You Ought to Pray (Properly)

Welcome

Hey everybody, I’m Luke Bibelhauser. I’m the Next Gen Director at Bldg 28 Church and I’m honored to be here with you tonight to preach God’s word. I’ve known Ali for several years now. I was actually one of his groomsman. He wasn’t one of mine, but that’s only because we didn’t know each other yet lol (he definitely would be today).

I was excited when Ali asked me to preach on prayer. First, because I love the young adult age group. I think I might fit in it myself (lol)…but I also believe that God loves young adults and wants to use you in a mighty way for His glory…

Second…I love preaching on prayer. And I believe that if you in the room would catch Jesus’ heart and teaching for prayer tonight, it will absolutely CHANGE YOUR LIFE!…

So, lets read from Matthew 6:5-13 together, pray, and then dive in.

READ/PRAY

Introduction

I’m incredibly thankful that I was taught how to drive. Without my dad and my mom teaching me, showing me, and giving me pointers while I was driving, letting me behind the wheel would’ve been a very concerning thing.

Think about it: a 16 year old with a hunger for freedom, a smart phone, and the attention span of a squirrel. Those 3 things don’t mix very well. That’s why 16 year olds need to be instructed.

Just like I needed to be taught how to play catch, or swing a bat when I played baseball. Or even similarly to how I’m so thankful that men have come around me, specifically within the last year or two, and have instructed me in how to preach the word of God. All these things needed helpful and correct instruction so that I can do them rightly effectively.

Jesus is doing something similar here in Matthew 6. He’s giving His disciples instruction on how to pray. And praise God for that! We’re invited to commune with our God in this intimate way…but its not a free for all…there is a right way to do it.

That’s why the title of my sermon is You Need to Pray (Properly). We’ll look together in Matthew 6 in two sections: The What and The How. By God’s grace, my hope is that you walk away thrilled to pray. Ecstatic to spend time with your Creator in this way. And that you catch the warmth and the love of Jesus’ instruction on how to do it.

Context

Since we’re picking up in the middle of a passage, we should take a second to understand the context of whats happening. We do the word of God an incredible disservice if we cherry pick verses here and there without understanding whats going on around them.

We’re picking up in the middle of Jesus’ famous sermon on the mount. This is a sermon recorded by Matthew (and also Luke in his gospel account) that contains many of Jesus’ most well known teachings: such as His teaching on anger or anxiety or love.

Tonight of course we focus on Jesus’ teaching on prayer, which is most commonly known as “The Lord’s Prayer”.

The What

We begin with our first section, The What. Right away, Jesus clues us into what He’s teaching. Matthew 6:5 ““And when you pray,…”. Prayer was very common in the Jewish community, so He’s able to dive right into this topic. He begins this section of His sermon correcting the hypocrites and the Gentiles.

The hypocrites stand and pray on the street corners and in the synagouges, but not for the right reasons. Jesus states clearly that its to be seen. The hypocrites pray for recognition from their peers. Their reward is the attention of the crowd.

You see, Jesus isn’t correcting so much the how of the hypocrites prayer but the heart behind it. And this isn’t just a once in awhile thing…they LOVED to do this! These would’ve been the scribes and the Pharisees…and Jesus calls them hypocrites! That’s some strong language…

He does this because they’re giving off the portrayal that they’re praying with true and sincere hearts…that they’re really laboring before their God in heartfelt praise and request. But in reality Jesus says, all they care about is being seen by others.

Young adults…why are you here? Why did you come tonight? If you go to church (hopefully you do), why do you go? When you read your Bible, why do you do that? When you pray, when you interact with others, whats your motivation?

Is it out of a desire to offer humble worship and praise and prayer to the Lord? Or are you like the hypocrites, only desiring to merely be seen by others for how good you look?

Here’s the truth…we’re all in danger of this. And the reward for that kind of prayer or Christianity is simply that…being seen by others. But I’ve got good news for you, if this is you tonight, Jesus provides the better way in verse 6.

Matthew 6:6 “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.” If you’re prayer life is simply existent so that you can get people to look at you, Jesus says go home.

If your professed faith in Christ is only so that your girlfriend or boyfriend won’t break up with you, Jesus says go home.

If you’re only purpose for being at a church or a YA gathering is so that you can post it on instagram so that people can think you’re a good person, Jesus says go home.

He says go home, get into your room, and don’t leave until you’ve spent some time in secret with your Heavenly Father. And the mind blowing thing? Your Father will see you there. The Creator and Sustainer of all things will see you…if you approach Him in humble faith and worship.

You see, Jesus’ correction for the hypocrite isn’t a cold hearted rebuke, but a warm one. It’s an invitation to intimacy with His Father and your Father. It’s a loving and firm, gracious and true, kind and stern correction away from the attention of the crowd to the attention of your Heavenly Father.

There are many in this room that haven’t had this secret time in prayer before the Father in a LONG time, if ever. For some of you, the call tonight isn’t to go hang out at BJ’s after this (which is awesome). But for some of you that needs to wait, because you need to head right after we’re done here, back to your house, shut the door, and pray to God!