Sermon notes

INTRODUCTION
Jesus teaches that our good works are light in a dark world (Matthew 5:14-16). At the center of the sermon, however, He describes acts of righteousness that are not to be done before men but before God alone. These secret acts are crucial to pursuing a righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, and crucial to the coming of the kingdom.

THE TEXT
"Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. . . ." (Matthew 6:1-18).

DISCIPLES AND HYPOCRITES
Three times in this passage Jesus describes the activity of "hypocrites" (vv. 2, 5, 16). In each case, they perform traditional duties of Jewish piety in order to be seen by men. They call attention to their generosity to the poor, pray long and flowery prayers, and put on a face to make sure everyone knows how much they are fasting. Their basic error is to consider men their judges. They receive honor and glory, but only from men. That is the extent of their reward, and it's paltry. Jesus instructs His disciples to avoid this kind of honor-seeking from men by doing our acts of righteousness in secret, before our Father, who is our true Judge (vv. 4, 6, 18). Jesus doesn't say that disciples shouldn’t be concerned with rewards. Instead, they should seek reward from the right place – from God.

SECRET PRAYER
The longest section deals with prayer, and this section raises some questions. Is Jesus condemning the practice of public prayer? Is He saying that "public" worship is wrong? That's impossible, since Jesus Himself took part in services at the synagogue and temple. He shows us, though, how we are to regard our public worship: We are not gathered here to impress one another. We are here, "in secret," to stand together before our Father. This is our inner room, and we call on the God who sees in secret to hear us.

JESUS' PRAYER
Jesus also gives a model prayer that avoids the "meaningless repetition" of the Gentiles (v. 7). It is short and direct. The prayer begins with petitions about the kingdom of God; it is a "kingdom prayer" first and foremost, a prayer that God would take charge and establish justice and harmony in creation. The petitions for bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil (vv. 11-13) should be seen in this light. We ask for daily bread so that we can participate in the coming of the kingdom.

FORGIVENESS
After giving this model prayer, Jesus focuses on the petition for forgiveness, and emphasizes the connection between our willingness to forgive others and our Father's forgiveness of us. He says that the Father’s forgiveness is dependent on our forgiveness of others (both verses 14 and 15 are phrased as "if . . . then" statements). Jesus later tells a dramatic and convicting parable about a servant whose master re-imposes a forgiven debt because the servant has been harsh toward his fellow-servant (Matthew 18:21-35).

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Monday, September 24, 2007 at 10:40 AM

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