PIETY WITHOUT DISPLAY. -- Matthew 6:1-15. GOLDEN TEXT. --_ Man looketh at the outward appearance, but God looketh upon the heart._ -- 1 Samuel 16:7. TIME AND PLACE. --Same as in the last two lessons. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Matthew 5:27-48; Luke 11:1-4; Luke 14:12-14. LESSON ANALYSIS. --1. _The Right... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN, THEREFORE, THOU DOEST ALMS. This is the first example. The wrong way, that of the hypocrites, is described. The Greek word rendered hypocrites, means. theatrical actor, one who is not real, but acts. part. Their method was to give with the utmost ostentation. Giving to the poor has always bee... [ Continue Reading ]
LET NOT THY LEFT HAND KNOW WHAT THY RIGHT HAND DOETH. A strong expression to indicate that there must be no publishing of our alms deeds, and that secrecy rather that publicity must be sought. THAT THINE ALMS MAY BE IN SECRET. It is not concealment that is required, so much as to avoid ostentatio... [ Continue Reading ]
II. THE RIGHT AND WRONG WAY OF PRAYING. 5. AND WHEN THOU PRAYEST, THOU SHALT NOT BE, ETC. The second example of the right and wrong kind of righteousness is now given. That men ought to pray is assured. Prayerless men cannot consistently praise the Sermon on the Mount and the morality of Jesus of... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU PRAYEST, ENTER INTO THY CLOSET. Private devotions are meant, nor is this designed to prohibit prayers in public assemblies, as some have foolishly contended. The Lord himself both prayed "in the mountain alone," in the night alone, and in public in the presence of his disciples. We have r... [ Continue Reading ]
USE NOT VAIN REPETITIONS AS THE HEATHEN DO. The priests of Baal in the memorable contest with Elijah repeated the whole day, "O Baal, hear us." The Mahometans are required to repeat some expressions thirty times, and others as often as. hundred. The Roman Catholics often do penance by repeating the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR YOUR FATHER KNOWETH. Here is given abundant reason for short prayers. The Father already knoweth what we need. Our prayers do not tell our Father our needs, but simply confess our consciousness of them, and our trust that he can and will supply them. Both these feelings must precede answer to p... [ Continue Reading ]
III. TEACHING THE DISCIPLES TO PRAY. 9. AFTER THIS MANNER PRAY YE. The Savior does not bid us use these words, nor command any set form, but gives this as. proper example of prayer, simple, brief, condensed, yet all-embracing. That the Lord did not design it for liturgical use, as is supposed by t... [ Continue Reading ]
THY KINGDOM COME. The Messiah's kingdom, which in its organized form had not yet come, was proclaimed by the Lord himself as at hand. It did speedily come, as opposed to the Old Testament theocracy; but in its fulness, including the triumph of Christ's kingdom over the kingdom of darkness, it has n... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD. The second part of the prayer he gives here, with the petition for daily bread, the fourth petition of the prayer. We are bidden to ask for our bread, not for future years, but for "this day." God does not promise to provide for the future until the future comes. T... [ Continue Reading ]
FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, AS WE FORGIVE, ETC. This is the fifth petition. Debts mean moral obligations unfulfilled, our shortcomings, our sins. Let it be noted with emphasis that God is asked to forgive us _as_ we forgive others. If we are stern, hard and unforgiving we ask him to be so toward us; if w... [ Continue Reading ]
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION. The sixth petition. The spirit of this clause is that God may preserve us from temptations that might lead us astray. No man can pray these words who does not try to keep out of temptation. He who asks the Lord to keep him from temptation, and yet rushes headlong into i... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF YE FORGIVE MEN... YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER WILL FORGIVE YOU. Our Lord makes it. condition of our obtaining forgiveness that we shall forgive. The importance of this condition is shown by our Lord returning to this clause of the prayer, the only one that he reconsiders. Our great need is remissio... [ Continue Reading ]
TRUST IN OUR HEAVENLY FATHER. -- Matthew 6:24-34. GOLDEN TEXT. --Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.-- 1 Peter 5:7. TIME AND PLACE. --As in the preceding lessons. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Matthew 6:16-23; Luke 16:9-13; Psalms 55:22; Luke 12:22-31; Psalms 23:1-6. LESSON, ANALYSIS. --1.... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE NO THOUGHT FOR YOUR LIFE. At the time the Common Version was made, in the reign of King James, the expression "Take thought" meant to be anxious, to have gloomy forebodings. Many examples of such use of the phrase could be drawn from Shakespeare or his contemporaries. The Revision properly ren... [ Continue Reading ]
II. THE BIRDS AND THE LILIES. 26. BEHOLD THE FOWLS OF THE AIR. The birds of heaven. The one point that the Lord wishes us to behold is that the birds are fed without sowing or reaping. The argument is that if God feeds the birds, so that they have food in their season, and supplies all their wants,... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH OF YOU CAN ADD ONE CUBIT, &C. There can hardly be. doubt that this ought to be rendered, "add one cubit to his age," or period of life. We speak of life being. span, which is also. measure of length. The word rendered "stature" also means age, and that idea is more in harmony with the context... [ Continue Reading ]
CONSIDER THE LILIES. God clothes the lily. If so why should you be anxious? You are worth more in his sight than the lilies. While the lilies do not toil or spin they do their work, draw up sustenance from the earth and drink in the dew, rain and sunbeams. If the lily could and would refuse to do t... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY. To the Jew the court of Solomon was the highest representation of human glory. The magnificence of the court is not only celebrated in Jewish writings but in all oriental literature, and it is still proverbial throughout the East. Yet he was never arrayed with the tas... [ Continue Reading ]
IF GOD SO CLOTHE THE GRASS OF THE FIELD. Wild flowers belong to the herbage that is cut with the grass. In Palestine the forests in many localities disappeared thousands of years ago and in the scarcity of fuel dried grass and weeds are often used to heat the oven. The argument is plain. If God clo... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE TAKE NO THOUGHT. Have no anxiety over the question of food and raiment. Do your duty with. full trust in God that he will see that you do not lack for these things. The emphasis bestowed on these two human wants is justified by the fact that they are the great subjects of human anxiety. T... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AFTER ALL THESE THINGS DO THE GENTILES SEEK. This worldliness, anxiety and distrust might do in heathen who have no knowledge of. heavenly Father, and it is not surprising that "after these things the Gentiles seek," but you have. heavenly Father and he knows that ye NEED ALL THESE THINGS. Will... [ Continue Reading ]
III. SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM. 33. SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD. The way of the Gentiles and of the world is to seek first earthly things. The interests of this world are constantly given the pre-eminence. Christ has said that if we do our duty, as the bird and the lily do theirs, we will have ou... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE, THEREFORE, NO THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW. Again it should read, as in the Revision, "Have no anxiety about to-morrow." The "therefore" refers to the reasons given before for freedom from anxiety. These reasons apply only to those who comply with the conditions; _seek first_ the Kingdom, and its r... [ Continue Reading ]