"Take heed that you do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 6:1)
The best manuscripts have "righteousness" instead of "alms," in verse 1, and this seems to be the truer meaning of the text, for righteousness includes all right actions, and no good deed of whatever kind should be done for the purpose of winning the applause of men.
In the verses following, three divisions of righteousness are considered, namely:
• almsgiving,
• prayer, and
• fasting, none of which should be done with the design of attracting attention. A deed, however right itself, loses all the quality of righteousness when it is done simply for display. This is evident from the statement that those who do thus have no reward from God.
Ostentatious piety is not piety and all, but it is simply an exhibition of selfishness. It is a fact that there may be as much of selfishness displayed in the giving of alms as in the withholding of them.
"Therefore when you do your alms, do not sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward." (Matthew 6:2)
This does not mean, as a careless reader might suppose, that they shall have a reward, or that a certain kind of reward is in store for them, but that they already have their reward. The new version expresses the exact idea in the words, "They have received their reward."
They gave alms to be seen of men; men sought them, and that constitutes their reward; it is all the reward they wanted.
"But when you do alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does." (Matthew 6:3)
The command in verse 3 coincides with the exhortation of Paul: "He that gives, let him do it with simplicity." (Romans 12:8)
And again with his statement in: "Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of the necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9:7)
The man who gives liberally, with a sincere motive, will not seek for the applause of men. On the contrary, he will rather avoid public notice, because, by measuring himself by the true standard, he will realize that what he does is in reality very insignificant.
Yet insignificant though a deed may be in itself, and hidden from the eye of everybody, it does not escape the eye of God, and the promise is,
"Your Father which sees in secret himself shall reward you openly." (Matthew 6:4)
The same rule applies to praying. True prayer is the desire of the heart made known to God. In it the person appears as a petitioner making known his urgent wants. Such prayer is always heard.
But of those who pray simply an order that others may applaud their piety, or their elegant language, the significant statement is made,
"Verily I say unto you, They have their reward." (Matthew 6:5)
They do not ask with the expectation or with the desire that their petitions shall be granted, and consequently God takes no notice of their prayers. All that they desire from their prayers is to be heard of men, and the fact that men hear them, constitutes the answer to their prayer.
Nevertheless, such prayers are not mere harmless utterances that passed entirely unnoticed by the Lord; they are violations of the third commandment, which says: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." (Exodus 20:7)
They constitute the worst kind of profanity, since the petitioners use the name of the Lord to exalt themselves.
"But you, when you pray, enter it into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father, which is in secret." (Matthew 6:6)
This must be understood as a principle rather than an explicit command for every occasion of prayer. It does not mean that it is wrong to pray in public, but that one should not pray in public for the sake of publicity.
We have in the Bible many instances of public prayer:
• Solomon prayed before the thousands assembled at the dedication of the temple. (2 Chronicles 6:12-13)
• The Levites prayed publicly. (Nehemiah 9:4-38)
• When Paul separated from the Ephesian brethren he prayed with them all. (Acts 20:36)
• He also gave thanks to God in the presence of all the passengers and crew on his notable sea voyage to Rome. (Acts 27:35)
• And Christ himself prayed with His disciples many times, and at the grave of Lazarus He prayed not only in the presence of His disciples, but of a great company of Jews.
• Moreover, in the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians, we have explicit instructions concerning public prayer.
All of these things show that public prayer is not only not forbidden, but is enjoined as a duty. But even in public prayer, if it is sincere prayer, the spirit of privacy is maintained, for the individual is, as it were, shut in with God, and loses thought, to a certain extent, of those who are present.
One of the most comforting promises in the Bible is given in this connection to those who pray in secret, namely,
"Your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly." (Matthew 6:6)
This seems to be an unconditional promise; for sincere prayer, asking in the name of Jesus for those things which a person really needs, will always be heard and answered, and it is not to be presumed that one would go by himself to engage in prayer with any other than a sincere motive.
The prayer is made in secret, but the reward is open. Men may know nothing of the agonizing petitions, but they cannot fail to see the grace which is abundantly bestowed in consequence.
It may not be amiss, however, in this connection, to state that prayer is not necessarily secret because the individual prays in a room by himself. We have known people to make a great display of their "secret devotions." They were careful to let people know when they retired for prayer, and very often such announcement was unnecessary, because their voice would be raised to such a pitch that everybody in and about the house must hear. We can see no difference between such prayer and prayer upon the street corner.
Of course there is no wrong attached to the individual if someone chances to overhear his prayer; but he who prays professedly in secret, but with the expectation that others shall notice prayer, comes very far from obeying the injunction of the Saviour, "When you pray you shall not be as the hypocrites." (Matthew 6:5)
"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." (Matthew 6:7)
In the seventh verse our Saviour teaches that mere words do not constitute prayer. God is not moved by the eloquence of man, but by his needs, and a man's real need may often be expressed better in few words than in many.
The heathen, we are told, thought that they should be heard for their much of the speaking. Examples of this are found in: "And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made." (1 Kings 18:26) "But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians." (Acts 19:34)
Some even have carried this matter of vain repetition to such a pitch that they use what is called a prayer-wheel. Writing off the petition, they fasten it to the rim of the wheel, which they cause to revolve very rapidly before their idol, every revolution being a prayer.
The difference between this sort of prayer and many prayers of professed Christians is only in degree. In Catholic catechisms and books of religious instruction, we find vain repetitions actually enjoined. The multiplied repetition of Ave Maria or the Pater Noster is counted as a great virtue, and the one who says the most prayers is supposed to be the most pious.
But such prayer, notwithstanding the fact that the Lord's Prayer itself is repeated, are destitute of any semblance of real prayer. A parrot might be taught to repeat the Lord's Prayer, and he might mutter it over a thousand times a day, and yet there would be no prayer in it. The unreasonableness of such vain repetitions is shown by the statement:
"Be not therefore like unto them: for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him." (Matthew 6:8)
It is not necessary for us to pray in order that the Lord they know what we need, but that we may bring ourselves into a proper condition to receive the things which we need. The question often arises in the minds of some, "What is the use of praying at all?"
They argue that we cannot change the mind of God, that praying is useless since God knows what we want before we ask, and, further, that the universe is governed by fixed laws, and that therefore praying will not affect matters in the least.
To this last it can be answered that there are no laws which are not subject to God. To say that what we call the laws of nature cannot be changed or suspended if necessary to the answer of prayer, is to say that God is restricted by the things which He rules, which is an absurdity. Moreover, there are instances innumerable in which in direct answer to prayer the laws of nature have been suspended. The raising of the dead is a case in point.
In answer to the first objection, it is enough to say that although God desires only the welfare of His creatures, and He knows what they need without being told, He does not force upon people what they do not want, even though they really need it. And when a person who recognizes his need, and really wants that which will supply it, and feels that he cannot get along without it, the natural impulse is to ask for it, and then it is that God gives His special blessings.
Verses 9-13 contained the model prayer. In introducing it the Saviour said,
"After this manner therefore pray." (Matthew 6:9)
This indicates not that the prayer which follows is to be invariably used, although it is very often fitting to use it, but that it should serve as a model for our petitions. Since it is the petition, framed by divine wisdom, it must necessarily and does cover everything which man needs, both temporal and spiritual.
It is because of this comprehensiveness that the Lord's Prayer may be repeated by all classes of people, both young and old, in all time. It never grows old. It is the only prayer ever written which was worthy of being repeated by others than the one who composed it. This is because it is the only prayer ever composed for man by a divine being.
Praying in which petitions made by men are used, must necessarily be largely mechanical, and therefore destitute of the real essence of prayer, which is the sincere desire of the individual at that present time. When a man is in extremity he will have no difficulty in forming his own petition, and he would have no use for a petition made by someone else. A prayer-book would have been of very little use to Peter when he was sinking in the Sea of Galilee.
"Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be your name." (Matthew 6:9)
From this prayer we learn that we are to come to God not as to a judge or a governor who is to be appeased, but as to a Father who is all sympathy and love. Many people have entertained a wrong idea from the parable of the unjust judge, recorded in Luke 18:1-7. The unjust judge at first refused to grant the request of the poor widow, yet he finally granted it because of her importunity. The idea too commonly drawn from this is, that if we persevere in prayer God will relent and answer repetitions.
But the parable is not designed to compare God with the unjust judge, but to make a contrast. If the unjust judge who neither feared God nor regarded man, would grant the widow's petition, because of her importunity, then most assuredly God will avenge His own elect who cry earnestly unto Him. This parable and the first two words of the Lord's Prayer are sufficient in themselves to give Christians the utmost confidence when they pray.
Add to this the fact that we have a merciful and faithful High Priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and "was tempted in all points like this we are, [and we may] come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in times of need." (Hebrews 4:15-16)
We have seen it stated that the term "Our Father" implies that all men are brethren, because children of the same Father. But this is a mistake. Paul says that we are all "by nature the children of wrath," (Ephesians 2:3) because we are "the children of disobedience." (Ephesians 5:6; Ephesians 2:2)
And as the devil is the author of sin, Christ directly charged the disobedient Jews with whom He was talking, of being the children of the devil: "You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44)
And in Matthew 13:38-42 he expressly states that those who do iniquity "are the children of the wicked one." (Matthew 13:38)
The apostle John also speaks of those who keep the commandments, and of those who transgress them, and says, "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil," (1 John 3:10) thus showing a direct contrast between those who have God for their Father, and those whose father is Satan.
Moreover, we learned in Romans 8:14-17 and Galatians 4:4-7 that people become the children of God by adoption, and that the mark or seal of adoption is the Holy Spirit; but if they were by nature the children of God, they would not need to be adopted. Paul also declares that: "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His." (Romans 8:9)
"Your kingdom come." (Matthew 6:10)
This is nothing less than a prayer for Christ's second coming, for His coming and kingdom are associated together. "I charge you therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom." (2 Timothy 4:1)
When He was on earth, Christ told His disciples, who thought that: "The kingdom of God should immediately appear, that He was like a nobleman who ... went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return," (Luke 19:11-12) thus indicating His return to Heaven to receive His kingdom, and His second coming to gather the subjects of it. In harmony with this we find in Daniel 7:13-14 a prophetic description of Christ appearing before the father and receiving "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him." (Daniel 7:14)
And Christ himself said that when He should come in His glory with all His holy angels with Him, then would be the time that He should sit upon the throne of His glory, and that He would then say to the righteous, "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Matthew 25:34)
This kingdom is entirely distinct from the kingdom of grace, upon the throne of which God the Father sits, and before which Christ ministers as priest. That kingdom has already come, and if that were the kingdom referred to, in the Lord's Prayer, it would be out of place to use that petition. But the kingdom referred to is the one of which the faithful followers of God are at present only heirs, waiting for the promised possession.
"Your will be done in earth, as it is it Heaven." (Matthew 6:10)
The will of God is simply the law of God: "I delight to do your will, O my God: yea, your law is within my heart." (Psalm 40:8) "Behold, you are called a Jew, and rest in the law, and make your boast of God, And know His will, and approve the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which have the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law." (Romans 2:17-20)
Here we learn that those who know the will of God are they who are instructed out of the law. How the will of God is done in Heaven is told in: "Bless the Lord, you His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word." (Psalm 103:20)
When the will of God is done on earth as it is in heaven, it will be when all the works of the devil have been destroyed, and when the new heavens and the new earth have been given, "wherein righteousness shall dwell." (2 Peter 3:13)
Then will be fulfilled the words of the prophet: "Your people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified." (Isaiah 60:21)
Therefore the uttering of this part of the Lord's Prayer, if the petitioner is sincere, indicates a complete submission to the will of God, and an earnest desire to keep every portion of the ten commandments.
"And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." (Matthew 6:12)
In this is implied what is plainly stated in: "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15)
Therefore it is utterly useless for anyone to use this prayer, or to expect God to pardon his sins, unless he freely forgives all who have trespassed against him. Paul says: "Be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:32)
This is the merest glance at the Lord's Prayer, but it is all that we have the space for. To give it any adequate study, not less than an entire lesson should be spent upon each clause of the prayer.
But perhaps even with this glance some may see a depth of meaning in the prayer which they have never before realized, and may be led to study it more carefully until they can pray it "with the spirit and with the understanding." (1 Corinthians 14:15)--Signs of the Times, August 11, 1887--Notes on the International Lesson, August 28--Timeline: IV-15 (Sermon on the Mount)--Matthew 6:1-15.