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Posted: 9/5/03

LifeWay Family Bible Series for Sept. 14

Worship is meant to glorify God, not self

Matthew 6:1-18

By David Jenkins

New Hope Baptist Church, Big Sandy

Hypocrisy is not always the blatant, “in-your-face” kind of false piety demonstrated by many of the Pharisees and other religious leaders of Jesus' day. Sometimes it is very subtle, even cloaked in a false humility that can appear genuine. Being the omniscient Son of God, Jesus recognized insincere motives immediately. Because the human ego by nature demands praise, Jesus knew the most effective citizens of his kingdom must be continually conscious of this inherent weakness.

In their effort to build their own bridge of righteousness to God, the Jews drove down three great pilings–acts of righteousness, prayer and fasting. All three of these activities were good when done in the right way and with the right motives. Jesus did not condemn these good works. He merely said they became worthless and even harmful when done in the wrong way.

He obviously was dealing with hypocrisy. According to the Greek definition of the word, a hypocrite was an actor, a pretender a performer. Sadly, the modern way that we “do church” often encourages performing for applause rather than ministering for the glory of God.

Doing acts of righteousness (6:1-4)

“Acts of righteousness” can cover a broad range of good deeds done to help others. Jesus emphasized giving to the needy because the Jews considered almsgiving the most important religious duty. The same Hebrew word was translated both righteousness and almsgiving. To them, to give to the needy and to be righteous were the same thing.

Some even believed giving alms would assure forgiveness for past sins. They considered the perfect gift was given so that the one receiving it did not know from whom it came, and the giver did not know who received it. There was an ancient rabbi who, when he would give alms, would drop money behind him so he would not see who picked it up.

It was not long, however, until the actual practice of doing “acts of righteousness” began to fall far short of the godly precept. It became far more gratifying to do good works so that others might see the act and praise the actor! Jesus said that what our right hand gives should be so secretive our left hand could not find it out. Could it be that the “right hand” represents the good deed, and the “left hand” the selfish ego? All of our good works must be done for God alone, who will bless us openly with his grace.

A lesson in proper praying (6:5-15)

In beginning his discussion about prayer, Jesus connected it to doing good deeds with the conjunction “and.” It is just as important to pray aright as it is to do one's acts of service to honor God. Many of the religious leaders had a wrong concept of prayer. They would stand in the synagogues and in the streets when they prayed.

Nothing was wrong with “standing,”–that was a typical Jewish posture in praying. It was where they stood–places where they could be seen and heard. “Seen by men” means literally to “shine” before men. True prayer is characterized by the inner motive and the attitude of the heart. Jesus urged his followers to make sure their praying was personal and private. Even prayers offered publicly should reflect a genuine communication between one's heart and God.

Jesus also condemned the long, repetitive prayers offered to impress people rather than to communicate with God, who already knows our needs before we share them. True prayer is more establishing a relationship than a means of entreaty. To drive home his point concerning prayer, Jesus gave his disciples a model prayer right in form, content and spirit. Not a single, unnecessary word appears in the model prayer. It is a prayer only a disciple of Christ can pray.

Six petitions make up this prayer. The first three have to do with God and his glory, and the second three deal with our needs and necessities. Only after we give God his supreme place in our lives are we to focus on our own needs and desires. Prayer must never be an effort to bend God's will to meet our needs, but rather a determination to submit our wills to the will of God.

How not to fast (6:16-18)

Among the Jews and early Christians, fasting often accompanied prayer. The law required people to fast only on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27). To the Jews, fasting and sorrow went together. The Pharisees fasted so people would consider them unusually holy and righteous. They disfigured their faces with ashes when they fasted in order to call attention to themselves.

Jesus did not forbid nor minimize the practice of fasting. He warned his followers to do nothing to call attention to themselves when they fasted. On the contrary, they should wash their faces and appear as normal as possible. Fasting should be a time when we forego anything, even food, that would distract us from concentrating on God.

Question for discussion

Do my acts of worship glorify God or myself?