Why Do You Give? Living for God's Approval, Not Man's Applause

Let me start with a confession that hits close to home in our family. Heidi and I are different by design — and better together — but our spending philosophy is very distinct. I figure the streets of heaven are paved with gold, so I’m a little loose with my money. Heidi is a very, very good steward. And every so often that puts a little tension in our marriage. Just sometimes. Take the grocery store. Instead of buying Oreos — which we all know are delicious and something most of us can’t afford — my wife, being a good steward, buys Oreos. Fake Oreos. Because who would have the audacity to pay full price? Amen from the front row. And here’s the thing: on the outside they look almost identical — same cookie, same cream in the middle. You could lay them on a tray and never tell them apart. But the moment you taste it, you know. I’m Pastor James Drake, and that fake-Oreo moment is exactly what Jesus is getting at in Matthew 6:1-4. The way you give, pray, and serve can look the same on the outside — but what matters most is what’s on the inside.

So let me ask you the question Jesus is always pressing in the Sermon on the Mount. Why do you do the good things you do? Why do you give? Why do you serve? Why do you sacrifice? If we’re honest, some of us give because we’ve spent so much on ourselves we feel guilty, and giving makes us feel justified. Some of us serve because being busy keeps us from dealing with the brokenness on the inside. And some of us sacrifice because it feels good to be needed instead of alone. Jesus isn’t calling those things evil — He knows we’re human. But He wants to help us do the right things for the right reasons, because so often we can do the right thing the wrong way and miss the very heart of God.

Beware — Why Jesus Warns Us Before He Teaches Us

Our text opens with a single, jarring word: “Beware.” Think about why you say that word to your kids. You say it because there’s danger. Jesus is starting this teaching with a warning light flashing — be careful here, it’s not safe. He says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.” And before you write that off as somebody else’s problem, let me press in a little. When the offering plate goes around, do you ever pull the money out so the person next to you can see what you gave? When you’re asked to pray, do you reach for the holy voice — “Thou, our most heavenly Father and great benevolent dictator of the universe, hear our prayer”? When you’re out serving, do you pull out the phone for the selfie — out here saving the world, in Jesus’ name, amen? I’ve never done that. I’m just saying. Theoretically.

You see, the issue was never the gift itself. Giving, praying, and serving are good things. The danger is the little nudge in the heart that wants to be seen, acknowledged, valued, thanked. Jesus asks, where is that nudge coming from? This passage isn’t about a transaction between you and God when the plate goes by. It’s about a work He wants to do inside of you and through you. And the whole Sermon on the Mount is doing this on purpose. Just when you think if I try a little harder, I’ll be okay with God, Jesus raises the bar so high that none of us can clear it — so He can make our greatest need abundantly clear. Our greatest need is not to do more and try harder; it’s for a Savior. That’s exactly why He came: not as a life coach to help us live our best life now, but to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, to save us and to sustain us.

When You Give, Not If You Give — A Heart That Trusts

Look at verse 2. Jesus says, “when you give,” not if. He was speaking to people for whom giving was a normal part of life. In His day most everyone tithed — tithe simply means tenth — giving to support the temple, the celebration, and the poor as their hearts moved them. And here’s what’s easy to miss: these weren’t wealthy people. Most of us today live better than any king from antiquity. They were just trying to get by, dependent on the Lord. So their giving was sacrificial. It was an act of trust.

And the Bible keeps pressing them — and us — to give from the first fruits. In an agricultural society it would have been a lot wiser to wait and give whatever was left at the end of the harvest. But God says, no, trust me. Give first, before you know if it’s a rainy season or a drought, and see what I’ll do (Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Proverbs 3:9-10). Their trust couldn’t rest in their own work — it had to rest in the Lord and what He could do.

So what does biblical giving look like for us today? Four things. It’s responsive — we don’t give to earn God’s love; we give because we already have it. It’s thoughtful — we give intentionally, not under compulsion. It’s sacrificial — 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 describes believers giving cheerfully, trusting God to supply rather than holding back out of fear. And it’s God-centered — whatever we do, it’s for His glory, not ours.

The Reward Isn’t More Stuff — It’s the Giver Himself

Now read on into verses 3 and 4, and Jesus does something that makes some of us bristle. He talks about rewards — the third time in this passage. You might think, I don’t want to give to get something; it just doesn’t feel right. Some people, on the other hand, promote it like crazy. You’ve flipped past it on TV — give now while you can, the Lord’s going to bless you, call in and we’ll send you this and that. And your gut tells you something’s off. It is. It’s a Ponzi scheme dressed up in Scripture, where the man at the top wins and everybody else loses. It turns giving into a transaction — giving to get a payout for yourself instead of giving for the glory of God. That’s not what this is.

So why does Jesus say there are rewards? Because in His kingdom, the problem with your desires isn’t that they’re too big — it’s that they’re too small. You’re living for the here and now when He has eternity in store. Once you grasp that everything you have is a gift you’re simply managing, you’re suddenly free to invest the Lord’s resources in a way that brings you joy and honors Him.

Let me tell you what that freedom looked like for our family. There was a season when Heidi and I felt compelled to give away a car — not an extra car, the car, the one we drove every day. There was a young man, married, around twenty-three, who didn’t know how to drive. We took him to the DMV, helped him learn, and he got his license. And then, in my heart, I knew God was saying, give this man your car. So we did. And as he drove off, Heidi and I looked at each other like, oh, now what? It stung a little, I won’t lie. But that same night I got a call from a friend in Birmingham who runs a construction company. “Hey, James, Jesus put y’all on my heart tonight. You got any needs?” I said, “Funny you should ask — we just gave away our car.” He said, “Well, another one’s on the way, big boy.” The next week, the Lord provided another car for our family. He’s good. He’s good, and He provides.

Now don’t hear me saying give and you’ll get. That’s the very lie I just warned you about. What I’m saying is that Jesus sees what happens in the secret place, and the one who is faithful with little will be entrusted with much. When you stop handing God the leftovers and start handing Him your best — Lord, it’s all yours, use me however you want — something breaks loose, and you’re no longer in bondage to your stuff. There’s a real battle in Scripture between God and money, because money so easily becomes an idol; we look to it for our comfort, our security, our identity. Only the Lord can give us those things. Generosity loosens money’s grip, one open hand at a time.

Secret Giving — Whose Approval Are You Living For?

So when Jesus tells us to give “in secret,” He isn’t saying every gift must be hidden. If that were the rule, He wouldn’t have honored the woman who gave all she had right out in the open. He’s going after the heart behind the gift. It’s like CC-ing your boss on an email he doesn’t really need to see — you just want him to notice what you’re up to. Jesus says if applause from people is the audience you’re playing to, go ahead and enjoy it, because that’s your whole reward. But there is something so much bigger and better: your Heavenly Father’s approval. He sees what no one else sees, and He is the audience worth living for.

And this is where the cross changes everything. We don’t give to earn our righteousness — Jesus already stood in our place. We don’t give to earn God’s love — He has already said, I love you. We give because He gave us everything first. Jesus knows exactly what it is to give sacrificially and go unacknowledged, to pour Himself out with no applause. So as we learn to lay our lives down the way He laid His down, His light and His life begin to shine in and through us. It’s not about what we do; it’s all about whose we are.

How to Pass This On — Teaching the Next Generation to Give

This week I called a few friends who are wildly successful and wildly generous — families I’ve watched stay blessed generation after generation — and asked one question: what do you teach your kids about giving? Here’s what they told me, and I’d love for us to start living it ourselves.

• Start small, but give often. Even when you don’t have much, give regularly in small ways, trusting that what God gives is meant to flow through us, not be hoarded. Blessings are meant to move.
• Give from gratitude. We give because we’ve already received far more than we could ever give back. No material gift compares to salvation in Christ.
• Begin with the first ten percent. Teach kids to give the first tenth back to God — not the leftovers. It shows them early that giving is part of who we are, not what we do after we’ve spent.
• Make it about identity. When children see that our worth is tied to Christ alone, not possessions, generosity becomes a visible declaration of the gospel. We don’t teach our kids to give so God will love them. We teach them to give because He already does.

If you want to keep walking out this grace-shaped life with us, read our reflection on anxiety and trusting your Father — because the same Father who feeds the birds is the one who frees your hands to give. For a deeper look at growing a generous heart, The Gospel Coalition has helpful, practical rhythms here.

Common Questions About Biblical Giving

What does Jesus say about giving in Matthew 6:1-4? Jesus warns us to “beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.” He is not against giving — He says “when you give,” not “if you give.” His concern is the heart behind it. He calls us to give so quietly that “your left hand” does not know “what your right hand is doing,” seeking our Father’s approval rather than other people’s applause.

Is Jesus saying all giving has to be private? No. Jesus once honored a widow who gave publicly at the temple. When He says give “in secret,” He is going after the heart behind the gift, not the visibility of it. The real question is your audience: are you giving to be seen and thanked by people, or to honor your Heavenly Father, who already sees what is done in secret?

What does biblical giving look like? It is responsive, thoughtful, sacrificial, and God-centered. We don’t give to earn God’s love — we give because we already have it. We give intentionally, not under compulsion. We give sacrificially, trusting God to provide. And we give for His glory, not our own.

Why does the Bible tell us to give from the “first fruits”? It would have been wiser, in an agricultural world, to give whatever was left at the end of the harvest. But God asks for the first fruits because giving first — before you know whether it will be a season of rain or drought — is an act of trust. It puts your confidence in the Lord who provides rather than in your own savings.

Doesn’t talking about rewards turn giving into a transaction? Jesus mentions rewards three times, but He is not preaching a “give to get” gospel — that is the prosperity scheme where the man at the top wins and everyone else loses. God’s reward is not mainly more stuff; His greatest reward is Himself. As John 17:3 says, eternal life is to know God. The real reward of generosity is freedom from the grip of money and a deeper relationship with the Father.

How does the gospel change why I give? The cross is the reason we can give freely. We don’t give to earn our righteousness — Jesus already stood in our place. We don’t give to earn God’s love — He has already said, “I love you.” We give because He gave us everything first, and as we lay our lives down the way He did, His light and life begin to shine through us.

Questions for Reflection

• Why do you do the good things you do — are you living for God’s approval or man’s applause?
• Where do you tend to look for comfort, security, or identity that only God can truly provide?
• What would change in your giving if you really believed your Father sees everything you do in secret?
• Are you handing God your first fruits or your leftovers — and what is that telling you about where your trust rests?

Want to keep taking your next step? You weren’t meant to figure out this grace-shaped life on your own. Join us this Sunday at 11 AM at 8485 SW 112th St, Miami, and grow with a faith family that’s learning to give the way Jesus gave. You can explore more sermons and reflections on our blog.

Credits

Adapted from Pastor James Drake’s January 19, 2026 sermon, “What’s Your Real Motivation?”

By Pastor James Drake, Lead Pastor, Christchurch Miami.

Christchurch Miami is a Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) congregation in Miami, Florida, led by Pastor James Drake. Services are held Sundays at 11 AM at 8485 SW 112th St, Miami, FL 33156.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash.

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