Seeds for 05/30/2023 - Matthew 6:1

Scripture: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

Observation: Jesus is starting another section of teaching built on a theme with particular examples and applications. This verse is the heading to this section of teaching. Just like the past several passages (roughly the second half of chapter 5), these have a rhythm to them that is built around contrast. Jesus will contrast the ideal practices of “righteousness” or “piety” that He teaches with the practices of the hypocrites and the reward of the hypocrites with the reward His disciples should be seeking.

Today we would call these examples spiritual disciplines or practices. They were activities that both expressed their devotion and formed their spirits. The great Catholic spiritual writer Henri Nouwen once wrote, “In the spiritual life, the word ‘discipline’ means ‘the effort to create some space in which God can act.’”

Each practice Jesus lists—giving, prayer, fasting—are important, but how they are practiced is also vital. Jesus teaches that our audience makes a huge difference. We are not to practice spiritual disciplines in order to be seen by others. If we do, then we are diminishing the “space in which God can act” because we are giving that space to others. Doing them for an audience of One creates that “space in which God” performs some healthy spiritual formation in us.

Wait a second. What about a passage we’ve seen already in the Sermon on the Mount about being salt and light? “…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (5:16)

This seeming contradiction actually leads to a clarification. In each case, God the Father is the ultimate focus. As salt and light in the world, being a positive influence happens with appropriate transparency. The Source of our good deeds is not to be a mystery, so that any good we do points back to the One from whom it all comes.

A line from Oswald Chambers in his classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest comes to mind that helps me hold these two passages together in a synergy: “The measure of the worth of our public activity for God is the private profound communion we have with Him.” With God as the One true audience for my spiritual devotion/discipline, any good works done publicly are more able to shine a light and give glory to Him instead of to me after all.

Application:

• What is the danger of practicing our spiritual disciplines and acts of devotion in view of others?

• How can we successfully navigate practicing our disciplines with God as our only audience while doing good works before others in order to shine our light and point people to God?

• What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?

Prayer: Lord, cultivate in me a deep humility that seeks private profound communion with you in my spiritual disciplines and that does good works for your glorification and not my own. Amen.

---

“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)

If you liked this post from Seeds of Faith, why not share it and/or subscribe?

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™