To be Seen by Men, Part 1, Charitable Deeds

Having completed our Lord's, "You have heard it said...but I say to you," declarations, where He had addressed the specific erroneous teachings of the religious leaders, and having pulled out the general principle found therein, we now move into a new section of the sermon, where our Lord addresses the specific ungodly actions of the religious leaders. And here again, we will find Him utilizing a handful of examples to help bring out one critical, general principle. For this morning, we will seek to extract the general principle (which will continue to be reiterated in the weeks to come), as we seek to open up the first portion of this section of our Lord's sermon.

In these three actions together; charitable deeds, praying, and fasting, we can note a handful of connective elements that our Lord would use, to bring out a general principle, related to the Christian's active life.

1. All three of these examples involve acts of worship.

2. All three of these examples are used to expose a hypocritical form of worship.

3. All three of these examples involve the receiving of rewards.

4. All three of these examples convey a singular, general principle, which ought to govern the worship of God's true people.