Hypocrisy 101

In Matthew 6, Jesus now turns to what He means by righteousness—doing right by God and others. Jesus begins chapter 6 with a thesis statement summarizing his point: Do your righteousness for God to see you, not others. He then illustrates this point using the three main forms of piety (good deeds) in His day: giving to those in need (6:2-3), prayer (6:5-15), and fasting (6:16-18). He points out that we can do the right things for the wrong reasons. But God cares about what is in our hearts. He wants us to do the right things with the right heart.  Motive matters.