Chapter BY Chapter

Matthew 6:1-34 - Treasures in Heaven

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“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.”

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“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

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“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.  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.”

“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.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  Pray then like this:

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“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from evil.”

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“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

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“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

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“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

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“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

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“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.”

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“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

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“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

 

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In chapter 4, Jesus was tempted of the Devil, yet he did not sin.  When he heard that John was arrested, he began preaching “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.  Jesus calls his first disciples, Andrew, Peter, James, and John, who probably already believed he was the Messiah.  Jesus went throughout all of Galilee, preaching and healing everyone that was sick or had an affliction.  Great crowds followed him.

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In chapter 5, Jesus goes up to a mountain.  His disciples follow him and he begins to teach them.  This is when he gives the beatitudes.  Jesus tells his disciples they ARE blessed and have advantages in the kingdom of heaven when they are poor in spirit, meek, mourning, hungry for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and persecuted.  The teachings of Jesus are solidly based on scripture.  Jesus points out the difference of what he taught in comparison to the Pharisees and Sadducees.  Jesus also demands even more ethical behavior from his disciples.  For instance, instead of just keeping the command not to murder, Jesus tells his disciples not to be angry with their brothers.  Each time, we look into the things that Jesus says, we find that they are solidly based on the Law and the Prophets.  Now the Law told us what sin is.  The Prophets told us how to have a relationship with God.  Jesus proclaims that he came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.  Jesus said that nothing will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.  Jesus later established the New Covenant as prophesied by the Prophet Jeremiah according to Jeremiah 31:31.  When Jesus died on the cross, he said, “It is finished.”  Jesus gives us a new command, “Love your enemies and pray for them.”  This command is far superior than any other and requires that we internalize the love for our enemies and wish them success in life.

Now we come to chapter 6, and Jesus is still teaching his disciples on the mountain.  In chapter 6, Jesus starts telling us how we should do things.  That is, the manner in which we should go about doing things. 

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Jesus first tells us how we should go about giving to the needy. 

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Verses 1-4,

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“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.

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“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Now, in chapter 5, verse 17, Jesus said to let your light shine so men may see your good works.  Is this a contradiction here by him saying, “so that our giving may be in secret?”

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Chapter 5, verse 17 is about doing the good works in the first place and just not hiding them.  Chapter 6, verses 1-4 is about not boasting or making fanfare about your good works.  Just doing them will go far enough to make sure that your light shines.

Jesus makes a big point that if you practice your righteousness in order to be seen by others, you have your reward already, and so you won’t be getting a reward from God for it.  The only people that need to know about your good deeds are you and the one receiving your help.  God already knows everything. 

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What are some modern day examples of going to extremes in boasting about one’s good works?

1. The elder that mentions how much he donates in the committee meeting in order to get people to do things his way.

2. Attendance numbers on church plaques?

3. The Christian worker that keeps pestering about getting the assignment he wants by boasting about his good deeds or good teaching.

4. Keeping a list of good deeds just for yourself.

5. Faithfully coming up with a sin to confess every week.

6. Church comparisons, ministry comparisons, personal comparisons.

 

Are there good and healthy ways to boast?

1. “God made me more peaceful.”

2. “God has blessed our church ministry.”

3. “I am confident of Jesus’ work in me.”

4. "I am cooperating with God in fulfilling his purpose for my life."

5. "God is bearing fruit through my ministry."

6. “I am so blessed to see God’s work in all of you.”

 

Next, Jesus tells us how we should pray.  Verses 5-8,

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“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.  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.”

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

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So, instead of praying at the street corners to show off, pray in secret.  God will reward your prayers.  This next part is really interesting.  Jesus said, “Do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do.”  The word here for Gentiles is ethnikoi, which is better translated, “pagans.”  Goyim is the strict Hebrew word for Gentiles or "Greek" is also equivalent to Gentile in the Hebrew mind. 

 

The word for empty phrases here is “battalogAsAte.”  There is no usage of this word found that was contemporary with the first century A.D.  Some scholars have thought that the first part “battal” meant babble, but there is no finding of this either in ancient Greek literature, and the second half of the word has no meaning.  So, sticking to the premise that the Greeks often put two words together to mean something new, I tested out how this word could be divided up.  I found that “batta” means “vat,” and “logAsAte” means choosing.  The word choosing would be in the perfect infinite tense.  So, the image that this word gives here is that someone has this vat of words from which he is choosing, kind of like he is endlessly choosing choice words out of a big source.  I researched some of the prayers said to the pagan gods of that time by the Greeks and Egyptians, and this seems the picture I got with reading some of those prayers.  At first they might call upon the god and name him, then they would mention the angels or gods that were supposed to minister to that god.  Then they would go to great lengths to describe that god and flatter it with many descriptions.  Then they would pray for the well-being of that god.  In one prayer I read, it was prayed that no harm would come to the god’s tender womb or swollen breasts.  Which makes you wonder if their gods are god-like at all.  Many times they wrote out their prayers ahead of time, so that they would say them exactly with precision.  This introductory part would be 200 to 300 words long sometimes.  Then finally, they would make their request such as “bless my crops,” or “bless me with a son.” So the image given here is that the pagan has this large vat from which he pulls out large volumes of choice words.

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Jesus says, “Do not be like them!  Your Father knows what you need before you ask him!”  Mind Blown!  It’s a personal relationship!  All these pagans and even the Pharisees are acting like it is a formal relationship!  The relationship with the one true God is a personal relationship!   So, Jesus gives us an example of how to pray. 

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Verses 9-13,

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“Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

holy be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from evil. 

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen”

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From this prayer, what are the essential parts of our prayers to God?

1. Addressing God as Our Father in heaven.Remember, it is a personal relationship.

2. Extoling the holiness of his name.

3. Ask that his kingdom will arrive.

4. Ask that his will be done on earth just as it is in heaven. This is a confirmation that we will do his will as we pray for this.

5. Ask for just what we need for the next 24 hours.There is no need to ask for over abundance.God wants to meet your needs every day.

6. Ask for forgiveness as we also forgive our debtors.

7. Ask for deliverance and avoidance from evil.

8. Praise God since his is the kingdom, power and glory forever.Remember that this relationship is going to last forever.

9. Amen, which means “it is true,” or “right on!”

 

Jesus then underlines one part of this prayer.

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Verses 14-15,

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“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

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In other words, prayer time is a good time to remember that God forgave us of our sins, and likewise, this is a good time to forgive those that sinned against us. 

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“When we are praying, we are talking with God and worshiping Him. It is like a conversation, from the heart. Many religions—including some branches of Christianity—have rote prayers that they advise repeating over and over again. Some churches even go so far as to require their members to recite a certain prayer a specific number of times in order to be absolved of sin. This is a throwback to paganism and superstition; such formulaic prayers are “vain repetitions” that have no place in the church. Jesus has already atoned for our sins once and for all (Hebrews 10:10), and we can approach the throne of grace boldly on the merit of Christ’s sacrifice (Hebrews 4:15–16), not because of our “many words” (Matthew 6:7).

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It’s easy to be caught up in vain repetitions, repeating the same words in our prayers instead of thinking about our words or letting them come from the heart. We should be focused on God in prayer and honor Him in our hearts. In Isaiah 29:13, God says, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

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Jesus’ warning against vain repetitions means we should avoid vain or meaningless words and repetition in our prayers. Repeating things fills up time, but it does not prove our devotion or better our chances of God’s hearing us. We should teach our children at an early age to pray in a natural, conversational manner, with reverence for the One they are addressing.

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Being persistent in prayer is not the same as using vain repetitions. There is nothing wrong with praying for the same thing more than once (see 2 Corinthians 12:8). After all, Jesus taught us that we should “always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1). But it’s understood that our prayers are from the heart, spontaneous, and honoring to God, not the repeating of words written by someone else.” (https://www.gotquestions.org/vain-repetitions.html)

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How to Fast - verses 16-18,

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“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

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Jesus says that the hypocrites try to make it obvious that they are fasting so that they can put on a show for everyone else.  What the hypocrites want is for people to see them fasting and to impress others.  Is this the true purpose of fasting?  What is the purpose of fasting?

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1. To concentrate on spiritual thoughts.

2. To beseech God in prayer.

 

So Jesus instructs his disciples to put oil on their heads and wash their face so it won’t be obvious that they are fasting.  God will know you are fasting and God will answer your prayer.  As for the show-offs, they will get to impress others.  Which would you rather have, impressing some people or God answering your prayer?

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Store treasures in heaven – verses 19-24,

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“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

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“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

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“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

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Jesus says that we cannot serve both God and money.  Why do you think that is?

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Shouldn’t we desire to have a job so that we can pay for things and live?

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We definitely should have a job and a means of income so we can pay our way. 

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What Jesus is talking about here is we can only love one and not both.  We will despise the one that we do not love.  Jesus wants us to think about it this way – that as we love God and serve him, we are storing treasures in heaven.  After all, which would you rather have – a storehouse full of treasures on earth that you can’t take with you when you go to heaven, or a storehouse full of treasures in heaven?

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The Egyptian Pharaohs must have thought that they could take their treasures with them after they died.  The value of King Tut’s gold artifacts left in his tomb was once estimated to be $15 million.  He left it all there for someone else.  Not one Pharaoh was known to have actually taken his treasures with him. They were all found with their treasure still in their tomb. 

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Now, what does Jesus mean by the eye is the lamp of the body?  How does this relate to what he is talking about just before and after that?

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The word for unhealthy here is also the word for evil.  Jesus is saying that if all you see is evil, that is, for the sake of money, then all you will see is evil.  It is like the cartoon character that has dollar signs in his eyes.  All he can see is how to use things to make money, so this vision corrupts his whole life. 

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Verses 25-34,

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“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

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“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

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Verse 33 has got to be one of my most favorite verses.  “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” 

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I grew up with a worry-wart mother.  She was always worried that we weren’t going to have enough.  We always had plenty.  I can’t remember a time when we didn’t have trays of cookies in the cupboard.  My dad was in the Air Force, and perhaps the pay in the military is more limited than civilian life, but everything at the PX cost half as much.  Still my mother worried.  If we lived on base, the rent was half as much as a house payment for the same kind of house.  My mother still worried.  When my parents bought a house, they were able to sell it from 50% more than what they bought it for to twice as much as what they bought it for.  They accumulated a good savings from that.  Still my mother worried about finances.  

 

When I was with my first wife, she worried about finances too.  One day, she was worrying about it while I was getting ready for my guard shift duty.  So, I prayed with her about it just before I left.  I arrived to work at 11 PM only to find out that there was a farmer’s market going on in the mall.  At every stand there was a drawing box and they were giving away something from what they were selling from each and every booth.  So, in between rounds, I went around and filled out the slips for the drawings.  This mall was about as big as Colonie Center Mall, and I had to do a round every hour.  So, I didn’t have a lot of time to fill out slips, but I filled out as many as I could.  After work, I went to classes and after classes, I went home.  When I got in the apartment, my wife was excited about something.  She pulled out a piece of paper that she had written something down on.  She read it and it said to go to a certain stand at the mall because I won their drawing.  Then she pulled out another piece of paper, and another and another, and there were several more.  So I drove to the mall and went to all these shops.  By the time I collected everything I won, by back seat and passenger seat was full.  I had a ham, a turkey, a bushel basket of butternut squash, a bushel basket of apples, a bushel basket of pears, some home-made bread, some honey, trays of canned green beans, trays of canned corn, a bushel basket of potatoes, a bushel basket of onions, some cheese.  I even had a pear tree sticking out of my side window as I drove home. 

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Then there was the time about the gas gauge.  Through a series of weird situations and hard knocks in life I wound up in this area.  I was homeless, but I had a car and about $100.00.  So, I slept in the car in a grocery store parking lot at night and in the morning I went to the State Park in the middle of the city, washed off in the creek, then went to the library to fill out job applications online.  One day, I was washing off in the creek, standing there naked, and my cell phone rang.  I had left my cell phone right on the shore, so I reached over and picked it up.  The first thing the caller said was, “Exactly where are you right now?”  I didn’t want to say, “Well, I’m standing in the middle of a creek naked.”  So, I said, “What do you mean?”  The caller said your phone number is in Michigan.  This job is in New York.”  Well, I didn’t get that job, but I checked into a homeless shelter.  Every day, I would look for jobs and give people rides to look for jobs of go to a job. I quickly ran out of money for gas.  So, when I was taking some people back to the shelter from their jobs and job hunting, I said, “I’m all out of money and the gas gauge here is just under ¼ full.  So, if you all could please pray about that, it would be appreciated.”  Well, I didn’t get any money, and no one offered to pay for gas for my car, but the gas gauge stayed right there, just under ¼ full.  I was driving around at least 60 miles a day and the gas gauge stayed right there for 3 weeks.  Then, I found out that I could fill out a form from social services and get reimbursed at the rate of 10 cents a mile for looking for a job.  After a week, I turned in that form, but the social worker discounted all of my mileage because one day there was a detour and the mileage from one place to another was different.  So, still no money for gas.  After about a week, one lady gave me $10 to take her somewhere.  I put the $10 in the gas tank, and the gas gauge went up to almost ½ full.  Then it went down to just below ¼ full again and stayed there.  After a couple more weeks, I had 3 jobs.  I had a job at Taco Bell, H & R Block, and at a tech company.  After a couple more weeks, I had 3 paychecks.  All this time, I am driving around without putting gas in the car, & the gas gage is staying at exactly the same spot.  So, now I try to put my checks into a bank and get some cash so I can put gas in my car.  The banks won’t let me start an account because of an overdraft in Michigan.  A week later, I find out I can cash my paychecks at Price Chopper.  Now I have money to pay off the over draft and put gas in my car.  But, I thought, “I want to see that gas gauge go down first.  I’m going to see what God does.”  So the gas gauge still stays at the same spot.  2 weeks later, I receive word that my money order at the bank in Michigan cleared and after I started a new bank account, then the gas gauge started to go down.

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Song: Seek Ye first The kingdom of God by Ingrid DuMosch