Sermon on the Mount/Chapter 6:1-8/Commentary

The Sermon on the Mount Lesson 6/Matthew 6:1-8

“Jesus began His instruction on the hill by portraying in the beatitudes the essential elements of the Christian character, and went on to indicate by His metaphors of salt and light the influence for good which Christians will exert in the community if they exhibit this character. He then described Christian righteousness, which must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees by accepting the full implications of God’s law without dodging anything or setting artificial limits. Christian righteousness is righteousness unlimited. It must be allowed to penetrate beyond our actions and words to our heart, mind and motives” (Stott p. 125). We must not only abstain from sin for the right reason, but we must positively serve God for the right reason as well.

Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven”.

“Beware”: This is a common problem among mankind, and it did not start nor did it end with the Pharisees. Jesus here says, “Be honest now: what are your real motives for your religious acts?” Here is why we so desperately need the Scriptures, for there are pitfalls of even doing the right thing, and temptations can come in subtle ways. “Your righteousness”: Here “righteousness” includes acts of public and private worship. The sum total of our righteousness is not found in attending services or worshiping publicly, but neither is the sum total of righteousness found in our private lives. Authentic righteousness will include both serving God in our private lives as well as worshipping Him in a public format (Hebrews 10:24-25).

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“Before men”: The issue is not practicing righteousness before men, for certain acts of righteousness demand a public format (1 Corinthians 11:23ff; Matthew 5:13-16), rather the motivation for living right is not to be a thirst for human praise, rather a thirst for praise from God. “To be noticed by them”: The Pharisees loved human praise (6:2) and were more concerned with what people thought about them, then what God thought of them (John 12:42-43; Matthew 23:5).

This would include doing religious things merely so people will compliment us. Looking spiritual, because that is what people expect of us. Being more concerned about our “image”, than pleasing God. “It may flatter us when men praise us for our good deeds instead of giving all praise to God for them. Under this stimulus we may do even great and wonderful deeds (7:22-23) the more to turn men’s eyes upon us. But where this motive prevails, no matter how great the deeds may be, in God’s sight they are completely ruined; in His judgment they cease to be righteousness” (Lenski p. 255). Compare with 1 Corinthians 13:1-4. In addition, this is that age-old fundamental choice between pleasing God and pleasing ourselves. Human praise feels good and caters to our pride and selfishness. “What appears to be so selfless may be just a very subtle form of selfishness” (Jones p. 14). This verse also helps us to understand how there can be very religious looking and acting people in religious groups that are not following God. The Pharisees and scribes looked very spiritual, but they were not right with God. So do not let Satan convince you that someone who is not obeying the truth is actually saved, because they act and look so nice.

“Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is heaven”: That is, such human praise is all the reward we will get. What a poor choice!

“The shallow acclaim of the immediate crowd often provides exciting food for the self-seeking. Only a fool would grasp after the transient, empty praise that men can give, only to lose the eternal reward of the Father” (Fowler pp. 327-328). Compare with John 5:44 and 12:42-43.

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Matthew 6:2 "When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full”.

“When therefore you give alms”: Jesus expected His disciples to be generous. “Giving of alms is but the Greek word for mercifulness” (Fowler p. 329). See 2 Corinthians 9:1ff. “The Greek word for almsgiving means a deed of mercy or pity. Since our God is a merciful God, and as Jesus has just emphasized (Matthew 5:45), “kind to the ungrateful and selfish” (Luke 6:35-36), His people must be kind and merciful too” (Stott p. 128).

“Do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do”: They did not actually do this, rather Jesus is taking a humorous poke at such hypocrisy in such a way as to get His audience to laugh at this caricature beautifully designed to render unforgettable the serious lesson it taught. “Jesus spares no words for those who sin by selfglorification” (Fowler p. 328). Jesus did expose error, and He used humor and here He holds up the Pharisees to ridicule. We need to make sure that in our politically correct climate that we do not resent Jesus’ teaching or methods. Sometimes people can only see the ridiculous nature of a particular error, when humor is used.

“In the synagogues and in the streets”: The reason such was done outside was to assure a ready audience. When the Pharisees gave alms, they made sure that everyone saw their great sacrifice, thus the Pharisees chose public places to show off their charities. “Luther points out that but few respond when we say that God and His angels will be pleased and that God will reward a hundredfold; and that many grow slack when men ignore and show ingratitude” (Lenski p. 257). The true measure of generosity is how one gives when no one notices and no one seems to care. We are becoming like the Pharisees if we want some recognition for our efforts, or if we are concerned about having a reputation for generosity. “Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full”: Such human praise is the only reward they will get. This expression is a commercial technical term meaning, “To receive a sum in full and give a receipt for it”. The necessary inference is that unless the Pharisees change, they will not go to heaven. Nothing further is due them, nothing but judgment on the last day.

Matthew 6:3 "But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”.

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This is an interesting statement. “But how could my left hand be ignorant of the deeds of my right, since neither have minds of their own, and both are but instruments of my mind? But that is just the point: both hands represent the giver and he must so learn to do good to others that it becomes an unconscious life habit with him. If we would free ourselves from being overly conscious of men’s praise” (Fowler p. 330). “The question is not so much what the hand is doing (passing over cash or a check), but what the heart is thinking while the hand it doing it. There are three possibilities. Either we are seeking the praise of men, or we preserve our anonymity but are quietly congratulating ourselves, or we are desirous of the approval of our divine Father alone” (Stott p. 128). It is easy to poke fun at the Pharisees without seeing our own “horn-tooting”. Stott notes, “It boosts our ego to see our names as subscribers to charities and supporters of good causes. We fall into the very same temptation: we draw attention to our giving in order to be praised by men” (p. 129).

Matthew 6:4 “That your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you”.

That is, we are not to tell other people about our generosity. We are not to be self-conscious in our giving, for such self-consciousness will readily deteriorate into self-righteousness. “It is possible to turn an act of mercy into a act of vanity, so that our principal motive in giving is not the benefit of the person receiving the gift but our own benefit….as soon as the giving of a gift is decided and done, it will be in keeping with this teaching of Jesus that we forget it. We are not to keep recalling it in order to gloat over it, or to preen ourselves on how generous, disciplined, or conscientious our giving may have been. Christian giving is to be marked by self-sacrifice and self-forgetfulness, not by self-congratulation” (Stott pp. 130-131). We should be satisfied that God is the only witness and God will reward us.

A mature Christian is able to do good and keep on doing good, even when no one is looking and no one is offering any encouragement. If we need a constant stream of human praise to keep us going or keep us motivated, then we need to look at our own motivation for why we are a Christian. Jesus does believe in rewards, but a true and meaningful reward. Seeking human praise is motivated by selfishness; seeking God’s praise can be motivated by pure motives. Let us remember that human praise is so temporary, inconsistent, and often very meaningless and fickle (See Ecclesiastes 4:13ff).

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Matthew 6:5 "And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full”.

“And when you pray”: Jesus expected His disciples to pray, even though others were abusing and misusing this great blessing. “As the hypocrites”: “In classical Greek the hupokrites (hypocrite) was first an orator and then an actor. So figuratively the word came to be applied to anybody who treats the world as a stage on which he plays a part. He lays aside his true identity and assumes a false one. He is no longer himself but in disguise, impersonating somebody else. He wears a mask…The trouble with the religious hypocrite, on the other hand, is that he deliberately sets out to deceive people” (Stott p. 129), this would include people who are religious from the motive of human applause.

“They love to stand and pray…in order to be seen by men”: They do not love to pray to God, rather, they love themselves and the opportunity which public praying gives them to parade themselves. There was nothing wrong in standing while praying, but Jesus uncovered their true motive as they stood in the synagogue or street with hands uplifted to heaven in order that they might be seen by men. The Pharisees loved having the reputation for being spiritual far more than really wanting to be spiritual. ”These devout Pharisees pretended that they were accidentally caught at such a frequented corner by the hour of prayer and then would not let the public place deter them but turned toward Jerusalem or toward the Temple and made their prayers” (Lenski p. 259). “Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full”: Jesus could not make such a positive statement, that is, that God does not hear their prayers without absolutely knowing the will of God. They were not praying, they were only imitating prayer. Here we learn that God is not bound to accept all religious acts, and neither does God have the attitude, “Oh well, at least they are doing something”. God does give the Pharisees any credit at all. When worship is corrupted, either in practice or motive, such worship counts for absolutely nothing (Mark 7:1ff).

Matthew 6:6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you”.

“Go into your inner room”: Jesus is not condemning public prayer, for such is commanded in other passages (1 Corinthians 14:15-17). In addition, Jesus is not commanding us to build an official prayer closet, for Jesus justified a publican who prayed in the temple (Luke 18:13). Many a 5

time Jesus’ own “inner chamber” was the solitude of the great out-ofdoors (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; 6:12). This passage could even be talking about public prayer, “Where the Christian must learn to isolate his or her spirit in the midst of the crowd, the hurry, the confusion and lure of the world, and how to talk with God in perfect intimacy. Even those who pray in public must learn to shut out of their mind all awareness of human listeners” (Fowler p. 337). When we pray, we need to examine our motives, especially when we offer public prayers. Do we try to extend our prayers, tickle human ears, impress people with our grasp of spiritual truths, or impress when with our compassion and tender feelings?

“And your Father who sees in secret will repay you”: ”Though no other ever see the fervency of your devotion, and thus can never praise you, yet the Answerer of prayer, who knows your every secret motive and most inarticulate desire, reads your heart and answers accordingly. What an incentive to sincerity!” (Fowler p. 337). “It has always been agreed, I think, that the highest picture that you can ever have of man is to look at him on his knees waiting upon God. That is the highest achievement of man, it is his noblest activity. Man is never greater than when he is there in communion and contact with God” (Jones p. 22).

“Who sees”: Trying to fool God is a futile endeavor. Here is motivation to be truthful in our prayers. “For instance, one may secretly pray that God’s will be done in his life concerning a particular temptation, while really wishing that the temptation could be realized” (Fowler p. 338). Hence, no use praying about something unless we really mean it. We must pray exactly as we really are. Just as nothing destroys prayer like side-glances at human spectators, so nothing enriches it like a sense of the presence of God (that is, the realization that God is listening and that He sees everything, including all your motives).

Matthew 6:7 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words”.

“Meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do”: That is, to utter a lot of useless and superfluous words. “The heathen tried to tire out their gods with such endless prayers. Mere formulas were repeated over and over again; the Jews had such prayer formulas, Catholics (and other religious groups) also have them. It is heathen folly to measure prayer by the yard” (Lenski p. 262).

Meaningless or vain repetitions can assume various forms: 1. If I pray, but my mind wanders. 2. Making promises or statements in a prayer to God 6

that I don’t intend on keeping. 3. Anything said to God that is not sincere and the true intent of my heart. 4. Falling into the trap of saying the same thing at every prayer. 5. Praying more off a mental checklist than from the heart. 6. Following the religious crowd and using terminology, certain words and phrases, because they are popular. 7. Placing a time limit on what is a spiritual prayer, that that limit being either short or long.

“For they suppose that they will be heard for their many words”: See 1 Kings 18:26-29. We need to be careful that we do not think that the longer the prayer the more devout we are becoming. Rather, we need to simply express our heart’s desire in whatever time is necessary, whether short or long. “What an incredible notion! What sort of a God is this who is chiefly impressed by the mechanics and the statistics of prayer, and whose response is determined by the volume of words we use and the number of hours we spend in praying?” (Stott p. 144).

Matthew 6:8 "Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him”.

“Therefore do not be like them”: There is always the danger to become like the nations or religions that surround us (1 Samuel 8). In the Old Testament, God’s people often tired of Him and were impressed with what the heathen were doing in worship. In modern times God’s people have too often been impressed with Eastern Religious practices, like Transcendental Meditation, which is nothing more than “meaningless repetitions”. Other, have a hunger for more official looking ritual and ceremonies. “To sum up, what Jesus forbids His people is any kind of prayer with the mouth when the mind is not engaged” (Stott p. 144). “For your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him”: “Why not?

Because Christians do not believe in that kind of God. That is, we are not to do as they do because we are not to think as they think. He is neither ignorant, so that we need to instruct Him, nor hesitant, so that we need to persuade Him” (Stott p. 144).

Someone might ask, “If God already knows what we need, then why pray?” “Believers do not pray with the view of informing God about things unknown to Him, or of exciting Him to do His duty, or of urging Him as though He were reluctant. On the contrary, they pray in order that they may arouse themselves to seek Him, that they may exercise their faith in meditating on His promises, that they may relieve themselves from their anxieties by pouring them into His bosom; in a word, that they may declare that from Him alone they hope to expect, both for themselves and for others, all good things” (Stott p. 145). “To talk and to act as though we had to inform Him of everything and as though by omitting 7

some detail He would be left in ignorance, is to debase God and thus to insult Him” (Lenski p. 263). “By our praying we are instructing ourselves more than we are Him” (Stott p. 145).

Closing Comment One essential key to a meaningful and rich prayer life is to realize that we are talking to God and that God is actually listening!

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