Jesus offers a "model prayer" in Matthew 6 as part of this sermon, and it ties back to the observations he made earlier about how both Jews and Gentiles typically prayed. In response to prayers designed either to bring glory to the one who is praying, or prayers offered in empty repetitions intended to capture an indifferent god's attention, Jesus offers a simple, straight-forward example of what an effective prayer ought to be.

And he starts by addressing "Our Father in heaven." We often take this for granted, but the address of this prayer serves to center our mind on exactly who we're praying - just as it does in our prayers today. We see God as both the exalted, heavenly creator, but as the being that cares for us in a way that our earthly fathers ought to model, but often do not.

Seeing God as our Father reminds us that God is not distant, he is not indifferent, and he wants to give good gifts to those who ask. In a generation where fatherhood isn't always in line with the biblical vision, we see Jesus reminding us that our true father is eternal, just, and seeks those who seek Him.

In Matthew 6, Jesus continues a discussion of kingdom character, describing how our motivation matters in serving God. He describes three aspects of righteousness - prayers, alms, and fasting - to show how "works of righteousness" can be distorted and corrupted when our attitude shifts to self-promotion and self-fulfillment.

In the midst of this discussion, Jesus describes what is often called "The Lord's Prayer," which is in reality more of a prayer example than a model or template. In the context of trusting God as a Father who hears us without the need to use "much speaking" or vain repetition of speech, Jesus shows how acceptable prayer ought to look. The point isn't so much the specific elements - although each that he mentions is a part of acceptable prayer - as much as a reminder of the attitude of trust that must define our requests to God.

In Matthew 6, Jesus elaborates on the idea of being "perfect," or complete in our character, describing how disciples are to perform their righteousness. In contrast to the hypocritical worshipers of Jesus' day, he calls disciples to do good works motivated by serving God, by pleasing the Father as opposed to impressing people around them.

While the religious world often defines religion as hypocritical - an outward expression intended to project righteousness - Jesus describes religion as a devotion to serving God through good works and worship, directed not at impressing people, but on reflecting our devotion to God.

In Matthew 6, Jesus goes beyond a description of kingdom character, and starts looking at values. What is important to us in this life? What reward do we want? What do we value?

He transitions from the idea of serving God for the purpose of gaining prestige, exploring the question of what sort of reward we want out of life - do we seek material rewards or spiritual, eternal rewards? Jesus makes three points in v. 19-24:
- Focus on storing up eternal treasures, not treasures on the earth
- Make sure you view the world through the proper perspective
- You can divide your service between two masters, two goals, two perspectives in life.

Kingdom character requires a singular focus on pleasing God, preparing for the eternal reward to come, not allowing things of this world to divert our attention.

Esther is one of those stories that stands out somewhat in the Bible, similar to the book of Ruth in that it is not a book that focuses on a moral or religious message, instead on the lives of God’s people. And as is often pointed out, the name of God is never mentioned - but faith permeates the text, and we see God fully at work and engaged in the lives of his people, even though we don’t see God acting miraculously. And for that reason it feels as if the book of Esther is especially valuable for us today, even though it is a different culture. We see God’s people relying not on divine intervention or divine revelation, but rather doing their best to live as God’s people in an ungodly civilization, and praying to God for guidance and deliverance.

When Jesus says in Matthew 5:17-18 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished," there are a number of ways in which this is true, and we've been talking about how Jesus fulfilled the law through his perfect teaching and his sinless life.

Those concepts likely aren't the primary point Jesus is trying to make here, but they're important to understand when we look at Jesus' claim that he himself is the fulfillment of the law - as his life, his deeds, his teachings, and ultimately his death and resurrection are all things to which the law has pointed for more than 1,000 years in prophesy, pattern, and personality.

And when we think about what that entails, when we look at the king predicted in passages like Daniel 7:13-14 - one coming in the clouds, standing before the Ancient of Days, receiving a kingdom that shall not be destroyed, only a perfect man, upright and righteous before God could ever fulfill that prophesy.

But Jesus didn't just fulfill this one - he fulfilled ALL of them - as many as 350 prophecies concerning more than 60 specific details, written from 400 years prior to more than a thousand years prior. What are the odds that someone could manage that feat?

We see Jesus deliberately fulfilling prophecy, we see Jesus' opponents fulfilling prophecy, we see Jesus being born into the fulfillment of prophesy - even fulfilling the prophecy that when he finally did come, he would be "despised and rejected of men."

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-20:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Understanding how Jesus fulfilled the law of Moses is a vital part to our understanding of how we can use the Old Testament writings today - even knowing we are not under the law but under Christ. 

This week, we talk about how Jesus fulfilled the law in that he met its every obligation perfectly, honoring all aspects of the law both in the letter and the spirit. Jesus not only provides an example of true obedience, but in meeting the obligation of the law, he was able to justify us as well, paying our debt through his sacrifice.

This continues a series of lessons from Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5-7.

One of the primary criticisms that Jesus faced during his ministry was that he violated the law - even though he kept the law perfectly. He was accused of ignoring the law when he ignored the traditions of the Jewish teachers of the day. He was accused of impurity because he ate and drank with sinners. In overturning the temple merchandise tables and otherwise pushing back against the prevailing religious climate, Jesus was portrayed as an outsider trying to subvert the people away from the law of Moses.

So when Jesus preaches the "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5, one of the first things he stresses is that he did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. And he adds: "For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Understanding how Jesus fulfilled the law is important for us as Christians today, because it helps us understand how to apply Jesus' teachings, as well as showing us how the Old Testament writers are still important for our faith in Christ. This lesson is part one of that study, as we look at Jesus' fulfillment of the law from the standpoint of a teacher: Jesus taught the law perfectly!

In 1 Kings 13, we see a story of a prophet who goes to the city of Bethel by the will of God and rebukes the king of Israel for his defiance of God's commands. He does so under strict orders: do not eat or drink while you're there, and don't return the same way that you came.

But on the way back, he's met by an old prophet who tells him that he has heard word from an angel, who told him that he should invite the prophet home with him to eat and drink. The younger prophet believes him, and as a result, the young prophet is killed on the way home for disobeying God's command.

This seems like an unfair story in a lot of ways - why should the young prophet be punished for being deceived, but the prophet who deceived him goes unharmed? There are a lot of things we're not told about the motivations behind some of the actions in this story, but this passage gives us a lot to think about in terms of God's expectations for us. What happens when we believe a lie? What happens when we allow ourselves to be convinced that God said something, when we know from the word of God that he said something else?

As we work around limitations in how, where and with whom we can assemble in this pandemic, many Christians have wrestled with the question of remote worship. Are we truly "assembling with the saints" if we aren't physically in the same space? The debate goes back and forth, but in the process, I think we miss one of the most important questions in this whole issue: why are we assembling in the first place?

As we read the New Testament, we see a picture of Christians coming together for the purpose of encouraging and supporting each other. In fact, the Bible talks about Christian assembly as a method of building up others far more than it talks about the actual worship aspect.

Our responsibility in assembling together is to contribute our abilities to the encouragement of the Christians with which we worship. There are a number of ways we can do this, but we have to do it somehow! We aren't provided with an exception to our responsibilities in building up the brethren - so as we discuss our worship, as we consider whether we've fulfilled our "obligation" to worship by sitting in our homes and watching a streaming video, we need to ask ourselves what we've done in the past week to build up our brothers and sisters in Christ. Are we involved in their lives? Have we done something to help strengthen their resolve to follow Jesus?

If we haven't done that, the question of whether I've "assembled" or not may not matter!