Written by: Kelly Martin - CPAS
Matthew 5 v 46-48
“If you love only the people who love you, you will get no reward. Even the
tax collectors do that. And if you are nice only to your friends, you are no
better than other people. Even those who don’t know God are nice to their friends.
So you must be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Notes
As the pantomime villains of scripture, it seems that even the tax collectors
could manage to show love for their nearest and dearest. Jesus raised the standards
considerably for his followers. These words about whom we choose to love come
in the middle of a lengthy piece of lifestyle teaching. Jesus was reinterpreting
what it meant to live life in obedience to God – and he tackled some really
gritty issues about our relationships with God and other people. If we were
among the original hearers, then we might by now have been overwhelmed by the
assault of such counter-cultural ideas.
Jesus’ statements make it clear that the standards of the world are just not good enough when it comes to the way in which God’s people should live. Here we are called to be significantly different because of the quality of our love. Non-believers manage to be nice to their friends. Big deal. We’ve got to do better.
It is demanding stuff – particularly when we finally stumble upon the instruction to be perfect, just as God is perfect. But, again, Jesus is talking about love. Perhaps the perfect element of God’s love that Jesus is highlighting here is that it is all-inclusive. God’s love isn’t selective. It doesn’t just extend to those who love him. The challenge to us is that our love must also extend beyond all natural inclinations and “warm” feelings. It is a love that reaches enemies, those we find difficult and annoying, and those to whom we are just indifferent. You know who they are!
Prayer
Lord, please remind me again of your amazing love for me. Help me to demonstrate
that love to those I meet today. Amen
Matthew 6 v 1-4
“Be careful! When you do good things, don’t do them in front of people
to be seen by them. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father
in heaven.
“When you give to the poor, don’t be like the hypocrites. They blow trumpets
in the synagogues and on the streets so that people will see them and honour
them. I tell you the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward.
So when you give to the poor, don’t let anyone know what you are doing. Your
giving should be done in secret. Your Father can see what is done in secret,
and he will reward you.”
Notes
Have you ever watched the Children in Need or Comic Relief telethons? Just when
you think you have seen the largest cheque in the history of banking, another
eager company fills the screen with something bigger and better. How generous.
When we look at Jesus’ teaching on giving, perhaps we expect to hear him tell his followers how important it is that they should do it. As usual though, Jesus brings a new twist to the topic.
When Jesus says: “When you give…”, you know that there is an underlying expectation that his followers will give to the poor. Giving, prayer and fasting were all important elements in the Jewish faith. Jesus doesn’t waste time telling his followers to give because this was already a part of life, no negotiation. Instead, Jesus focuses on the way in which his followers should give.
It seems that some people were making a show of their good deeds. The Pharisees were often in the firing line for prioritising outward appearance over inward attitude. Here Jesus singles out those who were drawing attention to themselves through the way they were giving to others. The charge of hypocrisy suggests that their only motivation for giving was to look good. They were concerned with what other people would think of them and they were seeking approval.
Jesus urges his followers not to be concerned with showy gestures and the reward of recognition. Giving should be a more private affair, not a competition between givers or a quest for popularity.
God’s reward is given to those who know how to give properly… Shhh!
Prayer point
Why not pray that God will give you a good attitude to giving and help you seek
his pleasure – not the approval of others?
Matthew 6 v 5-6
“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues
and on the street corners and pray so people will see them. I tell you the truth,
they already have their full reward. When you pray, you should go into your
room and close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father
can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.”
Notes
So, no public prayer then? Doesn’t that rather mess up our church services,
home groups and prayer meetings?
Jesus’ words in today’s reading don’t rule out praying with, or in front of, other people. Instead, Jesus is adding a new layer of significance to something that was already a way of life for believers.
Jesus is telling his followers several things about prayer. Firstly, they should pray. As with his words about giving (earlier in Matthew 6), Jesus assumes that there are certain things his followers will do; prayer is one of them.
Secondly, prayer shouldn’t be a performance. The hypocrites are accused of turning prayer into a drama! They chose to pray in a place where people couldn’t help but notice them. For them prayer was about image and pride. It lacked sincerity, was self-seeking and it missed the point.
Do you remember Gwyneth Paltrow receiving her Oscar for the movie Shakespeare in Love? Her long acceptance speech with copious tears and words of grateful thanks to everyone she had ever known sounded strangely hollow. She was ridiculed for making “that speech” almost worthy of an award in itself.
Prayer that is more about looking good in public or making a statement is not the sort of prayer that leads to a reward from God. Prayer should be a natural expression of our relationship with God, rather than something we need to manufacture. Prayer that truly involves drawing near to God has its own rewards.
Prayer point
Spend some time alone with Father God. Perhaps pray that he will help you in
all situations to act with honesty and integrity.
Matthew 6 v 7-8
“And when you pray, don’t be like those people who don’t know God. They continue
saying things that mean nothing, thinking that God will hear them because of
their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you
need before you ask him.”
Notes
Occasionally when I phone home my dad answers. His opening line (knowing his
daughter well) is usually: “What do you want?” Whenever I answer: “Nothing”,
that’s when we really start to talk.
It is obvious that good parents know and respond to the needs (and sometimes the wants) of their children. That doesn’t rule out all further communication. Despite their jokes to the contrary, I don’t just phone my parents when I need something!
Conversation with family and friends is the stuff of relationships. Our chatter may sometimes be trivial and sometimes important. There are times of giving information as well as listening. We ask for things, even though our needs may already be known.
Prayer can be similar. Those who don’t know God may reel off elaborate words with an air of desperation. It is like the anxious exchange of information between people on a blind date. Jesus’ words here contrast religious, superficial prayer with the intimacy of real relationship with Father God.
If someone were to write a book called “101 Nasty Questions to Ask a Christian”, you know there’d be an annoying entry asking why we need to pray if God already knows what we need. The smug answer is that prayer is more than just presenting God with wish lists. For those who know a loving heavenly Father, the conversation is more relaxed and less one-sided. The communication is as important as the outcome.
Prayer point
Thank God for the possibility of a true relationship with him. Don’t feel the
need to present him with requests but just enjoy the time together. Just chill
with Dad.
Matthew 6 v 9-13
“So when you pray, you should pray like this:
‘Our Father in heaven, may your name always be kept holy.
May your kingdom come and what you want be done, here on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us the food we need for each day.
Forgive us for our sins, just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.
And do not cause us to be tempted, but save us from the Evil One.’”
Notes
I recently watched a re-run of the television programme Jamie’s Kitchen in which
celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was training a band of unemployed young people in
his new restaurant. In one particular episode the trainees were learning about
baking bread. Jamie had obviously given them a basic bread recipe and was then
encouraging them to use different fillings and flavourings to vary the outcome.
I wonder if the Lord’s Prayer is like a good bread recipe?
Often when I’m saying the prayer in church I wonder what Jesus had in mind when he first gave these words to his followers. Was he handing them a specially crafted set of words to learn and use? Was he outlining a pattern for prayer, a sort of Microsoft template for customised prayer documents? Was he giving them an example of the general way prayer should happen?
Whatever our view, the Lord’s Prayer stands as something we can use to talk with God. Unlike the prayer of the hypocrites whom Jesus criticised, this prayer is short and to the point.
The opening words are on a level of intimacy with Father God. Then, in contrast, there’s the majestic statement about who God is in his holiness and rule. There follows a commitment to seeing God’s will done on earth, a request for our needs to be met, and a few demanding statements about forgiveness. You’ve got to be brave to pray this sort of stuff!
We may sometimes rattle this prayer off without thinking,
but Jesus wasn’t handing us an easy option for prayer. Taken seriously, this
prayer challenges our attitude about the world, our needs, our relationship
with God and with others. Are you ready for that?
Prayer point
Take some time reading through the words of the Lord’s Prayer and weigh up what
each line means for you today. Pray it if you think you’re ‘ard enough!
Matthew 6 v 14-15
“Yes, if you forgive others for their sins, your Father in heaven will also
forgive you for your sins. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father in heaven
will not forgive your sins.”
Notes
I once watched a documentary which showed a device that was used to catch a
monkey. Some food was placed inside a box, the idea being that the monkey would
put its paw inside to take the bait. However, in making a fist, the monkey would
be unable to remove its paw and would find itself trapped. It wasn’t trapped
by any cruel snare. In fact, in order to be free, the monkey would simply have
to release what it was holding onto.
Jesus seems to be saying the same thing about forgiveness. It is a “choice” thing. Does he imply that forgiveness is conditional? Is there a sneaky way around this challenge? There are some people that we just struggle to forgive…
Jesus doesn’t pull any punches here. He makes a clear connection between our forgiveness of others and God’s forgiveness of us. This is because if we are living with unforgiveness, then we ourselves are guilty of sin. If we want to come before God and repent, then we need to do something about all the sin in our lives – this includes being reconciled to those we should forgive.
It is tough to receive forgiveness from God when we have a bad attitude. For God to forgive us, we need to forgive others.
Prayer point
Are there people who you need to forgive? You know what you need to do.
Matthew 6 v 16-18
“When you give up eating, don’t put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They
make their faces look sad to show people they are giving up eating. I tell you
the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward. So when you give
up eating, comb your hair and wash your face. Then people will not know that
you are giving up eating, but your Father, whom you cannot see, will see you.
Your Father sees what is done in secret, and he will reward you.”
Notes
Oh no! It’s another “When you…” statement!
“When you give up eating” is not something I really want to hear. It’s obvious that Jesus thought that fasting should be a discipline in the lives of his followers.
When I was at college, I managed to fast a day a week for about a year. It was part of my discipline as a member of the Christian Union leadership. We thought it would be a good idea to set aside a time to pray and fast each week. We each took on a different day and it soon became a way of life for me. However, since leaving college, my commitment to fasting has been a bit slack. Even with the best intentions the cakes that often get handed around the office easily sway me.
Fasting is seen by some as an activity for the “really keen” and “slightly pious”. But the principle of being a little more focused by abstaining from something for a short period of time is really helpful.
Fasting is about our availability to God and our willingness to be obedient. Jesus encourages us to do it with a right attitude and with the same humility and quietness he requires from our prayer and our giving. Smile if your tummy is rumbling!
Prayer point
Consider setting aside some time to fast. It doesn’t necessarily have to be
a fast from food. Pray asking God to help you prioritise time with him and keep
him as your focus throughout the day.
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken
from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993
by Word Publishing Milton Keynes