No Strings Attached

(Audio version; Music--"From The Inside Out" by: Hillsong)

Introduction

            Giving something to someone or doing something for someone out of pure love is one of the most beautiful things one person can do for another. I think the reason it is so beautiful is because it is so rare. I have tried to teach my daughters and model for them a very important financial principle—“Use money to love people. Don’t use people because you love money.” Ignore this principle and someone is bound to get hurt. Unfortunately, my youngest daughter Elizabeth was on the hurting end of that principle last week. Elizabeth is a young college student who, when she is not in classes and studying, is making rounds in the hospital as part of a medical internship program. However, with the few extra hours she has left over during the week, she is employed as a nanny for a wealthy family with four small children. Until recently, she has been treated with great kindness and generosity. The family owns an athletic facility and has allowed Elizabeth to train there at no charge. They have also been generous with her at Christmas and her birthday. However, this past week while she was caring for the children, Elizabeth bought all the children dinner out of her own pocket as she had done many times in the past. Usually, the parents would reimburse her along with paying her for her time to watch over the children. However, this past week, they neglected to reimburse her. Now it may seem like no big deal unless you’re a college student and then you’ll know exactly how big of a deal it is. There are certainly some college students who don’t seem to be lacking financial resources but we’re not wealthy so my girls don’t have the luxury of living on daddy’s money. In short, Elizabeth doesn’t have a lot of money. So it shouldn’t have been unreasonable for her to ask the parents of the four children about being reimbursed for the money she spent out of her own pocket to feed their children. That’s when Elizabeth learned a valuable lesson about what happens when people don’t practice the lesson of using money to love people and not using people because you love money. She was chastised by one of the parents for asking to be reimbursed considering how generous they had been in giving her things she never asked for in the first place. They thought she was somehow being ungrateful for asking to be reimbursed for feeding their children! She had no idea that their generosity somehow put her in their debt. She was hurt and I can understand why.

            I raised my daughters to use money to love people and not use people because they love money. Obviously not everyone was raised on that principle. We see this at play at work where someone is expected to work long hours without additional compensation to prove he or she is worthy of the position they hold. We see it in our homes when a wife will give herself physically to her husband only if he provides her with a certain lifestyle. We see it in our churches when a man gives a large some of money and then expects to have a say in the way the church does things and what is preached from the pulpit. We see it from our government with countless welfare programs ranging from free phones to free food, all of which become tools in the hands of power-mad politicians to leverage more votes at election time. The practice of using people in some way for financial gain or recognition is so prevalent that people have become cynical when someone offers another person a generous gift with no expected return. Cynics would proclaim, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. You’re going to have to pay that back in some way.” However, this was never what God intended. Instead, God has always intended that we would be generous to one another and especially to those in need without any expectations of reciprocity or without the expectation of any fanfare that can often accompany an act of generosity. God knows that the only way relationships are not damaged by a gift of some kind is when there are No Strings Attached.

Subject Text

Matthew 6:1-4

¹“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. ²So 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. ³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Context

Our Subject Text falls right in the middle of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew’s gospel from chapter 5 through chapter 7. Contained in these three chapters are teachings that would revolutionize the way the Jews (and by extension all of us) were expected to relate to one another and to God. The Sermon on the Mount turned everything upside down. Jesus used the “You have heard it said…But I tell you” formula to reorient humanity’s way of thinking and relating toward God’s relational ideal. For the Jews, it was normal to hate their enemies. But Jesus taught them that the new normal was to love their enemies and to pray for them. It was normal for them to accumulate wealth because wealth represented God’s favor. But the new normal was to divest themselves of earthly wealth in order to serve and care for others and thereby accumulate heavenly wealth that would last for all eternity. It was normal for them to hold a grudge against whomever offended them until there was proper recompense for the offense. But Jesus taught them that the new normal was to forgive those who sin against them if they hoped to be forgiven for their own sins. Jesus taught about the sovereignty of God and that not all those who are confident in their eternal destiny will actually be saved but those who sincerely sought after God would be found by God and saved. Much of the Sermon on the Mount revolves around interpersonal relationship, community relationships, the sovereignty of God, the road to salvation, a guide for holy and righteous living, and the proper use of money. At the heart of our Subject Text Jesus is teaching about the proper attitude when it comes to giving and the need to avoid an attitude of self-importance.

Text Analysis

¹“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.

            What do you suppose Jesus meant by “acts of righteousness” in v. 1? Very simply, righteousness is doing what is right. The Bible describes righteousness both in positive and in negative terms. For example, “The righteous do__________________” or “The righteous do not__________________.”

Here’s a broad cross-section of what the Bible says about righteousness:

·      A righteous person is careful who his or her friends are. Proverbs 12:26—“A righteous man [or woman] is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”

·      The speech and words of a righteous person are encouraging, edifying and life-giving. Proverbs 10:11; 20-21; 31—“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked…The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value. The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of judgment…The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out.”

·      A righteous person is not ungodly or a sinner. 1 Peter 4:18—And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

·      The righteous person does what is right. 1 John 3:7—“Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.”

·      The righteous have a different perspective on money and are generous. Psalm 37:21—“The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously.”

·      A righteous person lives by faith in and obedience to God. Romans 1:17—“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”

·      The righteous care for those who are in need. Matthew 25:34-40—“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

The only stipulation for a person’s righteousness according to Jesus is that it’s not displayed publicly. That seems like a difficult instruction since we happen to live in and among people on a daily basis. Additionally, it can be difficult to care for someone in need without them knowing it. So what does Jesus mean here? What Jesus expects is sincerity in a righteous person’s actions without ulterior motivation or the need for public recognition. More specifically, “righteousness” is less about what a person does than it is about who a person is. Righteousness is a way of living in relationship with God and with people that creates and nurtures relationship. Righteousness isn’t something that is artificially manufactured. Sincere righteousness cares little about being recognized by other people because sincere righteousness knows it will one day receive eternal rewards from God. Righteousness is characterized by selflessness.

There seems to be just one problem here. In the previous chapter, still part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells His hearers that they are to let their light shine before men who witness their righteous deeds (Mt 5:16). That certainly seems like a contradiction, except that Jesus includes the purpose for doing so and it’s not so that the person performing the deeds can receive the applause of people but so that people will instead praise God for the person’s righteous deeds. “One of human religion’s greatest temptations is to act piously to elicit the praise of others. A secret atheist could practice religion in that form without the slightest element of faith. Such temptations were part and parcel of ancient religion; for instance, when some first-century Jewish leaders called a fast for unrighteous reasons, others feared not to observe it, lest anyone question their piety. Yet the same temptation is no less real today. Jesus reminds us that true piety means impressing God alone—living our lives in recognition that God knows every thought and deed, and it is his approval alone that matters. Matthew again praises the meek, whose only hope is in God not in others’ opinions of them…Public righteousness, even when carried out in the knowledge that such acts will draw attention, is not wrong so long as we seek to be seen for God’s glory rather than our own…We should do everything for God; the repentant person who lives in view of the coming kingdom is concerned more with God’s evaluation than with that of others. Many people practice religion without paying attention to God, and this warns us to search our motives.”[1]

²So 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.

            Verse 2 was a direct assault on the practices of the religious leaders who paraded their righteous acts for everyone to see. In fact, they expected everyone to see because they craved the attention that the people lavished on them. The more they did to gain the attention and applause of the people the more they wanted it. Craving the applause of people is like a ferocious monster that is always hungry. The more you receive applause, the more you want applause. I can assure you that I speak from experience. I’ve heard the words, “That was a great sermon pastor.” I’ve heard the “Ooo’s” and “Ahh’s” sitting around the campfire when everyone went around the circle and it was my turn to say how many years I had done missions work. I know what’s it’s like to receive letters gushing over some charitable contribution I made. I know the feeling of superiority and euphoria and you know what? I wanted more! I’m convinced that this is precisely why God picked this particular ministry for me. I have no idea what most of you think about my lessons except the vocal few who hate them. I grew up in a home filled with harsh, hate-filled, and angry words; words of praise and encouragement were rare. Consequently, you can imagine what happens when I hear those words now—that’s right, an insatiable monster comes to life inside me and never gets enough. The problem for those of us who chase after the approval of people, we better enjoy it while we can because there will be no applause in heaven waiting for us.

Jesus has a favorite word for those who pretend to be something they’re not—hypocrites. Hypocrites preach an attitude or behavior that they themselves don’t practice. Hypocrites pretend to be something they really aren’t. Hypocrites go through the motions of piety and selflessness but really what they want is for people to recognize and appreciate their piety and selflessness. “[‘Hypocrite’ in the Bible] carries the sense of insincerity, of consciously acting a part, which is close to what ‘hypocrite’ means today. But in general…the focus is not so much on a conscious attempt to deceive as on a false perspective or sense of values which prevents the ‘hypocrites’ from seeing things as God sees them; they are not so much deceivers as disastrously self-deceived. In this passage there is no necessary allegation of deceit as such—they presumably did give alms [monetary offering], pray, and fast; the problem was that they wanted everyone to know it. These religious show-offs are ‘actors’ in that they aim to impress others, but at the same time their behavior demonstrates how far they are out of touch with God’s understanding of ‘righteousness.’”[2]

³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

            This is such a strange verse when we first read it. However, before I dig into what exactly Jesus is saying in v. 3, let me reiterate something obvious. Jesus didn’t say “if” you give to the needy or “in case” you give to the needy. Jesus said “when” you give to the needy. Our Subject Text isn’t teaching or even implying that we shouldn’t give or serve those who are in need. Instead, v. 3 assumes that those who are in an obedient relationship with God; those who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ will give to and serve those who are in need. However, Jesus wants to make sure that their motivations are pure or else their “righteousness” will be self-imposed instead of righteousness that is credited as coming from God.

            I’m fairly proficient with both my feet from years of playing soccer; probably as close to ambidextrous as I’m ever going to get with my feet. My hands are a different story altogether. I am right-hand dominant. In fact, I am convinced my left hand responds to a language I am completely unfamiliar with. So, how we use our hands might seem to be what Jesus had in mind but it isn’t. Jesus had in mind that regardless of how you give, it should be completely natural and not require a conscious effort. For me, using my left hand requires tacit approval from a remote and little used part of my brain and I’m keenly focused on what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. That doesn’t happen when I use my right hand; I do what I need to do and don’t think twice about what I’m doing or how I’m doing it—it just comes natural. This is what Jesus expects when we give to or serve others. It should come natural without a second thought to what we are doing or how we are doing it. Jesus realizes that people are often going to witness our attitudes and/or our actions. But Jesus wants people to witness those things as a result of who we are not in the context of what we do. Let me try to say it this way—Jesus wants us to be righteous not do righteous. Being righteous means we will act righteously but doing righteous acts doesn’t make us righteous. Jesus wants our righteous attitude and actions to become so natural and common that it seldom attracts any attention. “Jesus’ language again is figurative (v. 3 is literally possible only for those who undergo a lobotomy!) and does not imply the we must not keep track of giving or that we be irresponsible in stewardship of finances or refuse to disclose how we spend our money for the sake of demonstrating financial accountability. Jesus was simply explaining that the motive for charity must not be the desire for praise from others. In striking contrast stands the common approach to fund raising [sp] in many churches and Christian organizations in which lists of benefactors are published, often as incentive for people to give. This kind of motive for giving or soliciting reflects hypocrisy, pretending to honor God when in fact one is distracting attention from him.”[3]

⁴So that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

            I saw a meme recently with a chubby little boy and his father. The boy walked up to his father with his pants unbuttoned and said, “I haven’t had any cookies or candy or cake and my pants still won’t button.” His dad looked down at the boy with his hands on his hips and said, “Well son, it’s only been three hours.” It seems that the art of delayed gratification is becoming more and more rare with each passing generation. In my parents’ generation, people saved money before they spent money. If they didn’t have the cash to buy something (except maybe houses and cars), they simply did without it. However, this attitude is rare in our current culture, especially here in the west. A lack of cash never seems to be a deterrent to acquiring whatever we want, whenever we want it—all we have to do is borrow the money and we can have it all. This is the attitude that Jesus is warning us about in v. 4. For some, the heavenly rewards that are promised in the Bible are so nebulous and seem so remote that they’d rather get their rewards now because they at least know what those are. Who knows, they rationalize, this might be as good as it gets so they better not pass up getting now what they may not get later. I want you to think about for a minute. Does that describe you?

Have you ever scaled a mountain peak and witnessed the sheer magnitude and beauty of a vast mountain range? Have you ever sat on the sandy shore of an ocean and tried to grasp the wonder contained in its unknown depths? Have you ever experienced the awe of a tropical rain forest or the ferocious extremes of a desert wilderness? Have you ever witnessed the miracle of a child being born? What’s my point? My point is that God created all these magnificent wonders and yet we doubt that the rewards that await us in the life to come could somehow be better than the rewards we desire and pursue in this life that we create ourselves. I know that sounds ridiculous but doesn’t this reflect the actions and attitudes of people we know; maybe even some of us? We crave recognition and applause in this life because we’re afraid we won’t get noticed among the masses in heaven. We want to be noticed in this life because we’re afraid we won’t be noticed in the next. As a result, we settle for crumbs in this life when a banquet in our honor awaits us in the next. The problem is that too often we don’t want our efforts of giving and service to be secret. We want to know that what we give and what we do has value but we don’t want to wait until the next life to realize what that value is. We want to know now! So we go out of our way to make sure nothing we do is in secret because we’ll settle for the known rewards of now from people than wait from the unknown rewards from God that will come later. “The tragic irony is that [those who seek the approval of people] will ‘receive in full’ the reward of public and professional acclaim for their pious activities, but they will receive no reward from God. Unless prompted by the right motives, religious activities, including doing good deeds to others, are of no real spiritual value and receive no commendation from God. It does matter greatly why we do what we do. Jesus then contrasts the way his disciples are to perform acts of righteousness with the way of the religious leaders. They are to go to the opposite extreme and keep secret their acts of piety. They are to have such pure motives of concern for the poor that when giving, they should have no self-awareness and no self-servingness at all. Don’t even praise yourself for your giving, Jesus advises. It doesn’t matter whether anyone ever knows what good deed has been done, because the Father sees the most secret action…God will reward Jesus’ disciples with inner righteousness in this life and complete perfection in the afterlife. Human acclaim for giving to the needy cannot be compared to the value of being recognized by God for secret giving.”[4]

Application

            Unfortunately for my daughter, she found out how painful it can be when someone gets my financial advice backwards and uses people because they love money instead of using money to demonstrate their love for people. This can be such a hard lesson because it seems so natural to expect something in return for doing something good for someone. However, this was not the plan for humanity from the very beginning. Instead, humanity was simply expected to invest its efforts and energy into God’s created order without the primary motivation of receiving something in return. It was only after sin was introduced into our world that motivations for giving and serving became distorted. There is, however, another and perhaps more tragic consequence of sin’s distortion to humanity’s motivation for giving to and serving others. Because people have been wounded by the distorted motivations of some people, they have become cynical about receiving help or being served, always wondering if there is a hidden agenda. Many find it impossible to accept anything they didn’t earn (Of course here in America, there are many people who happily accept whatever they are given and have absolutely no interest in earning anything). Sadly, this attitude isn’t limited to accepting something from people, it extends to accepting anything from God as well. Because people can’t trust other people to have pure motives when they want to give to or serve them, they find it difficult to trust God’s motives as well. Why do you think people have such a hard time accepting Jesus’ free gift of salvation and instead constantly think they have to do something to earn it? They’ve been conditioned to believe that nothing is free; everything comes with a price. This is a sad consequence of being wounded by the impure motives of someone else’s generosity and service.

            What a mess! People give and serve with selfish motivation so people refuse to accept generosity for fear that it is offered with impure motives. So how do we fix it? Our Subject Text is the model for our attitude and behavior with respect to giving to and serving others. Give and serve without any expectation of reciprocity or recognition. Whenever possible, give or serve without the knowledge of the recipient or anyone else for that matter. Give and serve in such a way that people will never, ever question that your motivation is nothing but the pursuit of what is right and good. Condition yourself to give and to serve until it ceases to be something you do and becomes who you are. Give your money, your possessions, your time, and your talents until people are convinced that your love for them is what motivates you. Jesus gave us the perfect model when he offered us the free gift of salvation. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, all we have to do is believe—No Strings Attached. This should be our attitude as well when we give to and serve others. We should do so out of motivation for love of people and because we want others to see in us the righteousness that comes from God. Our desire should be to give and to serve because that’s what God expects and we should do so without condition—Generosity and service with No Strings Attached.

---

[1] Craig S. Keener, Matthew—The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), pp. 135-136.

[2] R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew—The New International Commentary of the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007), pp. 236-237.

[3] Craig L. Blomberg, Matthew—The New American Commentary, (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992), p. 117.

[4] Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew—The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004), pp. 272-273.