Take heed that ye do not your alms before men,
to be seen oft them: otherwise ye have no
reward of your Father which is in heaven.
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 many have glory of men.
Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left
hand know what thy right hand doeth: that
thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father
which seeth in secret Himself shall
reward thee openly.
Matthew 6:1-4
What is this "alms?" We do not use that word in our modern times, so what is it? Some people use it for tithes, others for works, and they could be included except the Greek word ελεημοσυνην used in the Textus Receptus is derived from the Greek word for compassionate, that which is exercised toward the poor, beneficence, to have mercy, pity, alms equals deeds. In the Critical text this Greek word is used in the above verses is δικαιοσυνην and in a broad sense, means a state of him who is as he ought to be; righteousness, a condition acceptable to God, in other words, the way in which a man may attain a state approved of God. It means integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting a sense of justice or virtue which give each his due. Upon examination of the variants between the Critical Text and the Textus Receptus I find that the Textus Receptus has more authority, more manuscripts than the Critical Text, therefore, I go with the Textus Receptus. What Jesus was saying in the opening verses is not to do your alms, your righteousness so openly as to receive some special benefit, self-acclamation, or to do your deeds so as to get some personal benefit, rather do them quietly, so as not to put yourself in front of Jesus who is the One that will accomplish your work, your alms.
This is a problem in many liberal Christian Churches as they rely on enthusiasm, or euphoric experiences, doing and acting out things that are not wholesome, nor of righteousness, but they who are doing these things believe that they are doing God's work, and so openly so that others will agree, they are spiritual. We must remember that God is drawing His children to Himself, and we must draw close to Him, to have a growing relationship with the One Whom He sent for our salvation, Jesus Christ. When a person comes to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ as his/her Savior then you begin a time of alteration of your disposition, to have a disposition as did Jesus. We further must remember that God does not build upon our capacity for God asks of us to do that which is hard, not natural, but He will fit us to His grace and the cross with all its meaning will come to you along that line always.
Yesterday's blog I wrote about rational, and rationalism. Those two words are in the same family of words but have two separate meanings. I know that some hate to think that a Christian must be rational. so what does rational mean? rational is based on or agreeable to reason, exercising reason so to have rationale then there is a fundamental reason or reasons serving to account for something. a statement of reasons or principles. Therefore a Christian uses rationale, or is to be rational that is based upon the truth of Scripture and not from some words propounded or purported to be truth when in fact it does not have basis in Scripture. To just accept without using or being rational then rationalism comes to play in you life, a life that is on accepting reason as the supreme authority in matters of opinion, belief, or conduct. For the Christian rationalism is to use human reason, unaided by divine revelation as found in the Bible and find that rationalism is the sole guide to all attainable religious truth. I find this to be so with the students that attend the School of the Supernatural where they only become indoctrinated by men who ulterior motives for they teach that which seems rational but is not based on the sole truth of Scripture. Those caught up in this form of religion that is based on some sort of rationalism causes them to do things that Jesus warned us about when doing service to Him. God in heaven sees all things and will reward a person according to what he/she is doing and if it is in accordance to His will.
God has work for you and you will not always know upfront what is that work, but until you study His word, pray, and rest upon Him then you will be led to do His will for you and then you will look back and say: "God was doing all this before I knew it." Do what you know is to be done, that is things such as Sunday School teachers, or young people teachers, to be a deacon, or an elder, or even those things that are need for those in addiction, or other problems where you can be of assistance and bring to them the Gospel. We are not to rest on our "laurels" and say that God will do it, when God wants to use you, so get up, get ready, GO!!!!
Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith,
I said indeed that they house, and the
house of thy father should walk before Me
for ever, but now the LORD saith, Be it
far from Me; for them that honor Me I will
honor, and they that despise Me shall be
lightly esteemed.
1Samuel 2:30
Walk before the Lord: Do alms to Him
Richard L. Crumb
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