Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Matthew 6:1-4
Jesus is saying that when choosing between showing off your good deeds or doing them in secret doing them in secret is better.
Jesus intends that His disciples pray to God and keep their prayer between God and themselves.Jesus seeks to avoid people using their piety as status symbols which seems to be a very common practice these days.And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. Matthew 6:5-8
The sense I get is that those who use their piety as status symbols do so not for the sake of doing good, not for the sake of fufilling God's will, but for the adoration of men.
This adoration of men is false righteousness. These people are brown nosing not drawing nearer to The Lord.
Do you do the right thing because it's the right thing to do, because it needs to be done, and pay no mind to seeking reward or avoiding punishment?
That is a tell take sign of true righteousness.
Jesus said it's not what goes into our mouth that defiles us but it's what comes out that defiles us.
The quality and substance of our words are determined by the content of our hearts. But it is also true that good fruit comes only from good trees and bad fruit comes from evil trees.
So we shall be known by our fruits, the impact of our words and our actions determine our eternal fate.
And we will only get there if that's what we seek. If we are caught up in appearances we will be playing games for adoration rather than doing The Lords work which is what we were sent here to do.
