We are on chapter 2 of the Sermon on the Mount. This is so much easier to read and discuss than the measurements of the tabernacle curtains or making the priestly garments. I’m not saying we shouldn’t read those chapters, obviously we did, but these words of Jesus have more direct application to the Christian life. Don’t just read over it and check a box on your checklist; read it, think about it, soak in it. Let it change you.
Matthew 6
“Be careful that you do not practice your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 When you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by the people. Truly I say they have their reward.
3 But when you give, do not let your left hand know what your right hand does:
4 So that your giving may be in secret: and your Father which sees in secret himself shall reward you openly.
5 When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly I say they have their reward.
6 But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.
7 When you pray, do not use thoughtless repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.
8 Do not be like them: for your Father knows what things you have need of, even before you ask him.
9 Therefore this is how you should pray: Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 Now whenever you fast, do not be like the hypocrites with sad expressions: for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to fast. Truly I say to you, they have their reward.
17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face;
18 So that you do not appear to men to fast, but to your Father who is in secret: and your Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you openly.
19 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break in and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust can corrupt, and where thieves do not break in nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, your heart will be there also.
22 The eye is the lamp of the body: so if your eye is healthy then your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
25 Therefore I tell you, Take no thought for your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor for your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than them?
27 Which of you by anxious thought can add to your height?
28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not labor neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.
30 So if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 So do not worry saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘what shall we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles seek these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be provided for you.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow: for tomorrow shall worry about the things of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
The Master's Table 