(Synoptics: Matthew 6:1-4) With this warning – ‘Take heed’ – Christ does several things at once. He talks about the character God requires: not religious show-offs, but those with a genuine inner religion which gives praise to God in secret and really serves him; it is the portrait of a true believer.
Why do we give? The World Baptist Congress used to meet in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in the early 1970s. A certain TV evangelist did not come himself, but wanted to give a lot of money, and was prepared to do so on condition that his representative handed it to the chairman in public. If it couldn’t be done in public, it couldn’t be done at all; he didn’t want it. Usually these people are very good at their own publicity. You can almost hear Christ saying, ‘not to be seen of men’.
How do we reconcile this command with his previous encouragement in Matthew 5:16 to, ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven’? If we do our acts of mercy, pray our prayers, and fast, in secret, how will men be aware of what we are doing and how will they then give glory to God? The Christian is certainly not to be a secret disciple; that is evident from many passages in the Bible which tells us that we must not be ashamed of Christ. We must publicly confess him before men (Matthew 10:32; Luke 12:8, John 12:42; Romans 10:9; 15:9; Psalm 18:49). The fundamental issue here is not secrecy but motivation; secrecy is a remedy for a problem that can occur due to the presence of sin, but it is not in itself a necessary element of righteousness. Daniel allowed his public time of prayer to be known to all and it was part of his witness (Daniel 6:10-11). Christ himself prayed in public on a number of occasions. The real issue is motive. The very practical steps which follow cut out the possibility of wrong motive coming into play. Especially in the early Christian life it may be safer to remove all possibility of sin. We need to know ourselves and our weaknesses and to exercise spiritual discipline in our battle against temptation.