Chapter 14 - The Hidden Righteousness
Mat 6:1 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.
Mat 6:2 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.
Mat 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
Mat 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Bonhoeffer- 'The disciples are told they can possess the "extraordinary" only so long as they are reflective: they must beware how they use it, and never fulfill it simply for its own sake, or for the sake of ostentation. The better righteousness of the disciples must have a motive which lies beyond itself. Of course it has to be visible, but they must take care that it does not become visible simply for the sake of becoming visible.
Let your light shine before men…'
Mat_5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
'...and yet: Take care that you hide it'!'
Mat 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
'That which is visible must also be hidden. The awareness on which Jesus insists is intended to prevent us from reflecting on our extraordinary position. We have to take heed that we do not take heed of our own righteousness. Otherwise the "extraordinary" which we achieve will not be that which comes from following Christ, but that which springs from our own will and desire.
How is this paradox to be resolved? The first question to ask is: From whom are we to hide the visibility of our discipleship? Certainly not from other men, for we are told to let them see our light. No. We are to hide it from OURSELVES. Our task is simply to keep on following, looking only to our Leader who goes on before, taking no notice of ourselves or of what we are doing. We must be unaware of our own righteousness, and see it only in so far as we look unto Jesus; then it will seem not extraordinary, but quite ordinary and natural. Thus we hide the visible from ourselves in obedience to the word of Jesus. If the "extraordinary" were important for its own sake, we should, like fanatics, be relying on our own fleshly strength and power, whereas the disciple of Jesus acts simply in obedience to his Lord. That is, he regards the "extraordinary" as the natural fruit of obedience. According to the word of Jesus it cannot be otherwise: the Christian is a light unto the world, not because of any quality of his own, but only because he follows Christ and looks solely to him.'
My thoughts-
When we are told this-
Mat 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth
--it can be no clearer, we are not to LET ourselves know!
And as everyone knows, you cannot- not know something you are aware of once you are aware of it, unless you happen to forget it. So being aware of trying to forget something almost cements it more firmly in our memory, rather than expunges it. Purposely striving to forget, purposely striving to not let ONE hand know what the OTHER hand is doing, when both hands are controlled by the same brain seems impossible, so what does Christ mean by all this other than we are NOT to reward ourselves for what we are doing. We are NOT to pat ourselves on the back for what we are doing when we are living the life of a true disciple of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
We like to be rewarded though, don't we? We like it when others notice our "goodness", our "extraordinariness". This is not of Christ though and it MUST be repented of!
Did our Savior make Himself an earthly king taking obeisance from others because of His goodness? No. Our Savior did not heap to Himself gold and precious jewels, He did not deck Himself out with the finest clothes, He did not set up a palace for Himself upon earth and He could have done ALL those things and more.
Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God…
Jesus said those words!
He would was only good always said- there is NONE good but ONE, that is GOD.
We know that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all exist as separate beings though they ALL AGREE as one. When Jesus said that there is NONE good but ONE, that is GOD, He was talking of His Father whom He looked to always for all His strength and guidance. And in essence because He as God the Son agrees fully with His Father He was good too- however- He was NOT there on earth to promote Himself, but to promote His Father's Kingdom. Everything He did was a finger pointing to the FATHER GOD. Jesus prayed to the Father, not to Himself.
He is our GREATEST example. In obedience to HIM we do as He did. He was SELFLESS! He took NO glory upon Himself.
By His GRACE alone may we LIVE as He commands us to live! Through His power alone! All to HIM in everything!
Mat 6:1 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.
Mat 6:2 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.
Mat 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
Mat 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Bonhoeffer- 'The disciples are told they can possess the "extraordinary" only so long as they are reflective: they must beware how they use it, and never fulfill it simply for its own sake, or for the sake of ostentation. The better righteousness of the disciples must have a motive which lies beyond itself. Of course it has to be visible, but they must take care that it does not become visible simply for the sake of becoming visible.
Let your light shine before men…'
Mat_5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
'...and yet: Take care that you hide it'!'
Mat 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
'That which is visible must also be hidden. The awareness on which Jesus insists is intended to prevent us from reflecting on our extraordinary position. We have to take heed that we do not take heed of our own righteousness. Otherwise the "extraordinary" which we achieve will not be that which comes from following Christ, but that which springs from our own will and desire.
How is this paradox to be resolved? The first question to ask is: From whom are we to hide the visibility of our discipleship? Certainly not from other men, for we are told to let them see our light. No. We are to hide it from OURSELVES. Our task is simply to keep on following, looking only to our Leader who goes on before, taking no notice of ourselves or of what we are doing. We must be unaware of our own righteousness, and see it only in so far as we look unto Jesus; then it will seem not extraordinary, but quite ordinary and natural. Thus we hide the visible from ourselves in obedience to the word of Jesus. If the "extraordinary" were important for its own sake, we should, like fanatics, be relying on our own fleshly strength and power, whereas the disciple of Jesus acts simply in obedience to his Lord. That is, he regards the "extraordinary" as the natural fruit of obedience. According to the word of Jesus it cannot be otherwise: the Christian is a light unto the world, not because of any quality of his own, but only because he follows Christ and looks solely to him.'
My thoughts-
When we are told this-
Mat 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth
--it can be no clearer, we are not to LET ourselves know!
And as everyone knows, you cannot- not know something you are aware of once you are aware of it, unless you happen to forget it. So being aware of trying to forget something almost cements it more firmly in our memory, rather than expunges it. Purposely striving to forget, purposely striving to not let ONE hand know what the OTHER hand is doing, when both hands are controlled by the same brain seems impossible, so what does Christ mean by all this other than we are NOT to reward ourselves for what we are doing. We are NOT to pat ourselves on the back for what we are doing when we are living the life of a true disciple of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
We like to be rewarded though, don't we? We like it when others notice our "goodness", our "extraordinariness". This is not of Christ though and it MUST be repented of!
Did our Savior make Himself an earthly king taking obeisance from others because of His goodness? No. Our Savior did not heap to Himself gold and precious jewels, He did not deck Himself out with the finest clothes, He did not set up a palace for Himself upon earth and He could have done ALL those things and more.
Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God…
Jesus said those words!
He would was only good always said- there is NONE good but ONE, that is GOD.
We know that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all exist as separate beings though they ALL AGREE as one. When Jesus said that there is NONE good but ONE, that is GOD, He was talking of His Father whom He looked to always for all His strength and guidance. And in essence because He as God the Son agrees fully with His Father He was good too- however- He was NOT there on earth to promote Himself, but to promote His Father's Kingdom. Everything He did was a finger pointing to the FATHER GOD. Jesus prayed to the Father, not to Himself.
He is our GREATEST example. In obedience to HIM we do as He did. He was SELFLESS! He took NO glory upon Himself.
By His GRACE alone may we LIVE as He commands us to live! Through His power alone! All to HIM in everything!
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