Year 3, Day 180: Matthew 6

True Righteousness in Generosity, Prayer, and Fasting

I think the key to understanding verses 1-8 and 16-18 is found in a small phrase in verse 1: “in order to be seen by them.”  Today we get to talk about motivation as a part of righteous ministry.  Far too often I hear people lift up this passage as an excuse for never doing anything public.  That isn’t Jesus’ point.  Remember, almost everything that we have recorded from Jesus’ ministry was public and “before others.”  There is nothing wrong with doing anything in private.  There is nothing wrong with doing ministry in public – as long as it is for the right reasons.

Jesus is telling us to be careful in public ministry so that our motivation is not “to be seen by others.”  In other words, Jesus is telling us to be careful to not fall in love with the praise and the accolades.  Trust me, that is very easy to do.  Who doesn’t love a good pat on the back once and a while?  Who wouldn’t love an “atta-boy” every day?

Jesus is saying that we need to be careful to do mission for the right reasons.  God should get the glory, not us.  We should do mission so that people feel the presence and love of God.  We should do mission so that people see God through us and so that they can imitate and innovate upon our example.  {For a Biblical understanding of this, see the example of Barnabas in Acts 4:34-37 and how everyone knew about his giving but it was never about giving praise to Barnabas.}  It never is about us receiving praise and glory.  That isn’t why we do mission.

In fact, Jesus tells us point blank.  When we do something for the sake of getting praise and we get praise, then we’ve gotten our reward.  God won’t reward us, because we’ve already gotten what we wanted.  Even the largest monetary donation done for the reason of personal glorification won’t be seen as a righteous act by God.

This teaching really takes me back to the story of the woman at the temple who drops in a few small pennies {See Mark 12:41-44}.  Jesus praises this woman over and above the pomp and circumstance over the large donations.  Here is a woman who gave what she could because of her relationship with God.  It didn’t matter what anyone else thought of her or her gift.  That’s what Jesus is talking about as we open chapter 6.

The Lord’s Prayer

Notice the thrust of the Lord’s Prayer.  When Jesus teaches about prayer, there are two foci:

1. First is giving praise to God.  His name is hallowed – a word that means to regard as holy (different/separate).  Our priority is God’s agenda – His kingdom coming on His time and according to His way.  Our reference point is heaven, God’ dwelling place.  We ask for what God knows we need.
2. Second, our focus is on relationships.  We ask for our relationship to be restored with God.  We ask God to restore our relationships with one another.  We ask that our relationships in the future would be according to His desires and not according to our temptations.  We ask him to protect us from falling into relationship with the Evil One – or just plain evil.

I think it is pretty cool that the Lord’s Prayer mimics the thrust of the two Greatest Commandments.  Love the Lord your God … love your neighbors as yourself.  God and relationship are the main two foci of each great teaching.

Treasure

In the next section of verses the Lord links together the heart and the eye.  First He tells us to lay up our treasure in heaven.  For where our treasure is, there our heart will also be.  This is so true about humanity.  We say we are all about the right things.  But you can really tell who a person is by how they spend their time and how they spend their money.  What is the old expression?  Talk is cheap.  You can judge a person’s heart by what they do with time and money.

Then Jesus tells us to not only be careful about our heart, but also about our eye.  For the erosion of the heart begins with the sight of the eye.  We long for that which we see other people enjoying.  We lust after things we see but cannot have.  If we really want to have an easier time laying up our treasures in heaven, we should be careful where we allow our eyes to stray.

Two Masters

Here is another famous teaching of Jesus.  You cannot serve two masters.  Combine this teaching with Exodus 20:3.  Not only can you not serve two masters, but God wants to be first.  If you can’t have more than one and God says it has to be Him, then God is really saying He is an only.  He wants your undivided attention.  He wants your undivided focus.  He wants everything you say, do, and think to reflect His character.

I don’t think I have to go too far out on a limb to suggest that we all fall short of this one.  We all can repent on this topic.  I don’t think any one of us can claim to be solely devoted to God as our only master.  It looks like repentance is ahead of me on this one!

Anxiety

The last topic in Matthew 6 is anxiety.  I love the verse, “which of you by being anxious can add even a single hour to your life?”  That pretty much says it all right there.  Today’s troubles will be enough.  Tomorrow’s troubles will come on their own and we won’t be able to avoid them.  Why waste time being anxious?  Easier said than done, I know.

So how does one avoid being anxious?  Jesus tells us the answer.  First, seek the kingdom of God.  Focus on God and what God desires. When we do that, many of the worldly things that we worry about go away.  Second, put your trust in God’s ability to provide for whatever is left over.  If it is of God, then God has the power and the desire to provide it for you.  So why worry?

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