Matthew 6: 1-7 Jesus sets out the righteous practices of giving and praying, as worship rendered to God. Jesus calls out the hypocrisy of the religious order of the day, with the admonishment that giving and praying are never to be displays of self-righteousness to gain the admiration of others.
On giving: - We stand to lose the approval of God, when we seek the approval of men.
We know the joy and freedom of giving anonymously, and the surprise and blessing of receiving an unexpected, anonymous gift. We feel God’s pleasure in both instances.
The Jews were trained by Mosaic law from their earliest days to be merciful and charitable. At the time of Jesus’s ministry, men gave money to secure merit with God and admiration from men. They gave their gifts of charity at the doors of the synagogue, where beggars congregated and passers-by could see. The scribes and Pharisees ceremonially announced their giving of alms with a trumpet call.
Jesus said, “they have their reward — all they will have; for they shall have none from God.”
On prayer: - Enter into thy closet, (a secret place.)
And when you pray, be not as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.
Our Father knows the things we need, and the things we may want. He cannot be informed of anything he doesn’t already know. As we understand this, our prayer focus becomes an expression of love and gratitude in worship of him.
Neither man nor angel can discern hypocrisy, the only evil that walks invisible except to God alone.
John Milton, Paradise Lost
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