Question
ACTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
Matthew 6:1-18
Key Verse 6:4b
Read verses 1-4. With what motive should we do “acts of righteousness”? Why is this so important that Jesus even says, “be careful”? What might be a wrong motive for giving to the needy? Can you think of any modern day examples of giving (both good and bad)? What is the ideal way of giving (3)? Compare/contrast how the results differ depending on the motive.
Read verses 5-8. How do hypocrites pray? Why is it important that some of our prayer be “done in secret”? Why might a person babble (say many unnecessary words) in prayer? Yet why should we not?
Refer to verses 9-15. Why do you think Jesus gives such a model of prayer? What are the main prayer topics? Are any of these left out of your prayers? What serious statement does Jesus make regarding forgiveness? Is there anyone whom you’ve not forgiven?
Refer to verses 16-18. What is the purpose(s) of fasting? How is this purpose hindered by showing men we are fasting? What does God see and reward? Yet, why might a person find this difficult?
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Message
WHAT IS DONE IS SECRET
Matthew 6:1-18
Key Verse 4b
“Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
There’s a saying, “When the cat is away the mice will play.” It means that when the boss is gone the workers will loosen up and even maybe play a little instead of doing what they’re supposed to do. They’ll browse the internet more, make a lot of personal phone calls, maybe even play a video game or two or chit chat with each other. I knew one place where I worked where a few employees would even pack up and go home when they knew for certain that the boss wasn’t going to be back that day. This also applies to parents and children. When the parents aren’t around the children’s behavior is usually quite a bit different. But what about with our Heavenly Father? As we know our Heavenly Father is always around. So what is done in secret is very important. In fact, in many ways what is done in secret is more important than things done publicly. In today’s passage Jesus teaches us about three things that are better done in secret. Giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting. These are among the most important pillars for our Christian life, helping us in maintaining our relationship with our heavenly father. We all know these are good things to do. But what is good like this is always subject to abuse or misuse. But thank God because Jesus teaches us today the proper use of these acts of righteousness so we may not spoil them and thus forfeit the blessings that come through them.
Let me pray before we go further.
Look at verse 1.
“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.”
Pay special attention to the first two words here. “Be careful.” “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men to be seen by them.” In this world we experience tons of pressure and temptation to focus on our image and worry about what people think of us. The soft drink Sprite even has commercials which tell us “Image is everything”. With such strong messages like this from the world plus our desire to look good before others Jesus knows that it’s very possible that children of God end up abusing these acts of righteousness. How these acts are done and why they are done. So he says, “Be careful”. In fact this problem of abuse and misuse in doing these acts is exactly what Jesus saw going on in his day.
Look at verses 2 through 4.
2“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. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Among the religious community, especially among the religious leaders, the act of giving was something that was being done all the time. But here’s the problem. They’d often do it while eyes were on them, so that they could receive recognition and honor from men. In some really extreme cases, like when giving a really large donation, there were some who would even hire a band of trumpeters and have them blow the horns so that the maximum amount of people could be aware and give honor to the donator with a loud applaud. Is this how giving is to be done? No. Jesus calls those who give like this, hypocrites, meaning they are full of pretense. They are putting on a show, appearing to be holy and devout men of God but actually they’re seekers of man’s praise. Not only are they hypocrites in this way but Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.” Such people sought after man’s praise and they got man’s praise. They got what they were seeking. But there’s no reward left – they received their reward in full. How then should giving be done? Let’s look back at verse 3.
3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Giving, especially a special donation to the needy, is a privilege and joy in that not only is it helping out the recipient of your gift but it’s an act of personal devotion to God. It’s a way to express our faith in God and love for Him. That’s why we do it in secret, that it may be really personal, even just between us and God.
How secret should it be? Verse 3 is really eye-opening. It tells us that ideally it is so secret that not even we the giver are fully conscious of it. “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” This is really secret. But I think the point is not to psyche yourself out but that our reason for giving should be totally pure. We should give purely because it’s a good thing to do for the glory of God, who deserves glory. Though we may not get any honor from man, sometimes we’re tempted to at least honor ourselves. We say “Good job, Jason” and pat ourselves on the back. But this is to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Ideal giving is done very freely, purely in love for God, for the glory of God. This is how God gave to us in sending Jesus. Our heavenly father wants his children to give as he gives.
Next, Prayer.
There were two problems that Jesus saw in regards to prayer that were really corrupting what prayer is all about.
First, motives in prayer.
Genuine prayer is talking to God with the motive to seek God’s approval and help. Anything else is pretend prayer, that is, hypocritical. Jesus gives us an example of hypocritical prayer. There were some he knew of who loved to pray in certain locations, not calm, quiet locations, but actually noisy locations like in the synagogue or street corners. They loved it because it’s where they were best seen by men, and could get people’s attention. But there was nothing they could receive through a prayer with this motive. Prayers prayed before men remains before men. They mean nothing to God. They were prayed before men. A blessed, meaningful prayer life is done behind closed doors, in secret.
Second, how to pray
An important way we must not pray is like the pagans do. Those who pray to pagan gods usually babble. They think they’ll be heard because of their many words. We shouldn’t pray like that because first of all it’s totally unnecessary. Our father, our God, already knows what we need before we ask him. But also we are misrepresenting to others who God is when we pray like this. When Christians babble they make God look no different than any other god, which is no god at all. It all just looks emotional and fake, and unbelievers must wonder, “If God does exist is He hard of hearing” or “is he a slow learner or what”?
Let’s read the Lord’s prayer together now and learn how to pray. Verses 9-13.
9"This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
You know there’s a lot of confusion about what prayer is all about. And there’s all kinds of weird things people pray for. People wonder, “Do I need to pray for my dog? My cat? My uncle? And if I pray for them, what do I pray for exactly?” Also, “Do I need to pray before I eat?” The disciples who saw Jesus praying a lot I think also had many questions about prayer. On one occasion they asked straight out, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus teaches us how to pray here so we might not pray for what is totally irrelevant but use our energy and breath engaging in the battle of prayer for what really matters. This has been called by many a model prayer. I agree – it’s a model of how we should be praying, ideally. But prayer should really be from the heart. So although Jesus tells us “This then is how you should pray” we can’t really pray for these prayer topics as we ought to unless our heart is behind the prayer, unless our cares and concerns are that like that of these prayer topics. So what do we do if our heart isn’t into them? We must be changed. Our hearts must be changed and our prayer lives grow until we can pray the Lord’s Prayer with all sincerity of heart.
Let’s think about the great prayer of our Lord here briefly.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” Hallowed means to be sanctified and respected. Although we have a great privilege to come to God like children to our Father, we must remember who we are coming to. God is the Almighty Creator God. He is holy. He is the Judge of all mankind. It is right for his name to be exalted above every name, and for his name to be honored by all people. When we say we should live for the glory of God this is what this means. That God be fully respected by all. As we pray, “Hallowed be your name,” we must also bring honor to his name by the way we live in this world. At school we should study hard and at our workplaces we should work hard to excel so that fellow students and employees may see God’s glory and honor him.
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Since the Fall of man, this world has been a battlefield between the Creator God and the devil. Add to that our abuse of our free will, and what we see is that God’s will is not done on earth as it is in heaven. But God sent Jesus to restore God’s rightful rule. When we accept Jesus as our Savior King, we are saved from the devil and become God’s children. However, the battle is not over. It is going on in us and around us and throughout this world. Jesus calls us to live as soldiers of Christ who engage in this spiritual battle through prayer, and by proclaiming his word. In this way God’s kingdom comes and his will is done as people are saved into the kingdom of heaven.
Next, “Give us today our daily bread.” Notice that the first part of the Lord’s prayer focuses on our heavenly father’s glory and will. The second part of the prayer is for our needs. Jesus teaches us to pray for our daily bread. “Our daily bread”. Not just my daily bread but our daily bread. Through prayer, we depend on God and realize that God is the giver of our daily bead. We are not slaves in a capitalistic system, but children of our Father God. God will supply all our needs. God does not want us to worry about tomorrow, but to trust him day by day, and not panic even in the midst of a “financial crisis” like is talked about constantly these days.
“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Just as we need bread every day, we need forgiveness of sins I think every day. Here, the word "debt" has the same meaning as "sin." The issue of bread, being able to eat, is of serious importance. But the issue of sin is more serious and important. Therefore, we must ask God's forgiveness of sin; otherwise, we are still in sin. We must also forgive others’ sins – even when they sin against us. To forgive others' sin has been a huge problem in this world. Many wars and murders have occurred simply because of revenge that comes from unforgiveness. But more than just avoiding conflicts, there’s another reason forgiveness is seriously important. Look at verses 14 and 15. "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."
Last, the Lord’s Prayer gives us the prayer topic, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." “The evil one" is the devil. There are many who say, "I am not afraid of the devil." But no one can run away from the devil's pursuits and deception. 1 Pe 5:8 says, “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” We must acknowledge that we are helpless without God, and we must pray earnestly that God may protect us from the devil. So many have been given blows from the devil, and I think so many of our Bible students have too, without us even knowing – because many never pray “and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” as Jesus tells us too. I know it’s the case with me.
The third and final act of righteousness that Jesus details for us today is fasting.
Look at verses 16-18. “When you fast, do not look somber 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. 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.” Fasting is done for the sake of humiliation through self-denial, for repentance, and for intensity in prayer. If I were to give you one phrase that I think sums up the purpose of fasting, it is to help you get serious with God when dealing with serious issues. And we all have serious issues. However, like giving and prayer, fasting must be done with a right motive, before God, not man. Otherwise, it loses all it’s seriousness and point, and we are hypocrites.
In summary we learned that a blessed spiritual life consists of acts of righteousness done in secret before the eyes of our heavenly father. Specifically Jesus gave us three acts of righteousness to practice. Giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting. To ignore these is to only miss out on the blessed reward our Father has for us through them. But to do them before man makes us worse off – hypocrites. And we lose our happiness of living before our Father in heaven. A friend of mine gave an analogy that you may like to remember. Doing these acts of righteousness should be like an iceberg. A big and strong and powerful force yet only a small portion of it showing above the water that is seen by men. May you be blessed in more abundance through blessed fellowship with our Heavenly Father as you live out these acts of righteousness before his eyes. May our hearts be changed fully until we a heart to pray the Lord’s Prayer in all its fullness and sincerity.
One Word: What is done in secret.