True Practices of Religion

Well, over the last several weeks, I've been covering different aspects of the Book of Matthew. And as we have been continuing to study this amazing book, I hope that you are, in a sense, following along. We're not, and I'm not covering here in church, all the different chapters that you find in the Book of Matthew. It's the longest of the Gospels, or at least a number of chapters. And there are a number of different sections in the Book of Matthew that seem to compile different discourses or sermons that Jesus gave. Information that needs to be put not only with different parts of the Book, but with, obviously, other parts of the Bible, to be able to understand fully a topic that we may be studying. But I want to focus here today on the third major section to the Sermon on the Mount.

The Sermon on the Mount is perhaps a very common section of Scripture. It's one that sometimes is quoted or repeated. I would say a few of the verses in it probably are very familiar to many people. But when Jesus spoke this, Matthew 5 and 6 and 7, those three chapters, make up the bulk of what is.

You see a summary of this in the Book of Luke in chapter 6. But in this Sermon on the Mount, you see some amazing things. Amazing things about what every Christian ought to know, and not only that we should know, but how it ought to affect our heart and how it ought to affect our actions. And so, as I said, I'm going to cover a third section that basically covers the entirety of Matthew chapter 6. But in review, we've already reviewed how Jesus began this instruction in Matthew 5. He gave what I described to you as the attributes of a converted mind. Now, many people would read that and say, well, those are the attitudes. And yet, what he was really pointing out is those are the attitudes that will be reflected in the children of God. The attitudes of humility, of mourning, our sins, and the sins of others, of meekness, of hunger, and thirsting for righteousness, of being merciful, of being pure at heart, of being a peacemaker, expecting, expecting persecution. Because he says it will happen, it will come. And so he begins that first section by just explaining what the attributes of a converted mind would be. You find through the remainder of chapter 5 that Jesus magnifying the law. He said, I did not come to destroy the law, I did not come to annul the law, or to abolish the law, but to fulfill. He didn't mean that by saying, well, I did that so you don't have to. I actually am wanting to explain the true intent of the law and how it should apply to each and every individual who wants to become like me, who wants to become like our Heavenly Father. And so he went through several, several of the commands, killing and adultery. He talked about marriage, he talked about swearing, he talked about retaliation and revenge, he talked about even how to treat someone who's an adversary. And whenever you read those, you find out that he was revealing the sins of a carnal mind. The sins of anger, of hatred, of lust, of lack of commitment, of swearing, of revenge, of retaliation, of dealing with others without the love of God. That's what he revealed in chapter 5. It's an incredible chapter. It's amazing how much Christ can pack in there.

But I want us to focus here in Matthew chapter 5 to begin with on verse 20. And this is why Jesus was going through what he did in this amazing section here in Matthew chapter 5.

In verse 20, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, then you will never be in the kingdom of heaven. Never be a part of the kingdom of God unless your righteousness is greater than, in a sense, as he talked to the people there, the people you look up to and that you think are righteous, the religious leaders and rulers. And yet what he had explained and went ahead to explain was how they had misunderstood and misapplied much of the law. And so he tells us that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, then we can't be a part of the kingdom.

So Jesus continues in Matthew chapter 6. And what does he cover? What does he cover here in Matthew chapter 6? Well, he's going to cover things, practices that the Pharisees were doing that were not being done properly. They were actually being misapplied, misunderstood, and he was telling his followers, you're going to have to do better than what they were doing. Because he describes, as Eric was going over in the sermonette here this afternoon, he describes the aspect of giving. Giving to those who are in need, giving to the poor, and he describes even later giving to God. Giving to God in how that your life ultimately needs to be given to God is what he's going to say. But he talks about giving, he talks about prayer, he talks about fasting, and he ends up, the latter part of this chapter, with what type of priorities? What type of priorities does God require of us? So in order to gain a better perspective of what we're going to read here in Matthew 6, I'd like to try to clarify for you, or at least give you some insight into how it was that the Pharisees and the religious people, the norm at the time, how it was that they were viewed and what it was that they did. Actually, what we find again in this same chapter, chapter 6, is that Jesus was correcting. He was correcting many of the practices that were being done wrong. They were being done in an inappropriate way or an ineffective way. Now, is he going to say we shouldn't give? No, he's not going to say that. Is he going to say we shouldn't pray? No, he's not going to say that. Is he going to say we shouldn't fast? No, he doesn't say that. Certainly, does he want us to have mangled priorities? Well, no. He wants us to be very focused on what his teaching is. But let's take a look at Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18 to see what it is that we could know about the religious leaders at the time. The scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes. There were numerous different groups. Primarily, it seems that Jesus interacted with the scribes and the Pharisees. But here in Luke 18, starting in verse 9, he told a parable, to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and they regarded others with contempt. Now, you're going to find that this is describing the way that the Pharisees approached their practice of religion. You know, did they pray? Yes. Did they fast? Yes. Did they give? Yes. But did they do that properly? Well, Jesus says, I'm telling this parable about those who trust in themselves that they are righteous, so they are self-righteous. They are not truly righteous before God. They are self-proclaimed as righteous, and they have contempt for other people. Verse 10, two men went up to the temple to pray, one of them a Pharisee, and the other a publican, a tax collector. In verse 11, the Pharisee standing by himself. Now, I'm not sure exactly what that implies, whether he was off in a corner, or whether he was at the end of the roll. At least he was standing by himself.

But this is what he prayed. He said, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people. Thieves and rogues and adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

And so it's obvious that he's got a personal problem with a too high of opinion of himself. And clearly, you know, his prayer was probably hitting the roof and bouncing back.

God wasn't going to accept that kind of prayer, but of course, Jesus' parable just describes how it was that people were. Whether they perceive themselves that way, that was immaterial. That's the way they were, according to the Son of God.

And he says, I'm glad I'm not like other people. In verse 12, I fast, twice every week, I give a tenth of all that I possess. So I fast, I pray, I tithe, I give. And yet, of course, we're not going to read the rest of it. You can easily read that. You probably can see what the outcome's going to be. Christ is going to respect the publican who's not standing by himself, but pretty much just totally crushed, saying, Father, I just need you to be merciful to me. I just need you to forgive me. And Jesus would say, verse 14, I tell you, this man, this publican, went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee. And so here you see several of the problems that Jesus was addressing whenever he talks in Matthew 6. I want us to also look at Matthew 23, because this is another chapter where you see the sins of the Pharisees being highlighted. Actually, the whole chapter is a condemnation of the hypocrisy of the religious community. And he says in Matthew 23, verse 25, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, you clean the outside of the cup, you clean the outside of the plate, but inside what?

You're full of greed. You're full of greed. You don't do things out of a right motivation. You do it out of your own sense of self-satisfaction and out of greed. He says, inside you are full of greed and self-indulgence.

Now, I want to back up as well. I'm not going to read all of this as far as this whole chapter is a pretty scathing indictment of the Pharisees. I'm just pointing out the things that Jesus addresses in Matthew 6.

In verse 2, he says, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, therefore you should do what they teach, but don't do as they do because they don't practice what they preach. He said, even though they have the right information, they certainly don't have the right application. They don't do it, and even though they might tell you to do it, they don't do it, and they display attitudes that need to be overcome.

In verse 5, verse 5, they do all their deeds to be seen by other people, for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. See, here he's describing a practice, you know, the type of clothing that they would wear, and of course it's not wrong to wear clothing. It's not wrong to wear customary clothing, but see, they would make a big show out of phylacteries and fringes. Jesus said, you do that because you're trying to draw attention to yourself. You do that in order to be seen of men, not of God. See, that is obviously something that we can pretty easily see through here, but I bring this up simply because Jesus mentions this over and over again in Matthew chapter 6. So I bring this up about how the Pharisees were perceived in order to lay the groundwork for what we can cover today. So I ask us a question. Is it possible? Is it possible to be a perceived religious person?

And miss the mark entirely when it comes to having a real relationship with God. Jesus describes it pretty clearly that that's very possible. Is it possible to give to men in need and even give to God, still not be accepted? Is it possible for prayers prayed to God would not be effective or beneficial? Is it possible to use vain repetition in prayer so that God just simply wouldn't hear?

Can our priorities be mangled or even deceived? And again, miss the mark. See, those are questions to think about, not just, oh well, how terrible the Pharisees were. See, Jesus is going to apply this to us. See, we want to be religious people. We want to do what God says. But he says you've got to do it for a right reason. You've got to do it with the right motivation. And so what I want to cover today in Matthew 6 is what Jesus says are the true practices of religion. That would be the title, the true practices of religion. So back up to Matthew 6 again. Jesus continues his discussion. He says in verse 1, beware. Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them.

For if you do that, then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. He actually starts out and describes the issue and describes the answer even in the very first verse. But then he goes on to discuss in verse 2 the giving of alms. Now, whenever it's talking about the giving of alms, this was a process or a practice of giving and giving at the temple, often into different kettles, sometimes for different things, different resources would be used for different categories of care or service for others. But the giving of alms was commonly done. And yet, amazingly, Jesus says this is being done incorrectly. Giving to the poor. Verse 2, whenever you give alms, whenever you give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogue and in the streets so that they can be praised by others. But truly, I tell you, they have received whatever reward they're going to get from doing that. You know, however loud the trumpet was, and then whatever the acclaim was from the people around them, that was it. Didn't help them any more than that.

But he says, when I tell you, when you do give your alms, and here he's saying that giving to the poor is something that Christians should practice, when you give your alms, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be done in secret, and your father who is seized in secret will reward you. So here he's giving a directive on how to give, and how to give with a right motivation, and not be giving to be seen to be giving. But certainly he does point out the need to be giving to those in need, and Eric covered some of that in the sermon that here earlier today. You actually find a basis for the giving of alms in Deuteronomy 15. Deuteronomy 15 verse 7 says, if there's anyone in need, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. Be careful that you don't entertain a mean thought about those who would be in this category of need or poor. You know, that's what Deuteronomy 15 says. And so the giving of alms, it was a proper thing to do, but clearly it had to be done with the right attitude. It had to be done from the heart, not as a show, but simply something that is done, and God who sees that in secret will reward that person. Providing help to those in needs, what Jesus points out, is it should be just a private affair. Left hand and right hand, you know, it's just it should be a private thing. Something that you do, I may not have any idea what you do, you would know what I do, but if I tell you, oh yeah, I gave something well, I just blew my own horn. You know, I just blew my own reward, because again the motivation starts to seep out. And of course we want to try to have the right motivation. The second section, this first little section, is just regarding the giving. To those in need, the second one is prayer. And again, this is one that I think we'd be very familiar with. We see the wording of the model prayer that Jesus gave, because he was asked, you know, don't be like others, but pray in this way to the Father who knows what you need already. And then he describes our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, and goes through the entire list of what we often call a Lord's Prayer. But it's really an outline. And yet in verse 5, he says regarding prayer, whenever you pray, don't be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they can be seen by others. See, that prayer is repeated over and over again. You know, if you're doing something just to be seen by others or seen by people, well, then God is not really interested. We need to do things that are to be seen by God.

But in verse 6, whenever you pray, go into your room, shut your door, pray to the Father who's in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you're praying, he goes on about this. In verse 7, when you're praying, don't heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they'll be heard because of their many words. Don't be like them, or your Father already knows what you need. So here he mentions praying and doing that, not in order to be seen. See, what did we read about the Pharisee? Well, he went to the temple, he's standing by himself.

Maybe he's standing in the front, where everybody could see him. Maybe he's over on the side, doesn't say. But obviously he says, well, he was doing this with a wrong attitude, a wrong motive, looking down on others. He was praying, I thank you God that I'm not like everybody else. Clearly, you know, the motivation and thought behind that was wrong. So we see, you know, one thing mentioned, then you see vain repetition. The Bible knowledge commentary says about this, Pharisees had turned prayer into an act to be seen by men. Their prayers were directed not to God but to other men, and they consisted of long repetitive phrases. And so you have that done in many different forms of religion, and sometimes we see that. You know, you often see public prayers.

That don't appear to be entirely heartfelt, but written out and possibly in those settings that would be a good idea. But you would think you should be able to pray in what would appear to be a little more heartfelt manner, a little more appropriate manner in approaching God. So Jesus says, pray like this, our Father, which art in heaven, I will be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Those are the things we mentioned earlier. See, and if our prayers, in order to pray as Jesus did, see, he had lots of practice. He was constantly praying. You can see that clearly in the book of Luke. You know that to be the case because of the relationship he had with God. But you see in the book of Luke, repetitive times where it says Jesus went to pray, Jesus went to pray, Jesus went to pray, the disciples went to look for him because he was praying. That type of thing is recorded in Luke. It's recorded here in Matthew and Mark as well, but in Luke it's even more clearly detailed, but that's what he was doing. See, did he commune with the Father about what the plan is? Did he commune about the vision that he had? It said he prayed all night whenever he was selecting his disciples. Was he praying about, you know, who is it that I should select? Did he know anything about Peter? Anything about what he might expect from Peter or Andrew or James or John? Do you have any idea what any of these guys would be like? Well, sure, he did. He'd been around a good amount, and he asked his father for insight and understanding for what would be needed later on. But whenever, you know, we commune with God, whenever we pray, you know, we should focus more so than just simply give us our daily bread, which clearly is a request that we need to make. And of course it gives us the idea that it ought to be a daily or more often request that God would give us what we need, but that we also can be thankful to God. But whenever it says, hallowed be thy name, and praying for the kingdom to come, a kingdom that is not fully established yet, it is fully operational with the father and the son, and he's going to bring it back to the earth, and he has enlisted us to be citizens of that kingdom. He says our citizenship is not of this world, but it is of the nature of the kingdom, the nature of the kingdom that's coming. He says, I'm going to return and see, I, if I want to identify more with God the Father and with the kingdom that he is training me in, then possibly ought to discuss that with him. Discuss understanding that, comprehending how that, when the kingdom comes, see, the kingdom's going to come whenever Jesus comes back. Kingdom's going to be established here on this earth. It's going to envelop the globe. All nations are going to ultimately come to see we have to respond. But see, the king is going to return. The laws are going to be provided. A rulership will be there, and government, government from God, will be followed. We're able to embrace that today as we live a life of faith in the headship of Jesus Christ in the Church of God.

See, that's how we're embracing that today. But if I want to understand the kingdom better, then I want to discuss that with the Father. And certainly, whenever he says, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, you know, that's a pretty wide-ranging statement. Your will be done. You know, where does the will of God need to be done? Well, it needs to be done over the entirety of the earth, whatever God, however God is going to bring it to a conclusion in this age. We need to pray for that to occur. We need to pray for the proclaiming of the gospel. This is what Mr. Kubik was talking about. You know, if I pray for God's will in the work that we are doing to proclaim the kingdom of God, well, we need God's help to know how to do that, to know what to do, to know where to go. We need to be involved in doing our part, whatever part that is. All of us have a part, and we need one another to be able to do that. But ultimately, we're praying for the will of God to be done in our lives, in our actions, in our responsiveness to God.

Most of us, I mentioned earlier a number of us, have been sick. I've been sick on and off for several years, I guess I could say.

Most of us don't like to be sick. We don't want to feel bad. We don't want to be ill. We don't want to be coughing and hacking and have our heads stopped up. We don't like that. But sometimes we do go through that. Sometimes we do suffer from different ailments.

Do we really believe that as we yield ourselves to the will of God, that that might even involve some suffering? Well, it does, and we can prove that from the Bible, because He tells us even to counter it all joy. James 1 verse 2, I think, counter it all joy when you fall into different trials or temptations, because the trying of your faith develops patience, develops long suffering. See, long suffering on the list of the qualities of the fruits of the Spirit of God is not the one that I'm always praying for, long suffering. That's one that just kind of happens. That's one that we learn through experience and grow through experience, and many different things. It wouldn't only be applicable to illness, but whenever we pray for the will of God to be done, for it to really to be done in our lives, if we focused on praying about God's name and His Kingdom and His will more than what do I need, then I think we would find our prayers to be more effective.

Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us. You know, those are tremendous qualities that we have to be growing in.

Leah's not into temptation or into sore trial, but deliver us from the evil one. See, that's what Jesus taught His disciples to pray. That wasn't what the Pharisees seemed to focus on. They seemed to focus on flowery, long phrases, kind of vain repetition, and kind of endlessly exalting themselves and putting others down. That's what we read about in Luke 18. But see, you know, Jesus gives instruction where we should solicit God in His help in facing and overcoming the temptations or trials that we face, and to restrain the devil to deliver us from evil, because He is the God of this world. He is still ruling. And ultimately, as you know, the conclusion of that model prayer for yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, and the majesty, and the victory. You know, all the greatness that you can think of. That's what God's power is. So you see a section here where Jesus just points out that prayer needs to be productive. It doesn't need to be. It can be done wrongly, but it ought to be done out of a pure heart. It ought to be done in a heartfelt way. The next section, He says, verse 16, He deals with fasting. Now, again, we read about the Pharisee who said, I fast twice in a week. Well, that's far more than I fast, I can tell you. You know, I think about it every few months. I don't think about twice in a week that I ought to fast. But see, what He says in verse 16 is, whenever you fast, do not... So apparently this is the way they did it. Whenever you fast, do not look dismal like the hypocrites for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. And truly, I tell you, again, they have received their reward. Again, the fasting that the Pharisees was doing was not an effective fast. It wasn't one that was used to draw, to humble yourself or to draw close to God. Expositor's Bible commentary says, in Jesus' day, the Pharisees fasted twice a week, probably Monday and Thursday. We see record in the book of Acts of some devout people like Anna who fasted often. Anna stayed at the temple. It says she fasted lots of times. Prayed all the time. But such voluntary fasts provided marvelous opportunities for religious showmanship to gain a reputation for piety. Simply, these hypocrites were purposely drawing attention to themselves. Now that's the Pharisees, not Anna. And clearly fasting should be done, as he said in verse 17, when you fast, put oil on your head, wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen, not by others, but by your father who's in secret, and your father who's in secret will reward you. Again, Jesus is promoting giving to the poor. He is promoting prayer that is effective. He is promoting fasting because, you know, we can read in Isaiah 58. If you go back and read Isaiah 58, you can see that in Israel at that time fasting was being done. And God says, I'm not listening. I'm not even going to pay attention because your heart is not even in this. You are completely wrong. The first five verses or so talks about a fast that God would not accept. And then he describes an acceptable fast where they are truly repentant and where they are seeking the will of God and His guidance in their lives. He says, I can I can make something happen as I see that attitude being reflected. You also see here in Mark chapter 2. Mark chapter 2 is where the question of fasting is brought to Jesus about the fasting of the Pharisees and the fasting of John's disciples and the complaining about Jesus' disciples. How come they don't fast? Mark 2.

Verse 18, why do John's disciples, disciples of the Pharisees fast but your disciples don't? Jesus said, well the wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can't fast.

So He said, I'm the bridegroom. You know, how much closer to God are they going to be? They're following me around. They eat meals with me. They travel where I travel. They see how I interact with others. They see the miracles. Well, right now they don't need to fast. But He says in verse 20, the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then, you know, surely they will on that day fast. There'll come a time when fasting, drawing close to God through prayer and fasting, is beneficial. And so, you know, how do we view that today?

Well, we view that knowing that fasting is something that we do on the day of atonement, a day when we're to humble ourselves, afflict our soul. And yet, that's not the only time throughout the year when we should fast. But again, God leaves that up to us. The next section you see there in Matthew 6 is kind of jumping back to the topic of giving. The first one was addressing giving to the poor, giving to those in need. Verse 19 of Matthew 6, don't store up for yourselves.

Here he's going to be talking about material things. He's going to be talking about the physical abundance that they may or may not have. But he says, don't store up for yourselves treasure here on earth, where moth and rust corrupts or consume and where thieves break through and steal.

But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven where neither moth or rust corrupts and where thieves can't break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Verse 24, no one can serve two masters. Slavel either hate the one, love the other, be devoted to the one, despise the other, but you cannot serve God and serve physical things. Now, was he saying all physical things should be avoided? Well, I don't think he's saying that at all.

And certainly none of us would think that that would be what we should do. We shouldn't have any clothes, shouldn't have any food, shouldn't have a place. No, we should have those things, but those shouldn't be more important. Shouldn't be more important than a closeness to God and even giving to God. Jesus, in Matthew 23, 23, talks to the Pharisees saying, you tithe of mitt and anise and common. He says, you're meticulous about how you count out the seeds of these little grains. You do that meticulously obeying, but you miss the weightier matters of the law of judgment and mercy and faith.

He was telling them, you know, he says, you should have done these and should not have neglected the others. You know, you should not neglect tithing. Tithing is a principle from God that he says he can bless, but it is an act of faith. Regarding this, Expositor says, the love of wealth is a great evil. Calling forth frequent warnings talks about in... or is it John? I don't have it written down, so you know, the love of money is the root of all evil. It's not the fact that money is the root of all evil, but the love of money is the root of all evil.

His commentary says, for heirs of the kingdom to hoard riches in the last days is particularly short-sighted. That doesn't make a lot of sense. If we really believe Christ is going to return, if we really believe the catastrophic events that'll happen in the end of this age, that'd make a lot of sense just to have piled up bins full of money. Yet, man is to provide for his own labor, to be able to give, make provisions for the future, enjoy the good things that God has given us.

This verse does not prohibit making sensible provision for the future, but it does prohibit being covetous. Covetousness and greed is what Jesus was pointing out. He focuses on the attitude and motivation behind doing the things that people do to be practicing righteousness. So the question is, is it something that is done to be seen of man, or is it to be seen of God? That's what he wants us to realize. Are we using the giving, laying up treasure in heaven involves a number of possible different aspects, but certainly tithing is a part of that. And it may involve other activities of service to others.

So finally, he comes in the last section, verse 25, down to the end of the chapter, and he points out, in light of this, in light of the fact that you've got to be focusing on serving God and not yourself, he says, I want you to be mindful in verse 25, therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life.

Don't worry about your life. Don't worry about what you'll eat, what you'll drink, about your body, what you'll wear, is not life more than food, body more than raiment. Look at the birds of the air, neither sow nor reap nor gather in the barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

And can any of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your span of life? So he wanted them not to worry. He'd already told them that, now the Father knows. The Father knows what you need. He knows what every one of us need.

Verse 31, he says, therefore, don't worry saying what to eat or what to drink, what to wear. It's the Gentiles. Those who wouldn't know what the purpose or plan of God is, who strive for all of these things. See, if you're like them and not pursuing the spiritual dimensions in life, well, that's what he's saying you should do in verse 33. Strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these other things, these physical things, will be given to you as well. So don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Jesus had an amazing way of pointing out the specific things that the crowd in general needed to know. Pointing out things that in many ways corrected the Pharisees and their attitude and their practice and their promoting of themselves and their essence, in essence, putting down others and of His disciples who were actually going to be Christians eventually. See, they were only following Jesus right then. They would eventually be Christians after the day of Pentecost that year. The year Jesus died, the day of Pentecost occurred after that, and the Spirit of God came and people like Peter who had turned his back and ran from Jesus and others, all of them had forsaken Him. You know, they wanted to be responsive, but they just couldn't. And yet, you know, at that time they had come to see that, well, the commitment of their life was to be the King and to the Kingdom that Jesus Christ represents. And so, here we see Jesus stating, again, a verse that probably we could quote, Matthew 6.33, seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. That is a high priority. What are our priorities? What He was telling all the different groups of people that He spoke to and to us. What is the highest priority in my life? Is it more important than the other physical things? My job, my family, other things that I might put before Him. See, God is clearly concerned about our physical needs, not necessarily our greeds. He's concerned about our physical needs. And we don't want to confuse that or make a misunderstanding out of that. He wants to see how we prioritize our lives. What's most important? What do we put first? And, of course, that should be His coming Kingdom and the righteousness of God, the divine nature that He wants us to grow in. That's the most important thing.

So, I ask us as we conclude here for today, Jesus. Matthew 6 is one that we're somewhat familiar with, and I think, as I said, we could quote at least part of it, surely. And yet, Jesus pointed out the fact that even the religious people at the time who did fast and who did pray and who did give were not doing that according to the purpose of God. So, is it possible for prayers to be prayed to God that are ineffective? Is there possible for us to pray to God and be neglectful? You know, we can think back over this past week or a couple of weeks. That's about as far as I can remember. You know, was I neglectful in prayer, which Jesus says should not be neglected?

Are we guilty of praying and not being heartfelt in our prayers? Not really, perhaps, framing our mind with the beginning of our prayer of who it is we're addressing. Because if we're addressing the Creator God, well, then we have every reason to do that with purpose, with meaning from the heart, and He wants us to do that. So, is it possible to use vain repetition in prayer? And God not here? Well, even in our prayers, prayers if we regularly pray and pray on a daily basis and several times a day do we pray repetitively?

Then it's not wrong to pray about the same things because obviously Jesus said that's what we should do. Let's see, we can become kind of in a rote state of not really engaged mentally and engaged emotionally from the heart with our prayers. They can be, in a sense, not really as effective as they should. Is it possible to fast and not really draw close to God? I think back over the years, I've known that I ought to be fasting for 50 years. I'd not say I've put in as much time fasting as I probably should have. But I can remember at least a couple of times when I don't think it was very effective at all.

Why? Well, because I was distracted, I was focused on something else. I was, oh yeah, I'm not eating and drinking. When I was younger, it didn't seem to ever bother me. I would be able to do that, not physically affected much. But where was my head? Well, the times that I think back on that were seemingly more productive to me were ones where my head was truly engaged in what God wanted me to learn and what I needed to learn from the Word of God or from just my own problems about how to trust God in helping overcome those things.

Is it possible for us to give to others, to give those to those in need, or even give to God? And that not being done in a proper way, not being done in right motivation. See, the Pharisees were actually excellent at this. They were meticulous in their tithing, which was giving to God, but their heart was, what Jesus said, heart was far from it.

They were grudgingly doing it, and they did it, and then really didn't want to do it. That's what he was saying when he said, you're hypocrites. You do something, and yet you don't really want to do it. You feel like you're being made to do it. You don't benefit from that. And, of course, we don't want to fall into that category, and, of course, we don't want our priorities mangled to where we missed the mark. We want our priorities focused on Matthew 6, 33, the kingdom of God.

Storing up treasure in heaven is what we're told to do, which is in relationship with God. So we're admonished here in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, as we read earlier, Matthew 5, 20, for our righteousness to exceed that of the tribes and Pharisees. He says, you need to be truly obedient and heartfelt in your relationship with God. So, brethren, we can analyze that personally, individually.

We can analyze that. You know, sometimes we need to learn what God says. Other times, we not only we know, we need to do what God says. Beyond that, he's wanting to reshape and to completely convert our heart. And he's in the process of achieving that if we are a willing participant. So, Jesus has a lot to say here about how we should practice religion. There is activity involved in obeying God, and there is activity involved in striving to be righteous. And yet, you know, we're told, you know, to do that diligently and to do that from the heart, knowing that God is the one that we wish to please.

The one that we know is able to bless us. From here, Jesus goes on to chapter seven, and we'll cover chapter seven, first part of it, next time. He's going to talk about judging others and not being self-righteous. I wonder who he's saying is self-righteous. Well, obviously, he's already said the Pharisees were, but we have to apply that to ourselves. And so, we'll cover that next time, but that will be what we can cover today in Matthew chapter six.