Matthew 6:1-8

We are some strange creatures. We hear high moral injunctions and see a glimpse of genuine beauty of perfect holiness, and then ruin the vision by dreaming about the way others would hold us in high esteem if we were like that. The demand for genuine perfection loses itself in the lesser goal of external piety; the goal of pleasing the Father is traded for pathetic goal of pleasing men.

It appears as if the greater the demand for holiness, provides the greater the opportunity for hypocrisy. This danger is potentially most serious among religious leaders.

Jesus, having demanded of his followers nothing less than perfection (5:48), is fully aware of the human heart’s propensity for self-deception, and issues a strong warning. “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (6:1). Be perfect (5:48), but be careful (6:1).

The beatitudes ask me if it is God’s blessing I want, or some other approval, so the demands of righteousness presented by Jesus, can never legitimately be confused with forms of external piety.

A General Principle

All “acts of righteousness” must be preserved from showmanship and from the degradation of the chase for human approval.

Jesus focuses on the three fundamental acts of Jewish piety, almsgiving (6:2–4), prayer (6:5–15), and fasting (6:16–18).

How You Handle Giving for Needs

Matthew 6:2 Therefore when thou givest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. 6:3 But when thou givest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth,

The biblical revelation has always held to the importance of almsgiving, of giving to needy people (see Deut. 15:11; Ps. 41:1; Prov. 19:17).

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men” (6:2). the trumpets may be literal, the trumpets of the Jerusalem temple calling the citizens together to contribute to some particularly urgent need.

Jesus says that people who give in such a fashion, whether in the street or in the synagogue, whether in churches or toward charities, whether as a company public relations gimmick or as a personal effort at self-promotion—these people are hypocrites.

There are several different kinds of hypocrisy. One hypocrite fakes goodness but is actually evil, like those who tried to “catch” Jesus in things he said (Matt. 22:15ff.). Such hypocrites know they are being deceptive. Another kind of hypocrisy, the hypocrite is puffed up with his own importance and self-righteousness. Blind to his own faults, he may be genuinely unaware that he is hypocritical—even though he is very harsh toward other people and their sins. Jesus discusses such hypocrites in Matthew 7:1–5,

The kind of hypocrisy here in this context is more subtle. Here, the hypocrite has talked himself into believing that at heart, he is conducting himself with the best interests of the needy in mind. He may be unaware of his own hypocrisy. Only the most discerning of onlookers will speak appreciatively of the philanthropist’s deed, for all acknowledge that giving is good.

A hypocrite is basically an actor, consciously or unconsciously. Hypocritical piety is not from the heart, it is not genuine; it is play-acting piety. Such hypocrites give in order “to be honored by men.

So we are to give “secretly,” both to protect ourselves from ostentatious pseudo-piety, and to ensure that we are acting righteously before the Lord. “

Clearly, Jesus is not opposed to giving; indeed, he presupposes that his followers will give. But his followers, whose goal is perfection, must not delude themselves into thinking that all giving pleases him, or that giving per se is an “act of righteousness.” The human heart is too crafty to allow so simple a suggestion to stand.

How We Are To Handle Prayers

When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men

At times of public fasts, and perhaps at the time of the daily afternoon temple sacrifice, the trumpets would blow as a sign that prayer should be offered. Right where he was, in the street, a man would turn and face the temple to offer his prayer. This opportunity for a little ostentatious piety was really quite gratifying.

Do I pray more frequently and more fervently when alone with God than I do in public?

Prayer at synagogue services was led by a member of the congregation who stood in front of the ark of the law for this purpose, and he led the congregation in public prayer.

The reference to streets probably refers to the fact that at times of public fast and perhaps also at the time of the daily afternoon temple sacrifice, prayer could be offered in the streets. If he couldn’t get to the temple, the brother might go just to the street and face the temple and pray. Again, what a splendid opportunity to show how religious you are.

Jesus is not speaking against public prayer and public worship any more than he was speaking against alms giving. He says, “Do not be like these hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues to be seen by men.” “When you pray, go into you room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.

There is a further warning.

“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” Here there is a reference to heaping up of phrases.

Some pagans thought that if they named all of their various gods they would have a better chance of getting their petitions answered because they hadn’t left anybody out. “Do not say idle things” is the chief thought. Don’t just be mouthing phrases. God is in heaven; you are on earth, so let your words be few.

Again, it’s not a question of not ever praying at length but rather not ever praying redundantly and repetitiously and in a babbling way at length, just praying at length because you’re supposed to pray at length.

In the Didache, a document written at the beginning of the second century, it was prescribed that Christians should repeat the Lord’s Prayer three times a day. As soon as a thing is prescribed like that, it is degenerating again into this repetitious babbling.

The petitions are divided between those concerning God and those concerning men

Jesus teaches us how to pray not what to pray

“Our Father.”

Jews occasionally addressed God like that, but it was rare. They preferred loftier phrases. “Great God of the universe, sovereign Lord of Israel, creator of all, sustainer of men,” etc. Jesus’ own private address was even simpler. When he addressed the Father it was, “Abba,” “My father. My dad.” Addressing God as our Father means the first thing to evaluate, is are we His child because we have committed our lives to Jesus providing adoption into His Family.

“Hallowed be your name.”

Name suggests what a person is in Jewish thought. To hallow entails reverence and honor. It also suggests that we are to glorify his name by obeying him. “Lord, make me holy. Lord, make me ascribe to you all that is yours. Lord, make me reverence you. Work in me so that I honor you. Help me live in such a way that I resemble you, and others will know you by my actions.

“Your kingdom come Your will be done.”

We have seen that the kingdom has to do with God’s reign, his king dominion. “Your will be done so that righteousness prevails.”

At the end of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes, “Maranatha, our Lord come.” Have you ever noticed the way the Bible ends? In the very last chapter of the last book Jesus testifies, “Yes, I am coming soon.” John writes, “Amen, come, Lord Jesus.” The question is immediately raised, “Is that really what I want to pray?”

Or deep down would I prefer to pray, “Lord, I’d like you to come, but not until I get my degree. Lord, I want you to come, but there’s this girl, and I want to marry her first. Lord, I do want you to come, but I’d sure like a crack in the ministry first”? The question is raised again. In one sense, we are to occupy until he comes, but in another sense, all our focus of attention, all of our desires, ought to be for his coming back so that introduces the final stage of righteousness. Or would we rather have a mixture of righteousness and sin?

“Give us today our daily bread.”

Give us on the day that is coming our bread. The word daily is one that occurs very rarely in Greek. In fact, certainly only in the Lord’s Prayer, possibly elsewhere, and nobody is quite sure what it means. It seems to mean literally “day that is coming.” “Give us on the day that is coming our bread.” So if a person prays that at the beginning of the day, he means the day that lies before him today. If he prays it at the end of the day, it means the day that is tomorrow. I think the allusion is simply to daily provision, and that’s all. James writes, “Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” All that we have comes from him. So we go to him and say, “Give us today our daily bread.” Here there is a prayer for our needs. Not our greed; our needs.

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

There is a picture here of sin as a debt, sin as owing something. there is a picture here of sin as being in somebody’s due. The idea is simply that given to us in Matthew, chapter 18. We as believers understand that we have been forgiven, so we must forgive others as well, and be able to since we know what it is to be forgiven.

Jesus goes on to enlarge the point after he has finished his model prayer, for in verses 14f. he adds, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Sin is pictured in the prayer as a debt. Sin incurs a debt which must be discharged. If then someone owes us such a debt, and we fail to release him by forgiving him, our own debts before the Father will not be forgiven by him, and we will not be released.

Some light is shed on the passage by a parable Jesus tells in Matthew 18:23–35:

The point of the parable it seems does not so much turn on temporal sequence (X must forgive Y before Z can forgive X) as on attitude. There is no forgiveness for the one who does not forgive. How could it be otherwise? His unforgiving spirit bears strong witness to the fact that he has never repented.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”

It is a figure of speech which expresses something by negating the contrary. For example, “not a few” means “many”.

This petition is a hefty reminder that, just as we ought consciously to depend on God for physical sustenance, so also ought we to sense our dependence on him for moral triumph and spiritual victory. Indeed, to fail in this regard is already to have fallen, for it is part of that ugly effort at independence which refuses to recognize our position as creatures before God.

As Christians grow in holy living, they sense their own inherent moral weakness and rejoice that whatever virtue they possess flourishes as the fruit of the Spirit. More and more we are to recognize the deceptive subtleties of our own hearts and the malicious cunning of the evil one, and fervently ask our heavenly Father, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

The best example in this matter of praying is Jesus himself. Although he prayed much in public, he prayed far more in private; the evangelist Luke takes special pains to demonstrate this (see Luke 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28; 11:1; 22:41f.).

In sum: Jesus wants to teach us that praying, to be a genuine act of righteousness, must be without ostentation, directed to the Father and not to men, primarily private, and devoid of the delusion that God can be manipulated by empty excessive talking.

How We Are To Handle Fasting

At times of public fasts, and perhaps at the time of the daily afternoon temple sacrifice, the trumpets would blow as a sign that prayer should be offered. Right where he was, in the street, a man would turn and face the temple to offer his prayer. This opportunity for a little ostentatious piety was really quite gratifying.

“When you fast,” he says, “do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full” (6:16).

Jesus is not against fasting but is interested in condemning the abuses of the practice and exposing its dangers.

In the Jewish calendar there were certain special fasts in which everybody participated. These took place in connection with the high feast days, such as the Day of Atonement or the Jewish New Year.

But what began as spiritual self-discipline was succumbed into an occasion for pompous self-righteousness. Some would wear glum and pained expressions on their faces, go about their business unwashed and unkempt, and sprinkle ashes on their head, all to inform peers that they were fasting. What was once a sign of humiliation, became a sign of self-righteous self-display.

Tragically, we do similar things today. Years ago, people wore nice clothes on Sunday as a sign of respect and reverence before the Lord. It was not long before the quality of the clothes became more important than the reverence; and pretty soon people were competing to look better than their neighbors.

Have you ever been there?

Almost anything that is supposed to serve as an outward sign of an inward attitude can be cheapened by this hypocritical piety. Jesus told those who wanted to fast, “But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (6:17f.).

Jesus is telling his followers that when they fast they are to act normally so that no one but God will know it. They are to take off the ashes, wash their faces, use their deodorant or talc or oil or whatever, and act normally.

No voluntary act of spiritual discipline is ever to become an occasion for self-promotion. Otherwise, any value to the act is utterly vitiated.