CHAPTER 6

(A.D. 31)

JESUS TEACHING ON GIVING

¹Take heed (a serious matter) that you do not your alms (Righteousness) before men, to be seen of them (what is the reason for our giving?): otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in Heaven.

²Therefore when you do your alms (in this case, giving, and portrays the necessity of giving), do not sound a trumpet before you (do not make a show), as the hypocrites do in the Synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men (be seen of men). Verily I say unto you, They have their reward (God will not reward such, whether on Earth or in Heaven).

³But when you do alms (Righteousness, and once again, proclaims the necessity of giving), let not your left hand know what your right hand does (not meant to be taken literally, but rather to point to the intent of the heart):

⁴That your alms may be in secret (simply means that from the heart it is done as unto the Lord, and not for the praise of men): and your Father (Heavenly Father) which sees in secret Himself shall reward you openly (both on Earth and when you get to Heaven).

JESUS TEACHING ON PRAYER

⁵And when you pray (the necessity of prayer), you shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men (they do it for show). Verily I say unto you, They have their reward (meaning that there will be no reward from God in any capacity).

⁶But you (sincere Believer), when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly (the word closet is not to be taken literally, but means that our praying must not be done for show; if we make Gods interests our own, we are assured that He will make our interest His Own).

⁷But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do(repeating certain phrases over and over, even hundreds of times): for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking (they will not be heard by God).

⁸Be not you therefore like unto them: for your Father (Heavenly Father) knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him (He is omniscient, meaning that He knows all things, past, present, and future).

THE MODEL PRAYER

⁹After this manner therefore pray you (is meant to be in total contrast to the heathen practice; as well, it is to be prayed in full confidence, that the Heavenly Father will hear and answer according to His Will): Our Father (our prayer should be directed toward our Heavenly Father, and not Christ or the Holy Spirit) Who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name (we reverence His Name).

¹⁰Your Kingdom come (this will definitely happen at the Second Coming), Your Will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven (the Will of God is all-important; it will be carried out on Earth, beginning with the Kingdom Age).

¹¹Give us this day our daily bread (we are to look to the Lord for sustenance, both natural and spiritual).

¹²And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (the word debts here refers to trespasses and sins; His forgiveness on our part is predicated on our forgiving others).

¹³And lead (because of self-confidence) us not into temptation (help us not to be led into testing the idea is, in my self-confidence, which stems from the flesh and not the Spirit, please do not allow me to be led into temptation, for I will surely fail!), but deliver us (the trap is more powerful than man can handle; only God can deliver; He does so through the Power of the Holy Spirit, according to our Faith in Christ and the Cross [Rom. 8:1-2, 11]) from evil (the Evil One, Satan himself): For Yours is the kingdom (this Earth belongs to the Lord and not Satan; he is an usurper), and the power (God has the Power to deliver, which He does, as stated, through the Cross), and the glory (the Glory belongs to God, and not Satan), forever (none of this will ever change). Amen (this Word expresses a solemn ratification; in the Mind of God, the defeat and destruction of Satan and, therefore, all evil in the world, is a foregone conclusion).

¹⁴For if you forgive men (it must be the God kind of forgiveness) their trespasses (large sins), your Heavenly Father will also forgive you (forgiveness rests totally on the Atoning Work of Christ; it is an act of sheer Grace):

¹⁵But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (if we want God to forgive us, we must at the same time forgive others; if not, His forgiveness for us is withheld; consequently, such a person is in jeopardy of losing their soul).

JESUS TEACHING ON FASTING

¹⁶Moreover when you fast (no set time), be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward (so much in the religious realm falls into this category; it is done for show whether it be fasting or giving, etc.; the Lord will never reward such).

¹⁷But you (referring to those who are truly Gods Children), when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face (the anointing and the washing were actually symbols of joy; this was the opposite of the sad countenance);

¹⁸That you appear not unto men to fast (there is to be no appearance of fasting), but unto your Father (Heavenly Father) which is in secret: and your Father, which sees in secret, shall reward (bless) you openly (the implication is God was not the Father of the Pharisees, and will not be the Father of any who follow in their train).

TREASURES IN HEAVEN

¹⁹Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth (everything on the Earth is temporal), where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal (if the eye be set upon treasures on Earth, the life and character of the Believer will be shrouded in moral darkness):

²⁰But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

²¹For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (a mans aim determines his character; if that aim be not simple and Heavenward but earthward and double, all the faculties and principles of his nature will become a mass of darkness; it is impossible to give a divided allegiance).

THE LIGHT

²²The light of the body is the eye (a figure of speech; He is, in effect, saying that the light of the soul is the spirit): if therefore your eye be single (the spirit of man should have but one purpose, and that is to Glorify God), your whole body shall be full of Light (if the spirit of man is single in its devotion to God [meaning not divided] then all the soul will be full of light).

²³But if your eye be evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness (if the spirit be evil, the entirety of the soul will be full of darkness). If therefore the light that is in you be darkness (the light is not acted upon, but rather perverted), how great is that darkness (the latter state is worse than if there had been no light at all)!

²⁴No man 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 mammon (this is flat out, stated as, an impossibility; it is total devotion to God, or ultimately it will be total devotion to the world; the word, mammon is derived from the Babylonian Mimma, which means anything at all).

AGAINST WORRY AND ANXIETY

²⁵Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on (dont worry about these things). Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? (Life is more than things, and the physical body is more than the clothes we wear.)

²⁶Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? (The fowls of the air are a smaller part of Gods great Creation. If the Lord has provided for them, most assuredly, He has provided for His Children.)

²⁷Which of you by taking thought (worrying and fretting) can add one cubit unto his stature? (Whatever is going to happen cannot be stopped by worry; and if it doesnt happen, there is nothing to worry about. For His Children, the Lord always fills in the bottom line.)

²⁸And why do you take thought (worry) for (about) raiment (clothes)? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin (the man grows the flax [toil] the woman weaves it [spins]; the statement is meant to proclaim the fact that the beauty of the lily has nothing to do with its effort, but is given completely by the Creator):

²⁹And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these (it is said that the lilies of Israel had brilliant coloring, and especially the purple and white Huleh Lily found in Nazareth).

³⁰Wherefore, if (since) God so clothed the grass of the field (is meant to portray Gods guarantee), which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven (portrays how inconsequential is this part of His Creation, and yet, how much care He expends on it), shall He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (We are told here the reason for our lack; it is little faith; because God is Faithful, He can be trusted fully to completely carry out His commitments to us in Christ [I Cor. 1:9; 10:13; II Cor. 1:18; I Thess. 5:24; II Thess. 3:3; etc.].)

³¹Therefore take no thought (dont worry), saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (The Greek Text actually means that even one anxious thought is forbidden. Such shows a distrust of the Lord.)

³²(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) (Gentiles had no part in Gods Covenant with Israel; consequently, they had no part in Gods Economy, and, basically, had to fend for themselves) for your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. (The phrase is meant to express the contrast between those who do not know the Lord and those who do. If we live for Him, ever seeking His Will, we have the guarantee of His Word, which He will provide for us. Is Gods Word good enough? I think it is!)

³³But seek you first the Kingdom of God, and His Righteousness (this gives the condition for Gods Blessings; His interests are to be first); and all these things shall be added unto you (this is the guarantee of Gods Provision).

³⁴Take therefore no thought for the morrow (dont worry about the future): for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself (this is meant to refer back to Verse 27). Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (This means that we should handle daily difficulties in Faith, and have Faith for the future that the present difficulties will not grow into larger ones. We have Gods assurance that they wont, that is, if we will sufficiently believe Him.)