Teaching about the lord's prayer and priorities (end of sermon)

Jesus teaches that true righteousness is done for the Father, not for human praise. His disciples must seek God's kingdom first, forgive others, and trust their heavenly Father for daily needs rather than serving money or being ruled by worry.

Jesus begins with a governing warning: do not practice acts of righteousness in order to be noticed by people. The problem is not that good works may sometimes be seen. Earlier, Jesus said that good works can be visible in a way that leads others to glorify the Father. Here the issue is motive. If the goal is human applause, then that applause is the only reward a person will receive. But if these acts are done before the Father, who sees what others do not see, he himself will reward them. This contrast between human reward and the Father's reward shapes the whole first section.

Jesus first applies this to giving. He assumes his disciples will give to those in need. Giving is not optional, but it must not become a way of gaining a reputation for holiness. The hypocrites are like actors on a stage. They want attention in public places so that others will praise them. Jesus says they have already received their reward. By contrast, his disciples are to give with such hiddenness that even self-congratulation is excluded. The image of not letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing is a deliberate overstatement that stresses secrecy of motive, not a literal rule that every gift must remain unknown in every circumstance. The point is that giving should be aimed at the Father's approval, not man's.

Jesus then applies the same principle to prayer. Again, prayer itself is assumed, not questioned. The warning is against praying in order to be seen. Public prayer is not condemned in itself; the hypocrisy lies in choosing visible places and postures for the sake of display. Instead, Jesus calls his disciples to pray in secret to their Father. The emphasis is on the audience of prayer. God is not impressed by religious performance, but he does see sincere prayer offered to him.

Jesus also warns against empty, repetitive babbling like the Gentiles. His point is not that repeated prayer is always wrong, since Scripture elsewhere shows faithful repetition in prayer. Rather, he forbids the pagan idea that many words can secure a hearing. Those outside covenant knowledge of the Father pray this way because they do not know him as children know a father. Disciples must not imitate them, because the Father already knows what they need before they ask. This does not make prayer unnecessary. It means prayer is not a way of informing God or manipulating him, but an expression of dependence, trust, and submission.

Jesus then gives a pattern for prayer. He says, in effect, "Pray in this way." This means the prayer may rightly be used as a prayer itself, but it is first given as a model that teaches the content and order of faithful prayer. The first petitions are God-centered: that the Father's name be honored, his kingdom come, and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This shows that prayer must begin with God's glory, reign, and purposes, not with self. Only then do the petitions turn to personal needs: daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance.

The request for daily bread concerns ordinary material provision. Jesus is speaking of real food and the necessities of life, not merely spiritual nourishment. The wording suggests day-by-day dependence on God, which fits the chapter's later call not to be anxious about tomorrow. The prayer for forgiveness speaks of sins as debts needing release. Those who ask God to forgive their debts must also forgive those who are debtors against them. Jesus makes this point explicit immediately afterward. If we forgive others, the Father will forgive us; if we refuse to forgive others, the Father will not forgive us. This warning must not be weakened. Jesus is not speaking of forgiveness as a mere feeling, but as a real releasing of others from the debt of their sin against us. A disciple cannot sincerely seek God's forgiveness while stubbornly refusing to extend forgiveness to others. The exact systematic formulation may be discussed, but the practical force of Jesus' warning is plain.

The final petition asks that the Father not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. This should not be taken to mean that God entices people to sin, because Scripture does not teach that. Rather, it is a plea for God's preserving grace in times of testing and for rescue from the power and schemes of the evil one. Jesus teaches his disciples to live in conscious dependence on the Father's protection.

Jesus next speaks about fasting. As with giving and prayer, he assumes that his disciples will fast. Once again, the issue is not the practice itself, but the motive behind it. Hypocrites make themselves look miserable so that others will notice their fasting. They want admiration for self-denial. Jesus says that public recognition is all the reward they will receive. His disciples are to fast without advertising it. They should care for their appearance normally so that the fast is known to the Father rather than displayed to men. The repeated lesson through giving, prayer, and fasting is clear: true devotion is measured not by religious theater, but by sincerity before the Father who sees in secret.

In verse 19 the chapter turns from outward acts of devotion to possessions and inward allegiance, but the theme remains the same: the heart must be rightly directed toward God. Jesus forbids storing up treasures on earth because earthly wealth is insecure. It can decay, be ruined, or be stolen. By contrast, treasure in heaven is secure before God. This does not mean a crude system of heavenly banking or a mechanical merit scheme. It means that what is done in relation to God and his kingdom has lasting value and rests under his recompense. Jesus gives the reason: where a person's treasure is, there his heart will be also. What we value most both reveals and directs our inner life.

The saying about the eye continues this same issue of inward orientation. The eye is called the lamp of the body because it represents the inner outlook that guides the whole person. If the eye is healthy, the whole body is full of light. If the eye is diseased, the whole body is full of darkness. In this context, the image points to moral perception shaped either by singleness of devotion and generosity or by greed and distorted desire. Its place between treasure and serving money shows that it exposes the kind of outlook that governs a person's use of wealth and loyalty to God. It is not about physical eyesight or mystical inner light. A person with a corrupted outlook toward wealth and God will have his whole life darkened by that corruption.

Jesus then states the matter plainly: no one can serve two masters. A servant cannot give full allegiance to both. In the same way, a person cannot serve both God and money. Money here is not treated as only a neutral tool, but as a rival master that seeks trust, love, and obedience. This saying is crucial for what follows. Anxiety about material needs is not presented merely as an emotional problem. It is bound up with the question of whom one serves and trusts.

Therefore Jesus tells his disciples not to worry about life, food, drink, or clothing. He is not denying that these are real needs. Nor is he forbidding honest work, wise stewardship, or responsible planning. His target is anxious preoccupation with material needs. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Jesus points to the birds: they do not farm as humans do, yet the heavenly Father feeds them. The argument moves from the lesser to the greater. If God cares for birds, how much more will he care for his people, who are of greater value? Worry cannot add even a small measure to life. It is powerless to secure the future it obsesses over.

Jesus makes the same argument from the flowers and the grass. The flowers do not labor to clothe themselves, yet God adorns them with beauty greater than Solomon's royal splendor. If God so clothes grass, which is temporary and soon burned, will he not much more clothe his own people? Anxiety therefore reveals little faith. It forgets the Father's knowledge and care.

Jesus says that the Gentiles run after these things. This is not an ethnic insult. In context, it refers to those who do not know God as Father. Their lives are marked by anxious pursuit because they lack covenant knowledge of his care. But disciples are different: their heavenly Father knows that they need food, drink, and clothing. God's prior knowledge does not cancel human action; it rightly orders it. Jesus does not say, "Seek nothing." He says, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness." The disciple's chief pursuit must be God's reign and the kind of righteous living that belongs to it. When that priority is in place, "all these things"—the necessities of earthly life—will be given as well. This is a promise of the Father's provision for genuine needs, not a formula for luxury or prosperity.

Jesus closes by saying not to worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will have its own troubles, and today has enough trouble already. This is not a call to carelessness, but to daily trust and daily obedience. The whole chapter holds together in this way: hidden devotion, forgiving prayer, heavenly treasure, undivided allegiance, and freedom from anxiety all flow from living before the Father who sees, knows, cares, and rewards.