In this Sermon it is made clear that God, the parent, as is to be expected, has done a critically important thing for his children.  He obviously, according to chapter five imprinted his character on us his children, so that our attitudes, our lifestyle, how we think, how we make choices, what influences us, are clearly shown to be from our heavenly Father. 

Now that God the Father has implanted his character in us and chapter five tells us which characteristics to look for that show this implant, Jesus now looks at a different question, namely, how we can ensure we are like our Father, as well as giving us some instructions that will help us to make sure that we have pleased Him. 

Speaking about believers, one writer describes that our life should be an offering to God and: “Inevitably we are going to want to turn our face toward God at some point; to be in his presence; to be deliberately, thoughtfully, actively, seeking him, giving ourselves directly to him, and caring about his response.” 

To the ears that first heard it, the sermon was a radical departure from what they were used to in its content, delivery and authority. This was not due to the novelty of what Jesus taught, though his teaching and interpretation of the Old Testament scriptures was markedly different from the then Jewish traditions and the teachings of the Rabbis.  

Seemingly much of the debate and controversy has to do with its relevance to Christians today and whether or not its teachings are binding on them. Clearly, Jesus enjoined his teaching on those who would be part of His kingdom and many of his hearers in fact became part of the embryonic church. Despite this, others in their efforts to distance the ‘church’ from the spiritual requirements and constraints inherent in the sermon, have created an artificial disconnect with its teachings, either by way of before the cross/after the cross paradigm, the Jews/Gentiles divide or the law/grace construct. In this regard, it is instructive for us to look at chapter 5:17 to 19.

The extensive introduction to ‘the sermon’ in last week’s lesson dealt with the considerable and on-going debate, discussion and interpretations engendered by this passage Matthew 5-7. The question of its relevance if any to today’s Christians is still up in the air, with the various schools of thought as entrenched as ever. The Sermon on the Mount has received more attention than any other passage of Scripture, and has been re-interpreted by Christians constantly, with different interpretations being favoured at different times. It is noteworthy that at the conclusion of the Sermon, Jesus warned:

"Everyone who hears these words of mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the Rock" (Matt. 7:24). Or Luke 6:46, "And why do you call me 'Lord, Lord', and do not do what I say? ". The Sermon thus affects the very roots of our being and is accordingly much debated.

 (See last week’s lesson for a discussion on the different interpretations and views on the ‘sermon’.) 

The delivery of the Sermon was timely. Jesus had attracted a wide following from a cross-section of Jewish society and geographic locations, he had taken up the theme of the ‘kingdom of God’ in his preaching as first announced by John the Baptist, and he had called His twelve disciples. It was at this opportune time that He taught the fundamentals regarding the character, attitude, motives, standards, practices and rewards of those who would be citizens of the kingdom of Heaven. The Sermon is dotted with nuggets of wisdom literature, widely quote in religious as well as secular circles.

The Sermon among other things clarified the true nature of the kingdom, as opposed to the erroneous and exaggerated notions held by many regarding its constitution. Jesus presented a sharp contrast in his tenets to what was contemporary Judaism and popular and acceptable expectations. Chapter 5:20 succinctly establish the posture of the Sermon vis-a-vis contemporary religion of that day and ours.  “For I say unto you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” 

The circumstances of this Sermon certainly indicate that the Lord directed his address to those who would truly be His disciples. He sat down to teach, assuming the authoritative posture characteristic of the Rabbis of His day and spoke primarily to his disciples, though in the hearing of the larger multitude. 

In the latter two thirds of chapter five Jesus had been contrasting true religion with that popularly held and practiced within Judaism. In verses 17-48 he exposed the shallowness of the current religious practices and demonstrated that contemporary Jewish teaching and tradition was a far cry from a correct interpretation of the Old Testament Scriptures.  Their shortcomings rested primarily on an unbalanced emphasis on outward acts, such as murder and adultery, rather than the inward attitudes and motives that spawned them. This emphasis on the outward requirements of the Law played to the vanity and pride of its practitioners, turning the focus of their religious activities on themselves rather than God. Consequently their only interest became that of seeking the applause and adoration of onlookers rather than pleasing God.

 In contemporary Christianity many are still more interested in the applause and acceptance of men, along with seeking self-promotion and self-aggrandizement rather than in worshipping God in spirit and in truth. Those who seek to serve their own ends under the guise of religious activity or who try to share God’s glory, will receive no reward from Him. When our righteous acts become public show in order to gain the approval and admiration of onlookers, then we forfeit any possibility of divine reward.  Trying to please God by impressing men is the same as using God to impress men; a sure recipe for disaster.

In today’s study, Jesus’ used a strong warning against hypocrisy to caution his disciples about seeking the applause of men in the exercise of religious duties. Jesus clearly established the principle that one cannot seek God’s approval and man’s, at one and the same time. He will rebuke the ostentatious and self-seeking practices of the Scribes and Pharisees in two of the most common religious activities of his day thought to demonstrate one’s righteousness: almsgiving (verses 1-4) and prayer (verses 5-15). (See verses 16-18 also).

 One writer notes: Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, are three great Christian duties--the three foundations of the law, say the Arabians: by them we do homage and service to God with our three principal interests; by prayer with our souls, by fasting with our bodies, by alms-giving with our estates. Thus we must not only depart from evil, but do good, and do it well, and so dwell for evermore.

 Note, the Scriptures make it clear that God was and is only interested in a clean and pure heart, from which a life of holy living would naturally flow. Jesus teachings then, were in fact not some radical departure from what is elsewhere taught in the Scriptures, for the requirements of a Holy God are unchanging and are incumbent on his people in all ages.

Lets us carefully note Jesus’ attitude and advice to those who would be His’ disciples, as He sets out the proper motive and attitudes in religious duty, for those who would be true citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

 Note though that Jesus is not setting all these requirements of God as a set of rules established simply for the sake of having ‘good’ rules. Jesus is simply pointing out that the people of God who are by definition implanted with the character of God, should want to be honored by God, rather than honored by men.  God had blessed them and they should want to be like their Father and please their Father.

THE TEXT

Jesus had an exhortation to perfection:

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Jesus continued to warn his disciples about the corrupt doctrines and opinions of the Scribes and Pharisees, who in their exposition of the Law, had strayed from true Judaism.  

Jesus now taught on many topics relevant to people of God, including

-‘almsgiving’ a word which can be translated ‘ charitable deeds’ or literally ‘ acts of righteousness’
-prayer
-forgivingness
-fasting
-doing good
-choosing between material things vs. holy things
-choosing between two visions
-choosing between two masters
-worry/anxiety over material things.
Jesus would come back to discuss these topics several times. 

Note that Jesus had previously commanded his disciples in 5:16 to “ let your light so shine before men….”  and he considers it to be extremely important that we understand the proper way to do this.

 Verse 1.   Take heed.. a stern warning against charitable giving motivated by a desire to be noticed, admired and spoken well of. Alms was anything given to help meet the needs of the poor. Care for the needy (Alms) was commanded in Israel (Deut.15:7-11; Exod.23:11) and was an important function of the society. In fact some used the same word for righteousness to refer to almsgiving.  

It was not as if they didn’t know that alms giving was not a vehicle for self-promotion. This was taught by some of their Rabbis; nonetheless that was the practice of the Scribes and Pharisees and it drew our Lord’s rebuke. 

Further, Jesus is not prohibiting public giving, for if someone gives with the right motive it does not matter if it is public or private. The issue is giving to be seen, giving before men, this is what the Lord forbids. Motive is the issue for He had said:

 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven, Matt. 5:16.  

There is a way of giving that is right for it glorifies the Father.  This way is different from the wrong kind of giving that is intended to bring the honor of men rather than honor by God. 

There is absolutely no heavenly reward for good works done for the glorification of the doer. 

Jesus certainly assumes that our life will ultimately determine our rewards, for rewards for our religious activities will come, either from men, or from God.  If we are rewarded for our religious activities by men, this means we have received payment in full.  There will be no more. 

We should clarify what it means to be rewarded by God, for some might think that we should not really be thinking much about rewards, for it should be sufficient to do what is right, simply because it is right.  This sounds quite pious and holy. This thinking assumes that ‘rewards’ are like “material things”, and so this desire must be unrighteous. ‘Rewards’ are being linked with the ‘non-Christian way of thinking, which leads a person to decide that they are going to love God, do what is right, fast, pray, and worship (The core of many pagan religions) because in doing so they will become rich, famous and wanting nothing.   

But actually when we talk about rewards from God it has nothing to do with riches. Note in addition, we are never entitled to ‘rewards’ from God and cannot demand them because we have done the correct things and have the right to expect that God will give us what we want or what we tell him to. 

Jesus illustrates what God means by rewards in his parable in Matt. 25:14-30, which has nothing to do with our earthly sustenance.  A Master went away and when he returned after long journey he called his servants to see what they had done while he was away.  He described those that pleased him as good and faithful servants who had done well and he invited them to come and share or enter into the joy of the Master. Rewards here have an ‘end of the line’ setting.  

It is the smile, the embrace, and the delight of God that we want to enter into, for that means that we will enter into his blessing and he will give us what is in his heart for us. Remember that God misses absolutely nothing that we do. 

Our eyes, ears, human senses will never be able to properly understand or anticipate what God has in store for us.  Remember we will be in our new bodies and in a ‘heavenly environment’, in the New Jerusalem and what we will like and appreciate will be very different from what we currently like and appreciate in the flesh. 

The warning about rewards is very important.  We must aim to be honoured by God and not honoured by men, in being paid off by the people around us for doing things in a public attention-grabbing manner.

Verse 2.   Notice that the disciples are not commanded to give to the poor, for the broad assumption is that they would; Jesus is only giving instructions as to how they should give. It should be the nature of Christians to give to the poor. He did not say, "If thou doest alms ..." but "when"!  Note, our obligation to be mindful of human need and suffering is not totally discharged by the support, however generous, of any church budget or the taxes we pay.  

Note that this is not just giving spare change to someone on the street, or occasionally giving our used up clothes to someone, when you have no further need of them.  This is caring for the needy, loving others as much as God loved us when we were in utter poverty.  So our responsibility is to care for those for whom God cares.  This is personal engagement, not distancing oneself from the suffering people. 

…..do not sound a trumpet…refers to some ostentatious practice of the Pharisees, called hypocrites here, who did their alms-giving in public or at some assembly (synagogue)  and endeavoured to seen by all, so as to garner the praise and adoration of men.  

The root meaning of hypocrite is an actor putting on a mask, which allows him to play a part, to pretend. 

Here the Pharisees seek to portray themselves as men of great piety and were so regarded by the ignorant. In playing this role of “piety”, certain things are done to make the role-playing believable.  This is called hypocrisy, an all too common affliction found among the people of God.  

This certainly is an emphatic prohibition. It can also be regarded as a broader prohibition against all forms of boastful and vain-glorious conduct. Here is the likely origin of the idiomatic expression ‘blowing one’s own horn’. The hypocrites have their reward, the esteem and adoration of men, which is what they sought and no other will be forth coming.  

Proverbs 19:17 gives us another perspective on giving to the poor:

 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again. 

Note the contrast of rewards, there is a heavenly reward of the Father and then there is the glory of men. While alms-giving will not get us into heaven, our estate there will be greatly reduced by the lack of rewards that would have accrued from alms-giving.   

In fact, Matthew emphasizes the importance of giving alms again and again.  In Matt.25:31-46 the test of service is tied to compassion and spiritual destiny.

Verse 3-4.   The positive ‘how to’ instructions. This has become a proverbial expression and the idea is, it must be done as secretly as possible.  Not only are we not to let even those close to us aware of our charitable works but we ourselves are not to dwell on the good works we might have done.  

Christian charity is forgetful of good deeds done for others. One writer comments:

We catch a glimpse of this kind of forgetfulness in the teaching of Christ in Matthew 25:31. When the Son of Man returns to take His throne on the earth, He reminds His faithful ones of their kindness to Him:

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in …” (Matthew 25:34-35).

But those who are thus commended respond: “… Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink?” (verse 37). This is the kind of forgetfulness we all need to have. 

…….reward thee… a sure promise of reward for a honourable act, flowing from a heart turned to the Lord. The wisdom of secret charitable works is obvious: the temptation to hypocrisy is removed, the honor and privacy of the recipient is protected, the giver is protected from an onslaught upon his generosity and most importantly, the command of our Lord is obeyed.   

Men tend to congratulate themselves for doing what they are supposed to do anyway.  Jesus makes it clear that we can just be pleasing ourselves, even if we are not public hypocrites.  We should not pat ourselves on the back, when we are generous, congratulate ourselves for our great prayer life, our sensitivity to others, our willingness to deny ourselves for others and be especially careful not to dwell on what terrific persons we are. 

Verse 5.   Jesus continues to prohibit his disciples from emulating the hypocrites, this time in their prayer routines. It must be kept in mind that many are impressed with the dramatic, the superfluous, the glitter and the ‘show’ and the disciples as many others had, might have been tempted to applaud or even copy the pretentious displays of the hypocrites.  

As in the matter of alms-giving, it was assumed that the disciples of Christ would pray, for prayer is a vital and constant condition of the truly spiritual life. It was a significant religious exercise among the Jews (Daniel 6:10; Acts 3:1) and in time became a ritual and institutionalized with specific times for prayers and prayers for particular occasions.  

There were specific times for public prayer at the synagogue. On the streets the appointed time for prayer was 9 am, noon, and 3 pm. So it would happen that a person could find one’s self in the market, some place of assembly (not necessarily the synagogue), on the street or in some other public place at prayer time. Hypocrites who craved to be considered devout and be praised and acknowledged as such, would arrange to be in public at prayer time, then assume some conspicuous position and get into their prayer routine. Their objective was to be seen of men and in accordance with the principle established in verse1, such public acts of worship would gain men’s praise, but not God’s.  

They, like the adoration-seeking alms-givers of verse 1 who sought to impress men, have no further hope of reward from God; for they prayed to be seen of men; not that God might accept them, but that men might admire and applaud them.   

Jesus did not bar public prayer but decried proud and vain-glorious exhibitions aimed at the praise of men. Circumstances may well dictate that our good deeds have to be done openly, and come under the observation of others and be commended by them; but the sin and danger is when we love it, bask in it and our pride soars. 

One writer comments on this kind of public prayer:

“ This kind of prayer is accurately portrayed by the description of an eloquent prayer in a New England church:

“ Rev. Jones presented the most beautiful prayer ever offered before a Boston audience.”

What an insult such prayers are to God: when we are mouthing words toward Him, while really trying to impress others, we are using God as a tool to impress others.”

Verse 6.  “But thou, when thou prayest…. the solution to the problem of affectation is given here. In contrast to the public exhibition of ‘piety’ by the hypocrites, true disciples are to seek the face of God in private. It is not that we are only to pray in our closets. It is our motives which are in focus here. We are not to seek the approving nod of men, but to desire intimate fellowship with God. 

Jesus words seem to suggest that the best place for prayer is typically private, quiet and in secrecy. This underscores the personal nature and intimacy of the relationship believers have with God, through His Son.  

It is pointed out that the specific word used for closets or room was used for a storeroom where treasures were kept.  The idea seems to be that treasures were waiting for us in our prayer closets. 

Many Jewish houses had a place for secret devotion, expressly set-up to offer a place of retirement, so prayers could be offered in secrecy and solitude. It was to this place, or to some similar place, that Jesus directed his disciples to retire to, when they wished to hold communion with God.  

Note Jesus had as much difficulty finding a quiet place to pray, as we might have in the hustle and bustle of modern life; yet he lived in the practice of secret prayer. One writer notes: To be alone, he rose up "a great while before day," and went into a solitary place and prayed. With him, a grove, a mountain, a garden, furnished such a place; and though a traveller, and among strangers, and without a house, he lived in the habit of secret prayer. 

Screened from the eyes and ears of all in our secret nook, we are assured that God sees us and we will be rewarded openly. 

One writer considers that there is a link between the importance for secret intimacy with the nature of God:

“ Our Father sees what is done in secret, but he himself is unseen.  That is, when we enter into his presence we don't see his form or hear him.  So we can't read his body language when we pray.  A lot of conversations are predicated on the response we are getting, aren’t they?  If you're talking to someone and they smile in an engaging way and lean forward, showing that they want to hear more, then you are stimulated to say more.  You tailor what you're saying to get the response you want.  If they are yawning and rolling their eyes and the body language is negative, you try some other tack

But the Lord says we don't see our Father's response, so praying to him is an act of faith.  His invisibility leads to honest expression on our part.”

Verse 7.   The other major errors in the practice of prayer are identified here, that of the use of vain repetitions and long and verbose monologues. Men actually believed that the effectiveness of their prayers was directly related to their length. Long repetitious prayers we know have always been the well documented practice of pagans (1 Kings 18:26) but it appears some Jews had adopted this practice and both errors are addressed by our Lord.

One writer tells us:

“ The Rabbis had sayings like: Whoever is long in prayer is heard” and “Whenever the righteous make their prayers long, their prayer is heard.” 

He bans the use of all such repetitions and dismisses the idea of prayers being answered because of their verbosity.  

….they shall be heard….This last comment seems to limit the length of prayers but the ban on vain repetitions alone would significantly reduce the length of the prayers. Jesus did not fix the length of our prayers. He says that they should not repeat the same thing, as though God did not hear.  

It is not all repetitions that are banned but vain repetitions. Also not that all long prayers are forbidden; Christ prayed all night, (Luke 6:12). Solomon's was a long prayer. There certainly are situations that call for long prayers but merely to prolong a prayer, as if that  would make it more effective with God, is prohibited. As one writer explains:

 “it is not much praying that is condemned; no, we are bid to pray always, but much speaking; the danger of this error is when we only say our prayers, and not when we pray them.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 advises us “God is in heaven, and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.”

On the matter of vain repetitions, as the heathens do, let us note that their routine consisted of specific formulation of words, which they considered to be critically important.  They had all kinds of prayers, and they memorized phrases which they used in specific settings.  They had prayers at sunrise, and different prayers at sunset, different prayers at mealtime and so on, and they said the formulas over and over again with increasing degrees of intensity

This was not really conversation but the mouthing of words and formulas, which they thought had intrinsic powers to not only appeal to the gods, but could actually force the gods to grant them their requests. 

Our God however wants real conversation, real communication between the Father and his children.  He looks at what we say, but more importantly what is behind our words, what is the motivation behind what we say.

Verse 8.    Be not ye….  A direct prohibition, the disciples were not to adopt the Gentiles prayer routines. The rationale was God was their Father and thus knew their needs better than they did themselves. He is omniscient.  He knows all the secret longings of the heart, and everything is wide open to his gaze.  

They were related to Him as children, by creation and by covenant, and so addressing Him should be easy, natural and unaffected. Children have no need to make a long speech to their parents so as to have their needs satisfied. He should be approached as by children; with love, reverence and a sense of dependence.   

Note, God is a Father that knows our case and knows our wants better than we do ourselves  He knows what things we have need of; his eyes run to and fro through the earth, to observe the necessities of his people (2 Chronicles 16:9), and he often gives before we call (Isaiah 65:24), and more than we ask for (Ephesians 3:20).  

We do not really present our requests to God to inform him of them, but we make them to remind ourselves that life and all blessings come from him.  We seek his love and approval and request that he communicate with us in our favor.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Jesus had exposed the corruptions and errors in the exercise of prayer in the Judaism of His day and sets out here a standard, a model, a template for his disciples to follow in their prayers. 

Historically this passage (vs. 9-14) is known as the Lord’s Prayer, though some have pointed out that it is in fact the ‘Disciples’ prayer. Matthew presents it as an example of prayer that pleases God; Luke however begins, “When ye pray, say …” (Luke 11:2), so it appears it can be both a pattern for prayer and a prayer to be repeated. Of course Christians must guard against mindless repetition of this prayer and it becoming a prayer by rote.

Jesus gave this prayer as a contrast to what he had just condemned, namely, lengthy prayers which sought either to impress the onlooker or to wear down the defences of God. His own public prayers were generally brief. Though brief, the prayer is comprehensive and as one writer notes: While the prayer itself is short, the subject matter is very broad. It deals both with God’s program and with man’s needs. It seeks divine forgiveness for past sins, provision for present needs, and the future establishment of God’s Kingdom on the earth. There is a balance between God’s purpose and man’s needs. There is also a priority given to God’s purpose above our pressing needs. 

Its petitions relate first and more immediately to God and his honour and then to our own concerns, both temporal and spiritual. The method of this prayer teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then to hope that other things shall be added.

Verse 9.   After this manner…our Father..

Note that the entire introduction makes it clear that there is a privileged relationship here.

He is our Father generally as the Creator and  in particular to Christians by adoption through Jesus Christ. As man's Father, he sustains him, and provides all that man needs. This opening (Our Father) sets up an authority and dependency structure and intimates that we must pray, not only alone and for ourselves, but with and for others.

The use of the word “Our”, the possessive plural pronoun, immediately after Jesus told us of the importance of private prayer in our closet by ourselves, now reminds us that God has more than one child. Even when we pray alone we recognize that we have brothers and sisters in relationship with God and in relationship with us, so that we are part of a community of ‘the loved’.

We are also taught to whom to pray, to God only, the God that occupies Heaven.  This is clearly not a local god restricted to a specific region, who could bless you if you are in that special area. In ancient times you had the god of a hill, specific mountains, a lake, a region, the sea and so on.

This God however, is over all, transcendent with complete authority.  We are also reminded that our citizenship is in Heaven, and our Lord will come from there.  The New Jerusalem will come down to the earth from Heaven and we will live in that remarkable city.

There are three petitions that are about God, and they come first, addressing God as He really is, arranging everything around his priorities and values, and then come three petitions that are about us.  The passion in prayer is for God’s name, kingdom, and his will, for they are top priority. 

Hallowed..  This first petition in the prayer is about God and establishes the priority in prayer, namely: the praise, glory and honor of God and this trump our needs and all else. To ‘hallow’ is to render or pronounce holy and God's name is holy. The idea is that the petitioner seeks or ask of God; that God’s name be celebrated, honoured, esteemed as holy everywhere and that that the name of God, or God himself, should be held in proper veneration. The above may also be taken as an adoration.  

Note, The Pharisees made their own name the chief end of their prayers (Matthew 6:5, to be seen of men), in opposition to which we are directed to make the name of God our chief aim.

Verse 10. This verse is further to the desire expressed above that God’s name be esteemed. The ultimate realization of this will occur when the Kingdom of God is established on the earth in the millennial reign of Christ. The Kingdom is further defined as the time when the righteous reign of God upon the earth is as comprehensive and complete as it now is in heaven.  

This really means that God should have no rival at all, no opposition.  The love of money, pleasure, human strength, human ingenuity, and all things opposed to God, should be thrown out for they deny the sovereignty and majesty of the transcendent God. 

The will of God is that men should obey his law, and be holy and righteous, the condition on earth in the millennium, (Isa.11:9). There should be no half-heartedness when we respond to God.  We must do what he calls us to do, abandoning ourselves to his control, and be happy that he gives us an opportunity to obey him.  One writer says:

“In Heaven, the Angels adore obedience.  They long to know what God thinks so they may do it instantly.  The prayer is that on earth we will long to be that way, too.” 

Note as Daniel prayed for the deliverance of Israel, when he understood that the time of deliverance was near (Daniel 9:2), even so Christians should pray earnestly for the realization of God’s kingdom, as the signs point to the time.

Verse 11. God’s priority and interests addressed, it is now appropriate to submit personal petitions, thus we look to the providential Father to meet our material needs represented by our food.

Daily bread…note the ongoing collective dependency and daily need for this prayer. The ‘us’ suggests a family group, as this is the natural unit that could participate together in this prayer on a daily basis. God is the one that meets our physical needs and this he does in a wide variety of ways. We owe our being to Him and our lives are in his hand.

….when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust, Psalm 104:29.

You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. Psalm 145:16. 

When Jesus says bread, he means real bread, and we should not spiritualise or allegorize this. God is interested in the simple, mundane, everyday things of life and he wants us to pray about them to Him.  He does not want us to pray only for religious things.  He wants us to pray to Him about ordinary things that concern us.  He really cares. One writer reminds us that He might even be interested that we pray to Him that our car will not run out of gas before we reached the next station.

Verse 12.   Man shall not live by bread alone….  in addition to our material needs, there are spiritual necessities which are as vital as our physical needs. Foremost among these is our need for forgiveness. Regardless of our faith and maturity, we have an ongoing need for forgiveness and although this has been achieved for all our sins, past, present and future by Jesus at Cavalry, we experience this forgiveness only as we confess our sins to the Father (1 John 1:9). 

The thought that our forgiveness by God, is linked to us forgiving those who have wronged us does present some difficulty. Still we are not being asked to do what is beyond us, though in our natural state some forgiveness might be difficult, if not impossible. God has graciously dealt with our situation by giving us a new heart and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, so it becomes a matter of exercising our volition in the matter of the forgiveness of others. God forgives our sins as we forgive others! 

One writer holds this view:

On the surface it would appear that we experience this forgiveness only in return for our forgiveness of those who have wronged us. God’s forgiveness is not in exchange for ours. Far from it. Rather we are forgiven only when our request for forgiveness is sincere. He who asks for forgiveness but refuses to grant it to others is not sincere in his request. He who refuses to forgive fails to sense the magnitude of his own sin, and the magnitude of God’s forgiveness. Such a spirit of unforgiveness reveals an insincerity in asking for divine forgiveness. As such this (hypocritical) request is denied. Such is the parenthetical explanation of verses 14 and 15. 

Never forget that when we are not ready to forgive, we are holding onto our bitterness toward other people. 

We should remember that if we are prepared to ask God to remove the weight of failure from us and cancel out our failures, it is only right that as children in which God has imprinted his nature that we should forgive others, showing that in every respect we are like our Lord. 

The fact that we are ready to forgive, does not necessarily mean that God has forgiven a sinner.  In fact, forgiveness is not complete until there is repentance.  But if a man sins many times against us and repents as many times, we should never be the obstacle.

Verse 13.   This is a necessary plea, for temptations are to be avoided because of the danger of us being overcome. David prayed a similar prayer: Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity…Psalm 141:4.  It can be understood in the sense of permitting, such as Lord do not allow or permit us to be tempted to sin. This shows God’s control over us and the tempter, so as to save us from any situation if we call on Him. 

Some translate this as asking to avoid certain testing, though testing strengthens and matures us. Some see the force of this phrase as meaning:

‘let us not be led into temptation.’ This is particularly appropriate if we understand the second half of the petition (‘but deliver us from evil’) as a reference to the person of Satan. Therefore, we should understand verse 13 in this way: “And do not let us be led into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”. 

Deliver us…whether from evil or ‘the evil one’, we certainly need God’s deliverance from the multitude of things that would distract, deter or lead us away from our Lord and thus the plea is made.  

It is God that reigns (kingdom), he has dominion and control, He has the power to accomplish our petitions and his glory will be displayed in meeting our requests. Prayers fittingly should end with a crescendo of praise of his majesty, power and glory. 

….for…connects this doxology with the prayer and shows that the reign (kingdom), power and glory will be evident in the granting of our petitions. Our benefits then are incidental and the objective of our prayers and what we seek first when we approach Him in prayer, should be that God’s glory and perfections be manifested. 

We should really be saying that we do not trust ourselves, for we are very foolish, and the Devil can easily take advantage of us except God leads us. 

Amen is derived from a Hebrew word signifying to be firm, secure, to be true and faithful. It is a word expressing consent or strong approval, a word of strong endorsement. It means verily, certainly, so be it. It is probable that this word was used by the people in the synagogue as an assent to the prayer that was offered by the Rabbi and has been adopted in the Christian church, (1 Corinthians 14:16).

Verse 14.   This verse reinforces the though expressed in verse 12. Not that this is the only condition, there must be repentance and faith, with the confirming obedience and changed behavior. Having forgiven offences against us, we can then seek our own forgiveness with a clear conscience. 

Our willingness to forgive must be equal to our need to be forgiven and there is no end to that need. 

Simply put, we are like the Lord. If we do not behave like Him, we are showing that we are not really his. What he does we must do. The Spirit leads in a certain way, and we must show his leading. There is one fruit of the Spirit, and we must show all of the fruit, and not have any rotten portion.

CONCLUSION

While the Sermon on the Mount was addressed to Jews, it also speaks to Christians today. It tells us what our attitudes and actions should be. It challenges us to live an excitingly distinctive life, adding a savor to our society. It warns us of the evils of false religion which creep into Christian theology and practice. It instructs us as to how we should interpret and apply the Old Testament Scriptures. It places before us the measure of the man or woman of God. 

We should remember that Jesus expects us to do the things he mentions, because we love God and we want to so live, that he sees how much we love Him. The choices we make as we offer our life to him are most important, for we want to please God. 

We should also remember that our Father wants to reward us, to take us in to share his happiness.  This is an unbelievable privilege. So let us live not to please those around us, who are always prepared to hypocritically applaud us.  Let us live to please the unseen Father and present sweet offerings to him. 

We pray for the manifestation of God’s glory and coming of His Kingdom, but these things can become a reality in our daily lives to the extent we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us day by day.