Matthew 6 – In order to be seen of men
Introduction
A. Matthew 5:20 Your righteousness must exceed the practice of the Pharisees.
1. 5:21-26 You must do better at controlling your anger and insults, because such practices will lead you to hell. You must seek reconciliation, or your worship will not be accepted. See Isaiah 1.
2. 5:27-32 You must do better at controlling your lusts, because adultery in the heart will send you to hell as well as divorce and adultery.
3. 5:33-37 You must do better at telling the truth.
4. 5:38-48 You must do better at loving your neighbor, even if he is your enemy. We must behave as sons of God our Father and be perfect.
B. Matthew 6 exposes another fatal flaw of the Pharisees: practicing righteousness to be seen by men, approved and praised by the public.
I. The righteousness of charity – love of the poor.
A. Because many wanted the approval of the public leaders, and to be seen of men – many who believed in Jesus would not confess Him.
1. John 12:42-43 They loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. Although they believed that Jesus was God’s Son, they would not confess and risk losing the public acclaim.
2. Matthew 27:18 Moved by envy, they delivered up Jesus to be crucified. Jesus was honored more than they, so they hated Him.
3. Acts 13:45; 17:5 When the Gospel was successful reaching the hearts of many Gentiles, the Jews were moved with envy to oppose the grace of God that was given to save their souls.
B. God refused to reward the hypocrites who pretended to love the poor with compassionate alms.
1. Ananias and Sapphira lost their lives for the same hypocrisy, Acts 5:1-11.
2. Great fear fell on the church when they saw the judgment of God against such hypocrisy.
C. God refused to reward the one who prays to impress the public.
1. 5:5 They who stand and pray in the synagogues and street corners, to be seen by men.
2. 5:7 They who heap up empty phrases like the Gentiles, using many words. God is not impressed by what pleases men.
D. (6:16-18) God refused to reward the one who fasted to be seen by others.
1. Luke 18:12 The Pharisee would boast of his fast before God in his prayers.
2. The acceptable fast must be offered to God alone.
3. Jesus fasted 40 days in the wilderness. Matthew 4:2
4. The early church fasted, Acts 13:1-3, when praying and sending the evangelists to work.
5. Jesus acknowledged that fasting and prayer were necessary when the gifted disciples confronted difficult cases of demon possession.
6. And yet Jesus’ disciples did not fast as much as the disciples of John. Matthew 9:14; Luke 5:33. Jesus explained that it is not always appropriate to fast.
II. The type of prayer that pleases God. Matthew 6:9-15
A. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
1. The “name” is who God is, His character, His relation to us, His righteous works, His faithful love, His unfailing promises, His unlimited power…
2. He is by nature holy. “Hallowed” is an action taken by those who worship Him and give Him the praise that He is worthy of.
3. The Psalms show us how righteous men hallow their God: Psalm 8:1-3; Psalm 9:1-2; Psalm 18:1-19.
B. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (6:10)
1. Matthew 16:18-19 Jesus said that He was going to build His Kingdom.
2. Matthew 13 The parables of Jesus foresaw evangelism and the kingdom as the church, the body of Christ.
3. Colossians 1:12-13 Paul describes the kingdom as a present reality for the saints who have been delivered from the domain of darkness.
4. Hebrews 12:28 reminds the church that they have received a better kingdom than the physical Israel had, because the kingdom of Christ cannot be shaken.
5. Nevertheless, since the kingdom is composed of the saints who have submitted to the dominion of Jesus Christ our king, evangelism carries His kingdom to new people all the time. We pray for His Kingdom on those terms: that God’s will be done.
C. “Give us this day our daily bread.”
1. Matthew 6:19-33 Jesus expands on this truth urging us to trust in Him who provides our daily bread, as well as everything that we need for our brief stay on this earth.
2. God taught ancient Israel to trust Him by providing the daily “manna” which they did not plant or in any way produce. Deuteronomy 8:1-20
a. God humbled them, and let them hunger, then He fed them manna.
b. God “made them know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
c. Jesus quoted these words to Satan, Matthew 4:1-4.
D. “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” 6:12
1. Jesus elaborates in 6:14-15.
2. God’s grace to us depends on our extending the same grace to those who sin against us.
3. Luke 17:1-10 Jesus said you must forgive your brother seven times.
4. Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus extended the number to 70 times 7 (490), then taught the parable of the two servants, one who owed an unpayable debt and the other whose debt was small by comparison. The lesson is that God forgives an unpayable debt, while the debts that we must forgive are very small by comparison.
E. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
1. The prayer is that God may lead us away from the temptations that cause us to sin.
2. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 God limits the temptations.
3. We pray as Jesus did for Peter, Luke 22:31-32.
4. God does not tempt us, James 1:13-15. We are tempted by our own desires when we are lured and enticed.
-- God gives only perfect gifts. James 1:16-18.
5. God allows us to be tried and tested, James 1:2-4, that we might be perfected.
6. 1 Peter 1:6-9, The trials that God permits refine us, that our faith may be real, to result in praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
7. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 God permitted a “thorn in the flesh,” a messenger of Satan to harass Paul, to prevent him from becoming too proud as God used him for His glory. He prayed to have it removed and God said no.
Conclusion
A. Matthew 6 Jesus teaches us to humbly seek God’s approval, and not to be destroyed by the desire to please men.
B. We may fail in several ways.
1. In our kindness to others.
2. In our prayers
3. In our fasting
C. We must learn to pray in the way that pleases God.