Learning to Pray – How NOT to Pray

Introduction: I am quite sure that no one in this gathering today would object to the following sentiments as expressed in poetic form. In fact, we would probably all support them wholeheartedly:

For Others

Lord, let me live from day to day

In such a self-forgetful way,

That, even when I kneel to pray,

My prayer shall be for others.

Help me, in all the work I do,

Ever to be sincere and true,

And know that all I’d do for Thee,

Must needs be done for Others.

Let “self” be crucified and slain,

And buried deep, nor rise again;

And may all efforts be in vain,

Unless they be for Others.

And when my work on earth is done,

And my new work in heaven begun

May I forget the crown I’ve won,

While thinking still of Others.

Yes, Others, Lord, yes, Others.

Let this my motto be;

Help me to live for Others,

That I may live with Thee.

Especially as it pertains to that first verse about prayer, it certainly lays before us a good goal—to be an intercessor. Our Lord was an intercessor. You have only to read blessed passages such as John 17 to know that I speak the truth. And yet, it is possible to have an excellent goal but be misguided in how to go about accomplishing it. The Lord knew that we would need instruction in how to pray. No doubt that is why the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to record the request of one of our Lord’s disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray….” So it is that in His Sermon on the Mount our Lord gives to his disciples some corrective instruction on prayer.

Our Lord is being followed by multitudes, so he uses a mountain—perhaps to discourage the multitudes from following, and perhaps to form a natural amphitheater so that more would be able to hear his teaching—to give a public master class to his disciples (Matt. 5:1-2). In about the middle of his sermon, Jesus addresses himself to give some corrective instruction on how his followers are to practice righteousness. He applies this instruction to how Christ-followers are to give, how Christ-followers are to pray, and how Christ-followers are to fast. For our time together, I would like to look with you at the instruction on how Christ-followers are to pray.

Often when instructing people in a topic which is already familiar to them, it is wise to clear away misconceptions that your audience is likely to have, and so Jesus begins his corrective teaching on prayer with some guidelines on how not to pray. In this short, but rich passage, our Lord points out different groups of people who pray to the wrong audience, with the wrong purpose, with the wrong attitude, and with the wrong emphasis.

As John MacArthur wrote, “No religion has ever had a higher standard and priority for prayer than Judaism. As God’s chosen people the Jews were the recipients of His written Word, “entrusted with the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:2). God spoke directly to Abraham and to many of his descendants, and they had spoken directly to Him. No other people, as a race or as a nation, has ever been so favored by God or had such direct communication with Him. Of all people, they should have known how to pray. But they did not. Like every other aspect of their religious life, their praying had been corrupted and perverted by rabbinic tradition. Most Jews were completely confused about how to pray as God wanted.” Let us then look at three groups that Jesus points out and how his followers are not to follow their examples in prayer.

I. Don’t Pray Like the Scribes & Pharisees (Matt. 6:5)

A. Problem #1 – Their Praying Is Directed Toward Men (Matt. 6:5)

Definition: The Greek word for hypocrite signified an actor who wore a mask to play a part. In other words, the actor was giving a dramatic portrayal of something that he was not. This perfectly describes those who are praying in this passage, as they are pretending to be doing something spiritual (i.e. communicating with God). However, the reality is that they are not spiritual at all, but rather carnal. What they are doing is designed to be seen by men, and not by God.

Illustration: Perhaps you have seen in a movie or TV show a scene where a married couple are fighting, or perhaps some siblings are fighting. They become so angry with each other that each declares their intention of not even speaking to the other. Of course, they need to speak to each other, so they determine to use an intermediary. Screenwriters often use this scenario to inject humor into their script, by placing the fighting people in the same room, even as they talk to each other through the intermediary. So, what you see is people that are pretending to talk to one person, even as their desire is to communicate with another person. So it is with these hypocrites, who are pretending to communicate with God, when in reality they are completely focused on the people around them. God is the furthest person from their actual thoughts.

B. Problem #2 – Their Praying Is Designed to Bring Praise from Men (Matt. 6:2, 5)

Quotation: “Nothing is so sacred that Satan will not invade it. In fact, the more sacred something is, the more he desires to profane it. Surely few things please him more than to come between believers and their Lord in the sacred intimacy of prayer. Sin will follow us into the very presence of God; and no sin is more powerful or destructive than pride. In those moments when we would come before the Lord in worship and purity of heart, we may be tempted to worship ourselves.”

Summary: Prayer is not about my glory!

II. Don’t Pray Like the Heathen (Matt. 6:7)

A. Problem #1 – Their Praying Depends on Fixed Words (Matt. 6:7)

Illustration: Ali Baba and “Open Sesame”

Quotation: “All of us, of course, have been guilty of repeating the same prayers meal after meal and prayer meeting after prayer meeting—with little or no thought of what we are saying or of the One to whom we are supposedly speaking. Prayer that is thoughtless and indifferent is offensive to God, and should also be offensive to us.”

Application: This is not to say that praying for the same thing or using the same words is expressly forbidden. In fact, there are several times where our Lord encourages persistence in prayer (Lk. 11:5-8; 18:1-8). The key is whether our heart and minds are engaged in talking to the Lord. If we are just performing a ritual so that it can be checked off our list of spiritual duties, this is the activity condemned by our Lord.

B. Problem #2 – Their Praying Depends on Volume (Matt. 6:7)

Quotation: Charles Spurgeon once said, “I have found, in my own spiritual life, that the more rules I lay down for myself, the more sins I commit. The habit of regular morning and evening prayer is one which is indispensable to a believer’s life, but the prescribing of the length of prayer, and the constrained remembrance of so many persons and subjects, may gender unto bondage, and strangle prayer rather than assist it.”

Explanation: Vain repetitions “is one word (from battalogeō) in the Greek and refers to idle, thoughtless chatter. It was probably onomatopoetic, mimicking the sounds of meaningless jabber.

Those who used repetitious prayers were not necessarily hypocrites, at least not of the ostentatious type. The scribes and Pharisees used a great deal of repetition in their public displays of piety; but many other Jews used it even in private prayers. Some may have used repetition because their leaders had taught them to use it. Others, however, resorted to repetition because it was easy and demanded little concentration. To such people, prayer was simply a matter of required religious ceremony, and they could be entirely indifferent to its content. As long as it was officially approved, one pattern was as good as another.

Although this problem did not always involve hypocrisy, it always involved a wrong attitude, a wrong heart. The proud hypocrites tried to use God to glorify themselves, whereas those who used meaningless repetition were simply indifferent to real communion with God.

The Jews had picked up the practice from the Gentiles, who believed that the value of prayer was largely a matter of quantity. The longer the better. They suppose they will be heard for their many words, Jesus explained. Those who prayed to pagan gods thought their deities first had to be aroused, then cajoled, intimidated, and badgered into listening and answering—just as the prophets of Baal did on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18:26–29). In the New Testament we see a similar practice. Aroused against Paul and his companions by Demetrius and other silversmiths of Ephesus, a great crowd began chanting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” and continued incessantly for two hours (Acts 19:24–34).

Many Buddhists spin wheels containing written prayers, believing that each turn of the wheel sends that prayer to their god. Roman Catholics light prayer candles in the belief that their requests will continue to ascend repetitiously to God as long as the candle is lit. Rosaries are used to count off repeated prayers of Hail Mary and Our Father, the rosary itself coming to Catholicism from Buddhism by way of the Spanish Muslims during the Middle Ages. Certain charismatic groups in our own day repeat the same words or phrases over and over until the speaking degenerates to unintelligible confusion (John A. Broadus, Matthew [Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson, 1886], p. 130).”

Summary: Prayer is not about repetitious rituals!

III. Don’t Pray Like Most Jehovah Worshipers (Matt. 6:9-11)

A. Problem #1 – Their Praying Reveals Disordered Priorities

Question: What requests do we usually bring first before the Lord? Is it not requests for physical needs? And yet, with what does the Lord instruct us to begin our prayers?

Argumentation: We begin in prayer with a concentration upon God rather than ourselves because of the relative importance of the parties involved in the communication. Ecclesiastes 5:2 says, “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.”

B. Problem #2 – Their Praying Reveals Limited Understanding of Their True Needs (Matt. 4:4; Deut. 8:3)

Application: We are so bound as physical beings to what we can sense with our five physical senses, that we often ignore the fact that we are spiritual beings as well. We often miss out on sensing other things that are just as vital or even more vital to our well-being. This is what the Lord is trying to point out. In no way does he say that our well-being is not important. He simply wants us to see it as it really is (i.e. how He sees it).

Summary: If I haven’t spent time in meditating upon God and getting my priorities aligned with his, I won’t know what I really need to be praying for!

Conclusion: Dear friend, have you found yourself guilty of praying like the Scribes and Pharisees, like the heathen, or even like most Christians? Have you recognized in yourself that your prayer life seeks the wrong audience for the wrong purpose? Or maybe you’ve seen that you have participated in prayer with the wrong attitude or the wrong emphasis. Don’t let that stop you from praying. Apart from a successful prayer life, we have little hope of living a successful Christian life.

Heaven’s Grocery Store

I was walking down life’s pathway

Not so very long ago

When I looked up and saw a sign,

Heaven’s Grocery Store.

I got a little closer

And the door swung open wide.

The next thing I knew

I was standing there inside.

I saw a host of angels.

They were standing everywhere.

One handed me a basket and said,

“My child, now shop with care.”

Everything a Christian needed

Was in that Grocery Store,

And what you couldn’t carry out

You could come back next day for more.

Well, first I got some patience,

Love is in the same row.

Further down was understanding.

You need those everywhere you go.

I got a box or two of wisdom

And a bar or two of faith.

You couldn’t miss the Holy Ghost

He was all over the place.

I didn’t forget salvation

For salvation—that was free.

I wanted to get enough of that

To save both you and me.

There was meekness, longsuffering and gentleness

I saw these at a glance.

I knew I’d better get some.

I would never have a better chance.

I stopped to get some courage

To help me run life’s race.

Then my basket was getting full

And I remembered I needed grace.

Then I started for the counter

To pay my grocery bill

I thought I had most everything

To do the Father’s will.

And I saw prayer,

I just had to put that in.

I knew when I stepped outside the door,

I’d run right into sin