Matthew 6 - Alms

[Cody]

Matthew 6:1-4
1 "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound 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 their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly." KJV

I've been studying Matthew and came across these verses that brought much conviction. Sometimes when I do stuff for the Lord, I'll tell people. Although, I don't believe God will punish us for this, I believe we should do things for God in secret more. If we're not careful we can start doing good things for man instead of God.

If you do good works here and tell someone, you'll receive your reward here, but if you keep it between you and God, you'll receive your reward in Heaven. I believe the reward we'll get in Heaven for doing good works will be far more better than what any man could give us.

I keep thinking about this and it gets me to wondering. What if a story we tell about winning someone to the Lord provokes another Christian to start working for the Lord more? What if we tell a Christian a good work we did and it blesses them. Maybe telling a good work we did to a sinner would lead them to the Lord. Well, that is just my thoughts, but I believe no matter what we do, we need to keep our focus on God and God alone. I believe we can use testimonies, but we must have a humble heart when we do tell people about stories. If we do good works and do them for any other reason other than to bring the glory of God, then our works are in vein. I hope this will help or bless someone and feel free to give your comments about these verses.

God Bless

 

[pebosworth]

I agree with you, we should do more good works in secret because not only will be rewarded but it shows God that we are doing it for Him and not man.

About telling others of our good deeds, I think if it comes up in a conversation then it is fine to tell your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, but if we deliberately bring it up then it may seem that we are trying to boast. Boasting is fine, as long as you boast in the Lord. About using it to witness to non-believers, I think it could end up doing more harm than good. It could cause the lost to turn to Christ for the wrong reasons and who will just end up becoming another bitter 'backslider'.

Please go look at The Way of the Master and if you can, download their audio lesson HBKS (Hells Best Kept Secret). I am telling as many people as I can, because it is so important and I know that those who listen to it will be guided by the Holy Spirit into all truth. We need to adjust our presentation of the gospel, but most importantly we need to start spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth asap! This is our most important task while here on earth. This earth will not be around much longer, so we need to ensure many will enter into eternity with us.

 

[Richie]

I keep thinking about this and it gets me to wondering. What if a story we tell about winning someone to the Lord provokes another Christian to start working for the Lord more?

Well Cody, what I feel about this is, that if another Christian gets provoked and starts working more for the Lord, then his/her focus is obviously not on God but on 'the work for the Lord'.

You said in this very same thread that our focus should be on God and God alone.

Most importantly we should be united at heart because we are all wariors for Jesus.

Romans 16:3: Greet Priscilla and Aquila. They have been co-workers in my ministry for Christ Jesus.

Galations 2:9: In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews.

Philippians 4:3: And I ask you, my true teammate, to help these women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. And they worked with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.

Colossians 4:11: Jesus (the one we call Justus) also sends his greetings. These are the only Jewish Christians among my co-workers; they are working with me here for the Kingdom of God. And what a comfort they have been!

Philemon 1:24: So do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my co-workers.

What I find interesting in all these verses is that Paul the apostle uses the word "co-workers". By this you can imagine, the kind of unity Paul the apostle maintained with the other apostles, in his heart.

This is the kind of unity we should maintain in our hearts being one body (The body of Christ). This is the kind of unity God wants us to have.

You have raised a very good point for discussion. Thank you for sharing this article.

God bless you.

 

[Cody]

Well Cody, what I feel about this is, that if another Christian gets provoked and starts working more for the Lord, then his/her focus is obviously not on God but on 'the work for the Lord'.

Thanks for your reply, brother. I believe when someone is doing work for the Lord, their mind will be on the Lord also, but that was the reason I brought this up. Sometimes we can do good work and not have God on our mind when we're doing it. There has been some cases in my life where I saw my friends or church members doing good work for God and it provoked me to start doing more work for the Lord and at the same time, God was on my mind.

God Bless you also