The hypocrites performed their religious duties before an audience of human spectators. They ignored the audience that really mattered, the Audience of One. Jesus highlighted this when He repeatedly used the phrase “Your Father” (Matthew 6:1, 4, 6, 8, 14, 15, 18) a total of nine times. Then, in the Prayer that He taught, He began the Prayer with “Our Father”. Without any doubt, Jesus points out to His disciples that the audience that really matters—whether they were giving alms, praying or fasting—is the heavenly Father. These religious acts are to be done not for others to see, but as an act of worship to God.

There are a number of things mentioned about the Father. Firstly, the Father is unseen (v. 6). God is Spirit and is invisible. We are reminded of the words of the popular plaque that hangs in many Christian homes: “Christ is the Head of this house, the Unseen Guest at every meal, the Silent Listener to every conversation.” We may forget He is around, but He is everywhere, whether we are in public or in private.

Secondly, the Father “sees what is done in secret” (vv. 4, 6, 18). The Father sees not only the evil that people do in secret, but also the good that is done in secret. When He sees secret and hidden sins, He is displeased and grieved, but when He sees the good that His children do in secret, unnoticed by other human eyes, God is pleased—because there is a greater chance that their motives are pure.

The problem with the hypocrites is that all their religious deeds were only done in public. These stuck out like the tip of icebergs above the water—but when you looked below the surface, there was no iceberg. What was above the surface was all there was—how deceiving. The hypocrite has no inner piety.

Jesus is not forbidding us to do any religious tasks in public. He is not saying that we must take great effort not to be seen at all giving to the poor, or that we must not be seen praying or fasting. What He condemns is when these things are done for the purpose of impressing others, when we forget the Audience of One, and when we end up in a hypocrisy where we give the impression that we are pious when in actual fact we are not—when our religion stops the moment we get down from the public stage. Often, such hypocrisy is motivated by a desire to bring glory to oneself and to earn human praise—it brings no real blessings.

Thirdly, the Father knows your needs (v. 8). This is especially significant in prayer. This truth will prevent prayer in public from becoming nothing but a performance meant to impress. It is a good antidote to loud and dramatic prayers, and prayers that are lengthy and wordy—prayers that serve to impress earth more than heaven.

Fourthly, the Father knows your heart and your actions. He observes not only your words and ritual actions, but knows all that you think and all your actual deeds. Thus if you failed to forgive others while your devotional public prayers ask for forgiveness, He will not listen as you show that you do not know what you are asking, or you are insincere about what you are asking (vv. 14–15).

Fifthly, it is the Father who rewards those who refrain from making their religion one of public performance meant to win the admiration of the audience. If you chose to “practise your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them”, Jesus makes it very clear that “you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (v. 1). On the other hand if, as a kingdom dweller, you practised your religious acts, not as public performance but as real acts of worship and service, “your Father… will reward you” (vv. 4, 6, 18). Those who want to avoid making their religious acts public entertainment would prefer to do them in private, but the Father who sees all things done in secret will be pleased and reward them accordingly.

What this reward from the Father will be is not clear. Suffice to say, it is something to be received in the future—the Father “will reward” the true disciples, as opposed to the hypocrites who “have received their reward in full” (vv. 2, 5, 16). The reward of the kingdom dwellers waits for them in the future and will be given by the heavenly Audience of One—God Himself. On the other hand, the reward of the hypocrites has already been given on earth by the earthly audiences. There is no other reward for the hypocrites apart from the moment’s applause and fleeting adulation of the spectator crowd. The reward from God, on the other hand, promises to be far more long-lasting and of incomparable quality.

In His account of how the final judgement would be like, Jesus revealed how the “sheep” will be separated from the “goats” (25:31–46). The sheep have done many kind acts that they themselves do not seem to remember. They were obviously rather unselfconscious in whatever they did. It follows that what they did was neither to look good in front of the narcissistic self-congratulating mirror, nor in front of others on a religious stage. Though they may forget, God remembers. Their reward is couched in the words of Jesus: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” The reward has to do with the inheritance that belongs to Jesus Christ and His kingdom that is coming.

Consider this:

Reflect on modern examples of not letting one hand know what the other is doing. Why is it important for there to be an underlying secret depth in our devotion and piety that sustains what we do in public?

Excerpted and adapted from The Sermon of Jesus: The Kingdom of God, a Darwinian Jungle, and a Theatrical Church by Robert M. Solomon. ©2013 by Robert M. Solomon. Used by permission of Armour Publishing. All rights reserved.

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