Good Works

Charity

Matthew 6:19 Do not store up for you treasure upon the earth, where moth and corrosion obliterate and where thieves dig through and steal. 20 But store up for you treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor corrosion obliterate and where thieves do not dig through nor steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there also shall be your heart.

If we give to our brethren when we have, we see hope that we ourselves shall receive when we are in need.

Isaiah 51:8: “For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.“

It is also seen in the apocrypha.

Tobit 4:7 Give alms of thy substance; and when thou givest alms, let not thine eye be envious, neither turn thy face from any poor, and the face of God shall not be turned away from thee. 8 If thou hast abundance give alms accordingly: if thou have but a little, be not afraid to give according to that little: 9 For thou layest up a good treasure for thyself against the day of necessity. 10 Because that alms do deliver from death, and suffereth not to come into darkness. 11 For alms is a good gift unto all that give it in the sight of the most High.”

Hypocritical Charity

Matthew 6:1 Now offer your righteousness not to do before men, for them to behold, yet otherwise, you have no reward from your Father who is in the heavens. 2 Therefore when you should do an act of charity, you should not trumpet it before you, even as the hypocrites do in the assembly halls and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they receive their reward! 3 But upon your doing an act of charity, your left hand must not know what your right hand does, 4 that your act of charity would be in secret, and your Father who sees would repay you in secret.

Alms-giving in the ancient world was with all certainty seen as a way of asking forgiveness from God for one's sins. However the alms-giving had to be without fanfare. If alms-giving was accompanied with fanfare, it was for the benefit of the giver, and not truly for the recipient, and therefore God will not reward it.

Prayer

Public Prayer

Matthew 6:5 And when you pray, do not be as the hypocrites, because they love to pray in the assembly halls and standing at the corners of the streets, that they should be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward! 6 But when you would pray, go into your closet and closing your door you shall pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees shall yield to you in secret.

Real Christians do not need crutches, nor do they need outward displays of piety, which are pretentious. We should have no need to be seen praying publicly or with others. We should seek our God with our hearts and display our love through good deeds for our brethren, and not merely in the pretense of exhibition.