In the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus dealt with the subject of the heart and the motivation behind practicing righteousness. In Matthew 5, Jesus elevated the Law of Moses to be more than outward acts. He emphasized that these outward acts flow from the heart. Your heart determines your actions, and God’s Law requires perfection. In Matthew 6, Jesus shifts from sin to dealing with acts of righteousness and the heart behind them.
Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5 focused on sins against God’s Law. He touched on murder, adultery, breaking your word, and how one should love his or her enemy. He concluded in Matthew 5:48 that you are to be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect. As if that isn’t difficult enough, Jesus turns from the negative to the positive. He will now do the same thing to our so-called acts of “righteousness.”
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.”
Charitable Giving
While there were some welfare programs at the time of Jesus, any shortfalls to supply the needs of the underprivileged came from the religious community. These gifts were voluntary. As these gifts came in, public announcements were made touting these gifts. Jesus says in response in Matthew 6:2 “When you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full.
Wow, this seems a bit harsh doesn’t it?! These people had done a good deed. They had given money to help others! Wouldn’t that be commendable? Jesus goes on, But, when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Matt. 6: 3-4)
Jesus is taking the outward act back to the heart. Jesus calls the givers hypocrites because the reality was, they were giving in order to receive honor for themselves.
Prayer
Matthew 6:5 — “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to
you, they have received their reward in full.”
Jesus gave a nearly identical rebuke to the public prayers being offered as he did to the charitable giving. The focus is the same. He’s rebuking them for for their motivation, the heart behind their prayer. They were doing it so they might be praised by the people around them.
Jesus again gives specific instruction; When you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:6).
He also rebukes meaningless repetition and purposefully long and wordy prayers (Matthew 6:7). Does this mean there should never be public prayers or that a prayer can’t be long? Of course not! Jesus’ focus is on the heart; he is condemning the public prayer for the sake of being heard by people. The Gentile’s “wordy” prayers were intended to impress the hearers with their own intellect.
The Model
Matthew 6:9-13 is known as The Lords Prayer, Jesus gives us the model of how to pray in light of the admonishment he just gave.
Matthew 6:8— “So don’t be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
The prayer is a correction. It’s important to keep context in mind. Jesus is modeling what praying with a pure heart should look like. While there is certainly nothing wrong with reciting The Lords Prayer word for word, it isn’t the words that are the focus but rather the heart behind it.
Jesus’ prayer focuses on six petitions. The first three point to God. Matthew 6:9-10 focuses on God’s name, His kingdom, and his will.
Matthew 6:9-10— “Our Father who is in Heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”
Jesus says to magnify the Father first and foremost as we pray. It encourages our heart toward God rather than ourselves. He then gives three petitions directed toward us. He prays for our physical and spiritual care in a past, present, future format.
Matthew 6:11-13— “Give us our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Jesus first prays for our daily bread, our current needs to be met physically. He prays for forgiveness of sins past and present. And asks for help delivering us from the future temptation to sin.
The model Jesus gives us is focused on the glory of God and the needfulness of man.
Fasting
Matthew 6:16— “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full.”
Fasting in this case goes along with prayer. This isn’t a command to fast. The bible doesn’t command fasting, nor does it prohibit fasting. Jesus simply says that when someone is fasting, it should be done with the proper motivation. Just like with charitable giving and prayer he rebukes the hypocrite for their public display of religion. Jesus tells them not to put on a gloomy face and neglect their appearance in an effort to be noticed by the people around them. For they have received their reward in full.
Jesus tells them that when they fast they should wash their face and anoint their head. In other words, take care of yourself and don’t go out of the way to make yourself look like you’re suffering in order to gather praise of man.
Conclusion
By Matthew 6:18, Jesus has preached half of the Sermon on the Mount. He has repeatedly gone back to each issue pertaining to both acts of sin and acts of righteousness as matters of heart first and foremost. The religious leaders had changed the focus of the Law of God into a long list of outward acts. They had also created a way to show off their spirituality to impress those around them for personal gain.
Are we any different today? In our pride and selfish ambition, we tend to want a list of outward acts to follow and as long as we do those things to the best of our ability, we’ll enter the kingdom. But God’s way is significantly better than that. And Jesus made it clear throughout His ministry on earth that the focus is on the heart.
Matthew 22:36-38— “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And he said to them, ‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.”
Jesus attached loving your neighbor as an extension of loving God (Matthew 22:39-40). He then went on to say that the entire law and all of the scriptures depend on the greatest command. Jesus gave this answer to a lawyer who was trying to catch Jesus in violation of the law. The answer to this question wasn’t just true two thousand years ago, it’s also true today.
Jesus is very consistent in His message of the kingdom of God. May our hearts be inclined toward God. May we love Him and seek Him. In doing so, may we love our neighbors and pursue righteousness with a pure motivation. Not for the praise of people around us, but for the glory of God.