Matthew 6–7 finishes the Sermon on the Mount. Chapter 6 is about motives: give, pray and fast for Heavenly Father, not for an audience. People who blow a trumpet over their good deeds “have their reward” (6:2), meaning the applause is all they get. Jesus gave a pattern for prayer (6:9–13; compare Luke 11:1–4, where a disciple asked, “Lord, teach us to pray”) and warned against “vain repetitions” (6:7). Heavenly Father already knows what we need before we ask (6:8), and He still invites us to ask. Then comes treasure in heaven (6:19–21), the birds and the lilies (6:25–30), and the key verse: “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (6:33).
Chapter 7 is full of pictures nine- to eleven-year-olds can act out: a person with a beam (a wooden plank) in their own eye trying to pull a tiny mote (speck) out of someone else’s (7:3–5); a father who would never hand his hungry son a stone instead of bread, so how much more will Heavenly Father give good things (7:9–11); the Golden Rule (7:12); the strait (narrow) gate (7:13–14); false prophets who look like sheep but are wolves inside, known by their fruits (7:15–20). Jesus isn’t saying never to use judgment; the Joseph Smith Translation reads “Judge not unrighteously… but judge righteous judgment” (JST, Matthew 7:1–2). He warns against condemning others while ignoring our own faults.
The sermon ends with a warning and a picture. Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter heaven, but those who do the Father’s will (7:21). Then the builders: BOTH heard Jesus’s words, and BOTH houses got the rain, floods and wind. The only difference was that one builder did what He said (7:24–27). Following Jesus doesn’t stop storms; it keeps us standing through them. Helaman 5:12 teaches the same: build on the rock of our Redeemer, and the devil’s storms will have no power to drag us down. The people were astonished because He taught “as one having authority” (7:28–29).
For this age group, the big temptation of Matthew 6 is performance: doing good for likes, looking spiritual in front of friends, praying words without meaning them. Connect it to real life: deacons pass the sacrament and collect fast offerings quietly; Young Women and deacons alike set Children and Youth goals that no one else has to see. Heavenly Father “seeth in secret” and rewards openly.