Covenant Group Questions (3/5-3/11)

During our current sermon series focused on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, we will publish weekly a set of small group questions for your Covenant to make use of should you desire to use them.  Here are the questions for this week:

1. Read Matthew 6:1-4
   
2. Almsgiving is about giving to needy people, particularly the poor.  It isn't about giving money to the local church.  Where does Almsgiving fit into your lifestyle?  Which ways are flashy and which ways are done "in secret?" 
   
3. Why does Jesus use the word “beware” ("be careful not to" in some translations) when he teaches us not to perform our religious acts before other people?  
   
4. It is said that a person's character is seen in their actions.  Back in Matthew 5:16, Jesus says that we should let our light shine before others, so that they may see your good works  and give glory to your Father."  Yet here in chapter 6 Jesus seems to be saying that we are to keep our actions hidden.  How do you make sense of these thoughts?
   
5. Describe the most religious person you have know.  What stands out about them?  
   
6. What religious actions/activities are valued in our church and in other churches you know?  How can they be misused in a way that subverts what Jesus wants to happen in our own lives?