Riverside Community Church
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-Jesus said, where 2 or 3 are gathered in His name there I am in the midst. And here we are gathered together in His Name. Consider this carefully -Jesus is among us.
-Christ is positively with us, right now, and this Living Word, Christ, is speaking, let’s listen to Jesus speak, speak to us:
Matthew 6:1-4 New International Version
6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “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 others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
I want you to read between the lines that were spoken by Christ, please look for and understand what is presumed -that is those things not spoken but understood in Christ’s words, and finally understand the underlying unspoken platform/s in these direct words of Jesus concerning generous acts to the needy.
-that’s quite a large statement so let me illustrate from this passage how the art of the unspoken word clarifies the words that were literally spoken.
Christ says “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.
* understand what is presumed
-it is presumed that Christ followers practice righteousness, in this case ‘giving to the needy’. That is what a Christian does -give to the needy.
* those things not spoken but understood in Christ’s words
-there are some people who ‘practice righteousness’ in front of people as if ‘showing off’ or having a need to be admired. Note: They have a need themselves. You’re needy if you need others to see. That type of overt public generosity lacks humility and smacks of ego and of pride. Not good.
* understand the underlying unspoken platform in Christ’s words
-take WARNING &be careful how you act, don**rsquo;t flaunt your generosity, God doesn’t like that, He opposes that type of generosity and God will not reward it (period).
Let’s reread the passage once more but this time look for, understand what is presumed, not spoken and the underlying meaning.
Matthew 6:1-4 Amplified Bible
6 “Be [very] careful not to do your good deeds publicly, to be seen by men; otherwise, you will have no reward [prepared and awaiting you] with your Father who is in heaven. 2 “So whenever you give to the poor and (alms) do acts of kindness, do not blow a trumpet before you [to advertise it], as the hypocrites do [like actors acting out a role] in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored and recognized and praised by men. I assure you and most solemnly say to you, they [already] have their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the poor and do acts of kindness, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing [give in complete secrecy], 4 so that your charitable acts will be done in secret; and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.
Here are 4 unspoken points from Christ’s spoken words.
Or The 4 silent points Christ didn’t say out loud.
Assumed Generosity.
Christians are generous, Christians give to others, Christians help others and Christians even sacrifice for others. Oh, by the way, that’s just like Jesus. Oh, by the way, we’re Christians, we follow Christ.
But first we need to grow out of our own neediness, rise above our needs (real or imagined) in order to serve others,- to meet ‘other’s’ needs. It’s hard to give to others if what we see is just what we need, or what we see is what we don’t have.
-the assumed generosity of Christians towards others assumes that Christians have taken their eyes off themselves and lifted them to see others and their needs.
Philippians 2 tells us to consider others better than ourselves and to look to the interest of others while Paul writes in Ephesians 4 that we are to be kind (remember alms is doing acts of kindness) and compassionate. Like Jesus, go about doing good, do acts of kindness, be generous to others.
-if you see someone and they need $5 and you have a fiver in your pocket and God gives you the poke,- give the 5 be quiet about it, and be happy about it, because God is smiling and pleased and is preparing a 100x award for you.
Practice Generosity.
-Practice sounds to me like work, too much work, in fact, I have to force myself to practice. To practice being generous takes effort.
-Practice means the discipline to do and practice means repetition of effort, to keep doing the exercise, to keep doing the ‘reps’.
-Practicing generosity isn’t one and done, but rather one and keep repeating.
Application
God assumes you, as a Christ follower, will be generous, will be giving alms to the poor, will be doing acts of kindness for the needy.
If God assumes that about you then you can assume something about God. You want to know what you can assume about God? That God will give you opportunity to practice your generosity.
Timing is up to God. But, my brothers and sisters, expect God to give you a poke, even this week, even today. And maybe even this very moment God is poking you, telling you, moving you to practice generosity.
Quiet Generosity.
Have you ever had someone say to you ‘Oh, be quiet.’ That is pretty humiliating. This is how Christ said, ‘be quiet’.
2 “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 others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret.
-no bragging, no boasting, no trumpets to announce your generosity -nope just quiet humility and, may I add, thankfulness to God that He uses you in this way of generosity.
Illustration.
Mohammed Ali in his prime boxing years boarded an airplane and just before take off the stewardess reminded him to do up his seat belt. To which Ali retorted, ‘superman doesn’t need a seat belt’. To which the stewardess came back with, ‘superman doesn’t need a plane either’.
-no bragging, no boasting, and no trumpets -no just quiet generosity.
Generosity rewarded.
Here’s the good thing about quiet generosity, -it doesn’t go unnoticed by the most important person you could ever know. God sees, God rewards. And when God rewards it’s big, He rewards on earth -that’s up to God, and He rewards in Heaven, guaranteed.
-all service to God and to others is abundantly rewarded.
-every act of kindness is amply repaid by our compassionate God.
-the practice of goodness to others is generously reimbursed by our God who owns everything.
So, we need to be generous, we need to practice generosity and we need to be generously quiet about it.
-if you are the one always in need you need to practice generosity, start today and you’ll start to get out of the chronic situation of need.
-if God has brought someone to mind who needs generosity, then let you be the one, God assumes you’ll give and now God brings opportunity to you. Give as you have been given to.
(hear Christ’s words, believe Christ’s words 🡪 obey Christ’s words)
Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
