Silence the Trumpets!

 

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

dennis.hogan@icloud.com

Questions, comments or  further explanation?  Contact me at:  dennis.hogan@icloud.com

NOT a Costume Party

 

Christianity is NOT a Costume Party

Matthew 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

One of the favorite holidays of many children is Halloween.  Halloween is special to children (and childish adults) for two reasons:  1) because of the free candy.  I certainly can get on board for that reason.  2) because they get to play make-believe and dress up in a costume like their favorite characters.  When a child puts on a costume, in their minds, they are transformed into that persona.  For instance, when they pretend to be a super hero, they imagine that they can leap tall buildings and run faster than a speeding bullet.  

The fact is, putting on a costume that makes one LOOK like a character does not literally make them that person.  In our text today, Jesus states this same truth as it pertains to our duties as his followers.  There are some, that would attempt to put a on a Christian ‘costume’ to appear to be a follower of Jesus… but it is just pretend.

Jesus uses the scribes and Pharisees as his contemporary example of this.  Jesus has a unique and Deistic ability to know the hearts and minds of people.  He demonstrated this ability several times through out the Gospels.  So Jesus is not making a biased judgment here.  He is not making assumptions.  He is not jumping to conclusions.  Jesus KNOWS these men are pretending to act righteous just as clearly as he can see the clothing that they are wearing.  We can see a clear and detailed assessment of this in Matthew 23.  Here is just a few snippets.

Matthew 23:4-5 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. (5) But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

Matthew 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Matthew 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

Now notice how Jesus concludes this exchange…

Matthew 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

Jesus asks a rhetorical question in conclusion:  How can you escape the damnation of Hell?  Being rhetorical, the answer is obvious…. They can’t in that state.

With that understood, Jesus informs us, that if Our righteousness does not exceed that of these Pharisees, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  To understand this passage more fully, we must understand what righteousness means.

Deuteronomy 6:25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us. 

So righteousness is following the commands, wishes, precepts, and laws of God. It is…Doing right.  In its purest sense, true righteousness is obeying the the Law perfectly.  But here are some additional truths about righteousness.

Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 

Based upon these three passages we must understand these three truths.

1.  No one is able to be righteous on their own

2.  We can be Made Righteous by the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross

3.  Once we are made righteous, we must dedicate ourselves to living righteously

It is a well documented fact that they Pharisees and other Religious leaders of Jesus’ time were hungry for power and were much more concerned with holding on to their power than pleasing God.  But if we put anything in front of God as a priority, Jesus makes it clear that he will consider us the same as these bad examples.

While Jesus understands that we are NOT capable of being righteous on our own, he died so that he could make us to be righteous.  And once we obtain that beautiful privilege, we need to strive to be and demonstrate the righteousness of God.  Anything short of that is just putting on a silly costume.

Reflecting the SON, 

Dennis Hogan

dennis.hogan@icloud.com

Questions, comments or  further explanation?  Contact me at:  dennis.hogan@icloud.com