Matthew 6: 1-8

Welcome! It’s April 26th 2026

Geez we are almost in May!

We ended Matthew 5 last week covering Adultery and this morning we continue with the Sermon on the Mount beginning at verse 1 in chapter 6 where Yeshua says,

16 Matthew 6.1-8

April 26th 2026

6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, 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.

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

So back to doing alms according to Yeshua to the Jews of His day under the Law. And verse one

6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

Giving alms.

The Greek word is “el-ah-may-nos-ooh-nay” and it means giving or doing good deeds of benevolence to those in need.

Another word for that in the King James day was giving alms.

And while alms is not found in the Old Testament, it is repeatedly used in the New and according to Leviticus 25:35 and Deuteronomy 15:7 Mosaic legislation tended to promote a spirit of giving to help prevent the occurrence of destitution among the people.

God has always had a concern for the poor and destitute of the world, and by the time of Christ begging was commonplace.

Because benevolence was encouraged in the Old Testament, the Pharisees were willing to give but because of their hearts and the way they had interpreted godliness, their giving was ostentatious.

Under the law, under religious systems or by legalistic minds where righteousness is determined by obedience, ostentatious giving, presumptuous apparel, stumbling about faint from religious devotions is a natural by-product of such systems.

In a faith where everything ought to be done from the heart AND (and, and, and) “as unto the Lord,” everything ought to be done – listen – without a care for what others see or think.

Obviously, and in order to assess the actions and attitudes we take, we might stop and ask ourselves right out the gate “WHY am I doing this this way? For what purpose and to what end. Is it -

“To be seen of men or for our actions only to be seen and known by God?”

“To appear like we are something before others or to show the Lord our love for Him and our fellowman?”

(beat)

I mean, don’t beat yourselves up. We are human beings housed in flesh and this flesh is CONSTANTLY trying to fluff itself up and out – in one way or another – before others.

Awards, accolades, recognitions, statues, salutations, honorariums, praise, status, reputations, I mean, we’re surrounded with it in almost everything we do.

Remember in that great seasonal film, A Christmas Story, when Ralphie day-dreams of the recognition he would get for writing his theme paper? An “A .plus, plus, plus, plus!” And all class is cheering, and they lift him up on their shoulders and bear him about the room as a hero?

I recently saw a study performed by a Princeton professor where they took two teams into separate rooms and had them eat as much as they could.

One team sat all by themselves eating and the other was surrounded by people cheering in support of their efforts.

In the end the team that was cheered for ate 40% more than the team that simply sat alone.

The praise of men, their noticing us, the recognition they bestow on us goes a loooooong way in feeding . . . our flesh, our ego, all that is in the world.

But here in chapter 6 Yeshua teaches another way . . . and for His disciples to operate from a different motivation.

IN THE END (listen) in the end, the only way to follow His directives and prevent the flesh from twisting it up to favor our selves is to ensure that the true reason and motive we give alms, or pray, or do whatever is BECAUSE we love Him, serve Him and want Him to know our hearts – not others.

If this is not the primary driver, our flesh will somehow manage to get itself up on the shoulders of our cheering friends.

1st John 3:17 lays it out pretty clearly, saying:

“But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”

Notice the premise.

Whoever has the world’s goods to give, and

And sees his brother in need

And turns from compassion

Faces the rhetorical question:

“How dwells the LOVE of GOD in Him?”

Throughout the gospels, giving to the needy is enjoined. And this was a duty the early Christian church made sure they participated in, caring not only for the poor among themselves but even for those of distant places.

We read in John 13:29 that even the monies the Lord and twelve had was for their own needs and for giving to the poor.

I’m not going to talk about the pragmatics of giving or not giving in this day and age. That is for another day. We live in a very different time and there are all sorts of shenanigans going on that lend to doing MORE harm for the welfare of others than good – but what we are talking about today is “Does the Love of God dwell in us and will we allow that love to motivate and govern us or love for ourselves and systems that praise and honor?

The point of this teaching is Jesus wants us to decipher our motives. And if we discover them out of character with the primary motive of “Loving God and Loving our neighbor as He loved us,” this is the focus. So Yeshua amplifies the teaching and says at verse 2

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, 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.

Note the word that Yeshua uses to describe such souls – hypocrites.

Why? They act loving but in reality the love of God is NOT in them and they give to be seen of men.

Five to six hundred years before Jesus was born the Greek culture began to flourish.

In this highly advanced culture, they would have stage plays where “actors” would walk to one end of the stage and hold up a smiling mask and extol the wonders of life:

“Ah, how I love life and living. Oh, the wonders of my family, of the birds, of the land.”

The actor would then walk to the other end of the stage and having exchanged the smiling mask with a frowning one he would face the audience and say,

“Oh, what a dreadful world. Ah, what venom, what misery. Me wife is a wench (oops, that’s pirate culture) . . . but you get the picture).

They called this actor a WHO POC RA TACE – a hypocrite – one who speaks from both sides of his mouth.

There’s a famous Aesop’s fable where on a very cold morning two men meet on a road.

One of the men, in an attempt to get warm, blows into his hands (like this).

The other man asks, “Why are you doing that?” And the blower says, “to get my hands warm.”

The men walk on and get hungry. The one says to the other, “How about we go to the Inn for soup?” and agreeing they walk into the Inn and order hot soup.

When the soup is delivered, the man who had been blowing on his hands took a spoonful and began blowing on the soup.

“What are you doing now?” asked the man across from him.

“I’m trying to make my soup cool.”

The other man abruptly stood to his feet and said, “I am leaving. I cannot be friends with a person who blows hot and cold with the same mouth!”

A “who poc rat ace.”

Here, Yeshua is speaking to the heart of religious hypocrisy. What made those who gave to be seen of men hypocrites was they gave benevolently in order to appear godly but their hearts bore no real love of God. And what does Yeshua say of them?

“They have their reward.”

They got it through applause, the reputation of being charitable, and drawing on the honor and attention from . . . MAN. These are the earthly rewards of playing religion.

After warning them of what not to be Yeshua gives them His instructions and says (verse 3)

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

This is a proverbial expression. It basically means our acts of generosity and love ought to be done “as secretly as possible.” Why?

Because then the motive is certainly based on God above and not any ulterior motive for self.

Again, the resistance is always against the self and the honoring of God alone.

Yeshua says, Let your giving and help be so quiet that your left hand (a picture for the flesh) doesn’t even know what your right hand (a picture for the attributes that are of God) is doing.

Why? What is the basis for this approach? In relation to giving alms, Yeshua says in verse four:

4 That thine alms (showing that giving is good) may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

First of all, Yeshua admits that the Father sees things and rewards accordingly. Do we trust that?

Its sort of fundamental to walking by faith, isn’t it?

That the father who sees will take vengeance or make this right – or not?

That His seeing our actions and motives He will reward openly?

Just a note but the rewarding of us Openly is not in the Original mss and was added to the Textus Receptus so the better reading is

Mt 6:4 (RSV) so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Walking in faith means that we act trusting that God will fairly and rightly see our motives and intentions and when we act in secret He will recognize that our motives were to bless others in His name and cause rather than for our glory and honors.

The question for almost ALL that we do then in this life of the proving ground becomes, in the face of this teaching –

Who do I serve?

What are my motives for serving?

And where do I want my recognition for acting to come from?

The world answers to these go like this –

Who do I serve? (me, myself and I)

What are my motives for serving? (all that is in this world)

And where do I want my recognition for acting to come from? (man)

The scripture gives a much different reply to the same three questions, so

Who do I serve? (YAHAVAH alone)

What are my motives for serving? (to bring His will about on earth)

And where do I want my recognition for acting to come from? (Him – again, alone)

Now, a few weeks ago we read in Matthew 5 something that appears contradictory at first sight to what Yeshua is saying here. And we read at verse 13 of chapter 5,

Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Reconciling Jesus’s commands to act in secret here in Matthew 6:1-4 and letting our light shine (Matthew 5:16) involves focusing on the motive, not our visibility in the world.

The question becomes WHY are we desiring to be seen and to WHAT end and Yeshua plainly lays it out appealing to three possessions involved

“Let your light” so shine

“That they may see your good works,” and

“glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

The contextual implication of this passage, when taken all together, is that we act and do these things so that others will GLORIFY our Father which is in heaven – not ourselves, not our popularity, pocketbook or person – not the churches we attend, not the goodness of ourselves.

We act in secret to avoid seeking personal applause, ensuring then that our good works are for God's glory rather than self-promotion but we allow our transformed character to be a natural witness of His Light which we allow to emit from us.

Essentially, the Christian is called to shine by living with integrity in such a way that the character of Christ is visible to others, even if the specific actions themselves are kept humble and private.

This is the point of these teachings in chapter six folks – making sure our hearts are behind what we do, making sure our motives are to serve, honor and love God – and not seek to obtain the glory of men.

Then Yeshua continues on a new subject but with the very same message – verse five:

5 And when thou prayest(!) . . . thou shalt not be as the (here is that word again) hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, (why) that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

His use of the term hypocrites appears that the same motive when they prayed as when they gave alms – “to be seen of men.”

Yeshua explains, saying,

for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Why would these hypoctrites love to pray in the synagogues and the street corners? Again, Yeshua explains, saying, “THAT THEY MAY BE SEEN OF MEN.”

So, again, we are reminded to ask ourselves what is the aim, the motive, the intention of the acts because if they appear to be toward God but are actually for our well-being, reputation and honor, we hypocritically are using God as the source of our gains.

And Yeshua gives further instruction on praying and says,

6 But thou (my chosen disciples and those who are reading these words to try and know me better) “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee.

(Again, the original does not have openly in terms of and reward thee openly)

So, giving alms secretly and praying in secret. Every devout Jewish house had a place for secret devotions. These were often on the roofs of their houses because they were flat places for walking, conversation, and meditation, which they often did “in the cool of the evening.” And they were often referred to in scripture as “the upper room.”

Some had a small room kind of set aside or appropriated as a place of prayer and religious reflection and this was the place Yeshua was directing His disciples to go to when they wished to hold communion with God.

If you are not a wanderer like me, it is a good thing to have a “room or place” for prayer - your car, nature, the backyard, your room, even the pantry or closet.

A place where no ear will hear you but His ear, and no eye can see you but His eye.

Without such a place it is hard to offer up “the secret prayers of our hearts.”

Additionally, according to scripture prayer is a form of sacrificial giving?

Yeshua spoke in the first four passages of this chapter about “giving or offering alms” but now He speaks about giving or offering prayers. Both are offerings.

Many believers do not understand that prayers and praying is a form of sacrifice to God no DIFFERENT than sacrificing financially.

Describing believers, 1st Peter 2:5 says:

“Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

Why would praying be considered a sacrifice or as the writer of Hebrews puts it, a “spiritual sacrifice?”

Prayer takes the stuff life is made of – time, attention, and focus on things outside of ourselves. It requires an element of something people hold very dear - time and attention.

To take the time and give attention to others, their problems, their lives, their pains and sorrows and worries and to petition the Lord on their behalf is one of the most loving, giving, effective things a believer can do.

In this age of immaterial religion I would suggest it is far more important and powerful for a person to pray for another, or for a ministry, or for a church, than to give to it monetarily.

This is not to say we don’t also contribute to the betterment of others as led by the Spirit but if we’re looking at personal sacrifice, giving up a twenty or a hundred is often far less sacrificial then to

actually take the heartfelt time and attention to “remember others” to the Lord.

Consider this situation – lets say you have a teenager who is traveling in Africa and right before her cell phone runs out of battery she calls and urgently says:

“I’m stuck out in the middle of nowhere, Mom! I’ve got no money, the car is almost out of gas, and night is falling. On top of all this, I am surrounded by . . . .”

And the phone goes dead.

All the money in the world won’t do a thing to immediately help your child in that moment.

You are at a loss. Here’s the point relative to the topic at hand – you can pray. And immediately God could take steps to provide for her, protect her, care for her.

Unlike monetary aid, which requires time and coordination and greater data and action to reach your child, your prayers go IMMEDIATELY to God – not to a bank account or a Western Union – they go immediately to God who can immediately take action.

I realize the paradox of this example because God can take immediate action with or without our prayers but the point is all we can do in some situations is pray.

And the sacrifice of your time in prayer far, far outweighs the ability of willingness to wire money – even a billion dollars – to her bank account.

To top it all off, you’re placing the situation in the hands of the only being who can do anything to help – at least in that situation.

The power, the sacrifice of prayer for others is perhaps the GREATEST sacrifice we can make on their behalf.

The Book of Revelation describes the prayers of the saints as viles of perfumes which is fascinating imagery for those prayers we offer on behalf of others.

A few weeks ago we had a fourteen year old girl call in to the afternoon call in hour and asked, If God is in control why do we pray – a really good question – and we explained that one of the main reasons we pray is to 1, petition God because we are told to, and 2, to get our hearts aligned to accept His will.

But there is another reason that might come with our purpose of sacrificing our time and life in prayer for others and it has to do with this world and the freewill economy in which we live.

We have an interesting event described in Daniel chapter 10. Of course, this was the Old Testament when demons and devils reigned over the earth and before Christ had the victory over them, but the chapter highlights intense spiritual warfare behind earthly events, reinforcing God's control.

So Daniel 10 describes Daniel mourning and fasting for three weeks, leading to a vision of a glorious heavenly messenger on the banks of the Tigris.

The angel reveals that a 21-day spiritual battle with the "prince of Persia" delayed him until Michael stepped in and helped.

The messenger explains he was fighting against demonic forces ("prince of Persia") hindering him, highlighting an unseen conflict that Daniel was unaware of in his flesh.

The angel then touches Daniel, calling him "greatly beloved" and providing strength to receive the message.

This chapter sets up the final prophecy found in chapters 11 and 12, focusing on the spiritual reality behind national struggles in that day and the messenger vows to return to the battle, mentioning that the prince of Greece is coming next, emphasizing the ongoing nature of this otherworldly fight.

Because we live in a time of Victory of the Risen Christ over all things I do not personally believe that the same spiritual powers have the ability to interfere with things but, having said this, I do believe that because God gave human beings freewill, and that He does not impose Himself upon us to thwart our choices and decisions, this is a place where prayer comes into play today.

Let me explain as we wrap up todays teaching on Matthew 6:1-6.

While the scripture plainly describes Christ as having had the victory over sin, Satan, death and hell, having put all these things under His feet, I maintain that every one of us in this realm retain freewill.

This means murderers and rapists and criminals have the freewill ability to do things to harm – simple as that – and the reality is, God allows them to act.

This is proven by the fact that murders and rapes and crime still occur in our world.

That said, I do believe that as members of this world, where darkness still abides in the souls of freewill beings, believers may have a power to protect their loved ones and others from harm. MAY.

Think of it this way – praying might be like playing a role in giving God the right to act on behalf of others in this freewill economy.

In other words, perhaps God’s hands are tied when it comes to the freewill acts of evil people choose to do and lacking any intervention or invitation to be involved, perhaps we are all subject to the whims of others in this world.

But suppose God can be invited and empowered to act on behalf of others in this realm through our sacrificial prayers on their behalf. And that prayer serves to sort-of crack open an access panel in the unseen realm for God and His angels to run interference with the evil some people elect to do.

So we pray and invite, through our freewill as members of the human realm, to give access to God to act on behalf of others – and perhaps – perhaps, the more prayers offered for others the wider the access panel for more and more heavenly powers to enter into any given situation and help beat back the freewill dark actions of others?

Just a thought. Yeshua continues and says, at verse 7,

Matthew 6:7-8 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

This implies that we are not bringing any new information to God through our prayers but supports the idea that our prayers do something other than informing – and I suggest that what they are doing today is they are granting God the right, in this freewill economy, to act.

In closing remember what the scripture says about prayer, beginning with Hebrews 13:15

“By him (Christ) therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”

Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Psalm 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

1st Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Next week Yeshua will instruct His disciples on how to pray.

Thanks for watching.