Can You Hear Me Now? Keys of the Kingdom: Godly Character for a Godless World Calling Collect Subseries New Life Assembly Matt 6:5-18 July 3, 2011 Main Sermon Idea: We pray and fast to connect with God, not win spiritual points. Sermon Application: Praying is something we should do to commune with God, not to win spirituality points. Fasting is something we should do with pure motives so that we will receive the best reward. Pray more for God than others. Fast more for the sake of the Kingdom, not yours. Introduction Prayer and fasting are essential parts of the Christian life. I ve entitled this last miniseries Calling Collect because it s a perfect picture of prayer and fasting, asking and seeking. There are only two more sermons left for this whole series on the Sermon on the Mount. Calling collect is something that we used to do all the time. I don t know if it s still. a possibility, but it used to be that a person who did not have the money to make a call could call collect, asking the receiver of the call to take care of the charges for making the call. When we pray, we are calling God collect. We are asking Him to listen to us and to converse with us, although nothing we have or are as people could force Him to answer us or even listen to us. And yet in His grace He does! As we talk about prayer, I m going to lay down a very basic definition, partially because we make prayer too complicated, and partially because it leaves us enough room to observe some things we would otherwise miss. Fasting as well is an often left untried part of the Christian walk, so I m going to talk about fasting as a requirement for the Christian in our world. Let s start by reading through our text today in Matthew 6:5-18. I. Praying reminds us of God s character and will (5-15). A. We don t pray to be noticed by people. 1.Hypocrites have ulterior motives for prayer. a. Jesus opens the discussion on prayer by talking about hypocrites. We should note that in chapter six, all of the things Jesus talks about are things we should do in secret for different reasons. b. So why should we pray in secret? Because we don t want to be hypocrites. Hypocrite comes from two words that mean two faced c. Illustration: The Greeks used to put on such wonderful plays in their amphitheaters. An amphitheater had such good acoustics that 1
an actor could be heard by everyone in the theater even at a whisper! The Greeks had this way of depicting emotion and also different people in the play with masks. One actor might play several parts, and also female parts. So they needed a way to designate different characters in the play. The idea of having two faces was greatly understood by the Jews listening to Jesus message, and it was a perfect image of someone to not imitate, for no Jew would imitate the Greeks or Romans! d. So then a hypocrite was someone who was one way in one environment, and yet completely a different person in another environment. e. Jesus implied that those who are hypocrites in prayer are those who pray for the benefit of others rather than God and their relationship with Him. f. They were more concerned with others hearing their prayers and seeing them pray. And yet they had no true relationship with God in private! g. Application: Everyone always tells me that one of their biggest hang-ups about going to a church is that there are too many hypocrites there. We re all hypocrites at one point or another. In what way could you see someone thinking you are a hypocrite? We must be genuine before others, true. But how much more should we be genuine in our prayer time with God! 2.Hiding away clears our motives and intentions. a. The reason hypocrites pray in front of others or in public is that others see what they re doing and think they are spiritual. The hypocrite gains points with people, but not with God. b. God knows us inside and out. He s not like someone who sees only our outward actions. He knows our inner thoughts and feelings. The reason that Jesus tells us to go into an inner room and hide when we pray is to keep us pure in our motives for praying. c. Our desire in prayer should not be for others to notice us but for God to listen to us. Prayer is about communicating with God, not hoping someone s wiretapping or eavesdropping on our conversation. d. We try to make this big show of prayer, make it some mystical thing or spiritual thing. Certain cultures and Christian sects don t even believe you can pray to God yourself! e. Illustration: I had an atheist friend in High School I was trying to witness to. I was currently the president of the Bible Club at our 2
school and everyone knew I was a Jesus person. There had been a car accident that took the life of a person in our class. Everyone was struck with grief, and so someone had asked if we might pray on the school grounds before we went to the busses. It had to be after school, but we gathered in the auditorium and I led us in the Lord s prayer and prayer for the family and for students. My friend walked up to me and I was surprised to see him there. He simply responded that he could get out of class five minutes early, and that he felt like he was the only light bulb in the room that wasn t lit. He felt out of place. f. I told my friend that prayer is simply asking God to be with us in our hardships. Of course, prayer also presupposes that God exists. It was another opportunity in his case for me to witness to him. g. Application: I could have looked pretty spiritual up there, all Bible Club pres and all that, praying the perfect prayer. But I was just another student who was upset by the circumstances. People will see a real relationship with God when they see conversation in our prayer life. But that presupposes that we have a prayer life and that we converse with God. How can others see a genuine prayer with God in public if we don t pray or know God personally in private? B. We don t pray to hear our own voice. 1.God is listening to us the moment we speak. a. The next thing that Jesus points out besides wrong motives for prayer by hypocrites is the idea of praying a certain way or praying specific words or many words. b. Illustration: We have this issue in our world today. There are a lot of filler words. The word like is a popular one. When I was beginning Bible College, I had to take a Public Speaking course and it was amazing how many of us were deathly afraid of utter silence! Used in the right orator s approach, silence can be a close ally. But we would fill every moment of silence with fillers, like, ummm, so, and so on. A multiplicity of words did not help our case! c. Let me say just a little about prayers with many words and also prayers with many filler references to God. I know that it is really hard to do this, but when we pray, we need not address God every five seconds or in every moment of silence or between every need that we bring to Him. He knows we re speaking to Him. And as far 3
as many words and phrases, we have made praying too complicated! d. Once again the Gentiles become examples of how not to pray. The Romans and Greeks had these perfect ways to pray to their idols. They had phrases that they said and specific ways of wording things. e. This was based on the understanding of the idols through a process of trying to get what you wanted. The idea of certain words or titles meant that you had power over the idol and they would have to grant your request. f. But when we come to God, we don t need that for two reasons. First, we are not out to have power over God and get what we want. We are out to communicate with God and share our needs with Him. g. Second, we cannot sway God s actions anymore than we already have. We re His children! How much more can you sway the Heavenly Father? What parent would not easily grant what requests that have ability to for their children? h. Application: One of the benefits of having a relationship with Jesus is that He has given us complete instant access into the throne room of God! When we pray, we are praying to the Lord. We don t need phrases and motives. We just need to begin speaking to Him. He s listening because His kids are talking! Pray with confidence and boldness! 2.There are no formulas or magic words to prayer. a. Divination was a way of trying to direct the gods to do what you wanted. Jesus tells us that we have no need of these phrases and magic words in prayer. b. Spells and magic are based on this idea of power through words. Rest assured that our words are powerful, with the power to kill and to bring life, but words are also not going to unlock some secret from God. c. Incantations and spells are not how God works. He doesn t work in secret. He works in the open. Don t think that saying the right phrases or using the right titles will have any more of an effect as not using them. d. We live in the information age, and there is a multiplicity of words in our daily life. Just take a moment to monitor in one day the amount of words you come into contact with! 4
e. There s something very important about prayer that Jesus touches on here. God already knows the needs you will bring to Him. He doesn t need words. He who searches the depths of your soul does not need to hear words, but He tells us to speak. Why? f. God likes for us to come to Him, to seek Him, to commune with Him. Words are never good enough, but we can use them at least in part. We are communicative beings, and we use words. They are not evil, but we must be careful to use them with excellence. Make each word count. Make each word more rich and precious in your communion with God. g. Application: There are whole movements devoted to praying certain words, even in Christian circles! While words are very powerful, they also can get in our way. There are times that words fall short. Pray as exactly as you can, but do not worry to pray like others or even pray a specific phrase that sounds spiritual. God wants to hear from you, not some dead saint or someone else. Other prayers are helpful, but we must address God as us. The way you communicate with God is part of what makes your relationship with Him unique. There are wrong ways to pray, but more often is that there is no prayer at all. C. We pray to converse with God. 1.We seek His glory. a. Jesus outlines in these verses a way to pray to God. We call this the Lord s Prayer, although it is more a model of prayer, a way to pray than it is a prayer that we must pray. b. It would make little sense for Jesus to tell us to not worry about empty phrases, and then feed us the right phrases to say. No, this is a model to get us started, to prime the pump. c. For the person who says, I don t know where to start! Or the person who says, I don t have any requests or the person who says, I have no way to start my prayers, Jesus has given us a great way to start. d. Let us look at the four sections of the Model Prayer. First, we see how Jesus starts His time with God. Our Father in Heaven reminds us of who God is, His relation as our father who wants to bless His children, and also that He is in heaven. What isn t possible for the one who lives on the highest plane of existence? e. Next, after getting a God-sized vision of who our God is, we are called to worship Him. The word for hallowed simply means to 5
make holy and revered. The name of God is His reputation. We seek to esteem Him! f. Then we concern ourselves with His will being done. That is why we exist on this planet, to see God s kingdom and will be advanced! g. We ask that His perfect will in heaven be done also on this earth. Because we live in a fallen world and the devil is the prince of the power of the air, this does not always happen. We want to be part of God s will and Kingdom coming to each individual we meet. 2.We seek His provision. a. Once we have a vision of God s Person and power, and properly reverence Him, we then turn to our needs. With such a powerful God, what could we ask that He is not already beginning to do? b. So we ask in faith for God to give us our daily bread. This can be taken both physically and spiritually. We can ask for God s provision for food and our needs, which we have already seen He will grant. c. But we can also ask for God to provide our spiritual bread, to feed on His written Word and the Living Word Jesus. We are in just as much need spiritually as we are physically. d. In John we see the importance of the Bread of Life. We can t live on the spiritual happenings of yesterday, much like the manna that spoils. We need fresh bread! e. We also seek His provision in one of our greatest needs, the need for forgiveness. We mess up a lot! We are only human. We can sin against God and others without even thinking about it! f. We need forgiveness. It s no good to live a life full of regrets and enemies. It will drive you mad. So another provision we need is God s forgiveness and grace. And we will find at the end of the prayer, that we need to give that same forgiveness. If we don t, it will tear us up in our souls, and then affect our spiritual life and our bodies! 3.We seek His protection. a. Not only do we see God for who He really is, bigger than our biggest mountain, but we also ask for our daily provisions, spiritual and physical. And next we ask God for protection, especially spiritual. b. We live in a dangerous world. The one who controls this world is evil beyond measure and imagination. He s out to get you and me. 6
We need not worry about him, because we have daily asked for God to protect us from him and from evil also. c. That one phrase can say either deliver us from evil or from the evil one. We need God s protection in our lives. Without His protection, we could be taken by surprise or could be destroyed. d. We live and work and move in a world that is not owned by our Father at this time. Every moment is a spiritual battle. And we need the Victorious Divine Warrior on our side! e. Now the other part asks God to not lead us into temptation. Someone might quickly point out from James 1:13 where James reminds us that God is not tempted by evil and tempts no one with evil. f. The word for tempt in Greek can also be the word for going through a trial. The prayer would then be lead us not into trials. Trials and temptations test our character. There are times in which God will use a trial or a temptation to build our character or show us something about ourselves. But those trials are very difficult for us! 4.We seek His wholeness. a. Some versions of the Bible include this phrase For yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen. There s nothing wrong with this at all, and it brings the prayer to a close, reminding us about God s kingdom and power. b. Right after talking about prayer and providing a model prayer for us to use to get started in communicating with God, Jesus brings up forgiveness. It was in the prayer, but He wants us to realize the reciprocal nature of forgiveness. c. Forgiveness is a two way street with God and us. When we receive God s forgiveness, but we aren t able to forgive others, God doesn t hear our prayers or answer them. d. There is a parable later that Jesus tells in Matthew 18:21-35 in which a servant learns quickly that forgiveness is a reciprocal principle. The master forgives this massive debt, and yet the servant goes out and throws another servant in prison for mere pennies! e. We must learn that at the very heart of our walk with God is learning to turn the power of His forgiveness of us into forgiveness for others in our lives. When we don t forgive, it doesn t hurt them. It hurts us! We re the ones hung up on whatever they did or said. They may not even know that they ve offended us! 7
f. Application: Let us be people who are more than willing to forgive others, reminding ourselves that God forgave us, the worst among sinners. When we have that healthy humility, we will find it easier to forgive others who trespass against us. Always hold your own trespass against God as worse than any trespass another person can have against you. II. Fasting reminds us of our dependence upon God (16-18). A. We don t fast to be noticed by people. 1.Hypocrites make fasting about spiritual points. a. Jesus continues with the subject of fasting, and it is tied together by two things: the point about hypocrites and how they act differently than what Kingdom characters are expected to act, and also the idea of being hidden when we do things to connect with God. b. Many people misinterpret this passage about fasting, so I hope that I can clear it up a bit for you in this message. The people in Jesus day were out to win spiritual points with their asceticism and extreme denial of the flesh. c. Illustration: Every son has had the argument with friends about whose dad is tougher. The thing starts out innocently enough, for we all know that dad is the strongest man we know. But then someone else thinks some other guy is stronger. But it grows into things like, Well my dad can bench press a car with one hand tied behind his back! Really?! d. Every one of us knows that moment when our spirituality sets us back by eons when we sense old pride raising its ugly head when someone compliments our faithfulness. e. We must avoid like the plague allowing such reactions. It s not about spiritual points. It s about connecting with God. We need to get that deep down in our souls. f. These people were running around with sullen faces and emaciated bodies, showing that they are fasting more than anyone else. It s not a race. It s about us and God, not about others seeing us. 2.Fasting with wrong motives brings the cheaper reward. a. So Jesus command to go and hide ourselves in fasting or to not tell anyone that we are fasting is based on the situation that is happening in His day, and still happens in ours. b. Jesus is not teaching that we cannot let certain people know that we are fasting, those who need to know. He is saying we should not make a point of what we are doing to others. 8
c. The motive of the hypocrites is to be seen by others, not to touch the heart of God or to desperately call on God for a need that will not be fulfilled without devotion. d. The reward that we receive when we have the right motives is that God powerfully communes with us in ways we could not imagine, answers our deepest prayers and desires because we have learned that He has the same longings, and moves in our world and life. e. Application: But we forego all of that the moment that we settle for spiritual points from other people. We get what we seek. If we truly seek God in our fasting, we get God. But if we seek the praise of people, we get their empty praises. I want God. I don t want spiritual points. I m happy to win the race, not to gain points. In a pass/fail system, I have no need for points. B. We fast to connect with God s will. 1.Don t dramatize your sacred time with God. a. The time that we spend with God is precious. When we settle for the praise of others or spiritual points, we cheapen that sacred time. We make it worth nothing because we are no longer seeking God. b. Especially in fasting, there are things that happen to you physically and spiritually that you might want to share, especially if someone is fasting along with you. c. It s not wrong to share these things in the proper context. But all too often we say things for the pure effect of what people will think or say in our favor. d. Our motives are much easier made pure when we don t tell others about it at all. We ve all done this spiriatul points thing at one point or another. But cheapening the deep things of God with such trivial pursuits not only cheapens our experience of God, but our ongoing relationship with Him. e. In a time of fasting, we are attempting to discern the mind of God, the will of God. We are not trying to get brownie points. Illustration: Have you ever been talking to someone on the phone or in person and not been there for the conversation? That s what happens when we fast for people instead of for God. f. Jesus tells us to make it look like we re not fasting when we re fasting. He tells us to look like everyone else so that we can t prove we re fasting. That way, pride does not get the last word. 2.Hidden fasting forces our true motives and true reward. a. The point of this whole section overall is that in our spiritual actions, in giving to the needy, in prayer, in fasting, in everything 9
that we do for God, we must do it in secret so that we do it with a pure heart and with pure motives. b. When we do it with the purest of motives and intentions, we touch God s heart and we get results. God responds to His children. He doesn t just leave us hanging. c. He hears and answers. And so we must pray and fast with secrecy from others so that we are not sidetracked by these games that we play with one another. d. Why should we care what anyone else thinks? They didn t die on a cross for us. They don t continually work wonders in our lives and hearts to remain in Christ. They haven t earned our desire to please them. But Jesus has! e. Application: Let us seek true reward in a continued intimate and powerful relationship with God rather than the praise of men. I would rather see God say to me on that day, Well done, My good and faithful servant! than to see someone wink at me for my many spiritual and pious actions. How about you? Conclusion One of the points I did not bring out in the sermon notes this morning is extremely important, perhaps one of the most important things I will ever say. You will notice in the beginning of both sections, the one on prayer and the one on fasting, that the phrase, And WHEN you Each believer is expected to pray and to fast. When s the last time you prayed? When s the last time you fasted? Jesus expects that we do it. He didn t say, If you fast. It s not optional. We must be actively doing both of these. If you re not praying, start today! Jesus gave us a model. Use that. There are others as well. It s not a sin to pray a prayer written by someone else, but we must graduate into using it as a guide more than the substance of our prayers. God wants to hear from you, not some dead guy. And we must fast. You can t claim that you don t know how because there are resources to help you fast. If you need the resources, please see me! As your pastor, it is my job to make sure you are doing what Jesus has required. One of the great sins of the American church is that we don t fast. We feast, but not on Christ. Let us feast through fasting so that we will find a Lord who knows us when we reach that great Kindom! 10