Matthew 6
6
The World Is Not a Stage
1“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.
2-4“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
Pray with Simplicity
5“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
6“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
7-13“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
14-15“In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.
16-18“When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint. If you ‘go into training’ inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn’t require attention-getting devices. He won’t overlook what you are doing; he’ll reward you well.
A Life of God-Worship
19-21“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
22-23“Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a musty cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!
24“You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.
25-26“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
27-29“Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
30-33“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
34“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
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Matthew 6: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Matthew 6
6
The Sermon on the Mount: Charitable Giving
1 “And take care not to practice your righteousness before people to be seen by them; otherwise#Literally “but if not” you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2Therefore whenever you practice charitable giving, do not sound a trumpet in front of you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, in order that they may be praised by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full! 3But you, when you#*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“practice”) which is understood as temporal practice charitable giving, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4in order that your charitable giving may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
The Sermon on the Mount: How to Pray
5And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to stand and#*Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“stand”) has been translated as a finite verb pray in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, in order that they may be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full! 6But whenever you pray, enter into your inner room and shut your door and#*Here “and” is supplied because the previous participle (“shut”) has been translated as a finite verb pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7“But when you#*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“pray”) which is understood as temporal pray, do not babble repetitiously like the pagans, for they think that because of their many words they will be heard. 8Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need#Literally “of what you have need” before you ask him. 9Therefore you pray in this way:
“Our Father who is in heaven,
may your name be treated as holy.
10May your kingdom come,
may your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread,
12and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And do not bring us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.#Or “evil”; most later Greek manuscripts add the phrase “for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen”
14For if you forgive people their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive people, neither will your Father forgive your sins.
The Sermon on the Mount: How to Fast
16“Whenever you fast, do not be sullen like the hypocrites, for they make their faces unrecognizable in order that they may be seen fasting by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full! 17But when#*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“fasting”) which is understood as temporal you are fasting, put olive oil on your head#Literally “anoint your head” and wash your face 18so that you will not be seen by people as fasting, but to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
The Sermon on the Mount: Treasure in Heaven
19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and consuming insect#Traditionally “rust,” but more likely in this context along with “moth” the term refers to “eating” by other types of insects or vermin destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor consuming insect#Traditionally “rust,” but more likely in this context along with “moth” the term refers to “eating” by other types of insects or vermin destroy and where thieves do not break in or steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22“The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore if your eye is sincere, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark. Therefore if the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24“No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and money.#Traditionally transliterated from the Greek as “mammon”
The Sermon on the Mount: Anxiety
25“For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat,#Some manuscripts add “or what you will drink”; other later manuscripts add “and what you will drink” and not for your body, what you will wear. Is your life not more than food and your body more than clothing? 26Consider the birds of the sky, that they do not sow or reap or gather produce into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are? 27And who among you, by#*Here “by” is supplied as a component of the participle (“being anxious”) which is understood as means being anxious, is able to add one hour#Or “cubit” to his life span? 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe the lilies of the field, how they grow: they do not toil or spin, 29but I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these. 30But if God dresses the grass of the field in this way, although it#*Here “although” is supplied as a component of the participle (“is”) which is understood as concessive is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not do so much more for you, you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?,’ 32for the pagans seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But seek first his kingdom and righteousness,#Some manuscripts have “the kingdom of God and his righteousness” and all these things will be added to you. 34Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, because tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.#Literally “sufficient for the day its trouble”
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