Matthew 6:1 through 7:27 is a series of Jesus teachings about priorities God has for His Kingdom. It begins with how we live in our own priorities on earth and contrasts those with the desires of the LORD, are we living for God’s desires or trying to fulfill ourselves our way?
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others…
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you…1
First, righteousness is not ‘in the eyes of man’ but in the eye of the Father. God does not honor those who go after their own honor from others. Honoring God does not draw attention to self, puff self up, or establish our own standard of feeling good enough.
When disciples ask Jesus how to approach the Father, He instructs them to do it with reverence for the LORD being God. The LORD is single-minded about what agrees with who He is and His priority of what agrees with His purposes.
Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.2
Note the submission to our Father ‘Your will be done’. If the Father is King of the Kingdom—LORD and Creator—does it not follow that our desires be in agreement with His, the ‘your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’? In Heaven His will is fully, completely, unquestionably done as He desires. The prayer model uses that perspective for our desires on earth. Our practices, our mindsets are to be coming into conformity with His. Jesus ties that to basics like forgivenness by the Father changing the way we live in the Now:
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.3
Where do we invest our hearts, our desires, our ambitions? Jesus points to a heavenly focus:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also… “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.4
‘Treasures’ is what we are invested in. ‘Master’ is that which holds our attention, our allegiance, our devotion. Both require commitment, singularity to attain, maintain and continue. We are also not the measure-er of our relationship with the LORD. That one may want to identify with the LORD does not mean that the LORD identifies with them:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ 5
When we use our own measure of how we think life should be, we run the risk of deluding ourselves and living other than ‘as God’s will is done in Heaven.’ Jesus gave a parable in Matthew 7:24-27 and Luke 6:46-49 on foundations of our professions of faith in Him. Luke’s continues the ‘Lord, Lord’ profession with the consequences of the two lifestyles:
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” 6
Is our foundation on the Rock that is Christ Jesus, sure, steadfast, immovable, agreeing by conformity to the desires of the LORD now and forevermore? May it be so, Amen.
