May 21, 2024
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Matthew? Here’s today’s reading:
Matthew 6 (NIV)
Giving to the Needy
1 “Be careful not to practice 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 honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.……Continue Reading
Humility! So important to catch ourselves in the many sneaky paths of pride and selfishness. We do because He has given us the ability to do, we give back only what He has first given, and we should never forget that we were created for His glory not our own. So easy to want to take credit for things and it feels good to be noticed and recognized by people but we must remember that it is all for Him. Even when we worry and doubt and feel anxiety; it really has become all about ourselves and taken our eyes and our trust off of Him. We should be living for a greater purpose than this life and it’s temporary pleasures and Jesus’ words in this chapter are a true reminder of that!
Matthew 6
If you practice righteousness in front of others you will have no reward from God in heaven. When you give to the needy there should be no one else knowing of this. It should be done in secret. Jesus warns against public praying.
The same with fasting. No one but God should know you are doing this. I like the eye is your lamp of the body. If your eyes are good your whole body will be full of light. If your eyes are bad your whole body will be full of darkness. If your light is darkness how great is that darkness. You cannot serve 2 masters.
Who by worrying can add even one single hour to his life. Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself! Lots of waisted time worry about tomorrow.
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20 “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.“
Matthew 6:31-34 NKJV
Matthew 1-6
Matthew 6
Matthew 6:15
Jesus makes it very clear that we must forgive others, and if we do not, Jesus said God will not forgive our sins. Wait, what? Really?
Salvation by works? The Bible says,
“If a man say ‘I love God,’ but hateth his brother, he is a liar; for that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
“Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
“Go and sin no more.”
Is Jesus telling us to do something, be something, that is entirely impossible for anyone to do? Can we do, be this?
Peace as you ponder, -reb
Because the forgiveness we receive from the Father is based on faith alone, I believe what Jesus is saying is that if we don’t forgive others then we won’t recognize the forgiveness God gives us…because if our forgiveness of others is conditional, then we will think God’s forgiveness of us is conditional too. (He also could be talking about God not forgiving us in a time on earth sense, but it can’t be in a go to hell sense). More generally, for those who believe in Jesus, our relationship with God is secure. But our fellowship with Him is conditioned on our obedience to Him. Much like our children, they are our children because they have been born to us, but how much harmony and camaraderie we have is based in how much we agree and follow in the same way. In addition, as God’s children, He indwells us and so there is also an expectation in Scripture that we would live in the way that we have been made and it is a privilege to do so. To me that is how we manage the messages that come from Scripture about the free and unconditional nature of salvation by faith and forgiveness of sin on one hand, and the stringent, tough messages that come with the expectation of obedience. And if we have a completely flippant regard for sin and think nothing of it because I prayed a prayer or walked down an aisle, there is a place to consider if we truly believed because there is no indication of the Spirit in your life. As Paul says in Romans 8, if you don’t have the Spirit, then you don’t have the Son.
And as Jesus points to perfection and go and sin no more, He is pointing to the desired end that God would have for us, but also pointing to what we ultimately can only receive from Him.
I hope this helps and addresses what you are encouraging us to ponder about it. If anyone has further questions or comments, feel free to address them here or speak to me personally.
When we believe in Christ Jesus, acknowledge that we are sinners and can only be saved by Jesus’ death on the cross, we have to acknowledge that we are not our own anymore. We have sacrificed ourselves to Christ and the life we now live we live by faith in the Son of God. If we live by faith in the Son of God we are to be obedient to His commands and to serve one God. If we are to serve God and ourselves we would then be committing idolatry since we are not serving God alone. If we do holy practices in hopes of being seen, we are not doing them for God’s glory but our own and will not receive any gift from God. The rewards that God promises to those who are faithful to the end are much, much greater than any reward that could be given by the world. Worrying about your appearance or about the food or drink that you consume will only bring unnecessary stress into your life. Instead trust in the Lord, trust that He will provide every necessity in your life and you will have the peace that passes understanding, you will be free and safe in the arms of Jesus.
“But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither mother nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44)
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31)
In whatever we do or say, Christ should always be prominent in our lives. How often we fail, but thank the Lord that He is always there for us. That He will help us if only we reach out to Him. Just like a loving Father, He will always be there for us. In this chapter, Jesus covers a lot of ground of things that we daily deal with in our lives. In each of the topics, He is encouraging us as believers to be humble and not give glory to ourselves; but instead give glory only to God to whom it belongs. There will be times when some of these things are done in public but it should never be done in a way to bring praise to oneself. Such things as giving, and prayer. But it is far better to pray in secret. It should all be Christ centered. And with possessions they all belong to God for He gives us our very life and we are bought with a price. Instead He desires us to only lay up treasures in Heaven. We can`t take stuff with us. He also tells us not to worry about tomorrow for we can`t control it. Only He knows what tomorrow will bring forth. He tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto us. Our responsibility is to seek Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Luke 10: 27 { And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thy self.} Deut. 6:5 {And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thine soul, and with all thy might.} May the Lord bless.
Good comments Kelly and John.
What is our motivation to do the things we do. Only 2 ways. To have Jesus shown. To have ourselves shown. Give us this day our daily bread. Is God sovereign in our lives. Then he will provide. Worry. Love the analogy of birds. They’re everywhere and our Father feeds all of them. Not even a sparrow falls from the sky. Outside of his providence. And you are worth so much more
32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Jesus focuses here on not seeking praise from men for the things we do, but concerning ourselves with the praise of God. The Jewish leaders focused on man’s attention and our world today does as well..even promoting the care for themselves that someone who cares for others deserves. It is not all bad to do so, but taken to an extreme it still focuses attention on self. We too have to be careful how much we need to be thanked or recognized for the good we do. In addition to that Jesus shares 3 very powerful teachings. One is this model of prayer whose power partially is found in that it is world renowned. I like what one author shares that each of these lines is like a hyperlink to other prayers that can and should be prayed in each category. Forgiving others is important enough to Jesus that it is the only thing mentioned twice/given further definition. The next 2 really have to do with money and earthly possession. We should be concerned about heavenly reward that result from our efforts rather than earthly reward. And likewise we should seek God’s kingdom first and His righteousness and all the things we would otherwise worry about, will be added to us as well. I love the fact that Jesus says that God knows that we need them. He just doesn’t want us to be preoccupied with pursing them. We are to pursue God and then let Him bless us in how He provides.
Matthew 6
Matthew 6