Category Archives: Matthew

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. ¹⁶ You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. ¹⁹ So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

Matthew 7:15-20

Dear God, it’s interesting that these are Jesus’s words in the middle of this sermon on how to act. He’s telling everyone what to do and how to do it in order to live an effective life, a peaceful life in your presence. But he takes a moment to tell them to stop and look at the people around them in their lives. Don’t convince yourself someone is good even though they are doing bad things. On the one hand, this advice seem obvious. But maybe there are times when I want to believe someone who is powerful is good so I overlook their faults so I can take advantage of them. I know it can happen in politics, but it can also happen within my immediate sphere of my world.

Then that leads me to my own heart and the fruit that I produce. How am I doing? Am I the kind of person people can trust to produce good fruit regardless of the situation? What am I doing to attach my branch to your vine so that my fruit my continue to grow in an unending supply? Am I loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, good, kind, gentle, faithful, and able to control myself? Or am I sexually immoral, impure and lustful? Am I idolatrous, hateful, argumentative, jealous, selfishly ambitious, rageful, divisive?

Father, grow good fruit in me. I have a heaviness in my heart this morning. It’s about work and some relationships among staff. I pray your Spirit over us all. I pray that this weekend might have brought some healing and joy. I pray that you will make the pain of the weekend count for everyone involved. Please be glorified in all of this. Glorify yourself through my life and through the lives of all who call you our God. Help me to do what you need me to do. Not do what you need me to not do. Bring healing and make us all stronger in you and in our faith in you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

¹² “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.

Matthew 7:12

Dear God, this is a little like verse 6. It just feels a little thrown in there and incongruous with what comes before it or goes after it. It’s good. It’s important. It’s one of the core commandments we are supposed to follow. But it is preceded by you being a good father to us and then followed by the narrow gate. Maybe it fits more as the lead-in to the narrow gate story than it does as a closing to the part about you being a good father, even though the NIV actually puts verse 12 in the same paragraph as the father stuff (which is weird because the New American Standard 1995 and the New Living Translation give that verse its own paragraph.

So, do to others what I would have them do to me. That sums up the law? Let me just recap the Sermon up to this point and see how this command fits into each one:

• Beatitudes: Yes, those are about showing mercy and being a peacemaker. That fits.
• Salt and light: Yes, that fits.
• “You have heard it said, but I say…”: Yes, all of those, from divorce to adultery to hate fit.
• Turn the other cheek: That fits.
• Love your enemies and pray for them: Check.
• Give to others. Yep.
• Be earnest in your love for God and don’t seek public acclaim: Okay. Kind of, but it doesn’t contradict it. In fact, I suppose if I follow this it, at the very least, makes me an easier person for my neighbors to be around.
• Forgiveness critical part of the Lord’s Prayer: Yeah, that’s important for this all-encompassing commandment.
• Money is a dangerous potential idol: That’s important when it comes to making money a priority over other things. This can fit.
• Worry is a lack of faith: Kind of a fit, but maybe more of a way for me to evaluate how I am doing with you than how I am doing loving others.
• Do not judge others: Obviously, this fits perfectly.
• Bring requests to my good father: Well, not a perfect fit for this concept, but certainly part of worshipping you and developing my relationship with you.
• The Narrow Gate: Yes, the narrow gate obviously calls me to follow this command.
• The fruit of others: This helps me to know how to love them.
• Wise and foolish builder: If I follow these things I will find myself at peace in the middle of the storm.

Father, I guess when we get so worked up about how hard it is to follow the Sermon on the Mount, we can just zero in on Jesus’s top-two commands: Love you with everything we have and love our neighbors. If in doubt, lean into that. Help me to do that today. Help me to do that tomorrow. Help me to do that in this moment.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
Matthew 7:7-11

Dear God, I was listening to a podcast this morning where the two men were discussing some of the things in the political news lately including the admonishment some people have felt about feeling judged for not having children or enough children. One of the arguments one of the men made for having children didn’t fit into the two main things we are being fed politically. His reasoning on the importance of having children is how it impacts us as parents. We understand love and sacrificial love in a new way when we are responsible for caring for a defenseless child. We also get a glimpse of how you feel about us in a new way.

I remember when my children were young and I first started to get that insight into how you must see me after realizing how much I loved my children. And, as Jesus says here, if I being sinful know how to love my children, how much more do you love me and want to give me the things that are good for me. Of course, you also want to withhold things that are bad for me. So this passage from Jesus isn’t a blank check you’ve given us to fill in. Jesus knows that if our child asked for a stone to eat we would deny their request and give them bread instead. And there are times when I am too ignorant to know what you are doing in a given situation so I will ask without demanding. I guess the other side of it is that sometimes I can ask too little because I do not want to be greedy or selfish.

Father, I want to show my children as much love as possible while not hurting them with the love I have for them by giving them the wrong things. I know you want to do the same for me. So help me to be exactly what you need me to be for them. And teach me how to be the man you need me to be through them. Mold me through them. Shape me. Convict me. Thank you for loving me.

I offer this to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:25-34

Dear God, these words are meant more and were more challenging to a Jewish person listening to Jesus in 30 A.D. than they mean to an American in 2024. Or at least to me. I can hear about worrying about food or clothing or some of the necessities of life, but the truth is that I don’t really need to worry about those things per se. But the people listening to this sermon that day had legitimate worries about how they would eat and what they would find to wear. Jesus was speaking to their reality.

So if Jesus were here talking to me today, what would he choose to focus on in my life. “Don’t be anxious about your children.” “Don’t be anxious about your work.” “Don’t be anxious about staffing challenges.” “Don’t be anxious about how you will help your clients.” These are some of the burdens that are on my heart this morning as I sit here. When I think about the worry that is in my heart, this is what I’m thinking of.

Father, as my wife and I were praying together this morning I was praying that you will use these different opportunities to help me be your blessing to those for whom I am concerned. As much as I love and care for each person I just mentioned, I know you love them more. You want them to be in complete relationship with you, happy, and peaceful. Help me to be a source of that for them. Love them. Show me how to love them. Show me what to do in each situation. And please lay out the path for me. Make it obvious, clear, and direct. Holy Spirit, be with me today. And help me to remember to completely lean on you.

I offer this prayer to you in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³ but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Matthew 6:19-24

Dear God, it occurs to me that, outside of Matthew who somehow was able to record the contents of this speech (I’ve heard that the series The Chosen shows that Jesus worked out this sermon as kind of a stump speech with Matthew and that’s how he was able to record it for us–not a bad theory), but those listening to it only heard it and only heard it once. There’s a lot to remember here for one sitting.

For these few verses, we get some stuff on money and stuff. Earthly possessions. I think the key line of this section is that one about where my heart will be with my treasure. If I want to see the state of my heart, I only need to look at the things I treasure most. Do I treasure politics and political power for my tribe? That tells me something about my heart. Do I treasure my adult children and put unreasonable expectations on them to love me? That tells me something about my heart. Do I put expectations on you and what you are supposed to do for me? Am I here worshipping you because I expect you to perform for me? That tells me something about my heart.

On the other hand, do I simply show up to worship you and submit myself to the molding that you are doing in my soul? Do I try to serve my adult children and look out for their interests regardless of what it costs me? Do I ignore power, and instead try to serve others regardless of the political wranglings around me? All of those things say something about my heart as well.

Father, I know I’m somewhere in the middle. I suppose we all are at some point. But I pray that you will take the clay of my life and continue to mold me and work on me today. Love others through me. Give them a sense of your love for them through me. For those I love who are in pain. Please, heal them. For the mistakes I’ve made in their lives, please show me how to repent. For the work you have me to do today, in my family, vocationally, in my community, or even in worshipping and serving you, guide me. Oh, Father. Oh, Jesus. Oh, Holy Spirit. Please, my Triune God, be with me today and use my life however you will and regardless of what it costs me.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

⁵ “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. ⁶ But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

⁷ “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. ⁸ So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

⁹ “Pray, then, in this way:

‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰ ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
¹² ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

¹⁴ For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

¹⁶ “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. ¹⁷ But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face ¹⁸ so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Dear God, if there is one thing I feel like I have failed at it is trying to inspire others to do prayer journals like this. It’s the reason I first started sharing these prayers publicly. It’s not so that others would be impressed with me. In fact, nearly everyone who sees these prayers has no idea who I am. I am anonymous to them. But I would love for people to see these prayers and be inspired to do something similar themselves. Yes, sometimes I have a surprise insight that I would love to share with people. I’ll be teaching a Sunday school class tomorrow about the Sermon on the Mount, and I will get some of the content from these prayer journals. But mostly I want others to see how your Word can be applied to our lives today. I want them to become intimate with the stories through their own exploration of what you left us as Scripture.

As far as the Lord’s Prayer, I normally use the New Living Translation, but I didn’t like one thing it did for this passage so I shifted to New American Standard (1995). For your kingdom coming, the NLT added “soon” to the passage. I couldn’t find any other translations that used “soon” there. For some reason, using that word gave me shades of “Jesus coming back again” even though that’s not necessarily what it was saying. When I pray, “Your kingdom come,” I am praying in this moment. Right now. Through me. Through other Christians. Through your body. Not “soon” but now. In my next action, let your kingdom come to earth. In the next actions of your Body around the world, let your kingdom come. Even through the ignorant actions of unbelievers, let your kingdom come.

It’s interesting that Jesus felt the need to teach us how to pray. I heard someone say once that it’s the only thing the disciples ever actively asked Jesus to teach them. How do we pray?

Father, these verses for today seem to be all about motives. What are my motives for being here today? I was thinking about this question this morning: “If I think that Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection is about being reconciled to God, then what does being reconciled to God in my daily life look like and am I living like I really want that?” Some seek Jesus’s reconciliation power so that we can one day avoid hell. But that’s not what it’s about. It’s about what Jesus is talking about here: my private, earnest, honest relationship with you. That’s what I’m seeking even in this moment. I am here to worship you, to bow down, and to say that you are my God. I am sorry for all of the other gods I put before you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

P.S. I just looked at the beginning of verse 5 again and had another thought. These public displays of faith only work to my benefit if I live in a place like rural Texas where Christian faith and activity gets rewarded by society. But in a place like Portland it wouldn’t be. Quite the opposite. So maybe a good question to ask myself is would I do what I’m doing in Portland as much as I do it in rural Texas?

6 “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. ² When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. ³ But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. ⁴ Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Matthew 6:1-4

Dear God, it can be hard to keep our good deeds totally private. And there are other times when it is actually appropriate to let others know we’ve done something because it will serve as an endorsement for them to support it as well. As a nonprofit, there are times when I need to be able to list a donor’s name on something so that others will know that this person of credibility endorses us so they can feel confident endorsing us as well.

But that’s not Jesus’s point here. Jesus, as always, is looking deep into our hearts. Why are we doing what we do? Are we doing it to manipulate other people to like us (ironically, such public displays usually turn people off more than attract them to us), or worse still, because we think we can manipulate you into liking us more? It’s probably surprising to know how many of us think we can influence your love for us. In modern American Christianity, there are so many people who are worried about getting their “fire insurance” that they make that their goal instead of relationship with you. Reconciliation with you isn’t primarily about my eternity. It’s about my here and now. It’s about this moment I have with you. This day I have with you. It’s not about tomorrow. It’s not even primarily about the past. No, it’s primarily about this moment and my communion with you in real time.

So why am I doing what I do? I like to think it’s that fruit of your Spirit that grows in me through being with you and worshipping you. Why do I take someone’s cart for them when they are done unloading it into their car and I’m walking into the grocery store? Because I’m filled with love for them and I want to help. Why do I close the lid on someone’s garbage can as it sat in the street with a lid that had blown open after a storm? Because I want to serve them. You grow in me. And if that’s you growing in me that is driving me to do these things then that must mean that that is your nature too! You love us. You want to show us love. We will get later to the part about fathers and good gifts, but it’s that kind of thing. My evidence that you are good is that the closer I get to you the “gooder” I get.

Father, I am grateful for you. I am grateful to sit here this morning and be able to think through this sermon from Jesus with you. I’m grateful to have different layers of your nature revealed to me the more I do this. I’m grateful for Jesus’s life, teaching, death, and resurrection. I’m grateful for his love for me. I am grateful for the Holy Spirit’s presence with me right now as I type these words. As I go to work. As I love donors. As I love my wife. Oh, how I love you, Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit.

I pray all of this under the reconciliation Jesus offers and with the Holy Spirit in my presence,

Amen