ALMSGIVING
‘Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them … thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.’
In this part of the Sermon on the Mount the Lord Jesus gives us instruction on the giving of alms, a subject to which the Jews attached great importance. It is also one which deserves the serious attention of all professing Christians.
I. The duty of almsgiving.—Our Lord takes it for granted that all who call themselves His disciples will give alms. He assumes as a matter of course that they will think it a solemn duty to give, according to their means, to relieve the wants of others; the only point He handles is the manner in which the duty should be done. This is a weighty lesson: it condemns the selfish stinginess of many in the matter of giving money. A giving Saviour should have giving disciples.
II. Rules for almsgiving.—What are the rules laid down for our guidance about almsgiving? They are few and simple; but they contain much matter for thought.
(a) Everything like ostentation is to be abhorred and avoided. We are not to give as if we wished everybody to see how liberal and charitable we are, and desire the praise of our fellow-men. We are to shun everything like display; we are to give quietly, and make as little noise as possible about our charities; we are to aim at the spirit of the proverbial saying, ‘Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.’
(b) Remember that we have to do with a heart-searching and all-knowing God. ‘Our Father seeth in secret.’ He takes no account of the quantity of money we give; the one thing at which His all-seeing eye looks is the nature of our motives and the state of our hearts.
III. Are we sincere?—Here lies a rock, on which many are continually making spiritual shipwreck. God’s favour is not to be bought, as many seem to suppose by the self-righteous payment of a sum of money to a charitable institution. Where are our hearts? Are we doing all, ‘as to the Lord and not to men’? Are we sincere?
—Bishop J. C. Ryle.
Illustration
‘It was the custom for great personages—princes and governors and such like—when making high procession through some favoured province, to sound a trumpet before them, and scatter largess of gold and silver, whereby they gained the good will of the poor. Our Lord likens the almsgiving of the Pharisees to this kind of lordly display of munificence. Their alms were never distributed without their taking good care, one way or other, to let the good deed be known, so that they might get honour among men. The guilt of this conduct lay entirely in the spirit which actuated them. Jesus detected that spirit. It was not the publicity of their conduct in itself which He blamed, but the ungodly motive which led to that publicity; and it is necessary to bear that in mind, lest we may get in the way of judging others, and judging them unjustly, by the mere external appearance. The really compassionate and liberal man is often put into the front, and obtains a prominence from which he would otherwise gladly shrink; and he gets this position, not with the view of exalting him, but in order that his example may stimulate and encourage others. The difficulty is to reconcile these two things: to avoid all ostentation, and yet at the same time to get all the advantage of generous Christian example.’