This sermon was not much different than my lectures on motivation and collaboration I gave to college students studying the psychology of human behavior. The only part of the sermon I didn't include in my lectures were citations from the Bible. Now, it is reasonable to assume for Christians that all truth is God's truth. So, why would I expect my teaching about work in a secular setting be any different than what a preacher would cover in his sermon, absent scriptural references?
That is a great question and very profound. The answer is critical to evangelism. If there is no difference in how a topic is taught in a world, which values self concept, virtue and morality, than how it is taught in church, then Christianity is just one of many viable options to view life. This makes Christianity vulnerable to irrelevancy, which is where it is heading in the Western world.
Here is where the perspective of "act freely not fairly" comes in. Any activity of human endeavor that flows from a sense of personal well being involves a balanced transaction that must be fair. How can it then be both fair and free? The lack of freedom comes from the requirement that any satisfactory action must receive something that keeps the outcome of the action in equilibrium with the action. The outcome, however, does not have to be external to the person. This is where "truth" about motivation becomes different for the Christian and the non Christian.
It has been found to be true that intrinsic motivation for any human is free of external reward. However, human nature requires a reward for action, even if it is an internal reward. Thus, a transaction occurs even if the reward does not involve anyone else. This is where morality and virtue enter the picture. Satisfying one's own need for doing the right thing induces a transaction, which makes the person a slave to "doing the right thing." Consider that in the picture above, both people are you, or even more, view the one on the right as God. You give out what may appear to be freely, but you get rewarded fairly, depending on how you perceive the meaning of what you do as being admirable and virtuous. This is intrinsic motivation on a human plane. It appears free, but it is really fair.
This is really what Jesus is getting to in the Sermon on the Mount. Two actions can look the same from the outside, like helping others, giving and praying. But, if the motivation is to satisfy some self concept within the person, then the result of the actions are limited to only what the person receives from the transaction of their action. This usually is fair, but not free.
Only when our action is motivated by a faithfulness to reflect out what God has put in are we free from the fairness of the outcome of the action. This is not a transaction. There is nothing fair about this. The outcome "out there" has nothing to do with the satisfaction "in here." This is the role of faith. We give with no expectation of receiving, but more importantly, we receive (especially from God) with no obligation or duty to respond in order to maintain equilibrium with the giver. This is why gratitude is so motivational, way more than fairness.
This is a weird and confusing idea of human action, I agree. But if the notion of acting freely not fairly can be explained through human psychology, adding a few Biblical citations to the explanation does not make it any less than a transaction. Fundamental in the human condition is the desire and expectation to demand fair transactions, even if the fair exchange comes from our own view of our wonderful self.
Remember, the Gospel is far from being a transaction and even farther from being fair.
This is hard pondering, I know ....
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