When we set out to practice what Jesus preaches, one of the first things we must learn to do is deny ourselves, and take up our cross and follow Him. However, I cannot take up my cross if I refuse to let go of the debts owed to me by my debtors. If I do not forgive others their trespasses against me, I am not practicing what Jesus preaches. Forgiven people are forgiving people. As God has been merciful to us, so must we be merciful to our debtors. Mercy received must result in mercy practiced. As God has dealt graciously with us, so must we deal graciously with those who trespass against us. Grace delivered must lead to grace shown to others.

So far, Jesus has taught us to confess God as our Father, to sanctify His name, to pray for His Kingdom to come, and for His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He’s taught us to trust God for our daily bread as well as for our daily grace, first for ourselves, then for others. This morning, Jesus teaches us that in the same way we must trust God to give us our daily bread and our daily grace, we must also trust Him to “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

When it comes to facing temptation it is not a matter of if, but of when. So when temptation comes upon us we must trust God to help us keep our commitment to keep practicing what Jesus preaches. We approach God to ask Him to help us practice what Jesus preaches.

The Disciples’ Prayer begins with an invocation: “Our Father in heaven.” An invocation is an appeal for God’s attention. It’s an invitation for Him to come and make His presence known to us. The invocation governs and guides the entire prayer. We tend to link the invocation to the first three petitions. We are so comfortable praying, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” we can overlook the fact how the invocation also applies to what comes next: “Our Father in heaven, Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

The Disciples’ Prayer is meant to be a pattern for our prayer. Jesus is teaching us how to pray not what we should pray. Now it’s not wrong to pray this prayer word-for-word, as we often do and as we will prior to taking Communion after the sermon. However, using the prayer as a model can help us avoid the kind of word-for-word repetition that can lead to the kind of heartless, repetitive prayer for which Jesus condemns the hypocrites and the Gentiles. In the end, this is not so much a command as it is an invitation to pray like Jesus.

In Matthew 6, Jesus draws attention to how two groups of people approach God in prayer. The first group approaches God in order to be seen by the other employees – as if to show Him, as well as their co-workers, how hard-working and dedicated they are to the corporate mission. Jesus calls them hypocrites. Religious hypocrites pray in order to be seen praying in public. But there is a better way to approach God in prayer than by seeking public approval.

The second group Jesus mentions are the Gentiles. In the Bible, a Gentile is anyone not born into the nation of Israel. Most Gentiles worshiped idols. Judging from what Jesus says about them, Gentiles approached God with the attitude that He was just one god among the many they already worshiped. Gentiles were religious pagans. Modern day Gentiles would self-describe as spiritual not religious. But whether spiritual or religious they are approach God with the attitude they can use a waterfall of words to persuade Him to give them what they want. Jesus calls them babbling fools who think God will listen their prayers because they can pile up word upon word, sentence upon sentence, and phrase upon phrase. Jesus says there is a better way to approach God in prayer than by using a Thesaurus.

Practicing righteousness is the practical outworking of everything Jesus has taught thus far in the Sermon on the Mount. In John 6.27, Jesus said, “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him God the Father has set His seal.” To practice righteousness is to do what is right. When we do what is right, we labor for the food that endures to eternal life. This food is the reward God gives to those who strive to be perfect as He is perfect. Jesus warns us to beware of practicing our righteousness because He knows it is easier to maintain good optics, than it is obedience from a pure heart. He knows we will be tempted to seek the praise of others more than the pleasure of God. It’s better to be rewarded by God than applauded by others.

As Jesus preaches through the Sermon on the Mount, He adds more weight to what it means to be His disciple. He began with the Beatitudes. To this He added the weight of being salt and light. To this, He added the weight of having our righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees – the top religious leaders in Israel. Following this, Jesus added more weight by issuing what has come to be known as the six antitheses – a series of instructions in which Jesus contrasts what the people were told the Law says, versus what He says is its original intent. Each contrast begins with Jesus saying, “You have heard it said, … but I say to you.”

By the time Jesus delivers the Sermon on the Mount, leaders of the religious and legal establishment in Israel had replaced the original intent of the law of retaliation with their own interpretation. They took a law clearly intended to be used to settle disputes by a judge in a court of law, and used it to settle personal grudges and grievances through vigilante justice.

In their zeal to avoid breaking the Law the Pharisees substituted their interpretation of the Law for the Law itself. As a result, they lost sight of its original intent. This is where Jesus enters the conversation. He is the Second Moses come not to nullify the Law, but to fulfill it by restoring its original intent. According to Jesus, the original intent of the Law with respect to oaths is this: practice the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in everything you say and do.