Well, how do I know if my good deeds are vain or if they are eternally relevant, just because

we act in ways that look sacrificial to the world, doesn't mean that those works are virtuous.

It's an essential point made by Jesus when he contrasted the Pharisee and the task collector.

You remember that story there? He introduces us to a very moral teacher, a man who is not an

extortioner, not unjust, not scandalous, not a scandalous, and not like an adulterer. No, in fact,

he fasted twice a week and tied it off everything that he got, as we're told in Luke 18, verses 11 and 12,

and it was all in vain, all of it. And yet said Jesus, our own righteousness must exceed that of

the scribes and Pharisees. He said that in Matthew 5, 20. So there's a note where these sacrifice

here as well. So how do we escape the Pharisee's fate of sacrificing in vain? It's the question,

Pastor John took up in one of his earliest sermons way back in 1980, specifically answering the

question, how do we do good work so that God gets the glory? Here's the answer from a rookie pastor,

John Piper, 42 years ago, just a couple of weeks into his new pastorate. Here he is.

It's possible to be a kind of do-gooder, a kind of philanthropist, benefactor, who for one reason

or another uses his or her money to alleviate suffering and not even believe in God, let alone do

all for his glory. And that creates a kind of problem. Can't just be merely good deeds then,

can it? That gives God glory. When Jesus said you are the light of the world, he didn't just mean

the bodily motions through which you go in doing good deeds. He meant you, your attitude,

your motive, the spirit that you exude in those good deeds. That's what it means to let your light

shine. There is a way to do good deeds that will bring glory to God and doing it that way

in that spirit will be the shining of the light that Jesus is talking about, which is why I

entitled this sermon, how to do good so God gets the glory, not just doing good so God gets the glory.

Don't content yourself that you have done many good deeds in your life. It might be a pile of

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