Well now the Lord Jesus moves on to another aspect of righteousness – the more religious kind. And in the process there is more condemnation of the Pharisee’s pseudo-righteousness. In chapter 5 it was personal righteousness – like kindness, honesty and love. Now He begins to deal with giving, praying and fasting. It is important to know that there are these two expressions of righteous – personal and religious. We aren’t truly righteous until we display both varieties. It is not enough to look and behave religiously – in some public forum like a church. On the other hand, religious righteousness shouldn’t be ignored either. But it must be true, spiritual religion – not the hypocritical kind. It must be spirituality, not religiosity. We must be different from both the Pharisee and from the Barbarian.
First, we must not practice our piety for publicity and show.
“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.” At first this sounds like it contradicts what the Lord has already told us: “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” How do we explain that apparent contradiction? Well, what do you think about this statement: “We are to shine when we are tempted to hide, and we are to hide when we are tempted to shine.” Let me use church music, and especially specials, as an illustration. Most of those who sing specials and who play for us to sing would really rather not do it. As far as I know there are none of us who think that we are really very good with our music. Some people serve in the area of music, to keep me from picking on them. But I sincerely doubt that any of our singers or instrumentalists do it out of pride. A few years ago, we had a man visiting with us, who told me that he was a musician. If I gave you enough time to think, you might remember a man who built and repaired stringed instruments for a living – that was the man. After a couple of weeks, he told me that he was ready, willing and able to share his talents with us. I tried, as politely as possible, to tell him that he wasn’t going to play for us – to perform for us. After that service he was gone, and he didn’t return. I won’t accuse him of wanting to play out of pride, but that could have been his motivation. If someone was constantly begging me, “Let me sing, let me play, let me sing,” I might be a little reluctant, worrying about his motives. For his own protection, I might refuse. Our service must be for the glory of Christ not for the glory of the Christian. “If you your ears would keep from jeers and cheers; these things keep meekly hid – Myself and I, and mine and my, and what I do and did.” The Lord wants us to be like the stars – the largest things in the heavens, but which look like the smallest.
The kind of religious righteous to which Jesus refers to are: alms, prayer and fasting. “Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are… Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites….” We notice that our Lord doesn’t say, “if’, but “when” you pray, you fast, and you give. It’s as though he was saying, “This is what I expect from you.” We also notice that these things reach towards other people, toward the Lord, and not toward ourselves.
Special Christian giving.
“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.”
The word for “almsgiving” refers to a deed of mercy or pity. It has nothing to do with tithing, but with showing mercy – mercy even to an enemy. It is reaching out to some specific person who is in need, and helping him through that need. But it’s not enough to be giving something, the Lord is concerned with the heart of the giver. It is possible to be giving in order to please men, or please ourselves, but with no thought of the Lord. If it was said of anyone else besides the Lord, it would be sin, but Jehovah wants to be first, on top and preeminent. If the Lord is not the reason we do things, then those things are either of little importance or they are sinful
As for the Pharisees, they loved the praise of other Pharisees. They ate it up like a Piranha eating up the dead chicken that fell into the stream. To stand with a penny in one hand and a trumpet in the other was the posture of the hypocrite. The chicken lays her egg in secret but tells all world by her clucking.
As I’ve told you before, the word “hypocrite” originally referred to someone who was an actor. It is anyone who plays the role of a person that he’s really not. In a theater there is usually no harm in that, because no one expects the truth, but not so in life. An actor usually gets paid for his work and so does the hypocrite – usually immediately.
Ideally, we aren’t even to let our left hand know that we are giving. That illustration isn’t not too hard to figure out. Those who are right handed, have to think hard about making their left hand do what their right hand does naturally. There thousands of things that one hand does automatically which we don’t ever consider. Have you ever tried to use the mouse on your computer with your opposite hand – it’s nearly impossible.
Now, you’ve gone into a store and seen something on sale – something that you’ve wanted for a long time. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the money that you have is already designated for something else. So you begin to debate with yourself. Should I? Should I not. And, of course, finally you do. But then when you get home, you start kicking yourself because you gave in. When it comes to giving to the Lord, there shouldn’t be second thought – not a word of debate. The left hand certainly shouldn’t be telling the right hand that it made a mistake, or vise versa. When the gift has been given, forget about it. That may not be the only criteria, but that is the only kind of giving that renders rewards in heaven.
But the subject of divine awards disturbs some people. “When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.” One variety of Pharisee may say, “I don’t want some man – or even God – rewarding me for my giving.” But what is it when God speaks of rewards? I have been rewarded for my love for my wife – the reward is good marriage. But did I love her in order to be rewarded with a good marriage? It was not a silver cup I wanted to display on my trophy case stamped – “Forty-three years of marriage.” Service for Christ likewise doesn’t produce rewards the way that it does in the world. The reward which the Lord gives may not even be any specific thing, but simply His smile. Our Christian giving is to be done as a response to His grace, not a bribe for more blessings.
Then we come to our Christian praying.
“When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
Hypocrites pray for parade, not for the Lord or those for whom they pray. The sin that lurked in the Pharisees’ hearts was their undiminished pride. And that pride did not die with the destruction of Jerusalem and those first century Pharisees. It still lives in churches and among the children of God. It is often heard in the public prayers of the saints of God.
Our real prayer life is not what people see in church, but rather what is hidden at home. “Pray to your father which is in secret” – “Pray to the One Who is in that secret place.” Nothing destroys prayer like watching whose who are watching you when you pray. And nothing enriches prayer like knowing that the Lord is present with us. The word “closet” some scholars say that refers to “store-room,” and our logic agrees. What do we find in our storerooms? That’s where we keep our stuff. Our prayer closet is our treasure room. Some of our greatest treasures can only be obtained through prayer. The Lord has much more to say about prayer, so I’ll just stick to His primary thought – don’t pray for the show of it.
And then similarly, let’s quickly refer to fasting.
Verse 16 – “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”
The Pharisees fasted twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. John the Baptist and his disciples also fasted regularly and often. But Jesus’ disciples didn’t, and they were even told not to do so. The reason was that they were still enjoying the blessing of presence of Christ. What does that mean for us? It makes it a matter open to debate.
Fasting is the total abstention from food, for some designated period time. It teaches a person self-denial and self-discipline. In the Word of God, it is often connected to repentance. Such as with the Ninevites at the preaching of Jonah. Fasting is also connected to seeking God’s blessings. Esther asked the Jews to pray and fast before she went to see the king. David fasted as he sought the Lord’s blessing on the dying baby of Bathsheba. It seems that special needs require special prayer and special prayer may require concentration and fasting. It also appears that there is far too little fasting today. Oh, we fast to loose weight or to purify our systems, but do we fast for God?
The problem in Jesus’ day wasn’t the amount of fasting, but the manner of the fasting. Often if someone was fasting, they made sure the rest city knew about it. They put on their fasting clothes, their fasting face, their fasting slouch, and their fasting deodorant. But Jesus essentially said, “Fast so as to please your Heavenly Father, not your earthly neighbor.”
In each of these three things, the lesson is that we need to be God-conscious, forgetting everything else. The Pharisees were conscious of other Pharisees, and we might be conscious of other, or perhaps of ourselves. But, ideally our thoughts should be only on the Lord in any of our religious activities. The Lord is ever watching us – not as a reporter or policeman – but as our loving Heavenly Father. The world is a stage and every man a player, but the difference between the hypocrite and righteous man is in recognizing who makes up the audience. If we require human spectators before we start to perform, we shall loose our Christian integrity. But if we dance for the Lord only, we shall be eternally blessed.