thing that happens when we get saved is we become just or even more. And especially in the secret place. We become aware of the presence of God. Brethren, I know this. I mean that experience is my experience.

I get saved. I know when I'm in my office all by myself or I'm up here in my head all by myself. I mean we were just with a godly couple up there in Inverness. And he told me that he sometimes feels ashamed at thoughts that come into his head.

Where would that come from? A thought comes into your head and suddenly you feel ashamed. Why? Because you know. God knows my thoughts from afar off. I'm an open book before Him. There's an awareness.

He's there. He knows my thoughts. He knows my intents. He knows my motives. I mean that has weight with us. That awareness. A man says, you know, well, I believe in God. Okay, you say you believe in God.

Show me what you do in secret. That will really tell me whether you believe in God. It's just one thing to know some facts about Him or believe some facts. It's a whole other thing to actually recognize the God who knows all, the God who sees all, the God before whom I am an open book.

I am naked before Him. He sees everything. He knows my motive. You know what? That is corrective. When a man is really gripped by that, when a woman is gripped by that, ever present, you'd show me what a man or a woman does in secret.

And I'll tell you what they are. And see, that's the thing. You're wondering, am I real or not? Well, just ask yourself that. I mean, look, if you just wait to get away from God's people so that you can set your mind on worldly things, you can go think about your toys and your money and your projects and your hobbies and your TV shows and sports and you just, you know, get out of here as soon as you can so that your mind can just relish and bask in all those things.

I mean, that tells you who you are. But brethren, when you're in the secret place and you're thinking about the Lord, you're thinking about Christ, you're thinking about living right before Him, you think about wanting His presence, wanting more of an awareness, wanting Him to speak to you from Scripture, wanting to feel His nearness, wanting to know that fragrance of Christ, wanting to pray and actually feel His presence, wanting meetings like this and to know He's there.

I mean, so, the whole question is this, the Christian lives his life in this world in the presence of God, and we have to ask ourselves, are we controlled by that? Now, think with me. The first thing that Jesus wants to deal with in the secret place of all things is giving.

Giving to the Poor as a Mark of Christian Love

Think about that. Out of all Jesus could say about everything that we have responsibilities with in the Christian life, all the things, in the secret place, He hits on this. The very first aspect is our lives He aims at when you give to the needy.

Now, your Bible might say alms, charitable deeds, giving to the poor, merciful deeds, it's all the same. Both verses 2 and 3, when you give to the poor. Did you catch that word when? Our Lord doesn't say if you give to the poor, He doesn't say you might give to the poor, He doesn't say perhaps you'll give to the poor.

When? Jesus takes it for granted that God's people are giving consideration to the poor. You see, this comes right from where He was leaving off in the last chapter. How do we deal with even our enemies?

How do we deal with people? We are sons and daughters of a God who allows His rain to fall. Did you see the rain fall this morning? Yesterday and today. It just came down in buckets. It was like a good Texas rain.

It just kind of sprinkles here. I was thinking, just and the unjust. Remember this, Jesus at the end of this book says to those on His right, I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. On the left, I was hungry, you did not give.

Here's the question, in secret, do you think about giving? Do you think about other people's needs? You see, this says something about what God has done. The Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is love. That's where it starts.

Are you strategizing about ways to love? Especially the brethren, as much as possible, we need to do good to all men, but especially to those of the household of faith. Brethren, can I tell you this, when we get to the end, Jesus separates people on this basis.

Remember this, blessed are the merciful. They shall receive mercy. In the secret place, what's happening? Is there anything about you in the secret place that spells this out? That demonstrates that God's taken hold of that old, stingy, selfish heart that we all had and given a new heart.

That overflows with compassion. Jesus said, follow Me. He went about doing good. Listen, one of the things that true Christianity does is it unlooses the heart strings of compassion. And we're not tight wads keeping all our money.

Where's my money? Hands off! It frees us up. Listen, listen to this. Again, I want to emphasize, of all the things that Jesus could talk about in the secret place, first and foremost, recognize this, when you go home today, and you're in that secret place, or even right there in the recesses of your mind, the God who you call Father, He is a God that sends His Son to shine and His rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

And He is a God who sent His Son that in the secret place, He wants us first and foremost to take us to giving, to needy. Listen, this is a huge thing. Remember this. Maybe you've come across this. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom.

Now this comes from Ezekiel 16. And look, whether you want to debate about whether He's talking about Sodom or He's using the term figuratively, which I think He is, that's not the issue. The issue is this.

When you think about the sin of Sodom, what do you think about? Obviously. She and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. That's Ezekiel 16 .49.

Brethren, listen to this. Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered. Proverbs 28 .27. Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.

Now, I'm asking you all. We have a number of people in here that claim to be Christians. I'm just asking you, in the secret place, remember Spurgeon, we want to know the worst of our case. We want to come face to face with this.

Are we thinking about ways to give to the needy? Does that take up our secret place? Brethren, you're going to hear me come back to this, and I've already mentioned this before, but listen. Is not this the fast that I choose?

You remember how it was in Isaiah, and the Jews were saying, Lord, we fasted. We're recognizing you're not really receiving our fasting. And God says through the prophet, is this the fast that I choose?

Or is not this the fast that I choose? In other words, I don't want you going without food and then living the way you live. I'll tell you the kind of fast that I want from you. Here it is. And He wants it from us too.

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house? When you see the naked, cover him. Don't hide yourself from your own flesh. Now listen to this. Listen to the promises.

Because you know full well, in these verses, the reward of the Father is on the table here. He says, then shall your light break forth like the dawn. Does anybody want that? We're supposed to be light in the world.

Anybody want your light to break forth like the sun coming up over the horizon? I do. I want that. Okay. Share your bread with the hungry. These are conditional promises here. And your healing shall spring up speedily.

Any of us need healing? I'll tell you, we need physical healing and we need spiritual healing in this church. Your righteousness shall go before you. That means you're going to have a reputation. I want that from this church.

Real righteousness. The kind of righteousness that Jesus talks about. Those on His right hand. I was hungry. You fed me. I was thirsty. You gave me something. I was naked. Brethren, that's what we want.

I was in prison. You visited me. That's the reputation we want. What about doing good just like Jesus did? That's a reputation He had. That's a reputation I want us to have. That reputation of righteousness will go before us.

How about this? The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. You know what a rear guard is? Remember how Amalek would come up behind Israel and attack the people that were stragglers? A rear guard was when you basically had troops at the back to watch out for that very thing.

God's got your back covered. That's what that means. Anybody want that? Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, and He'll say, Here I am. I think in our prayer meetings about that all the time.

I want that. I want when we pray for God to say, Here I am. And how are we going to know that? Because He's going to give answers to what we ask for. One of the old Puritans said, I don't remember which one it was, but he said, When a merciful man prays, it's like heaven stops, and God says, A merciful man prays, and all the years are bent that way.

That's the promise here. Brethren, I want this. But it's not even done. It says, If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness, and we're in a dark day.

Your gloom will be as the noon day. In other words, the darkest it will get for us will be like the noon day. The Lord will guide you continually, satisfy your desire in scorched places, make your bones strong.

You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. You shall raise up the foundations of many rivers. Anybody want to rebuild the kingdom of Christ in the city of Manchester?

I do. I want these things. I very much do. Again, I remind you, out of all that the Lord Jesus might have brought to our attention, first concerning what we do in secret, here's where He's at. He's dealing with these very things.

And, I mean, do you not find it significant that giving to the poor and needy is in this place before every other aspect of the Christian life? Remember this, therefore you must be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

You see, this is what He wants us striving after. Christian, you have a heavenly Father. Every good gift, you know this, every good gift, every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. He is a giver.

The Scripture talks this way, the Lord waits to be gracious to you. Remember, being sons of your Father, He makes His sun rise on the evil. You've got Acts 14, He did good by giving you rain from heaven, fruitful seasons, satisfying.

He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. In Him we live and move and have our being. And then there's this, for God so loved the world that He gave. And He gave His only Son. We have a God who's a giver and He saves us to be instruments of His giving.

Because brethren, everything we have is His. The earth and the fullness thereof. It's all His. We're only stewards. You see what He wants us to do? Don't say that's my money, don't say that's my account, don't say that's mine.

That's His. And what He's done is saved you and He's making it very clear. What He wants you to do is go into the secret place and strategize about how you're going to take the resources that He's given to you and you're going to further the kingdom of Christ, especially giving attention to the poor and the needy.

Seeking Out the Needs of Others

Job said this. His friends, you remember, were saying, well, certainly, Job, all this affliction has come upon you because you've not concerned yourself with the poor and needy and the widow and the orphan.

And he says, I was a father to the needy. And he says this, I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. I love that. I searched out the cause. In other words, when I was in the secret place, I was actually thinking and strategizing and searching.

I went looking for it. I didn't just wait until it came to me, or worse, I avoided those emails or I avoided those parts of town or I avoided those churches or I avoided those brethren or I avoided that missionary or I avoided that orphanage because I just didn't want to know.

He went looking for it. But here's the qualifier. Not all giving is pleasing to the Lord. Then motive is the big thing. And he says this, he says, when you give, don't sound the trumpet. Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

Let your giving be done in secret before your Father who is in secret. But see, this causes a question to arise in my mind. If I strive to give in secret, which is what we're dealing with right now, and then pray in secret, which is next, and then fast in secret, which is after that, all this secretizing, isn't that kind of contrary to what we read back in verse 16 of the previous chapter where he actually said, let your light so shine?

Doesn't he say that? Doesn't he want everybody to see our good works and good glory to our Fathers who is in heaven? Contradiction? Well, you know what? I like what John Stott says. I think he hits this right on the head.

Listen to him. It is our human cowardice which made him say, let your light shine before men, and our human vanity which made him tell us to beware of practicing our piety before men. I think that's great.

There's no contradiction. Jesus is addressing two different issues. On the one hand, He's calling us to show forth the fact that we believe Him. And we follow Him. And we're identifying as Christians.

And we're not denying Him. On the one hand, when the temptation is to hide. When the temptation is to be quiet. When the temptation is not to stand for the truth or stand for Christ. But on the other hand, Jesus calls us to go into hiding when the temptation is to show off.

The Hypocrisy of Public Religious Giving

So, I mean, it's pretty basic. Hypocrites. Let's think about those. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, in the streets, that they may be praised by others.

Truly I say to you, they've received their reward. So here it is. Be perfect, but be aware. You don't want to be like these hypocrites. What's a hypocrite? An actor. Basically, a hypocrite is somebody that puts on a disguise.

Now look, when it's done in a play, it's done on a stage, it's done on TV or in the movies, it's acceptable because we recognize. We all know they're actors. And we can kind of evaluate how well they're acting.

You say, oh, he's a bad actor, he's a good actor, whatever. But you know, it's not entertaining when it's in the church. Because you know what? When it happens in the church, it's not that everybody knows the person is acting.

The person is acting in a way to deceive. How are they hypocritical? I mean, how is a person hypocritical when it comes to giving? Because basically, they want you to think that they're very godly and they care for people, when really, what?

They're self-absorbed, and all they want is you to applaud them. They want to be thought highly of by you. It's not that they really care, it's that they've got their reputation to... It's a disguise.

They're impersonating somebody who cares, but they're not really that person. They really care about themselves. That's the issue here. Self-absorbed, self-consumed, obsessed with self-congratulation.

It's a deception. But you can see, what's behind it all. Not all giving is pleasing to Him. The motive has to be right. He's all about motives. That's why the secret place is so telling. Because what happens in the secret place really reveals what your motives are.

What you do here, we may have actors here. You don't know. But in the secret place, that's where it's... But then there's this. 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.

Now look, we recognize the obvious. We're not to announce to others what we're doing for the sake of applause. Like Spurgeon says, to stand with a penny in one hand, a trumpet in the other, is the posture of a hypocrisy.

But you know what's not always plainly obvious? Is the fact that don't let this hand know what this hand is doing. Now those are both my hands. It doesn't say, don't let your hand know what my hand's doing.

It says, don't let this hand know what this hand's doing. It's almost like, don't even let yourself know what you're doing. You say, how am I going to do that? Well listen, there's a way to live for your own congratulation.

And there's a way to live and keep an account of what you're doing. Listen, I think that one of the best ways to deal with this is forget. Be led by the Spirit and do what the Spirit's leading you to do and forget it.

Don't keep tabs, don't keep accounts, don't keep records. Give and forget it. Don't give for the praise of others and don't give so that you can keep rehearsing over and over and over. You know, don't you like it?

Those people on the left hand, Lord, when did we do that? Now, they might be thinking, well we know we did it to that guy, when did we do it to you? But I think that, brethren, I think a lot of times that it's probably, you know what?

In the secret place, the picture you get is the people that did feed and they visited and typically once they give, they're thinking about the next thing. Well how can we do the next thing? They're not, you know, constantly like that sweet morsel, that chocolate chip that I raid Ruby's cupboard and I grab those out and you just swirl that chocolate chip around in your mouth over and over.

It's not like that. It's more like a child. You gobble it down and now you're just ready for the next one. And that's how it is. It's like, well you gave to that thing, okay, we're done with that thing, now we go on to the next thing and we just keep going and don't keep accounts.

Just when you've done all that you were commanded, say we're unworthy servants. We've only done what was our duty. And you can think about, and you can just think about Jesus Christ. He was rich and He became poor that I might be made rich.

And you think, just, you know, yeah we took care of that need over there but oh there are so many other needs in the world and you just get absorbed with them and then you're not, you're not just, brethren, I want to be practical about this.