Following Jesus: Focus On The Message – Matthew 6

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Last Updated on April 21, 2024 by Rocklyn Clarke

Description

Welcome to Focus On The Message – the first component of our Following Jesus discipleship program. This web page contains the lessons for:

Unit 3: Matthew 5 – 10

Purpose

Follow this link for information about these key aspects of our training: Purpose, Goals, Habits, Ministries, and Assignments.

Unit 3: Matthew 5 – 10

This chapter has 5 lessons. You should ideally cover one chapter (with all of its lessons) in a week, but please don’t let a week go by without completing at least one lesson.

Matthew 6

Lesson 1: Acts of Righteousness: Giving to the Needy

Main text and related passages:

  • Acts of Righteousness – Matthew 6:1
    • The Jews of Jesus’ day acknowledged 3 key “acts of righteousness”: giving, prayer, and fasting. Jesus begins this teaching by explaining that these are not to be done for show.
  • Giving to the Needy – Matthew 6:1, 2-4

Checkout the following:

Topics to explore:

    • Who are the needy in your community? What kind of help do they need?
    • What factors affect who becomes needy? How else can we help the needy in addition to giving?

Additional resources to check out:

    • Read the main passage and related passages above.

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

    • Read the main passage and related passages above.

Lesson 2: Acts of Righteousness: Prayer

Main text and related passages:

  • Acts of Righteousness – Matthew 6:1
    • The Jews of Jesus’ day acknowledged 3 key “acts of righteousness”: giving, prayer, and fasting. Jesus begins this teaching by explaining that these are not to be done for show.
  • Prayer – Matthew 6:1,5-15
    • Matthew 6:5-8 – Prayer: The Right Approach
      • Pray simply so that others can simply pray!
        • Church life subjects you to subtle and not so subtle pressure to pray in ways that result in recognition and affirmation. If you don’t deal with this pressure, you will eventually find yourself praying fancy, religious prayers in church settings.
        • When your prayers are “fancy” new believers who hear you will be inclined to think of public prayer as something that they could never do. This is actually bad for the Kingdom.
        • When you pray publicly, pray simply so that new believers listening to you will think: “I can do that!”
    • Matthew 6:9-13 – Prayer: The Right Pattern
      • This passage contains a section popularly known as “The Lord’s Prayer” which is often used as a rote prayer in public and private meetings. We should instead view this as a template:
    • “Our Father in heaven”
      • What this teaches us:
        • Jesus is teaching us (his followers) that God is our Father and has his headquarters in heaven.
        • We should approach God the way children in healthy families approach their father expecting him to care about them and to have their best interests at heart.
      • What we should do with it:
    • “Hallowed be your name”
      • What this teaches us:
        • This phrase gets us started with an attitude of reverence and worship towards the Father!
        • Hallowed is just an older English word for holy which means “set apart”. For many people this will bring to mind the various dress and behavior rules found in holiness churches, but there is a better way to understand the fundamental meaning of this word. We have items in our home that are “set apart” or “holy”: your toothbrush, your silverware, your underwear. In hospitals, surgical instruments are “set apart” or “holy”: scalpel, forceps, etc. In the Bible, the implication is that items that are “holy” are set apart for God’s use. When we say that God’s name is “holy” we are making a commitment to treat his name (which represents his person and nature) with great respect rather than treating it as a common thing. We don’t “take his name in vain” by associating it with statements that he has not actually authorized.
        • Watch: Holiness Biblical Theme Video | BibleProject™
        • Take some time to worship and appreciate the Father before you move on to making requests! You may want to use other passages from the Bible (especially the Psalms) to develop language that expresses your love, appreciation, and gratitude to the Father.
      • What we should do with it:
        • Be reverent and respectful in how we handle God’s name!
        • Begin your times of prayer with praise and thanksgiving:
          • Praise God for who he is. Build a list of God’s attributes as you discover them in the Bible. Use this during your times of praise and thanksgiving.
          • Thank God for what he has done. Build a list of what God has done both from your Bible reading and from your personal experiences. Use this list during your times of praise and thanksgiving.
    • “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
      • What this teaches us:
        • Here is where we begin making specific requests.
        • Your Kingdom come, your will be done
          • What does it mean for God’s Kingdom to come? What does it mean for his will to be done?
          • Remember that this book of Matthew , through which we’re working our way, features the announcement, early on, that “The Kingdom of God is near” – first by John the Baptist, and then by Jesus. The entire book is an explanation of what this actually means. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 – 7), in particular, is a collection of Jesus’ teaching about what life in the Kingdom looks like. Keeping this in mind, you can build your understanding of what it means for God’s Kingdom to come and for his will to be done by reviewing what we’ve seen happening in Matthew so far.
          • Take the time to review Matthew 1 – 5 and see if you can list some things that God wants done here in the earth.
        • On Earth as it is in Heaven
          • Notice that the main purpose of our requests is for God’s will to be accomplished on earth the way it is already being accomplished in heaven. We can break down the idea of “on earth” even further though.
          • Each of us has “territory” or areas of influence to which God has assigned us. These include:
            • Family relationships
            • Work relationships (e.g. co-workers, supervisors, subordinates)
            • School relationships
            • Organizations
            • Neighborhood & Community
            • City, State, Country – government leaders
            • Ministries
          • You want God’s will to be done in each of these areas. This means that you will have to organize your prayer life. Say goodbye to “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep . . .”. God is calling you to a more organized and effective lifestyle of prayer. Make a list of the various areas of influence in your life. You may want to arrange them as a column in a grid with the days of the week across the top. You can them plan for which items you will pray for on which days of the week. Praying for God’s will to be done will be much easier as you consider each specific area and the people in it. You will probably not have time to pray for everyone you know, so you will need to prioritize in order to consistently pray for the people for whom you have the greatest responsibility. Check out the “Sample Prayer Template” in the “Additional resources to check out” section below.
      • What we should do with it:
        • Now that you’ve listed and organized your various areas of responsibility, you can consider the list you’ve started of things that are a part of God’s will and apply the items in your list to the people and things in your various areas of responsibility.
    • “Give us today our daily bread.”
      • What this teaches us:
        • Here God assures us that we should ask him for the things we need day by day.
      • What we should do with it:
        • Share your needs with the Father (he knows what they are, but he enjoys it when we come to him) and ask him to provide.
    • “And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors”
      • What this teaches us:
        • Forgiveness is part of God’s nature and he expects us to reflect that in our own nature.
      • What we should do with it:
        • If there is anyone whom you haven’t forgiven – forgive them!
    • “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”
      • What this teaches us:
        • God wants us to be honest with ourselves, with others, and with him about our weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
      • What we should do with it:
        • Acknowledge your weaknesses and temptations; ask the Father to keep you from them.
    • “For yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen.”
      • What this teaches us:
        • God is and always will be the ultimate authority over the circumstances of our lives.
      • What we should do with it:
        • End as you began by acknowledging God’s authority, power, and glory. Praise him for who he is and thank him for what he has done!
    • Matthew 6:14-15 – Prayer: Forgive in order to be forgiven
      • Forgiveness means giving up your right to take revenge or to demand compensation.
      • Forgiveness does not mean pretending that the offense didn’t hurt you.
      • Forgiveness does not necessarily mean releasing the offender from legal consequences – especially when the offender is a danger to himself/herself or others.
      • Forgiveness is not the same as reconciliation. Reconciliation, which results in a restored relationship, requires genuine acceptance of responsibility and repentance on the part of the offender.
      • Special note – victims of domestic abuse should understand that forgiveness does not require that they continue to subject themselves to abuse.
      • Forgiveness is the outcome of extending the love that God has for us to others who have offended us. Love can be thought of as the determination to benefit others – even at our own expense. Love seeks what is genuinely best for someone else. When someone behaves abusively they do so at great cost to their character and ultimate destiny. Enabling the abusive behavior of others is not a loving thing to do.

Checkout the following:

Topics to explore:

    •  

Additional resources to check out:

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

    • Read the main passage and related passages above.

Lesson 3: Acts of Righteousness: Fasting

Main text and related passages:

  • Acts of Righteousness – Matthew 6:1
    • The Jews of Jesus’ day acknowledged 3 key “acts of righteousness”: giving, prayer, and fasting. Jesus begins this teaching by explaining that these are not to be done for show.
    •  
  • Fasting – Matthew 6:1, 16-18
    • In Jesus’ day, food preparation took a lot of time. Fasting potentially freed up some of that time for prayer.
    • Today, food preparation requires much less time, but there are other things that consume our time (entertainment, email/internet, phone, television, radio, etc.). Consider fasting from some of these as well.
    • Be careful not to turn fasting into a quest for human approval.
    • Fasting must be aligned with God’s passion for justice:

Checkout the following:

Topics to explore:

    • ?

Additional resources to check out:

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

    • Read the main passage and related passages above.

Lesson 4: Treasures in Heaven

Main text and related passages:

  • Treasures in Heaven – Matthew 6:19-24
    • Store treasure in heaven, not on earth.
    • “Eyes are good” is an idiomatic way of referring to generosity. “Eyes are bad” is an idiomatic way of referring to stinginess.
  • Do Not Worry – Matthew 6:25-34
    • “Seek fist his Kingdom and his righteousness” is NOT the same as “Seek God first”. IF Jesus had intended to say “seek God first”, he could have done so. The Kingdom (i.e. the Kingdom of Heaven or Kingdom of God) is the reigning activity of God on earth. Although is encompassed God’s rule throughout the universe, for the purpose of the people listening to Jesus, the Kingdom was the movement, led by Jesus, comprising all of the people who were following him. You cannot obey this verse (Matthew 6:33) by yourself. You can only obey this teaching through demonstrated commitment to being part of a local family of believers.

Checkout the following:

Topics to explore:

    • What are some of the ways you store treasure on earth?
    • What are some of the ways you store treasure in heaven?
    • How has our history affected who has treasure, how much treasure they have, and where they store it?
    • What does personal generosity look like?
    • Is it possible for the laws, politics, and public policies that we support to counteract our personal generosity?
    • What types of public policy reflect generosity on our part?

Additional resources to check out:

  •  

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

    • Read the main passage and related passages above.

Lesson 5: Do Not Worry

Main text and related passages:

  • Do Not Worry – Matthew 6:25-34
    • “Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness” is NOT the same as “Seek God first”. If Jesus had intended to say “seek God first”, he could have done so. The Kingdom (i.e. the Kingdom of Heaven or Kingdom of God) is the reigning activity of God on earth. In order to understand what “the Kingdom” meant to the people listening to Jesus, reflect on the following passages:
    • The Kingdom (i.e. Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven).
      • Matthew 18:1-5 – The Kingdom of Heaven includes the disciples and people like them
      • Matthew 19:16-30 – The Kingdom of Heaven is something people enter into, although this is hard for the rich.
      • Matthew 20:1-16 – The Kingdom of Heaven is something people enter into before Jesus returns.
      • Matthew 21:33-46 – The Kingdom of God is taken from an existing people and given to those who will produce it’s fruit.
      • Matthew 21:28-32 – The Kingdom of God is something that prostitutes and tax collectors were entering as Jesus spoke.
    • From the passages above, it should be apparent that the Kingdom is more than just God. The Kingdom has people in it – people who were entering it at the time that Jesus walked the earth and people who have been entering it ever since. The Kingdom of God is make up of the people who follow Jesus.
    • In order to seek God’s Kingdom, you have to pursue relationships with the people who follow Jesus. The premier example of this is the relationship we see among Jesus’ disciples as they follow him together. This means being in close enough relationship with a group of Jesus followers whom you can know and who can know you.
    • Seeking God’s Kingdom first means prioritizing your relationship with an intimate group of believers over your other pursuits. You cannot obey this verse (Matthew 6:33) by yourself. You can only obey this teaching through demonstrated commitment to being part of a local family of believers.

Checkout the following:

Topics to explore:

    • Checkout the Bible Project videos on the Kingdom and the Gospel above:
      • What might it look like for someone to seek God first?
      • What might it look like for someone to seek the Kingdom first?
      • How would these be similar? How would they be different?
    • Do the public policies that we support take care of the needs of others or ignore the needs of others. Which option better represents the Kingdom of God?
    • What kind of public policies reflect seeking God’s Kingdom first?

Additional resources to check out:

  •  

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

    • Read the main passage and related passages above.
  •  

Last Updated on April 21, 2024 by Rocklyn Clarke

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Acknowledgements

Please join me in acknowledging the key people who contributed to this material!

Advance to Matthew 7

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