The Audience of One: Piety, Prayer, and Payday Text: Matthew 6:1-15
Introduction: The Spiritual Stage
We live in a world of stages. From the carefully curated images on social media to the virtue signaling that passes for political discourse, modern man is a born actor. He is constantly performing, constantly checking the crowd's reaction, constantly adjusting his mask. The great terror of our age is to be authentic and unapproved. The great ambition is to be fake and applauded. This is the religion of man, a religion of external performance for the sake of horizontal glory.
Into this grand theater of hypocrisy, Jesus walks, and He does not simply critique the play, He pulls the curtain down and exposes the machinery backstage. In this central portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ addresses the three great pillars of Jewish piety: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. But His concern is not with the acts themselves, which He assumes His followers will perform. His concern is with the audience. For whom are you performing? Who are you trying to impress?
The Lord sets before us a stark choice between two audiences, and consequently, two paymasters. You can perform your righteousness before men, or you can practice your piety before your Father in heaven. You can seek the fleeting applause of the crowd, or you can seek the eternal reward of God. But you cannot have both. The hypocrite cashes his check in the here and now, receiving the cheap currency of human praise. He gets what he wants, and Jesus says, with a note of finality, "Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." The transaction is complete. The account is closed. There is nothing left for him to receive from the Father.
This is a devastating critique not just of the Pharisees, but of the human heart in every age. The temptation to turn true religion into a public performance is perennial. We want to be seen as generous. We want to be heard as prayerful. We want our sacrifices to be noticed. But Jesus tells us that the moment our piety becomes a tool to manage our public reputation, it ceases to be piety at all. It becomes a business transaction with the world, and God will not honor an invoice that has already been paid by men.
The Text
"Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. 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. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 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. 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. 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. Therefore, do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 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.'] For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions."
(Matthew 6:1-15 LSB)
Righteousness for the Wrong Reasons (vv. 1-4)
Jesus begins with the overarching principle that governs this entire section.
"Beware of doing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 6:1)
The warning is sharp: "Beware." This is a spiritual minefield. The word for "hypocrites" that Jesus uses throughout this passage comes from the Greek stage; it means an actor, one who wears a mask. The issue is not public righteousness, but righteousness performed for a public audience. Jesus has just told 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 critical difference is the goal. Is the goal to draw attention to yourself, or to deflect all attention to God? The hypocrite's righteousness is a boomerang; he throws it out only so that it will come back to him in the form of praise. The true believer's righteousness is an arrow, shot straight toward the throne of God for His glory alone.
Jesus then applies this principle to the first act of piety: giving to the poor.
"Therefore, when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do... Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." (Matthew 6:2)
Notice, Jesus says "when you give," not "if you give." Giving to the needy is an assumed mark of a citizen of the kingdom. The issue is the method. The hypocrites, the actors, want their generosity advertised. Whether they literally hired trumpeters or this is a bit of sanctified hyperbole, the point is the same. They made sure their giving was a public spectacle. And their desire was met. They were "glorified by men." And that, Jesus says, is all they will ever get. The Greek for "they have their reward in full" is a commercial term, apechousin ton misthon. It means "paid in full," like a receipt that has been stamped. The account is settled.
In contrast, the disciple's giving is to be radically secret.
"But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." (Matthew 6:3-4)
This is another piece of brilliant hyperbole. The point is not that we should develop a strange form of internal amnesia. The point is that our giving should be so un-self-conscious, so free of self-congratulation, that it is as if one part of us is not even aware of the other's good deed. There should be no internal trumpet-blowing either. We are not to sit back and admire our own generosity. The act is done for the Father's eyes only. And because He sees in secret, His reward is certain. The world rewards the appearance of generosity. God rewards the reality of it.
Prayer as Performance (vv. 5-8)
Next, Jesus applies the same principle to prayer. If giving is easily corrupted by pride, prayer is even more so, for it is the very heart of our relationship with God.
"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." (Matthew 6:5)
Again, the location is not the primary issue. There is nothing inherently wrong with praying in a synagogue or in public. The issue is the motive. The hypocrites "love" to pray in these places precisely "so that they may be seen by men." Their prayer is not directed upward to God but outward to the spectators. Their goal is a reputation for piety. They get it. And that is all they get. Paid in full.
The contrast for the disciple is, once again, radical secrecy and sincerity.
"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." (Matthew 6:6)
The "inner room" was often a storeroom, the most private place in a typical Jewish house. The command is to find a place of deliberate seclusion, to shut the door, to cut off the audience of men. Why? So that your only audience is your Father. Secret prayer is the acid test of sincerity. What you are when no one but God is watching is what you really are. The man who prays more fervently in public than he does in private is an actor. The man whose truest, deepest, and most frequent prayers are behind a closed door is a son.
Jesus adds another warning, this time against pagan-style prayer.
"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. Therefore, do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." (Matthew 6:7-8)
The error of the hypocrite is praying to the wrong audience (men). The error of the Gentile is praying to the wrong God. The pagans believed their gods were reluctant, deaf, or distracted. They had to be badgered or manipulated into action through endless chants, incantations, and "many words." Think of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, shrieking for hours. This is not prayer; it is a verbal bludgeoning. But our God is not like that. He is our "Father." He "knows what you need before you ask Him." Prayer is not about informing God or overcoming His reluctance. It is about aligning our hearts with His will and expressing our dependent trust in our loving Father.
The Divine Template for Prayer (vv. 9-15)
Having cleared away the rubble of hypocritical and pagan prayer, Jesus gives us a divine model. "Pray, then, in this way." This is not a magic incantation to be recited mindlessly, which would violate the very principle He just established. It is a template, a skeleton, a school of prayer.
"Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:9-10)
Prayer begins with God. Before we bring a single one of our needs, we orient ourselves to Him. We address Him as "Our Father," which establishes intimacy and family relationship. But He is in "heaven," which establishes His transcendence and sovereignty. He is both near and majestic. The first three petitions are entirely God-centered. We pray for His name to be hallowed, for His reputation to be held as holy in all the earth. We pray for His kingdom to come, for His righteous reign to advance and conquer. We pray for His will to be done on earth with the same perfect submission as it is in heaven. True prayer begins with a passion for the glory of God.
Only after the supremacy of God is established do we turn to our own needs.
"Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." (Matthew 6:11-13)
These three petitions cover our needs in the past, present, and future. For the present, we ask for "daily bread," a simple acknowledgment of our moment-by-moment dependence on Him for physical provision. For our past, we ask for forgiveness of our "debts," our sins against God's holy law. And for our future, we ask for protection from temptation and deliverance from the evil one. It is a prayer of profound trust, acknowledging our complete reliance on God for provision, pardon, and protection.
Jesus then immediately returns to one of those petitions and underscores it with a solemn warning.
"For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." (Matthew 6:14-15)
This is not teaching that we earn our forgiveness from God by forgiving others. Justification is by grace alone through faith alone. Rather, this is teaching that a forgiven heart is a forgiving heart. The vertical reality must produce a horizontal reality. If you have truly grasped the magnitude of the debt God has cancelled for you, you cannot then turn around and throttle your brother for his comparatively tiny debt to you. An unforgiving spirit is clear evidence that a person has not truly understood or received the grace of God. It is a diagnostic test. A refusal to forgive others is a refusal to act like your Father, and it short-circuits your fellowship with Him. It is a sign that you are a hypocrite, an actor, playing the part of a Christian but denying the power of the gospel in your heart.
Conclusion: The Secret and the Reward
The thread that runs through this entire passage is the contrast between the secret and the seen, between the temporal reward of men and the eternal reward of the Father. The world says, "If you've got it, flaunt it." Jesus says, "If it's real, hide it."
This is because true Christian piety is not a performance for the world, but a relationship with the Father. He is the audience that matters. His is the applause we should seek. Our giving, our praying, our forgiving, all of it is to be done before an audience of One.
This is profoundly liberating. We are freed from the exhausting, soul-crushing burden of managing our own reputation. We are freed from the need to constantly check the crowd's reaction. We can shut the door on the world's expectations and simply be with our Father. We can give freely without needing a tax receipt for our ego. We can pray honestly without crafting our words for human ears. We can forgive generously because we know the immense generosity that has been shown to us.
And the promise is sure. The Father who sees in secret will reward. He will reward openly, publicly, on the last day. The hypocrites get their fleeting reward now. The faithful get their eternal reward then. On that day, all the secret acts of love, all the quiet prayers, all the hidden sacrifices done for the Father's glory will be brought out into the light, and He will say before the assembled cosmos, "Well done, good and faithful servant." That is the only review that matters. That is the only reward worth having.