6:1-4
It is our heart attitudes that really matter, the essential nature of our being. So with obedience it is not just outward form that matters, likewise with the good things that we do, we do them not to be seen so that we can receive praise, but so that they actually help people.\ \all that we do is seen by our father in heaven, this includes both the good and the bad. So when we give to the poor, we do so quietly, not with a big fanfare. Note that Jesus does say we will be rewarded by our Father in Heaven. The reward is knowing that we are doing the Father’s work, working together with Him, pleasing HIm.
6:5-8
Prayer is the same, we can pray in order for others to think we are good, or to be heard by God. So again, we do not make a big show of it. Nor do we think that the extent of our words will make us more likely to be heard. God knows what we need. Simple prayers are sufficient.
6:9
Jesus then gives us what we know as “the Lord’s prayer”. Having told them how not to pray, Jesus now provides positive instruction. This the well known “Lord’s prayer”, though some say it is better to call it the disciples’ prayer. The former is actually better, as disciples Jesus is teaching us how to pray. He is not giving a form of words that must be used at all times, but a pattern for prayer.
It starts with “Our Father in heaven”. We are praying to our Father, not to some remote deity. We do have a problem with this in that our modern concept of fatherhood does not match that well with the Biblical concept. In the Bible the Father has authority over the son (as was demonstrated in Jesus’ life). We have a relationship with the one who created all things, and sustains all things. When we pray we look beyond the here and now. And His name is to be honoured. Society does not do this, but we pray that it will happen.It is just not that we honour God’s name, but that we look for the time when every knee shall bow. This prayer is a spiritual warfare prayer, as the next verse will make even clearer.
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