Matthew 06

Pure-hearted Giving

¹ “Be careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven.

Many of the Jewish believers wanted to display their righteousness as an outward sign of boasting. Jesus told them that if this was their attitude for performing a righteous act, then it would not be rewarded by God the Father in heaven. 

² Thus whenever you do charitable giving, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in synagogues and on streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth, they have their reward.

The Pharisees would blow a trumpet in the street to call the poor. Then, they would give alms to all of them. They blew the trumpet not to attract the poor, but to attract attention to themselves. The praise of men would be their only reward. 

³ But when you do your giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

Giving was to be done privately and in secret. Those churches that pass around the collection plate are not following the application of this passage. Churches with strong divine viewpoint will place a giving box in the back of the church so that their members can give privately and secretly.

⁴ so that your gift may be in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

Those who give privately and in secret will be rewarded by the Father in heaven.

Private Prayer

⁵ “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.

Public prayer was not commanded for the Jewish believer. However, they were commanded not to pray in public prayer in order to show off their oratory skills, 

⁶ But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

It was better for the Jewish believers to pray in secret and mean it, rather than in public in order to show off their oratory skills.

⁷ When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard.

The Gentiles spoke out babbling, repetitious prayers to their pagan gods. For example, during the days of Elijah, the Baal worshippers cut their bodies and yelled out loud repetitious prayers in order to get the attention of their god.

Sometimes, the pagans would babble in tongues. At the pagan Oracle of Dephi, the priestess and her followers would babble in tongues.

At other times, Gentiles prayed from a prayer book. Prayer books were prayers that others had written. Not only did the Gentiles use prayer books, but the Pharisees did so as well. 

⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Jesus commanded the Jewish believers not to pray in this way. He reminded them that God the Father is so sovereign, that He already knows what they need before they ask Him.

⁹ So pray this way: Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored,

The Jewish believers usually read from Jewish synagogue prayer books. Jesus told them not to pray that way. He gave them a model prayer. They were not to read someone else's prayer from a prayer book, but they were to speak directly to God just as they would speak directly to their own human father. They would not read a request written by someone else to their own father on earth, so also they were not to read someone else's written prayer to their heavenly Father. 

When people attend football games and the Lord's Prayer is repeated either over the speakers or in the locker room, this is an affront to God. First of all, "the Lord's Prayer" is a model prayer. Those who repeat the prayer are just as guilty of those pagans who repeat the prayers from their prayer books. Second, many in the crowd or inside the locker room are not even believers.  It is hypocrisy for unbelievers to repeat this prayer to the God that they have rejected. A moment of silence may be a better option, because it gives the true believers the opportunity of making an actual request to God their Father.  

Vain repetition by unbelievers who have rejected Christ is nothing but superstition. Vain repetition prayers by believers are nothing but Biblical ignorance. God is a divine personality who desires to have an actual real-life conversation with His children. He does not want His children reciting prayer books to Him.

Notice that when Jesus prayed, He addressed His prayer directly to God the Father. It is not a sin to address prayers directly to Jesus or the Holy Spirit, but this method was not followed in this model by Jesus. Nor are prayers to Jesus or the Holy Spirit ever recorded in Scripture.

Jesus started His prayer by honoring God the Father. Many prayers begin with praise. Christian liberty gives the Christian freedom to talk to his heavenly Father in the method and chronology that one wants. In this model, Jesus began with praise. 

¹⁰ may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus prayed for the kingdom program. He prayed that the will of the Father would be done on earth as it was in heaven. The goal of God the Father is to bring the kingdom of heaven directly down upon the earth. Part of this kingdom program today is calling out and building up the church. The church is the "called-out" ones. They are to be called out of the world, secured for eternity, and sanctified by study of the Word of God.

¹¹ Give us today our daily bread,

Jesus prayed for His daily needs. Christian application would be praying for a job, money, food, gas, clothing, and shelter. All of these things are needed for the believer to perform the service that God requires for them to accomplish.

¹² and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.

Many teach that prayer should begin with asking for forgiveness of sins,  according to 1 John 1:9. However, this is not the order which Jesus used in His model prayer. 1 John 1:9 actually teaches one to continually confess his sins, not just to ask for forgiveness. The believer's past, present, and future sins have already been forgiven at the cross. 

¹³ And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

The Jewish believer was to pray for victory in spiritual warfare. If a believer is doing what God wants him to do, then he will need to be delivered from the evil one.  

¹⁴ “For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

The "others" are human and they will sin. The Jewish believers were to forgive their sins, just as the Father forgave these Jewish believers of their sins.

¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.

If these Jewish believers want to be forgiven by the Father, then they have to be spiritually mature enough to forgive those who sin against them. 

 

Proper Fasting

¹⁶ “When you fast, do not look sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unattractive so that people will see them fasting. I tell you the truth, they have their reward.

There is no command in the Bible for believers to fast. There was no command in the Mosaic Law for the Jewish believers to fast. The Oral Law taught everyone to fast on Mondays and Thursdays. Therefore, these Jewish believers and modern day Christians have freedom to fast or not to fast. 

¹⁷ When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,

When one does use his liberty to fast, then he needs to look his best so that others will not notice his condition.

¹⁸ so that it will not be obvious to others when you are fasting, but only to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

When another is fasting and it is obvious to others, then it is time to quit fasting and eat. Those who show off their fasting will not receive any eternal rewards from God.

Lasting Treasure

¹⁹ “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

The Pharisees taught that God materially blessed those who were righteous. Their teachings were very similar to that of the modern prosperity teachers today.

The Jewish believers were to trust the Lord to provide all of their needs. They were not to live their life in order to accumulate financial wealth. 

²⁰ But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.

Instead, the Jewish believers were to work for rewards in heaven. Some people claim that they do not desire treasures in heaven. This kind of remark shows Biblical ignorance. Believers will be given rewards from heaven for following the will of God.

² For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Either a person will desire treasures on earth which moths will destroy and thieves will steal, or they will desire to follow God's will and gain rewards in heaven.

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

The eye is the organ of the body that studies the Scriptures. When the eye takes in Bible doctrine, then the whole body will be filled with light. Other organs of the body will want to perform divine good works. 

²³ But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

The Pharisees had problems, because their spiritual eyes were diseased. Their eyes were filling their souls not with Bible doctrine from the written Word of God, but with the man-made teachings of the Oral Law. Therefore, they had filled their souls with the darkness of the man-made Oral Law.

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

All of the Jewish believers must make a choice. They must either spend their life serving God or accumulating wealth.

Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing?

God gave three promises to these Jewish messianic believers. He promised them food, shelter, and clothing. This applies to believers as well. God has a divine service for all believers to accomplish, so He will provide them their needs. These are not absolute promises, because sometimes in times of persecution, God may deny these needs. He may even ask the believer to be martyred. However, in normal times, Jesus will provide not all of the wants of the believer, but He will provide all of their needs. Therefore, it is a sin to worry about these things. Worry is not trusting God to take care of His children.

²⁶ Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are?

If God the Father takes care of the birds in the sky, then He will certainly take care of his own children.

²⁷ And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life?

Worry is a sin, because it is not trusting in God. Worry does not add to life, it actually causes chemical imbalances which shorten one's life.

²⁸ Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin.

If God clothes the flowers of the field, He will certainly clothe His own children.

²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these!

Even King Solomon at his best was not better clothed than the flowers.

³⁰ And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t he clothe you even more, you people of little faith?

If God clothes the grass with beautiful flowers, then He will certainly take care of His own children. Jesus told these Jewish believers that they needed to trust God the Father to provide them with all of their needs.

³¹ So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’

Worry is a sin. Food and clothing will be provided by God the Father.

³² For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

The unbelievers spend their whole lives attempting to accumulate an abundance of these material things, when God the Father has already taken care of these details. Notice that this verse goes against the teaching of global warming. Liberals teach that God will not provide all of these things. Liberals attempt to scare those who do not understand this Bible doctrine into a position of heavier taxation. There is no such thing as global warming. God will always take care of His children. He will continue to send rain, even upon unbelievers who reject Him. The Lord Jesus Christ will return before man destroys himself. Man is still to be a good steward of his planet, but he is not to allow globalists to over-tax him for political purposes. Global warming taxation lines the pockets of the liberals and lessens the amount that believers can give to the kingdom of God. Global warming could very well lead to a global tax, which would require a global government and a global armed police force to collect the tax. 

³³ But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

If a believer pursues the kingdom of God, then God will provide him with every need. The kingdom of God will be established, even if liberals are too arrogant and too biblically ignorant to recognize this great spiritual principle. God will reign with His own. Liberals will be purged off of this earth into the Lake of Fire forever. This is not a popular message for liberals, but this is the message of the Word of God. The most dangerous thing that a liberal can do is to elevate his own human opinion above the Word of God.

³⁴ So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.

Worry is a sin. God can handle tomorrow. First, God must get the believer through today.