June 29, 2025 • 28 mins
Why do we give? Is it the warm feeling when friends applaud, or the thrill of an online shout-out? In Matthew 6:1-4, Jesus drills past the act of giving to expose its motive, and Pastor Tyler Lynde invites us to do the same.
Jesus starts with a warning: if our charity aims at human approval, we should enjoy the “likes” quickly, because that applause is the full payout. Tyler explains how first-century Pharisees literally hired trumpeters to announce almsgiving. Today’s versions are subtler—photo ops, branded T-shirts, humble-brag posts—but the heart pattern is identical.
Then comes the guarantee: earthly praise is a cheap prize compared to heaven’s reward. Proverbs 27:2 and Luke 12:1 reinforce the danger of hypocrisy—the spiritual yeast that puffs up performance while leaving motives sour.
Next, Jesus issues a disarming instruction: give in secret, so secret that your left hand can’t gossip to your right. Tyler illustrates this through a childhood memory: his struggling family once discovered twelve bags of groceries on the porch, no signature attached. The anonymous giver skipped human credit but secured the Father’s smile.
Finally, Jesus offers radical assurance: “Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” That promise reframes generosity as an act of worship before an audience of One. Tyler urges us to imagine how faith would rise if we truly believed God watched every covert kindness.
Key takeaways:
- Check the motive. Ask daily: “Am I giving to be seen, or because I’ve been seen by grace?” (Eph 2:8-10).
- Guard the method. Practice covert giving—anonymous gifts, private cash apps, or needs met before anyone can ask.
- Trust the reward. God’s ledger is eternal; nothing done from love goes unnoticed (James 1:27).
Ready to ditch the trumpet? Press play, let Tyler walk you through Jesus’ four-fold framework, and discover the freedom of generosity that seeks no spotlight. Share the message so more hearts can experience the joy of giving God’s way.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tyler Lynde (00:03):
So we're in the middle of a sermon series called
Red Letters, and it's all aboutthe words of Jesus that are
found in the Sermon on the Mount.
It's so important for us tounderstand that Jesus gives us a
portrait of what it looks liketo be a follower of Jesus Christ
, and so all throughout thissermon we see examples of that
over and over again.
Mark did a great job last weekof showing us the difference
(00:27):
between following the letter ofthe law and the spirit or the
intent of the law.
We learned that sin is notmerely about outward actions,
but the state and intentions ofour heart, which is the seedbed
of those actions.
In other words, whatever is inyour heart is going to make its
way out in our words, in ourdeeds, in the way that we live
(00:47):
right.
So the title of today's messageis a heart to help those in
need.
A heart to help those in need.
Let's look at Matthew, chaptersix, verses one through four,
and the word of God says bewareof practicing your righteousness
before other people in order tobe seen by them, for then you
will have no reward from yourFather, who is in heaven.
(01:10):
Thus, when you give to theneedy, sound no trumpet before
you, as the hypocrites do in thesynagogues and in the streets,
that they may be praised byothers.
Truly, I say to you, they havereceived 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
(01:30):
secret and your father, who seesin secret, will reward you
openly.
Let's pray, father.
We thank you for the word ofGod.
We thank you that you didn'tjust give it to us so that we
would have something to read.
You gave it to us so that itcould read us, so that it could
bring about the transformationin our hearts that needs to
(01:50):
happen.
Lord, we pray that you wouldopen this word today, that you
would open the eyes of ourunderstanding, that our
revelation that you give us bythe Holy Spirit would come alive
, lord God, and that we wouldunderstand and not only
understand it, but have a willand a desire to carry it out by
your work and by your grace.
(02:10):
We thank you for these thingsin Jesus' name, amen.
Some of you have heard thisstory, but I'm just going to
repeat it for those who haven't.
When I was about nine years old, my family was very poor, but
we didn't know we were poor.
Anybody grow up like that.
My family never talked about it, but one day in particular the
cupboards were empty.
(02:30):
We had no groceries except forone chicken pot pie, and my mom
put it was a Wednesday.
My mom put that chicken pot piein the oven and she cooked it
and the dinger went off and mybrother and I started to
salivate.
Right, we were hungry and shewas pulling it out and I don't
know if it was from weakness,because she hadn't been eating
(02:51):
much, or what happened, if itwas just the devil himself, but
that chicken pot pie fell overin the oven to the bottom of the
oven, and the bottom of ovenhad not been cleaned for some
time, and so that chicken potpie found its destiny within the
electric part of the oven, atthe bottom of the oven, and we
didn't get to eat.
My dad always taught us you cantrust in Jesus.
(03:13):
We trust in the Lord.
He takes care of our needs.
This was a Wednesday.
We went to church on Wednesdaynight.
My dad was a pastor.
The only other person inattendance was my aunt.
My aunt was also poor.
My dad preached like he wouldpreach to a group like this.
And at the end he took up anoffering and my aunt gave $1 in
(03:35):
the offering and on our way homewe stopped by Wendy's and back
then there was a special whereyou could get two cheeseburgers
for a dollar, and so my parentstook that dollar and they bought
two cheeseburgers and they gavethem to.
So my parents took that dollarand they bought two
cheeseburgers and they gave themto my brother and I, who sat in
the back seat chewing on them,feeling I was feeling a little
bit.
I was very thankful, butwatching my parents glance into
(03:56):
the rearview mirror as we wereeating that burger, there was
something in me that connectedwith that and realized they
probably wanted the burger aswell.
We got home and my dad unlockedthe door and we walked inside
and we turned around and all ofa sudden my dad and mom began to
shout.
I assumed there was a mouse orGod forbid a snake or something
(04:19):
like that in the house.
But as the lights turned on andwe turned the corner, my
brother and I saw something we'dnever seen before, at least for
a long time Twelve bags ofgroceries sitting on the kitchen
table.
We opened the refrigerator andthe refrigerator was filled with
steak and pork chops andchicken and milk and yogurt and
all of those things.
And here's the crazy part therewas no note, there was no
(04:44):
letter.
There was no letter, there wasno recognition, there was no
acknowledgement.
There was just 12 bags ofgroceries and a fridge full of
food.
When my brother and I looked ateach other, and as the four of
us celebrated, we realized theLord Jesus did take care of us.
To this day I still don't knowwho did that.
(05:07):
The doors and windows to ourhouse were locked.
I would thought it would havebeen an angel, but there was one
telltale sign that it wasn'tthere was a box of Count Chocula
in the bags on the kitchentable.
And we know no angel buyingCount Chocula, right?
Anyway, we're not going to getreligious this morning.
(05:38):
Why do I tell that story allthese years later?
Because what an impact it hadon our lives.
Only God really knew.
My parents hadn't been tellinganybody, they hadn't been
complaining to anyone, nobodyknew.
But God knew.
And God spoke to one of hischildren and one of his children
somehow miraculously broughtthat food in there and left it
(06:00):
for us.
So last week Jesus wasconfronting the wrong thinking
about that says as long as Idon't do the dirty deed, in
other words, as long as I don'tmurder anybody, as long as I
don't commit adultery, then I'mfine, right?
No, jesus goes much deeper.
He clearly showed us thatwhat's in the heart is what
(06:21):
matters most.
What's in the heart of men iswhat matters most.
And in today's passage, jesusmoves on to a new set of topics,
but he has the same goal inmind.
He wants to shine a light onthe heart of men and women, and
that's what he wants to do inour lives as well.
The Jewish leaders had threereligious acts that they
(06:42):
performed regularly, and theyasked for their parishioners,
they asked for the Jewish peopleto perform these acts as well.
So one was giving alms to thepoor.
Second was prayer, and thethird was fasting Fasting.
That's coming in a couple weeks.
On the surface, these thingsare really good, aren't they?
We, as believers, are called toengage in these same kinds of
(07:07):
activities.
So there's nothing wrong withgiving alms to the poor, there's
nothing wrong with prayer,there's nothing wrong with
fasting, but the motivation thatis behind those things is
essential and very important.
See, the problem that Jesus wasaddressing is not having the
proper heart motivation when itcomes to the reason why we do
(07:28):
these things.
Why do we do these things?
So let's not allow ourselves toget distracted from the truth.
How many of you know, jesus wasnot teaching behavior
modification.
In other words, jesus wasn'tsaying if you will it enough, if
you have a strong enough mind,if you will it enough, if you
have a strong enough mind, ifyou desire it enough, you can
change yourself.
(07:49):
And if you change yourself,then you can have the right
attitude about giving and aboutprayer and about fasting.
How many of you realize there'sa missing ingredient in all of
that that I just said?
And what is it?
It is the grace of God.
You see, he is saying that ifyou are a recipient of the grace
(08:09):
of God and God is your father,then the natural outworking of
that is that you will gloriouslychange and live like you're a
family member.
How many of you are glad thatyou are part of the family of
God?
And how many of us find us on adaily basis acting like we're a
part of the family of God?
(08:31):
Why did we get quiet?
Come on, I know this church, Iknow you and I know that many of
you, on a daily basis, do livelike children of God.
You act like children of God.
You do the types of things froma heart that's pure, that prove
out the fact that you have beenborn again.
I see it and I know it's true.
(08:54):
But how many of you know?
All of us are in process andthere's room for improvement.
Right, because practicing yourrighteousness isn't about
earning it, but living likeyou've received it as a free
gift.
We don't live the way that Godcalls us to live in order to
earn righteousness.
We live the way that God callsus to live because we've been
(09:16):
made righteous.
Ephesians 2 says it like thisFor by grace, you have been
saved through faith, and this isnot your own doing.
Did you save yourself?
It is the gift of God, not aresult of works, so that no one
may boast, for we are hisworkmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which Godprepared beforehand that we
(09:39):
should walk in them.
So we are born again.
When we put our faith and trustin Jesus Christ, when we repent
of our sins and we believe inthe sacrifice of Jesus, his life
, his death, his burial and hisresurrection, we put our faith
and hope in Jesus Christ, we'reborn again and the grace of God
transforms our hearts and we aregranted the righteousness of
(10:01):
God.
In Christ Jesus, you have beengiven, as a follower of Jesus,
the gift of righteousness, rightstanding with God, your
relationship with him has beenmade right.
And if that's not the case foryou yet, I implore you, I beg
you, I beseech you, that todaywould be the day that you would
(10:23):
acknowledge your need and thatyou would put your faith, hope
and trust in a risen savior.
Amen, amen.
So we as believers.
The Holy Spirit lives in us nowand continues the work of
sanctification.
The natural outworking of theongoing process of
sanctification is that we willbecome more and more like our
(10:44):
heavenly father.
In what ways?
In the way we speak, in the waywe live, in our thought life,
in our actions and, mostimportantly maybe, in our
motivations, why we do thethings that we do.
So we're going to see a patternemerge over the next three
weeks, as Jesus addresses thesethree activities almsgiving,
(11:07):
prayer and fasting at somelength.
So let's look at number one.
The first thing that happens isthere's a warning to not do the
activity regularly in order tobe praised by human beings.
There's a warning to not do theactivity to be praised by human
beings.
Number two, there's a guaranteethat those who ignore this
(11:29):
warning will only receive humanpraise.
Number three, there's aninstruction on how to perform
the activity with the rightheart.
And number four, there's anassurance that our heavenly
father, who sees in secret, willdo what Will reward openly.
You can take a snapshot of thatslide if you want to real quick
(11:52):
for your notes.
I know I'm moving quickly thismorning.
So let's look at this particularpassage today about helping
those who are in need and havinga heart for that, and let's
look at our four differentsegments.
So the first one is a warning.
It says thus when you give tothe needy, sound no trumpet
before you, as the hypocrites doin the synagogues and in the
(12:13):
streets that they may be praisedby others.
Now there's a presuppositionhere that says not if you give.
What does it say when you give?
So what does that mean?
Should we be giving to thosewho are in need?
Absolutely, this should be oneof the joys of our life.
Excuse me, in fact, truereligion is associated closely
(12:38):
with this very thing inscripture.
Look at James 1.27,.
Religion that is pure andundefiled before God, the Father
, is this to visit orphans andwidows in their affliction, in
their time of need, and to keeponeself unstained from the world
.
It is pure religion for us tohelp those with the right heart,
(13:03):
to help those who are in need.
So the warning is clearly abouthow and why we give to those in
need.
Jesus may have been using somehyperbole here.
Sometimes he used some imageryto bring the point home, right.
So he says you shouldn't soundthe trumpet before you come to
deliver the gift that you'regoing to give to the needy,
(13:23):
right?
Can you picture that in yourhead?
Somebody blowing the alarm,blowing the trumpet and saying
I'm here to save the day, right,but he's clear here that we, as
children of God, are not tomake a big deal about ourselves.
Hello, we're not to make a bigdeal about ourselves and our own
(13:43):
goodness.
What are we here to make a bigdeal about?
About God and his goodness?
Jesus calls the person engagedin this perilous self-promotion
hypocrites.
Hypocrites the term hypocritewas originally used for actors
on a Greek stage who put onvarious masks to play different
(14:04):
roles.
They'd put on a mask, they'dpump energy and they would play
out these different parts asthey were masked in order to do
that.
Jesus here says to thereligious leaders in a very
scornful way, especially thePharisees.
Especially the Pharisees, hesays that they were performing
(14:25):
external acts of righteousnessthat were masking, even from
their selves, even from theirselves, their own inner
corruption.
You see, hypocrisy is so evilbecause many of those who are
involved in it think they areright with God.
You know how to stop being ahypocrite.
Acknowledge that you are one insome way, not saying we have to
(14:52):
stay there.
But how many of you know all ofus?
If somebody were to follow ushome and walk around with us,
soon enough they'd find somearea in our life where our
action or our words or ourthoughts, our motivation, didn't
line up with God's way.
Right, in order for us tochange, we have to understand
that we have a need for change.
(15:14):
In this case, hypocrisy isdefined as doing the right thing
for the wrong reasons.
Jesus, in another passage, warnshis followers to break from the
religious status quo when itcame to hypocrisy.
In Luke 12, verse 1, it says inthe meantime, when so many
thousands of the people hadgathered together that they were
trampling one another, he beganto say to his disciples.
(15:37):
First beware of the leaven ofthe Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy.
It seems like every day in thenews, now or every other day,
we're hearing of another personwho is famous in the Christian
world, who has been discoveredis living a hypocritical
lifestyle.
My friends, we have to be socareful, we have to be so
(16:02):
guarded because, but for thegrace of God, there go I.
We're not here to sit injudgment or to scorn.
We're here to say God, as faras I'm concerned, protect me,
keep me from being a hypocrite.
You know the number one reasonpeople aren't in church today.
(16:22):
When you ask them what willthey say overwhelmingly Because
of hypocrites.
I'm going to give you a livingillustration, a modern day
example of what Jesus wastalking about.
So can I have a volunteer,please?
Are there any volunteers to bewilling to help me?
(16:44):
Okay, this man right here onthe front row.
Would you come down?
Let's welcome him.
Thank him for being so willingto help out this morning.
Isn't that great?
Come on over, sir.
Come on over.
So what is your name?
John, john?
Okay, richard, it's good tomeet you.
I'm glad that you're here withus today.
(17:05):
And you know, I was justthinking.
I was sitting at home and Ijust kind of had this thought
yeah, that's it, that's theright stuff.
You ready to make it rain?
(17:27):
Are you hungry?
Yes, he's hungry.
Are you homeless?
Yes, he's homeless.
He's got two of the three H's Iwas looking for.
He's hungry, he's homeless andhe's.
Is he handsome?
Yes, he's got all three.
(17:48):
Are you kidding me?
This is the trifecta.
This is what I've been waitingfor for so long.
I have this right here, thishard-earned money right here.
Do you see it?
You want to smell?
It Smells like cash, smell likecash.
Could you use this money righthere?
Do you see it?
You want to smell?
It?
Smell like cash.
Could you use this money righthere?
(18:08):
Are you sure?
Okay, all I need you to do is Ineed to take a picture real
quick.
That's okay.
No, don't touch it, don't.
Yeah, no, don't, don't touch me.
No, we don't do that.
No, don't touch me.
No, we don't do that, we don'tgo there.
We definitely don't go there.
Okay, all right.
Can you smile for the camera?
Oh, wait, wait.
Would you mind just take thathand and just point at me, if
(18:31):
you would, oh, and just say you,da man.
Okay, all right, wait, just asecond here.
Let me take care of this.
I got to get this on thesocials.
Hashtag blessed to be a blessing.
Hashtag homeless no more.
Hashtag man.
(18:52):
T-money's good Hashtag.
This about to go viral.
Okay, thank you.
Appreciate it.
Yeah, what.
What are you talking about,richard?
This is what are you talkingabout.
Are you going to buy drugs withit here?
(19:15):
I can spare that, all right.
Yeah, what are you on about?
What's wrong?
Okay, hopefully you get thepoint.
(19:38):
We could do this all day.
I've got lots of other exampleswe could do.
It's fun, all right, let's lookat the guarantee, the third
part.
Jesus says truly, I say to youthey have received their second
part, they have received theirreward.
Let's be honest.
It's so easy to love the glorythat comes from people
acknowledging us and recognizingus more than the glory that
(20:01):
comes from God.
It's instant and it's verygratifying when people
acknowledge how great we are.
By the way, it's not wrong forpeople to acknowledge that.
In fact, there's a verse aboutit.
Proverbs 27, verse 2, says letanother praise you and not your
own mouth, a stranger and notyour own lips.
(20:22):
Not wrong for somebody else tosay thank you or to, but how
many of you know the motivationof our heart as the person who's
being used by God to be ablessing to others.
Matters, matters, greatly.
See, we are tragically wrongwhen we prefer the praise of
others over the praise of God,when we prefer the praise of
others over the praise of God,when we're more concerned about
(20:44):
what somebody else thinks of methan we are concerned about what
God thinks of me.
The sad irony is that when wedo the right thing for the wrong
reason, we may be able toimpress others, but God is not
impressed and he will not rewardus.
He's not impressed and he willnot reward us.
So what is the instruction?
The third part of this?
(21:05):
Jesus goes to the farthestextreme in the way that he
contrasts the way his disciplesare to perform acts of
righteousness with the ways ofthe religious leaders.
They are to have such puremotives of concern for the poor
(21:29):
that when giving, they won't payattention to themselves at all.
They won't recognize themselvesat all.
Sometimes this means givinganonymously, but it always means
not making a big deal about it,not making a fuss over it, not
looking for some kind ofself-promotion or looking for
somebody to raise the flags orthe banners or somebody to shout
(21:50):
team money's in the house.
You see, when we help those inneed with a pure heart, it's
about bringing honor and gloryto God and not about ourselves.
What a beautiful concept.
We see a great example of thisin the life of David.
David was used by God to gathertogether everything that was
(22:13):
going to be needed for thebuilding of the temple.
He wasn't going to get to buildit because of the blood that he
shed, but his son after him,solomon, was going to be able to
build it, and so David had theprivilege of gathering all of
these things together, and atthe end of that process, he says
this in front of all of thepeople.
Therefore, david blessed theLord in the presence of all the
(22:36):
assembly.
And David said blessed are you,o Lord, the God of Israel, our
father, forever and ever.
Yours, o Lord, is the greatnessand the power and the glory and
the victory and the majesty, forall that is in the heavens and
in the earth is whose.
David's, god's.
(22:59):
Yours is the kingdom, o Lord,and you are exalted as head
above all.
Both riches and honor come fromyou, and you rule over all.
In your hand are power andmight, and in your hand it is.
It is to make great and to givestrength to all.
And now we thank you, our god,and praise your glorious name.
(23:19):
But who am I and what is mypeople that we should be able
thus to offer?
Willingly?
Offer what Willingly, for allthings come from you and of your
own have we given you?
For we are strangers before youand sojourners, as all our
fathers were.
Our days on the earth are likea shadow and there's no abiding.
(23:39):
Oh Lord, our God, all thisabundance that we have provided
for building you a house foryour holy name comes from your
hand and is all your own.
I know, my God, that you testthe heart and have pleasure in
uprightness, in the uprightnessof my heart.
In other words, with the rightmotivation, I have freely
offered all these things.
(24:00):
In other words, with the rightmotivation, I have freely
offered all these things.
And now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering
freely and joyously to you, toyou.
You see, when we understandthat everything that we have,
everything that we own,everything that we wear,
everything that we drive,everything that we live in,
(24:28):
every breath that we take, itall belongs to God, when we live
that way and believe that itshould be easy to give with the
right heart.
It should be the easiest thingand it should bring us such
great joy to be able to do thatNow.
This isn't just a skit that I'mgoing to do right now.
This is for real.
I was praying about what Ishould do this morning and I
(24:53):
felt like the Lord spoke to me,that I was supposed to come to
Michaela and I was supposed togive her this gift and to say to
her the Lord sees you and heknows you and he loves you, and
this is a gift from him.
It's not from me, it's from him, and he just wants to be a
blessing to you and to let youknow that he's your father and
(25:14):
he loves you and you can putyour trust in him completely.
Okay, love you.
Thank you, lord.
(25:36):
What is our assurance?
Your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
See, our Father sees everythingand he loves to ultimately
reward those who act withgenuine sincerity instead of
seeking public praise.
There isn't a thing that we dofor Him out of a right heart
(25:56):
that he doesn't see and takenote of.
He takes note when we areobedient to him and we have the
right heart, the rightmotivation when we do it.
He's a doting father For allthe parents and, I should say,
all of the grandparents in theroom.
How much of your percentage ofyour conversation is about you
(26:17):
talking about those little ones?
Did you see what they did today?
He's a doting father.
He loves to celebrate hischildren's joyful obedience.
It should be the cry of ourhearts to hear our father say
(26:38):
well done, my good and faithfulservant.
Let's pray together.
Father, I thank you.
I thank you for this church.
I thank you, lord, that thischurch is such a generous church
(26:59):
.
Father, I thank you for all ofthe individuals that make up
this body, and I thank you forthe heart that's behind the
desire to be a blessing toothers and to recognize that
everything that we have is agift from you.
I ask that you'd help us, lord,to run away from hypocrisy and
(27:20):
to make sure that our heart'smotivations are right.
And we know that the HolySpirit is the one that's working
on the inside of us to bring usto the place of recognizing our
need for change in these areas.
And so, lord, we ask that you'dhelp us.
Help us to change, father.
Help us to change, help us toshare your heart of compassion,
(27:41):
lord.
I'm so reminded of the manytimes where Jesus had compassion
on people and he reached outand he met them at the point of
their need.
Father, would you give us yourheart for those who are hurting?
Would you give us your heartfor those who are in great need
today?
And, lord, would you also giveus the provision that we need?
(28:05):
We thank you that everyblessing comes from you, and we
do want to be a blessing toothers.
We ask that you would funnelfinances and other things that
are needed, resources in ourlives and through our lives to
others.
And, lord, let it be said, godis glorified by Trinity
(28:25):
Community Church because of theheart of the people to help
those who are in desperate needof help.
Thank you for doing thesethings in Jesus' name, amen.
So we're in the middle of a sermon series called
Red Letters, and it's all aboutthe words of Jesus that are
found in the Sermon on the Mount.
It's so important for us tounderstand that Jesus gives us a
portrait of what it looks liketo be a follower of Jesus Christ
, and so all throughout thissermon we see examples of that
over and over again.
Mark did a great job last weekof showing us the difference
(00:27):
between following the letter ofthe law and the spirit or the
intent of the law.
We learned that sin is notmerely about outward actions,
but the state and intentions ofour heart, which is the seedbed
of those actions.
In other words, whatever is inyour heart is going to make its
way out in our words, in ourdeeds, in the way that we live
(00:47):
right.
So the title of today's messageis a heart to help those in
need.
A heart to help those in need.
Let's look at Matthew, chaptersix, verses one through four,
and the word of God says bewareof practicing your righteousness
before other people in order tobe seen by them, for then you
will have no reward from yourFather, who is in heaven.
(01:10):
Thus, when you give to theneedy, sound no trumpet before
you, as the hypocrites do in thesynagogues and in the streets,
that they may be praised byothers.
Truly, I say to you, they havereceived 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
(01:30):
secret and your father, who seesin secret, will reward you
openly.
Let's pray, father.
We thank you for the word ofGod.
We thank you that you didn'tjust give it to us so that we
would have something to read.
You gave it to us so that itcould read us, so that it could
bring about the transformationin our hearts that needs to
(01:50):
happen.
Lord, we pray that you wouldopen this word today, that you
would open the eyes of ourunderstanding, that our
revelation that you give us bythe Holy Spirit would come alive
, lord God, and that we wouldunderstand and not only
understand it, but have a willand a desire to carry it out by
your work and by your grace.
(02:10):
We thank you for these thingsin Jesus' name, amen.
Some of you have heard thisstory, but I'm just going to
repeat it for those who haven't.
When I was about nine years old, my family was very poor, but
we didn't know we were poor.
Anybody grow up like that.
My family never talked about it, but one day in particular the
cupboards were empty.
(02:30):
We had no groceries except forone chicken pot pie, and my mom
put it was a Wednesday.
My mom put that chicken pot piein the oven and she cooked it
and the dinger went off and mybrother and I started to
salivate.
Right, we were hungry and shewas pulling it out and I don't
know if it was from weakness,because she hadn't been eating
(02:51):
much, or what happened, if itwas just the devil himself, but
that chicken pot pie fell overin the oven to the bottom of the
oven, and the bottom of ovenhad not been cleaned for some
time, and so that chicken potpie found its destiny within the
electric part of the oven, atthe bottom of the oven, and we
didn't get to eat.
My dad always taught us you cantrust in Jesus.
(03:13):
We trust in the Lord.
He takes care of our needs.
This was a Wednesday.
We went to church on Wednesdaynight.
My dad was a pastor.
The only other person inattendance was my aunt.
My aunt was also poor.
My dad preached like he wouldpreach to a group like this.
And at the end he took up anoffering and my aunt gave $1 in
(03:35):
the offering and on our way homewe stopped by Wendy's and back
then there was a special whereyou could get two cheeseburgers
for a dollar, and so my parentstook that dollar and they bought
two cheeseburgers and they gavethem to.
So my parents took that dollarand they bought two
cheeseburgers and they gave themto my brother and I, who sat in
the back seat chewing on them,feeling I was feeling a little
bit.
I was very thankful, butwatching my parents glance into
(03:56):
the rearview mirror as we wereeating that burger, there was
something in me that connectedwith that and realized they
probably wanted the burger aswell.
We got home and my dad unlockedthe door and we walked inside
and we turned around and all ofa sudden my dad and mom began to
shout.
I assumed there was a mouse orGod forbid a snake or something
(04:19):
like that in the house.
But as the lights turned on andwe turned the corner, my
brother and I saw something we'dnever seen before, at least for
a long time Twelve bags ofgroceries sitting on the kitchen
table.
We opened the refrigerator andthe refrigerator was filled with
steak and pork chops andchicken and milk and yogurt and
all of those things.
And here's the crazy part therewas no note, there was no
(04:44):
letter.
There was no letter, there wasno recognition, there was no
acknowledgement.
There was just 12 bags ofgroceries and a fridge full of
food.
When my brother and I looked ateach other, and as the four of
us celebrated, we realized theLord Jesus did take care of us.
To this day I still don't knowwho did that.
(05:07):
The doors and windows to ourhouse were locked.
I would thought it would havebeen an angel, but there was one
telltale sign that it wasn'tthere was a box of Count Chocula
in the bags on the kitchentable.
And we know no angel buyingCount Chocula, right?
Anyway, we're not going to getreligious this morning.
(05:38):
Why do I tell that story allthese years later?
Because what an impact it hadon our lives.
Only God really knew.
My parents hadn't been tellinganybody, they hadn't been
complaining to anyone, nobodyknew.
But God knew.
And God spoke to one of hischildren and one of his children
somehow miraculously broughtthat food in there and left it
(06:00):
for us.
So last week Jesus wasconfronting the wrong thinking
about that says as long as Idon't do the dirty deed, in
other words, as long as I don'tmurder anybody, as long as I
don't commit adultery, then I'mfine, right?
No, jesus goes much deeper.
He clearly showed us thatwhat's in the heart is what
(06:21):
matters most.
What's in the heart of men iswhat matters most.
And in today's passage, jesusmoves on to a new set of topics,
but he has the same goal inmind.
He wants to shine a light onthe heart of men and women, and
that's what he wants to do inour lives as well.
The Jewish leaders had threereligious acts that they
(06:42):
performed regularly, and theyasked for their parishioners,
they asked for the Jewish peopleto perform these acts as well.
So one was giving alms to thepoor.
Second was prayer, and thethird was fasting Fasting.
That's coming in a couple weeks.
On the surface, these thingsare really good, aren't they?
We, as believers, are called toengage in these same kinds of
(07:07):
activities.
So there's nothing wrong withgiving alms to the poor, there's
nothing wrong with prayer,there's nothing wrong with
fasting, but the motivation thatis behind those things is
essential and very important.
See, the problem that Jesus wasaddressing is not having the
proper heart motivation when itcomes to the reason why we do
(07:28):
these things.
Why do we do these things?
So let's not allow ourselves toget distracted from the truth.
How many of you know, jesus wasnot teaching behavior
modification.
In other words, jesus wasn'tsaying if you will it enough, if
you have a strong enough mind,if you will it enough, if you
have a strong enough mind, ifyou desire it enough, you can
change yourself.
(07:49):
And if you change yourself,then you can have the right
attitude about giving and aboutprayer and about fasting.
How many of you realize there'sa missing ingredient in all of
that that I just said?
And what is it?
It is the grace of God.
You see, he is saying that ifyou are a recipient of the grace
(08:09):
of God and God is your father,then the natural outworking of
that is that you will gloriouslychange and live like you're a
family member.
How many of you are glad thatyou are part of the family of
God?
And how many of us find us on adaily basis acting like we're a
part of the family of God?
(08:31):
Why did we get quiet?
Come on, I know this church, Iknow you and I know that many of
you, on a daily basis, do livelike children of God.
You act like children of God.
You do the types of things froma heart that's pure, that prove
out the fact that you have beenborn again.
I see it and I know it's true.
(08:54):
But how many of you know?
All of us are in process andthere's room for improvement.
Right, because practicing yourrighteousness isn't about
earning it, but living likeyou've received it as a free
gift.
We don't live the way that Godcalls us to live in order to
earn righteousness.
We live the way that God callsus to live because we've been
(09:16):
made righteous.
Ephesians 2 says it like thisFor by grace, you have been
saved through faith, and this isnot your own doing.
Did you save yourself?
It is the gift of God, not aresult of works, so that no one
may boast, for we are hisworkmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which Godprepared beforehand that we
(09:39):
should walk in them.
So we are born again.
When we put our faith and trustin Jesus Christ, when we repent
of our sins and we believe inthe sacrifice of Jesus, his life
, his death, his burial and hisresurrection, we put our faith
and hope in Jesus Christ, we'reborn again and the grace of God
transforms our hearts and we aregranted the righteousness of
(10:01):
God.
In Christ Jesus, you have beengiven, as a follower of Jesus,
the gift of righteousness, rightstanding with God, your
relationship with him has beenmade right.
And if that's not the case foryou yet, I implore you, I beg
you, I beseech you, that todaywould be the day that you would
(10:23):
acknowledge your need and thatyou would put your faith, hope
and trust in a risen savior.
Amen, amen.
So we as believers.
The Holy Spirit lives in us nowand continues the work of
sanctification.
The natural outworking of theongoing process of
sanctification is that we willbecome more and more like our
(10:44):
heavenly father.
In what ways?
In the way we speak, in the waywe live, in our thought life,
in our actions and, mostimportantly maybe, in our
motivations, why we do thethings that we do.
So we're going to see a patternemerge over the next three
weeks, as Jesus addresses thesethree activities almsgiving,
(11:07):
prayer and fasting at somelength.
So let's look at number one.
The first thing that happens isthere's a warning to not do the
activity regularly in order tobe praised by human beings.
There's a warning to not do theactivity to be praised by human
beings.
Number two, there's a guaranteethat those who ignore this
(11:29):
warning will only receive humanpraise.
Number three, there's aninstruction on how to perform
the activity with the rightheart.
And number four, there's anassurance that our heavenly
father, who sees in secret, willdo what Will reward openly.
You can take a snapshot of thatslide if you want to real quick
(11:52):
for your notes.
I know I'm moving quickly thismorning.
So let's look at this particularpassage today about helping
those who are in need and havinga heart for that, and let's
look at our four differentsegments.
So the first one is a warning.
It says thus when you give tothe needy, sound no trumpet
before you, as the hypocrites doin the synagogues and in the
(12:13):
streets that they may be praisedby others.
Now there's a presuppositionhere that says not if you give.
What does it say when you give?
So what does that mean?
Should we be giving to thosewho are in need?
Absolutely, this should be oneof the joys of our life.
Excuse me, in fact, truereligion is associated closely
(12:38):
with this very thing inscripture.
Look at James 1.27,.
Religion that is pure andundefiled before God, the Father
, is this to visit orphans andwidows in their affliction, in
their time of need, and to keeponeself unstained from the world
.
It is pure religion for us tohelp those with the right heart,
(13:03):
to help those who are in need.
So the warning is clearly abouthow and why we give to those in
need.
Jesus may have been using somehyperbole here.
Sometimes he used some imageryto bring the point home, right.
So he says you shouldn't soundthe trumpet before you come to
deliver the gift that you'regoing to give to the needy,
(13:23):
right?
Can you picture that in yourhead?
Somebody blowing the alarm,blowing the trumpet and saying
I'm here to save the day, right,but he's clear here that we, as
children of God, are not tomake a big deal about ourselves.
Hello, we're not to make a bigdeal about ourselves and our own
(13:43):
goodness.
What are we here to make a bigdeal about?
About God and his goodness?
Jesus calls the person engagedin this perilous self-promotion
hypocrites.
Hypocrites the term hypocritewas originally used for actors
on a Greek stage who put onvarious masks to play different
(14:04):
roles.
They'd put on a mask, they'dpump energy and they would play
out these different parts asthey were masked in order to do
that.
Jesus here says to thereligious leaders in a very
scornful way, especially thePharisees.
Especially the Pharisees, hesays that they were performing
(14:25):
external acts of righteousnessthat were masking, even from
their selves, even from theirselves, their own inner
corruption.
You see, hypocrisy is so evilbecause many of those who are
involved in it think they areright with God.
You know how to stop being ahypocrite.
Acknowledge that you are one insome way, not saying we have to
(14:52):
stay there.
But how many of you know all ofus?
If somebody were to follow ushome and walk around with us,
soon enough they'd find somearea in our life where our
action or our words or ourthoughts, our motivation, didn't
line up with God's way.
Right, in order for us tochange, we have to understand
that we have a need for change.
(15:14):
In this case, hypocrisy isdefined as doing the right thing
for the wrong reasons.
Jesus, in another passage, warnshis followers to break from the
religious status quo when itcame to hypocrisy.
In Luke 12, verse 1, it says inthe meantime, when so many
thousands of the people hadgathered together that they were
trampling one another, he beganto say to his disciples.
(15:37):
First beware of the leaven ofthe Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy.
It seems like every day in thenews, now or every other day,
we're hearing of another personwho is famous in the Christian
world, who has been discoveredis living a hypocritical
lifestyle.
My friends, we have to be socareful, we have to be so
(16:02):
guarded because, but for thegrace of God, there go I.
We're not here to sit injudgment or to scorn.
We're here to say God, as faras I'm concerned, protect me,
keep me from being a hypocrite.
You know the number one reasonpeople aren't in church today.
(16:22):
When you ask them what willthey say overwhelmingly Because
of hypocrites.
I'm going to give you a livingillustration, a modern day
example of what Jesus wastalking about.
So can I have a volunteer,please?
Are there any volunteers to bewilling to help me?
(16:44):
Okay, this man right here onthe front row.
Would you come down?
Let's welcome him.
Thank him for being so willingto help out this morning.
Isn't that great?
Come on over, sir.
Come on over.
So what is your name?
John, john?
Okay, richard, it's good tomeet you.
I'm glad that you're here withus today.
(17:05):
And you know, I was justthinking.
I was sitting at home and Ijust kind of had this thought
yeah, that's it, that's theright stuff.
You ready to make it rain?
(17:27):
Are you hungry?
Yes, he's hungry.
Are you homeless?
Yes, he's homeless.
He's got two of the three H's Iwas looking for.
He's hungry, he's homeless andhe's.
Is he handsome?
Yes, he's got all three.
(17:48):
Are you kidding me?
This is the trifecta.
This is what I've been waitingfor for so long.
I have this right here, thishard-earned money right here.
Do you see it?
You want to smell?
It Smells like cash, smell likecash.
Could you use this money righthere?
Do you see it?
You want to smell?
It?
Smell like cash.
Could you use this money righthere?
(18:08):
Are you sure?
Okay, all I need you to do is Ineed to take a picture real
quick.
That's okay.
No, don't touch it, don't.
Yeah, no, don't, don't touch me.
No, we don't do that.
No, don't touch me.
No, we don't do that, we don'tgo there.
We definitely don't go there.
Okay, all right.
Can you smile for the camera?
Oh, wait, wait.
Would you mind just take thathand and just point at me, if
(18:31):
you would, oh, and just say you,da man.
Okay, all right, wait, just asecond here.
Let me take care of this.
I got to get this on thesocials.
Hashtag blessed to be a blessing.
Hashtag homeless no more.
Hashtag man.
(18:52):
T-money's good Hashtag.
This about to go viral.
Okay, thank you.
Appreciate it.
Yeah, what.
What are you talking about,richard?
This is what are you talkingabout.
Are you going to buy drugs withit here?
(19:15):
I can spare that, all right.
Yeah, what are you on about?
What's wrong?
Okay, hopefully you get thepoint.
(19:38):
We could do this all day.
I've got lots of other exampleswe could do.
It's fun, all right, let's lookat the guarantee, the third
part.
Jesus says truly, I say to youthey have received their second
part, they have received theirreward.
Let's be honest.
It's so easy to love the glorythat comes from people
acknowledging us and recognizingus more than the glory that
(20:01):
comes from God.
It's instant and it's verygratifying when people
acknowledge how great we are.
By the way, it's not wrong forpeople to acknowledge that.
In fact, there's a verse aboutit.
Proverbs 27, verse 2, says letanother praise you and not your
own mouth, a stranger and notyour own lips.
(20:22):
Not wrong for somebody else tosay thank you or to, but how
many of you know the motivationof our heart as the person who's
being used by God to be ablessing to others.
Matters, matters, greatly.
See, we are tragically wrongwhen we prefer the praise of
others over the praise of God,when we prefer the praise of
others over the praise of God,when we're more concerned about
(20:44):
what somebody else thinks of methan we are concerned about what
God thinks of me.
The sad irony is that when wedo the right thing for the wrong
reason, we may be able toimpress others, but God is not
impressed and he will not rewardus.
He's not impressed and he willnot reward us.
So what is the instruction?
The third part of this?
(21:05):
Jesus goes to the farthestextreme in the way that he
contrasts the way his disciplesare to perform acts of
righteousness with the ways ofthe religious leaders.
They are to have such puremotives of concern for the poor
(21:29):
that when giving, they won't payattention to themselves at all.
They won't recognize themselvesat all.
Sometimes this means givinganonymously, but it always means
not making a big deal about it,not making a fuss over it, not
looking for some kind ofself-promotion or looking for
somebody to raise the flags orthe banners or somebody to shout
(21:50):
team money's in the house.
You see, when we help those inneed with a pure heart, it's
about bringing honor and gloryto God and not about ourselves.
What a beautiful concept.
We see a great example of thisin the life of David.
David was used by God to gathertogether everything that was
(22:13):
going to be needed for thebuilding of the temple.
He wasn't going to get to buildit because of the blood that he
shed, but his son after him,solomon, was going to be able to
build it, and so David had theprivilege of gathering all of
these things together, and atthe end of that process, he says
this in front of all of thepeople.
Therefore, david blessed theLord in the presence of all the
(22:36):
assembly.
And David said blessed are you,o Lord, the God of Israel, our
father, forever and ever.
Yours, o Lord, is the greatnessand the power and the glory and
the victory and the majesty, forall that is in the heavens and
in the earth is whose.
David's, god's.
(22:59):
Yours is the kingdom, o Lord,and you are exalted as head
above all.
Both riches and honor come fromyou, and you rule over all.
In your hand are power andmight, and in your hand it is.
It is to make great and to givestrength to all.
And now we thank you, our god,and praise your glorious name.
(23:19):
But who am I and what is mypeople that we should be able
thus to offer?
Willingly?
Offer what Willingly, for allthings come from you and of your
own have we given you?
For we are strangers before youand sojourners, as all our
fathers were.
Our days on the earth are likea shadow and there's no abiding.
(23:39):
Oh Lord, our God, all thisabundance that we have provided
for building you a house foryour holy name comes from your
hand and is all your own.
I know, my God, that you testthe heart and have pleasure in
uprightness, in the uprightnessof my heart.
In other words, with the rightmotivation, I have freely
offered all these things.
(24:00):
In other words, with the rightmotivation, I have freely
offered all these things.
And now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering
freely and joyously to you, toyou.
You see, when we understandthat everything that we have,
everything that we own,everything that we wear,
everything that we drive,everything that we live in,
(24:28):
every breath that we take, itall belongs to God, when we live
that way and believe that itshould be easy to give with the
right heart.
It should be the easiest thingand it should bring us such
great joy to be able to do thatNow.
This isn't just a skit that I'mgoing to do right now.
This is for real.
I was praying about what Ishould do this morning and I
(24:53):
felt like the Lord spoke to me,that I was supposed to come to
Michaela and I was supposed togive her this gift and to say to
her the Lord sees you and heknows you and he loves you, and
this is a gift from him.
It's not from me, it's from him, and he just wants to be a
blessing to you and to let youknow that he's your father and
(25:14):
he loves you and you can putyour trust in him completely.
Okay, love you.
Thank you, lord.
(25:36):
What is our assurance?
Your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
See, our Father sees everythingand he loves to ultimately
reward those who act withgenuine sincerity instead of
seeking public praise.
There isn't a thing that we dofor Him out of a right heart
(25:56):
that he doesn't see and takenote of.
He takes note when we areobedient to him and we have the
right heart, the rightmotivation when we do it.
He's a doting father For allthe parents and, I should say,
all of the grandparents in theroom.
How much of your percentage ofyour conversation is about you
(26:17):
talking about those little ones?
Did you see what they did today?
He's a doting father.
He loves to celebrate hischildren's joyful obedience.
It should be the cry of ourhearts to hear our father say
(26:38):
well done, my good and faithfulservant.
Let's pray together.
Father, I thank you.
I thank you for this church.
I thank you, lord, that thischurch is such a generous church
(26:59):
.
Father, I thank you for all ofthe individuals that make up
this body, and I thank you forthe heart that's behind the
desire to be a blessing toothers and to recognize that
everything that we have is agift from you.
I ask that you'd help us, lord,to run away from hypocrisy and
(27:20):
to make sure that our heart'smotivations are right.
And we know that the HolySpirit is the one that's working
on the inside of us to bring usto the place of recognizing our
need for change in these areas.
And so, lord, we ask that you'dhelp us.
Help us to change, father.
Help us to change, help us toshare your heart of compassion,
(27:41):
lord.
I'm so reminded of the manytimes where Jesus had compassion
on people and he reached outand he met them at the point of
their need.
Father, would you give us yourheart for those who are hurting?
Would you give us your heartfor those who are in great need
today?
And, lord, would you also giveus the provision that we need?
(28:05):
We thank you that everyblessing comes from you, and we
do want to be a blessing toothers.
We ask that you would funnelfinances and other things that
are needed, resources in ourlives and through our lives to
others.
And, lord, let it be said, godis glorified by Trinity
(28:25):
Community Church because of theheart of the people to help
those who are in desperate needof help.
Thank you for doing thesethings in Jesus' name, amen.
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