Matthew 6:1-15

Bird's-eye view

In this central portion of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus turns from the internal disposition of the righteous heart to the external practice of that righteousness. Having established the true meaning of the law in chapter five, He now addresses three foundational pillars of religious life: almsgiving, prayer, and later, fasting. The central issue throughout is one of motivation. The question is not whether these things should be done, but for whom they are done. Jesus draws a sharp contrast between two kinds of performance before two different audiences. The first is theatrical piety, performed on the street corners for the applause of men. The second is authentic piety, performed in secret for the eyes of our Father in heaven. One receives a fleeting, earthly reward in full. The other receives an eternal reward from the only one whose opinion matters. Jesus concludes this section by giving us a model prayer, a divine pattern that reorients our desires from our own glory to God's, and from our own needs to His kingdom.

Outline

The Audience of One (6:1)

1 “Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven."

Jesus begins with a foundational warning that governs everything that follows. The word for "to be noticed" is the Greek word from which we get our word "theater." The Lord is warning His disciples against theatrical righteousness. This is not a prohibition against doing good works in public. A few verses prior, Jesus commanded us to let our light shine before men, so that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven (Matt 5:16). The issue, then, is not the location of the righteous act, but the motivation of the righteous actor. Why are you doing it? Are you doing it so that men will see your works and glorify you? Or are you doing it so that men will see your works and glorify your Father? If your eye is on the grandstands, seeking the applause of the crowd, then you are an actor on a stage. And Jesus says that the applause you get is the only payment you will get. You have no further reward from your Father. The entire Christian life is to be lived coram Deo, before the face of God, and for an audience of one.

Giving in Secret (6:2-4)

2 “Therefore, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full."

Jesus applies the principle to the first act of piety: giving to the poor. Notice He assumes His disciples will give to the poor. The command is not "give," but "when you give." The hypocrites, the stage actors, want their giving to be a public spectacle. Whether they literally hired a trumpeter or this is a vivid metaphor, the point is the same. They wanted to make a production out of it. Their goal was to be "glorified by men." And Jesus, with a kind of solemn finality, says they get exactly what they want. "They have their reward in full." The Greek here has the sense of a business transaction, like a receipt stamped "paid in full." They wanted human praise, they got it, and the account is now closed. There is nothing left for them to receive from God.

3 "But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."

The contrast could not be sharper. The disciple's giving is to be so secret, so devoid of self-congratulation, that it is as though one hand is unaware of the other's action. This is a striking hyperbole meant to teach us to give without any thought of the credit. We are not to be patting ourselves on the back, let alone arranging for others to do it. The action is done in secret, but it is not unobserved. "Your Father who sees what is done in secret" is the audience. He sees, and He is the one who rewards. The reward of the hypocrite is immediate, public, and fleeting. The reward of the disciple is future, divine, and eternal. We must choose which currency we value.

Praying in Secret (6:5-8)

5 “And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full."

Jesus moves to the second act of piety, prayer, and the pattern is identical. He assumes we will pray: "when you pray." The hypocrites love to pray where they can get the most exposure. They adopt postures of prayer in the most public venues, not to speak to God, but to be seen by men. Their prayers are not directed upward to heaven, but outward to the watching crowd. They are curating an image of spirituality. And once again, Jesus says their efforts are successful. They are seen by men, they are considered pious, and that is their payment in full. The transaction is complete.

6 "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you."

The disciple's practice is the opposite. Go into your room, your closet, a place of privacy. Shut the door. Remove the audience. The point is not that all public prayer is forbidden, for the Scriptures are full of examples of it. The point is that the foundation of our prayer life must be this secret communion with our Father. It is in the secret place, where there is no one to impress, that true prayer happens. And again, this secret communion is not unseen. The Father is there in secret, He sees, and He rewards.

7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Therefore, do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."

Jesus adds a second warning about prayer, this time concerning its content, not just its location. We are not to be like the Gentiles, the pagans. Their prayers were often incantations, attempts to manipulate their gods by repeating phrases over and over, as though they could wear the deity down. They thought the effectiveness of the prayer was in its length or its repetitive formula. Jesus says this is foolishness. Prayer is not a magical formula. It is not about informing God of a situation He is unaware of. "Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but rather laying hold of His willingness. It is an expression of our dependence upon our all-knowing and gracious Father.

The Model Prayer (6:9-15)

9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name."

In response to the wrong ways to pray, Jesus gives us the right way. This is not a mantra to be mindlessly repeated, which would violate His own command in verse 7. It is a pattern, a model for all true prayer. It begins with relationship and reverence. "Our Father" establishes that we pray as a family, as a covenant people, and we come to God with the intimacy of a child. "Who is in heaven" establishes His transcendence, His sovereignty, His otherness. The first petition, the very first thing we are to ask for, is that God's name would be "hallowed," that it would be regarded as holy, set apart, and glorified. The chief end of our prayers, like the chief end of man, is to glorify God.

10 "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven."

The next two petitions continue this God-centered focus. We are to pray for the advancement of His kingdom, for His rule and reign to be extended over all things. And we are to pray for His will to be accomplished here on earth with the same perfect submission and joy that characterizes heaven. This is an audacious, world-changing prayer. This is a prayer for the success of the Great Commission, for the gospel to triumph in history, transforming cultures and lives until the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.

11 "Give us this day our daily bread."

Having first oriented ourselves to God's glory and kingdom, we may now turn to our own needs. And even here, the request is marked by humility and dependence. We ask for "daily" bread, for today's provision. We live one day at a time, trusting our Father to supply what we need for this day. This covers all our physical necessities. We do not demand a full barn; we ask for our daily bread.

12 "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."

From physical needs we move to our deepest spiritual need: forgiveness. We come to God as sinners, as debtors who cannot pay what we owe. We plead for His grace. But this plea is inextricably linked to our own willingness to forgive. The word "as" is crucial. It means we are asking God to forgive us in the same manner that we forgive others. This is not to say that our forgiveness of others earns God's forgiveness. Rather, our forgiveness of others is the evidence that we have truly understood and received God's forgiveness. An unforgiving spirit is proof of an unforgiven heart.

13 "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]"

The final petition is for spiritual protection. We recognize our own weakness and the reality of our enemy, "the evil one." We ask our Father to steer us away from trials that would be too great for us and to rescue us from the snares of the devil. It is a prayer of humble reliance on God for our perseverance. The doxology, while likely a later addition to the manuscript, is a thoroughly biblical and fitting conclusion. It brings us full circle, back to the ultimate reality of God's sovereign kingdom, His omnipotent power, and His eternal glory.

14 "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions."

Jesus knows how prone we are to gloss over the hard parts. So He immediately returns to the petition about forgiveness and states the principle in the starkest possible terms, both positively and negatively. He isolates it for special emphasis. Forgiveness is not an optional extra for the advanced Christian. It is a non-negotiable mark of a child of God. If you harbor bitterness, if you refuse to forgive someone who has sinned against you, Jesus says in no uncertain terms that your Father will not forgive you. This should be a terrifying warning to us. It is a diagnostic question for the soul. Do you forgive as you have been forgiven? If not, you have every reason to question whether you have been forgiven at all.