Showy religion

6 “Be careful that you don’t practice your religion in front of people to draw their attention. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

² “Whenever you give to the poor, don’t blow your trumpet as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may get praise from people. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. ³ But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing ⁴ so that you may give to the poor in secret. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.

Showy prayer

⁵ “When you pray, don’t be like hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will see them. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. ⁶ But when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.

Proper prayer

⁷ “When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard. ⁸ Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask. ⁹ Pray like this:

• Our Father who is in heaven,
• uphold the holiness of your name.
• ¹⁰ Bring in your kingdom
• so that your will is done on earth as it’s done in heaven.
• ¹¹ Give us the bread we need for today.
• ¹² Forgive us for the ways we have wronged you,
• just as we also forgive those who have wronged us.
• ¹³ And don’t lead us into temptation,
• but rescue us from the evil one.

¹⁴ “If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you don’t forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your sins.

Showy fasting

¹⁶ “And when you fast, don’t put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They distort their faces so people will know they are fasting. I assure you that they have their reward. ¹⁷ When you fast, brush your hair and wash your face. ¹⁸ Then you won’t look like you are fasting to people, but only to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Earthly and heavenly treasures

¹⁹ “Stop collecting treasures for your own benefit on earth, where moth and rust eat them and where thieves break in and steal them. ²⁰ Instead, collect treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust don’t eat them and where thieves don’t break in and steal them. ²¹ Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Seeing and serving

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how terrible that darkness will be! ²⁴ No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

Worry about necessities

²⁵ “Therefore, I say to you, don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or what you’ll drink, or about your body, what you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds in the sky. They don’t sow seed or harvest grain or gather crops into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are? ²⁷ Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life? ²⁸ And why do you worry about clothes? Notice how the lilies in the field grow. They don’t wear themselves out with work, and they don’t spin cloth. ²⁹ But I say to you that even Solomon in all of his splendor wasn’t dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If God dresses grass in the field so beautifully, even though it’s alive today and tomorrow it’s thrown into the furnace, won’t God do much more for you, you people of weak faith? ³¹ Therefore, don’t worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ ³² Gentiles long for all these things. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ Instead, desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore, stop worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Judging

7 “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. ² You’ll receive the same judgment you give. Whatever you deal out will be dealt out to you. ³ Why do you see the splinter that’s in your brother’s or sister’s eye, but don’t notice the log in your own eye? ⁴ How can you say to your brother or sister, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when there’s a log in your eye? ⁵ You deceive yourself! First take the log out of your eye, and then you’ll see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s or sister’s eye. ⁶ Don’t give holy things to dogs, and don’t throw your pearls in front of pigs. They will stomp on the pearls, then turn around and attack you.

Asking, seeking, knocking

⁷ “Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened. ⁹ Who among you will give your children a stone when they ask for bread? ¹⁰ Or give them a snake when they ask for fish? ¹¹ If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. ¹² Therefore, you should treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you; this is the Law and the Prophets.

Narrow gate

¹³ “Go in through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it. ¹⁴ But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it.

Tree and fruit

¹⁵ “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you dressed like sheep, but inside they are vicious wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruit. Do people get bunches of grapes from thorny weeds, or do they get figs from thistles? ¹⁷ In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, and every rotten tree produces bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree can’t produce bad fruit. And a rotten tree can’t produce good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore, you will know them by their fruit.

Entrance requirements

²¹ “Not everybody who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. ²² On the Judgment Day, many people will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name and expel demons in your name and do lots of miracles in your name?’ ²³ Then I’ll tell them, ‘I’ve never known you. Get away from me, you people who do wrong.’

Two foundations

²⁴ “ Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on bedrock. ²⁵ The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It didn’t fall because it was firmly set on bedrock. ²⁶ But everybody who hears these words of mine and doesn’t put them into practice will be like a fool who built a house on sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It fell and was completely destroyed. ”

Crowd’s response

²⁸ When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching ²⁹ because he was teaching them like someone with authority and not like their legal experts.