6
📚“Watch out that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward 📖 from your Father who is in heaven.6:1 Men may see the righteous acts or charitable works of God's people and it is right that they should (Matt 5:16). But His people must not do them hoping men will see them and praise them. It is enough that God sees and approves. There must be no hypocrisy in God's kingdom, no using of religious acts to impress men, gain a name, or get praise.⚜
2 📚“Therefore when you do charitable deeds, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, so that they may get glory from men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.
6:2 Prov 22:9; Acts 20:35; Gal 2:10; Jam 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17-18. Notes and references on giving at 2 Cor 9:15. Christ's disciples must not call attention to their giving. Standing with a rupee in one hand and a trumpet in the other is not the way for them. That is the way of hypocrites – vs 5,16; Matt 23:5. Hypocrites do not do good deeds simply because it is their duty and privilege to do them. If others did not see or know of them, they would never do any good deeds at all. God will not honor such people, because they are not seeking God's honor. Compare John 5:44; 12:26; 1 Cor 4:5; 2 Cor 10:18; Gal 1:10; 1 Thess 2:4.⚜
3 📚But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 📚so that your charitable deeds will be in secret. And your Father himself, who sees in secret, will reward you openly.
6:3-4 In other words, tell it to absolutely no one, not even to yourself to take pride in it or to praise self. God's people do not need to keep a record of their good deeds – God will do that. Jesus is emphasizing again that those in His spiritual kingdom must renounce self and live for God alone, ignoring man's approval or blame. Acts of mercy must not become acts for applause.⚜
The King teaches us how to pray
5 📚“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they will be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. 6 📚But you, when you pray, go into your room, and shutting your door, pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
6:5-6 Prayer must be for God's ear alone. It is enough that He hears. Hypocrites are not concerned about God – they want to impress men. They may seem to be worshiping God, but are really worshiping themselves. Public prayer is good, but it has its dangers. It may sometimes be difficult to speak to God without trying to impress others who are listening. This may be one reason for Jesus' emphasis on secret prayer. It will be more direct, more real, with no temptation to impress others.⚜
7 📚But when you pray, do not use empty repetitions, as the pagans do. For they think that they will be heard because of their many words.
6:7 Our praying should be neither mechanical nor in ignorance. A name repeated over and over (see 1 Kings 18:26; Acts 19:34), or a formula of words constantly repeated, or piling up words to convince God to listen – such things have no power at all with God. God does not require our babbling to know what we need and give it to us. We do not need to wake Him up, or capture His attention (Ps 34:15; 121:2-5; 2 Chron 16:9). And we need not instruct Him about the things that are necessary for us to have. Christ's disciples do not have a God Who is more persuaded to answer because of the more words they speak.⚜
8 📚So do not be like them, for your Father 📖 knows what things you need, before you ask him.
9 📚“Therefore pray in this way:
Our Father 📖 who is in heaven,
hallowed be your name 📖.
6:9 The following prayer covers those things which should be of greatest concern to Christ's disciples. See what great truth, what important requests can be put in simple language and few words. Not everything for which God's people will pray is here – just those things that should daily be in their minds. This prayer is a model, an example, a sample of how they should pray and for what they should pray. We may pray for many things besides those mentioned here, but we should never think we have gotten beyond the requests of this prayer.
The words “this day” and “daily” in v 11 indicate that the requests of this prayer are good and proper ones to make every day, and not just occasionally in church. The plural word “our” indicates that these requests are appropriate for two or more members of a family, or a number of believers, to make together. Perhaps it indicates also that an individual who privately prays along the lines of this prayer (and this is surely a good thing to do) is to think of others along with himself – his or her family, or friends, or church, or an even wider circle of believers.⚜
10 📚Your kingdom come. 📖
Your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven 📖.
11 📚Give us this day our daily bread. 📖
12 📚And forgive us our debts, 📖
as we forgive our debtors.
13 📚And lead us not into temptation, 📖
but deliver us from evil. 📖
For yours is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever. Amen 📖.
The King tells us how to live
14 📚“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 📚but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
6:14-15 Compare Matt 18:21-35. This does not mean that men can earn God's forgiveness by forgiving others. Forgiveness is a gift of God's grace (notes at 9:5-7). But who can receive this gift of forgiveness? Only those who repent and turn to Christ (Matt 3:2; 4:17; Luke 24:47), those in whom the Holy Spirit is working to produce the kind of people described in Matt 5:3-12. One evidence of the Spirit's working in them is that they forgive others.
If people are not willing to forgive others they show they have not been forgiven themselves and have not received God's grace. And they will never be forgiven until they are brought to repentance and faith in Christ and are changed into the sort of people who forgive others. And for those who are already in God's kingdom, any refusal to forgive others is a very serious matter. Those guilty of it will experience God's frown and God's chastening until they learn to forgive.⚜
16 📚“Moreover when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, putting on a gloomy appearance. For they disfigure their faces, so that they may appear to men to be fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.
6:16 This means a voluntary fast for the purpose of seeking God, disciplining the body for the sake of one's spiritual life. Compare Ps 35:13; Isa 58:6-7; Joel 1:14; 2:12. That which should be used as a means to help the spiritual life can, if abused, reveal there is no spiritual life to help. To fast in an attempt to get man's praise is monstrous. Notice Jesus says “when you fast” – He regarded fasting as good and right. He fasted 40 days (Matt 4:1) and His disciples would fast (Matt 9:14-15).⚜
17 📚But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 📚so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly.
6:17-18 God rewards not every kind of fasting, but only that done from the right motives. True fasting has to do with a disciple's secret dealings with God. Others should not even be able to guess what is happening.⚜
19 📚“Do not store up for yourselves treasures 📖 on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 📚But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 📖 where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in or steal. 21 📚For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
6:21 The Lord Jesus does not want us to love this world and its treasures, but to set our hearts on heaven. Compare Col 3:1-2; 1 John 2:15-17. There are only two possible kinds of treasures – the perishing ones in this world or the eternal ones in heaven. For which should a sensible person labour?⚜
22 📚“The light of the body is the eye. Therefore if your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 📚But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. Therefore if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
6:22-23 This is true in both the physical and spiritual realm, but the Lord Jesus is speaking of spiritual matters. The subject is the same as before – treasures. To fix the eye on something is to desire it. Good spiritual eyes see things as they are and desire the glory of God, the things of the kingdom of light, and the eternal rewards He gives to those who serve Him. Bad spiritual eyes do not see things as they really are, and desire the things of time, the things related to sin, self, and darkness. They see no glory of Christ and no value in salvation (2 Cor 4:4).
The direction in which the eyes of our mind and heart look determines whether we will be filled with God's light or the darkness of sin. There are only two possible kinds of vision – that which is set on the things of this world, or that which is set on the things of heaven. Compare 2 Cor 4:18; Heb 11:26-27. God will hold us responsible for where we keep our eyes (Luke 11:35).⚜
24 📚“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 📖
6:24 The subject is the same as that in vs 19-23.⚜
25 📚“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or for your body, what you will put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 📚See the birds of the air. For they do not sow, they do not reap or gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27 📚Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his height?
28 📚“And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not work, they do not spin. 29 📚And yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not adorned like one of these.
6:29 Solomon was the richest of all Israel's kings and lived in the greatest luxury and magnificence (1 Kings 10:23; Eccl 2:7-9).⚜
30 📚Therefore, if God clothes the grass of the field like this, which today is here, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 📖 31 📚Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘What will we wear?’ 32 📚(For the Gentiles go after all these things.) For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
6:32 God wants His people to be different from all others, a unique, trusting, happy people, who go after heavenly spiritual things.⚜
33 📚But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
6:33 Disciples of Christ have chosen God as their master, not money, not the needs of the body, not anything of earth. They are to set their eyes on Him and His glory (vs 22-24). Their priorities are to be right. Their chief concern should be for God's kingdom and God's righteousness. They should care more about that than about their own needs.
To seek for God's kingdom cannot mean that disciples should try to enter it, for they are already in it. It means to seek the good of God's kingdom, its glory, its power and the rule of God more and more in themselves and in other people. Compare Rom 2:7. What is it to seek for God's righteousness? It does not mean to seek justification, because believers are already justified (Rom 5:1). It means to make His righteousness one of our chief concerns, to seek to be righteous in our personal lives as God is righteous, to have the right style of living that only He can produce in us (note at 5:6), to see His righteousness fulfilled in others and in our relationships with others. Those who put God first in all things will find that God takes care of them and gives them all they need (Phil 4:19).⚜
34 📚Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Its own trouble is enough for the day.
6:25-34 These verses too are related to the subject begun in v 19. One reason unbelievers store up treasures on earth is because they want security, and they have no trust in God. Disciples of Jesus are not to be so. Theirs should be a life free of worry (Phil 4:6-7). Of course they should plan, and work, and do what they can to provide for their families (Gen 3:19; 2 Thess 3:10; 1 Tim 5:8). But their trust in God should be such that they are not anxious even about the basic necessities of life – food, water and clothing. If they worry it is because their faith is small (v 30). Believers are not to act like unbelievers, as though they had no heavenly Father to look after them (v 32). If disciples do their part, God will surely do His (v 33).⚜
6:34 Compare Phil 4:6; 1 Pet 5:7; Ps 23:1. There are four good reasons seen here in Matt 6:25-34 why believers should not worry.
First, the Lord Jesus three times forbids it (vs 25,31,34).
Second, worry is completely useless (v 27).
Third, worry makes believers act like unbelievers (v 32).
Fourth, believers have a heavenly Father to look after them and give them all they need (vs 30,33).
A fifth reason is implied – worry dishonors God. It is as if a person is saying “my heavenly Father is unable or unwilling to look after me”. God does not deny that needs will occur or that troubles and difficulties will come. He only tells us to live one day at a time and have confidence in Him. See also John 14:1; Phil 4:6-7.⚜