Matthew 6:1-18 is the spirit in which the disciples were to perform good works.
Matthew 6:19-34 is separation from the spirit of the world and from its anxieties.
Matthew 6:1-4. The disciples are to have the sense of being under the Father’s eye. Their inner man is with the Father which is in heaven, and this molds their conduct. If they did their righteousnesses to be seen of men, that is all the reward they would get. If done in secret before the Father, He would openly reward them.
“Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.”
Matthew 6:5-15. This secrecy is applied also to prayer: “Enter into thy closet” “Shut thy door.” It is to tell out their hearts to the Father, and “He will reward thee openly.” It is not saying prayers, nor “much speaking’’, nor “vain repetition”; the Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul each prayed three times for the desires of their heart (Matt. 26:44; 2 Cor. 12:8) Supplication is prayer intensified, and with what assurance they could ask, when they knew that “the Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him.”
We get no forms of prayer in Scripture. The prayer the Lord taught His disciples was not a form to repeat, but a model to teach them to pray. It was suited to the time before the Lord died, and before the Holy Spirit was given.
We need again to notice the difference of their position from ours. They had an earthly calling, so were taught to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven.” “Heavenly Father,” or “Father which art in heaven,” is not used after redemption is accomplished. We, Christians, have a heavenly calling, are “blessed with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places, in Christ” (Eph. 1:3); we are also sealed with the Holy Spirit, and say “Father,” in nearness and relationship (Rom. 8:15, 26; Gal. 4:6). Also we pray now in Christ’s name (John 16:23-24). Thus they and we are taught to think whom we are addressing.
“Hallowed be Thy name,” expresses the holy reverence they should have in the Father’s presence.
“Thy kingdom come” is the Father’s kingdom; all that “die in the Lord,” and all the living that are changed and caught up, will have their place in the heavenly part of it (Matt. 13:43). Israel and the Gentiles who are saved through the tribulation period, will have a place in the kingdom of the Son of Man on earth, when the Lord comes to reign. This is what they prayed for. We are waiting for the coming of the Lord to gather His church home, and now pray that the gospel may reach many souls till His body, the church, is completed.
“Thy will be done in earth, as it is done in heaven”; this is looking for the fulfillment of the prophecies, and will be fulfilled in the new heavens and the new earth; but now it applies itself to our lives here. Jesus, the Faithful witness, did the Father’s will here on earth. He leads us to walk as He walked.
Up to this point they have asked nothing for themselves; teaching us that in prayer, God’s glory and the advancement of His interests should have the first place. Next comes what concerns ourselves: “Give us this day our daily (or needed) bread.” This is expressing our dependence on God. Thanksgiving would surely accompany this.
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Those disciples did not yet know eternal forgiveness through the work of Christ; it was governmental or daily forgiveness. We know and have eternal redemption (Heb. 10:14; 1 John 2:12), but we also need daily forgiveness in connection with communion, if we would as children walk with the Father and the Son. We are told to confess our sins (1 John 1:9). We cannot ask forgiveness, for, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
We forgive others because we are already forgiven (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13); but if we do not forgive others, What then? Then our Father will need to deal with His naughty children (Heb. 12:5-11). We will lose the sense of His grace in our souls till we do forgive (Mark 11:25-26). This is God’s government over His family.
Israel as a nation are now cast off because of their ways (Matt. 5:25-26; 18:23-35; 1 Thess. 2:14-16); but they will be restored as a nation (Isa. 40:1-2).
The gospel takes in individuals of every nation in that word, “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” expresses their felt weakness and tendency to evil, as if one said, “Father, I have no strength, do not try me, or I will fall; I need Thee to keep me all the way.” There in reality the prayer ends, then the Lord emphasizes the seriousness of allowing an unforgiving spirit (Matt. 6:14-15). May we all take heed to it.
Matthew 6:16-18. Fasting expresses humbling and denying of self, and where it is real before God, it is to be out of sight of men, “and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” Fasting gives deeper reality to the exercises of the heart before God.
Matthew 6:19-21 tell us where their heart’s object was to be. If the Lord is their treasure, there will their heart be also. They are enjoined not to allow their affections to go after things of earth, or disappointment will result, for loss and decay are felt in temporal things. Nothing fades and no robber can steal the heavenly treasures that are in Christ.
We now are Christ’s treasure, and His heart is ever with us. Bless His name!
Matthew 6:22-23 lead the disciples to examine whether the light they are walking by is of man or from God. The Pharisees thought they had light, but it was men’s traditions: it was real darkness (Compare Matt. 15:14, with John 8:12).
Matthew 6:24. It is impossible to serve two masters. If self is allowed, covetousness (which is idolatry, Col. 3:5), goes after mammon; if our object is Christ, God’s claims over us are owned in the soul. Paul said (Phil. 1:27), “To me to live is Christ.”
Matthew 6:25-34. The Lord would remove from His disciples all anxious care. The fowls of the air neither sow nor reap, nor lay up in store; “your heavenly Father feedeth them,” ‘‘Are ye not much better than they?”
And why take thought about raiment; the lilies neither toil nor spin, but surpass Solomon in all his glory. If God clothes the grass of the field, which is but for a day, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? “Therefore take no (anxious) thought, saying, what shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? (for after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” We are not told to seek these things second: Our Father, who knows our need, will give them—“shall be added unto you.”
“We have nothing to do with tomorrow,
Our Father will make that His care;
Its grace or its strength we can’t borrow,
Then why should we borrow its care.”
“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
Note. This does not interfere with our lawful duties, such as parents providing for their families’ need. It is to check anxious care, teaching us to trust the Father, who loves us, to supply what we need and have no means of getting.