6:1 Take care not to do your good works before men, to be seen by them; or you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
6:2 When then you give money to the poor, do not make a noise about it, as the false-hearted men do in the Synagogues and in the streets, so that they may have glory from men. Truly, I say to you, They have their reward.
6:3 But when you give money, let not your left hand see what your right hand does:
6:4 So that your giving may be in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret,
will give you your reward.
6:5 And when you make your prayers, be not like the false-hearted men, who take pleasure in getting up and saying their prayers in the Synagogues and at the street turnings so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.
6:6 But when you make your prayer, go into your private room, and, shutting the door, say a prayer to your Father in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret,
will give you your reward.
6:7 And in your prayer do not make use of the same words again and again, as the Gentiles do: for they have the idea that God will give attention to them because of the number of their words.
6:8 So be not like them; because your Father has knowledge of your needs even before you make your requests to him.
6:9 Let this then be your prayer: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
6:10 Let your kingdom come. Let your pleasure be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
6:11 Give us this day bread for our needs.
6:12 And make us free of our debts, as we have made those free who are in debt to us.
6:13 And let us not be put to the test, but keep us safe from the Evil One.
6:14 For if you let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will have forgiveness from your Father in heaven.
6:15 But if you do not let men have forgiveness for their sins, you will not have forgiveness from your Father for your sins.
6:16 And when you go without food, be not sad-faced as the false-hearted are. For they go about with changed looks, so that men may see that they are going without food. Truly I say to you, They have their reward.
6:17 But when you go without food, put oil on your head and make your face clean;
6:18 So that no one may see that you are going without food, but your Father in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret,
will give you your reward. Jesus is now tackling the problem of artificial worship. The Pharisees had fallen into the trap of being religious for the wrong reasons. Jesus points to their love of men’s applause as the core problem, in other words, they had a problem with pride. In this passage Jesus repeatedly said they have their reward. The implication is that God would not reward them because they did it for the sake of men’s approval and praise. How do we know this? Jesus said that much of what the Pharisees did was for the praise and approval of other men. The inherent danger in religion is that we do it for the wrong reason. We don’t worship to please men but to honor God. But the Pharisees just didn’t get it.
Jesus then proceeds to give the right method in serving God. Serving God sincerely not trying to get the applause of men is the way to honor God. He gives three illustrations in this passage: prayer, giving and fasting. Jesus advises doing them in such a way that you do not draw attention to yourself and you will receive a reward from your Heavenly Father.
Then Jesus touches on the reason we do what we do, to please our Father in Heaven. The purest motive is not the applause of men but the approval of God. I read a powerful blog this week by a pastor in South Carolina. It was called Playing For An Audience Of One and he told the story when he was just a young boy on a football team and he wasn’t very good. His mom, who was dying with cancer, made it to one of his games. He played his heart out and he was really playing for just one person, his mom. In a sense that is what we are doing, we are not trying to please everyone we are trying to please one, our Heavenly Father.
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