Matthew 6; Praying, Fasting, and Living without Worry
Matthew 6; Teaching the People, pt. 3
“Another thought about prayer, God does
not need to hear a bunch of flowery prayers, extra words, and repetitive
requests. He wants us to talk with Him about what is on our heart. To let Him
know what we are thinking. He does not listen to us because we speak well or
talk a lot, He hears our heart. He already knows our needs before we ask. He
just desires us to talk with Him.
“Pray like this: Our Father who
dwells in heaven, glorious is Your Name. Help us to live as if we are in Your
kingdom here and now, so that we might do what You desire us to do now, in the
same way we will do when we get to heaven. We desire Your will to be done in
our lives.
“Provide for us the food we need for
today, and again tomorrow. Forgive us for the things we do against You to the
same extent as we forgive others. Keep us from the temptations in life and when
we succumb, deliver us. For the kingdom belongs to You along with all the power
and glory forevermore.
“Keep in mind, God looks at the way
we treat others. If we forgive them, He will forgive us. If we choose to hold a
grudge against them, then He withholds His forgiveness from us.”[1]
T80 - Matthew 6:7,8; God knows what we are
going to ask in prayer long before we ask it because He listens to our heart.
However, He desires to have us talk with Him about anything that is on our
heart.
T81 - Matthew 6:12-15; God pays attention to
the way we treat others and uses that same standard on us when we ask Him for
help.
C32 - Matthew 6:9-15; Jesus tells us how to
pray with specific phrases and concepts.
To ask God to provide our daily bread is an
acknowledgement that all we have comes from Him. We might earn money at our
jobs, but where did the job come from. Much of what we have comes from the
compassion others have for us and much of what they have comes from our
compassion which we have learned from God Himself. Our picture of this comes
from the Manna that God provided to the people of Israel in the wilderness on
the way from Egypt to Israel. Daily bread also does not imply that God provides
enough for us to store up and save for later, but it implies that we will
always have enough for what we need today and enough to share some with others.
To ask God to forgive us in the same way we
forgive others is a big step on our part. We are giving Him the freedom to use
our standard of measure upon us in the same way we measure out judgment to
others. We know that God gives us so much more than we could ever ask and in
the long run He would like to see us treating others with the same kind of
mercy and forgiveness. We should change
our giving, our forgiving, our mercy, and our generosity to match His in every
way we can. This will not happen overnight, but it is a start to begin the
process and continue until we are completely like Him.
SUGGESTED APPLICATIONS:
·
Since
God is so generous with us in providing for us, we ought to make the effort to
become more generous in our sharing with others. We can do this through the
church programs and our time and contributions. We can also do this through our
learning to become generous in all we do including giving directly to
individuals and to organizations that make it their purpose to help those in
need. We do not need to get an IRS tax deduction for our giving to qualify for
God’s definition of generous living.
·
This
extends far beyond the need for food and other provisions. We need to forgive
as we have been forgiven. We need to show mercy to all people, even those we
might call our enemies. It is easy to show mercy to those who will show mercy
in return, but God shows mercy to all mankind and often gets nothing in return.
This is the attitude He asks of His children. This is the attitude that sets us
apart from the rest of the world.
“When some people fast, they get all
gloomy and do not take care of themselves. They want to be noticed by others.
They hope someone will see how “spiritual,” they are. Well, like anything else,
they have their reward as soon as someone notices. We need to fast but at the
same time clean ourselves up, dress nicely, and keep our joy. This way our
fasting will not be noticed by anyone except our Father who sees in secret. He
will bring the appropriate blessing our way.”
“There is no lasting value to earthly
treasures, they are good for a while, but they can be eaten, or they will rust,
or just get stolen. The lasting value comes from heavenly treasures which we
can lay up while we are here on earth by doing good deeds for others; keep in
mind, wherever we spend our earthly treasures is where our heart is. Is our
heart focused on God?”
“We can see into a person’s life
through their eyes, if the eyes shine like a bright lamp, then there is clarity
and goodness in the person. When the person is full of evil, the eyes usually
seem clouded and dark. If our eyes are clouded, then the evil has taken us
over.”
“There is a choice we need to make
because no person can serve two masters at the same time, we will always hold on
to one and turn away from if not against the other. We cannot serve God and
material things at the same time.”[2]
Jesus teaches
that the treasures of this earth[3], while they produce some joy and
benefit to living, do not have any lasting value, they will fade away and we
cannot take them with us when we leave this earth. However, we can lay up
treasure in heaven[4]for when we get there. That is done
though the doing of good deeds for others while we live on this earth.
Jesus says we cannot serve two masters at the
same time. We will always honor one of them more than the other. The question
to us is whom do we serve, ourselves or God? This implies that there is a deep
connection between our spirit and our attitude to money. When we focus on the
acquisition of money or the lack, we have, we step away from trust in God and
His generous provision for us. When we focus our attention on the acquisition
of the things of God's kingdom, we find that often Jesus pours out material
blessings as well. Just do not become enamored by the blessings but stay
focused on the One who blesses us.
T82 - Matthew 6:19-21; Heaven treasure comes
from doing good deeds for others during this life.
T83 - Matthew 6:21; We can know about our
heart’s true desires by looking at the way we spend our finances; on earthly
things or on God’s work.
T84 - Matthew 6:22-23; The quality of a
person’s life can often be seen in their eyes, are they shining bright or
clouded and dark?
T85 - Matthew 6:24; A person cannot serve God
and the things of this world at the same time. Whichever one they value most
will demand all of their attention and they will leave the other by the wayside.
C33 - Matthew 6:20; Choose to lay up heavenly
treasures on this earth and avoid over attachment to the earthly treasures.
Jesus said, "There are plenty of
reasons why we should not worry about our life, our food, and what we wear.
Life consists of so much more than food, and the body has a far greater
function in life than just being a coat hanger. When we look at the birds, they
have what they need even though they do not sow, reap, or even gather. They are
fed by the Father in heaven. And we have more value than the birds. Anxiety
will not help us add a single additional step to the length of our life.”
“And think about why we fret so much
over clothing. Look at the lilies and flowers. They do not work the fields, or
make the thread, or even sew the clothing. Yet they are clothed with more
splendor that King Solomon in all of his robes and riches. So, think about
this, if God takes such great care of the flowers which are alive today and
will be gone tomorrow, don’t we think He will care for us? What has happened to
our faith?”
“Questions like what to eat or what to
drink or what to put on should not fill us with anxiety when we know that God
cares for us. People who do not believe in God spend their lives consumed with
these things but our Father in heaven knows what we need.”
"When we have a choice, seek
God's kingdom, and a life of righteousness and the things of the world which we
need will be given to us.”
“When we seek a deeper relationship
with Him and learn to live by the laws of His kingdom, then He will provide us
with the food, drink, and clothing we need. My conclusion is this, “Anxiety
about tomorrow is wasted energy, tomorrow will take care of itself.” Just deal
with the circumstances of today, right now. And let God take care of us.[5]
Worry never seems to bring resolution to our
circumstances. There is something happening in life that is deeper that the
outward circumstances we see. God has said He would take care of all of our
needs if we just let Him. We are more important to our heavenly Father than the
birds and the flowers so He will care for you as well. And we do not have the
ability to extend our live by worrying. On the other hand, we might just
shorten our life if we add too much stress.
Jesus encourages us to change the focus of our
life from being consumed with thoughts of food and clothing to thoughts of
God’s eternal kingdom. Wear what we have in our closets, eat what we have
available to us, and appreciate what God continues to do for us. He wants to
provide for us, so we do not have to worry about these things.
Today has enough things to care about, we do
not need to worry about what might come our way tomorrow. Afterall, most of
what we worry about will never come to pass.
T86 - Matthew 6:26; Humans have more value
than animals.
T87 - Matthew 6:27; Anxiety will not help us
lengthen our life.
T88 - Matthew 6:30; God will take care of all
our needs just as He does for the birds and the flowers.
T89 - Matthew 6:31; People who do not have
faith in God, spend more time worrying about the future and their provision.
Those who believe God to provide, do not have as much anxiety in their lives.
T90 - Matthew 6:31; Those who put the priority
on living in the ways of God will find that the practical things of this life
fall into place just like things are taken care of for the birds and the flowers.
T91 - Matthew 6:34; There will be troubles of
some kind every day of life. Expect them and expect God to help us through
them.
C34 - Matthew 6:31; Seek the things of God’s
kingdom above all else.
C35 - Matthew 6:34; Do not feel deep anxiety
about the future. God will take care of us. Tomorrow will have more troubles to
think about so concentrate on taking care of today with God’s help.
Pastor Edd
[1] (Matthew
6:7-15)
[2] (Matthew
6:16-24)
[3] Earthly Treasures are defined as
anything we can own on earth.
[4] Heavenly Treasures are defined as the
good deeds we do on earth for Jesus.
[5] (Matthew
6:25-34)
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