Sermon on the Mount: 7th Blessing
MATTHEW 6:1-6 & 16-18
CHRISTIAN RELIGION (REALITY NOT HYPOCRISY)
Jesus began His instruction on the mount by portraying in the beatitudes the essential elements of Christian character, and then went onward to describe the metaphors of salt and light and the influence for good which Christians will bring to their communities if they will show this character.
He then described Christian righteousness which must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees by not limiting our righteousness to rule keeping but rather to have our words, our hearts, and our motives to be true and not hypocritical.
In the sixth chapter of Matthew, Jesus continues His teaching on righteousness and now His emphasis has shifted. Previously He taught on kindness, purity, love, and honesty. Now He concerns His teaching with giving, praying, and fasting. We must not overlook the fact that according to Jesus our righteousness has two dimensions, moral and religious.
In both areas we must be different (separate) and rise above the letter of the Law to obedience to the spirit of the Law. Jesus says here that we must not be like the hypocrites. This warning is that we are not to practice our own righteousness before men just to be seen by them. The next three areas explained here are evident in some form in every religion.
CHRISTIAN GIVING
There is much teaching in the OT on compassion for the poor. But once more Jesus teaches that generosity is not enough because the Lord is concerned with the hidden thoughts of the heart where He has written His new covenant.
The besetting sin of the Pharisees was the hunger they held for the praise of men. Jesus clearly says that they receive glory one from another. In this fashion they are hypocrites when they display this behavior. Jesus goes further and says that they have their reward. Yes, they may get applause from men, but that is all they will get. Jesus here gets to the most basic moment of His teaching by showing that God intends our hearts to seek secrecy in our obedience.
When giving, we should not seek the praise of men and not even be concerned with self approval, but should seek approval by God only while doing good work without needing to publicly show it. What then is the reward given to the secret giver? It is neither public nor necessarily future in fact. The reward given is seeing the relief arranged for the needy as they receive our quiet assistance. Such love, as commanded by Christ, brings its own secret joy and such true love desires no other reward.
CHRISTIAN PRAYING
In the second example of our “religious” kind of righteousness Jesus speaks of two men at prayer. Once more there is shown the basic difference between hypocrisy and reality. This difference is why they pray and what is received.
Hypocrites pray not to express love to God but to themselves and to parade themselves in public prayer. How does Jesus instruct us to be different? He says we are to go into our room and shut the door. When we do so, our heavenly Father is there waiting for us and welcoming us to the communion of our heart to His divine heart. He sees the motive for our prayer and wishes us to be unconcerned with outward appearances. The teaching here needs not to lead to extremes for His teaching centers on private prayer so that the motive for it is to purify our approach away from building up our appearance and toward sincere humility.
CHRISTIAN FASTING
The Pharisees fasted twice a week on Monday and Thursday (Luke 18:12). John the Baptist fasted regularly but the disciples of Jesus did not (Matthew 9:14). Few Christians in our day seem to dwell on this form of effort to draw closer to God. We know that Jesus fasted 40 days and nights in the wilderness. In the Sermon He told us how to fast, presuming we would obey. When we seek to do so, it should be in the manner of further humility and in regard to repentance for sin and seeking mercy from Him.
Biblical examples are more than a few:
Moses fasted on Mt. Sinai when the covenant was renewed by God.
Queen Esther asked Mordecai to hold a fast before she went to the king.
Ezra proclaimed a fast before leading the exiles back to Jerusalem.
The point is to show both humility and self control as we approach the Lord. But we must arrange this form of worship also in secret, not to show it publicly for the approval of men. The issue is that the Christian is aware that an audience does see all his efforts, but that audience is God, not man. This is the reality commanded by Jesus that believers are aware of His presence and that only He sees our worship by giving, praying, and fasting. Jesus continually turned away from hypocrites in all parts of His ministry and teaching so the lesson to us is strong and sure.
