Matthew 6:1-5 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”
True Christianity is a belief that God exists and that all things are to be done for his pleasure and glory. God is the rewarder of those who seek only to please by channeling their lives into doing good. Christians who walk through their lives with the emphasis of helping people, seeking the best for all the lives they contact will be greatly rewarded by the God of creation. Faithful Christians who house, clothe, and feed people during their short lives will be richly rewarded when they meet God after their demise. As we read in the Bible, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6) God is a good God, faithful to all who do his will. Jesus gets down to the nitty-gritty of religion when He tells the people that serving God should be done without needing some sort of recognition or reciprocation from humans. Sadly, often religious people of all persuasions seek recognition from other humans. Without a desire to please God only, we come into the context of many religions: to please men, to be seen by others. Many clergy and religious devotees around the world separate themselves by their clothing, appearance, living spaces, and even the way they act among men as monks, priests, clerics, gurus, and the like. They want to be seen, recognized for their piety, their way of living, their humility, their attributes of goodness; but Jesus said all of this kind of thinking and acting will not be rewarded by the God of heaven. He will not share in any way his glory; his position of being the only one holy and good. Jesus told the rich young man that no one was holy, only God. As Jesus started on his way, a young man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone.” (Mark 10:17-18) Christians are to do good, to express their allegiance to God in a positive and helpful way to all of humanity. They should be leaders in lifting up the oppressed, the downhearted, the needy, and all who have a difficult time living in this world; but honoring God and him only should be the centerpiece of their lives. He must be glorified, not people. As Jesus said, No one is good—except God alone. No one knows the truth of goodness nor its origination but God, for He is the fountain of everything that is right or holy. Jesus who lived a righteous life withheld the tag of goodness to himself: He places it on his Father above. God is the source of righteousness, clean living, and goodness.
When we reflect God’s goodness, we should Be careful not to practice our righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If we do, we will have no reward from our Father in heaven. It is our obligation and privilege to display God and his goodness to the people of the world, but we are not to do positive things for humanity for our own honor or recognition. When we accept honor for ourselves without deflecting to God as the originator of all goodness, we fall into the mode of sin. Adam and Eve’s rebellion brought separation between God and man. When we do good to others, the motivation comes from God, even if we are not believers. John wrote: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5) As Jesus told the young man, only God is good. If you think you are good young man, go home and sell all you have and follow me. By doing that, the world will hate you, hunt you down and try to kill you. Of course, the young man wanted eternal life, but not at that price, for he was much involved with this world, tied down by the wealth he possessed. When we follow Jesus completely without seeking recognition for ourselves, we often walk a lonely road, with little reciprocation for our love and kindness. The apostle Paul in reaching out to different communities in his ministry of the Good News, often felt isolation and even poverty. To validate his ministry to others, he worked with his own hands to keep himself alive. He did not depend on the gifts of Christians for his survival. Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. (1 Thessalonians 2:9) Paul was willing to sacrifice everything for God. His life was on display before men, but he did not want their praise or any credit due him except his desire to please God. He did not do his good deeds before men to gain their recognition. He just wanted to please God with his life as a living sacrifice. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. Instead, we were like young children among you. (1 Thessalonians 2:4-7) Paul attempted in every way to be innocent of maneuvering people for his own benefit. He did not desire their recognition nor their reciprocation: he just wanted to please God. Jesus in today’s focus tells us that our good deeds first and foremost should be a gift to God. We are to do all things for his recognition and eventually his reciprocation. We are to serve him and him alone with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. Do not announce your good deeds with a trumpet, focusing attention on yourself; instead, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. No trumpet is needed in heaven to draw God’s attention to you; He sees all things and will reward appropriately.
When we pray, we should not use prayer as an arena for our thoughts, we should pray to God. Often when people pray, they pray to others. They forget that they are before the throne of God; consequently, they fail to address their words to the Creator and not to others. This is quite a common failing when praying in a congregation. God is listening and He knows our hearts, but still our focus can stray from communicating to him. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. In every prayer, we must present our petitions to him directly, not to others. He alone can answer our prayers, and He alone can change the hearts of men. We cannot do that no matter how much massaging of people’s minds we attempt in our prayers that are supposedly directed to God. Our minds and words in prayer should be fixed on the fact that we are talking to God. We are in his throne room now, not in our churches or buildings. In the above focus, Jesus emphasizes that the priests enjoyed praying before people. They loved to be the ones called on to give the invocations, petitions to God. But their prayers were not heard by God or honored by him because their words were focused on their own grandiose feelings. God honors the humble in heart, the ones who know that help and holiness originate with God, and He is listening to them attentively. To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’” (Luke 18:10-13) Praying, like giving to the needy, is a sacred activity. God has given us words to talk to him; He has given us strength to help others. We are to honor him, for everything worthwhile or good comes from his hands, from his existence. We are but representations of his goodness. Let us do everything for his glory, for his benefit. Like Paul, let us yield to the Lord. At the end of his life, he could say, For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. (2 Timothy 4:6) God will reward us for such a life. In fact, He has already rewarded us, for He calls us his sons and daughters, free to enter into his household or presence anytime we desire. Love God with all your heart and work for him only, not yourselves. In prayer or service, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:3-4) Amen.
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