Silence the Trumpets!
Matthew 6:1-4 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.
In our last Reflecting the Son blog post, Jesus warned that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. We learned that the Pharisees wore their ‘righteousness’ as a costume because they were only concerned with what others thought. They didn’t do anything righteous or dedicate themselves to living righteously… They just wanted to be thought to be highly religious.
Today’s Reflecting the Son carries a very similar theme. Jesus starts off by saying: Take Heed! Essentially, Jesus is saying “Pay Attention” to what he is about to say. So what is Jesus warning us about? Jesus says: Do NOT Do Your Acts of Righteousness Before Men to Be Seen of Them! Again, Jesus is emphasizing the need for his followers to living Righteously. Teaching about this topic twice in such a short span, should tell us the level of importance that living righteous is to Jesus!
In this passage, Jesus is dealing more with the MOTIVE of one’s righteousness. Its’ not good enough that we act in a particular manner, we must also do what we do for the right reasons. This is a dramatic change from the Old and New Testaments. Jesus is not only concerned about actions, he also is equally concerned about the state of one’s heart and mind.
The particular state of mind that Jesus is focused on is the acting in a righteous manner, but with the motive of getting the attention from the world around so that we might get praised for our good behavior. Jesus is telling us that we should choose to live righteously because it is the right thing to do and because it pleases God. Drawing the attention of others should not factor in the equation.
In verse two Jesus states: “Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee.” This statement is significant but not as relatable to us today. The use of a trumpet is probably foreign to many of us. Two ways that trumpets are used in this manner. The first is in battle. In old western movies, when the calvary came to the rescue there would a very specific blast of the trumpet that would signal the soldiers to CHARGE! When that was heard, you knew what was about to happen. The other trumpet example is used at the Kentucky Derby and other significant horse races. There is a specific ‘call to post’ ‘song” that is played by the bugler to signify that a horse race as about to begin. Both of these examples were used to notify the surrounding crowd that something significant was about to happen.
Jesus says that we should NEVER draw attention to ourselves in this or any fashion. It should not be our purpose to be seen of men; before or after the acts of rigorousness. We may not blow a trumpet today, but we do have social media. A lot of social media is about drawing attention to oneself. This must be guarded against. Social media can be a powerful tool for good, but it should not be used by a christian for ‘tooting one’s own horn’.
This discussion needs a caveat! It is not wrong for our actions and behaviors to be seen and even praised at times. In fact, Jesus said in the previous chapter:
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Our good works can and sometimes should be seen of men! Good works will be noticed. We should just make sure that God is getting the glory and not us. Getting noticed should NOT be our motive. We need to make sure that we are not emphasizing our role by blowing the trumpet to draw attention ourselves. We need to silence the Trumpets!
Reflecting the SON,
Dennis Hogan
Questions, comments or further explanation? Contact me at: dennis.hogan@icloud.com
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