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Text: Matthew6:1-16(NIV)

¹"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, 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 men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
                ⁵"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ⁹"This, then, is how you should pray:
   " 'Our Father in heaven,
   hallowed be your name,
¹⁰your kingdom come,
   your will be done
      on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us today our daily bread.
¹²Forgive us our debts,
      as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³And lead us not into temptation,
   but deliver us from the evil one. ¹⁴For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
                ¹⁶"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Discussion Questions

-In verses 1-4, do you think Jesus is telling us to never do anything good for anyone in public? If not, what do you think he is really getting at?

-What do you think the reward is that the hypocrites received? What do you think the reward is that God promises?

-Read verse 6. Do you think it is important to have a “secret place” to be with God? How can (or do) you make this happen in your life?

-Do you sometimes find it hard to fit a prayer time in because of everything else you have to do? If so, how can Jesus’ promise in verse 6 help with that?

-Verse 7 has to do with the times that we are praying with other people in public. Some people like to do that to “show off” how good they pray, and others are hesitant because they’re afraid that other people might think they don’t pray “good enough.” How would Jesus address both of those?

-In verses 9-13 Jesus acknowledges that having a format for prayer is helpful. Do you agree? If so, is there a format you use that you find works well?

-Verses 14 and 15 are intimately connected with Jesus’ sample prayer. Why do you think he considers his instruction in these verses to be a necessary condition for effective prayer?

- Re-read verses 16-18. How can we bring the discipline of fasting into our experience in ways that would honor Jesus’ intentions in this passage?

Each study on the Sermon on the Mount is based on the fact that God has translated us into the Kingdom of God, with all of the benefits and expectations being things that should currently characterize our “life in the Kingdom.” Each lesson illustrates an important Kingdom principle that, when taken together, will help achieve a “Kingdom worldview,” in order to live healthy and significant lives while we await the complete fulfillment which will attend the second coming of Christ.
Review of Kingdom principles so far:
5-12 (Beatitudes): The eternal perspective on our lives which comes from living in the Kingdom should be able to transform our attitude toward life because we have constant access to what is really important. 13-16 (Salt and Light): Good works are not the means to God’s salvation, but are still critical in order to accomplish Kingdom ministry and mission in this world.
17-20 (fulfilling the law): We cannot keep the law of God by trying hard—we keep it by becoming the kind of people who naturally live in accordance with what God desires for us.
21-32 (sex and violence): Healthy relationships with others come from dealing with the underlying heart issues of selfishness and pride rather than just managing our outward behaviors.
33-47 (integrity and crazy love):The confidence we have as children of God and citizens of the Kingdom give us a different value system which allows us to be in control of situations where other people are trying to control us.
The kingdom principle in this passage is that people who live in the kingdom of God are motivated to pursue spiritual disciplines; not out of a sense of ritual or duty or in order to impress other people, but to deepen their relationship with the Father.

-In verses 1-4, do you think Jesus is telling us to never do anything good for anyone in public? If not, what do you think he is really getting at?
This is another good opportunity to remind people that in the sermon on the mount, Jesus is not giving a new set of “laws,” but offering examples of how people behave who are living their lives within the new context of the kingdom of God. Jesus himself did plenty of public good deeds. The point, as always, is the motivation of the heart. Are you doing good deeds to get the good press? Or are these things that you do naturally, because you are a child of the King? Ironically, Jesus does not criticize being motivated by how these behaviors might benefit you, as long as the rewards you seek are from God rather than status in the eyes of the world.

-What do you think the reward is that the hypocrites received? What do you think the reward is that God promises?
Jesus says that the Pharisees have “received their reward in full.” In other words, they have gotten exactly what they wanted: other people saw them doing their good deeds. Other people might see us doing that as well, but since that was the motivation for the Pharisee’s deeds, that will be all they receive. Apparently Jesus doesn’t think it amounts to much compared to what God is offering. Just what that is, however, he doesn’t say. But since the Pharisees were seeking the approval of men, then it stands to reason that what God is offering is his approval. That does amount to something: the creator of the universe who holds our eternal destiny in his hands approves of us. Not bad. Every human being has a need for approval. Doing what we do for God’s approval rather than men’s is part of what will cause us to act like citizens of the kingdom.

-Read verse 6. Do you think it is important to have a “secret place” to be with God? How can (or do) you make this happen in your life?

Here again, Jesus is not saying that we have to pray this way, or that it is the only way to pray (the questions that come up with verse 7 will make that clear). However, he certainly agrees with a vast array of Christian leaders over the centuries that finding a quiet time and place of solitude to develop your relationship with God is a good thing. For one thing, just as with our good deeds, there is no way we can be tempted to be praying to show off how spiritual we are. It’s just about you and God. And Jesus affirms that God will always show up. Take this time to let the group brainstorm about ways that can happen.

-Do you sometimes find it hard to fit a prayer time in because of everything else you have to do? If so, how can Jesus’ promise in verse 6 help with that?

What may have come up in the previous question is how difficult it is to find those quiet times and places to get some hang time with God. In addition, many times we lack motivation to do so because it just doesn’t seem to us like “productive” time when there are so many other opportunities and obligations tugging at us. The thrust of this question is really this: if God promises to reward us for spending time in prayer, are those other things that we think are more important than prayer really that much better than what God might have to offer? Perhaps if we feel like spending some time in prayer won’t allow us to get our other work done, God might “reward” us by making little things throughout our day go smoother so that we actually do accomplish what we want (and more). Surely he is capable of making the lights turn green and our computers work right. If there is something we do for personal pleasure that we would rather be spending our time on, he may “reward” us by changing our value system. God desires a relationship with us. Try to be creative in thinking of ways to visualize how he might reward us for that to increase our motivation to really seek him in our quiet place.

Here Jesus assumes and affirms that public prayer is also a part of our experience as followers of God. But the heart issue he addresses is obvious. Flowery prayers for purposes of showing off how spiritual we are don’t impress God. What this question does is also turn the issue on its head, and this may be the more common problem with regards to corporate prayer. We may hesitate to join with others in corporate prayer because we’re afraid of what they might think of us. The heart issue is really the same: we’re more concerned with what people think that what God thinks. Without laying on any guilt trips for members still growing in this area, remind them that God doesn’t care how good you sound, and you aren’t praying for an audience. The Freedom to simply have an honest conversation with God, including when with other people, is an important and powerful expression of our spiritual growth.

-In verses 9-13 Jesus acknowledges that having a format for prayer is helpful. Do you agree? If so, is there a format you use that you find works well?

This is called the “Lord’s prayer”, but there are some who have noted that it should really be called the “disciple’s prayer.” It is important to underscore that Jesus tells his disciples this is how they should pray, not what they should pray. It was not his intent for us to memorize this and make a ritual out of it, but it gives a very useful framework within which we can make sure we “get the bases covered” in our daily prayer times. This is not the lesson to go through the details, but to affirm that Jesus is OK with having routines in our prayer life that help us stay focused. People may use this format, or they may have some other that they have found to be helpful. Try to draw out ways that the group can be an encouragement to each other with approaches to prayer that really work for them.

-Verses 14 and 15 are intimately connected with Jesus’ sample prayer. Why do you think he considers his instruction in these verses to be a necessary condition for effective prayer?

Rarely will people who memorize the Lord’s prayer include these verses. But the “therefore” at the beginning of verse 14 makes it clear that Jesus intended to keep this instruction connected to his suggestion on how to pray. For more context, review his previous comments in chapter 5, vv. 23,24. There Jesus insists on reconciliation with people before coming to worship God. Here he insists on the same thing before coming before God in prayer. Two essential spiritual disciplines won’t be very effective if our hearts are not in the kind of condition where they are willing to pursue right relationships to other people. The whole point of the sermon on the mount is reinforced once again: these instructions are examples of how people behave who understand that life in the kingdom is about loving God and loving other people. Pious expressions of our devotion to God without that other pillar of love for others just don’t impress God at all.

- Re-read verses 16-18. How can we bring the discipline of fasting into our experience in ways that would honor Jesus’ intentions in this passage?

This is, of course, a large issue and one which most modern Christians don’t often address. It is outside the scope of this lesson to really delve into it, but by way of some explanation, fasting is when we forego some material pleasure for a time (usually food, but not just that) in order to declare to God that he is more important to you. The Pharisees literally marked up their faces to make sure people knew they were doing it, since you can’t always tell from the outside. But the Pharisees were all about other people’s approval. For those who choose this particular discipline, the same lessons apply. We do it to pursue our relationship to God, not impress other people. Fasting from whatever it is we think we need to do instead of spending time in prayer would certainly fit with Jesus’ intentions. There are a list of things that many people could stand to fast from as a means of advancing their relationship to God: food, drink, media of various sorts. As always, it is about our heart’s motivations: people who live in the kingdom of God are motivated to pursue spiritual disciplines; not out of a sense of ritual or duty or in order to impress other people, but to deepen their relationship with the Father.