Doing Good Works: For God's Glory or Human Recognition?

Resolving Seemingly Contradictory Commands

1. Many people, beloved, are often perplexed by what appears to be contradictory guidance from our Lord Jesus Christ in His Sermon on the Mount. First He says, "Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). But later He says, "Take heed that you do not do your righteous acts before others, to be seen by them" (Matthew 6:1).

The mind of someone with limited understanding becomes disturbed, wanting to obey both precepts but feeling pulled apart by what seem to be opposing commands. A person can no more obey one master giving contradictory orders than serve two masters, which the Savior Himself testified in the same sermon is impossible. What should a person do when caught in this dilemma, thinking they cannot obey both yet afraid to disobey either?

If they display their good works publicly "to be seen by others," fulfilling the command, "Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven," they will feel guilty because they've acted contrary to the other command which says, "Take heed that you do not do your righteous acts before others to be seen by them." Yet if, fearing this consequence, they conceal their good works, they'll think they're disobeying the one who commands, "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works."

2. But someone with proper understanding fulfills both commands and obeys the universal Lord of all, who would never condemn a servant for failing to do what couldn't be done. Consider Paul, "a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God" (Romans 1:1), who both practiced and taught these duties.

See how his "light shines before others, that they may see his good works." "We commend ourselves," he says, "to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Corinthians 4:2). And again, "We provide things honest, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men" (2 Corinthians 8:21). And again, "Please all men in all things, just as I also please all men in all things" (1 Corinthians 10:33).

See, on the other hand, how he "takes heed that he does not do his righteous acts before others to be seen by them." "Let each one examine his own work," he says, "and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another" (Galatians 6:4). And again, "For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience" (2 Corinthians 1:12). And most plainly, "If I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10).

But some of those perplexed about our Lord's seemingly contradictory commands might raise an even stronger objection against His Apostle, saying: How can you say, "Please all men in all things, just as I also please all men in all things," and yet also say, "If I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ" ? May the Lord Himself, who spoke through His servant and Apostle, be with us, opening to us His will and giving us the means to obey it.

3. The Gospel words themselves carry their own explanation; they don't close the mouths of those who hunger, since they feed the hearts of those who knock. What matters is the intention of a person's heart—its direction and aim. If someone who wants their good works to be seen by others is seeking their own glory and advantage in the sight of people, they're not fulfilling either of the Lord's precepts on this matter.

Such a person has simultaneously "done their righteous acts before others to be seen by them," yet their light has not "shined before others that they may see their good works and glorify their Father in heaven." They wanted to be glorified themselves, not God. They sought their own advantage and didn't love the Lord's will. The Apostle speaks of such people: "For all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 2:21).

That's why the saying doesn't end with "Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works," but immediately explains why we should do this: "that they may glorify your Father in heaven." When someone doing good works is seen by others, they should have no intention beyond the good work itself in their conscience. They shouldn't intend to be known except for God's praise and for the benefit of those who observe them.

The advantage for observers is that they begin to appreciate the God who has given such power to humans. They don't despair of receiving the same power themselves if they're willing. Similarly, Jesus didn't end the other command with just "Take heed that you do not do your righteous acts before others," but added "to be seen by them." And in this case, He didn't add "that they may glorify your Father in heaven," but rather, "otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven."

By this, He shows us that those who act in ways He doesn't want His faithful followers to act are seeking their reward in the very fact of being seen by others. They place their good in this—in this they delight the vanity of their hearts. In this lies their emptiness, their inflation, their swelling, and their hollowness. Why wasn't it sufficient to say, "Take heed that you do not do your righteous acts before others," without adding "to be seen by them" ? Because there are some who do their "righteous acts before others" not to be seen by them, but so that the works themselves may be seen, and that the Father in heaven, who has granted these gifts to the ungodly whom He has justified, may be glorified.

4. Those who understand this don't consider their righteousness as their own, but as belonging to Him through whose faith they live. That's why the Apostle says, "That I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith" (Philippians 3:8-9). And in another place, "That we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

This is also why he criticizes the Jews: "Being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to the righteousness of God" (Romans 10:3). Therefore, those who want their good works to be seen by others so that God may be glorified—the God from whom they've received what others see in them—and so that those who see might be inspired through faith to imitate the good—these people's light truly shines before others because the light of love beams from them.

There is no empty cloud of pride in them. In their very actions, they take care not to do their righteous acts before others to be seen by them, because they don't consider that righteousness as their own, nor do they do it to be seen. Rather, they do it so that God might be known and praised in His justified ones, so that He may bring about in the one who praises what is praised in others. In other words, He may make the one who praises become praiseworthy themselves.

Notice the Apostle too—when he said, "Please all men in all things, just as I also please all men in all things," he didn't stop there, as if pleasing people was his ultimate goal. If that were the case, he would have spoken falsely when he said, "If I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ." But he immediately explained why he pleased people: "Not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved" (1 Corinthians 10:33).

So he was not pleasing people for his own benefit (otherwise he would not be "a servant of Christ"), but he was pleasing people for their salvation's sake, making him a faithful minister of Christ. For himself, his own conscience in God's sight was enough, while from him there shone forth in people's sight something they could imitate.