Matthew 6:1ff

An Aesop’s fable tells of a wolf who wanted to have a sheep for his dinner and decided to disguise himself as a sheep and follow the flock into the fold. While the wolf waited until the sheep went to sleep, the shepherd decided he would have mutton for his own meal. In the dark he picked out what he thought was the largest, fattest sheep; but after he had killed the animal he discovered it was a wolf. What that shepherd did inadvertently to a wolf in sheep’s clothing, God does intentionally. The Lord judges hypocrisy.

Matthew 5:20, Jesus said, “I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Most of us are a strange lot. It seems when we hear high moral injunctions, we begin to think in terms of how well others would think and speak of us if we were like that. Without question, the greater the demand for holiness, the greater the danger of hypocrisy.

Jesus knowing how we are, begins the next chapter, “Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” He says, “ do not do your acts of righteousness.”

“Don’t practice your piety before men to be seen by them,” Jesus is saying, whose approval do we seek. “Be careful not just to perform your piety to gain the approval of men, but see to it that your piety gains the approval of your Father in heaven.”

Then Jesus tackles three fundamental acts of Jewish piety.

Giving alms, praying, and fasting.

There are common elements in these three fundamental acts of Jewish piety. First there is a description and denunciation of ostentatious piety typical of degenerate Pharisaism. Second, there is an ironic affirmation of the limited results of such piety. They have their reward, and lastly, there is a description of true piety.

Matthew 6:1 Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. 2When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward. 3But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.

When you give to help people.

“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 men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.”

It is not the practice of alms giving that is criticized. Even in the Old Testament, giving of alms is regarded as a sacred duty (Deuteronomy 15:11). In the previous chapter, Jesus himself says, “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

Christians need to be very concerned about this problem of scammers trying to talk advantage of the good-hearted people.

Christian love does demand that we do what we can to help. I’m not sure it really helps to give your money to provide them with more drink or drugs.

Alms giving is everywhere regarded as not only a privilege but a duty. Jesus is not talking against that. He speaks rather against the ostentatious giver. The trumpet here might be a metaphorical allusion, somebody tooting his own horn, as it were, but it may also be a reference to blowing trumpets, a time of collecting alms in the temple for special relief.

If there were a special crisis, there could be trumpets blown in the temple that were understood to call the people together to give alms relief. Well, what a glorious opportunity. The trumpet sounds and I go out and strut down to the temple, and everybody knows what I’m going to do. It could be that sort of allusion that’s in view here.

Such people are hypocrites, the Greek word literally means actors. They are playing at piety, It’s not really piety.

Since the fall of man there have been hypocrites. Hypocrites are mentioned in Scripture from Genesis through Revelation. Cain was the first hypocrite, feigning worship by offering a kind of sacrifice that God did not want. When his hypocrisy was unmasked, he killed his brother Abel out of resentment (Gen. 4:5–8). Absalom hypocritically vowed allegiance to his father, King David, while plotting the overthrow of his regime

Hypocrisy is never treated lightly in Scripture.

Through Amos, God said, “I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:21–24).

Jesus said in Matthew 15, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’

One of Satan’s most common and effective ways of undermining the power of the church is through hypocrisy. Hypocrisy, therefore, is a great peril to the church, and it comes in two forms. The first is that of nonbelievers masquerading as Christians. The second is that of true believers who are sinful but pretend to be spiritual. The warning Jesus gives here applies to both groups.

Augustine said, “The love of honor is the deadly bane of true piety. Other vices bring forth evil works but this brings forth good works in an evil way.” Hypocrisy is so dangerous because it is so deceptive. It uses things that are basically good for purposes that are basically evil. “Hypocrisy,” he goes on to say, “is the homage that vice pays to virtue.”

“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 secret.”

The giving of alms had been carried to absurd extremes by rabbinic tradition. In the Jewish apocryphal books we read such things as, “It is better to give to charity than to lay up gold. For charity will save a man from death; it will expiate any sin” (Tobit 12:8) and, “As water will quench a flaming fire, so charity will atone for sin” (The Wisdom of Sirach 3:30).

Consequently, many Jews believed that salvation was much easier for the rich, because they could buy their way into heaven by giving to the poor. The same mechanistic and unbiblical principle is seen in traditional Roman Catholic dogma. Pope Leo the Great declared, “By prayer we seek to appease God, by fasting we extinguish the lust of the flesh, and by alms we redeem our sins.”

Here there is giving for the sake of the poor, not for the sake of personal satisfaction. It is secret giving, but it does not suggest that we are not to keep accounts, if we are using this business of not keeping accounts to hide how little we give.

It is said that there was a special, out-of-the-way place in the Temple where shy, humble Jews could leave their gifts without being noticed. Another place nearby was provided for the shy poor, who did not want to be seen asking for help. Here they would come and take what they needed. The name of the place was the Chamber of the Silent. People gave and people were helped, but no one knew the identities of either group. (Cf. Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,

1 Corinthians 16, Paul writes to the believers and says, “On the first day of the week, set aside as much as you can according to how the Lord has prospered you. Set aside your gifts according to the way the Lord has prospered you.” So there is some sort of keeping of accounts here

It’s supposed to be secret, reserved, quiet. Nobody should know what you give. It’s between you and the Lord. It’s supposed to be so secret that your left hand shouldn’t know what your right hand is doing. It’s almost as if the Master is searching for some sort of idiom, some sort of phrase that will get across just how quiet and private it ought to be.

“Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Again, there is this business of being motivated by the desire to please God. Do I really primarily want the rewards of all of the people who will say what a wonderful giver I am? Is that what I really want or is what I want the blessing that comes from the Lord? It’s a question again of motive, a question again of why I’m doing what I’m doing.

The principle extends not only to alms giving but to all good works. Are the good works we do only done when we’re likely to receive full credit or do we delight to do good works that only the Lord knows about because we want to please him?

Here are a few principles that might keep us from being hypocritical giver.

First, giving from the heart is investing with God. “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6).

genuine giving is to be sacrificial. David refused to give to the Lord that which cost him nothing (2 Sam. 24:24). Generosity is not measured by the size of the gift itself, but by its size in comparison to what is possessed. The widow who gave “two small copper coins” to the Temple (Mark 12:41–44).

responsibility for giving has no relationship to how much a person has. A person who is not generous when he is poor will not be generous if he becomes rich. “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much” (Luke 16:10).

material giving correlates to spiritual blessings. To those who are not faithful with mundane things such as money and other possessions, the Lord will not entrust things that are of far greater value. (Luke 16:11–12).

giving is to be personally determined. “Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). The Philippian believers gave out of the spontaneous generosity of their hearts, not because they felt compelled (Phil. 4:15–18).

we are to give in response to need. The early Christians in Jerusalem shared their resources without reservation

A Christian has no responsibility to support such people and should take reasonable care to determine if and when real need exists before giving his money. “If anyone will not work,” Paul says, “neither let him eat” (2 Thess. 3:10).

giving demonstrates love, not law. The New Testament contains no commands for specified amounts or percentages of giving. The percentage we give will be determined by the love of our own hearts and the needs of others.

When we give our alms … in secret, lovingly, unpretentiously, and with no thought for recognition or appreciation, our Father who sees in secret will repay us. The principle is this: if we remember, God will forget; but if we forget, God will remember. Our purpose should be to meet every need we are able to meet and leave the bookkeeping to God, realizing that “we have done only that which we ought to have done” (Luke 17:10).

God will not miss giving a single reward. “There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13). The Lord knows our hearts, our attitudes, and our motives, and every reward that is due us will be given