Matthew 6:1-6 Real Righteousness
Introduction: The word “alms” in verse 1 would be better
translated “righteousness.” If you were
to decide to live a righteous life, what would you do? I am not
talking about what you would stop, but what you would do. Would you start going to church? Start praying? Start giving to the church?
In Jewish life the Jew would start (1) giving alms, (2)
praying publicly, (3) fasting. The point
that Jesus made is that one could do these things without real righteousness
and without the approval and blessings of God.
He specifically gave warning about hypocritical alms giving, verse 2,
hypocritical praying, verse 5, and hypocritical fasting, verse 16.
A. The hypocritical
Pharisees would blow the trumpet and make a great display of his generosity,
verse 2.
1. They
did this to get the attention and praise of men.
2.
Jesus said “they have their reward . . . in full.”
B. Jesus suggested
that one should give alms (gifts to the poor).
1. But
it should be done out of the right motive.
(To please God, glorify God, and
help fellow man).
2. It
should also be done in the right manner.
(In a manner that does not call
attention to self).
C. God will honor
and bless the one who gives out of the right motive and in the right manner.
D. While giving to
the Lord and to church is not an alms, yet we can
learn a lesson about giving at
church.
1.
Give to glorify God and not self.
2. God
will bless when we give that way.
II. About praying. Verses
5-6
A. The hypocritical
Pharisees loved to pray in a way that would bring praises to themselves.
B. Jesus said that
God would not answer such prayers.
C. Jesus taught
that if we want our prayers to be heard of God and answered by Him then
we must pray to be
heard by Him and not to be heard by men.
D. Jesus taught
that one’s private prayer life should be kept private.
1. One
should enter into his closet (private room) and pray privately to God.
2. This referred to a special room in each
Jewish home where the family could meet for
prayer
in privacy.
3. The
Pharisees had such rooms, but preferred the public places that they might be
seen.
E. It should be
noted that Jesus is not teaching against public prayer.
1. The New Testament abundantly teaches public
prayer, especially in church capacity.
2. But even the public prayer should not be for
the purpose of being heard of men, but
rather
to be heard of God.
III. The main point that Jesus
was making.
A. His point was
that we are not to do righteous deeds to be seen and praised of men; we are to
do rightly, but it
is to be in order to please God and glorify Him.
B. We are to
regularly attend church, but we are not to do it to build our own reputation.
C. We are to pray
constantly.
1. We
may even engage in public prayer.
2. But
we are to be careful to direct our prayer to God and not to be heard of men.
D. We are to give
at church and we are to give to the poor.
1. But
our giving should be out of a love for God and a love for fellow man.
2. It
ought not to be out of a love for the praise of men.
E. We are to sing
the great hymns of worship, but we are to sing for God’s honor and glory and
not for our own
honor and glory.
F. Whatever we do
in the way of righteous deeds should be to honor and glorify God and not self.
Conclusion:
1. The one we are
to be concerned about is self…not others.
Some get so concerned that there
might be hypocrites
in the church that they neglect to do righteously themselves.
2. The place to
start is with the inside. The way to get
the inside changed is in the new birth.
3. After
salvation, the next step is to watch the motive.
4. Also, one
should be careful to make sure that what he does is righteous. He may need to stop
some things and he
may need to start doing some things.
Preached at