Matthew 6:1-18: Practicing Righteousness

Introduction

The Lord is now in the middle of His sermon the mount, but he now switches gears in the sermon. As a recap of what has already been said:

The Lord Jesus gave us a road map to becoming children of God.

He laid out the implications of going down this road.

To those who accept this journey, the Lord then completed the Law, teaching us how to live out the most righteous way.

This was all summed up in the command: “You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Like any good preacher, the Lord now shifts to the practical implications of what these commands can look like in our every day life. I think the dominant thought of the entire sermon comes from this section as well: “But seek first the Kingdom of God and all of these things will be added to you.”

Who are you doing this for?

Now that we know that the goal is perfection, or righteousness, Jesus knows that there’s going to be a temptation to be “good” for the wrong reasons.

This was already a problem for the Pharisees and religious leaders - and they were only doing the bare minimum!

Humans have a natural longing to be recognized for what we do. For children of God, to be recognized and praised by men for the sake of our glorification, we are stealing away the glory from our Father.

Remember, being having our righteousness recognized by others isn’t inherently bad - at the beginning of the sermon Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

It’s all about the heart behind our actions - are we doing them so that people glorify God, or us?

Because of this temptation Jesus gives the warning: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”

Because He is a good teacher, Jesus doesn’t simply give this warning and let us try to figure it out. He gives us a remedy for this temptation with some very real and practical applications in our every day life.

The first example: giving to the needy.

Jesus says, when we give to the needy, don’t make a big deal about it!

Jesus says don’t be like the hypocrites who like to “toot their own horn” so that people see them ‘help’ others.

This is the first of several instances where Jesus is going to use the term “hypocrite”. What is a hypocrite?

The connotation is negative and usually refers to someone who says one thing, but does another. But in this culture, hypocrites actually were a certain group of people.

The word means “play-actor”. The Greeks loved their theater, and it was common to see stage shows throughout the cities and on the street corners. The actors who put on these shows were called “hypocrites”.

When Jesus describes the people in synagogues (religious leaders) as these ‘hypocrites’, it almost seems like he’s poking fun at them. I have to wonder if the crowds laughed at this illustration!

The people Jesus is talking about clearly didn’t care about helping people - they cared more about people praising them for appearing to help people.

Just a few weeks ago Brie and I saw a local charity event, where the attendees all dressed up and went and had a party in order to raise money.

The event and the charity itself weren’t bad. But it was a little comical seeing people post pictures of themselves at this party bragging about their attendance. It was like they had to let people know that they attended this lavish event, instead of just quietly donating the money (or even attending, but not making a big deal about it!)

Jesus says that when people do this they have received their reward. I always thought of this as a negative thing, but it isn’t. If the praise of people is the reward you want, then it is the reward you will get! But Jesus tells us that there is a greater reward available if we so desire.

The Lord’s remedy: keep it secret. When you help someone, there’s no need to make a big scene about it. And if people happen to see you do it? Hopefully they praise God instead of you.

Ultimately this is all about where your heart is at: do you do good deeds so people praise you, or praise God? The Lord knows which it is.

The second practical application: prayer.

Again, the people were accustomed to watching their religious leaders give loud, lengthy, and ‘impressive’ prayers. But these people didn’t really care about talking to God.

Jesus again compares them to hypocrites. Again, I think this probably elicited some giggles from the crowd. He’s basically saying, “They are like those actors who give long monologues on stage. Impressive maybe, but ultimately meaningless.”

Christ’s remedy: pray in secret, going and hiding in your bedroom if you have to!

I don’t think the location here really matters. It’s all about the heart. Are you really praying to talk with God, or are you simply trying to look holy to those watching?

This isn’t a prohibition against public prayer either. Again, it is all about the heart. In fact the heart could be considered the “inner room” of our lives!

I once posted some quote about public praying on Facebook. I was quickly messaged by a relative (who isn’t a believer) who said, “But didn’t Jesus say to pray in private?” Yes, but it is about the heart!

The second part of prayer that Christ warns us against: you don’t need long, wordy, and hollow prayers.

Notice he says this is what the Gentiles do. It was common for the pagans to think that they could convince and manipulate their gods with long prayers.

Jesus is blunt: we don’t need to do that, because our Father already knows what we need.

This is still an easy temptation to fall into! Maybe you’ve known people who kind of just ramble when they pray. If it drags us mere mortals down, how do you think God feels?

Our Father truly just wants a genuine relationship and conversation with us. Even in the context of corporate prayer, our prayers don’t need to be elaborate. He is our Father, we ought to talk to Him like one!

After this, it’s almost like someone asked, “Okay Lord, then how are we suppose to pray?” In fact, Luke tells us this was the case! Luke 11:1 “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.””

The Lord’s Prayer

What follows is the beautiful, powerful, and simple prayer known as “The Lord’s Prayer”. Who better to learn how to pray from than God himself!

This prayer can and should be meditated on a regular basis. The words themselves are powerful. In fact, the early church recommended that Christians pray this prayer at least once a day!

Not only is the prayer itself powerful, but it also gives us a blueprint for how our prayers should be.

The prayer is short and to the point. Again, Jesus tells us that we don’t need long and wordy prayers - God already knows what we need, and what we are going to say. There’s no need to try and ‘convince’ him. The goal is to have a real, genuine, father-child conversation with Him.

It’s also kind of unremarkable as far as words are concerned. It is simple. I don’t think anyone hearing a prayer like this would say, “Wow! That person must really be close to God!”

The prayer begins with praise and acknowledgement

“Our Father” - this is a BIG deal that we take for granted! Up until this point the people had never really addressed God as Father. Seriously, search through the OT and the concept won’t really be there! It was more of a Master-Servant relationships rather than a Father-Son relationship.

This doesn’t mean that God didn’t want to be their father. In fact, he tried.....but their disobedience made it difficult.

Isaiah 1:2 “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.”

Psalm 82:6 “I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;”

Malachi 1:6 ““A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’”

This trend continued into Christ’s day, where he made it clear that the people’s behavior made them children of the devil more than it did children of God.

Praise be to God, Jesus gave us the opportunity to change and become children of God!

We also need to recognize the grace that comes in God allowing us to become His children and Him being our Father.

Even today, outside of Christianity, this is a monumental concept. Ask Muslims, Jews, Bhuddists, Hindus, or any other religion if they have a relationship with their god(s) that is so close they can refer to them as a parent. They will likely say no! Let’s never take this for granted.

“in heaven” - an acknowledgement of God’s power and prestige. If the heaven’s are greater than Earth, and heaven is His throne room, then we are acknowledging His greatness.

But I also think ‘heaven’ could be interpreted as our own hearts. Through the Holy Spirit, God himself dwells within us just as much as he dwells in Heaven. How amazing!

Because of our Father’s greatness, “hallowed be your name”

This is declaring that our Father be glorified, revered, and treated with holiness. This is in line with the third commandment: Not taking the Lord’s name in vein.

If not taking the Lord’s name in vein in the bare-minimum, revering and honoring His name is the most righteous thing we can do!

The next part of the prayer is the first of a series of requests. The first of which is “Your kingdom come”

This doesn’t mean that the kingdom doesn’t already exist. Instead it is a request that the kingdom be made known to those who don’t know it yet!

“Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” - If the goal is the make the kingdom known, then I think this is our request to be the instruments by which God makes His Kingdom known.

His will is already done in heaven by the angels, so it makes sense that He make His will and kingdom known on Earth by His children/saints/Christians.

The answer to this prayer is the great commission in Matthew 28:19–20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

The next portion of the prayer is a petition for daily provision.

Bread is symbolic for all our daily needs for survival.

But could this also refer to our consumption of the Word of God, since Jesus is the Bread of Life and ‘man does not live on bread alone’?

In addition to our physical needs, The Lord encourages us to ask for our spiritual needs - particularly the forgiveness of our sins or debts.

Daily we fall short, and daily we need God’s grace. Our prayers should always include a request for more of His mercy.

But Jesus adds a second clause that should give us pause. I bet it gave the original audience pause! Sure it’s one thing to ask for God to forgive us our debts…but just like we forgive others their debts??

This is a hard saying. I can imagine someone in the crowd objecting, “Master! Hold on! Are you saying that I have to forgive others if I’m going to ask for forgiveness myself??” Jesus will address this after the prayer.

If we’re being honest, we’ve probably had the same thought. It’s human nature to want forgiveness, while not forgiving others. If we can genuinely pray “as we also have forgiven our debtors” we have really taken a huge step in becoming like our Father in heaven.

The final request of our prayers should be that God not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

It’s important to remember that God does not tempt us, however he allows us to be tested. Scripture is clear that testing prunes us, fortifies, and proves our faith.

When we pray that God not lead us into temptation, it’s kind of like someone walking through flames. They might not ask that the flames not touch them, but rather that they not be consumed by the flames.

We will experience sin and evil in our every day life and world. Sometimes the Lord will allow the devil to put it right into our faces. But He will never leave us nor forsake us, and through prayer we can ask Him to strengthen us and deliver us from it.

After the prayer, Jesus briefly returns to the “forgiveness part”. It’s almost like someone in the crowd said, “That’s all great and good, except for that one line about forgiving others. Can you elaborate?”

I’m not sure what they hoped he would say. Or what you wish Jesus would have said. Maybe, ‘You’re right, forgot that part.”

No, Jesus doubles down with an uncomfortable and difficult truth that can only really be accepted by the Children of God: If we forgive, we will be forgiven. But if we don’t forgive, we won’t be forgiven.

Is this hard for you? It’s hard for me!

Fasting

The last practical application Christ gives us in this section is fasting. Helping the needy, Prayer, and Fasting are three areas where it’s really easy to make it about ourselves.

Christ again warns us not to be like the ‘hypocrites’ (play-actors) when it comes to fasting. The actors wore funny looking masks and makeup (just like they do now!) and so this is the image Jesus is evoking when describing people who make a big show when fasting.

Again, Christ’s remedy to this temptation is to once again is to fast in secret. In other words, just be normal. This is once again a heart issue. When we fast, are we doing it to develop our relationship with our Father, or are we doing it so other people are impressed with us?

It should be noted here: Just like with helping the needy and praying, Christ says, “When you fast...”

The Lord Jesus assumes we will fast.

Fasting is a difficult spiritual discipline in our culture! But in one so filled with gluttony and over consumption, maybe Christians should embrace it again.

Conclusion

In this passage we find three common applications of righteousness: helping others, prayer, and fasting. They certainly aren’t the only ‘acts of righteousness’ that we are called to as Children of God. Through them, the Lord Jesus gives us examples of how we should handle ALL acts of righteousness. We should be doing them to glorify God and not ourselves. If it means having to do them privately, then do it. We will receive a reward either way - the question is, do we want to receive the greater reward?