The next section of the sermon teaches that alms must be given secretly, not openly for recognition; prayer is to be between you and God, not out in public for the notice of others; and “when you pray, do not use vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him,” (Matthew 6:7, 8). In other words, be confident that God hears prayer. And though he later teaches that persistence in prayer is a good thing, he is here condemning insincere, vain repetition (or babble) for its own sake. Then Jesus goes on to give the multitude his famous exemplary prayer, known as the Lord's Prayer or the “Our Father.”

Forgiving others their debts or trespasses as God forgives ours is an extension of many of the previously stated precepts Jesus is preaching. In this context he interprets it by illustrating his own meaning: reach out and love someone who, by your standards, is unlovable, and you'll begin approaching the Kingdom-of-God lifestyle. “Lead us not into temptation” refers to the kinds of temptation he had just recently withstood from Satan; that part of the prayer could be rephrased as “Father, don't test us beyond our spiritual strength to withstand.” And the threefold conclusion of the prayer is a reminder that the glory is not to be ours, but to be reflected back to God and that all is to be undertaken, and prayed for, for his sake, not our own.

After Jesus recites the Lord's Prayer he returns to the earlier theme: don't do your spiritual obligations for show, but for the Father only, applying the point this time to fasting. Then follows one of the most famous passages in the sermon: “Lay up your treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt and where thieves do not break in to steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” (Matthew 6: 20–21).