Alms Given Before God
Minister: |
Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: |
1/13/2019 PM
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Text:
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Matthew 6:1-4
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Psalters: |
250, 138, 113, 149 |
- What they are.
- Alms is mercy or pity especially as it is exhibited in giving alms, charity, a donation to the poor.
- The key is that it is mercy or pity which reflects our gratitude for God’s mercy given unceasingly and always undeservedly.
- The emphasis is on the attitude of the heart behind the gift, not on what is given.
- What determines alms and benevolence is, not the poverty of the recipient, but the well willing/wishing, merciful heart.
- This religious activity is sinful when it is done “before men,” i.e., before human eyes (others or our own).
- Jesus speaks of alms-giving so it is seen by humans: “sound a trumpet” and “in the streets.”
- The evil behind such giving is that it is an activity without God involved, and it is so often pride.
- What hypocrisy when we pretend to show the mercy of Jesus while desiring the praise of men.
- Jesus is warning against my having the praise of men (including me) the reason for my good works.
- Proper giving is doing our giving “in secret.”
- Jesus uses the fact that our hands – the right and the left often work together: carry, catch, lift.
- The idea is that our giving must be separated from what man think of us.
- Therefore we are constantly to kill self by remembering our “natural face” (James 1:23).
- When we give alms for God, then we do so in order to please Him – to “seek God’s praise.”
- Father’s reward.
- To “have the glory of men “ is to have the reward of men, i.e., human admiration, which exactly what they wanted.
- Our Father “shall reward thee.”
- First, the more we aim at our Father’s approval, the less we are concerned about the praise or contempt of men.
- When God gives a reward to sinners it can be only the reward of grace (undeserved).
- Learn: God works with us as a Father, giving us promises as way to stimulate us to do what is good and right.
- God shows that the value of a deed is determined by the motivation from which it proceeds (Rom. 14:23).
- Guard against pride and destroying religious activities with wrong motives (I Cor. 11:31).