I’ve heard these verses my whole life, but for some reason they have not impacted me in the way they should. If I understand these verses literally, without trying to draw my own conclusions and conditions, these verses are declaring that persistence in prayer results in answers from God. Let me get a little technical. The words ask, seek, and knock are in the present imperative (Greek language), which means a continuous or repeated action. Literally these verses say “keep on asking, seeking, and knocking.” Jesus is referring to a constant attitude of prayer about a certain matter (vv.7-8). He promises that the result of continuous asking will be receiving. The result of continual seeking will be finding. The result of repeated knocking will be that the door will be opened. Wow! It seems like Jesus is saying that the main key to getting God to respond is persistence (never quitting). Then Jesus explains why God responds to continuous prayer – He loves to give good things to those who ask (v.11). Verses 9-10 reveal God’s character to us by asking two questions…if a son asks his father for bread will he give him a stone and if a son asks for a fish will he give him a snake? The assumed answer is NO! A good father would never give his son something opposite of what he asks. Then Jesus says something totally profound – If earthly (evil, sinful) fathers know how to give good gifts, then how much more will God (good, perfect) give to those who ask Him (v.11). I need to let that settle in my mind… Maybe the reason I don’t receive things is because I don’t ask in the first place or maybe because I give up too soon. What is it today that you desire from God more than anything…I mean what do you really want God to do? Start by asking, start by seeking, start by knocking. If God doesn’t respond today, maybe He’ll respond tomorrow. If He doesn’t respond tomorrow then I need to keep asking until He intervenes. God promises to give good gifts to those who ask, so I’m going to start today realizing that every good gift and perfect gift comes from above (James 1:17). God is the provider of all that is good, I just need to show that I really desire it and He’ll answer. It really comes down to this – do you believe God is making a promise to His children in Matthew 7:7-11? If you do, then you KNOW that He has promised to answer. Don’t give up and don’t lose heart! Meditate on these verses for a few minutes…

Dear God, today I am asking that You…. You’ve promised to answer and I’ll keep asking, seeking, and knocking until You follow through with what You’ve promised!

This is the kind of passage where Jesus wants His disciples to be real with themselves. All of us have a natural tendency to compare ourselves to others, especially those who struggle through their Christian life. We say things like “I would never do what they are doing” or inwardly we may think “I must be more spiritual than they are.” But Jesus is demanding honesty from His followers helping them to understand that no one has it all figured out and no one is above sin or weakness. With this in mind, Jesus says judge not. Jesus doesn’t want believers to compare themselves to others for the purpose of finding themselves better. Jesus is not condemning every type of judging, in fact, just a few verses later He challenges His followers to discern between true and false teaching (vv.15-20); however, He does condemn the kind of judgment that is arrogant and prideful. Verse 1 warns that whatever standard you hold someone else to will be the same standard by which you also will be judged. In other words, you think you are perfect while at the same time pointing out the weaknesses in others. Then Jesus poses a question, as only He can do. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye (vv.3-4)? The imagery is humorous – a guy with a 2×4 sticking out of his eye has the audacity to point out (or sit is judgment) of a speck in someone else’s eye. Jesus then calls a person who would do this a hypocrite, which means actor or one who plays a part that is not really himself. Instead of judging others, w should closely examine ourselves first. I’m sure that taking care of our own sin and weaknesses will not leave any time to sit in judgment of others. We need to learn that we are no better than anyone else. All of us have known or unknown things in our lives that need to be sorted out. Let’s quit thinking that we’re “all that” and other people need to catch up with where we are. Have a humble view of yourself and remember that if you do anything good, it is because of God, not you. Let us not fool ourselves into thinking that we are righteous. Take off your mask of spirituality for long enough to see who you really are.

I feel that I am very materialistic. For some reason, I have a hard time being satisfied with what I have. Don’t get me wrong – I feel blessed to have what I have and I realize that God has been good to my family, but sometimes these feelings of dissatisfaction creep back into my heart. It is something that I have to guard against the rest of my life. It seems like people in Jesus’ day struggled with the same thing…knowing the difference between needs and wants. He begins His teaching on wealth with a bold statement – Don’t lay up for yourselves treasures on earth (v.19)! Now He didn’t condemn money, but using it in the wrong way. When a person acquires money so he can have more stuff, he has failed to realize that money/possessions are temporary and can be stolen or broken. Then Jesus makes another huge statement – whatever you treasure reveals what your heart loves (v.21). Jesus has been talking a lot about the heart and goes to the extreme of saying that where most of your money goes is a good indicator of what your heart loves. On the other hand, Jesus says to lay up treasures in heaven. What does this mean? It simply means to use your resources (money, home, car, possessions, etc.) in order to bring attention to God (bring Him glory). He is not talking about some prideful waving of money and possessions so that others will think that God has blessed you, but rather a loose grip on what you have to be used for God’s glory. Use your car to bring someone to church. Use your home to entertain and encourage others. Use your money to give to missionaries across the globe who are spreading the Gospel. Jesus warned His followers not to be like the religious crowd who coveted money and possessions (vv.22-24). Their covetousness was a result of their corrupt and selfish heart. Jesus goes on to encourage His disciples to not worry about the basic needs of life because He will provide those things (vv.25-32). Matthew 6 closes with two verses that really sum up His teaching on wealth – be concerned first about bringing the attention of others to God and He will provide everything you need. What an amazing promise. Most of us have everything we need so let’s start focusing on how we can use what God has given us to bring Him more glory.

After studying Matthew 5-6 this past week I am more convinced that Jesus is consumed with capturing our heart. So what does it really mean when Jesus wants our heart? I’ve been thinking about that this week and I arrived at some conclusions, but am far from having it all figured out. In the passage I’ve been studying this past week, Jesus is speaking primarily to His followers and wants them to know they should be distinct from the religious people that surround them. Now, I’m a high school pastor and I spend much of my time warning my students about the dangers of the world, but I spend little time warning them of the dangers that lie within the four walls of our church. Why did Jesus focus so much of His sermon on combating the twisted ideas of the so-called religious people? The answer is simple, yet complex…religious people develop their own “flavor” of Christianity and seek to spread that their version is the right one. The scribes and Pharisees were schooled in the teachings and interpretation of the Old Testament, but they had also created their own set of rules to go alongside it. Anyone who didn’t follow all the rules must not be spiritual. The problem gets bigger because people who are following these man made rules find security in measuring up to the standards these religious people had established and in turn feel good about where they are in their relationship with God. The formula looks like this…outward obedience=God is happy. Inner attitudes and actions don’t matter because I am following the rules. Outward obedience never leads to true change. Outward obedience to God must be driven from a heart that loves Him. Let’s turn our attention back to the ten commandments found in Exodus 20. Some would say that they are a list of rules which lead to spirituality; however, I disagree. Simply obeying rules doesn’t mean my heart is right. There are rules everywhere that I follow but don’t like. I outwardly obey them, but inside I am angry I have to follow them. When I only outwardly obey the creator of those rules, it does not bring me closer to him but actually drives me away. This is exactly what Jesus was warning against. He didn’t want people to follow rules because it made them feel good about themselves (or made them look good in front of others) but because they actually loved the Creator of the rules knowing that He created them for protection and ultimately out of love. Jesus only desires inward obedience. Am I saying that outward obedience is not important? Absolutely not! When our heart desires to obey our actions will follow; on the other hand, when we obey from a bitter heart we will abandon our faith. How can we make sure our heart is right? It has nothing to do with me, but everything to do with God. Every day I must humble myself before Him asking Him to control my heart…it’s passions, desires, and affections. I will never obey God on my own so I need His strength (Philippians 4:13).

Okay…I have to admit that I haven’t done what we are about to talk about very many times. There have been a few occasions where I’ve fasted, so I’m not sharing out of a heart of experience but from biblical truth. May this challenge me to be more regular in fasting. First and foremost we must stray away from the current text to define fasting because Jesus does not describe it for us here, but only assumes we will do it. So, what is fasting? Fasting has always been associated with giving up food for a certain period of time in order to devote oneself to focused attention on a particular matter. Psalm 35:13 presents a scenario of fasting when David appears to be in a desperate dilemma with an opposing power who had betrayed a covenant. In Psalm 35:1-10 David lays out his situation and the sorrow of his soul as a result of his trial. David begins to talk to God about the situation and reveals a time when his accusers were in trouble and he responded with fasting and prayer and now they were turning their backs on him. Setting aside David’s circumstances, he described the essence of fasting – when a heart is desperate for God to respond, he will give up things that sustain him in order to get God’s attention. There are times throughout the Bible when people fast: times of punishment for sin (Joel 2:12), times when friends are in trouble (Psalm 35:13), times of personal afflictions (2 Samuel 12:16), times of danger (Esther 4:16), times of temptation (Matthew 4:1-11), and a few other things. Back to our passage…Jesus says that when you fast because of a desperate situation, do it privately and not so others will think you are spiritual. In fact, Jesus says to carry on with life as normal when you are fasting so as not to bring any attention to yourself (vv.17-18). Jesus doesn’t want us to do things for show or so that others think we have this special connection with God. He wants us to be humble realizing that Christianity is not some public spectacle to see who can do the most good stuff, but rather about a humble heart that is desperate for God to respond. I’m not sure if Jesus’ point was to communicate (in this passage) the ins and outs of fasting, but to keep driving home that the heart is more important than an outward show! How do you view the Christian life? Are all your actions carefully calculated to make sure others see your “spirituality”? If so, you’ve got it all wrong! It’s not about dressing right, listening to the right kind of music, being seen at every church event, talking the spiritual talk, and all the other games we play with God. You see, God knows our heart and although we can fool others into thinking we are something, God knows who we really are…every part of us! So, quit trying to fool others. Get honest before God and surrender your heart to Him – that’s what He wants! He doesn’t care about all of our feeble attempts to make ourselves look good before others, He only cares about the condition of our heart.

Prayer is a difficult subject to address because most Christians believe it is very fundamental to the Christian life, but most people (including myself) don’t practice it like they should. Jesus thought prayer was pretty important and so did the religious people of His day; however, their approach was very distinct. The scribes and Pharisees (Jesus called them hypocrites) prayed only to be seen by others…it was a way to make people think that you were really close to God (v.5). They also prayed using a lot of words thinking that they would be heard because of long, drawn out prayers (v.7). Jesus viewed prayer much differently. First, He says to pray in private (v.6). Praying in private has much more to do than just being alone, it is an attitude which evidences dependence on God for all a person’s needs. In verse 7, Jesus criticizes the hypocrites for their thoughtless prayers, so another element of prayer is that it comes from the heart. Again, throughout Matthew 5 Jesus has been more concerned about a person’s heart than about outward actions. Then Jesus demonstrates a sample prayer, not so it can be repeated word for word but so we can gather some important guidelines when we pray. Verse 9 models praise to God for who He is. Verse 10 challenges us to pray for God’s will to be fulfilled. Verse 11 challenges us to pray for God’s provision for the day at hand. Verse 12 commands us to seek forgiveness from God for our wrongdoings. Verse 13a tells us to pray for protection against giving into temptation. Verse 13b desires that we acknowledge that all power comes from God and all glory goes to God. Verses 14-15 is a reminder that God wants us to approach Him in prayer with a clean heart. He encourages us to search our heart and see if there is anyone whom we have not forgiven – if there is, we must first take care of that situation before God will forgive us. We must remember that Jesus is not giving us a formula to pray, but some instructions on what it means to pray. In context with the rest of His teachings in this passage, Jesus wants us to pray from our heart. It is so easy to fall into the habit of praying because it is what we are supposed to do instead of praying because it is what our heart desires. God does not want thoughtless, mindless words but He genuinely seeks those whose heart is seeking after His heart. When our heart is privately submitted to God in prayer, He will reward us openly (v.6). This means that God will bring into reality what our heart desires. Make a commitment today to spend time praying to God each day…not just a set aside time, but a constant awareness of God’s presence with you. When something good happens, recognize it is from God. When something bad happens, realize you need the Lord’s strength. When you need to make a choice, seek wisdom from God (James 1:5). When someone else needs God’s help, pray that He will intervene.

Dear God, teach me to pray.

After challenging His disciples about loving their enemies, He questions a person’s motivation for doing good things. Ephesians 2:10 reminds Christians that they have been given a relationship with God so they might do good works. Although works do not earn the right for salvation, they are proof that a person is trusting in the substitutionary death of Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ always leads to good works. God expects us to show kindness toward others; however, the religious people of Jesus’ day were only interested in doing charitable deeds so others could see them. The scribes and Pharisees were not motivated to do good because of their love for God, but so their peers would think they were spiritual. Jesus gives a very strong commandment to His disciples telling them to abstain from doing charitable things only for the recognition of others (v.1). The illustration used here is that of a person placing money into the offering (alms). The so called religious people were making a spectacle out of giving money to God and made sure that everyone was watching as they gave. Although the illustration is specific, the application is broad. How many times do you do good just to be recognized? Do you sing so others will think you are an amazing Christian? Are you involved in ministry only to be disappointed when nobody recognizes your effort? Do you give money to your church and discuss with others what you’ve given? Jesus despises those whose motivation is to be seen. The followers of Christ are expected to be different…when they do something good, careful measures should be taken to assure it is in secret. If a disciple is only motivated to please God, Jesus promises a reward (v.4) because God is the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17). Commit today to good works for the sole purpose of bringing recognition to God, not yourself.

After Jesus has just told His followers to never seek personal retaliation on others, He takes it a little further. You see, Jesus did not bring anything different than what was taught in the Old Testament, He just clarified the standard. He was interested in making sure people understood that it isn’t just important to look good on the outside, but also to be certain that a person’s heart matched their actions. It is so easy for someone to fool everyone into thinking that they are righteous by their outward actions, but in reality their heart is far from God – the outward is just a show, an act! Jesus wants our hearts more than anything and in these verses He raises the standard of love. Apparently the religious crowd of that day had no problem loving their own friends. Leviticus 19:18 proclaimed that a person should love their neighbor as themselves. Jesus also repeated this as the second great commandment (Matthew 22:39), but the scribes and Pharisees had added their own take on this commandment. In verse 43 Jesus addresses what they had heard from the religious people – love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Jesus begins to unfold the real meaning of loving your neighbor. Loving others is not only about embracing your friends and family, but also those who you would typically push away because of something they’ve said or done to you. Jesus says it like this…”love your enemies.” He defines how we can love our enemies: encourage those who cut you down, do good to those who dislike you, and pray for people who take advantage and mock you. That is a high standard! It comes so natural for me to love those closest to me, but only with God’s help can I love those who treat me like dirt. God knows that we need Him to enable us to love even our enemies and we must surrender to Him. Jesus was careful to point out that even the worst people of society love their friends, but only His followers would demonstrate love to those who hated them (vv.46-47). After all, God demonstrated His love to us even when we were undeserving of His forgiveness (Romans 5:8) and He will not accept any less from us. How about the person in your family who has become your enemy? How about the friend at school who stabbed you in the back? How about the fellow employee at work who let you down? How about the person who has differing political views? How about the murderer and the child molester? How about the person who hates you more than anyone else? Jesus says to love your enemy…not just by saying it, but also by blessing them, doing good to them, and praying for them.