Matthew 6:2

When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have the glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward.

The area of instruction covered here is personal and individual, the broad assumption being that every true follower of Christ gives alms; that is, helps other people. Christ did not say, "If thou doest alms ..." but "WHEN"! One's obligation to be mindful of human need and suffering is not totally discharged by the support, however generous, of any church budget. The reference to "sounding a trumpet" refers to an ostentatious practice of the Pharisees, termed "hypocrites" by the Lord; but here it has a much wider application and constitutes a prohibition against all forms of boastful and vain-glorious conduct. The idiomatic expression "blowing one's own horn" is perhaps derived from this very passage.

Note also the contrast of rewards in these two verses. There is the genuine and eternal reward in heaven, on the one hand, and the ephemeral, uncertain, and unsatisfying reward of popular applause or approval, on the other. The child of God should always have respect to the greater.