Matthew 6:1-4  Almsgiving
                            Matthew 6:5-15  Prayer
                           Matthew 6:16-18  Fasting

         1.   Why are the three observances of worship and interaction
         with God of alms, praying and fasting only given in Matthew?
         Praying is addressed in Luke 11:1-4 as far as the Lord's
         prayer goes.  Again, it appears that Jesus is addressing His
         disciples in these passages and may be trying to counteract
         the pious doctrine taught by the various Jewish sects which
         might have biased the disciples on true faith.  Interesting
         that this does not seem to be directly addressed to the
         Romans and Greeks in Mark and Luke.

         2.   Matthew 6:1 shows that the motivation behind the "acts
         of righteousness" is what counts.  If the "do-gooder" is
         doing it for the glory of himself then he has his reward (v.  
         2).  In other words, God is not impressed by religious piety
         and does not count such an act as worthy of reward but rather
         is disgusted with such behavior.

         3.   According to The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible "reward"
         in Mt. 6:1 is the Greek word "misthos" used for rewards
         during life or wages in Mt. 5:46; 6:2,5,16; Rom. 4:4; I Cor.  
         9:17-18 (Zodhiates 1711).  But the context here is rewards to
         be received in the afterlife found also in Mt. 10:41; Mk.  
         9:41; Lk. 6:23,35 and others (Zodhiates 1711).

         4.   On prayer in Mt. 6:5 Jesus again addresses the
         insincerity associated with people praying in public to be
         noticed by men and they have their reward (honor from
         non-discerning passersby) as in vv. 2, 16.  Jesus'
         magnificent prayer in John 17:1-26 (the whole chapter) shows
         how He prayed.  Notice in verse 1 that Jesus prayed with His
         eyes open, not closed.

         5.   Jesus shows that those who do these things (almsgiving,
         prayer and fasting) to be seen of others all have the same
         unprofitable reward in 6:2, 5 & 16.
              Jesus says to do these things in secret and that God the
         Father will reward each done properly in open in 6:4, 6 & 18.
              Like many concepts in the Bible, these points are
         emphasized 3 times indicating completeness or the desire to
         drive the point home to the listener.

         6.   In the instruction on prayer a parallel can be seen from
         another incident in the Old Testament.  In 2nd Kings 4:18-37
         a son of Shunammite experiences some sort of cranial
         affliction that resulted in his death at noon on the same
         day.  Elisha the mighty prophet of God gave his staff to his
         servant Gehazi to lay on the boy's face.  When this did not
         work, Elisha himself went to the boy and shut the door on
         them so that in secret he could do the work of God (vv.  
         32-33).  He laid on the boy, face to face, eye to eye & mouth
         to mouth, got up & walked around, repeated laying on the boy
         and the boy was raised from the dead (vv. 34-35).
              Certainly this was an odd procedure (except that it
         resembles CPR) but you would not want a crowd watching this
         feat.

         7.   Isaiah 58:1-7 gives a discourse on the true purpose for
         fasting and rebukes those who fast with the wrong motivations
         and intentions.

         8.   According to The NIV Study Bible, fasting Jews put ashes
         on their heads.  Also washing one's face and placing oil on
         one's head were reserved for occasions of celebration and joy
         (1451).

         9.   According to the New Bible Dictionary the only general
         practice of Jews fasting in the New Testament is found in
         Acts 27:9 (373).  Luke 18:12 shows fasting twice a week
         (probably Monday & Thursday night) by zealous Pharisees
         (373).

         10.  Jesus indicated that His disciples would fast after His
         death in Mt. 9:14-15, Mk. 2:18-20 and Luke 5:33-35.  In other
         words, God was with them (Immanuel) so they did not have to
         fast to receive instruction from God, all they had to do was
         ask Christ face to face.  Christ is only shown fasting prior
         during His temptation in the wilderness in Mt. 4:1-11, Mk.  
         1:12-13 and Lk. 4:1-13.

                                 Bibliography


              Bible (New American Standard).  Nashville, Tennessee:
         Holman Bible Publishers, 1977.
              Douglas, J. D.  New Bible Dictionary - Second Edition.
         Wheaton, Illinois:  Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1982.
              Strong, James.  The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.
         Peabody, Massachusetts:  Hendrickson Publishers).
              The NIV Study Bible (New International Version). Grand
         Rapids, Michigan:  Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1985.
              Zodhiates, Spiros.  The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible
         (King James Version).  Chattanooga, Tennessee:  AMG
         Publishers, 1985.