Sunday Recap - Here as in Heaven: Matthew 5:1-4 - 23rd March 2025

In the passage Jesus is addressing this issue of heart when it comes to worship. In Jesus time people were approaching giving to the poor as a way to achieve righteousness; Jesus is challenging this thoughts and say that if you give with the wrong motives God will not reward you and as an extension, if we give with the wrong motives then God doesn’t get the glory, we do. Giving to the needy is core to our Christian faith, but it must be done with the right heart; the right heart can only be achieve in surrender to Jesus. When we surrender to Jesus he will begin a work in us that will bring us into alignment with his will.

Matthew 6:1-4 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.