Your Audience
This section of the Sermon on the Mount begins with Jesus' caution against “practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.” The first example He gives is giving to people in need. The second is related to praying in public. The final example is about fasting. In each example, Jesus warns us not to do these things in ways that other people notice. So, we should give in secret, pray in our closet, and look normal when we are fasting. His advice is to do what we have to do to practice these things before God and not before other people.
There is a problem here. As a practical matter, we can’t avoid doing these things before others in some ways. Is Jesus forbidding praying in public? The early church didn’t think so. They were known for their prayer meetings. The church was born on Pentecost while the 120 were in an upper room praying. Is all giving to be secretive? We see many examples of public giving throughout the New Testament. Can we fast without some people knowing?
To take Jesus in a wooden literalism here would be a mistake. A careful reading of 6:1 would show that Jesus is speaking more to motive than method. He is warning against doing these things “in order to be seen by them.”
But doesn’t Jesus go into method? Yes, He does. He tells us to give in ways that no one knows what we are doing. He tells us to go into our closet to pray. He says to wash your face and anoint your head when you fast. Those are all about methodology.
What Jesus is telling us to do is to know ourselves well. He is telling us to be alert to the temptation to do religious acts in order to get a pat on the back from other people. He knows we are all prone to want to do things to be seen and praised by people. When you feel that temptation rise up within you, withdraw from the gaze of men, and do what you do where only God knows. Don’t let others see, and don’t tell anyone about it. Don’t post it on social media, don’t mention it in casual conversation, just keep it a secret between you and the Lord.
That doesn’t mean everything should be done that way. There is a place for public prayer, public giving, and public fasting. But these all also constitute a spiritual danger to us. The way to overcome that problem where you can give, pray, and fast in public without harm to your soul, is to do those things in secret first.
Learn to live first before the eyes of the Lord, and then you won’t struggle as much with doing things to be seen by other people.
Thank you Steve, one of the best applications of this text I have seen, copied it and hope to use in the future at the little church where I have been preaching.