Matthew six is the second part of Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount. In this section, Jesus tells his listeners to watch certain areas of their lives: their giving, their praying, and their fasting.

Jesus begins this section of Matthew 6 with the phrase, “Take care,” which carries the force of, “Beware.” That immediately tells us that this is an area of our lives that we need to keep a close watch on so that we do not go astray. And, as with the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus doesn’t just deal with our actions, he deals with the motives and attitudes behind them. He gets to the root, and in the case of our giving, if the root motive isn’t right, it won’t be long before we are off course.

The next thing that is interesting is the connection between giving and righteousness. The Pharisees had several outward expressions of their righteousness, and Jesus address three of them in this chapter: the giving of charitable alms, prayer and fasting. But when they are performing the acts of righteousness for show, so that others can see how pious they are, their root motives are wrong.

But don’t misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. He is not saying that others should not see any of our righteousness, or that we must keep it hidden, he’s condemning those whose motives is to be seen by others. The fruit of our life must be displayed, so that others can see Christ in our actions, but our motive must be pleasing to God first and foremost.

In the first century, the Pharisees would perform their acts of giving in very public places, often announcing it with a small silver trumpet before handing our small charitable gifts to the poor and to those who might be injured, blind, or otherwise relegated to the level of begging for their daily needs. Jesus says that those who pretended to be pious in this way “have their reward in full.” Jesus calls this hypocrisy, which is rooted in a Greek word that meant someone who acted a part on a stage, or one who wears a mask.

Jesus offers a better way. Giving to those less fortunate was a prominent part of Jewish life and faith, and we should be willing to give to those in need as well (See Acts 9:36, Acts 10:2, Galatians 2:10). But Jesus says that we should give in a way that does not announce it to the world around us, almost as if we were giving in secret. Why? Because the root of our motives is what we should be concerned with.

If we give so that others think better of us, then we already have our reward. But if we give because of our love for God, regardless of what others may or may not think about it, we find ourselves doing so with the proper motives. When others see that we give, that can be an encouragement and an example to them to give as well. But if we do so with improper motives, it won’t be long before others see that for what it really is.

Notice what Jesus promises in Matthew 6:4. Instead of worldly notoriety, Jesus promises that God sees our giving, and he will reward that in the appropriate time.

That is indeed a better motive!

Question: How is the state of your giving? Are you giving for the sake of God, or for the sake of others? You can leave a comment by clicking here.