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Across history, various rabbis (some of them renowned) have been recognized for their own unique teachings; notable for emphasis on a particular aspect of Torah or their focus on a specific attribute God’s nature, or perhaps a unique interpretation of an historical event. Disciples are supposed to be able to articulate their rabbi’s teaching. More than that; their lives are supposed to reflect that teaching.

Yeshua, too, has a specific body of teaching attributed to Him. The essentials of it are contained in what we commonly call ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. Understand that Yeshua gave these teachings far more than just one time. On multiple occasions He would have taught one or a few of them as a particular situation called for it. But at one point Matthew records that Yeshua gave a much longer sermon – His signature teaching. Here’s the outline of what we’ve covered, and what’s to come.

Outline:

1. Blessed are they… (The Beatitudes, part 1) (5:1-9)
2. Blessed are YOU… (The Beatitudes, part 2) (5:10-12)

III. Who we are and aren’t (5:13-20)

1. You have heard… But I say (Yeshua’s Torah) (5:21-48)
2. When you… (give, pray, fast) (6:1-18)
3. The futility of materialism (6:19-34)

VII. Things that could keep you out of Heaven (hypocrisy, following the crowd, false teachers, refusal to act on Yeshua’s teaching) (7:1-29)

1. When you… (give, pray, fast) (6:1-18)

This morning we will take up verses 1-8 concerning our giving habits and how NOT to pray.

Verses 1-4

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in Heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

The Greek word for righteousness (dikaiosuni) is the equivalent of the Hebrew word tzedakah. Yeshua warns us against announcing our ‘righteous’ deeds publicly. He is saying that if we do righteous deeds for the attention and applause of people, their attention and applause will be the sum total of our reward.

Just a chapter earlier, Yeshua said, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (5:16). So when He says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men…” it would appear, at first blush, to be a contradiction; but it isn’t at all. The gist of it is that God cares about our motives as well as our actions. Those who perform charitable acts and broadcast it far and wide for all to see are missing the point – and they’ll miss out on reward from God, too. An example would be someone who donates a large sum of money for a new wing for a hospital or school in exchange for having it named after them, or who makes sure their name is closely associated with some charitable work. People might think they’re very generous, but as far as God is concerned, people’s good opinions are all the reward they’ll ever receive.

If men ‘happen’ to see your good works, it should be without any intent on your part. If news about it spreads by word of mouth, which is to say, naturally – by God’s doing, then it’s authentic. But if you’re the one calling WDIV to send out a news crew so everyone can see what you’re doing, it comes off as artificial. This is a subtle thing. “Mission drift” is a real danger. If we aren’t careful, at some point winning people to the Lord can become secondary to getting people to like us, and what was originally a means to a greater goal becomes the goal.

Giving in secret was always understood to be the higher way of charity. Maimonides described eight levels of giving, and matan b’seter (giving in secret) was right up there, near the top, since it affords the benefactor neither social nor egoistical benefit.

Again, Yeshua’s instruction goes to the issue of motive and intent. If people see Christians and Messianic Jews doing good works, and it moves them to give thanks to God, then it’s fine. But whatever charity we give, He’s telling us not to call attention to ourselves over it.

Messiah uses the expression ‘hypocrites’ three times in this passage. It would be a good idea for us to know what He meant by it. We typically think of a hypocrite as someone who advocates one thing, but does another.  In Classical Greek, the word hypocritis referred to an actor. By the time of the First Century, it came to mean more of an imposter; in this case, egotism masquerading as generosity and religious zeal.

Before we go on to the next verses, consider this: Yeshua didn’t say “If you give to the poor…” He said “When you give to the poor…” It was assumed that we would give to the poor. Benevolence has always been an expected part of the life of Messiah’s Holy Community. Disciples of Yeshua should be the most generous of all – the pacesetters in helping the poor. The point here is that if we are doing it to please Adonai, then we should do it quietly, privately, discreetly. The fewer people who know about your charitable giving, the better. God knows, and that’s what matters.

Verses 5-6

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.  But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”

Just as Messiah’s people are naturally expected to give, it is also assumed that they pray.  The Hebrew word for prayer, tefillah, comes from palal – to intervene or interpose oneself, and it’s interesting to note that the very first occurrence of the word is in Genesis 20, where God tells Abimelech to restore Abraham’s wife Sarah to him, and that Abraham will intercede, lest God kill Abimelech.

But I wondered when I was reading this the other evening, “Who were these people praying on street corners?” Apparently, Yeshua was speaking of some of the Pharisees, to whom He issued a similar condemnation in Matthew 23 (also in Mark 12 and Luke 20). At the time of Shacharit (morning prayers) or Mincha (Noon prayers) someone with this mindset might purposely time it so that they would be at a very public place at the time of prayer, and be sure to pray conspicuously and with perfect diction, even lengthening their prayers, just like they lengthened their tzitzit – the fringes on their garments.  Visually it may have seemed impressive, just as Christians are easily impressed by the outward appearance of Hasidim. But apparently it was a façade, since many of them were characterized by greed and corruption. How bizarre – to be proud of oneself, yet all along be exhibiting a ‘false-face’ to the general public.

In 1 Thessalonians 5 Rabbi Paul urged believers to “pray without ceasing” – which I take to mean that at all times we should try to be aware of God’s near presence, and also to be aware of the needs of people around us, and to speak to Him frequently, even if silently in our thoughts. So how’s your prayer life? You don’t have to answer that! I confess my own prayer life isn’t what it ought to be. But it is called a spiritual ‘discipline’ because our natural inclination isn’t to spend long periods of time praying. It requires intentionality and persistence.

And there’s that word again hypocritis:– a ‘poser’. “Hey, everyone, look at me! See how humble and godly I am?”  Here at Shema we all stand and pray the Shabbat Amidahtogether. But in most synagogues, it is prayed silently and individually. I remember in my synagogue as a kid, every so often, there would be somebody who really took his time with it, and was still standing and davening long after everyone else had sat down. Maybe the guy was a slow reader, but I had a feeling it was to show us that he was more serious than the rest of us. Of course, on the other hand, to be perfectly honest, it seemed like a lot of people prayed the Amidah at ‘warp speed’, just to be done with it.

This is by no means a prohibition on public prayer; the point here is that we’re not supposed to affect sanctimonious airs. We shouldn’t use prayer as a pretext to teach or impress others. Furthermore, however much or little you pray isn’t for me or anyone else to know. If you are a prayer warrior, that’s great, but no one needs to know about it. Let it be a private, intimate secret between you and your Creator who sees what is done in secret. And Yeshua went on to teach about prayer.

Verses 7-8

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

As a new and on-fire believer, I remember one morning while on a sales trip in Portland, OR, I was looking for a Christian station to listen to, and happened upon a Catholic station right as the ‘Hail Mary’ was being recited over and over. It just kept going. I remember thinking it was really bizarre. Yeshua tells us that meaningless repetition was the custom of the heathen. One example (1 Kings 18) was the encounter between Elijah and the false prophets of Ba’al and Asherah at Mt. Carmel. Ba’al’s followers called on the non-existent deity all day long, working themselves into a frenzy and even cutting themselves. Another example (Acts 19), was the pagans rioting in Ephesus in reaction to the preaching of the Good News. They repeated the chant, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” It went on for two hours straight!

Think about what prayer is really supposed to be; it’s you expressing love, loyalty, gratitude and the concerns of your heart to your Father in Heaven. How many words does it actually take to express yourself? Many of you have experienced situations in a public gathering of prayer, where someone is praying, and you get the sense that at some point they’re not really praying anymore – they’re opining. Then there’s the person who goes on and on, monopolizing the prayer time, indifferent to others who need to express their hearts as well.

Are your prayers consistent with the way you normally speak, or do you suddenly wax eloquent? If so, is it for His sake, really? I’m not suggesting there isn’t an appropriate place for extravagant praise to God, especially considering all He’s done for us. But when Messiah Yeshua cautions us against meaningless repetition, we ought to take that seriously.

Listen to what John MacArthur had to say about brevity in prayer:

“Study the exemplary prayers in Scripture and you cannot help noticing that all of them are brief and simple. Prayer that is heartfelt, urgent, and unfeigned must be of that style. Verbiage and windbaggery are badges of insincerity, especially in prayer. The prayer of the publican in Luke 18:13 is as short and to the point as possible: ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ Then there’s the prayer of the thief on the cross: ‘Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!’ (Luke 23:42). Those prayers are cut from the same cloth as Peter’s cry for help when he was walking on water—sometimes cited as the shortest prayer in the Bible: ‘Lord, save me!’ (Matthew 14:30)”. [1]

There is, of course, Moses’ prayer for Miriam after God struck her with leprosy for having spoken evil of Moses. “O God, heal her, I pray.” But I have to confess, I always thought that prayer sounded perfunctory – like his heart wasn’t in it. On occasion, Yeshua prayed long prayers, but each is remarkably significant not repetitive, and most significantly, these were not public prayers. His prayer on behalf of the disciples on the night of His betrayal was long but meaningful, and not in a public place. There were occasions that Yeshua prayed all through the night, and we don’t have the content of most of those prayers, but again, those occurred in private.

Two biblical prayers that I have always considered extraordinarily powerful were the intercessory prayers of Daniel and Elijah. Daniel, realizing that the 70 years of Judah’s captivity had come to fulfillment, offered up a deeply heartfelt, humble and honest prayer, recorded in 9:4-19, and it is a model of sincerity and faith. In 1 Kings 18, at the ‘showdown’ on Mt. Carmel, Elijah asked God to manifest His power for the sake of the Israelis there who were wavering and double-minded about whether to follow Adonai or Ba’al. Let’s consider that prayer – a prayer that was brief, honest, pointed and unselfish.

At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again” (1 Kings 18:36-37).

And that prayer was answered instantly!

Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God (vss. 38-39).”

Of course, the ultimate model of prayer is the one given us by Messiah Yeshua. And because it is so significant and deserves all consideration, rather than attempt to cover it today in brief, summary fashion, I’d like to save it for when we continue this series on the Sermon on the Mount.

But let’s talk about the last phrase of verse 8:

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“For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

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The reason our prayers ought to be short and sweet and unpretentious is because the One to whom we are speaking is the Creator of the universe! Adonai is omniscient – He knows every detail about every event that has ever happened, is happening right now, or will ever happen in the future. In fact, because He is omniscient, the Lord know not only knows the future, He knows every contingent future – every conceivable variable based on a person’s decision to go this way instead of that, or to take this action versus that, or to refrain from taking any action. He knows everything! The God of Israel knows you, knows about you, knows your situation, and knows the particulars of that situation. He knows every particular of every situation for everyone about whom you may be interceding. As the psalmist wrote, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high; I cannot attain to it!”

And so when you pray, know in your heart that Adonai is fully aware of what you need long before you ask. He doesn’t require an explanation, only your honest plea for His help.

This is my Master’s Instruction. Lord willing, we will continue this series in Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount in the weeks ahead.

We have a high calling . The example Messiah set for His followers is difficult to attain to. But to be a disciple means to live out daily the teachings of your rabbi.

As G. K. Chesterton said, “Christianity hasn’t been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and not tried.”

Closing prayer:

Lord God, thank You for all that You have done for us! We can’t recall half of the many provisions, rescues and answers that You sent in response to prayer. You have been merciful and kind, even when we don’t deserve it. Father, please help us to live the way we should; in reverence for and gratitude to You, taking Your priorities to be our own. Help us not to be hypocritical. Help us to give the way we should; generously, wisely, aware of those in need, and doing so without any fanfare, but humbly and discreetly. Please help us to pray the way we should; frequently, honestly, secretly – and in full assurance of faith that You are mighty to save, and delight to come to the help of Your people. Please help us to be true disciples, living out Messiah’s teaching, and being fishers of men.

[1] Steps to Successful Prayer, Pt. 1 by Dr. John MacArthur at Grace To You online

(see: http://www.gty.org/blog/B120502/steps-to-successful-prayer-part-1)