“Be careful! When you do good things, don’t do them in front of people to be seen by them. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “When you give to the poor, don’t be like the hypocrites. They blow trumpets in the synagogues and on the streets so that people will see them and honor them. I tell you the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward. 3 So when you give to the poor, don’t let anyone know what you are doing. 4 Your giving should be done in secret. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.
5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray so people will see them. I tell you the truth, they already have their full reward. 6 When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, don’t be like those people who don’t know God. They continue saying things that mean nothing, thinking that God will hear them because of their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.
Good morning and welcome to the Panhandle on a beautiful fall morning. Because this General Command covers 19 verses I am going to split it into three parts. Today we will look at verses 1- 8 and next week we will look at “The Lord's Prayer,” and finally we will look at verses 9-18. I want to give credit Pastor Glenn Pease, I found some great insight to these verses in a sermon of his. So come on in, make yourself comfortable, open your Bible and lets do some Bible surfing.
This chapter is a call to self-examination. Your responsibility is to make sure you are not falling in to the trap of religious hypocrisy, but are seeking God's best by doing what you do to please Him, and not for the praises of men.
Every able bodied man in Russia must serve in the army, but Abe managed to remain quietly on his farm year after year. One day his neighbor asked him, "Abe, how does a strong young man like you manage to get by without being drafted for the Red Army?"
"That is what I am asking myself," replied Abe. "Every time the comrade doctor comes around to give me my physical to see if I am fit for the army, I bet him 500 rubles that I will pass the exam. But would you believe it, never once have I won that bet."
Man is a most clever creature when it comes to figuring out how to get his own way. And hypocrisy, or pretending something that isn't so, is one of his best methods. All of us to some degree are actors and pretenders, and that is what the word hypocrite means. It refers to the actors who put on a mask of someone else, and play the role of that person. When it comes to your relationship with God this is not a good thing. And in these verses Christ Jesus is telling us not to pretend, not to wear a mask.
You see, Christ Jesus wants us to understand that it is possible to do the right thing in life for the wrong reason. Everything good can be done for a very self-centered goal, and not to please God, or to help men. One might ask, “Does it really matter what the motive is as long as the job gets done?” Yes it does. The motive reveals the true inner self, and if all you do is for self glory, then you are competing with God rather than cooperating with Him.
Giving - When it comes to giving of fiances or time the question of motive challenges much of contemporary Christian activity, including one-upmanship, competition for bigness, assurances that God blesses the faithful with material bonanzas or with health and healing, etc. You are not to bargain with God in quest of a deal where if you do your part He will grant particular rewards. Personal advantage or gain stands in opposition to service done in the spirit of Christ Jesus.
The expression do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, may simply mean that you are to avoid all scheming or planning for your own advantage in human attention. You should not give with strings attached, but in complete trust when the gift is given in the spirit of love. And when it given not for personal benefits resulting from the gift, but instead for the good it will do.
Prayer is opening one’s life to God. It is inviting Him to act in your lifer. Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, it is being willing to accept His will in your life. Prayer moves the hand of God by giving Him the freedom to do in your life what He has been wanting to do. God, in His sovereign practice, does not impose His will upon you. Consequently, He can function in your life in accordance to the degree of freedom you surrender to Him. Prayer is therefore relational; it is not merely a psychological exercise of self-fulfillment. It is not a mental review of God’s principles, or a coercing of God. It is a freely and personally inviting God to share in your life with you.
To expose the hypocritical motive of praying to be seen by men, Christ Jesus refers to the style of Jewish praying, which was to stand in the synagogues and corners of the streets for human notice and praise. He again says they have their reward; they received what they were asking for. In contrast, Christ Jesus says that the prayer to God is to be addressed to Him in the secrecy of heartfelt communion. Second, He says that you are to avoid repetition, for prayer is neither to impress God or man, especially since God knows you so completely that He already knows all of your needs. The story goes that one time when Bill Moyers was a special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was asked to say grace before a meal in the family quarters of the White House. As Moyers began praying softly, the President interrupted him with "Speak up, Bill! Speak up!"The former Baptist minister from east Texas stopped in mid-sentence and without looking up replied steadily, "I wasn't addressing you, Mr. President." - Don Oberdorfer in Washington Post. Reader's Digest, April 1980.
Why should you pray, I mean after all God already knows your needs? You pray because God waits to move for you to recognize Him and His will. Prayer is relationship, not appeal. Prayer is fellowship, not impression. Someone has said that “Power in prayer is not measured by the clock any more than power in preaching.”
The point is, the private life of devotion to God is far superior to the public show of your religion, and primarily so because you prevent the ever present danger of hypocrisy. Public religion makes you a wide open target for Satan to tempt you to use your religious faith for self gain. It is better to be an obscure unknown Christian who pleases God than to be a popular Christian who gets hooked on the praises of men. It is better to please God than to settles for the rewards men can give, thereby losing the rewards that only God can give you.
So, listen to Christ Jesus, and examine yourself, and ask yourself questions about your motives. Keep yourself on that narrow road that leads to what is best for you, because it leads to you making sure that the glory of God is your primary motive.
Don't forget this is a three part-er so come on back next week for part two. Until then may our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus bless you and yours richly.
Biblesurfer
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