[Pastor Ralph]

Q1. (Matthew 6:1-18) How do the commands in this section relate to "performing for the audience of One"? What is the antidote for the chief sin that is addressed here? In what ways do churches and non-profit organizations use this sin to motivate people to give?

[JanMary]

Q1. (Matthew 6:1-18) How do the commands in this section relate to "performing for the audience of One"? What is the antidote for the chief sin that is addressed here? In what ways do churches and non-profit organizations use this sin to motivate people to give?

I hope it's OK to work ahead...we're going to be gone for 2 weeks to stay with family who are involved in a cult in another state....Please pray if you think about me...the oppression gets very heavy, and we long for opportunities to share our loving Lord with them.

l) Each one tells us not to do our good deeds to be seen by others. Doing our giving in secret is doing it for an audience of One...our Lord.

2) The chief sin is pride...wanting to have the approval or admiration of others. The antidote is to spend more time with the Father, so that the "Hole in our soul" which craves being noticed, is filled by our Father's love....then our giving can be done in humility.

3)They wave "Being seen" like a flag, to stir up the prideful desire to be noticed....then promise the gift will be noted publicly for all to see on a plaque or other remembrance....the larger the gift, the more visible the memento, or "Memorial to Self/Pride."

Just a personal note. Our giving was done in pride as new believers....then a recession hit Calif. and we went through catastrophic losses, of business, home, car. My husband went blind from cataracts, and while we had insurance, we never needed it, then when we no longer could pay for it, we soon had all kinds of health needs....we learned that the Lord is the Great Physician and healer.

Suddenly, we were thrust into a realm where every need had to be met by others as the Lord led them to give. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart that we were not to ask for help. This was a very humbling and blessed, very long period of time, where we learned to receive, and the pride of not being able to provide for ourselves, had to die as well. I discovered it's just as difficult to be a humble and gracious receiver, as it is to be a humble, gracious giver. Having gone through the mortification of homelessness, (though we were spared from living on the streets, by Christians, inviting us to live in their homes), we learned that our Father is truly our provider...no matter how or who He asks to make the provision. We never went without any need being met, and were abundantly provided for.He has promised that He is going to provide so abundantly, that we will be able to help many people....but our giving will be done so that only He sees, and out of gratitude for all that He does for us. All of it is His, and we are only stewards of what He allows us to have and use.

Were we judged? yes, by some. Were we pitied? yes, by some...that's different than compassion and created more emotional pain. But by and large, we were loved and embraced by the loving and caring people around us. We praise Him for His goodness to us in all things, even the difficult trials, and those situations which develop His character in us. I'm writing a book about all of the miracles He has done in our lives to bring Him the Glory for His faithfulness and generosity to us.

[Tabatha]

Q1. (Matthew 6:1-18) How do the commands in this section relate to "performing for the audience of One"? What is the antidote for the chief sin that is addressed here? In what ways do churches and non-profit organizations use this sin to motivate people to give?

It's easier to do what's right when we gain recognition and praise . To be sure our motives are not selfish, we should do our good deeds quietly or in secret , with no thought of reward . Jesus says we should check our motives in three areas : generosity ( 6:4). prayer (6:6 ). and fasting ( 6: 18 ). Those acts should not be self centered, but God centered, done not to make us look good but to make God look good. The reward God promises is not material and it is never given to those who seek it. Doing something only for ourselves is not a loving sacrefice. With your next good deed , ask " Would I still do this if no one would ever know I Did it?"

Some people, especially the religious leaders , wanted to be seen as, "Holy. " I had went to a conference once and I was so disgusted when one of the well known speakers who knew there was a need in a certain ministery stood up and began revealing this to the people. I looked at this person who had the need and they were so embarassed. The wife quietly got up and left. The speaker asked people to come forward and lay money on the steps of the platform and in doing so God would triple their finances that month.(So much pride). Another time a Pastor told the people to tithe 90% of their check and God would double the amount of their income that month. Many people went with out and bills were not paid and they scrimped through with their families. If God calls us to do this I am all for it. In my Spirit I felt uncomfortable. I felt it was for show and it was a big sham. Mentioning the need was not a problem, I felt the speaker should have simply told the people to just slip a blessing in a Holy handshake where everyone did not see. God would see. and the giver would be blessed in God's way for what ever their need might be. I have had people put an offering in the plate for my ministery with no name but designed to give to me. I would never know who it was, but God knew.
This was given for an "audience of one. "

[Stan]

Q1. (Matthew 6:1-18) How do the commands in this section relate to "performing for the audience of One"? What is the antidote for the chief sin that is addressed here? In what ways do churches and non-profit organizations use this sin to motivate people to give?

They tell us that we should do allwe do to be seen of God, and no one else in our giving and helping others we should always first to it to the Lord and not to the praise of men. Loving our neighbor as ourself and Loving God formost and above all things. They preach giving for the glory you get from men, being like the man next door allowing everyone to know what you give so that you can recieve their praise and not doing it totally for the glory of God.

[charisbarak]

We give & pray to God, our Father in secret. What we do is for God's glory, not ours.
Secret time with God to heal our hearts & to love us intensely.
Other churches/organizations use pride to get them to give, because they know people would like to receive something back that states to everyone, that they gave & gave big time.

[Roxanne]

Q1. (Matthew 6:1-18) How do the commands in this section relate to "performing for the audience of One"? What is the antidote for the chief sin that is addressed here? In what ways do churches and non-profit organizations use this sin to motivate people to give?

WE GO TO THE LORD IN THE PRAYER CLOSET ..WHERE NOBODY SEES BUT GOD! THAT PEOPLE RAY AND DO THINGS OUT IN THE OPEN....THEY MAKE YOU GO UP FRONT SO PEOPLE CAN SEE WHAT YOU GIVE

[jjj]

How wondereful this concept of An Audience of One. To eliminate being a people pleaser, how we are perceived by thos around us. To be able to do what we do in truth for the right reason. Pride is about us in the spotlight. The Glory of God constantly loving us in grace and wanting the highest we can be as our only audience. Inspiring. Liberating. Challenging.
With guilt at being seen stingey or not generous puts giving right into the wrong motivational column. How simple to give when prompted to God's Glory with only Him aware. Food for thought.

[Soomee]

a) The world teaches us that we need to be a man-pleaser. But according to God, our primary focus should be "what would God think of us". In this context I always remember Isa 2:22 "Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostril. Of what account is he?" or another translation put it as "Put no more confidence in mortals. What are they worth?". If we adopt this as our motto in life then our sole concern will be to "perform for the audience of one".

seeking Pride - the desire to get a good name amoung others.

c) The worldly organisations circulate a list where you write your name and your pledge (how much you are giving for the charity). This way the people are forced to give (in a suttle way) a substantial amount because everyone will know how much you are giving. I see the same practice infiltrates into the church too. This is totally wrong.

This post has been edited by Soomee: 25 February 2008 - 08:04 AM

[s8nfighter]

Q1. (Matthew 6:1-18) How do the commands in this section relate to "performing for the audience of One"? What is the antidote for the chief sin that is addressed here? In what ways do churches and non-profit organizations use this sin to motivate people to give?

In Luke 17 Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when they might see the kingdom of God. His response may have shocked the Pharisees for he said, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21 nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."(NIV)

When we realize this simple fact, that the kingdom of God is within each and everyone of us; we will no longer need to seek the kingdom of God nor try to draw attention from the kingdom of God by our actions. We will then be much more able to serve the rest of the kingdom of God outside ourselves.

There are some churches and non-profit organizations which use visability as a tool to draw money, so much so that most of the money they bring in is spent to remain visable therefore negating any good works they may do. We all want to be part of something big and good. I don't think that is a sin, but we go about it the wrong way. An avalanche starts out with one quiet snowflake moving forward bumping into the next. These organizations are an avalanche in reverse. They start out with a lot of movement and fizzle. You want to be part of something big and good, be that first snowflake and bump into your neighbor.

Darrell

[Lion of Grace]

The commands here relate to performing for the audience of one in that our hearts need to be right before God in anything we do. I don't think Jesus was saying here to never pray in public or give money if you can be seen or anything that seems as though we "may" be in a public eye. If that was the case, nothing would ever be done. No mission work or leading in the church or prayer groups or teching Bible Studies etc. All these are good things to be done in the name of God. The thought behind the sin of pride in this passage was that anything would be done for personal gain. For any reason that an unholy attitude would be its basis. I'm brought to mind of Jesus in the temple and how angry He was. Enough to overturn tables etc. His anger wasn't at the activity in the Temple itself but that extortion was taking place and the poor were being taken advantage of and even denied what they desired to do in their hearts for lack of money.
God sees into our hearts and I try to examine my motives behind each activity. I'm not afraid to pray in public or teach or sing but my attitude has to be right. I'm not rich but I've had opportunity to give money publically and I'll do that also but with prayer and prompting from the Holy Spirit. If I can do so in private I try to do that.
Church and ministries use the sin of pride to motivate people to give by reward. It is an epidemic in churches to give special favors or recognition or position for those who can give more or look better. Sometimes even for those who seem more knowledgeable or are better educated. God doesn't work like that though. That is wordly standard. He's famous for bringing forth HIS glory in the least likely or with the smallest giving and He tells us to pray unceasingly so I would HOPE we would be out of our rooms at some time while we are praying or giving in any manner, giving is not just with money! We have gifts to use and some are more public than others. The thought behind it is who God desires to be there though and not who man desires or who earns it.
It's a matter of the heart.

[Cee]

Q1. (Matthew 6:1-18) How do the commands in this section relate to "performing for the audience of One"? What is the antidote for the chief sin that is addressed here? In what ways do churches and non-profit organizations use this sin to motivate people to give?

Some people do their performing in front of people to try and get their approval, not looking to see what Jesus said in Matthew 6:1-4. Trying to be honmored by men instead of God. They forget the 10 commandments that say "There shalt have no other god." By preaching lies about "Can a man rob God? This text from Malachi has been misqouted for years. It's a lie fro the father of lies Satan.

[Lisa Rupert]

Q1. (Matthew 6:1-18) How do the commands in this section relate to "performing for the audience of One"?
The "Audience of One" is to make God the chief audience of our giving, of our love towards one another, without selfishness, without pride, without the desire to receive a single acknowledgement from man, but being humble in all we do through the goodness of Christ. That God is the primary beneficiary in all we do for Him and for His Glory.

What is the antidote for the chief sin that is addressed here?
The antidote for this sin is to Love each other like God love us, with all our hearts and with all of our soul. We are to give like we are giving through him and for him, we are to do all we do through goodness as our Father gives us out of his love for us so we too should give the same way that he gives. We are to give out of love not out of desire for our own gratification. But as God love his children we should mimic this love for each other.

In what ways do churches and non-profit organizations use this sin to motivate people to give? Churches and non-profit organizations do use this type of sin to motivate people and they make you believe that by being seen giving a donation you are showing others that you believe in God and know that he will bless you for this by being open with your donation. They also use this type of sin to lift people into positions in the church. When you give you buy yourself a place in the house of God, like God would even condune such behavior. You don't want to look like you're not doing your part so you play along with the donation process. People even believe that by giving donations above and beyond in the church that God sees their dedication to Him and his house, but that is not what God is looking at, he is looking at the heart of the giver and many people just don't get that because we live in a world that believes that the more you have, the more you have to give, the better status you can have in life and it's not about this at all. Remember the parable Jesus told about Lazarus and the poor man, where the rich man was in torment and the poor man was in the bosum of Abraham.

[Elwood C O'Dell]

What we do and how we do it should be to bring honor and glory to God alone, not for some kind of public recognition or approval on our part. The sad part is how often organizations such as the church use pride as an incentive in order to get people to give to a certain cause.

[love.serve.know]

When we give the way God commands and serve the way He commands, humility will be the driving force behind our actions. Our goal is to submit to God and drive the sin of pride far from us. Churches and non-profits often honor those who give (which feeds their pride)

[Patricia A]

Q1. (Matthew 6:1-18) How do the commands in this section relate to "performing for the audience of One"?
We need to pray often and ask God to take away our pride and to remember anything we have is because of His grace. We must strive not to give and to perform to receive glory from men but rather because we want to glorify our Father in heaven.


What is the antidote for the chief sin that is addressed here?
We must remember that without God's grace we would have nothing and thus we must be humble.


In what ways do churches and non-profit organizations use this sin to motivate people to give?
Often organization motivate people to give by giving them recognition for their gifts and thus magnify their sense of pride. The gift is then given for recogntion rather than to glorify the Lord.

[Dar]

Q1. (Matthew 6:1-18) How do the commands in this section relate to "performing for the audience of One"?
Performing, I do not like this word as stated here, because it sounds too much like "hypocrisy," meaning, actor, pretender, performer. If we are living a life of hypocrisy, than we will want to have the reward of men.

Our private times with God are those wonderful times of intimacy with the Almighty and with our Savior,who has made it all possible; When we give our alms, do it onto the Lord God, let it come from our hearts desire, to please Him.

What is the antidote for the chief sin that is addressed here?
Honesty, humility, are good antidotes for the chief sin, pleasing the desires of the flesh, "pride in oneself"

In what ways do churches and non-profit organizations use this sin to motivate people to give?

A church or non-profit organization that would motivate a person by feeding into the desires of the flesh so that man could feel good about themselves, grow in pride of self, be content "in" oneself, because the alms they are giving are given to God. This is a great "sin" and I would not want to be in their shoes.
Even if our intentions are good, but our reason for doing the deed is to please people, our reward will be the praise of men. I have set my heart on pleasing God, and in so doing, I have received my reward already.

[June]

We should be doing everything as unto God. He is our audience, not man. Let all we do and say be pleasing to God.
Chief sin is pride- so give willingly with love in your heart.
So & so gave X amount and challenge you to give same or above. Selling raffle tickets to gain something, which is gambling and a sin. They sometimes sugar coat the outcome.

[JustJeff]

This section is about pride. Holier than thou members of the church who feel by their wealth and /or status they are better than everyone else and therefore, in God's eye before everyone else. They are more interested in everyone else noticing them than the Lord.
Greedy Christian organizations turn this into competition between their members in order to raise money. It only serves to humiliate those who have little to give, causing those to flee.

[Don W]

These commands relate to “performing for the audience of One” because they tell us that our Lord Jesus should be the only One who knows what we are doing and why (or motivation) we are doing them; and if we let others know as well through our pride and self-glory and to receive men’s applause instead of Christ’s approval, then we are performing these things in the wrong way and for the wrong reason(s). As said above, the best antidote for the chief sin of pride addressed here is to get alone with God our heavenly Father and seek His face and His Word to us; and then He will give us much more then we ask of all His blessings from heaven above and help us to, in turn, let our lights shine with His tremendous love and grace on others we meet along this road of life. I also get very appalled at how some churches motivate people to give to them in displaying men and women’s “tremendous gifts” before the congregation instead of secretly giving our gifts (and ourselves) to the Lord for only He to know what we are doing. I even question-giving checks of my money in front of the church deacons for tax write-offs because then not only does the church deacons know how much I have given but also the government knows as well. Once in awhile when I don’t have enough cash with me to give at church, then I’ll have to write a check for the amount, but I keep that at a minimum mainly because of this passage in Matthew 6. Besides this, I don’t think that it’s really anybody else’s business to know what I give to the Lord besides His; and I think that there’s another verse in the Bible that speaks of not letting the left hand know what the right one is doing which goes along with this. We Christians need to give joyously and happily to the Lord but in secret also and then He will be with us in our lives helping us to live our lives of faith in Him, including our giving of ourselves and our money and gifts to Him. Amen!

[emmaus]

When we give, help or pray we are to do it so the Lord will see it, not to impress others. The antidote for pride is to spend time alone with the Lord. When people are urged to donate to receive a plaque in their honor or for people to recognize them is encouraging pride.