Now or Later

Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 6:1

If you are not familiar with this passage, I encourage you to read Matthew 6:1-24 to get the full context of verse. Many familiar verses are found in this section including the Lord’s prayer. He is contrasting the way of the Kingdom versus the way of sinful, natural man. He addresses three issues: “When you give to the needy” (v. 2), “When you pray” (v. 5, 7), and “when you fast” (v. 16) We read these passages and the first two are self-evident to us as believers. Of course, believers are supposed to give, both regularly to the church and to help the needy. And no one would ever question that the genuine believer in Christ is going to be a person of prayer. Prayer is the lifeline between us and God as well as one of the ways he has chosen to work in this world in response to our prayers. Jesus also assumes that as believers we will fast. This isn’t my main point of this article, but it is noteworthy that just as Jesus assumes we are going to give and pray, Jesus assumes we are going to fast! To our ears this is the shocking teaching of this passage.

To his first hearers something else was likely shocking. Jesus was not only concerned THAT you do these things, but he is also concerned HOW and WHY you do these things. Take prayer for example. Of course, the Lord assumes that the genuine follower of Christ is going to be a person of prayer. He will want to commune with God, cry out to God, beseech the Lord, and confess his sins to God. The believer will intercede for others and lay out his own needs before God. Prayer is a fundamental and foundational part of the Christian life. I don’t think any mature or growing Christian would question this. Prayer is a given.

The Pharisees were highly religious people looked up to by the masses. If I called you a Pharisee today you would be offended because this would be seen as being called a hypocrite. But in Jesus’ day the most revered and religious people were the Pharisees. They were the “separated ones.” They had committed their lives to God to such a degree that they were quick to keep even the smallest aspect of the law. They even made sure to tithe their kitchen spices! (Matthew 23:23) There were traditionally three calls to prayer a day that the Pharisees observed in addition to other times they might pray. Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites saying, “For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” (Matthew 6:5) They just “happened” to be in the middle of a crowd on a street corner when it was time to pray and so they piously stopped what they were doing and prayed in front of everyone! They also liked to have really long prayers, so others thought they were spiritual, and they thought that it made God more obligated to reply. (Matthew 6:7) In contrast he tells believers, “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8)

In contrast to that Jesus admonishes us, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6) Randy Alcorn, commenting on this passage says, “You can’t take it with you – but you can send it on ahead.”¹  So when you give, when you pray, and yes, when you fast do not do it to be seen by others, but do it in secret knowing that you Heavenly Father sees and he is pleased to reward you in response.

¹  Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle. Sisters, OR Multnomah, 2001