God has everything under control. We know that God is our heavenly Father who will care for us.” [Peter J. Leithart, The Gospel of Matthew Matthew 6: Through New Eyes, Volume 1: Jesus As Israel, Monroe, Louisiana: Athanasius Press, 2017. Pgs. 158-159] Living into the Kingdom Because We don’t need to be anxious. We have a heavenly Father who is You Have a Father Who Loves You taking care of us. A clear correlation between Matthew 5-7 and the Old Testament Pastor Dale Robbins story of God giving the Ten Commandments: a new Moses on a new Sinai giving a new law. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Jesus contrasts the activities of hypocrites with the activities of those who are genuinely part of His kingdom. Jesus is the forerunner of the second Exodus. We get to take God’s kingdom to others, to see His kingdom He talks of people performing good works like helping the come here on earth, just like it is in heaven. poor, praying, and fasting.

We too often see ourselves from the wrong perspective. Jesus doesn't tell the people not to do those things. He says We are the ones who have the amazing privilege of taking the they shouldn't do them in order to be seen by others. kingdom with us into the world wherever we go. Yet all of us like to be seen and approved by others at times. We get to bring Eden into the marketplace and our homes The most obvious place we see this today is social media, but and our jobs and to our neighbors. we can do the same thing in everyday life situations.

As His hands and His feet here on earth, we get to feed the Yet Jesus says that kind of thinking—of wanting to be noticed hungry, love the lost, bring the good news, heal the sick, and by others—is all backward. help the poor. It’s all part of the kingdom. The word "Father" is used 10 times in the first half of this chapter. We are Jesus’ co-laborers as we take His kingdom to the You have a Father who loves you. Jesus is painting this picture of a world around us. heavenly Father who cares for you: Your Father. Your heavenly Father. He loves you. He’s taking 4 main priorities for 2020: care of you. He’s the One you want to aim at pleasing.  prayer,  the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Don't worry about what people think. Your Father is way  unity, and more important.  righteousness "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the As we look at Jesus we’ll get to see those priorities in action. Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words." Christian Outreach Church, 17 May 2020 That phrase—“as the Gentiles do…”—is very important. He had been talking about how hypocrites pray. Now He’s Keep us away from the things that are tempting to us. Deliver talking about how Gentiles pray. us from those situations.

In ancient Rome they had many gods. Because of this, they So, we pray for God to keep us away from temptation, but we would pray to more than one god, just to cover their bases. also make a point of not putting ourselves into a place of temptation. But Jesus contrasts that whole crazy notion with the idea that you... you have a heavenly Father. A similarity to Solomon. How many times in Proverbs does Solomon point us to the There was no possibility of a relationship with the ancient natural world to show us our responsibilities? collection of gods in Rome. And along comes the One who gave Solomon that wisdom When Jesus is talking about their many words, He wasn’t and what does He do? He talks about birds and grass and telling them to cut it short. He’s saying the length of the flowers. prayer isn’t important. God isn’t any more impressed with a lengthy prayer than with a short one. Just like Solomon, Jesus presents two paths: “You can’t serve two masters.” But this is more than just a nice sermon about “Pray like this.” wisdom. It’s about the kingdom.

He begins by pushing us toward talking to our heavenly Father. Jesus’ teaching is very specific, only for one group.

“Let your name be treated with reverence.” Jesus contrasts the new kingdom—one of calm and peace— with another kingdom—one of anxiety. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. There are two parts there, but it’s saying the same thing in “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…” two different ways. Extending God’s kingdom more and more To “lay up” is actually a different form of the same word as into the world. “treasures.”

“Give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus is not telling us we shouldn’t have possessions. He’s He wants to establish a simple trust. You have a heavenly saying not to treasure them. Father who loves you. “God…intends to set Jesus on the throne over the whole cosmos, “…and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our and He’s beginning to do that now. He’s going to defeat evil and debtors.” put His world back together, and He’s beginning to do that now. Whatever it is, we are to forgive just like we’ve been forgiven. The future is arriving, and the future is secure in God’s hands. He is the God of the future, and He is establishing His future in the You have been forgiven, and now, you should forgive others present. And the kingdom which is God’s future world arriving in in the same way. the present is not driven by anxiety but by trust, because within “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” this kingdom we know that the future is secure. We know that