Be Prayerful

Matthew 6:5-15

When you pray…

The essential nature of prayer

A warning as we pray - vs. 1

Our sin clings to everything we do - so that even our practice of righteousness can be mixed with pride, insecurity, and idolatry.

Sin defiles our very devotions, and unless we are on our guard it will not only render prayer useless but an offense to God.

How Not to Pray

Jesus begins with Two Warnings

Don’t be like the hypocrites

Standing in the synagogues and praying on the street corners.

Jesus isn’t saying we should not have public prayer. Jesus warns of a performance in prayer.

The lights come down, the music plays softly, and we are praying so that others will be impressed. Showing off, teaching, or scolding in prayer.

A.W. Pink, “Saying prayers and pouring out the heart before God are totally different things: a self-righteous Pharisee may be diligent in the former, only one who has been born again will do the latter.”

Jesus said they have their reward.

What they want is man’s attention, to be seen as religious, praying people; regardless of whether they were actually heard by God. Their focus isn’t on God, its on themselves. And they got what they wanted.

Don’t be like the Gentiles

A babbling abundance of words, needless repetition, mindlessly mouthing mantras. Prayers that are all lips and no heart.

Thinking that the volume of our prayers will prove our deserving of them to be answered; thinking that saying just the right thing will produce the intended result - I am in control.

Not against eloquence and beautiful prayers - read the Psalm

Paul Washer once said, “Whenever eloquence is more important than the words spoken, there is no power.”

Praying from anxiety - not trusting God, or thinking they can manipulate their way with God through a mechanical, spirit-less prayer; say this and God will give you what you want.

The Main Issue:

They were praying for themselves.

The hypocrites wanted to be seen, it was about them - their prayers were all about feeding their pride.

The Gentiles thought it was all about the right words, place, and time, if you perform the prayer just right, you’ll get what you want.

How to Pray

So how then does Jesus teach us to pray?

Pray in Secret

Your personal prayers are between you and God

Don’t advertise them, but don’t neglect them either

It’s okay to let someone know you are praying for them, but a third person doesn’t need to know…

There are those who go to their prayer closet, and make sure everyone else knows about it

The closet - the inner chamber - in the Temple, this was the holy of holies - where the priest went to meet with God - getting alone with God.

This does not rule out praying as a community, or praying for and with others –

The communal nature of the Lord’s prayer: “our,” “we,” “us”

Biblical warrant for praying for one another

An elder prays for the church - James 5:14

Christians pray for one another - Eph 6:19

A father prays for the family, A mother prays for her children

Only when you are praying in private can you pray for others in public

Direct your prayers to God -

You may pray with others, for other, but you are praying to God - speak to Him, from the heart, personally

Don’t utter one word in prayer that is not directed to God

Forgetting others, forgetting self… but drawing near to God.

In simplicity

The Lord’s Prayer is an honest, straightforward, and simple prayer - the first 3 are focused on God, the last 3 are about us.

The prayer reorients us, putting God first.

Let your name be honored, let your kingdom come, let your will be done.  This is asking for a change of heart

Hallowed be your name – when what I really want is to make a name for myself, God give me a passion for your glory…

Your kingdom come – bring your heavenly kingdom, where our earthly kingdoms and powers have been so corrupt

Your will be done  - not mine – Lord, you are my sovereign king – bend my will to yours, teach me to obey

The prayer names God as the provider of our greatest needs.

Daily bread: Bread costs money, money requires work, work requires good business, good labor, and good government. 

When we pray for daily bread, we pray for everything necessary for the preservation of this life: food, health, weather, home, wife, children, government, and peace – that God may preserve us from all sorts of sickness, famine, hardship, and war.

Forgive us our debts: To be able to ask the Father to remit debt and overlook sins is breathtaking, and Jesus teaches us to seek forgiveness from God. The deepest need of life as well as the deepest resource of the gospel is the free forgiveness of sins provided by the God of Jesus Christ.

The prayer puts our lives in the sovereign will of the Father.

Lead us not: We would normally put this petition first – God tell me where to go, what to do, who to marry – that it is last keeps our priorities in check – God’s honor first, His kingdom and will, our daily needs and our forgiveness, then we ask God to guide us as we move forward.

We are asking God to lead us – to keep us out of the trouble we’d find if we led ourselves – and to rescue us from trouble when we find it.

Keeping the heart right in prayer.

It is not wrong to pray the prayer, but it is meant as the model for prayer, to keep our heart in the right place.

Call on Him as Father.

Gospel: We can only call him Father because of the Son.

John 1:12-13 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are adopted into God’s family, and you receive the Spirit of Adoption, so you may cry, Abba, Father! This is the gift of saving grace in Jesus, to call upon God as Father.

Tim Keller, “The only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 AM for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access.”

God identifies as the Father of those whom he saves:

Isaiah 64:6,8 “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away… But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

Psalm 103:13 “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”

Heb. 11:16 God is not ashamed to be called our God..

Be humble

Humble, dependent upon God for everything

Like a child who cannot provide for himself, but must go to the father for everything - turn to God in your need

Prayer puts un in the right posture before God

There can be no pride in prayer - there is no quid pro quo

He is God, he is provider, we have nothing on our own

Be steadfast, consistent, and faithful in prayer

Like the persistent widow of Luke 18:1 we are to always to pray and not lose heart.

To pray in Jesus’ name - in the Spirit of Christ - we must pray like Christ - centered on God’s glory

Ja 4:2–3 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Forgive as you have been forgiven - if we seek God’s grace, we must also be gracious to others

Be bold

We are praying to our Father, who has promised to hear

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

We are praying to our Father, who has promised to reward

Ps 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

We are praying to our Father who knows our need

We do not present our requests to God in order to acquaint Him with our wants, but to honor Him, acknowledging Him to be the Knower of our hearts and the Giver of all mercies.