Seeking the
Praise of God or Men
Matthew 6:1-18
by Paul George
The subject matter in these verses
focuses on giving, praying and fasting. The initial reading of the passage will
show that the basic teaching of Jesus will be to avoid the seeking the praise of
men and to seek to please God.
The first four verses cover the subject of “almsgiving” or giving to the poor.
The general warning is not to do acts of righteousness before other people, to
be seen by them, for then there will be no reward. There are times when it is
necessary to do good deeds publicly. However, Jesus was speaking about
intention, not to do them so that people would see and therefore think that you
are spiritual. That is one form of hypocrisy, for in doing it that way you would
not be seriously interested in doing the good deed, but in appearing to be doing
good deeds. The motivation would be primarily self-promoting and the Lord always
looks at the motives when He evaluates our works.
There is a trend today, especially in affluent societies, to let this one go.
The thinking may be that the poor are just lazy and should work harder, or that
it is the government’s responsibility to help them, or that it is a never-ending
task and so it will not do much good anyway, and so on. There are many reasons
people can come up with to avoid this spiritual duty. Prosperity theology fits
into the reasoning as well, teaching that if people had faith they would have
wealth, because God wants His children to be rich. What is most disturbing is to
see the wealthy and the successful promoted on Christian talk shows on
television or on stage in services as if they were the spiritual ones, blessed
by God. Jesus said that when people give money to the poor they should not
“sound the trumpet” as the hypocrites do in order to be recognized and honored
by others (6:2-4). There are a number of ideas about the meaning of “sounding
the trumpet” but the point is clear that the hypocritical almsgiver was more
concerned about being noticed for his deed than for helping the poor. Jesus said
we are not to do this. Those who do this would receive no reward from God,
because their almsgiving was motivated by seeking the praise of men. Jesus calls
those who seek the praise of men in their almsgiving, it is all a show of
spirituality, but it is not genuine. Many people will give to the poor, but they
thrive on the praise of people who perceive them to be generous and spiritual.
Jesus was saying that if you give to the poor in order to receive this acclaim,
then that is all the reward you will receive.
The subject of rewards is a difficult subject. The Bible warns people not to do
good deeds for the praise and honor you would get from other people; and on the
other hand, it instructs people to run the race for the reward. There is nothing
wrong with doing a righteous deed for the sake of receiving a reward, or praise,
as long as the praise you seek is of God. In the Bible, when we are instructed
to do acts of righteousness there is always a mention of reward from the Father
in heaven. There has to be a motivation for the righteous deeds and our chief
motivation is to please God. How will we know if we have pleased God? By His
“Well done, good and faithful servant.” This is very different from doing
something so that others in the church will praise you or think more highly of
you than they should.
Jesus said that when you give to the poor do it in a way that is secret, without
the public notice and acclaim, and without the poor knowing it was you who gave.
If God is the motivator of our good deeds, what people will think about us or
what debt of gratitude they feel they owe us has no value.
The second point in Jesus’ instructions to the disciples is prayer. He told the
disciples, the hypocrites “love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the
street corners so that they may be seen by men.” Jesus was describing someone
who may or may not be sincerely praying, but certainly wants everyone to know he
prays. Jesus was not ruling out public prayer; rather, He was criticizing the
motivation of the hypocrite. Once again, Jesus was denouncing any religious act
that is inspired by the opinions of people. In his denouncement He used sarcasm
again: “They have their reward.”
There were two principle errors in the scribes and Pharisees posture of prayer,
seeking the praise of men (v 5) and meaningless petitions (v 7). The places
where they prayed, in the synagogues, which was the proper place for public
prayer, but not for personal, and the corners of the streets. The purpose in
praying on the corners of the street was to give the impression of their
devotion to keeping the appointed hours for prayer; the real purpose was to seek
the praise of men
Praying in these public places revealed two things about the attitude of the
scribes and Pharisees, first, they did not love prayer for its own sake, but
they loved it when it gave them an opportunity of making themselves noticed.
Second, they used prayer to seek the praise of men and not acceptance by God.
If we seek the approval of God when we pray we must ignore the praise of men
because we do not pray to men expecting an answer, when we pray our eyes must be
focused on God and not self or our fellowman. A story comes to mind of an
elderly, quiet woman when asked to pray, after a few moments of silence she said
“amen.” After the service, one of her friends told her she could not hear what
she prayed. The woman answered, “if I was praying to you, you would have heard
my pray, I was praying to the Lord.” When we pray what passes between God and
our own souls must be out of sight. Public places are not the proper places for
private solemn prayer. In His instructions to the disciples Jesus was not
condemning public prayer. Public prayer has its place in the worship service.
Jesus told the disciples, instead of praying in public places pray in a private
place. Jesus often went alone to the mountains and prayed. Peter went to a
housetop to pray. The private place of prayer is a place where we can pray and
not be seen, interrupted, disturbed, distracted and heard. The private place of
prayer is the place where we have the freedom to pray we that do not have in the
public place. In the private place of prayer, we can share with God the deepest
desires of our hearts.
The second thing Jesus told the disciples to avoid was meaningless repetitions
(v 7).
Jesus was not speaking against long prayers or repetition in prayers He was
talking about trying to manipulate God through long and repetitious prayers. God
does not need endless detailed information. Jesus said to avoid these practices,
“Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
In his letter to the Thessalonians the apostle Paul told them, “pray without
ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). How would that teaching harmonize with Jesus’
warning not to think long repetitions prayers will break through to God. “Pray
without ceasing” is not meant to be taken literally, or we would do absolutely
nothing in life but pray. However, it is meant to be taken literally in the
sense that prayer should be a continuous, never-ending discipline of the
spiritual life. It should be like a natural reflex, every time the Christian
encounters a need, a problem, a person in trouble, a situation in the world,
prayer should be made, and prayer should be the natural communication between
the Christian and the Father in heaven, on every issue in life. Prayer is the
pouring out of the heart to our heavenly Father.
In verse nine, Jesus tells the disciples to pray in this way,
“Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the
kingdom
and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
We are to pray to our Father who is in heaven and not to saints and angels, for
they are ignorant of us and are not to have the high honors that belong to our
heavenly Father. Men call God their Father because He is a common Father to all
humanity by creation, (Malachi 2:10, Acts 17:28). Christians call God Father
because we are His children by adoption and regeneration (Ephesians 1:5;
Galatians 4:6). There is nothing more pleasing to God when we call Him, Father.
We often refer to this prayer as the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer is the
disciple’s prayer, a prayer given by the Lord to the disciples. The prayer has
an opening address and then six requests, the first three requests are for God’s
glory, and the next three for our good, and ultimately His glory.
The address, “Our Father who is in heaven”, is clearly intended for us, the
disciples and believers, for Jesus always called the Father “My Father” or “the
Father” apart from this instruction on prayer. There is therefore a great
difference in the use of the word “Father” for us, as opposed to the use by
Jesus. When Jesus refers to “the Father,” or “My Father,” He can claim a special
and unique relationship, for He shares the nature of the Father. When we use the
word “Father,” it is a reminder that through Jesus we are brought into the
family of God by adoption, and made joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, the true Son.
The modern attempt to undermine the language ignores what the word “father”
meant in the Hebrew culture. It clearly emphasizes the biblical teachings that
God is the creator, the sovereign head of all creation, the provider of all
life, the great benefactor, and the covenant-making God. The fact that Jesus
taught us to address God this way has to be taken seriously. We all substitute
words for God when we pray, Lord, Everlasting God, God of all comfort, and so
on, and so that is not a problem. However, some substitutions would be a problem
if they give the wrong impression of God’s nature. To address God as Father in
heaven is to emphasize the transcendence of God. God is not of the earth earthly
or of our world physical. God is in heaven. Thus, “Father” is clearly an
intended metaphor; God is not like any human father, but is perfect, heavenly,
exalted. Referring to God in heaven as “our Father” emphasizes that God is
immanent as well. We are related to God; God is near and approachable.
Heaven is a place of perfect purity. From heaven, God beholds the children of
men and He has a full and clear view of all our wants, burdens, desires, and all
our infirmities. God is not only a Father, able to help us, able to do great
things for us, more than we can ask or think; He has the ability to supply our
needs. He is a Father; therefore, we may come to Him with boldness, but with
reverence. All our prayers should conform to that which is our great aim as
Christians, and that is, to be with God in heaven.
“Hallowed be Your name, in these words, we give glory to God, for God's holiness
is the greatness and glory of all his perfections. We begin our prayers with
praising God, and it is fitting that we should give glory to God, before we
expect to receive mercy and grace from Him. Let Him have praise for His
perfections, and then let us have the benefit of them. Since all is of Him and
through Him, all must be to Him and for Him. The Pharisees made their own name
the chief end of their prayers, “to be seen of men” (v 5) in direct opposition
we are directed to make the name of God our chief end; let all our petitions
center in this and be regulated by it.
In Ezekiel 36, the word of the Lord said that the Israelites had profaned the
name of the Lord everywhere they went. Now that they were in captivity, God’s
word was in question, and His ability to save challenged. Therefore, the Lord
declared that He would restore them to the land, not because they deserved it,
but because His reputation was at stake, it would be “for His name’s sake.” By
sin people have interfered with God’s program; and the faith has been made to
look ineffectual, and God, common. However, God will not leave it there.
Therefore, to pray “Hallowed be your name” is to pray that God will act to
fulfill all His word so that everyone will know that he is different from
everyone else, that He is the holy Lord God.
The request, “Your kingdom come” logically follows “Hallowed be Your name”, for
when the kingdom fully comes God will be seen as the one whose word can be
trusted. Therefore, this request ultimately looks forward to the consummation of
the age.
It is true that the kingdom of our Lord has begun, and that all of us who are
believers are already in the kingdom, and that the Lord Christ is seated on the
right hand of the Majesty on High. However, all of that is but the beginning,
for the kingdom has not yet fully come. The Lord is not yet ruling over the
whole world in righteousness and peace. Sin still abounds. There will come a
time when the Father will say to the Son, “Ask of me and I will give you the
nations for your inheritance” (Psalm 2). Then He will bring the Messiah into the
world for the second time (Hebrews 1:6), not in shame and sacrifice, but in
glory. Therefore, the prayer here is actually a request for the second coming,
and all that will come with it.
The third request, “Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”, is a
request that God would bring about His righteous demands in history as fully as
they are realized in heaven. The simple fact is that God’s will is not being
done on earth, apart from pockets of obedience here and there from time to time.
We pray for, and eagerly look forward to, the time that Christ shall put down
the last of the enemies. However, until then we must endure a world where sin,
disease, and death reign.
This request should remind us that we should be doing the will of God that we
are praying for otherwise it is hypocrisy. It is true of many prayers that those
who pray become part of the answer to the prayer. This principle is true of all
these first three requests. As we ask for major changes in the world for God’s
glory, all the requests are actually applicable in this way for us. We as God’s
people are to act in such a way as to hallow His name, submit to His rule, and
do His will.
The fourth request, “Give us this day our daily bread.” The last three requests
are for the good of the people while they await the consummation of the ages.
The first request focuses on God’s meeting our daily needs, not what we want.
The use of the word “bread” is, of course, a figure of speech, meaning the basic
food we need.
So why do we need to pray this, when we have a steady income and there is always
food in the house? Praying give us our daily bread is a humble request, designed
to ensure that an attitude of faith and reliance on God will be kept in mind day
by day. It is when we gain abundance so that we have far more than we ever need
that we forget about depending on God each day for our livelihood. Moses warned
the people not to forget the Lord when they are settled, comfortable, and well
off in the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 8). This request is for God to provide our
daily sustenance while we travel through this temporary life.
The fifth request, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our
debtors.” This request recognizes that every one of us owes a debt to God for
sin and its consequences, and that it is essential to be forgiven. Our hearts'
desire and prayer to our heavenly Father every day should be, that He would
forgive us our debts that we may not come into condemnation.
“As we forgive our debtors.” this is not a plea of merit, but a plea of grace.
Those that come to God for the forgiveness of their sins against Him must
forgive those who have offended them. This is not a reference to money, it is a
reference injury. Our debtors are those whose persecution we must bear, forgive,
and forget the wrongs done us; and this is a moral qualification for pardon and
peace; it encourages us to hope, that God will forgive us.
To forgive others is the natural response of one who knows and understands
forgiveness; to refuse to forgive others does not. One who does not forgive
others has an arrogant attitude, which is not representative of someone who
acknowledges the need for forgiveness we all share. It is like playing God.
Jesus seems to be saying that there is no forgiveness for one who is
unforgiving, that person is self-righteous and apparently does not exhibit a
need for forgiveness. However, when we ask the Lord to forgive us, we should be
so thankful for his forgiveness that we share in that spirit in our dealings
with other people.
This request, then, is concerned with our inter-relationships, with our
community life as confessing believers. Jesus further explains it in verses 14
and 15, which indicates how seriously He intended us to take forgiving each
other. However, we must admit that we surely do fail in this area. None of us
would want God to forgive us the way that we in the church forgive one another.
However, our asking God for forgiveness should make us think again, of how we
forgive others.
The last request, is concerned with our conflict with evil, “and do not lead us
into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” The idea seems not to be
“temptation” in the immediate sense, for the Bible says that God does not tempt
anyone to evil. Therefore, that would be an unnecessary prayer. It probably
should have as its primary rendering “lead us not into testing/trial.” If we
pray that God lead us not into testing, we would be praying that He not do
something that Scripture says that He frequently does. A good illustration is in
the wilderness, when the Lord led the people to bitter water to test them
(Exodus 15). There they murmured against the Lord, a sin. God led them to the
test; their response to the test that was sinful. Therefore, there is a fine
line between the two. However, no one can say God made me sin, or led me into
temptation; but we can say that God puts us into situations to prove our faith.
Jesus is probably intending for us to pray that God not lead us into a place of
trials that would be so severe to bring about a fall into sin. The final clause
shows that the ultimate desire is victory over evil in this world: “deliver us
from evil,” or more likely, “the evil one.” Satan often waits in the times of
trial for his opportunity, and to fail to demonstrate faith in a time of testing
would be to succumb to the evil one. Nevertheless, the focus of the prayer is
for spiritual victory over all evil in the world.
The third section now concerns fasting. First, there is a warning of what not to
do, instructions of what to do and the promise of a reward.
Jesus here criticized the hypocritical acts of disfiguring the face for a public
show, to be seen by others as one who fasts and therefore who must be spiritual
(6:16). This is perhaps the biggest hypocrisy, because fasting was a sign of
humility before God, not an occasion for self-promotion.
Fasting had a distinct purpose in Israel. It was a way of saying “no” to the
physical and material needs of the body and giving all the attention to
spiritual matters. It was a way of saying that this time of prayer, or this time
of repentance, is the most important thing in life. The Law commanded Israel to
fast at the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29-31; 23:27-32; Numbers 29:7); and
after the exile other fasts were added (Zechariah 7:3; 8:19). However, people
could fast and pray anytime there was a need. An individual could fast at any
time that some special petition was offered. Jesus Himself was in the wilderness
for forty days, fasting and praying.
To proclaim a fast without any concern for changing the life as a whole missed
the point. People cannot think that by fasting for one day, or for one month,
they have put things back into balance. The fasting is supposed to have a
lasting impact for righteousness. Fasting is not a common part of worship in
most churches today, which is perhaps a pity, for if it were understood and done
correctly it would be spiritually beneficial.
Jesus told the disciples, “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the
hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by
men when they are fasting.” Jesus told the disciples when they fast they wash
their faces so that people will not see they are fasting. Only God will see, and
He will reward the act as a righteous act.
The lesson taught in chapter 6 verses 1-18 reveals how much of our religious
conduct is regulated by the opinions and approval of other people. It is not our
task to appear to be righteous before other people. Rather, it is our task to be
well pleasing to the Lord. If we seek the praise of men, then whatever enjoyment
we derive from that will be all the reward there is. However, what we do to
please God, even if our religious conduct is unknown to men it will be praised
and rewarded in the courts of heaven.
This is why the Disciple’s Prayer is such an important part of this passage. In
praying such a prayer, we are seeking to know and do the will of the Father in
heaven, with that theme as our daily prayer, our understanding of and motivation
for praying, and fasting, and giving to the poor, will reach a higher level. We
must seek to do the will of God daily.
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