The Sermon on the Mount is the most famous of Jesus’s sermons. It gives listeners past and present a roadmap for navigating life in God’s Kingdom—a Kingdom that is both here on earth already in part, and will be fully realized at Jesus’s return.
This sermon is filled with practical wisdom for human flourishing. If we are careful to listen to and obey Jesus’s teachings, we will experience life with Him to its fullest potential.
In Matthew 6, Jesus lays out three spiritual practices that all believers are to participate in—giving, praying, and fasting—and tells us what our heart posture toward each one should be as we practice them. Let’s look at them in a bit more detail.
How to Give
“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. 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. But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” – Matthew 6:1-4 NLT
God is so generous. He forgives our sins, He pours out His mercy when we don’t deserve it, He shows patience toward us as we learn and grow and fail and fail again. So as believers, as people created in God’s image who have the same characteristics He does, we should be known for our generosity. Not just generosity of finances or material items (although that’s specifically what Jesus is speaking about in these verses). We should also be generous with our time, our love, our forgiveness, and our whole selves.
The key thing Jesus is emphasizing here is the heart attitude behind our giving. Whether you give a little or a lot, regardless of what you give, you shouldn’t do so with a desire to be seen and praised for your giving. Instead, a heart of generosity should be so second nature that it flows from us without much conscious thought.
That doesn’t mean that we can’t ever talk about our giving or tell people how we steward and share the resources God’s given us. It can be a great testimony to others to witness our generosity, and it may even inspire them to start living more generously themselves. But giving should always be done in humility, with no regard for what it’s costing us or if we’ll receive human acclaim for it. God sees all, and He will reward faithful, humble givers.
How to Pray
“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask Him! Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.” – Matthew 6:7-13 NLT
Jesus begins His instruction on prayer with the same warning He gave about generosity: don’t do it so that other people see you and praise you for your eloquent words or your profound spirituality. He tells us to pray in private, where only God can hear and see us. Again, this doesn’t mean that we should never pray in public, pray out loud, or pray for other people, but if we’re only doing that to receive a reward from people, we’re doing it for the wrong reasons.
Then Jesus gives us a model for how to pray. The prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13 is known as the Lord’s Prayer. The model looks something like this:
- Put God first (“Our Father in heaven…”)
- Surrender to His will (“May Your will be done…”)
- Recognize that God is the source of our life (“Give us today the food we need…”)
- Repent for our sins (“Forgive us our sins…”)
- Ask God for whatever we may need (“Don’t let us yield to temptation…”)
When we pray, we shouldn’t feel the need to keep repeating ourselves or say things “right” in order for God to answer us. In fact, sometimes our prayers won’t look anything like the Lord’s Prayer model—they’ll be messy, all over the place, or without words at all (Romans 8:26). That’s okay. God desires honesty more than the appearance of perfection. As long as you’re praying from a humble, honest heart that longs to glorify and obey God above all else, you can be confident that He will hear even your simplest prayers.
How to Fast
“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” – Matthew 6:16-18 NLT
Lastly, Jesus instructs His followers on how to fast. Fasting is simply abstaining from food (or other distractions) for a period of time so that you can devote all your attention to God in prayer. There are many reasons to fast: for healing, intervention, permission, protection, decision-making, or just to get time away from the world to be with God. Before you begin a fast, pray about what you should fast and for how long.
Just like with giving and praying, fasting should not be done to receive the admiration of others. While we’re fasting, we shouldn’t look more disheveled in appearance than normal or overly exaggerate our fatigue just to draw attention to ourselves.
However, if someone does ask, or if you have a natural opportunity to share why we fast—especially if your experience encourages or edifies that person—you should absolutely do so. Again, what Jesus is cautioning against is fasting for selfish reasons.
Whether or not people know we’re giving or praying or fasting, God knows, and that’s all that matters. If we’re practicing these things regularly to honor Him, seek His will, and draw closer to Him, He will reward us.
