The Sermon on the Mount: Giving, Praying, Fasting I. Base Text: Matthew 6:1-18 II. Context A. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist; begins His ministry (Matthew 3:13-17) B. Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11) C. He then returns to Galilee, begins preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom: repent, for the Kingdom is at hand (Matthew 4:12-17, 23) D. He calls some of His disciples, preached and healed in the synagogues, and many crowds began to follow Him (Matthew 4:18-25) E. Seeing the multitudes, He sits upon a mountain and begins teaching the disciples in the hearing of the multitudes (Matthew 5:1-2) F. This teaching develops into an extended discourse (Matthew 5:3-7:27) 1. Begins with the "beatitudes," pronouncing blessings on those who are often considered unfortunate or cursed (Matthew 5:3-10) 2. Provides instruction for the disciples: they are as salt and light, a city on a hill, for they are to reflect the righteousness of God in Christ before all (Matthew 5:13-16) 3. Affirms that He has not come to change or adapt Law, but to fulfill it; condemns Pharisees and scribes for breaking Law (Matthew 5:17-20) 4. Through six compare and contrast declarations, Jesus establishes how to live as salt and light, as the Heavenly Father desires, exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes (Matthew 5:21-48) III. Meaning A. Jesus continues the discourse, both as teaching His disciples in the presence of the multitudes, and as challenging the hypocritical pretenses of the Pharisees and scribes, in terms of the three major "religious" activities in life: giving, praying, and fasting, in Matthew 6:1-18 B. The Principle (Matthew 6:1) 1. In the first discourse shift since Matthew 5:21, Jesus declares a principle which will inform the next section of the sermon 2. Beware of practicing righteousness before others to be seen by them 3. Jesus is not providing a blanket condemnation of doing good works in front of other people; most of His ministry was done that way 4. The issue is the reasoning: to be seen by others, to make one's righteousness a show 5. If one acts in righteousness to be seen by men, he or she has no reward from God C. Giving (Matthew 6:2-4) 1. As a practice, giving alms, that is, a monetary gift to the poor, commended in the old covenant (Proverbs 19:17, Isaiah 58:7-12) 2. Yet the point is always to be of assistance to those who are less fortunate, to share in one's blessings so as to continually receive blessings 3. The "hypocrites," likely the Pharisees and scribes (cf. Matthew 5:20, 23:1-36), do so in order to be seen by men: they act one way, but are quite different internally 4. It is possible that they would blow actual trumpets before giving alms, but this seems even too over the top for these religious authorities; nevertheless, they make sure that people see them doing their charitable giving, and thus "trumpet" their "righteousness" 5. Jesus says that they have their reward: people see them and believe them to be good, holy, and righteous. Meanwhile, God is not amused nor will honor such pretense 6. Instead, followers of Christ are to give so that the left hand may not know what the right is doing, and their Father who sees in secret will reward them 7. Since the brain controls both hands, clearly an image to illustrate how giving should be almost reflexive and done without fanfare or any need of recognition 8. cf. Matthew 25:31-46, Galatians 2:10, 6:10, 1 John 3:16-18 D. Praying (Matthew 6:5-15) 1. Prayer, even extended prayer and/or in the sight of others, commended exercise for Israelites in the old covenant (Ezra 9:5-10:1, Psalm 5:2, Isaiah 55:6-7, Daniel 6:10, 9:4-19) 2. Yet prayer is always, first and foremost, communication with God, earnestly thanking, pleading with, entreating the Almighty 3. The "hypocrites" (read: Pharisees and scribes) like to stand in synagogues, streets, praying so as to be seen by others 4. As before, so again: they have their reward; people think them righteous yet they remain unjustified before God (cf. Luke 18:9-14) 5. Followers of Christ are to pray in secret, and the Father who sees in secret will reward them 6. Gentiles pray with heaped up phrases, often a feature of the ecstatic rituals of many of the nations, thinking they will be heard because they have gone on long enough 7. Yet God is not honored by this, nor is it necessary; God knows what is necessary before you ask! 8. Thus, believers are to pray "like" the Lord's Prayer (cf. Luke 11:2-4) 9. Lord's Prayer as representative prayer, indicating the types of things for which believers are to pray 10. "Our Father in Heaven": simple, unadorned reference to God as Father (cf. Romans 8:12-17) 11. "Hallowed be Your Name": a desire to consider God as holy, Almighty, Sovereign in life 12. "Your Kingdom come": in context, a request for the work of God to be accomplished in Christ; to this day, the request that the Kingdom might come in its fullness so that believers can share in the resurrection and the presence of God forever (cf. 1 Peter 1:3-9, Revelation 21:1-22:6) 13. "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven": the desire that those on earth might seek the will of God just as it is accomplished in heaven (cf. Matthew 28:18, Revelation 4:1-5:14) 14. "Give us this day our daily bread": daily as Greek epiousios, "daily, what is needful"; a petition for God to take care of our physical needs (cf. Matthew 6:25-34) 15. "Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors": a request for forgiveness of sin yet made in light of the expected forgiveness we have provided for those who have sinned against us; Jesus returns to this theme after the prayer (Matthew 6:14-15) 16. "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil": not that God actually tempts us (cf. James 1:13), but a request that we may be preserved from evil (or the evil one, that is Satan; cf. 1 Corinthians 10:13, Ephesians 6:10-18, 1 Peter 5:8) 17. Such is the original based in the best Greek manuscripts; because of the liturgical use of the Lord's Prayer, many additions have found their way into the text 18. Jesus returns to the theme of forgiveness to flesh out the teaching implicit in the prayer: one can only obtain forgiveness from God if he or she forgives others (cf. Matthew 18:21-35, Mark 11:25, Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:13, James 2:13) E. Fasting (Matthew 6:16-18) 1. In the old covenant, fasting, renunciation of food and drink for a time to humble oneself before God and channel one's energies into prayer, done as a response to distress or in reminder of disaster (2 Samuel 12:16, Nehemiah 1:4, Esther 4:16, Psalm 35:13, Daniel 9:3, Isaiah 58:3-5) 2. The point of fasting is to discipline one's body to focus energies upon prayer and devotion to God 3. Yet the "hypocrites" (again, read: Pharisees and scribes) were in the habit of attempting to make it evident they were fasting through sadness or disfigurement, so as to be seen as fasting by others 4. In their fasting, believers are to wash and carry on as usual, not proclaiming their fasting, and God who sees in secret will reward them F. Thus Jesus condemns the hypocritical pretense of religion, acting religiously to be seen by men, while commending giving, praying, and fasting done in the sight of God to His honor and glory IV. Application A. The Purpose of Practicing Righteousness 1. The main aspect to Jesus' teaching involves the purpose of the practice of righteousness 2. The purpose of action quite often provides meaning or the lack thereof to the action! 3. As anyone in a relationship knows, just doing an action is not necessarily sufficient! 4. Two people can do the exact same thing, and it is of greater value to one than to the other, simply based on one's purpose for doing so 5. These days we are immersed in water daily, yet they are not akin to "baptism" in the New Testament 6. Perhaps we eat bread and drink grape juice at times other than the Lord's Supper; there's a difference between the Lord's Supper and the mere consumption of bread and grape juice 7. So it is with righteousness: we can act righteously in order to honor God or in order to be seen as righteous 8. Jesus makes it clear that the latter cannot be our goal! 9. Jesus is not making a blanket condemnation of acting righteously in public: Matthew 5:13-16 demonstrates that such cannot be the case, let alone Jesus' own example 10. The issue is not necessarily giving in public, praying in public, praying a long time, or others knowing you are fasting: the issue is whether you are giving, praying, or fasting so that others will see it to "know" you are in the righteous club, or whether your purpose is to honor God through those actions 11. If our purpose is to honor God, we would still do such things even if no one else saw or knew! 12. We do well, therefore, to not call attention to our righteousness, but let our devotion to God be its own testimony before others (cf. 1 Peter 2:11-25)! B. Prayer and Meaning 1. In a sad irony, the model prayer the Lord provided in order to teach His disciples how to pray in ways unlike the hypocrites is now used in "vain repetitions" by many! 2. This is not necessary: one could pray the Lord's Prayer continually without it becoming vain repetition; one could make up another prayer and turn it into vain repetition 3. We should not miss Jesus' point: any prayer can become a series of vain repetitions if we start droning it on without any meaning behind it 4. Our needs for which we pray are continual; as with our need for food and shelter, our needs before our Father in Heaven can get rather repetitive 5. Praying for similar things all the time is not problematic; it is to be expected! 6. We must take Jesus' warning to heart and make sure that whenever we pray, we actually mean what we say from the heart, not just repeating words like an automaton! C. Fasting 1. There is a great disconnect between ancient and modern practice in terms of fasting 2. It is true that fasting is never commanded in the New Testament 3. Nevertheless, the assumption of Matthew 6:17-18 is that disciples of Christ do fast at times, and we have the apostolic example of fasting in Acts 13:2-3, 14:23, 1 Corinthians 7:5, 2 Corinthians 6:5, 11:27 4. There is likely no command to fast because fasting is not to be about certain times as a memorial to a certain event, but as an almost spiritually intuitive response to distress or when seeking the Lord's wisdom regarding significant issues 5. Fasting can devolve into sheer asceticism, as Paul warns in Colossians 2:20-23 6. Nevertheless, we do well to consider whether there are times in our lives when it would be good to avoid food and/or drink for a certain period of time in order to fully devote ourselves to the presence of God in prayer! V. Conclusion A. Throughout time many have engaged in religion in order to seem good, holy, and righteous before others B. As Jesus makes clear, God is not honored in such a circumstance, and He is not amused by it C. If we engage in giving, praying, fasting, and/or other "religious" activities in order to look holy and righteous before others, as if we're in the holy club, then we have that reward D. But if we seek God's reward, we must act in righteousness for His glory and honor whether other people see it or not E. Let us thus in all things seek to glorify and honor God in Christ, not ourselves or our reputation, and so obtain the resurrection of life! F. Invitation/songbook