Brief Thoughts For Busy Teachers As Taught by T. G. Horton at the Bible Institute. LESSON VI. Sunday, February 6, 1910. Almsgiving and prayer (Matt. 6:1-15). Golden Text—6:1. THEME. Principles for Practice in Eight living. OUTLINE. The Motive in Doing Eight (1:4). The Merit in Prayer (5:8). The Model for Prayer (9:15). OSTENTATIOUS GIVING. There are temptations attacking those who seek to do deeds of kindness. The devil says, "Alms giving is more excellent than offerings," "Equal to the whole l aw ," "Will deliver from the condemnation of hell." The tend- ency is to claim much of merit for doing good deeds. The snare in alms giving is to make a show of it—to sound a trumpet before you. Heading a sub- scription may be a trumpet sound call- ing attention to yourself. Public giv- ing is sometimes necessary and may spring from a loyal heart. Cornelius was a devout man and gave much alms to the people (Acts 10:1-4), and God accepted it as unto Himself and bore testimony to it. " L e t your light so shine that men may sfee your good works" is Scriptural. 1. 2. 3. 15).
Bear in mind that this passage is a section of an address and that all of the parts are related. The King is speaking to his kinsmen, the religious Jews who still maintain the form of godliness and magnified the externals of their religious devotions. The teaching has a world wide application. We are not. free from the errors cited here and can well afford to give earnest heed to these words of wisdom. (1) THE MOTIVE IN DOING- EIGHT. "Take heed that ye do not righteousness to he seen." The word alms in the original means righteousness,, or right acts, kind acts. The law proscribed no rules for the observance of daily duties in the minor matters—such as giving to the needy, helping the distressed. The .Tewish leaders had laid down a good many reg- ulations and the Lord seeks to correct some abuses growing out of them and at the same time to illumine their minds as to the real motive which should characterize true kindness. He takes three religious duties and special- ises them—alms giving, prayer and fasting. Our lesson deals with the first two. THE OBLIGATION TO GIVE. The Lord takes it for granted that they will be kind and generous— "When thou doest alms." There is an inequality in our social condition—al- ways has been, always will be—"For the poor ye have always with you." This is a beneficent arrangement of providence. It is God's provision for the promotion of thq best impulses in men. We need the lesson of depend- ence upon God and we need also the outlet for: tho overflow of love to God which finds a channel in gifts to the needy.: The rich need the poor and the poor need -the rich—in fact we need each other in this world.
The merit in giving is in the motive which prompts it. Righteousness is a condition of heart rather than the exer- cise of a ritual. We must do good without being occupied with it—with- out knowing it. As our shadow falls unseen behind us so should our works of love and mercy be wrought. When we give to be seen of men we have our. reward. The giving which is done un- observed is noticed of God and will bring a rich reward. (2) MEEIT IN PEAYEE. "Thy Father which seeth." Here again all are supposed to pray.. "Wh en thou prayest." Pity the peo- ple who do not pray—but pity more those who make a mockery of such a solemn and holy thing as prayer. Pub- lie prayer is necessary sometimes and should be most helpful to those who are led—but also many pray like the Pharisee who "prayed with himself." Such seek a place of prominence to herald their hypocracy. The pilgrims in Burmah ring a bell to call attention of the gods to their prayers. Some of the elements in true prayer are sincerity. Think of praying to God to be seen of men. The thought itself is incon- gruous—absurd—yet the Lord warns that such a spirit creeps into the heart of one making a public prayer. You read sometimes of eloquent prayer .as if there could be any such thing as elo- quence in man's words in the ears of
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker