Jesus invites his disciples to just ask of God through prayer. Disciples of Christ can pray with confidence because God is generous. God responds open-handedly to our requests. And disciples of Christ can pray with confidence because God is good. God responds for our good to our requests.

As we continue to journey through the Sermon on the Mount, we see in our passage that Jesus clearly lays out the right attitude of the Kingdom citizen: "judge not". While this does not mean that Christians ought to never make any judgments ever (we are commanded to discern false teachers, to discipline sin, etc.), we are never to look at others with a judgmental, critical attitude. Kingdom citizens understand that they too are prone to sin, and are to approach others in humility, having first taken the plank out of their own eye. It is only with this right attitude that we can truly build up those around us.

Disciples of Christ should not be anxious because anxiety is incompatible with Christian faith and anxiety is incompatible with common sense. Rather than being anxious, disciples of Christ should be ambitious for God’s kingdom and righteousness.

Jesus calls upon his disciples to lay up treasures in heaven, rather than on earth. And he gives three key reasons why we ought to do that. Disciples of Christ should lay up treasures in heaven rather than on earth because (1) what you treasure will capture your heart, (2) what you treasure will shape your life, and (3) what you treasure will be your master.

As Christians, we know that prayer is an important part of the Kingdom life, but prayer can be difficult. With the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches his disciples three important truths about prayer.

(1) Prayer is addressed to our heavenly Father.

(2) Prayer is aimed at glorifying God.

(3) Prayer is to be accompanied by a matching life.

After unpacking what true righteousness looks like, Jesus addresses the problem of fake righteousness. And in our passage, we see that false piety seeks the praise of others and is rewarded with empty applause, while true piety seeks the presence of God and is rewarded with lasting fulfillment.

Jesus wraps up his section in the Sermon on the Mount on righteousness, by talking about love. At the core of this new Kingdom righteousness is Kingdom love. In our passage, we see that Kingdom love never returns evil for evil and that Kingdom love seeks the good of even our enemies. And that's because Kingdom love looks like the King's love.