Intro:
The Secret to Giving is Giving in Secret.
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When You Make Giving KNOWN, People Reward You. (Matt 6:2)
ACTION
AMOUNT
ATTITUDE
- When You Make Giving SECRET, God Rewards You. (Matt 6:3-4)
SPIRITUAL
MATERIAL
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:04-01:07
Alright, open up your Bibles with me please to Matthew 6.
01:10-01:12
Matthew 6, are you there?
01:13-01:18
I read a story this week, it blew my mind, I had to read it a couple of times.
01:19-01:24
67-year-old carpenter, Russell Herman. Have you ever heard of him?
01:24-01:26
Well, he died in 1994.
01:29-01:35
What was staggering about Mr. Herman was his will.
01:36-01:46
In his will, he left more than $2 billion for the city of St. Louis.
01:47-01:52
He left a billion and a half dollars for the state of Illinois.
01:54-02:00
His will also outlined that $2.5 billion was to go to the national forest system.
02:02-02:20
But most remarkable of all in his will, is he indicated that $6 trillion, $6 trillion was to go to the federal government to help pay off the national debt.
02:22-02:23
Pretty generous, isn't it?
02:24-02:26
Oh, there was a slight problem.
02:28-02:35
When Mr. Herman passed away, the only thing on the earth that he owned was a 1983 Oldsmobile.
02:37-02:42
And if anybody has a blue book handy, I would be really curious as to the value of that.
02:44-02:46
We're going to talk about money today.
02:47-03:06
And right now, somebody's like, "Oh, I knew it! I knew it!" and rope us in with the baptism, and then the pastor gets up because it's the beginning of the year, and he's going to be like "Arr, arr, arr, you need to give more," and "Arr, arr, arr, arr, come on, people, we need to up our offering." Not at all.
03:08-03:08
Not at all.
03:10-03:14
In fact, we're not even going to be talking about church-giving today.
03:15-03:16
You'll see in a second.
03:18-03:27
You know, Mr. Russell Herman He's like a lot of us, even though in his case it was posthumously.
03:27-03:32
He's like a lot of us, that we want to be known for being generous.
03:32-03:38
And you know what, this guy, his problem isn't in what he actually owned.
03:39-03:42
His problem isn't in what he actually gave.
03:42-03:46
His problem is, he wanted to be known.
03:48-03:52
posthumously, He wanted to be known as generous.
03:54-04:00
And when it comes to giving, that's exactly what Jesus warns us against.
04:00-04:01
Look at Matthew 6.
04:02-04:03
Just the first verse here.
04:03-04:09
Jesus said, "Beware!" "Beware her!" You might want to underline that.
04:12-04:18
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.
04:20-04:26
This passage we're looking at today is in the Sermon on the Mount, and this is the greatest sermon ever preached.
04:27-04:28
Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
04:30-04:35
In this sermon, Jesus set a new standard that was absolutely unheard of in those days.
04:37-04:47
Because the Jews in Jesus' day and before that, they had taken God's standard in the Old Testament into a man-centered thing.
04:49-04:58
In other words, when it came to God's Word, many of the Jews taught and believed what matters is what you do, not who you are.
05:00-05:03
And wrong theology always leads to wrong living.
05:04-05:06
We saw that in Matthew 5.
05:08-05:27
You know, the Jewish mindset was, "I can hate people as long as I don't murder." Jesus comes along and says, "Murder is the same as hatred, because it starts in here." And you had people that said, "Well, I can lust as long as I don't commit the physical act of adultery." And Jesus said, "No, no, no.
05:27-05:38
Adultery starts in here." You had people that said, "Well, I can get a divorce as long as I do the paperwork properly." And Jesus said, "No, no, no.
05:38-05:39
This is a heart matter.
05:40-05:41
This is a heart matter.
05:42-05:44
It's not about what you do, it's about who you are.
05:46-05:51
Jesus comes along and He blasts them, and I would suggest to you He blasts us too.
05:53-05:58
And He says to them, "Your religion is a show." It's a show.
05:59-06:01
And you try to pass it off as real.
06:03-06:03
That's a problem.
06:04-06:12
That's why Jesus said in verse 1 here, "You are practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.
06:13-06:16
That word "seen" in the Greek is the word "theotomi".
06:17-06:20
That's where we get the English word "theater".
06:21-06:23
You see the picture that Jesus was painting here?
06:24-06:31
He says when you do religious acts, you're performing for people.
06:32-06:37
It's like you're on stage in a theater and you're wanting applause.
06:37-06:39
You're wanting pats on the back.
06:39-06:40
You're wanting attention.
06:40-06:41
You're wanting acclaim.
06:42-06:46
And specifically, Jesus goes after three things.
06:47-06:52
We're going to do these three things over the course of three messages sprinkled out over the next few months.
06:53-07:00
But He goes after three things that God's people are naturally expected to do.
07:00-07:05
And the three things are giving, praying, and fasting.
07:07-07:13
And all of these messages are going to ask the same question.
07:15-07:16
And the question is this.
07:18-07:19
Are you doing this for God?
07:20-07:22
Or are you doing this for attention from people?
07:25-07:28
So who wants to do what God has called you to do with the right heart?
07:29-07:29
All in favor?
07:31-07:32
All in favor?
07:33-07:34
Okay.
07:36-07:36
All opposed?
07:38-07:43
You're like, "I'm not going to say it out loud." How about we start where Jesus started?
07:44-07:44
Let's talk about giving.
07:45-07:46
Here's the sermon, right here.
07:47-07:50
The secret to giving is giving in secret.
07:51-07:52
That's the sermon.
07:54-07:54
You are loved.
07:56-08:02
For those of you that would like me to elaborate a bit more upon that statement, the rest is for you.
08:02-08:03
Jot this down.
08:03-08:05
Number one, just two points.
08:05-08:08
It doesn't get any easier than this, as far as understanding.
08:08-08:10
It's the application that is extremely difficult.
08:11-08:15
Number one, when you make giving known, people reward you.
08:16-08:19
When you make giving known, people reward you.
08:19-08:20
Let's get back to the text.
08:20-08:24
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.
08:25-08:29
For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
08:32-08:43
"Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.
08:44-08:49
Truly I say to you, they have received their reward." Let's stop there.
08:49-08:57
Notice Jesus says, "When you give to the needy..." When you give to the needy.
08:58-09:01
At this point in the sermon, "Oh, Jesus is going to talk about giving.
09:02-09:07
I wonder what He's going to say." You know what I found so interesting here?
09:09-09:16
When Jesus goes into this portion of His sermon about giving, He doesn't give a sales pitch for the act of giving.
09:16-09:17
He doesn't do that.
09:18-09:22
I thought the sermon might go something like this, "Let me tell you why it's important to give.
09:23-09:31
Let me tell you why it's important to recognize a need and be able to meet the need." I thought that's where He was going with that, but you know, He really doesn't.
09:34-09:38
Because Jesus just sort of assumes that you already get that as God's people, right?
09:38-09:40
He doesn't go after the action.
09:41-09:47
He says, "Thus, when you give..." I'm not going to address the action.
09:47-09:54
"When you give." Jesus knows His people just know that you're supposed to give to the needy.
09:54-09:57
And again, specifically, that's the kind of giving we're talking about today.
09:58-10:00
We're not talking about church giving.
10:02-10:04
We're talking about charitable giving.
10:05-10:06
Giving to the needy.
10:08-10:23
1 John 3:16 says this, "If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?" It's a rhetorical question.
10:25-10:25
Right?
10:26-10:31
Jesus doesn't make a sales pitch for the action, nor does He address the amount.
10:32-10:39
And some people might think that's where Jesus was going, and there are some people that might think that's where I'm going with this message, though we are not.
10:41-10:44
Like, oh, He's going to start guilting us into tithing.
10:44-10:45
Here comes the guilt trip.
10:45-10:48
Here comes the sales pitch for tithing.
10:48-10:49
No, not at all.
10:52-11:02
Actually, tithing is an old testament New Testament giving is not an act of the law.
11:03-11:04
It's an act of love.
11:07-11:11
And again, specifically, Jesus is talking about charitable giving.
11:12-11:17
And 2 Corinthians 8.3 basically says everything you need to know about New Testament giving.
11:17-11:19
We've done a whole sermon series on this.
11:20-11:25
Alex and Stacy Gianetti are firing up Financial Peace University again.
11:25-11:31
So if you want a more exhaustive view of the Bible and money and things like that, you guys are going to be available after service.
11:32-11:34
You have a table set up, and they're going to be back.
11:35-11:37
If you want more information, you've got to take this class.
11:37-11:40
If you've not taken FPU, you've got to sign up for it.
11:41-11:42
It will change your life.
11:43-11:46
So, here's the short version.
11:47-11:58
2 Corinthians 8.3, "For they gave according to their means, as I can testify and beyond their means, of their own accord." And if I was doing a sermon on this, the points would be something like this.
11:58-12:02
New Testament giving is to be proportional, sacrificial, and volitional.
12:02-12:04
That's what the Bible says about giving.
12:05-12:06
Proportional - what's in your wallet?
12:06-12:08
You give according to what God has given you.
12:09-12:10
Right? It's sacrificial.
12:11-12:14
You go beyond what you think you're able to give.
12:15-12:16
We're going to talk more about that.
12:18-12:20
And it's volitional. It's purely a choice.
12:21-12:24
So Jesus doesn't address the action or the amount.
12:24-12:26
Jesus goes right after the attitude.
12:26-12:27
Did you see that?
12:28-12:46
He says in verse 2, "That's when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets." That word "hypocrite," interestingly, Jesus is sustaining the illustration here because the word for "hypocrite" in the Greek literally refers to a person who wore a mask.
12:47-12:50
Not Batman, but an actor on stage.
12:51-12:53
Well, maybe Batman, I guess, technically.
12:54-12:56
An actor on stage, that's what a hypocrite was.
12:57-13:05
So in our vernacular, we would say something like, "Harrison Ford is one of my favorite hypocrites." And I know that sounds weird, but that's what the word was.
13:05-13:06
He was an actor.
13:07-13:09
He pretends to be something that he's not.
13:10-13:11
He's not really Indiana Jones.
13:13-13:15
He's pretending, right?
13:15-13:23
And Jesus said, "Don't be an actor!" So what's a hypocrite in the church?
13:24-13:33
Well, it's either somebody that's pretending to be a Christian, and they're not, or it's somebody who is a Christian that's not acting like a true Christian.
13:34-13:38
Not acting like a spirit-filled, walking by the Holy Spirit.
13:40-13:44
You're not being who God has called you to be, who God has empowered you to be.
13:44-13:45
In that case, you're a hypocrite.
13:46-13:48
So Jesus said this is what they do.
13:48-13:49
They sound trumpets.
13:49-13:50
This is why they do it.
13:51-13:52
and they do it to be praised by others.
13:52-13:53
And this is what they get.
13:54-13:54
They get a reward.
13:56-13:56
Do you see that?
13:57-14:03
"Sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.
14:04-14:15
Truly I say to you, they have received their reward." Now, depending on who you read, some people say in Jesus' day, this was a literal thing.
14:16-14:21
That some of the religious people actually had a little silver trumpet.
14:22-14:31
And when they would go in the streets, they would play this little trumpet, and that was to alert the poor people, "Hey, somebody's about to make a donation!" And they'd come running.
14:34-14:40
And they did it not only to get the attention of the poor people, but they did it to get the attention of everybody else.
14:40-14:46
"Hey everybody, look how generous I'm about to be!" I want to talk about trumpets for a second.
14:49-14:54
I don't know. I wasn't around in the first century, so I don't know if they had a little silver trumpet or not.
14:56-15:00
But either way, the point is the same, isn't it?
15:01-15:08
The point is, some people do charitable acts hoping that people see it.
15:10-15:14
secretly longing that people see it.
15:15-15:29
And Jesus pointed out that people will even do things to draw attention to themselves to make sure that people see it.
15:31-15:38
And right now, some people are sitting there going, "Shame on them, Pastor Jeff.
15:39-15:42
Shame on people that do that.
15:42-15:47
Shame on people that give and let people know that they're giving so they get a pat on the back.
15:47-15:49
Shame on those people.
15:49-15:54
But today, I want to suggest to you...
15:56-15:57
(trumpet playing)
15:58-15:59
I took lessons...
16:03-16:05
I took lessons in elementary school.
16:07-16:08
I'm 43 now.
16:10-16:15
But I would suggest to you today that there are a lot of trumpets being blown.
16:16-16:17
Even in our day.
16:19-16:20
You're like, "What do you mean, Pastor Jeff?
16:20-16:23
I don't have a trumpet." Well, here's the thing.
16:26-16:29
Maybe you make a donation to the needy.
16:29-16:31
Maybe you do some charitable act.
16:32-16:33
Let's just be honest with you.
16:33-16:35
How many of us have done that?
16:35-16:49
We did this charitable act and we are just waiting for something to come up in a conversation with somebody so that we can interject and let them know about our awesome act of charity.
16:50-16:52
Come on, how many people have done that?
16:53-16:53
How many?
16:53-16:54
I've done it.
16:54-16:55
It's wrong.
16:55-16:56
I've done it.
16:57-16:59
I'm just hoping they say something so I can bring it up.
16:59-17:24
You know, they're like, "Hey, I think this desk needs a new coat of paint." And you're like, "Speaking of coats, I gave some coats to the coat drive for the cold people." True or false?
17:26-17:27
Or we get on social media.
17:29-17:32
And I think social media is our biggest trumpet.
17:32-17:34
Social media is not even a trumpet.
17:34-17:38
Social media is the sousaphone, right?
17:40-17:46
I better post this picture on Facebook so people see how charitable I am.
17:53-17:57
Or you're walking to some sporting event downtown.
17:59-18:01
There's a homeless person there, begging.
18:02-18:03
Like, I'm gonna help this person out.
18:05-18:07
But you're reaching for your cell phone first.
18:09-18:11
And you're like, dude, I'm gonna give you some money, but get in the shot.
18:12-18:13
Get in the shot.
18:14-18:14
Get in the shot.
18:14-18:17
Can you look more homeless and/or hungry?
18:17-18:18
Are you ready?
18:19-18:20
(trumpet music)
18:26-18:26
(sighs)
18:28-18:29
What's on my agenda today?
18:30-18:31
Oh yeah!
18:32-18:34
I'm going to the Light of Life mission today!
18:36-18:37
[trumpet fanfare]
18:37-18:40
Let me put this on Twitter so everybody knows what I'm doing today.
18:41-18:42
[trumpet fanfare]
18:43-18:44
Oh, wait a minute.
18:45-18:46
I've got to make it sound humble.
18:47-18:51
So I'll say something like, "Gone to the Light of Life mission today.
18:56-18:57
#SoHumbledForTheOpportunityToGiveBack"
18:58-18:59
[HONKING]
19:04-19:05
True or false?
19:06-19:08
Then we got to get on our phone.
19:08-19:10
How many likes did I get on that post?
19:10-19:11
[HONKING]
19:12-19:15
How many comments did I get on that--
19:15-19:15
[HONKING]
19:16-19:17
Did anybody retweet it?
19:18-19:18
[HONKING]
19:22-19:45
We want people to think that we are generous and thoughtful and giving and their acknowledgement of that, those likes or loves or comments on Facebook, a verbal comment to you, those are like those little comments and likes and things, those are like M&Ms for our self-centeredness.
19:47-19:55
"Mm, yeah, mm, mm, mm, I am pretty awesome, huh?
19:56-20:03
God probably is so glad that I'm on His team." Well, that's the problem.
20:04-20:15
Jesus said, that little acknowledgement that you get from others, that like, that comment of, "Wow, that was really generous of you." That comment? Jesus said that's all you get.
20:17-20:26
You get a passing comment and barely an afterthought from someone who's going to forget all about it in 45 seconds.
20:28-20:29
You wanted people's attention.
20:31-20:31
You got it.
20:34-20:34
And that's all you get.
20:36-20:37
Now listen closely.
20:39-20:45
There is nothing wrong with receiving a comment.
20:45-20:59
Like if somebody somehow finds out that you did something charitable, or somebody finds out somehow not from you, but they find out somehow, and they come up to you and they're like, "Dude, I thought that was great what you did." And you're like, "Shut your mouth!
20:59-21:02
They're going to take my reward from me!" It's not like that.
21:02-21:13
There's nothing wrong with getting the comment, but please hear me, There's absolutely something wrong with you looking to get the comment.
21:13-21:14
Do you see the difference?
21:15-21:16
Where's the difference?
21:16-21:17
The difference is right here.
21:19-21:20
The difference is here.
21:22-21:23
It's a hard thing, right?
21:23-21:26
So when you make giving known, people reward you.
21:27-21:28
Ho-hum.
21:30-21:31
Here's the good news.
21:31-21:35
When you make giving secret, number two, When you make giving secret, God rewards you.
21:36-21:40
When you make giving secret, God rewards you.
21:42-21:46
The secret to giving is giving in secret.
21:48-21:50
How secret? Well, let's get back to the text here.
21:52-21:54
Jesus got the negative out of the way here.
21:54-21:55
Here's the positive. Verse 3.
21:56-22:09
"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." How secret?
22:10-22:15
Jesus said your giving should be so secret that your left hand doesn't know what your right hand is doing.
22:16-22:18
That's pretty secret, isn't it?
22:19-22:19
That's pretty secret.
22:20-22:30
You know, these two guys have known each other their whole lives, and they're never more than a couple feet away from each other.
22:31-22:34
Jesus said that's how secretive giving should be.
22:35-22:40
That this guy's over here giving, and this guy has no idea what's going on.
22:42-22:47
A part of you doesn't even know that giving is happening.
22:47-22:48
You go, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on a second.
22:50-22:51
Pastor Jeff, how is that even possible?
22:53-23:00
That you can give, and a part of you doesn't even know that you gave?" I'm going to tell you exactly how you do that.
23:02-23:03
Write this down.
23:04-23:07
You give and you forget about it.
23:09-23:11
You give secretly, yes.
23:11-23:14
But how do I do it without my left hand knowing?
23:14-23:17
You give and you forget about it.
23:18-23:19
What do you mean by that?
23:19-23:20
Here's what I mean.
23:21-23:28
When we give to the needy, when we give to charity, oftentimes we dwell on it, don't we?
23:28-23:32
we think about it, we roll it around in our heads.
23:32-23:39
Maybe we saw this person in need and we had the means to give and we gave that person money and we just keep thinking about that.
23:39-23:43
Like, yeah, that was pretty nice that I did that.
23:43-23:44
I'm not sure.
23:46-23:49
I'm not sure if I'm gonna have budget problems now 'cause I was kind of counting on that money.
23:49-23:54
Or I was gonna buy a new something with that money, but I guess I'm not gonna do that now.
23:54-23:56
Maybe I'll have the money for that next time.
23:56-24:01
And we just keep thinking about it.
24:03-24:05
You know, that was pretty generous what I did.
24:08-24:09
But you know, I gave to that guy.
24:09-24:11
That guy had a need and I gave to him.
24:11-24:12
And you know, he really didn't seem that grateful.
24:14-24:16
You know, I gave that guy.
24:16-24:18
I just gave that guy $700.
24:19-24:23
And you would think he'd be treating me differently now, and he's not.
24:25-24:26
I'm a little disappointed.
24:27-24:29
I would think that he'd be a little more appreciative.
24:30-24:33
Or shouldn't there be some sense in which he kind of owes me now?
24:33-24:35
Why isn't he treating me any different?
24:37-24:38
You have to let that go.
24:40-24:42
Giving to the needy - listen to this.
24:43-24:44
How do I let that go? How do I forget about it?
24:45-24:47
Giving to the needy is giving to God.
24:49-24:51
Not my idea. Look at Proverbs 19.17.
24:53-25:07
"Whoever is generous to the poor," look at this, "lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deed." Can you wrap your brain around the magnitude of that verse?
25:07-25:13
When you give to a needy person, it is like you're handing that money directly to God.
25:15-25:17
Proverbs says that God's going to pay you back.
25:17-25:18
Do you think He's good for it?
25:19-25:20
Do you think He's good for it?
25:22-25:39
So, the expectations - listen to this - the expectations from those that you give to - the needy, the people that you give to - your expectations from them have got to be a hard zero.
25:41-25:49
When you give, do not expect anything from the person that you give to for good or for bad.
25:52-25:57
give with zero expectation to the person that you're giving to. Is that clear?
25:57-26:02
But we're so worried that no one's going to know. I mean, I didn't post a picture. Did it really happen?
26:03-26:04
Or what if...
26:04-26:15
Oh, oh, oh, what if I live my whole life and no one knows about this generous act that I performed?
26:15-26:20
What if nobody ever knows what I did for that guy?
26:22-26:23
Forget about it.
26:24-26:27
Because God knows.
26:28-26:29
And God remembers.
26:31-26:34
And most exciting, God repays.
26:36-26:37
He does.
26:38-26:43
That's why in verse 4, look at the rest of the verse.
26:46-27:00
Jesus said, "And your father who sees in secret will reward you." Jesus said, "God will reward you." When you give to the needy, when you forget about it, your left hand doesn't know what your right hand is doing, it's done, it's gone, I gave, I gave to God, I'm done.
27:01-27:03
It's in His court now. It's in God's court now.
27:04-27:11
and he will see to the reward." You're like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
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Wait a minute, Pastor Jeff, there's a reward?
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Are you telling me that I give to get something?
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Is that what you're saying?
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I give to get something?" Yes.
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That is exactly what I'm saying.
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I don't want there to be any misunderstanding.
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Giving is about getting.
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Somebody right now is like, "I don't think that's a very good motivation, Pastor Jeff, quite honestly.
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I don't think that's a good motivation." And I would say, "Well, you're going to have to take that up with Jesus.
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Because He's the one who put us up to it." Right?
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Listen, the desire for a reward is a good thing.
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If God didn't want you motivated by the reward, why did He mention it?
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Why didn't Jesus just say something hallmarky like giving is its own reward, something you'll feel nice inside?
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He didn't say that.
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He says, "My Father is going to reward you when you give in secret." If He didn't want you motivated by that, why did He say it?
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Here's the thing, when it comes to giving to the needy, when it comes to giving a charitable gift, here's the thing, this is the whole point.
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You have to choose who you want to reward you.
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That's all.
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I can tell people what I've done and get a pat on the back, or I can keep it secret, an awesome, eternal God He's going to give me a real reward.
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You get to pick.
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By the way, it's one or the other.
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If you get a reward from people, you forfeit your reward from God.
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Like, okay, well, Jesus said it. What is the reward from God?
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Quickly, two things. Material and spiritual.
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Material and spiritual. Let's unpack that real quick.
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Spiritual. Let's talk about spiritual first.
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Luke 16.11 is the parable of the dishonest manager.
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And Jesus said, "If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth..." And the context in that passage is money.
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Unrighteous wealth just refers to cash, money.
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"If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?" You're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, what are the true riches?
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What are the true riches he's talking about?" I don't know.
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But don't you want to find out?
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Don't you want to find out what that is?
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I mean, think about it.
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Have you seen the kind of gift-giver that God has proven Himself to be?
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God gives gifts like eternal life.
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God gives gifts like, "Here's my Son. He came to the earth, and He died for you so your sins could be forgiven." What an awesome gift!
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Here's my son, he rose from the dead so that you can have eternal life.
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What an awesome gift!
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My son purchased your way into heaven.
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What an awesome gift!
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And if those are the kind of gifts, how about the gift of the Holy Spirit?
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God Himself will indwell and reside within us.
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And I'm suggesting to you, church, if those are the kinds of gifts that God has this track record of proving Himself to be, Don't you want to find out whatever these spiritual gifts are that are rewards for faithfulness with the money?
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That's spiritual.
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And there's a material reward too, by the way.
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What's the material reward?
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It's more money.
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The material reward for faithful giving is more money.
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2 Corinthians 9.6 says the point is this, In the whole passage, like I said, we did a whole sermon series on this a few years ago, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.
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It's on the website. It's called "I Love to Give." But 2 Corinthians 9.6 says, "The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.
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And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." You see, it's a sowing and reaping principle.
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I have some seeds up here. Can you see them?
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I have some seeds.
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And there's a principle of agriculture that Jesus said applies to money.
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And that Paul in 2 Corinthians 9 applies to money.
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And here's the principle.
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With seeds, just think about seeds.
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What do you do with seeds?
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You sow the seed, and it grows, and then you reap, and then you take that, and you sell, and you get money to buy more seeds so you can sow more, so more grows, and you reap more, You sell more, and you get more money, which you use to buy more, so you can plant more.
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Do you see what's happening?
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It's called a cycle of increase.
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The more you sow, the more you reap.
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And the Bible says this principle is true with money.
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And sowing.
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Sowing starts with a very simple thing, and it's just letting go of the seed, right?
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I'm like, I've got five seeds here.
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Five seeds, and I'm sure hoping that I reap a harvest with them.
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Well, here's the thing, as long as I hold them in my hand, they're not going to do me any good, are they?
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What do I got to do?
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What do I got to do?
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I've got to be willing to let it go.
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Right?
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You've got to be willing to let it go.
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And do you know, that's how it is with money?
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I don't have five seeds this time, I have five coins.
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Some of you think you know where this is going.
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But it's the same principle.
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If I, by faith, trust God, what He said about money is true in His Word, then I've got to be willing...
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I'm not going to throw it.
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I've got to be willing to let it go.
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I've got to be willing to let it go.
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Somebody's like, "Man, I am still sitting in that seat next week." What was that? Thirteen cents?
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That's worth sitting in the front row.
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It does no good until you let it go.
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That's what God says about money.
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"Give to me, I'll give you back more.
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And you'll have more to give me, and then I'll give you back even more." And God knows who's giving it away, and He's going to make sure that money is being directed to the people that are faithfully giving it away.
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He does that.
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We could line people up here on this platform and give testimony to seeing God's hand at work that way.
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We could line people up and we could tell stories until Easter the way we've seen God make that happen.
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If you hand money over to God, He hands you back a bigger amount.
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So the secret to giving is giving in secret.
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It's expected that God's people are going to have a heart for giving to the needy.
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And we should expect a reward.
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Again, the question is what reward do you want?
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Oh, you can make sure that people I know you give, and you can get the underwhelming reward of their applause, or you can purely make it a thing between you and God, and get a God-sized reward.
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So today, at Harvest Bible Chapel, we just want to simply encourage you...
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(trumpet playing)
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Let's pray.
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Who's with me?
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Who's with me?
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All right.
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Let's pray.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we are oftentimes no different than the people that Jesus was speaking directly to in this passage.
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God, I confess to you, there's times I want people to think I'm such a great pastor, and I'm such a great example, and look at what Jeff did.
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And there's no reward in that.
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God, I'm sure there's some brothers and sisters here in these seats that are in the same position.
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Sometimes they feel like, "I just did that so people would notice.
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I didn't do that so God would notice." I pray that today's a day of repentance, God.
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I pray that today is the day that we put the trumpets away and we stop being so focused about People noticing our charity, and you alone noticing our charity because you promised to give a reward.
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We thank you for that, God.
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And I know some of the things that your Word says that we have looked at today, I'm sure there are people here today that think this is crazy stuff.
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Father, I also know there's many people sitting here today that are going to say, "I know this is true, because I have done it, and I have experienced it, and I've seen God's faithful provision when I've made giving a thing between me and God." Father, for the people today that might be questioning, might be struggling, I pray that by an act of faith, they would put this to the test.
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That they would secretly find a need, and secretly give to that need, doing everything in their power to make sure that you're the only person it knows about.
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And God, I know based on the integrity of Your Word and the power that You have to back it up, that You're going to reveal Yourself mightily to the person that does it.
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Increase our faith in all areas, especially in the area of giving to the needy.
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We praise You and we thank You, Father, in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 6:1-4
GROUP
Be an armchair psychologist: Why do you think people naturally want others’ attention when they give? Be honest - have you ever given, hoping that someone would know?
Do you think “giving to get a reward” (Matt 6:4) is a wrong motivation? Defend your answer.
What are the rewards God gives “secret” givers? Be specific.
BREAKOUT
Pray for one another to give as Christ commanded - secretly.