so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee.
9 sermons cite this verse
… who is in this secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. When you pray, don't use vain repetitions as the heathen do, but they think they'll be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them, for your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. I'll stop there. It's a tragic thing, but really, sin knows no boundaries. It can follow us to the very throne of heaven where I'm actually missing the whole point of what prayer should be. Focusing the intention upon myself. This was the problem with the Pharisees. They prayed to be seen by men. The Pharisees loved the theater of prayer. It was sort of like a performance. They would go to a street corner and stop and pray loudly and people would look, oh, look at that religious man. Oh, how devout he is. how impressive he is. Jesus is saying, God's not impressed. He's not impressed one bit because you're doing it for others to see. And so he's showing us that is not how we should pray, nor should we offer ritualized, repeated prayers. That's why I don't really love memorized prayers, that people pray over and over again, just say, 10 our fathers, and you'll be okay. Is there some magic in a little prayer that we pray. When we pray, God looks on the heart. It's a conversation with God. For instance, here's a memorized prayer. We'll say to our children, okay, honey, it's time …
… Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you, 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. Then your father who sees what is done in secret will, can you say this with me? Will reward you. Wow. So there's a reward connected to our generosity to the needy. But what Jesus isn't saying in this sermon that he's putting a lot of energy towards the kingdom economy in is if you decide to give to the needy, here's how to do it. No, he said, when you give to the needy, here's how you do it. Not you should consider giving to the needy, and when you do, this is how you do it. He said, no, no, no, you're going to give to the needy. And the reason is the first thing that we see about the kingdom economy of God today is that Jesus' followers are God's primary conduit to provide for the poor. …
… I wanna read the context of what he's writing together in Matthew 6, verses one through 18. We'll start with verse one here. Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your father in heaven. So, whenever you give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets to be applauded by people. But truly, I tell you, they have their reward. But when you give to the poor, don't 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. Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites because they love to pray standing in synagogues on the street corner to be seen by people. But truly I tell you, they've received their reward. But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, that's our word, and pray to your father who's in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. …
… so that, listen to verse 4, your giving may be in secret, and your Father who sees this in secret will reward you. Same thing down in verse 6, when you pray, go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. You get to fasting, verse 17 when you fast anoint your head 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 Jesus says give in secret pray in secret fast in secret why? because it's in hiddenness it's in what happens between you and the Father alone where reward is found you see this get this our hearts were made to find joy not in receiving honor from men but in experiencing hiddenness with God your heart was made to enjoy deepest intimacy and hiddenness with God, your Father. It's in hiddenness where reward is found. …
… get when, 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. Then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not like be the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen. Then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep babbling like the pagans, for they think they will be heard because there are many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. Then he goes on and he gives them the Lord's prayer, which most of us are familiar with. He talks about forgiveness, but skipping ahead to verse 16. When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face so that will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your father who is unseen. …
… pray to your father who is in the secret place and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. This is a very significant thought that I wanna make sure we have established before we get into this prayer. Where is the father? He's in the secret place. where is his attention is to the prayers prayed in secret what does that mean it doesn't mean you have to go into your clothes closet and close the door it means that what you want to do in meeting with the father it's a relational journey you shut down all the exterior noise everything that competes for your affection everything that competes for your attention why because to build the identity as a son or a daughter with a heavenly father isn't done in busyness. It's done in focused time with the father. Something is built in the secret place, the quiet place, the alone place that you can't build anywhere else. I'm thankful that we have the privilege of praying in the craziness of life, in the busyness of life. I'm just saying there's a muscle developed, if you will, a muscle developed in our soul about identities of son and a daughter that requires quiet before father. The discovery of who he is changes how we pray. …
… But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen, then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. I love that. He says, go in your room, shut the door, and pray to your father who is unseen, who sees what is done in secret. You don't have to post it on Instagram. You don't have to create a reel or a picture with your Bible and your coffee and like a cute little quote, you know, just go into your room, shut the door and have a private moment with God. But the problem is we live in this culture where everybody wants to know everything that you've ever done. And so like, have you ever met like a marathoner before? it's all they talk about yeah i'm getting 50 miles in this week working up to 100 i got a mare next month short for marathon it's like no one says that but like it's like it's all they talk about like you can't talk about anything else it's like it just makes you feel terrible about yourself you know what i'm saying like that's how crossfit used to be until everyone started getting hurt and now we don't have to hear about crossfit anymore I don't know. …
… Verse 5. who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you're 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. Pray then in this way, Our Father who is 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 do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. And thinking about Father's Day, again, I was drawn to this passage because it repeatedly addresses God as Father. That's what we need to understand in its most full sense, the relationship that we enjoy with the eternal God. He is our Father. …
… let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret. And thy Father which seeth in secret himself SHALL REWARD THEE OPENLY. NOW JESUS HERE IS NOT TALKING ABOUT THE GIFT THAT YOU BRING TO THE CHURCH ON SUNDAY OR THAT SOMEONE WOULD BRING TO THE, UH, SYNAGOGUE ON SATURDAY. HE'S NOT TALKING ABOUT THAT. HE'S TALKING ABOUT GIVING TO POOR PEOPLE, GIVING ALMS, GIFTS OF CHARITY. NOW HE'S NOT AGAINST THIS. HE'S NOT SAYING IT IS WRONG TO DO THIS. AS A MATTER OF FACT, IF YOU GO BACK IN CHAPTER FIVE AND LOOK IN VERSE 42, YOU'RE GOING TO SEE THAT OUR LORD HAS SAID, GIVE TO HIM THAT ASKETH THEE, AND OF HIM THAT WOULD BORROW OF THEE, TURN THOU NOT AWAY. THE LORD IS NOT AGAINST GIVING TO THE POOR. AS A MATTER OF FACT, THE BIBLE CLEARLY AND DEFINITELY SAYS THIS WE OUGHT TO DO. IN PSALM 41 VERSE 1, BLESSED IS HE THAT CONSIDERETH THE POOR. THE LORD WILL DELIVER HIM IN TIME OF TROUBLE. AND ALL OF US OUGHT TO BE LOOKING FOR POOR PEOPLE THAT WE CAN GIVE TO AND MINISTER TO. NOW IT IS NOT THE DEED THAT JESUS SAYS IS WRONG THAT THESE PHARISEES ARE DOING. …