Jesus warned those who listened to His sermon, “careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them” (Matthew 6:1). Throughout the rest of this chapter in Matthew, Jesus utilizes the word “reward” in two facets; the reward given by man or by God. Those who seek praise from men will surely get it, though God will not surplus it. Jesus especially emphasizes the motive of reward in this section of His lesson (6:1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 16, 18). The correlation with righteousness and reward is a fascinating one, and is most definitely worth the time of study.
The essence of Jesus’ teaching focused around our humility elevating us to a position of praising God, not self. Notice three characteristics of indecent righteousness:
- Indecent righteousness is dangerous (6:1) — it leads to selfishness (“in order to”). It leads to attention-seeking (“be seen by them”). It leads to an absence of God’s blessing (“you will have no reward from your Father”). Any path that leads us farther from God and closer to a personalized kingdom is one that should be avoided.
- Indecent righteousness is loud (6:2) — Notice how Jesus states, “when you give.” Charity is an expectation in the Christian life, though there are wrong motives for giving. It’s not so much the grandeur of a gift, rather the heart of it that counts. The problem with the disciples is they gave “that they may be praised by others.” The best givers are those who act in secret. The most God-like givers, are the hidden givers; the individuals who aren’t supplying a need with intent of self-exaltation.
- Indecent righteousness is artificial (6:3, 4) — Our Lord instructed, “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” If no one was around to watch, would we still give? Would we still give an appropriate amount? We will have a much better moral compass when we keep the Kingdom in the big picture (6:33). A fake righteousness is one that is only concerned with what man thinks, as oppose to the maker of man.
This lesson is surrounded and bombarded with how God interacts with His creation. God is one who constantly pours out blessing upon all. He goes beyond our measure of worthiness and never ceases to spare gifts in times of plenty and times of need. Our righteousness is not something we did for ourselves, but rather God through His gift (Rom. 3:23). Sometimes we are so enamored with our righteousness, that we forget who the Giver is. When we humbly submit ourselves to such a thought, the attention can be redirected toward the Father and His example of giving can be emulated.
Tyler King