(adapted from Southeast Christian Church’s series: “Living a Life of Integrity”)
SERIES: “WORDS OF WISDOM FOR KINGDOM LIVING”
TEXT: MATTHEW 6:1-4
TITLE: “COVET GOD’S APPROVAL”
INTRODUCTION: A. I read about a person who went to a concert at a beautiful old art-deco theatre. At
the end of the concert, this person noticed two ushers standing near his seat who were
applauding harder than anybody else in the whole place.
The man said that he was thrilled with this particular concert because of the talent
and virtuosity of the musicians. It thrilled him even more to see these two ushers
standing there applauding more vigorously than all of the concert goers. His
experience was somewhat diminished when he heard one usher say to the other,
“Keep clapping. If we can get them to do another encore, we get overtime!”
1. It appeared that these two ushers were serious music lovers
2. It turned out they were only applauding so long and so hard because it would mean
a few more dollars in their pockets.
3. There are people who do good things for the wrong reasons
--It might seem at the outset that they’re trying to do what is right but it ends up that
they only do it for their own benefit.
B. The title of this morning’s message is: “COVET GOD’S APPROVAL”
1. The word “covet” is not used much anymore
a. “Covet” was a term that became associated with evil intent
b. However, in the original languages of the Bible, the Hebrew and Greek terms
that generally get translated “to covet” were neutral
--The rightness or wrong-ness of the action involved in coveting is dependent
on the motivation behind the coveting
2. The word “covet” simply means “a deep and passionate desire”
--what we covet is what we deeply desire; the root motivations of our hearts
C. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus encouraged His disciples to play to an audience of
One - to covet only the approval of the Heavenly Father.
1. He urged them not to be people pleasers seeking to impress others, because a few
will cheer and a few will jeer.
2. If you get your self-worth from the approval of people, you’re mood is going to be
frequently depressed and your performance often erratic.
3. But God is faithful.
a. He is always rooting for you.
b. He wants the best for you and, in the end, it’s only His favor that matters.
4. This is a passage that speaks to those of us who are tempted to be people-pleasers.
--Some of us have such a ravenous hunger for praise that you go to almost
any length to get it.
a. You have a hard time saying “no” to anyone, you want so much to be liked that
it’s almost impossible to overcome peer pressure.
b. You’re always wondering what people will say, what people will think, how
people will respond.
c. When people approve you, you’re up, when someone is upset with you you’re
devastated.
d. Your whole life is viewed as a stage performance seeking the applause and
avoiding the disapproval of the crowd.
e. Even when it comes to spiritual service, instead of seeking God’s approval, you’re
most concerned about what people think.
--Would you pay attention today as we study Jesus’ words from the Sermon on
the Mount that encourage us to seek only God’s approval?
I. JESUS GIVES A WARNING AGAINST SELF-PROMOTION
--Matthew 6:1 – “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do,
you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
A. We all instinctively want to be liked.
1. From the time we’re born we want approval and attention.
a. Little children unashamedly say, “Watch me, Daddy!” “Look at me, Mommy!”
b. Teenagers want more than anything to be popular.
1). They are careful to dress, talk, and act in whatever fashion is acceptable among their peers.
2). Even nonconformity is a way of drawing attention to self.
--Body piercing, tattoos, green hair, and black lipstick are means of saying, “Look at me!”
c. As adults we worry, “What will the neighbors say if we don’t mow our grass?”
2. We care what people think of us and that’s not altogether bad.
a. The Bible says we ought to be sensitive to our witness to others.
b. The problem with people-pleasers is they become overly concerned with what other people think.
B. Jesus’ warning in this passage is not about doing evil but about doing good just to impress people.
1. On the surface this seems to contradict what Jesus said in Mt. 5:16 – “… let your light shine
before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
2. The difference is in motive.
--Are you doing the good deed to exalt Christ or to promote self?
3. It’s the self-centeredness of it all that Jesus warns against.
--Why do we do what we do?
4. John Ortberg facetiously said, “I know I’m supposed to be humble, but what if no one notices?”
a. We want people to notice our goodness.
b. Don’t be so concerned about what people think that you do religious things to impress them.
5. I like Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of this passage in The Message: “Be especially careful when you
are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the
God who made you won’t be applauding. When you do something for someone else, don’t call
attention to yourself.”
C. If you’re tempted to be a people-pleaser let me share four good reasons to quit worrying so much about
what people think of you.
1. People are fickle.
a. They can applaud you one minute and condemn you the next.
b. You can’t please people.
--They’re so inconsistent in both praise and condemnation
2. Most people don’t really care about you anyway.
a. Someone: “If you worry too much about what people think of you, you’d probably be
disappointed to discover how seldom they did.”
--That’s the truth.
b. Why spend so much time worrying about someone else’s opinion when they really don’t notice?
3. The most popular people are those who don’t try to please others.
a. It’s kind of a paradox, the less self-conscious you are, the more likely you are to be liked.
b. The people who try too hard to please are rejected, while the people who don’t seem to care what
others think are the most respected for their courage, uninhibited behavior, and self-confidence.
c. One of the things that made Jesus so attractive to his contemporaries was that He wasn’t very
concerned about the opinions of people.
--One of his detractors admitted this trait to Jesus in Mt. 22:16 – “We know you are a man of
integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by
men, because you pay no attention to who they are”
4. In the end only God’s evaluation matters
a. Jn. 5:30 – Jesus says: “I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”
b. James 4:12 – There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.
c. Paul says in Gal. 1:10 – Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? …If I were still
trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
5. Serena Williams won the Wimbledon Tennis tournament for the first time in 2002. After her
impressive victory, a reporter asked Serena if it bothered her that many of the English fans were
rooting against her. She politely said, “No,” she understood – there had been people rooting against
her all her life. But she still wanted to win for herself. Then she added, “Besides my dad was sitting
in those stands, and I knew he was rooting for me and I wanted to please him.”
II. JESUS GIVES AN EXAMPLE OF A HYPOCRITE WHO SOUGHT TO IMPRESS OTHERS WITH
HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS
--Mt. 6:2-4a – “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward
in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so
that your giving may be in secret.”
A. Jesus calls those who do good things with selfish intentions hypocrites
1. That word comes into our language directly from the New Testament Greek language
2. It means “an actor who wears a mask”
--In the theatre of Jesus’ day, one actor could play several roles on stage. They designated the
changing of the role onstage by wearing different masks.
3. A hypocrite in its simplest sense is someone who pretends to be something that in reality they are not.
-- I read a newspaper piece not long ago about a young dockworker who came into the local
Western Union agent and tried to cash a check made out to Roadway Express, which is a trucking
company based out of Dallas, TX. The manager figured something was up and slyly asked the
young man for his ID. The 18-year-old produced a fairly well-made picture ID and under the name
it said, “Roadway V. Express”.
The manager told the young man to wait there while he went in the back to get the money. When
the manager went into the back of the office, he called the police and they promptly arrested Mr.
Express.
B. Evidently the Pharisees, who craved the praise of men, sometimes made a big show out of what they
gave to the temple treasury.
1. In the Jewish system of worship, they didn’t pass the offering tray and people didn’t give by
anonymous envelopes or folded checks.
2. The treasury boxes were set outside the worship area and people gave their money as they came in
--Mk. 12:41 – “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd
putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.”
3. People still sometimes give to good causes for public approval.
a. Listen to any fund-raising telethon.
--You’ll hear the names of the donors names read out loud: “So and so gave a hundred dollars.”
b. Go to almost any hospital in America and you can read plaques like “This wing donated by so and
so,” and a family is listed who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to that hospital.
c. Our Bible Colleges put names of donors on bricks or, if you give enough money, you can have a
dormitory or library named after you.
--This method is a very successful method of gaining donors and it’s not all wrong.
C. But Jesus raised the bar once again
--He uses a unique phrase that puzzles some people in our age: “But when you give to the needy, do not
let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”
1. Notice Jesus assumes that if we’re subjects to the King of kings and want to live according to his
expectations, we will be “givers”
--He doesn’t say “if you give” but “when you give”
a. Being generous in helping meet the needs of others was a mark of the early church
b. A Greek philosopher named Aristedes from Athens, as early as 125 A.D., presented a defense of
Christians to the Roman emperor Hadrian. He was speaking about normal Christians. He said:
He who has gives to him who has not without grudging. When one of their poor passes away from
the world, and any of them sees him, then he provides for his burial according to his ability. If they
hear that any of their number is imprisoned or oppressed for the name of their Messiah, all of them
provide for his needs, and if it is possible that he may be delivered, they will deliver him. If there is
among them a man that is poor or needy and they have not an abundance of necessities, they fast
two or three days, that they may supply the needy with their necessary food.
2. The phrase “don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” was a reference to your best
friends
--We still refer to someone as our “right-hand man”
a. Jesus isn’t telling us that we shouldn’t keep track of what we give for income tax purposes or that
it’s wrong to give by envelope or check because someone is going to find out, or even to just reach
into your wallet and close your eyes and give whatever bill you pull out.
b. What He is saying is that we should “give and forget”
--Don’t dwell on or gloat over how much we’ve given
c. He also means that we shouldn’t call attention to our giving
--Be satisfied with having no one know what you give but God.
3. You might remember a news story from September of 1997. Ted Turner announced that he was
giving a billion dollars to the United Nations. Although he designated that the money be used to help
the extremely poor with food, clothing, and shelter, he made sure his huge donation was seen by
everybody.
Before he made the gift, he notified talk-show host Larry King so he could start circulating the news.
And then, Turner made his announcement in a New York ballroom filled with tuxedos, evening gowns,
reporters and cameras.
a. He has his reward—the approval of men.
b. The Message: “They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t
think about how it looks. Just do it – quietly and unobtrusively.”
III. JESUS GIVES A MOTIVATION FOR SEEKING GOD’S APPROVAL
--Mt. 6:4b – “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
A. Some people downplay this truth, but there is a legitimate reward motive in the Christian life.
-- There’s a television ad during football games that features an athlete running up the steps of an empty
stadium. No one is watching, but he’s really sweating and grinding it out in discipline.
--The ad points out that he’s going through all that hard work so that he can receive the reward of
winning on the weekend.
1. God asks us to discipline our lives, to deny self and take up the cross so that we can win the victory
of eternal life.
--He promises that, while we’re saved by grace and not works, we are going to be rewarded for our
works.
2. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve downplayed the reward factor in the past and I still don’t know how
it’s all going to work out
a. My personal belief is that the real reward is spending eternity with God
b. Even though the Bible promises “stars” in our crowns in heaven, it also tells us that in the presence
of the King of kings and Lord of lords we’ll cast our crowns into the glassy sea described in the
book of Revelation.
c. However, there is no doubt that Jesus taught about rewards to come
--That concept can certainly change your attitude about what you are doing today.
1). Tim Keller imagines two guys in a room who are given an assignment of folding papers for 12
hours straight. The first guy quits after three hours. He says, “I can’t stand this. This is driving
me crazy!” But the second guy is delighted. He keeps working saying, “This is the greatest
day of my life! This is a joy!” He folds paper for 12 hours straight.
What’s the difference? The first guy is working for minimum wage. The second guy is
promised a million dollars if he stays. A reward is a big motivator to attitude and faithfulness.
2). Liz Curtis Higgs, world-renowned women’s Christian motivational speaker, is a rather large
lady. In fact, I had a good friend of mine describe her as having a great speaking voice but that
she looked like Karl Malden in a dress!
Higgs says she looks forward to being a size six in heaven since that’s the perfect size.
She’s larger than that on earth but since the Bible says, “The last shall be first and the first last,”
she’ll be a size six. Then she says, “You petite women on earth will be larger because you’ve
already received your reward here!”
3. Listen to these verses that promise a reward commensurate with our faithfulness on Earth.
a. Mt. 16:27 – “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and
then he will reward each person according to what he has done.”
b. Mt. 19:29-30 – “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or
children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.
But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”
c. Eph. 6:8 - …because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does.
d. 1 Cor. 3:12-15 - If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay
or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be
revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built
survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved,
but only as one escaping through the flames.”
B. Understand that the reward the Heavenly Father promises is not just eternal, it’s immediate.
1. If you support this church with your money and service, when you see lost people saved, children
taught the Word of God, hurting people comforted, and homes united, there should be a sense of
satisfaction within.
a. You ought to feel good that you’ve had a part in seeing people ministered to and God being
honored.
b. You ought to say to yourself, “I’ve helped make that happen.”
--That in itself is a great reward.
c. Watchman Nee: “I have never met a soul who has set out to satisfy the Lord and has not been
satisfied himself.”
2. But the glory is we get all that and heaven too.
CONCLUSION: A. Bob Russel, several years ago, told about his grandson Charlie who was going to be
playing football. Charlie was eight years old and was a little chunkier and little slower
than most of the boys his age.
On the way to the first football practice, Charlie’s dad told him, “Now Charlie, the
coach is liable to want you to be a lineman.” The truth is: no eight year old boy wants to
be a lineman. They all want to be a quarterback, running back or receiver – that’s where
the glory is. It’s not in being a lineman.
Charlie’s dad, Rusty, continued: “Now the linemen are really important because they
block for the other players. The lineman don’t get to carry the ball or throw passes, but if
the lineman do their job, the guys carrying the ball can make touchdowns—otherwise
they can’t.”
Sure enough, 30 minutes into the first practice, the coach started to place his team. He
said, “Charlie, I want you to be lineman. You’ll be the right guard.” Charlie got down
in a three point stance and looked over to his dad with a big smile and went [thumbs up!].
--He was thrilled!
1. Maybe your Heavenly Father designed you to play a role that doesn’t get much
applause.
2. If you have a behind-the-scenes assignment where you’re blocking for others and not
getting much glory, can you still be content?
B. Along with watching out for being a people-pleaser, we also have to guard against being
a self-pleaser.
1. Sometimes we preserve our anonymity while quietly congratulating ourselves.
a. Not only are we to avoid giving for the praise of others, we are also to make sure we
don’t give simply so we can privately praise ourselves.
b. It’s possible to take deliberate steps to keep our giving a secret all the while gloating
over our self-satisfied generosity.
2. Our motive must be to covet God’s approval.
C. We come now to our invitation time
--There is something that has prevented some of you from accepting Jesus as your
Lord and Savior : you’re concerned with what people will think
1. If I walk forward, people who know me may think, “They don’t have any business
doing that” or “I thought they were already a Christian” or “I thought they were
already a member here.”
2. Maybe you’re concerned about the people at work or your family, friends, and
acquaintances: “They might make fun of me or lose respect for me
3. Maybe today’s the day you need to quit being a people-pleaser. Swallow your pride,
humble yourself before God, and make a courageous decision for Christ.
--He’s the only one who matters in the end. Seek His approval today.
