“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.
“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. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
” ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’Matthew 6:1-13 Giving to the Needy
Last week our focus changed from the doctrine of Jesus to His teachings. Doctrine is the simple teaching of the church. In our excitement and desire to tell about what Jesus has done for us, there is the tendency to rush to talk of salvation through Jesus before we raise the issue of why we need this salvation. Of first importance is the necessity to understand the doctrine of sin which has universal application.( Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.) The all inclusive “all” makes it clear that the revelations of the Bible have application for everyone and not just for those perceiving such a need.
In relating to the central application of Jesus’ teachings, the first thing that we must grasp is that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is directed to His primary disciples who were positioned around Him. It is in essence a ‘believer’s sermon” and not directed generally to the vast crowd of 5000+ people who surround Him. The Beatitudes are totally foreign in character to minds not prepared by the Holy Spirit.
By the 6th chapter of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus has reached the point of direct instruction of how one is to react in His Kingdom. The focus of the light of the believer’s life should switch from self to others. We all appreciate how easy it is to focus all of our energies to extract praise from the secular culture. Anonymity is the watchword of those who would follow Jesus. Jesus uses the illustration of the Pharisees to demonstrate the hypocritical nature of their efforts. By the day of Jesus, the Judaism of that time had become one of appearances. The externals of show and ritual were the focus rather than issues of the heart that were carried out in secret. The worship of God had become a check list of ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ rather than a quest for holiness to be holy as God is holy.
The crucial issue is to discover and to know why we are here. As the created of God, we are here to glorify His person with our lives.
Jesus deftly directs His disciples to the nature of prayer. He makes no restriction of when or where or of the subject matter. At issue is the desire to communicate with God much in the manner that a small child communicates with a parent. Jesus makes it clear that such activity is not to have a theatrical air about it. It is to be an intimate communication from created to Creator.
Jesus makes no comment about body language as we pray. The Jew of His day often stood with hands up-raised and looking skyward to the supposed abode of God. Many have seen the modern Jew at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem in classic dress, swaying from side to side. In the past, the Jews felt that the very air was filled with both angels and demons. Since everyone knows it is more difficult to hit a moving target, they did and still sway in prayer. Is there a more acceptable position for prayer? Three men were discussing such. One vowed that you should stand with hands and face directed to God. Another disagreed and said you should kneel with your head bowed. The third did not disagree but said, “The best praying I ever did was upside down in a well.”
But why does God direct us to pray if He knows our thoughts before we utter them? It is by answering prayer that God makes Himself known in our world. Answered prayer makes the invisible God visible.
At the heart of understanding our means for glorifying God is our willingness to be in fellowship with Him. Doers of good works and those possessing high moral character may be surprised to hear the chilling words of Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23. (“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’) It is critical to know and be known by God. To be in such a position requires prayer, trust in the character of the Godhead, and faith in Jesus of Nazareth as a personal Savior.
At the request of His intimate disciples, Jesus provided them with a prayer that is at the heart of our corporate worship. It has been prayed down through the ages as a bonding agent for the followers of Christ with the God that they worship. Its preciseness, brevity; clarity and completeness assure us that it came from the mind and lips of the Christ and not merely from the pen of a human author. Some writings have an eternal quality to them. Such is the nature of this brief prayer provided for all who would seek audience through God the Son with God the Father.
The secret for the effectiveness of this prayer isn’t merely to request such in the authority of Jesus but to be willing to do so in the will of God. That which is prayed in accordance with God’s will is surely to be answered in God’s time, revealing His Holy existence.
If discerning why we are here so as to glorify God is life’s most important issue, that which closely follows is the recognition of the necessity of fellowship to provide such glorification. This fellowship occurs through Jesus who is our Sinbearer, Savior and Lord. Jesus is the exclusive and sole way into the presence of God.
