Matthew 6 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
6 ‘Be
careful not to practise your righteousness in front of others to be seen by
them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 ‘So
when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell
you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not
let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret.
Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Prayer
5 ‘And
when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in
the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell
you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room,
close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who
sees what is done in secret, will reward you.7 And when you pray, do not keep on
babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many
words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father
knows what you need before you ask him.
9 ‘This,
then, is how you should pray:
‘“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]”
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
but deliver us from the evil one.[b]”
14 For
if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father
will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their
sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Fasting
16 ‘When
you fast, do not look sombre 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. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head
and wash your face, 18 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.
Treasures
in heaven
19 ‘Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not
break in and steal.21 For where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also.
22 ‘The
eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,[c] your whole body will be full of
light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[d] your whole body will be full of
darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 ‘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.
Do
not worry
25 ‘Therefore
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about
your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more
than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do
not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds
them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a
single hour to your life[e]?
28 ‘And
why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do
not labour or spin.29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in
all his splendour was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of
the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he
not much more clothe you – you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, “What shall we
eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” 32 For the pagans run after all these
things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Encyclopedia
of The Bible
PRAYER (תְּפִלָּה, H9525, prayer; פָּלַל֮, H7137, to intervene,interpose, arbitrate, mediate, intercede, pray; προσευχή, G4666,prayer, place for
prayer, chapel; προσεύχομαι, G4667, to pray).
The doctrine of prayer is no
appendix added on after one has completed his doctrines of God and man. A view
of prayer is implicit in one’s view of God’s relation to the world and man’s
relation to God. Therefore a Biblical doctrine of prayer is most meaningfully
integrated with an entire theology that is Scriptural.
Having seen the relevance for prayer of
God’s grace disclosed in Christ, it remains to formulate a full-orbed
perspective of prayer as response to God’s written Word and in obedience to it,
prayer as request to the Lord of all.
A. Response.
Man’s prayerful response to the living God includes: faith (in his deed/word
revelation), worship, confession, adoration, praise, thanksgiving, and
dedicated action.
1. Faith.
All the above views, in spite of their differences, agree that in the Bible are
no true propositions about “the other side.” Prayer, if not mere human
reflection and action, is thought to be an ecstatic experience of the
ineffable, or a personal communion with a dumb God. In contrast, the Biblical
view affirms that God not only acted awesomely in history, but also spoke
truthfully through prophets and apostles. God inspired the inscripturation of
their words to inform us about Himself, His redemptive plans, and the place of
prayer in them. The Bible is not merely the testimony of prayerful men to God,
but God’s gracious disclosure of Himself to men. The most meaningful prayer
comes from a heart of trust in the God who has spoken.
The best spiritual reading, which takes
prime place over all others, is holy Scripture: because it is the very word of
God, no other reading can compare with it in its power to inspire prayer,
firstly because it operates directly within our souls, moving them interiorly
by the action of grace, and secondly because, since it is God Himself who
speaks in its pages, it unites us to him in a true dialogue, a dialogue in
which our souls respond in faith, hope, love, adoration, praise, thanksgiving and
petition to what God himself is telling us in the sacred text (136).
The Holy Spirit inspired the Bible to be received with faith
in it as the Word of a personal God to men as persons. Genuine encounter with
God does not exalt some interpretation of religious experience above God’s own
written Word. Prayer is response to the God who has acted in history and who
has spoken truth. Since the completion of the canon, the Bible has been the
primary bearer of divine revelation.
The Holy Spirit also illumines those who believingly read
the Scripture. Of course, there can be a mechanical use of the Bible that kills
the life of prayer. Andrew Murray said:
But there is also a reading of the Word, in the very
presence of the Father, and under the leading of the Spirit, in which the Word
comes to us in living power from God Himself; it is to us the very voice of the
Father, a real personal fellowship with Himself. It is the living voice of God
that enters the heart, that brings blessing and strength, and awakens the response
of a living faith that reaches the heart of God again (With
Christ in the School of Prayer, 173).
Because the Holy Spirit has chosen to work in conjunction
with the living and written Word, prayer is often associated with the Word in
the NT. The apostles devoted themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4). Doors would open to the ministry of
the Word as Christians prayed (Col
4:3; 2 Thess 3:1). Everything in God’s creation
received with thanksgiving can be consecrated “by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim 4:5). Those who would secularize
everything sacred might listen to E. M. Bounds’ comment, “Prayer joined to the
Word of God, hallows and makes sacred all God’s gifts....Prayer makes common
things holy and secular things sacred” (The
Necessity of Prayer, 127).
NIV
Application Commentary
The proper
priority (6:33). Jesus’ reasoning culminates in the famous directive, “But seek
first his kingdom and his righteousness.” This climactic admonition draws the
listeners back to the key verse of the sermon, where Jesus declared, “Unless
your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law,
you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (5:20). The use of the imperative “seek” does
not mean to look for something not present, for Jesus has already announced the
arrival of the kingdom. In this context it means that his disciples are to make
the kingdom of heaven the center of their continual, daily priorities. They
have already entered the kingdom of heaven and are to live with that reality,
drawing on God’s ordering of their daily lives. In doing so they will
“seek … his righteousness.”
The conjunction of righteousness
and the kingdom maintains a special theme in the SM (5:6, 10, 20; 6:1). It does not mean to pursue salvation,
because the disciples’ entrance to the kingdom secured them that kind of
“imputed” righteousness (5:20). It means that they are to pursue their
experiential growth of “imparted” righteousness, which is to pursue the
increasing perfection of the Father (5:48) through their practice of “acts of
righteousness” (6:1). The theological articulation of these
themes becomes a major focus of the early church, especially Paul. But their
foundation is laid in Jesus’ teaching here. When his disciples pursue God’s kingdom
and his righteousness in their daily priorities and activities, they will have
all of their needs met by their ever-caring, ever-watching heavenly Father—“and
all these things will be given to you as well.”
Eliminating worry (6:34). Having given the climactic imperative to guide every area of the
disciples’ lives, Jesus returns to the specific issue—worry about God’s daily
care for their needs. If God’s ordering of the disciples’ lives includes his
provision for all of their daily needs, “therefore” one certainly should not
worry about tomorrow. Learned reliance on God’s care for present needs will
cause his disciples to develop trust in him for their future needs. The two
expressions in this verse, “for tomorrow will worry about itself” and “each day
has enough trouble of its own,” reiterate the same basic truth. All the worry
in the world today can do nothing about the cares and problems of tomorrow. As
disciples learn to let God care for them today, including their “daily bread” (6:11), they will become increasingly secure in his
care for them tomorrow, regardless of whatever evil may come.
The
Bible Panorama
Matthew 6
V 1–18:
SECRECY Secrecy
in giving (verses 1 to 4), praying (verses 5 to 8), and fasting (verses 16 to
18) is taught by Jesus. It is in this context that the pattern of the Lord’s
Prayer (verses 9 to 15) is given. This contrasts with the hypocrisy of men,
which is encountered in this chapter.
V 19–23:
SIMPLICITY Our
attitude to wealth should be such that we are not seeking to live to gain
money. Our heart is where our treasure is, and that should be in spiritual
things. We also need simplicity to look honestly at the darkness inside us and
have it dealt with by the Light of the world.
V 24:
SINGULARITY The
Christian must be single-minded in serving God and not ‘mammon’. Mammon stands
for being dominated by money and materialistic considerations.
V 25–34:
SERENITY Nature
tells us that God cares even for birds and flowers. Those with a special
relationship with God should not worry, therefore, about provision of needs,
now or in the future, but seek to please God first by seeking as a priority His
kingdom and His righteousness. (This is not to encourage laziness but to
underline the need for faith and trust.)
Dictionary of Bible Themes
8605 prayer, and God’s will
Prayer
is concerned not only with the well-being of the one who prays. A vital aspect
of its purpose is to allow the will of God to be done, and to bring glory and
honour to his name.
True motives for prayer
The desire that God’s name be honoured Mt 6:9-13 pp Lk 11:2-4 See also Nu 14:13-16; Jos 7:7-9; 2Sa 7:25-26; 1Ki 18:36-37; Ps 115:1; Jn 17:1
The desire that God’s will be fulfilled Mt 6:9-13 pp Lk 11:2-4See
also Mt 26:39 pp Mk 14:36 pp Lk 22:42; Mt 26:42; Heb 10:7Submission to God’s will characterised
Jesus Christ’s prayer life.
God answers prayer that accords with his will
Petitioners may enquire of God to
discover his will Ps 143:10 See also Ge 25:22-23; Jdg 1:1-2; 2Sa 2:1; 1Ch 14:14-15
God’s response to prayers allows believers to discern his will
2Co 12:7-9 See also Ex 33:18-20; 2Sa 12:15-18; Job 19:7-8; Ps 35:13-14
God does not respond to the prayers of the wicked
Be Blessed today
Blair Humphreys, Southport, Merseyside
