Matthew 6:5 15: omg, how should I pray? have to start this message off on a sad note this week our church ost a great warrior. A guy who has been part of ministry team here or a long time Bill Cutler, died on Wednesday night of a heart ailure Bill meant a lot to me personally, as he headed my personal prayer team in the last 3 years, there has not been a time when I preached anywhere that he didn t have a team somewhere, on their nees, praying for me or, at least when I would remember to tell him A lot of times when people come up to me and say, God hanged my life today, they didn t know it, but the power behind what I say was in that team praying for me. Today, for the first time in 3 years, he will not be praying for me during the service. His team is till there, of course, but our church definitely feels the loss. A gap left o fill. How fitting, however, that what we are talking about on the weekend of Bill s death, is prayer. What we ve been doing the last few weeks is ooking at some of the great prayers of the Bible, and we re going to onclude our series today by looking at the model Jesus gave us for how we should pray. Matthew 6. I know most of you have prayed this prayer Our Father So, let s get right into it today ML said that his was the kind of prayer you could pray 1000 times and always earn something new and the tragedy was that most people do pray t 1000 times but never realized the incredible things that are hidden within it. This prayer embodies the essence of what it means to know God as opposed to just being religulous. Let me show you what I mean. Before Jesus gets into that prayer, to tell us how to pray, you should notice that what he does first (in vv 5 8) is tell us how not to pray. He s setting up a contrast. He says, vs. 5 (( 6:5 And when you pray, ou must not be like the hypocrites. )) don t pray like the hypocrites, which is his little pet name for the Jewish religious leaders which is one of the reasons they killed him and vs 7 (( 7 And when you pray, do not as the Gentiles do)) (don t pray like the Gentiles who are also really religious, different than the Jews, but they prayed a lot). What He s doing is drawing a contrast between how religious people pray whether those are religious Jews, Christians, Muslims, American Indians, Buddhists, whatever, and how people who know the Gospel pray (You re like, I thought Jesus was religious no, Jesus totally debunked religion, which is why they killed Him but that s another sermon for another day but that undergirds everything I ll say) How do religious people pray? 1 2 ways (1) USE GOD (v. 5 6) 6:5 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Jesus is here describing a group of people who pray as a way of gaining respect from others. He s actually, in a strange fit o irony, saying the same thing Nietzsche, and Marx and Foucaul would later say for many people religion is a means to power a way to get respect; a way to feel superior to others It can actually be a means to power, a way of getting control over people. You re the most religious, so you re the most important, and you should be in charge. Well, obviously, Jesus says, when you use God as a means to an end, God s not a fan of that. The only really genuine motivation to pray or serve God is not to get something from Him, but to get more of Him. Last week I compared it a business model; or lover model. I asked whether you find God useful or beautiful. If you find God useful, you discipline 1 I learned a lot about this passage from Martin Luther and Tim Keller. I owe a grea deal of the insight in this passage to them, particularly Keller.
yourself to pray you force yourself to pray because it is a way of getting Him to do what you want (you pray to control Him); but if you find God beautiful, you love to pray, just to know Him more. Do you find God useful, or you find Him beautiful? Do you pray to control God, or to know God? Here s the acid test, Jesus says prayer in secret Everything else you do for God may be done for some other reason to be seen by others, to gain respect, to fit in with your family but prayer, in secret, is the thing you would only do if you want more of God. o So, what s your secret prayer life like? Do you want to evaluate your relationship to God? Put up all your I go to church. I m a great Christian leader. I know lots of verses. I give a lot of money. How much do you pray in secret? That shows how much you are really in this to know God. o By the way, notice, that when Jesus says hypocrites, he doesn t mean what we usually mean. We say hypocrites, we think of people who have a double life. In church on Sunday but secretly out having an affair. But notice, Jesus says that the hypocrite is simply one who doesn t have a passion to know God they are super religious, but it is not because they want to know God, but because they think he s a way to get something a better life now, going to heaven when they die (I noticed something this week I always get really sensitive to my sin around Saturday night start confessing my sin, getting stuff right with my wife not to know God, but because I want him to bless the sermon). My wife says calls it my PMS stage (premessage syndrome) o That s we re into religion to use God and not know God is demonstrated by how pathetic our secret prayer life is and it is as hollow to God as the husband who treats his wife simply as his maid, the mother of his children and his sexual partner. No love involved, you re just using Him. So, what is your prayer life like in secret? (2) TRY TO IMPRESS GOD (v. 7 8) 7 And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Religious people keep repeating these phrases because they think that in saying them God somehow becomes more excited about answering their prayers Here s the thing they assume that God is naturally hostile toward them, and only if you say the right things, and say them often and loud enough will God become favorably inclined toward you. So they pray in a way to get God s attention, to earn favor with Him. What s interesting is that most religions seem to teach some version of this Muslims recite the Koran over and over (Indonesia); Catholics: rosary beads, hail Marys; Buddhists chant when you think about it, it s actually kind of dumb o all the things that might impress God, just repeating ourselves over and over is what he wants? My kids come up to me and say, Dad, I want some chicken nuggets chicken nuggets, chicken nuggets (x5) I get it you want chicken nuggets. Now, you re annoying me. Next time ask your mother. o The word Jesus uses literally means babbling (battalogeo) It means when you pray you re intense; you keep repeating yourself, you re sweating and screaming, stomping your feet, waxing elephants with God and you think because of that God hears you. And you think that if you don t impress Him in some way, or do something to earn his attention, He probably won t hear you because He doesn t really care.
Jesus, on the other hand, says when you pray, boldly call God Father Now, what is He getting at? o Think about your own kids or if you had good parents, what it was like with them One thing I ve noticed about my kids is that they are not shy with me It doesn t matter what I m doing, or how busy I look when I m doing it, they always think I have time for them (and I love that, of course). My kids approach me in ways that anyone else doing that would be considered disrespectful or rude (baptism breaking through a line of 65 people waiting to be baptized, wanting to show me what they drew in SS). o This is one of the things that Christianity teaches that every other religion finds bizarre, disrespectful. Muslim s think it is irreverent. That s the point It s so intimate, it seems irreverent. So, see religious prayer is done in a way to try and coerce God to pay attention to you or to care about you; Gospelprayer flows from the assurance that you already have God s approval. (You say, Well, this is hard for me because I had a bad father who was not there for me I don t know what a real Father is like. Of course you do. That s why you are mad, because you know what a real Father is supposed to be like. Don t judge your heavenly Father by your earthly one; judge your earthly father by your heavenly one. This happened the other night in The Color Purple, the girl in the play had been abused by her dad and she s bitter against men, and ultimately ends up hating God because she sees him as a man, too. But don t do it that way judge your earthly father by your Heavenly one, not your Heavenly Father by your earthly one. Instinctively you know what a Father is supposed to be like. So, religious Gentiles pray to impress God, real Christians pray with the assurance that God is their loving Father and that He already knows and cares about what they need. To review: RELIGIOUS PEOPLE pray To Use God Try to impress God GOSPEL PEOPLE pray To Know God Trust in God as a Loving Father So, Jesus says, 9 Pray then like this: In other words, if you know the Gospel, if you get it, here s what your prayer will be like. These are the 5 elements of Gospel-centered prayer: (could do 3 sermons on each) 1. (Adoration (vv. 9 10)) o The prayer starts with adoration. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. o Adoration amounts to almost 50% of the prayer. In this first half of this prayer there is nothing yet about our needs it s all about God. o Why? Because there is nothing we really need more than to know God. And we will end up not asking for things correctly when we re not amazed by, and satisfied by, and enthralled by God. What we most need is to look at God until we are dazzled by Him amazed by Him. o Some of you think that you need a better marriage from God or a better job, better health (and you can ask for those things) But what you most need is to know the treasure you have in God. So, you call Him Heavenly : reminds you of His absolute sovereignty and beauty. Holy (Wholeness, perfection the perfection of His ways and plans.) And then Father Which is an amazing title of all the titles the Heavenly, Holy, Sovereign God wants us to call Him, He doesn t say, Call me,
Almighty One, or Lord Conqueror, Exalted King, but Daddy. o Before we ask God for a thing, we need to know the treasure we have in Him otherwise, everything you ask for from God will disappoint you because you ll try to substitute it for Him. You ll say, God, I NEED to be rich, or healthy, or married, or in a better marriage, to be happy. Then you ll worship and depend on those things in place of Him. o We have to pray with the assurance that life s greatest treasure is just Him. A lot of the hymns we sing express this An old Irish hymn, written over 1300 years ago says (when you write a song that stays popular for 1300 years, that s taking it to a whole new level), Riches I need not, nor man s empty praise, thou my inheritance, now and always; thou and thou only first in my heart, high king of heaven, my treasure thou art. o, adoration. So, now, you think OK, so I ve adored check, now, imme, gimme But look at the phrase that comes next 10 Your ingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Before ou get to petition, you ve got 2. Submission (v. 10) o See, you re still not in a position to say, gimme this until you ve said, your will be done. Because, otherwise, what you re saying to God is, God, I know what I need but I don t think you do. So, let me tell you what I need and let me try and coerce you to give it to me. o But when you say, Your will be done, what you re saying is, God, I know that you know what I need. I trust you so give me what you want to give me. o There are two phrases that Jesus gives us that should help us with this submission: The first is, as it is in heaven God, let your will do done in my life as it is in heaven. After all, is the one place where God s will is perfectly done! And i you haven t read the Bible lately, things going on up there are a lot better than they are down here. So, God, I know how good your will is I trust it so, let it be done. The second is Father When you call God, Father, you re saying, I know you re my dad, I know you care about me and want what s best for me. My kids ask me for lots of stuff and whenever they do, they always think they know best (little sinners)! My 3 year old comes up to me and says, Daddy, can we play with the hairdryer in the tub? No, you will electrocute yourself and you will die. Hopefully they recognize that there are some things I won t give them simply because I know more, and I care too much. We all get that, right? Question: Which is greater: The gap between my kids understanding and mine or the gap between my understanding and God s? Then why are you so mad at what God hasn t done in answer to your prayer? o Tim Keller says that worry and stress are us, as spiritual kindergartners, believing that we know, better than God, what we need, and worried that God just doesn t get it yet, and is not going to give it to us and so mess up our lives. o Bitterness is us, again, as spiritual kindergartners believing what we know, better than God, how our lives should hav turned out and we re mad they didn t. o So see, even your asking must be done in a trusting submission Father, I know that your will is a good will, the best will and I just trust being in your hands
Let me give you an illustration Rosary Ring ( What do you say back to that? I didn t say anything ) That sort of epitomizes it for me Which would you rather have? The blessings of God in your hand, or to know what you are in the hands of God? Now, at last 3. Petition (vv. 10 13) There are 3 major petitions, so let s look at each real quick 10 o Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. You re saying, God, bring the ultimate healing to the world we all long for. 11 o Give us this day our daily bread, This goes back to the story of the manna Well, after a while, some of the people decided they didn t like the idea of having to get up and not know for sure where breakfast was going to be, and having to go see if God provided it. (even though it was there every day). They wanted to collect it all. But God wanted to teach them to trust Him daily for their needs. Notice, he did not say, Give us our weekly bread. Now to be honest Most of us don t have to worry about where the bread we re going to eat today is going to come from most of you didn t get up and say, We got no food, we got no jobs our pets heads are falling off most of us woke up with at least the money we needed to eat today if not, we had a credit card So, let me show you were this applies in some other places (ready for this?) We show we don t trust God to provide our daily bread by our lack of generosity in a recession. Many of us are scared to give money because we re a little scared and we think now we ve got to hold onto our resources o and not give them away because God may not actually provide for us tomorrow! You see, to have a Christian community nearby is supposed to be good news for the poor during a time of recession. Lots of people give to the poor in times of abundance, but now that times are tight, a lot of people are scared and they are all sitting on their manna. But Christians are a group of people who aren t supposed to worry about tomorrow God will give daily bread tomorrow so today, we are free to give away our money, because we trust God will be there tomorrow to provide daily bread then, too. To pray, Give us our daily bread, means that yo look to God to give you, every day, all that you ll need to do His will that day. More than just mone and food wisdom to make a decision, strength to handle a difficult relationship, or to cope with grief or to overcome an addiction I ll tell you a little secret, as to why many of you are stressed. You are so worried about how you re going to survive in the future (Will I have a job? Will I be married? Will that guy ask me out again? Will I make a dumb decision and end up in a bad place, in debt, dead end job, bad marriage?) God doesn t want you to worry about how you wil survive tomorrow, He wants you to thrive today! God gives the abundant life only one day at a time. So, enjoy His provision today, and trust the ever-present, all sufficient God for tomorrow! 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evi This one is the most humbling for me, because it shows me just how dependent on God for everything.
Without God I d veer into evil. Like a car out of alignment God, keep your hands on my wheel! God s presence is like an inner light that fades the moment I take my eyes off of Him or He takes His off of me. I am desperate! Hymn: Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love! Here s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for the courts above! Questions about God s will?): If it s God s will, why need to pray? It will happen anyway like breathing. Just breathe! 4. Recognition (v. 12) 12 and forgive us our debts We pray recognizing that we are sinful, and that God forgives us. Two ways we can go wrong here think TOO HIGHLY of ourselves, so that we don t think we really sin. The other is to think TOO LOWLY of ourselves, and not believe God has really forgiven us. The first (thinking so highly of yourself that you don t think you sin) is blind pride; the second (thinking so low of yourself that you don t think God forgives you) is unbelief. 5. Response (vs. 12, 14 15) o 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. The assumption Jesus makes is that if we see how much God has forgiven us, we will forgive others. o It actually works for Jesus like another acid test 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. If we know how much God has forgiven us, we are immersed in a culture of grace, and it just flows out to others. On the other hand, if you have a hard time forgiving others, you must not realize how much God has forgiven you. You must still relate to God based on performance you think that God is giving you what you deserve, and so you are giving to others what they deserve, and that s why you don t forgive them, because they have hurt you and disappointed you and don t deserve your kindness. And that means you don t know God at all. No matter how Christian you look or sound, you don t really know God at all because the only way to know God is to recognize your sinfulness and trust in His grace and mercy. You see, when a person has a hard time forgiving someone else a husband, wife, business partner, ex-girlfriend it s out of an inward sense of superiority inwardly you think, I would never do what they did! But when you see that you are guilty of the same kinds of things that this person has done to you, and that God has forgiven you of them, you find yourself so much more willing to forgive. I learned this a few years ago in my marriage my wife (who is awesome) would hurt me or disappoint me and I didn t want to forgive her. I felt like, she wronged me, and I thought I didn t deserve what she was doing to me. But one day a friend pointed out to me that my own life was characterized by the same sin and selfishness that I was mad at in her and that God accepted me, freely and, in that moment, I can remember it, my heart softened. I would even say it saved our marriage! I said I won t give to my wife what she deserves, and hopefully she won give to me what I deserve because God s not given either one of us what we deserve
The Gospel established a culture of grace in our marriage and saved it from destruction! o When you really know God, you are immersed in a culture of grace You are amazed by God s grace and kindness and generosity to you, and that flows out to others. If not, it doesn t matter how sweetly you pray, or how Christian you look, you don t know God. Grace and generosity are THE marks of a person who really knows God. (Generosity) o, that s it Gospel centered prayer is adoration, submission, petition, recognition and response. was the Kingdom and power and glory that you turned your back on so that I could share in it with you forever and ever, Amen. The only way you and I will ever pray right is to understand the Gospel. The Gospel is that God accepts us not because of what we have done, but based on what Christ has done on ou behalf. It is a gift that we receive. Have you received that gift, and begun that relationship with God? If so, then every morning you should approach God in the knowledge of that This is what I do each morning 5:18 on 5/18 Can I show you one last thing about this prayer? Remarkable This is how you ll really learn to pray it Jesus prayed this same prayer for ou, at His death (with 2 exceptions). He said to God, Your kingdom ome, your will be done and let Himself be crucified. Because of that, I could be forgiven Because of that, God s kingdom could come into my life Because of that, I could have the assurance that He would provide my daily bread. But here s the 2 exceptions. When Jesus prayed this prayer at His death He omitted two parts of it o First, He didn t call God Father. (the only time in His life, in the whole New Testament, that He didn t address God as Father! Why? He had been forsaken. The Father had turned His back on His Son.) o And, He didn t pray deliver me from evil. He let evil kill Him, so I could be delivered from evil. Because He did that, I can say, from my heart, without fear, My ather, who is in heaven. Holy and wonderful is your name. Let your ingdom come and let me be a part of bringing it; let your will be done, in my life and on earth as it is heaven. Give me all that I need or today, and forgive me of my sin, while I forgive others, and God, eep me out of temptation and keep evil from destroying me. Yours