Hope Church LV Sermons
The Real Thing :: authentic giving
One of the highlights or hallmarks, if you will, of the ancient Greek and Roman civilization was the theater. Much like our culture today, the ancient Greeks and Romans were fascinated with being entertained. In a major part, an important role in the ancient Greek and Roman theater was the wearing of a mask. In the ancient Greek and Roman theater, it wasn't with the technology that we have today where they had the ability with cameras and screens to project images, and so what they would do is each of the characters would wear a mask, and that mask would often have a highly exaggerated expression, be it the expression of joy or sorrow or fright or confusion. It was often highly exaggerated, and it was done that way so that in the theater as they gathered together in those large theaters, which oftentimes sat hundreds, if not thousands of people, without the amplification systems and the ability to have big screens projecting images, it was the highly exaggerated expression on the mask that would allow the people at the front all the way to the very back of the theater to be able to understand the role that the character was trying to play. The masks that they would use were often color-coded, so a certain color represented a male character in a different color would represent a female character. Sometimes the colors represented status in society like some color may represent wealth or nobility while other colors would represent a lower cast in the society or someone from the poorer section of town. The mask would be put on and it would allow the actor, the person that was playing that role, the mask would ultimately allow them to assume an identity that was not their own identity, and in assuming that identity they would then perform for the approval of the audience. They had the ability to put on the mask and become something that they were not, and then on that stage, perform behind that mask, seeking to gain the approval of those that were watching. Now the Greeks had a term for the person in the mask that was performing a role for the approval of others. Here was the Greek word, "Hupo crites." We get an English word from it, "Hippo crit." The person on the stage wearing the mask, putting on the show, performing for others, who had become something that they really were not the pretender. They called the "Hippo crit." Now when we hear the word "Hippo crit" today an actor on a stage is not the first thing that comes to our mind, right? John MacArthur said it this way, "Look at this quote on the screen." A hypocrite originally was a Greek actor who wore a mask that portrayed in an exaggerated way the role that was being dramatized for obvious reasons. The term came to be used of anyone who pretended to be what he was not. If you're visiting with us this morning we are studying straight through the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7. Last weekend we began a new section of that sermon that Jesus delivered in Matthew chapter 6. Matter of fact, if you have your Bible, you can go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 6. We're going to begin reading there in just a moment. If you don't have a Bible with you, a little bit I'm going to put these verses on the screen, but we began a series where Jesus is describing what we call the real theme. Authentic faith. In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus begins to describe what it looks like for genuine faith to be lived out in our lives. Now in Jesus teaching the real thing, last weekend we identified the real thing is really his life spilling out of our lives, out of the overflow of intimate fellowship with him. That's what genuine faith is. Genuine faith is not a performance. Genuine faith is not putting on a show. Genuine faith is me living my life out of the overflow with intimacy with God to the point that he's so radically changing me on the inside that what begins to spill out of my life is literally the life of Christ in me. It's not a show, it's his life being manifest in my life, but what we're going to find is in chapter 6 Jesus begins to compare the real thing to the Hupo Cretes. Three times in chapter 6 Jesus gives us an example. He's going to do it this morning in the arena of giving then he does it in the area of praying, then he does it in the area of fasting and he says here's what it looks like when it's a hypocrite. Here's what it looks like when it's a show and here's what it looks like when it's the real thing and the challenge that he's given to us is to examine our hearts. Look at verse 1 in chapter 6 that we looked at last weekend and verse 1 of chapter 6 Jesus says beware. Say that first word out loud. Beware. It means to be on the lookout to pay careful attention to and we said last weekend it's in the present tense meaning that it's a constant awareness. It's not just something that I do occasionally but I'm to live my life constantly examining my heart. Why? Listen what he says, beware of practicing your right, excuse me, your righteousness before men to be noticed by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your father who is in heaven. Last weekend we looked at the general principle that Jesus was teaching us to be constantly aware of the way that we're living out our faith. What our faith looks like being fleshed out of our lives. Jesus said we're to constantly be looking at it. Why did he say that? Because he knew the tendency of our flesh is to drift towards what? Putting on the mask, right? Hey let's just be honest. There's some of you this morning first move in the parking lot, right? Because here's what you know. Some of you come in this morning, all hell is breaking loose in your life right now. You're hanging on by thread. Your life is falling apart. You've come in here this morning in an act of desperation hoping that somebody will put an arm around you, speak a word of encouragement. But instead of coming in and being transparent, what do we do in the parking lot? We put on the I'm at church and I'm doing great mask. You know what I'm afraid this weekend all over our country, there are untold millions of people who are gathering in settings of worship. And what it really is is a mask. They've assumed a role. They've assumed a character. It's not really who they are. But they're just seeking to live out that portrayal. Listen to gain the approval of the audience. And let's be honest, we all struggle with this. This isn't one of those young Christian things that you get past. That's why Jesus said constantly be aware. He didn't say, "Hey, beware early on in your journey." You get this licked, but he said constantly. We're to examine our motives, examine our hearts. You see the reality is God is not pleased. It doesn't bring him honor. It's not his desire for us to simply play a role on the stage. God desires. He brought us into relationship with himself so that he could do a radical work on the inside of us that literally begin to change who we are so that what came out of us was literally the life of Christ being manifest in and through our lives. And yet so often we settle for something so much less. Now Jesus here is going to give us some really practical examples and I'm just going to be honest with you. They're going to mess in our business a little bit. It's been messing in mind this week. Hey, you only have to sit through this for about 30, 40 minutes. I have to live with it for about 20 hours. The pastor shared hope, man, when we come and teach God's Word, we've spent 10, 15, 20, sometimes 25 hours in a particular text of Scripture. And I'm going to tell you this chapter is wearing me out. Listen to what Martin Lloyd Jones said about it. Look at this on the screen. He said, "I sometimes think that this is one of the most uncomfortable chapters to read in the entire Scriptures. It probes and examines and holds a mirror up before us, and it will not allow us to escape." We don't like the mirror very much, do we? You know we don't like the mirror? It's brutally honest. We can have all sorts of grandiose ideas in our head about what we think we look like. And then we get in the mirror. And reality sets in, right? Now, if reality doesn't sit in for you in the mirror, you got more problems than you think you got this morning, right? There'll be pastors waiting to meet with you after the service. And as we look in these verses, it's challenging. It's challenging to the point of what David cried out when David prayed in the book of Psalms, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight." What Jesus is dealing with in Matthew 6 are the very meditations of our heart. It's not the action. It's the motive and the heart behind the action. So let's read it. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 2, look what he says. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you as the, say it out loud, hypocrites, and we understand who those are, right? Those are the actors on the stage. They put on the mass, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may be honored by man, truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving will be in secret. Your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Here Jesus begins about talking about the example from our lives of giving to the poor. Now it's not the normal word for giving in the New Testament. It's a word that's very broad. As a matter of fact, it's the exact same word that in verse 1 is translated practicing. It's the word doing. Here Jesus is not just talking about giving. When you hear giving in church, immediately what we think about is the part of the end, right? When the offering basically is held, we put some money in that's giving. And that's included in the principle that Jesus is talking about here. But what Jesus is talking about here is so much bigger than that. Jesus is talking about the principle of literally anything that we do by giving, by serving that brings help or aid to somebody else. This phrase giving to the poor could literally be translated the outward expression of mercy, the action of compassion. It's the expression of Christ's compassion and mercy in my life actively. It's not just a feeling, it's that feeling being pressed out of my life. And it demonstrates itself in giving and in serving and in helping others. Jesus here is referring to the principle of living generously. It's a principle that we value here at Hope. We've taught on it many times. It's a principle that's taught throughout the Scriptures from Genesis all the way to Revelation. In the Old Testament, God's relationship with this covenant people led them to live generously. In the New Testament, the New Testament church continued in this pattern and then the apostles wrote into the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God and gave us instruction about living generously. What does this principle of generosity mean? Well, I want to give you a couple of reminders to help us understand and then we're going to unpack what Jesus is saying about it here. There's a Bible teacher in Tennessee named Lloyd Shadrach and he gave some great word pictures about this principle of generosity that I want you to catch this morning. First of all, the word generosity is used in the Old Testament and in the Old Testament, it has a couple of different pictures. One of them is the picture of saturating something with water. It's the image like I saw a couple of weeks ago at my house, my little daughter fades. She's six and a half and half very important to her. She's six and a half and she had some friends come over and swim and they were swimming out in the pool and I go outside and I see them out there and yeah, they've got about five beach towels all in the water. Now, beach towels lose their effectiveness once they're in the water. You know, they don't really have a purpose there but they're all in the water and I go to lift that towel up out of the water. When you lift that towel up out of the water, guess what? That towel weighs about 10 times what it weighed for when in the water. It's now heavy and when you pick it up, that towel, how you carrying it, right? You're carrying it like this. Why? Because the water is just pouring off of that towel. It's dropping everywhere and you're trying to keep it from falling all over you. It's saturated with water. That's the Hebrew word generosity. Another picture is the word, the picture of being filled to overflow. It's the picture of taking a glass and sitting it on this table and taking a picture of water and beginning to feel the empty glass and as the glass begins to feel, it gets to the top and when it gets to the top, you don't stop pouring, you just keep pouring and what happens? The water just spills over the glass right now. It's running all down the front here because it's filled to overflow, Hebrew word generosity. In the New Testament, there are a couple of different word pictures. One of them, the word generosity means a readiness to distribute. It means that I'm living my life on the lookout. It's the picture of somebody that has a bag of goodies, if you will, and they're just, they're constantly looking for an opportunity to give some of those things away. They've got the treats, man. They're living on the lookout for the opportunity to give to somebody else. Now, here's my favorite of the word pictures, the one most of you remember here at Hope, wants you to take your hands, want you to hold them out, want you to do like this. Everybody doing? Nobody gets a pass this morning. I'll call you out if you're not doing it. The word generosity literally means on your fingertips. All right, you can put them down there. I just like watching, do it. Here's the principle. I'm to live with everything I have. My time, my resources, my abilities and my gifts. I'm to live with everything I have. Now, let's put all the word pictures together. I'm to hold it loosely like this, and I'm to live on the lookout. Ready. God, I know it all came from you, everything I have. Now, I'm ready, and I'm looking not to do this. No. Saturate. Feel to overflow. The principle that Jesus is describing here with this phrase, giving to the poor is this idea of generous living, and I want to give it to you in a statement. Generous living is living life ready to make a difference in the lives of others. Jesus said, and he taught it. It was in the Old Testament. It's in the New Testament. It's in the Jewish system to live my life ready to make a difference, looking for opportunities to help others in my giving, in my serving, and Jesus is saying here, when it comes to generosity, sometimes translated charity or almsgiving, it's not so much about the act as it is about the heart behind the act. The Hippocrates, the Hippocrates, was performing the act, but with the wrong heart motive, and Jesus says, that's not it. That's not what God desires. Matter of fact, so much so that whatever word you get out of that, that's it. God's keeping no record of that stuff. Now, on the outside, listen, this is important. On the outside, often it looks the same. So let me ask a couple of questions. Number one, how do I know if I'm wearing a mask? Jesus says I'm to evaluate my heart. I'm to look. I'm to constantly assess. How do I know if I'm wearing a mask specifically in this area of living generously, giving to the poor, helping others? I want to give you some indicators this morning. Here's the first one. In the area of giving, wearing a mask is motivated by self. It's motivated by self. Do you hear what he said? When you give to the poor, do not sound to trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may be honored by men. You see what their giving was? It was really motivated by very selfish motives. It wasn't about the gift, the giver, I mean, it wasn't about the gift or God or the one being given to. It was really all about them. You say, wait a minute. Now, how can I be serving others? How can I be giving and it be all about me? Well, let me give you some examples of what that heart motive looks like and listen, we all have to wrestle with these. Sometimes it takes on the appearance of a self-righteous motive and that I'm doing this for God. Hey, I'm giving and I'm serving because God needs me. Sometimes it takes on a motive of self-worth or self-esteem. I'm doing it for others. See, now it's not God who needs me, it's others who need me. And I get a sense of self-worth and self-esteem because of my gift, because of my service. There are a lot of Christians who find their identity not in Christ, but we find our identity in our service. That's why heaven forbid the church ever change a program and do something a little bit different. People get so upset. Why? Because often we've wrapped our identity into our little place of service. Don't mess with that. That's where I find my worth and my value. Sometimes it's a sense of self-justification. Sometimes our giving and serving is really more about our own trying to atone for the past. I think if I just give enough and serve enough, somehow I can deserve or earn God's forgiveness. Well, I've messed up a lot, God, and I want to show you. I want to show you I'm different. I want to show you that I -- and we would never say I'm earning God's forgiveness, but I think sometimes we serve with that motive. Wearing a mask in the area of giving and serving, it begins by being motivated by self. But here's the second indicator. Wearing a mask in this area is really all about receiving. It's not really about giving at all. I was studying this this week and I came across a quote and I'll be honest with you. Mike and Travis and I, we were in a room together. We were reading some things and praying together and looking over this text. And when I read this quote, man, I think the room, we just shut down for about 15 or 20 minutes. Here's one of those quotes. It reached up and grabbed me by the throat, man. That may not affect you that way this morning. I know everything that somebody reads, but I'm telling you, when I read it, it was like, wow. Listen what it says. William Hendrickson, they were hypocrites because while they pretended to give, they really intended to receive, namely honor for men. How many times in my life in an area of service, in an area of giving, in the name of helping, is really my heart motive about what I'm getting out of it. Which really makes it not about serving at all or giving at all. It's about receiving. And why this is such an issue that we have to constantly be aware of and we never really get completely perfected this side of eternity. Because we got this old flesh, but see, the problem is our flesh longs to be noticed. You see, every one of us got a flesh that likes to be affirmed. We love the pat on the back, man. But if I'm not careful, the very motive for my giving and serving can be really receiving. Let me ask some questions. Do I give or help others to receive honor or recognition? That's what they were doing. They were giving, but they were sounding the trumpet on the way in the door to receive honor for men. So their gift would be recognized and noticed and they would get honor. They loved walking down the hall and hearing the people go, "Hey, man, you know, Joe, dude, that is one generous guy." Advancement, that's one great teacher. Well, so and so they're always serving. Now, nothing wrong with giving and serving and teaching, I just got to live crucified with Christ where it doesn't become about me. That's how subtle the flesh is. The flesh doesn't care if we're wallowing in the mire of drugs and alcohol and sexual addiction or we're wallowing in the mire of morality and pseudo-righteousness as long as it's not Christ. Do I give or help others to receive a sense of satisfaction or accomplishment? I'll be honest with you now. I'm embarrassed when I'm about to tell you, has come out of my mouth. I've said this. I got the microphone, so I'll be transparent this morning. I won't make you say your stuff out loud, but I'll give you some examples. This has come out of my mouth. My family has been in a restaurant and we've had our, you know, leftovers after the meal and we're walking out and we'll come across somebody who's at a tough spot in life and they're in need and we'll give them the food that we have left over and get in the car and this come out of my mouth. Well, there's our good deed for the day. That's a mask. The giving was really about a sense of accomplishment. It's really about my sense of satisfaction. It's not about Christ and the fact that Jesus loves that person and I just happen to be the hands that Jesus wants to love that person with. I happen to be privileged in that moment to be His hands and His feet and the vessel. And yet how many times in that moment do I walk away feeling? Almost with this attitude. Let me tell you what that is. That is the wickedness of my flesh. And I'm not just trying to be hard on me. You ain't no better. Do I give or help others to receive a blessing from God? Listen, there is an entire vein of Christian thought in America that teaches if you will give, you will get. They will stand up in the pulpits and with the Bible, preach a gospel that says if you will just give more, if you will just serve more, that God will give you more and bless you more. And it is a give to get. Now, don't misunderstand me. I believe that as we live out Christ in our lives, God blesses our lives. But I got to be careful that it's not a give to get mentality because that entire vein of Christian thought is a mask. Now, it sells a lot of books and it gets a lot of people watching you on TV. But listen, it doesn't fly in the jungles of Africa where people are living on a dollar a day. And if it's not cross-cultural, it's not biblical. The Bible was not written for an American western capitalistic society. The Bible is a book for the nations of the earth. And if our theology does not line up with what can be preached in any culture around the globe, it is not a biblical theology. I got to be careful that it's not a give to get. Let me give you a third indicator. Wearing a mask is temporary in its result. Jesus said, if you live like this, you got your reward. It says they have their reward in full. Hey, I think there's a lot of the names we hear and know that are going to be empty handed on that day. It's been a mask. It's been a facade. It's been a show. So let me give you the contrasting question we're finished. What does the real thing look like? Jesus takes on what it looks like to live this out as the mask. But what does the real thing look like? Well, I want to give you a couple of indicators. Number one, authentic giving is the overflow of Christ and me. Authentic giving is the overflow of Christ and me. Remember what we said last weekend, the real thing is not my living for him, but his living through me. When it comes to giving or helping others, it's not me. It's Christ in me. Hey, I have to wrestle with my flesh on this every week of my life. One of the ways that God's allowed me to use the gift synabilities, giving me to help and to serve and to give to others is the vehicle of preaching God's word. You know the gut check, the heart check I have to do every week in the study? Every week in the study I have to wrestle with. Man, am I wanting to say this? Am I wanting to use this illustration? And I want to tell this story because people will leave and say, wow, what Pastor Vance, he is some communicator. I'll be honest, we all got flesh, right? Some weekends after battle going home, him own heart. Boy, that was a good one this weekend. So what I want you to hear me say is I'm not talking about something that you ever get past. And listen, if you're living in the struggle, that's where we're supposed to be. The problem is, there's too many of us that aren't living in the struggle. The real thing is Christ in me. See, the Bible says for God so loved the world that he what gave his only begotten son. God is the most generous being in the universe. God is a giver. God gives. And to the degree that my life becomes generous and I begin to live this way, it's not me. Listen, I know who I am. I know my flesh. I know the wickedness of my own heart. It's God bringing me back to that place where I recognize in those moments of service in that moment of giving, in that moment of preaching. If there is anything of value at all, it is Christ Jesus and him crucified. And authentic giving is giving with that hard attitude that says Jesus. It's a privilege because I know it's you and it's not me. Here's the second one. Authentic giving is really all about him and his activity in the lives of others. Wearing the mask is all about me. It's about receiving, but authentic giving is really all about him and his activity in the lives of others. Here's what I recognize. God is at work all over the world. God is at work in the lives of people all around me. And when I understand that, authentic giving is born out of a hard attitude that says God because you've done so much in me and I see you at work around me. My yes is on the table. I'm living with everything that I have like this. God ready for you to use me in the lives of others for your glory. It's not about me at all. You see authentic giving really reveals my heart response to him and what he's doing in the lives of other people. Now therein is why people in churches often get so upset when anybody talks about giving. You know why? Because it's the mirror that shows us how much our flesh is really consumed with us. It's really about God and his activity in the lives of other people. It's not about me at all. It's not about me. And thirdly, authentic giving impacts today and eternity. Jesus says there in verse four so that your giving will be in secret and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. It has reward today. Christ is made known in the lives of people around me and lives are changed as I live and allow Christ to live his life through me. But it also has impact and eternity as one day. And it's unbelievable to even think this because when you recognize it's all him and nothing of me but one day Christ is going to give me rewards for the very acts of mercy that he has done through me. And then I get the joy of understanding. It was not about me at all. It was all about him. And I get to lay those rewards back at the feet of Jesus and say it was really all about you. But man, if I'm living my life wearing the mask on that day, guess what? I'm empty handed. Now some people try to take this phrase and they run to an extreme with this thing of giving. They read that phrase. It's to be done in secret. And they get over sensitive when it comes to the arena of giving. And he said the same thing about praying but nobody thinks you can only pray by yourself. Jesus is not here drawing a hard and fast line that says, okay, everything's always got to be in secret. What he's saying is be careful that you examine your heart that even when it is in public. That's why he says don't even let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. That's not about what everybody else knows. That's about what you know. He's talking about your heart. Let me close with a quote. John MacArthur, listen to what he said. The principle is this. If we remember, God will forget. But if we forget, God will remember. Our purpose should meet a meet every need we're able to meet and leave the book keeping to God. Realizing that we will have done only that which we ought to have done. So here's the question of the morning. Are you wearing a mask? Are you putting on a show on the outside for the approval of others? Have you embraced a character that's not really your identity and you're simply performing? Jesus says, beware, examine your heart, pursue the real thing. Let's pray. Lord, these truths that we've looked at this morning are deeply challenging in my own heart. And God, these are not truths that we just need to hear and let go. We need to take these and Lord, we need to wrestle with these a little bit. Or this is not a text of scripture that we take and walk away and live in guilt and condemnation. It's a text of scripture we hear. We walk away and go, hey, that's who my flesh is, but Christ in me is greater. And we seek to live moment by moment in dependence on him and not independence on ourselves. We have the passion of John the Baptist who said, he must increase. I must decrease. The passion of Paul who said, I die daily. I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the flesh. I now live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. Lord, your Word says, walk by the Spirit and I will not carry out the desires of the flesh. Lord, would you speak to us today? As you sit there quietly before the Lord, the first thing I want you to answer in your heart is this, is your very Christianity a mask. Have you ever really embraced Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life? Or was you're even coming to church a mask? I'm going to change on the outside. I'm going to put on the show. I'm going to try to be righteous. There's no salvation in that. Salvation begins when I recognize my sinfulness before God and I repent of my sin and I trust Christ. I throw myself on the mercy of God. Maybe you're here this morning and you need to be saved today. You need Christ. As we sang earlier, Jesus saves and He'll save you today. When we stand to sing a song in just a moment, we have some pastors at the front, some prayer volunteers and pastors at the side. If God is spoken to you and you want to be saved this morning, you slip out of your seat. You go to one of them and say, I need Christ today and they'll show you from the Bible how you can be saved. Maybe you're struggling with another area and you just need to talk or pray with someone. Listen, that's why these men and women are here. You go to any one of them. They will pray with you and talk with you. In the area of giving and serving, are you wearing a mask? Are you putting on a show? Is your motive self? Listen, this is an opportunity for you to do business with God. As we sing this song of worship, may it be the prayer of our heart. God changes. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. (gentle music)