Matthew 6:1 (ESV)
¹  “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Righteousness is not just a state of being, it is something that must be practiced.  When the word is used to denote a practice, it refers to the sum-total of all that God commands us to do.  It is not enough to practice righteousness, we must practice it in a way that pleases God.  The question we should ask ourselves is, how are we practicing righteousness?  Jesus helps us with this in Matthew 6.

Something we must beware of when practicing righteousness is that we are not doing it for the praise of men.  Our first goal should always be to bring God glory in anything that we do, including the practice of righteousness.

Matthew 5:16 (ESV)
¹⁶  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Did not Jesus just say that we should not practice righteousness before other people?  Yes, but He was not suggesting that we serve God in absolute secret.  What He was warning us about is practicing righteousness ostentatiously.  We must refrain from the degradation of self-promotion and showmanship when we are serving God.  When we do things to be seen of men, we are demonstrating that our efforts are not an attempt to glorify God, or even to help others, but only to gain personal exaltation.  The Pharisees master the glorification of self and Jesus called them hypocrites (Matthew 6:2).

When you help someone in need, do you sound a trumpet, calling attention to yourself?  If so, your practice of righteousness is flawed, and God will not reward you (ver. 2).  When you pray, do you make sure others hear you?  Again, God will not reward you for such efforts (vers. 5).  These are the examples that Jesus specifically gives to make His point, but the application must be made for anything that we do for God.  When we sing, our motive should never be to show others how good we are at it.  When we make comments in Bible class, we should avoid sounding the trumpet about something we did that might be praiseworthy.  When we brag and boast of any righteousness that we practice, we are giving away our heavenly reward.

When practicing righteousness, it should be enough to know that we are pleasing God and that we are securing for ourselves a home in heaven.

Pharisaical living did not die in the first century.  There are still people who love to put on a religious show to be praised by men.  They can be found in almost every local church.  They cannot be missed.  They will make sure of that.  They are usually loud and voiceful, hoping to draw as much attention to themselves as possible.  Sadly, whatever praise they get from men will be the extent of their reward.  Jesus warned us about this.  It is up to us to take heed.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.