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  A GOOD SECRET： ALMSGIVING
  by Duane Troyer
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Summary: This sermon delves into the importance of abiding in Christ,
emphasizing that our focus should be on abiding in Him rather than
striving to produce fruit on our own. It highlights the concept of
sharing rather than just giving, the need for discernment in helping
others, and the balance between assisting those in need while also
promoting character and spiritual growth. The message encourages
obedience to Christ's commands, trusting that as we abide in Him, the
fruits of the Spirit will naturally manifest in our lives.

Topics: "Abiding in Christ", "Spiritual Growth"
Scripture References: John 15:4, Acts 2:44, 1 Timothy 5:8, Galatians 5:22, 2 Peter 1:5

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon delves into the importance of abiding in Christ, emphasizing
that our focus should be on abiding in Him rather than striving to
produce fruit on our own. It highlights the concept of sharing rather
than just giving, the need for discernment in helping others, and the
balance between assisting those in need while also promoting character
and spiritual growth. The message encourages obedience to Christ's
commands, trusting that as we abide in Him, the fruits of the Spirit
will naturally manifest in our lives.

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CONTENT
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Grace be with you, peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm thankful, thankful to be gathered with everybody and thankful for a
beautiful day and a beautiful place to gather. Why don't we, I'm gonna,
I'm gonna continue into chapter six now of the Sermon on the Lamb and
we'll pray and get started.

Chapter six, verses one through four. Beware of practicing your
righteousness before men to be noticed of them. Otherwise, you have no
reward with your Father who is in heaven.

So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, before
you as the hypocrites do in synagogues and in the streets, so that they
may be honored by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in
full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what
your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret and your
Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Let's pray. Oh Father in heaven, we thank you for all you do for us.
Thank you for salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and we pray that you
would help us to walk in your ways, to be faithful, to walk worthy of
this salvation that you've offered us and we pray for your grace and
spirit to help us.

We pray now that as we look into these words that you would enlighten us
and help us and help us to get to get your meaning and what you meant
when you said this and help us to be faithful to your will in all
things. Thank you again for all you do for us in Jesus name. Amen.

So here we are in Matthew, in this first sermon that we have recorded
that Jesus preached and he's laying out what I've in previous messages
called and I've heard it called this from other people as well like this
would be like the constitution of a new kingdom, of a new nation of
people. Here's the summary of what constitutes the attitudes and the
actions and the behaviors of the people that will be citizens of this
new kingdom. It is teachings that reshape the way that the natural man
thinks.

He has otherworldly solutions for this world's problems and they're
solutions that work. They're solutions that work universally and
eternally. They just work.

They are that deep, that meaningful. This sermon on this mountain is the
equivalent to the new covenant that Mount Sinai would be to the old
covenant. Leo Tolstoy said about the Sermon on the Mount, he said
nowhere does Jesus speak with greater solemnity, nowhere does he
propound moral rules more definitely and practically, nor do these rules
in any other form awaken more readily and echo in the human heart.

So we've looked at the Beatitudes, we've looked at how Jesus said you're
the salt of the earth, the light of the world, how he came to fulfill
the law and then six times he references the law in the Torah and then
he lays a law beside it and the law that he lays beside this makes the
old law just disappear. It vanishes away not into destruction but into
uselessness. If we get what Jesus is saying that this law that came from
the Torah that he's referencing is useless.

What do we need a law that says thou shall not commit adultery if we get
thou shall not lust or that we should not lust after someone and so
forth? Why would we need a law that says thou shall not murder if he
says don't even be angry with someone? And so now here we go into
chapter six and he's talking, now he's getting into some things that his
Jewish audience would have been familiar with and what does he do? He
wants them to check their motives. He's going to talk about almsgiving,
praying, and fasting. All things that his listeners would have been
doing and would have been familiar with but he's wanting them to check
their motives and be sure that they're not doing it for the wrong
purpose and totally lose the value.

So here in chapter six, I really appreciate this wind although it keeps
blowing my pages around. Here in verse six he starts in by saying beware
of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed of them by
them. Otherwise you have no reward with your father who is in heaven.

Now depending what translation, if you're reading in a King James
translation, it'll probably say either beware or take heed and then it
says take heed that you do not your alms, thank you, that you do not
your alms before men to be seen of men or something like that. And this
translation says practice your righteousness and various translations
read differently. Some of them will say something like take heed that
you don't do your charitable deeds, your alms, or your deeds of
righteousness and there's some discrepancies in different manuscripts
and that's why that's the case.

But I think with Jesus, I think there's not that much difference in the
meaning necessarily. Jesus is starting by saying beware, beware, take
heed. I'm, let me back up just a little bit.

So basically he's saying these good deeds that you're going to do, I
want you to take care why you do these and I feel like this verse one is
kind of a, I'm going to park right here on this verse one for a while
for the first part of this message and but what I'm saying about this
verse one will apply once we get into the next message and we talk and
he talks about praying and he talks about fasting and he, so he's saying
like take care that you don't do these things to be seen of men and then
he goes on in verse two to say so when you give to the poor don't do
this and and later he'll say and when you pray don't do it this way and
he says when you fast don't do it this way. But he says beware, take
heed. Jesus is saying I am about to tell you some things that are
deceptive, that are dangerous but not so obvious.

There's a subtle thing that goes on in our hearts and I want you to
really be aware of it. So take caution, beware. When sometimes when we
pour concrete in areas where there's foot traffic or people around
we'll, when we're done we'll put caution tape around it.

Beware because it's not completely obvious that this is not safe to walk
on or drive on or something like that and and that's what you do when
you put wet paint or when paint's wet or something like that when
something's not when something's not just clearly obvious and and and
Jesus is coming into a section of his teaching here and he's he's
surrounding it with caution tape and he's saying beware okay. I'm going
to tell you about an evil that is real subtle he's saying and if your
motive for doing good is to be seen by men then you lose the reward that
I have for you. I know I keep saying this that that Jesus came to lay
the axe at the root of the tree and it seems like he just keeps striking
that axe deeper and deeper and deeper.

We we had read in in the previous chapter in other messages how you know
the root of anger if you want to deal with the or sorry the root of
murder if you want to deal with the root of murder get down to get down
to that root that's called anger and deal with it. If you want to deal
with the root of adultery get get down to lust and deal with it right
there or a false swearing the root of the problem there is that the
common word has become unreliable. The root of evil progressing is
because people resisted with evil and and so forth and then he ends up
saying there in verse 5 therefore be be perfect as your father in heaven
is perfect you know how how God loves those who love him and those who
hate him he does good he does good deeds to those who love him and hate
him.

I want you to be that way there's no reward for the one who just loves
the people that love them there's no reward for only greeting your
brothers so so so be like your father and then he says but beware if you
do these things for the purpose of being seen by men that honor that you
receive from men that's your reward that self-satisfying feeling that
when you've done something and and people have noticed it and they say
oh yeah this is a good this is a good man this is a godly man he's
that's your reward there you go. Why is it so difficult for us to always
to always have before our eyes how how big how how there's this world of
difference between being honored by God and being honored by men. I
think there's something in us that that wants to be honored I don't
think that's wrong I think that's probably God given you know if we're
if we if we end up being the honored guest at a at a meal or or or at a
somewhere that's special that's special.

If if someone confides in us something that they don't just tell
everybody that's special it it makes us realize that that person has
some level of trust in me and and that's that's that makes us feel good.
If someone finds us worthy of sharing a secret that he doesn't just
share with everybody it it makes us feel special. I remembered Brother
Buddy gave a message some years back or I don't know how long ago about
secrets and I went back and listened to that secrets are fragile but
powerful he said and and keeping secrets can obviously be a bad thing
but they're not always a bad thing not not necessarily not not not all
secrets not not all secrets are bad and they're actually special they're
powerful and would you believe it that God the Father the creator of
heaven and earth the one the one who spoke a word and the whole universe
came into existence the one who hangs the earth on nothing the one who
who sits up there in the in the in this vast heavenlies and has the has
the earth for his footstool he he wants to have this special personal
secret relationship with us um this um this this relationship where
there's things between us and him that no one else needs to know about
um and and for us to make so that other people knows about it blows the
secret it spoils it it's really bad it really hinders this this this it
really hinders us from nurturing this relationship that we have with God
it's a relationship that is nurtured by us carefully considering his
will then doing his will without seeking honor of men and we wait for
the honor of God and that's one of the reasons I think it's so difficult
for us to remember this is because we have to wait on it with patience
and we have to wait on it with trust and we have to we have to wait on
it in faith and with hope and these are things that are not so easily
attained by the carnal man that longs for immediate gratification if if
we this this another thing that buddy pointed out in that message is if
if we nurture uh or or if we if we keep us if we keep a sin a secret if
we if we're in hidden sins and we keep that a secret we're actually
nurturing a relationship with the devil that's really bad and we'll get
our reward from the devil but if we do if we do our alms and our prayers
and our fastings in secret with God we nurture a relationship with him
and we'll receive a reward from him and if we do our alms and pray and
fast on display to be seen of men to get honor from them we'll we'll get
our we'll get our reward from them and that'll be our full that'll be
our full full reward Jesus said in John 5 44 how can you believe when
you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is
from the one and only God one thing I want to be one thing I want to be
clear about is that this this secret this secret relationship with God
is not is not some secret knowledge about the gospel or about salvation
it is not some special revelation that we have about God or or our duty
to him that's that that kind of thinking is gnosticism at the core the
gospel is public knowledge the way Jesus came and publicly spoke and and
the way to salvation the truth the life has been made manifest in Christ
that that's that's not what we're talking about we're talking about
things like glory and honor and rewards and things like that glory
belongs to God alone I think it's in the prophet Isaiah that it says God
said I am the Lord your God my glory I will share with no one honor and
rewards belong to those who are worthy of them and according to this
portion of Jesus' teaching if we seek them from one another we are no
longer deemed worthy to receive them from him in psalm 91 once it's 91
starts in by saying he who dwells in the secret places of the most high
shall abide under the shadow of the almighty in the song of songs
sometimes it's called the song of Solomon but but I think the more
appropriate name is the song of songs you know why it's the song of
songs because it's the greatest of songs right God is the God of all
gods he's the king of all kings and this is the song of all songs the
song of songs you read this and there's this there's this relationship
going on between the the groom and the bride and it's it's a it's a it's
a picture of of what what what is supposed to be going on between Christ
and the church and there's this intense and deep longing for each other
and they you know they they wake up in the middle of an afternoon and
are like oh where where's my where's my lover I gotta go find him I'm
not sure where he's at right now I need I need to know where he's at um
or she in in in chapter 2 verse 14 the bride says oh my dove in the
clefts of the rock in the secret places of the cliff let me see your
face let me hear your voice and I think I think that's that's that's the
the the desire we should have in alms giving and in prayer and in
fasting let me see your face let me hear your voice and and this is not
something that my my brother on my right that my brother on my left have
to know about rm uh I think it's robert m uh machine or mccain or
something like that he was a minister in the church of scotland in the
1800s I don't know much about him but he said no amount of activity in
the king's service will make up for the neglect of the king himself this
word secret throughout this passage that we'll we'll read it multiple
times here in this message and in the the next one probably one or maybe
two uh it the greek word is cryptos it it means concealed or hidden um
it also means inwardly um which which means that which is in secret or
that which is hidden not not not uh uh immediately evident it's the same
word that's used in first peter 3 4 when when peter says women uh let
your adornment not be outwardly with braiding hair and um um adornment
what's it say braiding of the hair and so forth those external
adornments but let it be and here it is cryptos the hidden man of the
heart let it be the hidden man of the heart which uh the and then it
goes on to say the ornament of the meek and quiet spirit which is in the
sight of god of great price um we we've all seen it we've all seen uh a
woman who outwardly adorned herself and made herself attractive and it
wasn't long till you realized this this woman on the inside is proud and
boastful and loud and boisterous and any godly man does not want to be
married to her any godly man does not want to to be yoked up or in a
covenant with with a woman like that and god does not god does not enter
a covenant with into a covenant with people who don't have that hidden
man of the heart um that that fosters and nurtures in in the hidden man
of the heart this this love and this this longing in this relationship
with him um one thing jesus doesn't say here in verse one of chapter six
he doesn't say beware of doing deeds of righteousness before men he says
beware of doing deeds of righteousness before men to be noticed of them
for the purpose of being noticed by them just just earlier in this same
in this same sermon jesus had said let your light so shine before men
that they may see your good works and glorify and glorify your father
which is in heaven he went on to say that a city that is set on a hill
cannot be and here's this word again kruptos a city that is set on a
hill cannot be hidden maybe it's krupto there but the same root word at
least um but but it's that and they glorify the father in heaven herein
is the difference between the the teaching that jesus gave earlier let
your light shine before men that they may see your good works and the
difference between that and jesus saying when when you do these good
works or when you do these when you do your prayers and your almsgiving
and fasting beware that you don't do it to be seen of men so here's what
he's saying jesus when he came he came to glorify the father and to show
compassion to humanity his his deeds of kindness couldn't be hidden i
mean his fame just spread abroad like fire in the wind um even though he
tried he would heal people and he say now see to it that you don't tell
anybody and he'd make a blind man see and uh one of the people maybe the
lepers that he cleansed he told him to go go do what needs to be done in
the temple to you know to to get your access back in the city or
whatever but but for the most part he was like don't go spread this
abroad uh jesus sometimes tried to get away from everybody and get up on
the mountain and pray by himself and be alone but but people just
followed him and found him and i think i think that's one of i think we
can say that's one of the distinguishing or we can use it as a gauge to
mark the difference between a true ministry of healing and things like
that and what we mostly see today where where they they draw big crowds
together once they have everybody gathered together they'll bring a a
lame person or somebody up and try to perform some kind of miracle in
front of everybody and then they'll gather all their their wealth and
their fame and and it's a totally different spirit it's totally
different totally different heart than what jesus had proverbs 20 verse
6 says most men proclaim each his goodness but who can find a faithful
man we as humans tend to hide our wrong deeds and want to display our
good deeds and jesus is turning this whole thing around he's turning
that whole thing upside down we he knows he knows that it's deeply
ingrained in us this is this is exactly what adam and eve the very first
human beings did as soon as they did something wrong they tried to cover
that up it it runs all through scriptures when when saul came back from
defeating the amalekites he proclaimed his goodness he said i have
fulfilled the word of the law uh the word of the lord and samuel said
well what means this bleeding of sheep and lowing of cattle that i hear
and and he immediately was like oh well uh that that is for sacrifice uh
he he covered up his disobedience in a show of piety in a show of of of
worship and even after samuel soundly reproved him uh saul said honor me
before the elders and my people and i will worship the lord namen that
story that when when elisha was the prophet there in israel and namen
had leprosy and he was in syria maybe i'm not quite sure some other
country um and and someone told him that there's a prophet in israel
that could heal you and he went over there to be healed now namen wanted
to be healed from his leprosy there was there was actually something he
even wanted more than that he wanted to be honored and i don't think i
don't think namen was able to see that i don't i think if somebody would
have come to him on the way over and say you know what namen what's your
main motive for going over there and he would have said well i got
leprosy i'm gonna die uh i want to be healed and and that person would
have said no your real motive to go over there is is to get honored he
he probably could not have seen it namen like like all men had a heart
that was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked um but when
he came over there and the prophet that he went to see didn't even come
to the door but but simply sent a messenger out and said go wash in the
jordan seven times it's too much it was too much for a man who was
seeking honor and he said i thought surely he got angry and he said i
thought surely he would come out and greet me and he he'd lay his hands
on my leprosy and he'd call upon this god and he'd make this this big
deal of it and he he was furious and he rode away and fortunately or or
um that's not the right word but but thankfully um one of his servants
got his attention really got his attention said look if if he'd have
told you to do something great you would have done it why couldn't you
just do that and he repented he repented of his honor seeking heart and
he went down into that muddy jordan river and he dipped himself seven
times and he came out clean that time then he went back to elisha's
house and that time elisha came out to meet him and i think i think
right there is a real picture of how this if if if we come to god and we
are wanting to seek honor for himself he's not even going to come to the
door he's going to send a messenger to tell us what to do but but once
we repent and we humble ourselves and we wash ourselves in that in that
water of of god if we come to the door of christ he's he's there he's
ready for us the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked who can know it i think that comes out of the prophet jeremiah we
become actors with masks on we clean up the outside of the cup that that
part of the cup that people can see we clean that all up real nice and
we hope people think we're drinking nice clean water but inside we're
suffering from the contamination and the slime and the filth of what's
inside the cup it's it's it's that uh it's it's that predisposition of
mankind in general that that sits on the driver's seat of of facebook
and every social media platform that that likes to put out that good
face it likes to put out that good picture that good uh display of of
who we are and inwardly we fail and we we never show that part it's a
misery it's something that it's something that god cannot uh god cannot
help us god cannot help us when we're that way it's called hypocrisy the
word hypocrite literally means an actor in a play an actor might play
various parts in the same play and he just puts on a different mask and
he presents himself as a different person now here today's passage is
the first time we have recorded that jesus used this word hypocrite but
he he's going to end up in his in his next three years of preaching and
teaching and he's a special hatred for it um about 95 i'd say at least
95 percent of the time when i when i hear what jesus is teaching and
telling to people maybe more maybe 90 i don't know a really high percent
that the posture that i imagine jesus having is is a teaching with open
arms come to me i am the way the truth and the come and i'll give you
fountains of living water uh um sometimes he'll sit down he has this
inviting way of calling people to them and then there's a small percent
of time when when he when he speaks when i think when i think he is
pointing fingers and it's the times when he says you hypocrites you
actors you you who are are making this show of something and you're not
it on the inside that's that's the little percent of the time that jesus
you read matthew 23 it's it's intense he has a special punishment for
the hypocrites i think it's in matthew 24 or somewhere where he where he
talks about um a certain person maybe that servant who who beat his
maybe that master who beat his servants or something like that he said i
will appoint him i will assign a place for him with the hypocrites where
there's weeping and gnashing of teeth um john chrysostom wrote he has
appropriately called them actors for they wear a mask of mercy however
the spirit inside is one of cruelty of inhumanity they do it not because
they pity their neighbor but so they may enjoy recognition in reality
this comes from the utmost cruelty while another person is perishing
from hunger they are not concerned about relieving his suffering but
about obtaining praise here back to matthew 6 here so he says beware of
practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed of them otherwise
you have no reward with your father who is in heaven so when you give to
the poor do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets so that they may be honored of men truly i
say to you they have their reward in full i i used to wonder like or or
just thought i guess when i read that i used to think well that's that's
actually what the pharisees did like they literally went on a street
corner picked up a trumpet blew it loud till they had everybody's
attention then dropped money in a box and i used to think well that is
so far out there that is so absurd like how could how could not anyone
see through that but i didn't realize till till recently that some
ancient writers don't don't think that's what they literally did but
that this was a figure of speech that jesus used to to expose to expose
just how inwardly they were desirous of praise i don't know about that
but but it would make sense to me verse 3 says but when you give to the
poor do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing do it
do it secretly do it if if possible do it secretly and and i think i i
think as best as i can tell what jesus is saying those those closest to
you those sitting on your left and those sitting on the right don't need
to know about this they they don't don't don't try to have their
attention before you do these things and then verse 4 says so that your
giving will be in secret and your father who sees what is done in secret
will reward you it it takes faith the hebrew writer said without faith
it is impossible impossible to please him for he that comes to god must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently
seek him it takes patience it takes endurance but in due time we shall
reap if we think not i want to talk just a little bit about alms and
alms giving i think the meaning of of this word is deeds of compassion
or deeds of mercy it's it's especially deeds of mercy to the poor and
it's it's a major part of christianity after all it's exactly what
christ came to earth to do uh uh if if if if alms giving means having
doing acts of compassion and mercy on helpless people and that's that's
that's the definition of what jesus came to earth for when when john's
disciples came to inquire of jesus whether he's the one the promised one
jesus said well here's the evidence check it out the blind receive their
sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the dead are raised up and
the poor have the gospel preached to them that's all the evidence you
need that this is the christ the messiah the promised one now jesus said
in luke 11 give of such things as you have he doesn't say acquire and
make more and gather so that you can give more now there might there
might be a moderate place for for doing that um but i think i think
biblically and i think i could tell you from experience and i think
biblically as uh we could see this that that money and possessions is
too deceitful in its nature to cultivate this idea that we should have
an thinking and a practice of making more and making more and making
more so that we can give more it just doesn't work that way paul said
give liberally in romans i'm just going to read a few verses that talk
about alms giving starting in verse sec in second corinthians i'm just
going to go you can pay page to him if you want but i'm not going to
expound much on him i'm just going to read a few verses second
corinthians nine verses six to nine says now this i say he who sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also
reap bountifully each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart
not grudgingly or under compulsion for god loves a cheerful giver and
god is able to make all grace abound to you so that always always having
all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good
deed as it is written he scattered abroad he gave to the poor his
righteousness endures forever ephesians chapter 4 verse 28 says he who
steals must steal no longer but rather he must labor performing with his
own hands what is good so that he will have something to share with ones
who the one who has need here here paul is is instructing that we that
that we should work with our hands so that we have something to share
but but let's let's make sure we leave it in the context like he's he's
talking to the guys who were who were lazy sitting around doing nothing
stealing and he's saying don't do that work with your hands uh do do
something profitable to supply for yourself and to have enough to share
for others and it's not it's not i don't think it might be the verse
that you could use to say you could in a moderate way try to increase
your income to give more but but but i don't think i don't think he's i
don't think he's promoting the idea that we often hear of people who who
who go heavy and big into business and and multi-level marketing and
things like that and justify it all with the idea that yeah we're doing
it to help the poor hebrews 13 6 13 16 sorry and do not neglect doing
good and sharing for with such sacrifices god is pleased 1 john 3 17 and
18 this is really powerful but whoever has the world's goods and sees
his brother in need and closes his heart against him how does the love
of god abide in him little children let us not love with word or with
tongue but in deed and truth you know that that uh portion in galatians
where paul's talking about paul describes how he and barnabas came to
jerusalem and they met with james and peter and john and and and they
gave each other right hand of fellowship that that peter and james and
john gave them a right hand of fellowship and said you you you're free
to go to the gentiles we'll we'll minister to the jews just here's
here's one deal just don't forget the poor don't forget the poor which
paul says i was eager to do anyway proverbs 19 17 says the one who has
mercy on the poor lends to god and he will repay him according to his
gift the early christians quoted this verse often the one who has mercy
shows mercy does deeds of mercy to the poor is lending to god now
lending to god like we should we should lend to everyone but there's
it's just the way it is there's there's if you have anything if you have
any possessions there's some people you're just always real happy to
lend to um they return things in in good shape sometimes in better shape
um uh and then there's some people who who you just um you do but you
have to try not to do it begrudgingly you just you're not sure you're
not sure if this whatever you're lending to is going to come back is it
going to come back at all is it going to come back in good shape um you
know and and and so i i would encourage us to still lend um and and be
cheerful about it and do what jesus said when he said lend and don't
even expect anything in return that goes a long long way in taking care
of any bad feelings and anything like that but imagine that we could
lend to god that the creator of heaven and earth the one who holds the
whole cosmos and the whole universe and everything together and is all
powerful all knowing all uh has everything we could lend to him what if
we could well we can when we give to the poor out of out of the out of
out of a good heart not to be honored by men we're lending to god and he
will repay accordingly now that's that's pretty special alms giving was
something the early christians were known for not because they did it to
be seen they did it so abundantly that it could not be hidden they
recognized that jesus said didn't jesus didn't say if you give alms he
said when you give alms it's an expected thing i'll read a few quotes
this is just a few they speak much about this barnabas wrote do not be
ready to stretch forth your hand to receive while you draw them back
when it comes to giving you shall not hesitate to give nor murmur when
you give give to everyone who asks you that's there's something in the
didaki really similar to that um tertullian wrote though we have our
treasure chest it is not made up of purchase money as of a religion that
has its price rather on the monthly day if he likes each puts in a small
donation but only if it is his pleasure and only if he is able for there
is no compulsion all is voluntary these gifts are to support and bury
poor people to support the needs of boys and girls destitute of means
and parents and of old persons now confined to the house these gifts
also help those who have suffered shipwreck and if there happens to be
any of us in the mines or banished to the islands or shut up in the
prisons for no reason other than their faithfulness to the cause of
god's church they become the nurselings of their confession he also
wrote tertullian also wrote our compassion spends more in the streets
than yours does in the temples here's a quote from cyprian he says see
how much he sins in the church he who prefers himself and his children
to christ such a person preserves his wealth and does not share such a
per such a person preserves his wealth and does not share his abundant
estate to relieve the poverty of the needy what what cyprian is saying
here like i think we would all quickly easily immediately recognize that
if we preferred ourselves before christ that'd be sin right but he's
saying here if we prefer ourselves and our children to to the extent
that we're not helping the poor because of that then it's sin because
we're preferring them above christ and it goes hand in hand with the
idea that he that is merciful to the poor lends to god even even those
opposed to christianity are out outside of the church recognized it one
of the one of the um emperors named julian said do not we do we not
observe the kindness of christians to strangers their care for the
burial of their dead and the seriousness of their lifestyle do we not
see how this has done the most to advance their cause the godless
galileans which is what he's calling these christians the godless
galileans not only take care of their own poor but ours as well another
um another another non-christian someone outside the church said in in
observing the christian said giving in secret oh sorry this was
aristides um he he he he is making this case on on on how that uh giving
in secret was such a such a characteristic of the early christians that
he said christians do not proclaim in the ears of the multitude the kind
deeds they do instead they are careful that no one notices them in fact
they conceal their giving just like somebody who finds a treasure and
conceals it i guess what he's noticing there what he's saying there is
like they do this and yet they do it they do it in a concealed way they
don't try to show it and um uh they they they they treat they treat
almsgiving as if as if there's a secret treasure somewhere and and i
know about it and and it's a special uh it's a secret it's it's um it's
it's not something that everybody needs to know about in second clement
it says therefore almsgiving is a good thing as is repentance from sin
fasting is better than prayer but almsgiving is better than both for
love covers a multitude of sins almsgiving is an act of love when when
it's done from within when it's done from from the hidden man of the
heart i think it was amy carmichael who said he you can give without
loving but you cannot love without giving in conclusion let's be givers
liberal liberal cheerful and secret givers let's be givers because we're
lovers let's beware of public activities in the name of charity let's
beware of benefit auctions let's beware of benefit meals of drawings and
races and who knows what all human people invent in the name of charity
to make themselves look generous we can see by the scriptures we've
looked at and many others that god god desires to reward us for every
kind deed that we do even giving someone a cup of cold water he desires
to reward us fully we can with patience wait if we can with patience
wait on it jesus said in john 7 18 he who is seeking the glory of the
one who sent him he is the true he is true and there is no
unrighteousness in him and perhaps everything that i've been pointing
out could be summed up in what jesus said in luke 11 and i'll close with
this in luke 11 verses 39 to 41 jesus said now you pharisees clean the
outside of the cup and of the platter but inside of you you are full of
robbery and wickedness you foolish ones did not he who made the outside
make the inside also but give that which is within as charity and then
all things are clean for you may the lord add his blessings feel free to
share any thoughts comments or corrections hey brother dewania thank you
for that um great message sobering reminder um yeah it's interesting uh
i guess the one point you made i never thought about it before that our
tendency of human beings is to make known our our good deeds and and
suppress and not talk about or confess or you know the things that we do
that are bad or even evil um and yet jesus is flipping that upside down
and saying listen come follow me do it this way and he promises a reward
that's interesting yeah and then the comments you said about um and
pointing to the scriptures they talk about lending to the lord when we
lend to the poor i guess one i'll mention as well as uh the judgment
there in matthew 25 jesus says if you've done this at least these my
brothers and he goes through all these righteous works you've done this
at least these my brothers you've done it to me i just mentioned that um
yeah actually uh just looking at that passage and a few others uh i i've
never noticed it before matthew 25 would be one matthew 20 would be one
another uh matthew 27 mark 10 and mark 15 i don't know what to think of
this because i've never noticed this before it's not actually on my
right and on my left it's on my right and then the left side kind of
goes together with your message brother dewane for some reason they're
using the word um instead of on the left of those of good name that have
a good name instead of on the left which i really want to look into that
more it's not just this one passage in 25 i mentioned matthew 20 25 mark
10 mark 15 a bunch of them they're using i i don't know why they're so
it's on the right and to contrast that with those of good name um those
were the goats that went into cast into eternal punishment so that's
it's interesting because uh like i said the the pharisees were um
advertising themselves and then he's exalting us and warning us to not
do likewise so that we have a good name um it's yeah interesting amen
brother dwayne and someone has said it before it's not original that uh
if you want to solve all the world's problems teach him the sermon of
mount there'll be no war no divorce no hatred no selfishness you love
your neighbor as yourself and we solve all the problems but the one who
is the prince of this world is totally against that and and the uh the
words that did not just from you're in the middle of the sermon of mount
chapter six but um as leroy said about abiding in the vine well if you
hear my words and keep my commandments and love well you're in the vine
and two two quick comments that um thanks brother drain for the message
um you know insurance when i was uh a young christian i thought
insurance was very necessary i mean before i married my wife i had a
little house in a little desert town and i wanted to make sure i had my
insurance payments because i was gone for three or four days of the week
when i worked and i said i don't want the house to burn down and i
realized that it's been pointed out that the way that god with all the
safety nets with insurance health insurance life insurance you know all
the insurance for every cotton pagan thing that the only way god can
chastise us is by taking away our money our health or whatever we
freedom whatever we hit we hold dearly to us that's how god chastises us
and in the judgment day if we have all these you know give me neither
riches the poverty the proverbs well if we have all these safety nets
god can't get our attention like you got job's attention and then the
last thing i'll mention is i think it's the early christian one i don't
know the exact details somebody one of your brothers can fill me in but
the emperor one of the roman emperors emperors brought so many early
christians in just say the second second century or could have been
later second century and it was illegal religion and persecution and he
got one of these christians in and says where are your riches i want to
know where your riches are and remember what the man did he brought in
two two brethren who were very poor and he says these are our riches the
people who are christians and the emperor was disgusted and put them all
to death but that's our riches you brothers and sisters are our riches
the lord be magnified yeah i really appreciated that uh encouragement
admonition and expounding on that passage and matthew chapter six that
was really a blessing there was one point where you were talking about
lending and and hoping for nothing in return and um i can't remember
exactly how you put it but but expressing the idea and maybe i caught
this right i guess i'm not sure that i even did because i'm having a
hard time remembering the exact words that you used but just talking
about um like the even even the worldly there are worldly examples of
people acknowledging like one group in particular they took care of
their own poor and others poor and um i guess what i'm driving at is
like in all practicality when things work out i think there are it just
seems to me sometimes like in in christianity like there are rules of
engagement with the world rules of how we engage the world and how
that's supposed to look and then yet like when the context changes to
within a brotherhood it seems like the rules change a little bit in
particular like forgiveness and reconciliation seem to have different
rules within a brotherhood versus with the world and maybe also like
borrowing and repayment seem to have maybe different rules when we lend
it to someone who's in the world versus somebody who's in a brotherhood
and then my mind goes further like one thing i'd like to hear brother's
thoughts on more maybe even after the service or something is like what
what is a healthy like how how much should we if at all try to self-
preserve i think about passages in the in the new testament like when
paul is addressing a problem of sloth within a community and and finally
he says if a man will not work neither will he eat um and maybe i'm not
expressing what my question is very well but like for example i'll just
like make it personal when i think about helping somebody or trying to
extend help to someone uh if if some of my god-given responsibilities
and by that i mean caring for and trying to nurture children and my wife
begin to slip on account of trying to help someone else um i i start
wanting to back up a little bit or or maybe um withdraw some involvement
because i'm because some of the things that have been put in my charge
by god himself are being neglected how do those rules work how should we
think about that anyway i appreciated the message and just appreciate
thoughts maybe on some of those things later yeah i appreciate what
brothers have shared um i had a few thoughts about the opening it kind
of uh the thought just kind of bothered me a little bit when leroy held
up this branch and said that this branch could have could have borne
fruit if if he would have like this could this one could have had fruit
um if he would have left it you know if he would have chosen that one to
to be to stay there and i was just trying to think about how to apply
that thought and i know that all these um so um parables or likenesses
can break down at some point you know there we're we are we're branches
um jesus is the vine and um so i was thinking about some some of the how
to apply that and how how i can apply that to to my life one of the uh
differences is that we can we can choose to abide we're branches uh we
can choose to abide in the mind or choose to not abide we can we can
remove ourselves unlike those branches where leroy cut cut one off the
other one i guess got got cut off but then in the sense that we can also
prune ourselves as branches we can prune ourselves i think and i thought
that for me maybe that's where that idea comes in where if a branch uh
is too too bushy as trying to have too many uh too much fruit the fruit
itself won't be as good so maybe there's things that in themselves might
even be good or could could bear fruit say some ministry or something
but it just it just becomes too much and and then your your fruit isn't
good if you're trying to spread spread yourself out too far maybe
there's certain things you just need to cut off even if they're in
themselves could be good things and so that was my thought about that i
think that's all i have god bless you hey brother max i'm sure you're
aware of this passage but just make sure with regard to what you were
saying um it's in the context in first timothy five talking about widows
so i don't know why this shows up there but i'm sure it's somehow must
have something to do with widows but in verse eight he says but if
anyone does not provide for his own especially for those of his
household he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever so
obviously that fits in the whole perspective of kind of the things that
you're wrestling with there you know discussing the the message uh
brings up very very complex very thought-provoking scenarios dilemmas
you know as we go through life and we seek to work out our uh our own
salvation and to help others there's there's uh there's a need for so
much discernment um and ideally um ideally we can help one another in
these matters of different people see different perspectives and it's
it's always great if assistance can be done in humility and as a
brotherhood effort rather than one person having to discern and to make
the calls and and uh and make the judgments max max raised a very valid
question the other question is that you know at what point are we just
enabling people to continue in their in their predicaments at what point
does our assistance help the slothful continue his slothfulness at what
point does does our help uh enable the uh waster to continue wasting so
as we look to minister to the to the physical needs of those around us
um let's also keep attention to character development to spiritual
development let's try to you know teach them to work with their hands
try to share skills if they have if they have uh struggles managing
managing their resources let's instead of continuing to hand over
resources let's help them try to get control of their their finances um
behind all this i think is is the the spiritual motive the spiritual
good the building of the kingdom taking place there's there's a bigger
picture than just the giving than just the alleviating the suffering
even though that is a big picture there's more going on behind the
scenes so uh may the lord just give us wisdom and grace as we seek to
serve him and one another thanks uh yeah i had thoughts about the that
vine as well norman um i remember a guy um talking about that one time
and said that we can't we can't bring forth fruit by our own effort um
but that but that by our own effort we abide in him so he was saying
we're not we're not supposed to be trying to bring forth fruit we're
supposed to be trying to abide but then he didn't it was kind of
nebulous uh what what he meant by abide and i i have a theory about what
that is i'll ask it like we're pretend we're in sunday school and i say
okay children how do we abide in the vine anybody know what how do you
if jesus is divine and we're the branches what do we do to abide in the
vine adults yeah do what jesus said i think he says it afterwards if you
i think he says if you do keep my commandments you'll abide in my love
is what he said i hope that's fair to to put that anyway i just i think
um like the thing duane said we can we can give without loving like um i
don't i don't know how to muster up really caring for people i don't
know how to muster up kindness i don't know how to muster up patience
it's not a choice i can i can choose to behave patiently i can choose to
behave lovingly but i can't really choose to love like where does where
does real compassion come from where does real love come from where does
uh patience where are these things like that that come up like they come
from the vine and we're supposed to abide abide in the vine and anyway i
just i think the solution is real you know you if we do those things
that he said uh because we can do those things we can make those choices
then then the fruit this invisible beautiful things that come from him
these these fruits kindness um patience these things that then then they
come um anyway that there seems to be like this conflict between like
doing things without without love or whatever but i i think we're
supposed to do those things and and the love will come um and um and
then as far as oh the what uh i i know i noticed that exact same thing
you did norman i noticed when when leroy said he has his sets of
requirements he didn't tell us what they were but he's he just has to
say okay these are the rules for a vine to continue or a branch to
continue to exist and if it doesn't meet those rules it gets snipped off
and he can't he can't think about it just make that's the rules and and
there they go and and i would the the blessing was um that god told uh
jesus told us god's rules what's it what's his parameters for vines that
get to stay and vines that go and it was fruit somebody might be saying
i'm trying to make a vine in the shape of a heart or something that's
his parameters you know i don't i don't know if god's trying to make
vines to grow in a certain shape uh i think he wants him to grow in a
certain way um but uh but if we i think if we abide in him then we'll
bring forth fruit and then he and then he and then he steers us and
makes the shape um that he want but once but um we anyway i don't know
if that's part of what you were asking like what what do i do but it was
i think it's just bringing forth bringing forth fruit oh and then the
other thing i thought is like um i hope this makes sense but i sometimes
i don't know what to do or i i don't have it within me to do the thing
that i uh that i think i should do and all i can do is um is not there's
things that i want to do that i know i shouldn't do and i can at least
not do those things um sometimes the best i can do is just not do wrong
like i don't i don't have it in me to do right but i can just if i just
refrain from doing wrong like maybe if i'm if i'm having a tense
conversation with somebody well i can for sure not say anything unkind i
can do that um i can for sure there's so anyway i i that's another
thought i have about about abiding in the vine like um the the least i
can do is just just hold on to jesus uh hold on to god hold on to his
ways like and i i think that's a key to it like um things might be
easier for me if i quit leaving living this jesus life um i can say like
i don't know how to keep doing this jesus life i know how to do the
worldly life um but i but this jesus life is so hard and if i just say
no i'm just not going to do the worldly life i i don't know the right
answer but i'm just going to keep holding on uh to to these things that
jesus wants me to do that i'm going to do what i know is right even
though i don't have the answers to these other things and i think if we
just cling to those things uh i've seen i've seen branches i've seen a
branch on a tomato plant bearing fruit and it was it was so shredded at
the connection but it was still just barely holding on and it's bringing
forth this fruit and it's just hanging on by a thread and i just wonder
like how how does all that stuff that needs to that needs to bear this
fruit like just get through this like a thread of a connection but it if
we just hold on to what what we can i i think um he can do a lot and
take care of the rest amen thanks for the comments um norman and buddy
and i know what max said after after service or after while we're eating
we can talk but i want to make one comment about that sometimes it may
be harder on giving like brother brett okay he needs four hundred
dollars okay here you go like that it's more it's more easier to give
than to share the early church in x2 and x4 they didn't have anything
and nothing they said was their own but they shared and so sometimes it
may be harder for us to share everything we have to just to give a one-
time shot okay here you go four hundred dollars and so i'll bring that
up for a thing i think we should share everything that we have rather
than give because we if max if you gave everything you had you'd be a
beggar you'd be i'd have to help you out i mean you know if you give
everything but if you share we i think we're all set we can talk about
that and the thing now a lot to be magnified yeah i appreciate what
buddy said i appreciate what you said too brother um but i guess some
thoughts um if i understood rightly i guess the thoughts that buddy was
sharing was uh we don't necessarily set out to practice love joy peace
you know these these sorts of things we just obey jesus and it just
naturally results i can't disagree with that but at the same time i
think there's a couple passages that kind of speak this way like if we
look at galatians chapter 5 it says walk by the spirit and the fruits of
the spirit of love joy peace patience so he's saying walk this way and
not only that but in um this other passage second peter chapter one it
says um add to your faith let me find it here what did i do with that
add to your faith uh virtue virtue knowledge let's see let me see let me
see it right here so he's telling us to add to our faith it's not faith
alone uh second peter chapter one verse five but for this very reason
given all diligence given all effort is a good translation add to your
faith virtue giving all effort to add to your virtue knowledge and
giving all effort to add to your knowledge self-control making every
effort to enter through the narrow gate right to knowledge add self-
control to self-control perseverance and the perseverance add godliness
or piety towards god reverence and to add to this godliness um brotherly
affection and brotherly affection love for if we do these things we will
increase and abound um kind of what brother leroy was describing with
the vine and he will be neither barren in other words without that fruit
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ but he who
lacks these things is short-sighted even to blindness and has forgotten
that he has been cleansed of his old sins but therefore brethren be even
more diligent even more effort to make your call and being chosen and
being chosen election choosing sure certain for sure for if you do these
things you will never stumble and so therefore an entrance will be
supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our lord
savior jesus christ somebody will just share that friendship i am will i
am i am i am oh They will say you're full of death, man, lacking love
and heart.

These are all false accusations. Count it joy, my brother, dear, for the
same facebook of Jesus. And they'll say it's through labor, bled from
all his blood, how the day died.

They're all glad now that he's been pursued. For his wife, the Lord,
like Israel, falling short of passing through. For others, quiet their
sin and stand your ground.

Blest of all, redemption's nearing, soon we'll hear the trumpet sound.
Then we'll see our King in glory, crowned in power, his throne on high.
Shouting praise to our Redeemer, we believe him is our son.

For God our God, he must obey. Though he satisfies the hungry, every
flesher calleth, come and dine. A silent throat to topless wife, and
with tears they will please eternal.

Come and dine, the last we're called to. Come and dine, ye who pray to
wine.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/WqsDv2u0z88.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/duane-troyer/a-good-secret-almsgiving/
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