A Christian’s prayer: not mechanical but thoughtful (6:5–15) (Fasting/prayer)

Intro:

Good morning GracePointe. I am looking forward to diving into God’s Word with you today. We are going to be in Matthew, chapter 6 beginning in verse 5 today.

As you go there, I want to say thank you to our church family for helping make a wonderful event happen last night. Trunk or Treat 2022 was a smashing success. People visiting saw warmth, grace, and love on every volunteer that was helping make the evening special. Families and kiddos connecting GracePointe to a place where they felt safe and loved. Thank you for your generosity in money, time, and talents. Thank you for being the church!

Prayer.

I can’t tell you how many times i have heard that phrase. Let us pray. As a young kid, I would be at church. Someone would talk. Then they would say the words that would cause all the heads to drop down like a magic trick....let us pray.

To begin today, we must acknowledge that prayer is both wondrous and mysterious.

Why do I say wondrous? Well…we all have stories of miracles. Praying for God to intervene in our lives and he does. You probably all have a story.

Here is one story. I think of Sully grandson to Steve and Tami Stephens, born at 1 lb. all kinds of issues there at the beginning. Our church and other churches gathered together. We called on the name of the Lord..to heal this little guy. To heal, develop, and protect him from all the complications. And He did! Sully is now in 3rd grade and thriving! Loving legos and fending off his younger brother.

That story and many others are amazing and yet.....we are conflicted inside. Half of ourselves is amazed with the wonder that is that God listens. That God hears and God responds. Amazing.

The other half of us…is skeptical because there are other stories. Stories of surgeries, sickness, loss. Prayers were lifted and yet....nothing. It is a mystery.... This is deeply connected to you and it is mysterious in ways that are both amazing and difficult to process.

We need to remember that prayer is wonderful and mysterious. But what is it?

WHAT IS PRAYER

Prayer is communicating with God. More importantly, it is access to God. Prayer is based on a relationship to God, so the essence of prayer is simply talking with God based on that access to Him.

Access to someone changes everything. I was thinking about relationships in my life that changed with more access. First one that comes to mind is being at the hospital as my wife Jen gave birth to Benjamin. Our first child.

We are petrified. Ok…I am petrified. We are there a few days at the hospital and the nurse comes in to tell you that ....ok it looks like you will get to take Benjamin home today.

Not sure what your reaction was if you have had kids in that situation, but my internal reaction was. Um....no. You need to keep us here. I don’t know what I am doing. That little guy is a stranger still to me. I have a deep, instinctual affinity, i think its love… for him and we need to keep him alive....I don’t trust myself to do that. haha

Fast forward just a little bit, and because you have access to your child....your relationship is much much different. You are doing things you never thought you would be doing. Your are not just doing them..you are good at them. They get sick in the car, and how many of you parents put your hands right out there to catch it. When you first started taking care of them, you wouldn’t know what to do but now you jump right in there to help.

Access changes us. This is true of every relationship including our relationship with God. Prayer is a big part of that access as well as God’s Word. At any time, you can commune with God. Seconds, to longer times. I have unfortunately had situations where I have prayed through the night. Sleep wouldn’t come. I needed to cry out to God.

Prayer is conscious, personal communication with the God of the universe.

First mention of it in Scripture

First time we see it in Scripture is Genesis 4:26

Genesis 4:26 NIV

26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.

The people called on the name of the Lord. The word here for call points to invoke a person, to call a person by name. So the people began to invoke God, to call out to God by name. The name of Enosh, means frail, mortal man.

Not the best way to set up someone for success. What does your child’s name mean? Imagine some folks married and deciding to have a baby…going through the names. We named her lilith which means night monster. Haha that is true…look it up.

As mankind realized how vulnerable they were, they called on the name of God in the first mention of what we might think of as prayer.

We see David coming to the Lord in prayer in Ps 25. We see Moses praying the characteristics of God, the desperate prayer of Jonah, we see Solomon interceding for all the nations, not just his own… through out God’s word we see how prayer is something vitally important to the life of a follower of God.

Jump ahead to the time where Jesus is saying the words here found in Matthew chapter 6.

Historical Context of Prayer

Jews in Jesus’ day were expected to pray three times a day –three times a day they were to offer prescribed prayers they’d learned by memory.  For example, there was the ShEEMAH – the most fundamental prayer of all Jews – “The Lord our God is one God, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all Thy heart, mind and soul.” This and others were recited 3 times a day.

If you are already praying three times a day minimum....do you need more guidance on your prayer life? But Jesus points out that framework of the prayer is greater than the amount of times.

Today we will see that Jesus is reminding us what it looks like to be a member of the revolutionary kingdom. To be simply different as we have access to God.

MOTIVES FOR PRAYER

Matthew 6:5-6 , Christ begins by reminding us to not pray outlandish like the hypocrites to be seen by others. Rather pray with a heart for an audience of one. Your father God sees your heart and you receive your reward.

May we pray for the reason of being with God.... not for how others view us. Last week, pastor Paul talked about our motivations behind giving, fasting, and prayer. That we are, as followers of Christ, like the older brother in the prodigal son story…we already have our inheritance. We have access to God.

But we long to be considered holy in the eyes of others…It reminds me of what the Lord said to Samuel 1st Samuel 16:7, ...The Lord does does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Jesus is reminding us that it is better to pray to your Father in secret and be rewarded by Him than it is to pray in a way to be seen by men and be thought holy by them.

What greater reward than having access to God. His presence. The Kingdom is at hand because the King is here. The king answers requests in his own mysterious and wonderful way.

Thomas Robinson wrote this....

“Prayer is like the dove that Noah sent forth, which blessed him not only when it returned with an olive-leaf in its mouth, but when it never returned at all.” —Thomas Robinson

The reward could be in this life... the prayer answered…it could mean a prayer not answered…it could also be for the life to come in eternity. Since God is God, it could also be all the above. It is always for God’s glory and our good.

You don’t control God

Matthew 6:7–8 NIV

7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

It is important to note that how you pray....reveals characteristics you believe about God.

Historically, the word pagans here is used for those who are non-Jews. Other religions with all their different little gods. Historians point out that a common tactic to get their attention was flattery.

Commentaries frame it that the Greco-Roman gods were these immortal super-humans that could destroy a man or prosper him. It all depended on the humans ability to flattery and garner the attention of the super being. Mostly man was ignored as the beings engaged in their own schemes.

Friends....that is not our God. We don’t need to spam God....keep hitting send on the same conversation to Him. He knows. He loves. We do not control or manipulate God in any way.

HOW SHOULD WE PRAY?

We pray for an audience of one and we do not manipulate....

how should we pray? That question could be odd. And yet, I as a pastor find myself thinking the same thing. Does our prayer life reflect that amazing grace we have been given? Does it reflect a man who is flawed, and sinful and yet was rescued by God through Christ? Does my prayer life reflect a Holy Spirit inside that is pointing toward God? At times, yes. and many others…no.

So I say...Teach me to pray Lord. Teach us to pray. Verse 9 begins the teaching.

It begins with “This then is how you should pray. The model of prayer, the outline for what healthy prayer looks like. Not a rote script. It is a model.

It is the framework for our prayer life. I do not mean in anyway that saying the Lord’s prayer is bad. Far from it, I have a renewed interest in reciting this to myself.

However, the posture of my heart should know the framework If I am aimlessly reciting the script while thinking of basketball, or where I will eat later today.....I have jumped right over the motives of how I should pray and landed squarely on the mode by which I pray. Not reflective of a follower of Jesus in His Kingdom.

It begins “Our Father in Heave, hallowed be your name”. This is the introduction.

Remember our position - Our Father

Jesus is reminding us of our position with God. Other religions pray those they don’t know... You pray to Yaweh.....The one who knows the hairs on your head. The one who created you. The one who is near and loved you first before you loved Him. He is our father.

If we try and look at God our father through the lens of our earthly fathers....some might be ecstatic…but many others might be left wanting. There are those that say…my father wasn’t near…wasn’t loving…did not have my thriving in mind. He did not want me. So our view of God is tarnished.

But when we look at God our father through the lens of Jesus, His son…things shift considerably. Theologically, we do so because God, as Father, has created us and given us life. Through Jesus the Son, we are redeemed as children of God. Through the Spirit, God evokes the faith that enables us to recognize him as Father (Romans 8:15), trusting that he will give good things to his children (Matthew 7:11).

The point is this....when we pray. We start with our position to the Father as a child, as one who was saved by Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Remember His Position - Wonderful and Mysterious

Who is in heaven… Outside time and space. Generally speaking, people think of heaven as up. In the sky. But the word and concept of heaven was meant as authority as well. The place where only God can be. It is all around us.

This adds infinity to our understanding of God. Though Solomon built a temple for God, he prayed, in 1 Kings 8:27

1 Kings 8:27 NIV

27 “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!

The Father is near and intimate. He is also mysterious and has authority because of that mysteriousness. He is familiar and inexplicably vast.

Petition 1: Hallowed be Your Name

After the introduction, Jesus outlines three asks or petitions. The first three are God-centered and the last 3 are man centered. If you find yourself umping straight to what you need, what you want, the danger you are in…Order matters in the model of prayer.

Our first petition or ask is that that God’s name would be made great. According to Ezekiel 36:23-33, God would make his name holy by gathering people together, cleansing them from sin, and giving them a new spirit.

By such holy actions God’s “name” or identity is made known in the world.

The word hallowed indicates that all those who represent the name of God, that is His disciples, are to live in such a way that God’s holiness is exemplified. God is holy and we as His followers are to honor His name in the way we live.

Petition 2: Your Kingdom Come - v10

We see in verse 10: “Your kingdom come,” (v 10) is the second of the three God-centered petitions. The word kingdom here refers to authority to rule, or the royalty of God. In other words, God, in your great name, impose your authority upon a failed world. Before we get to what I need, may your rule and reign and authority come over the lives of those outside it.

This is radical revolutionary talk. The kingdom of God comes when Jesus proclaims God's reign, by preaching good news to the poor, sight for the blind, release for the oppressed... (Luke 4:18-19). God, may you reign.

This is death to self type of praying. Die to your self and remember who God made you into when He saved you. God may your kingdom be established in the lives of others. Even those I don’t like.

Petition 3: your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven

Our 3rd petition is that the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven. A condition here is that our prayer be aligned with the will of God. What does God desire? We must remember that God desires that none should perish but that all will have everlasting life. To save. To bring about life where there was death.

Jesus came to not do his own will but that of the Father as we seen John.

This 3rd petition begins to look more and more revolutionary because we have to have the mind of Christ. Think of Matthew chapter 26. Jesus, bloody from worry and anxiety over what was to come....prayed that God might take away the cup of the Cross…he then responded with....“But your will be done” in Matthew chapter 26. We are to do likewise friends.

When I think of the will of God, I am always drawn to Micah 6:8

Micah 6:8 NIV

8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

May we live acting out justice, loving mercy and walking with humility in our lives.

That isn’t just for pastors. That isn’t just for those on the mission field. That is for every single one of us. That is the way …the Kingdom of God, and our prayer is that our lives would reflect that same way here on earth. In all things.

Petition 4: Give us this day our daily bread v11

This petition moves from God centered to human centered. Give us today our daily bread. This verse speaks of total dependence upon our Father for all our physical needs. Regardless of how hard we have worked, in humility we recognize that every good and perfect thing comes from the Lord. The posture of our heart is gratitude. We realize that all we have down to the air that we breathe is a gift. Like the israelites recieving manna from heaven, we are to depend on the Lord for our physical needs.

When we say "Give us," that doesn't mean we don't expect to work for our living, but that we recognize God as our Provider. God provides for our needs. Notice here in the prayer that this is after the Father's holiness and kingdom and will.

Petition 5: Structure and Forgiveness-The Heart (v12)

The whole make up of Matthew 9-12 is a KAYEE- UHZM (Chaism). Chiasms are a pattern of statements that mirror each other from the outside to the inside. So The outside of the model of prayer mirror one another. verse 13 (in the King James) mirrors verse 9, 12 to verse 10 etc.

In a CHAISM , the heart of the prayer is found in the center. This is our fifth petition to the Lord and it is human centered. . We ask that God forgive us just as we forgive others.

Forgiveness in this verse has nothing to do with God's judicial forgiveness of our sins. Jesus was talking to people that possess the kingdom of heaven (5:3, 10), who hunger and thirst after righteousness (6), who are called the sons of God (9),

Jesus is referring to relational forgiveness. Once we are followers of the Jesus, how are we to act as followers of Christ. God has saved us. How are we to reflect and respond to being saved?

We are forgiven and we live that out by forgiving others. Your view of God’s forgiveness of you is demonstrated by how you forgive others. When we don’t offer forgiveness of others out of pain, pride, or ignorance, we are demonstrating intentionally or unintentionally…a shallow God. We portray His forgiveness as shallow.

I hope that you buck against that in your heart....God’s forgiveness is deep. As far as the east is from the west. He knows it no more.

The two great commandments are lived out in this prayer....Love God and Love Others.

Petition 6. Lead us not into temptation v13

Jesus concludes the model prayer by explaining our 6th petition. Matthew 6:13

Matthew 6:13 NIV

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

Lord, protect our spiritual well being. Jesus instructs us to ask for protection, that we might keep our eyes fixed on God’s will and what needs to be done and not get distracted by lusts for pleasure, wealth, or ambition. or our phones.

Jesus experienced this tempting in the desert with Satan. He knows very well what that looks like, feels like, and the weight it bears on a human because Jesus was fully human and fully God.

So He instructs us to ask God, to lead us away from temptation and to protect us, our spiritual families from the evil one. Remember, satan roams around like a prowling lion keen on your destruction. We pray that we could all be delivered from the evil one.

Jesus goes on in verses 14 and 15 to remind us how important it is to live out our identity as one given grace and forgiveness. We live that out by giving that grace and forgiveness to others. I will feel at times like someone who has hurt me has not earned my forgiveness. I then need to catch myself because I did not earn the forgiveness of Christ.

LET US PRAY

As we conclude today, We are now going to take time to pray with the little time that we have in our service.

I am going to present a statement to you and I would ask that you respond out loud....one at a time. We of course will have more than one person going. Just do your best to be humble and let others pray out loud. Let us pray now

Prayer Prompts (8 min)

GOD, OUR FATHER. YOUR NAME IS GREAT BECAUSE OF (Fill in the blank)

GOD WE PRAY THAT YOUR KINGDOM WILL COME IN OUR (FILL IN THE BLANK)

GOD WE PRAY THAT YOUR WILL BE DONE IN OUR (FILL IN THE BLANK)

GOD HELP US TO BE DEPENDENT ON YOU IN OUR (FILL IN THE BLANK)

GOD HELP ME TO FORGIVE (FILL IN THE BLANK) JUST AS YOU HAVE FORGIVEN ME

GOD PROTECT US FROM (FILL IN THE BLANK)

ALL TOGETHER: FOR YOURS IS INTHE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY....FOREVER.

ALL GOD”S PEOPLE SAID AMEN -

We are doing this not for a show but as a community we want to remember our position to God. Ask for His Kingdom to reign and rule in our lives. Ask for His provision. Love others by extending the same grace and forgiveness He gave us. And finally, flee the evil one.

God kingdom will never end but instead reign for all time…forever and ever amen.

Have a great rest of the weekend GracePointe, see you next week.