How to Give, Pray, and Fast Like a Christian

We all like people to think highly of us. It is human nature.  There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with people thinking highly of us, but doing our good works just so others will think highly of us is a selfish motivation. We may actually be doing good. We may actually be feeding the hungry, and taking care of the poor, but when we do so with a self-centered motive, our good works don’t mean anything to God. He sees our hearts. He reads our minds. To him, our selfishly motivated works are like filthy rags.

Today we will be looking at what Jesus says about the motivation for our good works. We know he wants us to do good works. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus says, “let your light so shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” So it is clear, Jesus wants us to do good works, but it isn’t enough just to do the good works. We have to have the right motivation too. Just like, it isn’t enough that we don’t murder, don’t physically commit adultery, or don’t commit perjury. God sees our hearts. He is the Judge of all the secrets of our hearts.

This is what Jesus says to us in Matthew 6:1-18:

1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

 2 "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

 5 "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

 7 "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

 11 Give us this day our daily bread,

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

 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,

 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

 16 "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

 In this passage, Jesus deals with three things. For the last few weeks we have been looking at things where Jesus repeats an Old Testament command. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not lie. In those passages, Jesus comes to us when we think we’ve done alright and shows that even though we may have kept the letter of the law—Even though we might be able to claim we have never broken this or that commandment—our hearts are still sinful. We have hated, lusted, or stretched the truth. Here Jesus does something different. He names three things that are good. Three things that we can say, “Hey, I do that. I’m a pretty good person.” And he shows how even in our good works we fall short.

Those three things are giving to the poor, praying, and fasting. These are all good things. By no means is Jesus telling us, don’t give to the poor, don’t pray, or don’t fast. Rather, Jesus is pointing at how even when we do good things we often do them for the wrong reasons.

Jesus gives us his main point in verse one. He says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” This statement should be surprising to us. It was only a few verses ago, Jesus told us to let our light shine before men so that when they see our good works they would glorify our Father in heaven. As I raised this question before, “Which is it, Jesus? Should we do our good works before men, or not?” What Jesus says is no contradiction. The difference comes down to motive. When you do your good works, do you do them for God’s glory, or do you do them for yours? Jesus tells us, if you are doing your good works to get people to look highly on you, you nullify any reward from God.

Now Jesus gives us three different kinds of good works and explains how this principle applies to each. First, Jesus applies the principle to giving to the poor. He says, “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” Now, we don’t have synagogues and we don’t usually blow trumpets when we give, but we kind of know what he means. There are those who give to the poor, and they want everyone to know that they give and how much too. They may want preferential treatment. If they give a lot to the church, they may want you to know it, and they expect to have a level of control because of it as well. Jesus sees through this hypocritical giving. Such giving is not because you care about the poor, it’s because you want other people to think you’re good, and maybe give you a pat on the back. Jesus says, they have their reward. They won’t have any heavenly reward for such giving. They want people to see them and think they are good, and that will be the only reward they get, but on judgment day, not only will it not count for any good but it will actually be counted as wicked because of the wrong motivation.

Instead, Jesus tells us how we are to give. He says, “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Not only should we not care about what people think of our giving, but we should try to keep it a secret what we give. I know of someone when I was in seminary who had a great need. His wife was a stay at home mom, and he was studying full time and he was also the only bread winner for the family. There were a few times when he received an anonymous envelope with cash. No letter, no explanation. It was just left there, clearly for him from some anonymous source. Whoever it was that gave that, was doing what Jesus says here. They weren’t doing it because they wanted others to see how good they were, I’m sure that they actually received joy from knowing that God was the only person who knew, and that God who sees in secret will one day reward them one day.

Next, Jesus applies the same concept to prayer. He says, “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Sometimes people pray for the same wrong reason as they give to the poor. They want to be seen. They want to be admired. Jesus says that we are not to be as the hypocrites. The hypocrites love to pray in public. They pray in church where other people hear them. Jesus says they pray out on the street corner. Maybe today we may think of someone who makes a big deal out of praying when they go to a restaurant. Now, I’m not against that. Usually we always pray when we go out to eat, but we don’t want to pray in a voice that carries so everyone in the place can hear it, and especially not with the motivation that we want people to know we are doing it. No, when we pray, Jesus says we are to go into our room and shut the door.

Now, I don’t think that Jesus is against public prayer. We do this every week when we meet here. We pray for God’s blessing on our worship and on the preaching of God’s word. That is a good thing. But again, Jesus goes to our motivation. Here’s a good question for diagnosis. Is the only time you pray, when you pray in public? Do you have times when you get alone, when it’s just you and God, and you speak to him?

Jesus goes on to teach us more about prayer. He says, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Here Jesus tells us our prayer should be meaningful. It ought not be just a bunch of meaningless phrases. We can probably relate to what Jesus is getting at here. How often we pray in a way that isn’t thinking at all, but it is just repeating words and phrases we have heard others say. How many times when we pray do we repeat the word “just?” We say, “bless the gift and the giver,” “be with….” There are many phrases we use just out of habit without even thinking. Now, it isn’t that there is anything wrong with the words themselves, but sometimes we can give a whole prayer without thinking about what we are saying and just repeating the same words. Jesus wants us to think about what we are saying, and for it to be meaningful.

Notice, Jesus also says that hypocrites “heap up” empty phrases. In Luke 20, Jesus says the scribes and Pharisees make long prayers for a similar reason—to be seen. Here Jesus tells us we don’t have to make long prayers. He knows what we need before we ask him. Now that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want us to ask, but we don’t have to pray a long prayer for God to hear us.

Next Jesus gives us the model prayer. We know this as the Lord’s prayer, but actually, it’s more accurate to call it the Disciples’ prayer. It’s the one he teaches us to pray, not the one he prayed for himself. Jesus didn’t have to pray “forgive us our trespasses” because he never sinned. I could preach a whole sermon on this prayer, but that’s not what I’m going to do. Maybe another time I will. For now, let’s just look at what it says:

Pray then like this:
“Our Father 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 lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”

Considering what Jesus was already saying before he gives this model prayer, I think the first thing we notice about this prayer is how short it is. It isn’t going on and on with a bunch of meaningless repetition. No. It’s short and to the point. Here’s a few things to notice:

·        It addresses God as “Our Father.” Not some distant being that we cannot relate to, but personal and intimate.

·        It shows a concern for the Glory of God’s name. It puts God’s glory before any other requests.

·        It makes requests for the simple things like the food we eat. We should depend on God for these things and not take them for granted.

·        It asks for forgiveness of sins. In every prayer we pray we should come to him recognizing that we are sinners and we confess that and depend on his grace.

·        It asks for God’s assistance in overcoming sin.

These things are all simple, but profound. When we pray, we don’t have to be a super theologian. We don’t have to come with some elaborate eloquent prayer. No we can come to him intimately as a Father and pray for the simple things like Jesus tells us here.

I think verses 14 and 15 are a kind of “parentheses” statement. It isn’t the main point of what he’s getting at. It’s more of a side point. In the prayer, Jesus says “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Then he explains why this is part of the prayer. He says, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” This is much like what we have seen elsewhere. If we refuse to forgive others, we are being the worst kind of hypocrite, and we are blind to how much we have been forgiven. I don’t believe Christians can “lose their salvation,” but there are a lot of fakes out there and a REAL Christian WILL ultimately forgive. It may be difficult. It may take time, but that’s what true Christians do.

Finally, Jesus applies his main idea to fasting. He says, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Now, we know from elsewhere that John’s disciples came and asked why Jesus’ disciples didn’t fast, but in his reply Jesus said that his disciples would fast once he ascended to the Father and was no longer physically present with them. Here, Jesus is assuming this context. When we, believers, fast we are not to do it to get attention or to get people to see how good and holy we are. Apparently, in Jesus day they had a practice of contorting their faces in a way that signaled to everyone that they were fasting. Jesus here is teaching that we shouldn’t draw attention to the fact. If and when we fast, we should do the same thing he said about praying and giving to the poor. Do it secretly. It is between us and God, and we shouldn’t draw attention to it in order for people to think highly of us.

In every one of these practices, Jesus tells us the same thing. Keep it secret. Don’t give, pray, or fast in a way to draw attention to yourself. No. Do it in secret, and the Father who sees in secret will one day reward us.

Now, we have looked at what Jesus has said, and it might be tempting to end the sermon right here. However, I’m afraid that if I did I wouldn’t be preaching the cross. I wouldn’t be preaching the gospel. If I ended the sermon here, I would only be giving law and no gospel. As Jesus is telling us how we should give, pray, and fast, we might come away with the idea that somehow we earn God’s acceptance by a work.

We might be very diligent to give in secret, and all the while we think that this makes us righteous or praiseworthy.

We might follow Jesus teachings about prayer, and all the while we think this makes us righteous or praiseworthy, and we might even start to look down on someone else when we hear them saying something in a prayer that doesn’t fit with this and we start judging them and thinking we are better.

We might fast in secret like Jesus tells us to, and think that by doing so God owes us some blessing.

We can legalistically follow all the things Jesus is telling us here, and still be just as guilty as the hypocrites he is condemning if we think that by doing these things we earn some favor from God. The gospel isn’t about what we do. The gospel is about what Jesus did. We are not made right with God by keeping our spiritual disciplines secret. We are made right with God by believing that his blood was shed for us—that his death on the cross was our substitute—that he paid our debt and satisfied God’s wrath.

If you are counting on your giving, praying, fasting, or any other religious activity to get you into Heaven, you don’t understand the gospel. Trust in Jesus sacrificial death on your behalf. You could never give, pray, or fast enough to earn heaven.