Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Giving to the Needy

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.

Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The Lord’s Prayer

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.

For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.

Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

This week we’re transitioning away from Jesus’ teachings of reformation concerning the OT law, to his warnings against public piety, so he begins in verse 1 with the word ‘beware’.

He says,

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people

And after this he goes on to give his disciples three areas in which they ought to beware of practicing their righteousness before others.

The first is found in verse 2, “when you give to the needy”, the second is found in verse 5, “when you pray”, and the third is found in verse 16, “when you fast.”

Now you’ll notice it’s quite a jump from verse 5 to verse 16, and that’s because when Jesus begins discussing the matter concerning prayer he seems to digress and take the opportunity to teach more extensively on the subject of prayer, particularly concerning how we ought to pray.

So this week we’re going to look at the first two areas of righteousness, or personal piety, that Jesus deals with in verses 1-6, that is, giving to the poor (or almsgiving) and prayer.

And during our next time together we’ll begin looking at Jesus’ words concerning how we ought to pray.

And finally we’ll look at Jesus’ last teaching on personal piety, which is fasting.

Religious Piety

You may have noticed already that I’ve interpreted Jesus’ use of the word righteousness here in verse 1 as religious piety.

I’ve done this first because I believe it is correct and two because I think that it helps us distinguish between what it is Jesus means here and what it is Jesus means elsewhere when he uses similar language.

Let your light shine before men

For instance, turn with me back to verse 14 of chapter 5,

14 “You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Notice in verse 16 that Jesus uses the phrase “good works” which is the other text book definition of the word righteousness used back in verse 1 of chapter 6.

However, the good works spoken of here in chapter 5 are works that Jesus intends for us to let shine before others.

Whereas his prescription, which we will see later, for the righteousness practiced in chapter 6 is intended to be done in secret.

In chapter 5 Jesus says that our good works ought to be put on display, that they ought not to be hidden.

The question then is what kind of good works should we let shine before others?

I think some of that question can be answered simply by the verses that precede it.

Look at verse 3,

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Humility is not something that’s practiced merely in secret, it isn’t that we should only be humble when no one is looking, but we should always practice humility, whether in secret or in public.

Look at verse 5,

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Meekness is also a righteous quality that should be practiced both privately and publicly.

Look at verse 7,

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

We ought to show mercy both publicly and in private, both within the confines of our homes and in the public square of our daily lives.

I’m also reminded of Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit in his letter to the Galatians.

reads,

the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control;

None of the good works in this list are to be kept hidden.

They are to be practiced both privately and publicly.

Religious piety practiced in secret

So it should be obvious that what Jesus means by the word righteousness in verse 1 of chapter 6 must be distinguished from the the good works described in chapter 5. It’s why I’ve chosen to use the phrase religious piety.

And I’ve intentionally used the word ‘distinguish’ because the three categories of pious actions addressed by Jesus in chapter 6 are certainly to be considered good works, in that they ought to be pleasing to God, but they are distinct in that they are generally intended to be practiced in secret.

Piety and its purpose

Now we don’t use the word piety very often in our regular conversations but I suspect most of us have at least some basic understanding of its meaning.

The word simply means reverent, it’s used to describe religious devotion, and for us as Christians piety should always have the glory of God as its ultimate aim.

And it’s this very issue that’s at the heart of what Jesus intends to communicate to his disciples.

Look back with me again at verse 1,

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

The desire to be seen by others

He then goes on to outline 3 particular areas of righteousness that we’re in danger of practicing before others with the intent of being seen by others.

That little phrase ‘in order’ is crucial to understanding what Jesus means here.

He’s pointing out that if our pious actions, whether that’s giving to the needy, or praying, or fasting are done with the intention of being seen by others then we will have no reward from our heavenly Father.

Piety that’s not pleasing to God

In other words, if your piety demonstrated in giving, praying and fasting are not done with the intention to love and glorify God then your pious actions are not pleasing to God.

Those actions may very well have some kind of short-term and horizontal benefit to the people around you but if we do them with the intent to be seen by others, then our righteousness is not righteousness at all in the sense that it no longer pleases God.

Piety motivated by faith

That’s why there’s a danger in practicing such righteousness in public, and that danger lies in the purpose and motivation behind performing our good works.

It isn't merely the external performances that God sees, but he looks at the heart, he looks at our intentions, our motivations and our purposes for carrying out our actions.

One example of this is found in Genesis chapter 4 when Cain and Abel offer their sacrifices to God.

We’ll read starting in verse 1 of chapter 4,

Cain and Abel

4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel.

Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.

3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions.

And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.

So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

6 The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?

7 If you do well, will you not be accepted?

And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.

Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

The difference between Cain and Abel

Many over the centuries have speculated as to why Abel’s sacrifice was pleasing to God and Cain’s was not.

One of the popular views is that because Abel’s sacrifice was a blood sacrifice and Cain’s was not, that God had regard for Abel’s sacrifice more than for Cain’s, but I don’t think that’s the case, for two reasons.

The first, is because in the OT there are a multitude of non-blood sacrifices approved by God, and two, is because the writer of Hebrews gives us a clearer understanding of why Cain’s offering was rejected and Abel’s was accepted, and that explanation has nothing to do with the type of sacrifice offered.

Let’s look at Hebrews chapter 11, verse 4,

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.

I think verse 4 at the very least implies that the sacrifice, or the gift, offered by Abel was more acceptable because his sacrifice was done in faith.

And because his offering was by faith God commended him as righteous, God accepted his gifts.

Do you remember what Jesus said back in about righteousness?

He said,

6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Faith is the difference

So it’s because Cain did not offer his sacrifice by faith that he was rejected.

In other words, Cain, in some way, was practicing his righteousness in such a fashion that he was not seeking to please God, therefore God had no regard for his righteousness.

What appeared to be righteousness from the outside was found to be lacking, lacking specifically faith in God, or a heart that’s seeking to please God, which is absolutely necessary for God to have regard for our actions.

Look back at Hebrews chapter 11, and look at verse 6,

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Again, listen to Jesus back in ,