<p>6:4<em>&nbsp;That your alms may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you</em>- as if God is especially manifest in Christ when we stand before him in judgment to receive our rewards openly. Our prayers &ldquo;in secret&rdquo; will be &lsquo;rewarded&rsquo; &ldquo;openly&rdquo;; but the language of &lsquo;open reward&rsquo; is used by the Lord in reference to the judgment: &ldquo;For the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels; and then he shall reward [s.w.] every man&rdquo; (Mt. 16:27). In that day the workers will be &lsquo;rewarded&rsquo; for their work (s.w. Mt. 20:8; Rom. 2:6; 2 Tim. 4:8; Rev. 22:12); yet Mt. 6:4-6 says they will be rewarded for their prayers. Prayer will only ultimately be answered when the Lord returns; hence Mt. 6:4-6 leads on to the Lord&rsquo;s prayer, with its emphasis upon requesting the coming of the Kingdom, forgiveness etc. rather than petty human requests. Here again we see a connection between prayer and the final judgment.</p>
<p>Giving alms should be so secret, according to our suggestion on 6:3, that we ourselves are not even fully conscious of them. There is repeated emphasis that what is in secret, concealed from view, will be openly rewarded (Mt. 6:6,18; Lk. 12:2). The day of judgment will be a judging of the secret things (Rom. 2:16; 1 Cor. 4:5). Absolutely nothing that is now hid shall not then be made open- this is a considerable theme in the Lord's teaching (Mt. 10:26; Mk. 4:22; Lk. 8:17; 12:2). The Lord's own journey to die at Jerusalem was done 'in secret'- as so often, He spoke His teaching to Himself (Jn. 7:10). The need for a sense of significance, reward and recognition to be attached to our works is basic to the structure of human personality. We're not asked to deny this, to live as if we are more or less than human. We're asked instead to realize that the day for that shall come, but it is not now, nor are we to seek it now from the eyes of men.</p>
<p>The public dimension to the judgment process [AV &quot;openly&quot;] will mean that somehow in a moment we will know 'the secret things' of each other. Only with that basis of understanding could believers who appear to differ in this life live eternally together.</p>