Matthew 6 reminds me of my inability to express myself in my youth. I recall the frustration of having enormous emotion, but no means to communicate it effectively to those around me. In today’s chapter Jesus teaches on three different expressions of worship; Giving, Prayer and Fasting. We will look at the first two. It is important to know that Jesus sees beyond the outward appearance and into the heart. He speaks from God’s perspective and with God’s understanding and compassion. He begins, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them… when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do“. In later chapters He describes the contrast between the rich man donating with great fanfare, and the widow donating two tiny copper coins and declares, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others” (Mark 12:43). He says that if you give to receive the honor of man, then that will be your only reward. All giving should first be an expression of gratitude to God, “who sees what is done in secret“. God tabulates your attitude. If you give grudgingly or out of obligation, keep it until you finish counting your blessings. Is your giving an act of worship?
Next Jesus turns to a different kind of worship, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray… to be seen by others“. I believe there are two distinctly different types of prayer. We have personal prayer time that is intimate communion with God, and corporate prayer that involves the unity of the believers. First He describes personal prayer, “go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father“. He continues, “Do not keep on babbling… your Father knows what you need before you ask Him“. We worry about the exact words to say, but the apostle Paul reminds us that even when “We do not know what we ought to pray… the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26). God answers prayers in many ways, not the least of which is in His Written Word. Have you prayed with your Bible in hand?
Jesus gave His disciples a model prayer, not that we should recite it in wrote form, but as a template to follow. In times of stress, a one-word prayer is perfect. In times of quiet, I believe we should include Praise, Confession, Thanksgiving and intercession for others. He begins, “This… is how you should pray“. Our prayer is directed to The Father, we have access through The Son and we are ministered through The Spirit. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name“. By the blood of Christ we have been forgiven and we can approach God with confidence and reverence. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done“. It is not God that must yield to us, but we are to yield to Him. “Give us today our daily bread“. For most of us this is more about recognition than nutrition. Gratitude focuses on what you have, not what you lack. “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors“. We get this backwards; God’s forgiveness has no limit! I believe He is saying those that are forgiven much, will love much. Luke 7:47 says, “her many sins have been forgiven; as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little“. Finally He adds, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one“. Each of us have weaknesses, I believe this prayer asks for help in avoiding the dangers and asking God to guide our steps and place guardrails on our life to keep us from swerving. Friend, will you groan before God today?