Matthew 6:1-4
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Matthew 6:1-4
ReplyDeleteQuestions:
- Don't we want to show other how God is moving in our lives?
- Don't we want to be encourage others through our example?
http://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/1326/are-good-works-supposed-to-be-seen-or-not says:
ReplyDeleteJesus wants the world to know of God's glory, and that cannot be done without ourselves committing to a certain amount of exposure. . . we should also be out in the world and spreading God's word and his love. Some of this is done through deeds, which should always be used as a reflection of God's glory. . . .We need to be careful to ensure that the works we do in His name are done only in that spirit.
Jesus is not telling us at all to hide our light. Rather, he tells us that we should not shine it for the sole sake of drawing attention to ourselves. Our good deeds, while often done in public before the world, are not always for the whole world to see and hear about. Every good deed has its beneficiaries, and its audience should not be more than those who will truly see benefit from it. Anything beyond that is excessive, and is generally done in the spirit of drawing attention more to oneself than to God.
http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-motives.html
ReplyDeleteProverbs 16:2 says, “All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the LORD.” Because the human heart is very deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), we can easily fool ourselves about our own motives. We can pretend that we are choosing certain actions for God or the benefit of others, when in reality we have selfish reasons. God is not fooled by our selfishness and is “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 14:12). . . Any motivation that originates in our sinful flesh is not pleasing to God (Romans 8:8). God even evaluates the condition of our hearts when we give offerings to Him (2 Corinthians 9:7). Selfish motives can hinder our prayers.
We can even preach and minister from impure motives (Philippians 1:17), but God is not impressed (Proverbs 21:27).
Jesus spoke to this issue in Matthew 6:1. . . Those involved in ministry must stay alert to this tendency toward selfishness, because ministry begun for pure reasons can quickly devolve into selfish ambition if we do not guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23).
Here are some specific questions to help us evaluate our own motives:
1. If no one ever knows what I am doing (giving, serving, sacrificing), would I still do it?
2. If there was no visible payoff for doing this, would I still do it?
3. Would I joyfully take a lesser position if God asked me to?
4. Am I doing this for the praise of others or how it makes me feel?
5. If I had to suffer for continuing what God has called me to do, would I continue?
6. If others misunderstand or criticize my actions, will I stop?
7. If those whom I am serving never show gratitude or repay me in any way, will I still do it?
8. Do I judge my success or failure based upon my faithfulness to what God has asked me to do, or how I compare with others?
These verses point out one of the most challenging issues I deal with in my life. For example, I might start and work in a good deed for the right reason, but at some point I will find myself drifting into "Did they see how good I am?".
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I can ever have entirely pure motives. Even if I start out correctly at some point I seem to drift off. Even if I correct myself I find myself drifting again.
And there are negatives on both side - Did I start the good work for my own glory? vs did I not do the work for fear of the struggle in keeping my motives in check? In both cases I am focusing more on myself than God and others.
It brings me back to Paul's statement - What a wretch I am. Who can rescue me? God through Jesus.
Well put Von. Like you said, "in both cases I am focusing more on myself . . .
DeleteI think that is the key here. The more we love Jesus, the less we pay attention to ourselves. A Jesus lover will jump in with good deeds out of a response to Jesus. But, there's a second part. Will that person give glory to God or will s/he accept to glory personally?
The reward only comes to those who both do the good acts and give the glory to God.
My two cent summary:
ReplyDeleteIt seems like all the articles I'm reading talks about motives, which seems to make sense. However, the verses don't talk about motives, which makes me take pause at that explanation. For one thing, I don't think we are a very good judge of our own motives. Because of that, I think we would do better if we just followed the advice of these verses.
So, what about being a light in the world. We are not the object of the light! We need to shine on God and what He is doing. I think that we fall into a trap when we shine a light on our own good deeds, thinking that people will attribute our good deeds to God. The result of our good deeds can be that other people think that we are great - not God.
In summarizing that point: Shining our lights on God is when we worship God and directly tell others about Him. Showing off our good deeds so that people can see them, thinking that God will get the glory, is where we go wrong.
One side point. The rewards that Jesus is talking about: I believe that the rewards are being able to participate in what God is doing - both here and in heaven. God doesn't use glory-hounds. And that is our tendency - once we get a taste of people's praise.