Giving from the Heart
Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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11-03-2019
The great thing about when we set our clocks back is that no one is late for Church and in fact some of you might have been on time for Sunday School
This morning we will continue on with our Study of the Sermon on the Mount
Thus far we have covered the Beatitudes and that is what it looks like to walk with Jesus
Then looked at being salt and light and that is when you and I live out our walks with Jesus the Beatitudes in front of others
Then we looked how Jesus has taken the relationship with God from the physical relationship to an intimate heart relationship through the law
The purpose of the law was to convict you of your sin, when it does that it shows you your need for a Savior Jesus Christ
There is no salvation apart from repentance and there is no repentance apart from brokenness
Church you can’t be saved unless you are ready to run away from it and you can’t run away from it unless you don’t want it anymore
This morning we will just follow along with the story in your Bibles and we come to Matthew Chapter 6
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
Church Jesus is giving them and us a warning in this opening statement of the chapter
He is warning them not to practice their righteousness if front of others so they look good
Remember the purpose of us living out our faith in front of others is to not show them how horrible they are
It is not to show them how good we are, or how we have things all together
Because lets be honest with each other for a minute
You and I don’t have it all together
Turn to your neighbor and tell them you know they don’t have it all together
Now turn to your other neighbor and tell them you know they don’t have it all together
Jesus is warning is follows to look to dig others or put others down with your walk with Jesus
But
The purpose of our living out our faith in front of other people is to
16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
See you are to be a salty peanut and to be a light so that people see Jesus
Remember if people are seeing you, well you’re doing it wrong
Because if we are showing off for people our walks with Jesus that will be our reward
There will be no reward for us in heaven but we will get it here on earth
And church if we are to be Holy just as Christ is Holy then we are to live just as Jesus did
Jesus didn’t do the things He did so that people would notice Him but that they would notice Him who sent Him
God the Father
We are to live our lives in such a way that they point to Jesus and not us because if it points to us
Then you are doing it wrong
Not sure there is another way of saying it
In light of that warning of practicing the disciplines of the Christian Faith
Jesus shares
2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3 “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
First we notice that Jesus is going to discuss the disciplines of giving and prayer
This morning we will spend the majority of our time in giving and then briefly hit on prayer
if you will recall the warning Jesus is concerned with the motivation of the follower in this case giving
what is your motivation behind giving
in the Old Testament and even the New Testament
The giving box was a shofar chest, it had a wide opening at the top and narrowed down then into the hul of the chest
This was to prevent thieves from sticking their hands into it and stealing the money
So when you would toss your coins in they would make a lot of noise
And we know there are less noisy options to putting your money in so that it didn’t draw attention to yourself
Jesus is saying that when you give you shouldn’t announce it before everyone so that everyone can watch but rather it should be private
Because your giving should be out of obedience to God rather then for others to see
That is what Jesus is getting at that our motivation for giving should not be for the people around here but for God
So if you and I looked at giving
Jesus expected His followers to be givers to the poor
21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
Jesus here again is concerned with the heart of the matter
Are you so tied to your possessions that they have become little g gods
Church as believers in Jesus we are to be givers
We are to give
9 Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;
We are to honor God with what God has given to us
To give you must first understand that it all comes from God anyway
You are merly being a steward of what God has given you
He has let you have it
So how do we honor God with what He has given us
The Bible talks about giving your first fruits, and your best, and a tenth of stuff
We see from that Adam and Eve and the boys understood how important it was to give back to God
We see that through the Law that we are to give back the first fruits, the tenth of the stuff
So lets be honest for a minute church
Are you honoring God with what you have been given by giving back to God
Some of you might sit there and say I give my money to the church and I am good
Notice God doesn’t specifically say just your money
What have you been given
Well I am glad you have asked because church you have been given a lot
You have been given life, time, money, knowledge, resources, talents, and abilities and so on
So when God says to give your first fruits I must ask are you giving Him the prime cut of your paycheck, or does he get the leftovers after all the other bills and stuff is paid for
When you write your tithe check, is it the first check your write, or is it the last check you write
Are you giving money when God calls you to give or only what you think you can afford
That is how this church is able to do all it is doing is by you giving
Are you giving God the prime cut of your time, or like your check are you giving him the left over after everything else is done
Meaning are you giving God your best attention or does he get the tired cranky you, after your spouse and kids and family has got time then after your job or jobs, then after you have had time to unwind
Then do you make time for God
And when I mean make time for God I am not just meaning a quite time but are you giving your time back to God in form of service
Are you looking for opportunities to serve God, to serve here at the church
Or do you show up to church knowing that other people will pick up the load
Are you giving God the prime cut of your talents
Some of you are extremely talented people and we have some unique needs and ministry opportunities here at the church
To be honest are you willing to step up and into the unique needs and ministry that God has given you a unique talent for
if you are not willing to give of your talent then it will never get done or it will only continue to get done at a subpar level and you will miss out on the blessing of giving back to God with your talents
Are you giving God the prime cut of your resources
Now some of you have some amazing resources that God has given you over the years
But some reason we like to keep them all to ourselves
I have been to funerals since I was a very little boy, I have not once seen the hurse with a luggage rack
You cannot take those resources that God has gifted you with to heaven
like we said earlier this church has some unique needs and require some unique resources
Ultimately church are you giving God the prime cut of your life
Are you willing to give your life for Jesus because as I read the story in Scripture, He gave His life for you
Today is national pray for the persecuted church
There are people around the world right now who are dying because they walk with Jesus and you and I struggle to give more of our time or money because we don’t think God who created the universe will be able to meet our Finite needs
Church please hear me
people are dying because they are living out their faith in front of people not so they would be noticed but because of their own love for God
The people around the world are ready to give their lives for Jesus because they understand that Jesus gave His life for them
So are you willing to give your life for Jesus
4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
We read this and yes on the surface God is talking about giving money
When you and I give money we are to again announce it to the world so that we get noticed because again
If you are walking with Jesus and people see you then you are doing it wrong
We are to give our money out of obedience and love for our heavenly Father
Church giving though goes beyond just our money
As we have seen we are to give of our time, we are to give of our resources, we are to give of our abilities, we are to give of our lives
But I don’t want you to hear this sermon and go great the pastor expects me here and there and doing this and that or giving this and or that
No because to be honest if that is your attitude it would be better if you just stayed home
Jesus doesn’t want that type of attitude either
7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
God wants your to give of your time, resources, money, abilities, talents, and your life out of joy for the Lord
Out of obedience and love for God
Remember it is not a check list to that you can force God’s hand into blessing you
The blessing you and I get from walking with Jesus is a by product of our hearts desire to spend time with our creator
When you and I give of our lives, our time, our resources, and talents it shouldn't be so that people see us and praise us but that they praise our God who is heaven
We should give so that God gets all the glory
Again Jesus is taking the physical act of giving and making it a heart issue
You shouldn’t serve or give of your time, or money, or the resources you have stacked up at home because you are feeling guilty because the pastor is talking about it
or even if the pastor is really really hinting at it
You should give because you want Jesus to get all the glory
5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
When you and I pray
Jesus starts out just like he did with giving
Our prayers should not be that others hear them and go that person is very spiritual but our prayers should be out of what is in our heart
We shouldn’t be praying to God so that others even hear but we should be praying to God so that He hears
Church do you notice that Jesus is talking the physical disciplines of walking with Him to an intimate heart level
We shouldn’t be giving or praying because it is a physical requirement of walking with Jesus
We shouldn’t be giving or praying because it is looked down upon if you don’t or because they are unwritten church rules
No we should be giving and praying because it is our hearts desire
They way we make them our hearts desire is by walking with Jesus
And church we walk with Jesus because the Holy Spirit draws us to Himself
As the band comes up we are going to move into a time of invitation
the invitation is simple
If you are here today and you are not walking with Jesus and you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and you want that
We want to invite you to the front, there will be people down front to open the Bible and show you how you can have a personal relationship with Jesus
Or maybe you are here and lets be honest you have been giving and praying only because you have been compelled to by someone else
Or maybe you are here and you haven’t been giving or praying and you know God is calling you too
The altar is open