Category: Sermons

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Do Not Let Your Left Hand Know What Your Right Is Doing

hands giving and receiving wrapped presents

Last week we spoke about the idea of doing righteousness, and that it means we work in order to produce, God blesses us, and we in turn use those blessings to help people in need. Throughout the Bible people were instructed to give to the needy, and to do it generously and with a joyful heart. There also is the promise of a reward for helping others out.

Jesus told his hearers that they should not practice their righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. When we give to the needy we shouldn’t announce it, but rather should do it quietly and in secret: “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. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:3, 4 ESV).

This is not a new concept for Jesus. In Malachi 3:10, God says, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” God rewards us, not for our own pleasure, but for the benefit of helping even more people.

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Practicing Tzedakah (Doing Righteousness)

blackboard with your life matters inscription on black background

Jewish people have practiced righteousness (Tzedakah) for thousands of years. It is commanded in the Bible. So what does it mean to practice righteousness? In Daniel 4, King Nebuchadnezzar’s second dream was being interpreted by Daniel. He told the king that, though he was made great, he would be made to dwell among the animals and eat the grass of the field as they do. Daniel concluded: “Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity” (Daniel 4:27 ESV).

Practicing righteousness as linked to helping the poor. Unlike charity, every person is obligated to do what is right and just. The second highest form of this is to give donations anonymously. But the highest form is to give a gift, loan, or partnership that will enable the poor person to support himself. This is not as much and individual responsibility as it is a communal one. We can see this in Acts 2 and 4 when the believers sold property and possessions so that there wasn’t a poor person among them.

The poor also had a responsibility to practice righteousness by doing all they could to provide for themselves. They, too, gave what they could. People who practice righteousness by helping those in need are given prosperity by God to repeat that cycle, so long as their intentions are to genuinely help the poor. Putting God first in the workplace means that the work we do is to practice righteousness and help others become productive also.

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God as Upholder of Our Lives

here to help lettering text on black background

King Saul pursued David on several occasions, seeking to kill him. There were two different times that the Ziphites, relatives of David, sold him out. One of those was in 1 Samuel 23. The Ziphite spies told Saul where David was hiding and Saul went after him. He was about to find David when he got word that the Philistines had made a raid against the land. So Saul left David to go fight the Philistines: “So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called Rock of Escape” 1 Samuel 23:28 ESV.

It was during this time of David being pursued that he wrote what is now Psalm 54. David knew full well that it was God who sustains him: “Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life” (Psalm 54:4). It’s clear that David trusted God the entire time. David knew that, somehow, God would keep him safe from Saul. Saul was bent on finding, catching, and killing David. Yet God upheld him and kept him safe.

David wrote, “For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies” (vs. 7). God still delivers us from our troubles. He upholds us and helps deliver us from every trouble.

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God’s Desire for Mercy

woman carrying a baby

Hosea is a very interesting character. He was a prophet and the book begins by God telling him to take a wife who is in the business of prostitution. Hosea married Gomer and God tells him to name his children. Their names were Jezreel (the Lord sows [catastrophe]), No Mercy, and Not My People. God was demonstrating the unfaithfulness of Israel, how he was going to judge Israel, then love her and redeem her.

The entire book is a reminder of God’s judgement that will come because of Israel’s unfaithfulness to other gods. But it’s also a plea for Israel to repent and come back to God. In another strange command, God tells Hosea to find a wife who is an adulteress and redeem her: “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins” (Hosea 3:1 ESV).

Hosea did so then loved his wife to show that “the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days” (vs. 5). God is clear too that “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). God is a God of mercy, second chances, and sacrifice. He is a jealous God who wants his people to return to him and love him always!

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Ordinary Servants

father with sons holding hands

Proverbs 12:9 (NIV) says, “Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food.” There was a recent RNS article titled Hillsong was extraordinary. That’s the problem. Hillsong is continually in the spotlight for scandal after scandal and cover-up after cover-up. Hillsong prided itself on running a “tight ship” on Sundays, complete with the most influential preachers, best music (they write their own songs by professional musicians), and building a worship experience that sets the mood and draws people closer to God. One paragraph in the RNS article really resonated:

“But the problem of Hillsong NYC goes deeper than the scandals surrounding a few celebrity pastors. The problem of Hillsong arises with the desire to be an extraordinary church led by extraordinary communicators and extraordinary musicians creating an extraordinary experience. When it comes to church, we don’t need to be entertained. We don’t need to be wowed. We need ordinary churches with ordinary people doing ordinary work in communion with an extraordinarily loving God.”

https://religionnews.com/2023/06/02/hillsong-was-extraordinary-thats-the-problem/

In Acts 3 Peter and John healed a lame man as they were walking up the steps to the temple. Needless to say, it caused quite a stir among the religious leaders. What happened next is astounding: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13 ESV). Ordinary churches with ordinary people doing ordinary work in communion with an extraordinarily loving God!

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Ask With Proper Motives

close up of hand over white background

James warns against worldliness. He says that passions wage war within us. He says, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so your fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2 ESV). He also says that when we do ask we don’t receive because of poor motives: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (vs. 3).

The opposite is true, though. We will receive if we ask with proper motives. James says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (vs. 6). When we humble ourselves and ask with proper motives, God will grant it to us. God wants us to be able to help others. He wants us to have abundance so that we can provide for the needs of others.

If we humble ourselves, distance ourselves from worldly desires, and genuinely want to help others God will provide for our needs and grant us what we ask of him. God’s will is that people be taken care of and ultimately be saved. When we work to this end, God blesses abundantly.

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First Fruits

sliced fruits on tray

This Sunday is Pentecost, which is celebrated by Christians across the world. It comes from the word pentekoste, which means 50 and it marks 50 days from Easter Sunday. Its origins are from the Old Testament when Israelites were commanded to have three festivals a year–Passover, Feast of Weeks (aka “first fruits,” now called Pentecost), and the Ingathering. Pentecost was a way to give thanks to God for providing crops. It was scheduled 7 weeks from the first harvest of wheat, which happened right around Passover.

Like Passover, Pentecost took on new meaning through Christ. Instead of only celebrating first fruits of the physical harvest, it is now a celebration of the first fruits of the spiritual harvest. It’s very fitting that on the first Christian Pentecost, 3,000 souls came to Christ through baptism. The link to first fruits doesn’t seem to be acknowledged as much as it should and we absolutely should not overlook the strong link. God is the God of harvest. He provides out of his love for mankind. The feast was an annual requirement because God provides each year, forever.

Listen to Peter’s language: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord calls to himself” (Acts 2:38, 39 ESV). If we, the church, are faithful God will keep providing the promise of harvest for all generations!