WHAT'S WRONG WITH FALSE GIVING?

“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 by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. (Matthew 6:2)

Giving to the poor literally means any act of mercy, but it came to mean more specifically the giving of money or goods to the needy.

Jesus did not mean “if” but “when” concerning our giving—in other words, He expects us to do so. But just as sympathy for the needy does not help them unless something is actually done toward their need, so giving money provides us no spiritual blessing unless done from the heart.

Those who, like the Pharisees, give to impress others with their piety and generosity will receive no further reward. When we give with this false motive, we receive back only what people can give; we thereby forfeit God’s blessings.

Many times, of course, the pretense people use to draw attention to or more make an impression with their giving is not so obvious. They know, especially if they profess to follow Christ, that other Christians will resent ostentatiousness.

So they seek to make their giving “accidentally” noticed. But any strategy designed to draw attention is still a basic form of trumpet-blowing hypocrisy, which can appear in various forms. Whenever we make a point of doing our giving publicly to be noticed, rather than doing it privately to be noticed, rather than doing it privately simply for God’s reward, we behave more like the hypocrites of Jesus’ day, not like His children.[1]

John MacArthur

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End notes:

[1] John MacArthur, Daily Readings From the Life of Christ [Chicago: Moody, 2008], May 5.

See also:

MATT CHANDLER AND VILLAGE CHURCH PROMOTING CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY

R.C. SPROUL, JR. SAYS INTERNET DISCERNMENT BLOGS ARE WRONG

THE ORIGIN OF CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER