Matthew 6

CHAPTER 6THEME: The inner motives which govern external acts of righteousness, such as the giving of alms, prayer, fasting, and the getting of riches; the relationship of the subjects of the Kingdom of Heaven to God

Matthew 6:1

THE MOTIVE AND METHOD OF GIVING ALMSChapter 6 of Matthew deals with the external part of religion. We have seen in chapter 5 that the King speaks of the righteousness which His subjects must possess. It must be a righteousness to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, and that comes only through trust in Christ. In chapter 6 Matthew talks about the righteousness that the subjects of the Kingdom are to practice. The motive, of course, is the important thing in what you do for God. No third party can enter into this relationship. These things are between the soul and God. The items mentioned in this chapterthe giving of alms, prayer, fasting, money, and taking thought and care for the futureare very practical considerations. First, our Lord talks about alms. Keep in mind that all of this has to do with externalities of religion or with ostentation in religion. Although the Lord Jesus is directing His remarks to the subjects of His coming Kingdom, there is a great principle here for you and me.

Matthew 6:2

He is saying this with biting irony. Believe me, He knew how to use the rapier of sarcasm! When the Pharisees wanted to give something to the poor, it was their custom to go down to a busy street corner in Jerusalem and blow a trumpet. Although the purpose was to call the poor and needy together to receive the gifts, it afforded a fine opportunity to let others see their good works. Do you see parallels today in the way some Christians give? Our Lord said that when the Pharisees do it that way, they have their reward. What was their reward? Well, what was it that they were after? Jesus said they did it to have glory of men. They blew the trumpet, and everybody came running out to see how generously they gave, and that was their reward. Their giving was not between themselves and God. Now, why do you give? There is more than one way to give. Several years ago I was asked to take an offering in a certain organization. I was told to be sure and give everybody an opportunity to stand up and tell how much he would give. For example, I was instructed to say, “How many will give one hundred dollars?” I asked,“Why in the world do you take an offering like that?” I was told that a certain man would attend who would give only one dollar if a regular offering was taken. However, if the question of how many would give one hundred dollars was asked, he would give that amount. May I say that he blew a trumpet. And I discovered when I came to know this man that this was the way he gave. There are other people who give large checks but want to hand them to you personally. There was a man in my church who always gave me a check before I went into the pulpit. He thought this would excite me enough so that I would mention it. A friend of his came to me one day and said,“So-and-so is disturbed.” He went on to explain that I did not acknowledge the very large check his friend had given me last Sunday. “That’s right,” I said, and told this man the reason why. “Your friend is a man of means and the check he gave me, in relationship to what he has, wasn’t very much. Last Sunday a mail-carrier also handed me an envelope. He didn’t want me to open it until after the service and did not want me to say a word to anyone about it.

He gave me almost twice as much money as the man of means did. If I were going to acknowledge anybody, it would have to be the mail-carrierbut he didn’t want me to do that.” May I say to you that giving is between you and God, and the very minute you get a third party involved, you don’t get any credit in heaven. There is a lot of so-called Christian giving today that isn’t giving at all. For example, the college I graduated from played on human nature. While I was in school, beautiful architectural plans were drawn up for a tower to be put on an old hall. It was modestly announced that the tower would be named after the donor. At least a half dozen people wanted their names on that tower. Today it is called “So-and-so Tower” in honor of a certain man. His name is carved in stone which means that his trumpet is being blown all the time. A lot of people give like that. This kind of giving is worth nothing before God.

Matthew 6:3

Don’t reach in your pocket with one hand and then put the other hand in the air to let people know how much you are giving! Our Lord is saying that when you put your hand in your pocket to get something to give, be so secretive about it that the other hand doesn’t know what you are doing. All of this is biting sarcasm. Do our liberal friends really live by the Sermon on the Mount? I don’t think they do!

Matthew 6:5

THE MARKS OF GENUINE PRAYER"Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are"my, our Lord used strong language, didn’t He! “They have their reward.” They pray so that they may be seen of men. A man might go wearing a prayer shawl, which advertises the fact that he is praying. Jesus said that when a man prays like that, he has his reward. He gets what he wantsthat is, to be seen of men. But his prayer never gets above the rafters of the building.

Matthew 6:6

The concept we are dealing with here is revolutionary. Did you notice that the Lord uses the term Father? These are citizens of the Kingdom that the Lord is talking about. How do you become a child of God today? Joh_1:12 gives us the answer: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power [the authority] to become the sons of God, even to them that [do no more or less than] believe on his name.” Our Lord even said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again” (see Joh_3:3)until then, you can’t call God your Father. And in the Old Testament you will not find the word Father used in relation to a man with God. The nation Israel as a whole was called by God, “…Israel is my son …” (Exo_4:22), but not an individual. The Lord Jesus is speaking of a new relationship. Concerning the subject of prayer, we are told that it should be secret and sincere. Many an unknown saint of God will be revealed at the judgment seat of Christ as a real person of prayer.

Matthew 6:7

I heard a fellow pray the other day, and he repeated his petition about a dozen times. The Lord Jesus says that if we ask the Father one time, He hears us.

Matthew 6:8

Prayer should be marked by sincerity and simplicity:

1. SincerityMat_6:6. Go in and close the dooryour prayer is between you and God.
2. SimplicityMat_6:7. Don’t use vain repetition. Get right down to the nitty-gritty and tell the Lord what you have on your mind. “Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” v. Mat_6:8. Even though He already knows what we need, He wants us to come to Him and ask. Now He gives us a sample prayer"After this manner therefore pray ye." Before we look at this so-called Lord’s Prayer, let me say that I never use it in a public service. I don’t think that a Sunday morning crowd should get up and pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” when they have a roast in the oven at homethey already have their meal. It is a very meaningful prayer for those who are hungry, but a well-fed Sunday morning congregation ought not to pray this because for them it is vain repetition. However, it is a wonderful model prayer for believers of all conditions.

Matthew 6:9

Notice that this so-called Lord’s Prayer could not be the prayer of the Lord Jesus. He couldn’t pray this prayer. He couldn’t join with you and me and say, “Our Father” because the relationship between the Father and the Son is the relationship in deity. It is a position, not a begetting. I became a son of God only through faith in Christ; therefore Christ couldn’t join with me in saying, “Our Father.” “Which art in heaven.” God is not a prisoner in this universeHe is beyond and above it. He is in the air spaces, in the stellar spaces, but He is far removed from His universe today. He is more than creation! He is the One sitting upon the throne of the universe, and He has it under His control! “Hallowed be thy name,” more correctly translated, would read, “Let thy name be made holy.” The name of God stands for God, for all that God is. In what way can you and I make God’s name holy? It is my conviction that by our lives we are to make God’s name holy. When Abraham went into Canaan, a Canaanite passing by observed that they had a new neighbor, for he had seen Abraham’s altar. Everywhere Abraham went he built an altar to God. And when Abraham began to do business with the Canaanites, they found him to be honest.

They found that everything Abraham said invited their confidence. Finally, they reached the conclusion that the God whom Abraham worshiped was a holy God, and Abimelech said to Abraham, “…God is with thee in all that thou doest” (Gen_21:22). The children of Heth said, “…thou art a mighty prince among us …” (Gen_23:6). The entire life of Abraham revealed the reverence he felt for God. Surely the name of God was made holy in Canaan because of Abraham.

Matthew 6:10

“Thy kingdom come” is the Kingdom about which Matthew has been speaking, the Kingdom which Christ will establish on this earth. This is a worthy petition for all of us to pray.

Matthew 6:11

As I have indicated, this prayer is a model for our own prayers. Now I want you to notice this petition for a moment. It is a wonderful petition, so simple yet one that should come from our hearts with great enthusiasm. It speaks of our utter dependence upon God. Our bodily wants, our physical necessities, all are supplied by Him day by day. “Give us …our daily bread"just as Israel gathered manna for the day, they gathered nothing for the morrow. They were not permitted to gather manna for the next week. They could not hoard it. This prayer gathers manna every day, “Give us this day our daily bread.” It shows man that he lives from hand to mouth. It shows man that even his bodily necessities, his basic needs, come from God.

Matthew 6:12

Our Lord Jesus could not pray thisHe had no sin to be forgiven. You see, it is not the Lord’s prayer; it is the disciples’ prayer. “Forgive us our debts as we forgive those that are indebted to us” is legalistic; it is not grace. I thank God for another verse of Scripture, Eph_4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Today God is forgiving us on the basis of what Christ has done for us, not on the basis by which we forgiveas touching the matter of our salvation. The redemption of God is in full view when God forgives us. It does not refer to our salvation when we read, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” He is speaking here to those who are already saved, those who already have the nature of God. He does not wait for you to forgive before He forgives. This is not His method of settling the sin question. He gave His Son to die, and it is on this basis that God forgives. In some churches today where there is formal religion, liturgy, and ritual, they use “forgive us our debts” while others will use “forgive us our trespasses.” Two little girls were talking about the Lord’s Prayer as repeated in their churches. One said,“We have trespasses in our church,” and the other said, “Well, in our church we have debts.” (Probably they both were right as far as the churches of our day are concernedthey have both debts and trespasses.) So which phrase is accurate? There is no difficulty here at all since all of these words refer to the same thing, and that thing is sin.

Matthew 6:13

“Lead us not into temptation.” This word lead gives us the wrong impression because James says God does not tempt any man. That is trueGod does not tempt any man. A better translation here would be, “Leave us not in temptation.” It does not mean to keep us out of it, but when we are in it, do not leave us there. “Deliver us from evil"this deliverance is from the evil one. Deliver us from the evil onedeliver us from the Devil. Satan is today an awful reality. The world has tried many times to get rid of him. They laughed at Martin Luther who threw an inkwell at him. But recently we have had a turn in events. Any man who stands for God knows the awful reality of Satan. As we work in any church we become conscious of the presence of God and also dreadfully conscious of the presence of Satan. But we have this petition, “Deliver us from the evil one.” May I say that this is a marvelous prayer for a new believer to pray privately in learning to pray. My own mother was not saved until late in life. She didn’t know how to pray, and she began by just repeating the Lord’s Prayer. Finally she graduated from this, and she could pray her own prayer. When we are teaching our children to pray, we begin them with, “Now I lay me down to sleep.” Then one day little Willie adds, “God bless Mama and God bless Papa.” That is a thrilling moment for us, because they are beginning to pray on their own. And our Lord gave the so-called Lord’s Prayer as a model. It is a glorious, wonderful prayer, and it shows us what we should include in our own prayers. He would like us to learn to pray in our own words when we talk to Him. As the Lord Jesus said in the verses preceding the Lord’s Prayer, prayer is not to be done for display. It is a relationship between you and God, and the most effective prayer is when you enter into your closetthat is, a private place. I am not enthusiastic about public prayer meetings because of the fact that the deadest service of any in the church is the prayer meeting. As a pastor, I used to try to build up the prayer meeting, but I soon discovered that if you have fifty dead saints praying, you don’t improve it by getting a hundred dead saints. It still is a pretty dead prayer meeting. What we need is a great deal more private prayer. It should take place between an individual and God.

Matthew 6:16

THE MEANING OF FASTINGThe Lord moves on now to the subject of fasting. Fasting has a value for believers in our day, I am convinced of that, but only if it is done privately. It should be a personal matter between the soul and God.

Matthew 6:19

THE MAKING OF MONEY AND THE MEANING OF REAL RICHESThe Lord next turns to the subject of money. This is something many people don’t like the preacher to talk about. A great many folk think that money cannot be used in a spiritual way and that when you talk about money, you are talking about something that is only material. However, our Lord says that we are to lay up for ourselves treasure in heaven. How can we do that? Well, instead of putting it in a bank in Switzerland, put it in heaven by giving it to the Lord’s work down herebut make sure it is in the Lord’s work. You ought to investigate everything you give to. Make sure that you are giving to that which will accumulate treasure for you in heaven. If it is used for the propagation of the gospel and to get out the Word of God, it becomes legal tender in heaven, and that is how we gather treasure in heaven. Perhaps you are saying, “But I don’t give for that reason.” You ought to, because our Lord said, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” That is a laudable motive for giving. And He gives the reason: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” If you get enough treasure laid up in heaven, you are certainly going to think a lot about heaven. But if it is in the bank, your thoughts are going to be on the bank. There is an ever-present danger of worshiping mammon rather than God.

Matthew 6:26

MATERIAL THINGS AND THE CHRISTIAN’S RELATIONSHIP TO THEMMatthew 6 concludes with our Lord talking about other things that are material. He tells us that we are not to give much thought to our material needs. For example, the Lord says: Birds cannot sow. Birds cannot reap. Birds cannot gather anything into barns, but you and I can. We are to sow, reap, and gather with the same abandon that a little bird has. The little bird is trusting God to take care of him, and we are to trust Him, also. “Are ye not much better than they?” This does not mean that we shouldn’t exercise judgment, because God has given us this ability. Once a Christian asked me, “Do you think a Christian ought to have insurance?” My reply was, “Yes!” Insurance is one means we have today to put our minds at ease concerning the care of our families and ourselves. The important thing is that we are not to go through life with material things becoming a burden to us.

Matthew 6:28

In this verse the question is asked, “Why take ye thought for raiment?” Think of the time that is consumed by both men and women when it comes to buying clothes. And almost everyone has had the experience at some time of saying,“I can’t go tonight, I don’t have the right suit or dress to wear.” Well, consider the lilies of the field. They cannot toil or spin, and yet God takes care of them. Of course, a Christian should dress as well as he can. To be slovenly in dress or in any action is not honoring to God. Our Lord called attention to the beauty of the flowers

Matthew 6:29

I think He wants us to be as beautiful as possible. Some of us don’t have much to work with, but we ought to do the best we can with what we’ve got.

Matthew 6:30

We are not to be overly anxious about the things of this world. Material things should not be the goal of our life.

Matthew 6:33

“Take …no thought for the morrow” means no anxious thought. He takes care of the flowers and the birds, and He will take care of you. But the important thing is to put Him first in our life. As someone has said, “Today is the tomorrow that we worried about yesterday.” How true that is for many of us!