Sermon on the Mount Part #4 (Matthew 6:1-15)

In the middle of The Sermon on the Mount

A sermon that gores from Matthew 5-7

The key verse for what Jesus is teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 5:20

English Standard Version Chapter 5

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

What is righteousness? Living a life that is good. But not good in the eyes of man....good in the eyes of God. Righteousness is the quality of being right in the eyes of God.

To be righteous, is not to be good in our own eyes, by our own standards, but by God’s standards.

So how does God see righteousness in us?

Our Character (do we do things that don’t honor God? Things that some people would ask, “Are they really a Follower of Jesus Christ like they say they are?

Our attitude Do we want to follow him? Please him? Look to his Word for instruction and spend time in prayer with Him?

Our conduct How do we treat others? How do we love others

Our word (do we lie, do we gossip)

So if we are called to righteousness, we are called be like God. Not just on the outside, but the inside. That is what Jesus meant when he said, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.” The righteousness of the Pharisees was only external…on the outside. People would look at them and would think they were religious because they knew the Scriptures very well…but it was only knowledge in their heads…and they did not live it our through hearts and lives.

Jesus explains this later in Matthew:

English Standard Version Chapter 23

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

This is not what he wants from his children. He expects his children to be righteous. Different not just on the outside, but the inside too.

Matthew 6:1-15

Jesus is continuing his sermon on the mount, talking to his disciples, and any others that may have come to listen to this great teacher.

This morning we are going to look at the next two section in Matthew 6: verse 1-4 (Giving to those in need), and 5-15 (how we should pray).

Read Matthew 6:1-4 (Giving to those in need)

these verses are not about what we should give, but how we should give.

He begins by saying “beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.”

Jesus isn’t talking about who you should give to, he is saying HOW you should give. Not to be seen by others, not so others can say, look at him he gave so much. That is not why we should give…we should give to honor God. Not so others can see what we do on the outside, but because of our heart for others, because of God. That is on the inside. That is exercising your righteousness. That is showing the righteousness of a believer. Doing good not that others would see, but only to honor God.

(vs. 2) Jesus says that when we do what the Pharisees did, making sure that others would see them, then they already recieved their reward. What is their reward? Only what they receive from others seeing it. But he says, this is what we should do...

3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

*Some givers to A Place of Hope want to remain anonymous

So the Pharisees who only care about the outside only receive a reward from those that see them giving to the needy, what is the reward to those who give with a true righteous purpose? It does not say what it is, but Matthew records that the reward will not come from people who see it…but from “your Father.”

The greatest reward that God can give, is eternal life through his Son Jesus Christ. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, understanding all that he has done for us, it makes us what to love him, seek him, and follow him. And when we do that, we then want to honor him by living a righteous life. Looking forward to that day when he says...

English Standard Version Chapter 25

21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Read Matthew 6:5-15

You know this place very well. Yes? As you stand in line at Inland before school, do you repeat this?

In these verses that we know as The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus does three things:

He says that we need to be careful how we pray.

Just like when he talked about giving to those in need, he said we should not be like the Scribes and the Pharisees.

Remember in the verses above the reason they gave was to impress others. It was an outward appearance only, so that other would see them and be impressed. Jesus is concerned with the heart.

How did they pray:

They would make sure others were around when they prayed.

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Is it wrong to pray aloud in church, or even on the street? No. But look what Jesus says is why they do it....that they may be seen by others (their outside is important)

Example: The woman on the plane.

2. How did Jesus say we should pray?

English Standard Version Chapter 6

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

Does this mean we should only pray when no one else is around? No! Think about this, when you pray and nobody sees or nobody hears your words, who are you focusing on? God. That is what he wants: a prayer where he is the focus, no one else.

He goes on to say in verses 7 & 8 to be careful how you pray and what you say.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

God wants to hear from your heart. Your voice. Not some big voice and authority that you think will make him hear your prayer better or give you something you want.

Example: Visitor at APOPHA.

He wants your heart, your inside, not the outside that our flesh desires to impress others. Talk to him, don’t talk at him.

English Standard Version Chapter 6

9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

10  Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11  Give us this day our daily bread,

12  and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13  And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

This prayer is not simply something we should say and then be finished. What did Jesus say …

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

This prayer, as Jesus taught, gives us an example, a structure, in how we should approach the Father. So lets break this down and look at the parts.

“Our Father in heaven, (9)

First Jesus reminds us who we are praying to. Our Father. The one who gave us life, the one who created the world and everything you see. The one who sent his son Jesus to die for our sins so that we can be brought back into communion with him. For the follower of Jesus Christ, the Christian, he is our Father…our heavenly Father.

hallowed be your name. (9)This word hallowed means to look on in amazement. to be filled with awe. It also means holy. So when we come before God, and we begin to speak to him, we enter into conversation with him…we need to realize, that he is holy, he is perfect, he is our God. (*******The same is true with the name Jesus....holy********)

2. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (10)

Just like we realized who we are praying to, and that he is Holy, we must admit that his will and his purpose will be accomplished, not ours. This is important because many times when we pray, we pray hoping for God to do something, and that’s ok. Paul tells us in Phillipians 4:6...

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Paul said we should come into prayer and let our requests be known, but we must have a heart to understand that whatever we ask, whatever we desire, whoever is sick and we want God to make them well…we want his will to be done. Even is we don’t understand it, we want his will.

Example: When I fly...

3. Give us this day our daily bread, (11)

How many times do we truly thank God for his provision. I know we say a prayer at the meal and thank him for the food. But what else do we thank him for? The ability you have to go to school, to laugh, play, have a safe place to live?

4. and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (12)

That word debts and debtors can be translated to sin and sinners. So think about he the verse this way: “and forgive us of our sins, and we forgive those who sin against us (NLT).” Everyday we sin, in fact there is a good chance that we have already sinned today. Maybe we used God’s name in vain, maybe we lied, took something, gossiped, and had a bad thought about someone.

When we sin, we do something that does not please God. So as we go into prayer, we need to ask God to forgive us.

1 John 1:9… If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But Jesus is not just saying, only ask forgiveness for YOUR sins, but you should forgive others when they sin against you. That’s hard. Maybe someone has done something against you, lied to you, took something from you… Jesus said forgive them.

5. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (13) The world all around us is evil. Everywhere you look there is sin. Why is this? Why is there bad things everywhere?

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

The devil is alive, wanting you to fail. Wanting you to fall into temptation. That is why part of the prayer we need to have is to ask God to help us resist Him. He wants to devour you, to turn you away from God. But in our prayers we should ask that God give us the strength to withstand the enemy.

6. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Jesus finishes this model of prayer by again mentioning the importance of forgiving others? Why would he say this 2 times ? I believe it point back to what he read last week:

23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Before we can come before the Lord and worship him with the worship he desires, we need to be clean. And part of being clean is to make sure we are not holding something against someone. Jesus says, forgive them, make it right. If you don’t then I can’t forgive you. (not forgiveness for salvation).

So here is a way to pray…using this model to pray.

Begin your prayer by acknowledging who he is and what he has done (9)

Tell him you want what he wants. You want his divine will to be accomplished in everything, on earth, in heaven, and in your life. (10)

Ask for his provision over your life, and thank him for the things his has done for you (be specific). Do you have any needs? (remember what he wants) (11)

Ask him for forgiveness in the things you have done that you know have displeased him, where you have sinned. AND, forgive others that have done something against you. (12)

Ask God for the power, by his spirit, to withstand the temptations of Satan (13)

Righteousness, the quality of being right in the eyes of God includes how we give to others who are in need AND how we pray. Because when we give we are giving to the Lord, and when we pray we are coming before the God of the universe how desires to hear from us.

It is all about our heart. Do we give because of our heart. Do we pray because we have a heart for God? If we do, that is the righteousness that Jesus is teaching his disciples there on the mount that day…and here to us today.