PLEASING GOD OR MEN?

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. (KJV) Matthew 6:1-4

This is one passage of the bible that really gets me in a bad mood. The phrase "to do alms" is a general phrase meaning any form of givings and offerings. I dare say even tithes. Anyone who excludes tithes from doing alms or charitable giving especially in this era of money based tithing is greedy since that is trying to argue that only church leaders are capable of allocating resources in a way that enhances service to God which is in fact synonymous to service to humanity.

What is my contention today? Christ wants this to be a secret between you and God your Father. However, in many churches today there are envelopes distributed for this purpose where you are required to write your name and- often times- the amount. As far as alms go, members of the body of Christ (represented by the right and left hands in this teaching) are not supposed to know (be they who they may)  anything about each other's giving habits. 

The danger of this is a sin called partiality which is discussed in detail by the saint James in the second chapter of his book. 

"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2 For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4 Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" (KJV) James 2:1-4 

Similarly, Christ in that same passage in Matthew 6, gives us an idea of how we should pray and teaches how we should not. It is crystal clear how God wants us to pray to him. You do not need to to get a revelation to understand what that prayer means because does precisely explain before giving the prayer. Many have tried to break the prayer down to items in order to keep us stuck to their vain repetitions which our good Lord discourages. 

⁵ “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. ⁶ But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. ⁷ And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

⁸ “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. (NKJV) Matthew 6:5-8 

Here Christ makes it clear that God Knows your needs before you ask. What is He trying to avoid by this teaching? I think Christ understands here that prayer can get really selfish. See, when you spend two hours talking about yourself and and maybe your friends, where is God in the equation? God Loves Worship and He needs you to spend as little time as possible talking to him about your selfish interests and spend more time edifying yourself by tapping into the benefits of worship. In many instances Christ is seen worshiping. More than once we are told of what happens in heaven; worship first, worship next and worship finally. Do what God likes to see you do by giving, offertory, tithing, loving, and serving humanity in general.

After his prayer, the Lord adds, ¹⁴ “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (NKJV) Matthew 6:14-15 

This indeed is the purpose of prayer. REPENTANCE is a daily necessity in a Christian's life. A Christian repents when he knows he has offended God and when he does not know if he has done any offence. This way you are in good stead to evade punishment. There is no exemption of punishment for those who do not know for God has given you the power to decipher what is wrong and what is right.

THE SIN OF PARTIALITY AFFECTS MOST OF OUR CHURCHES TODAY WHETHER WE ADMIT IT OR NOT. EVEN GETTING A LEADERSHIP POSITION IN THE CHURCH TODAY DEPENDS ON THE RECORDS OF YOUR GIVINGS. Thus the "SIT THOU HERE IN A GOOD PLACE."

May Christ intercede for us that God may Forgive His Church.