Practicing Prayer

Vision moment:

Introduction:

Last week we began the next section of The Sermon on the Mount and discovered that Jesus was not only correcting the way people think about “What the life of flourishing looks like” but also Jesus was correcting the way that people (especially the Jewish people) thought about morality.

In this third part of the series, Jesus confronts the way that people practice their righteousness. By this Jesus means, the way the people of the Kingdom go about spiritual disciplines.

He taught that, “The disciples of Jesus would continue to practice generosity, but not to be seen or praised by man, but as a means of grace.”

Tension:

And this religious showmanship was clearly a problem especially for the Jewish religious leaders of the day.

Jesus calls out (in all three disciplines) a sort of theatrical performance where a seemingly godly person felt this need to only practice their religion as long as other people were watching and praising them for their religiosity.

Jesus creates this tension only in this middle discipline. Do you see what he does?

Matthew 6:5 ESV

“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.

Matthew 6:7 ESV

“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.

So, much like what he did in the Beatitudes and then in the teaching on a greater righteousness in morality, he draws a portrait of the typical Jewish way of praying and the typical Gentile way of praying.

I think that what Jesus is getting at is something that researchers have discovered 2000 years later. Basically everyone prays.

Not everyone is generous (50-60 give 2% and the church only gives 2% of income). But almost everyone prays. Barna research reported that 79% of Americans have prayed at least once in the last three months.

Now, Jesus doesn’t really feel the need to address that the Gentiles are probably praying to a non-god, so I won’t address the 79% either. That’s not really the point.

The point Jesus makes is:

Disciples of Jesus practice prayer, not to be seen or praised by man, or to try to get God’s attention, but because we have a Father who knows us and what we need.

Teaching:

Disciples of Jesus practice prayer

Again, as with practicing generosity disciples make a practice or a habit of praying.

Verse 5 - “When you pray”

Verse 6 - “When you pray”

Verse 7 - “And when you pray”

Verse 9 - “Pray then like this:”

Because Jesus is teaching a group of people who did not have to learn that spiritual disciplines were just a normal part of life, he doesn’t talk much about WHY prayer is a normal part of life. He just assumes that they will continue to practice their prayers just as they always have.

The tension for us is that we’re pragmatic by nature, so we want to know why should we develop a habit of praying? What true benefit will come of my praying? Will my prayers actually move the hand of God? And I thought we were supposed to be led by the Spirit, so why are we even talking about habits?

All of those questions are worthy of discussion and I encourage you to talk about that over lunch. I suggest “Prayer” by Tim Keller, “Praying Backwards” by Bryan Chapell or “Habits of Grace” by David Mathis and of course the classics by E.M. Bounds.

But that’s not what we’re going to spend much time on this morning. Instead, I want you to orient your mind as if you were Jewish in this crowd. Jesus knows that each of the people in this crowd probably knew that three times a day “Evening, morning, and at midday” they were to pray the Hebrew shema:

Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Deut 6:4

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deut 6:

A reiteration of this is found in . But three times a day the Hebrews were commanded to recite this prayer. They were to memorize it, teach it to their children while they were going about their day, in the morning and before sleep. Constantly keeping the commands in front of them.

And we see this in the life of David:

Psalm 55:17 ESV

Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.

But apparently the intended outcome and the actual outcome were different. They clearly lost the meaning and intentions that God had for instructing regular prayers.

It’s amazing how

Years later we see it in Daniel’s life:

Daniel 6:10 ESV

When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

Dan 6

Interestingly enough, we don’t really see the practice stopped in the NT. For instance:

God sent His Spirit at Pentecost at morning prayer time

Acts 2:15 ESV

For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

Acts 2:15 ESV

For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.

He sent Peter to preach the Gospel to a Gentile at noon prayer time

Acts 10:9 ESV

The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray.

Acts

And God spoke to the Gentile, Cornelius, who was praying at evening prayer time

Acts 10:30 ESV

And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing

Paul told to the church in Thessalonica to pray without ceasing in and the church in Ephesus to pray at all times in the Holy Spirit in .

The point I’m making is that (partially do to our desire to distance ourselves from dead religious practice) we have come to believe something that is not true. It is not true that practicing prayer will always lead us to some formal and meaningless religion.

How do we prevent that from taking place? We learn from Jesus that:

We do not practice prayer to be seen or praised by others or to get God’s attention, but because we have a Father who knows us and what we need.

The hypocrites LOVE to pray standing up in front of people who will applaud their spiritual faithfulness and their “unashamed stand for YHWH.”

And the Gentiles, they’re not so concerned about receiving prayers from those around them, they are trying to wake up whatever deity they need something from and HOPE they don’t wake up on the wrong side of the bed.

Even within 21st century Christianity, we see both errors practiced.

If we’re going to stick with a prayer life, we need someone to affirm we’re doing a good job. It’s interesting how we measure whether someone is serious about their faith. We look at a street preacher or someone who posts a video of themselves or someone else saying really harsh, click-bait-y things that make it seem like they’re “Taking a stand” for Jesus.

Well, Jesus makes it sound like that’s a pretty bad measuring stick. Just because someone is going public in their prayers like the Jews, or just because someone is going LONG and DEEP with their prayers like the Gentiles doesn’t mean they’re hitting the target.

No instead Jesus says,

Matthew 6:6 ESV

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.

A disciple doesn’t need the constant affirmation of others because a disciple trusts that the Father sees and knows their heart and therefore will reward the faithful disciple.

Jesus is not saying you should never pray in front of other people (just like with generosity). He is contrasting outer religious practice with inner religious practice. A disciple does not need to be insecure of the Father’s love. He is Father, after all.

And to the one who doesn’t pray because they don’t think they have very much to say or it’s not very deep, Jesus says:

Matthew 6:7–8 ESV

“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. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:8 ESV

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Your Father doesn’t need to hear eloquent and fancy terminology; he doesn’t have to be buttered up in order to hear from you. Your Father loves you, He longs for you to know Him. In fact he already knows what you need, so don’t put on, don’t try to be something you don’t need to be, just come as you are and your Father will welcome you.

This goes for praying with others too. Do you look at people with terror when they ask you to pray with them? And you have that look because you don’t think you have very much to say… Jesus says, Oh good, you should talk to your Father, he’s waiting to hear from you.

Psalm 38:9 ESV

O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you.

Instead of the two pointless approaches, the disciple, knowing he has the ear and the eye of the Father, prays with humility and simplicity these very words:

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

This brief poem has served the Church so well for over 2000 years. I will not try to mine every little nugget found in this little prayer, but I do want to say a few things that might help us to be more aligned with the way Jesus intended for His disciples to pray.

The first is that Jesus could have said virtually anything here, but He chooses these words and there was nothing that Jesus said or did that lacked intentionality.

The prayer contains two main sections:

The address to the Father (God)

The acknowledgement of the Community (Others)

This clues us in on what Jesus is doing, right?

Matthew 22:37–39 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Matt 22:37

This back and forth of loving God and loving others is in the Beatitudes, it’s in the section on inner righteousness, and now we find it in the middle of the section on spiritual disciplines. I think Jesus was really serious about “The Great Commandment.”

And there is no reason to think that Jesus didn’t mean it when he said, “When you pray, pray like this...”

The Address to the Father

Our Father in heaven… Father is an important address (Jesus more than likely going off the Psalms) because it bypasses any bit of confusion about how God feels about you, whether or not you’re welcome to come to him, or how he’ll respond to your prayers.

Hallowed by your name… hallowed is rooted in the word holy. And the word holy means unique or completely set apart from all other things. Now, I think the most popular explanation of this phrase is that we’re sort of hopping up on the lap of God the Father and putting our arm around Him and telling Him how wonderful and good He is. And while he is wonderful and good… that’s not probably what Jesus has in mind.

It seems more probable that Jesus is praying for God’s character, which has been completely misunderstood by both Jew and Gentile, to be revealed and known for who He really is. In other words, “Father, please show the world who you really are. Squash all of the lies and misunderstandings of who you are, and show them the real you.”

John 17:1–3 ESV

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

John 17:

John 17:4 ESV

I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

Your Kingdom come… Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven… the prayer is for the full realization of God’s Kingdom to come on earth; the full realization of God’s will to be done on earth the way it is done in heaven.

This prayer acknowledges the world in a state of brokenness and asks for that full range of God’s will to be done. And while Jesus doesn’t really go in to the various view points of the last days, he expects His disciples to be concerned and praying for one thing; God’s Kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So we look at this in the macro and the micro - what would it look like for God’s will to be done in my heart? My job? My money? My family? And the macro - this city? This country? The world? We long for God’s Kingdom and will to come.

That’s the address to the Father, now briefly a look at the acknowledgement of the Community

The Acknowledgement of Others

Matthew 6:11–13 ESV

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

This might be new for some of you, because the general way in which we interpret this prayer is not the way Jesus does. We replace us and our with ME and MINE, right?

And if we do extend me and mine we do to basically my family, but Jesus (I’m almost positive of this) was able to make a distinction between the pronouns. And the ones he chose were US and OURS.

This is interesting to me. Jesus definitely prayed by himself and he also prayed with others and in front of others (feeding of the 5,000). But when Jesus prayed, He was not focused on personal need even though He most certainly prayed for himself.

So we’re praying with an eye on our needs and an eye on others. Jesus mentions three areas of need:

Give us this day our daily bread… This clues us in on the regularity of this specific prayer - this day, daily bread. It also clues us in on a storyline… the wondering in the wilderness. Every day except the Sabbath, they were to go out and collect the manna that God provided for them. God said, don’t worry about tomorrow, I’ll take care of you. I’ll make sure that you have more than enough.

Interestingly, Jesus intended for His disciples to function with a certain mentality. I think it would be taking this too far to say that Jesus was against savings or any types of investments (we’ll talk about that in a couple of weeks.) But the life of a disciple is a life of an exile that is traveling through the wilderness until the return of the King. A mentality of a day laborer who wakes up and goes out to find work so he can eat and feed his family for a day.

So, we fight against the temptation to trust in what we have accomplished with our own hands in exchange for total allegiance and trust for what Jesus has accomplished with His hands.

How did the disciples understand this prayer?

Acts 2:44 ESV

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Acts 2:44–45 ESV

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Acts 3:1 ESV

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

So when we pray this prayer it’s first a prayer that God would provide for personal needs and a prayer for those who have need and then it’s an action to help meet those very needs.

We tend to see prayer as some sort of spell that we throw out there and then hope that God sends a mystical response. That’s just not how it works. We pray for God to meet needs and it’s simultaneously a loosening of those things that we can share. Those prayers are a means of grace.

2. and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors… the term Jesus uses is a financial term and he uses it intentionally to help his disciples to see the transactional nature of sinning against someone.

If you mistreat someone else, you are indebted to that person. That person is now forced into a decision of how to respond.

Jesus is making the point that we are to routinely confess our sin to our Father and receive the forgiveness that He is faithful and just to remind us of. But Jesus quickly connects the phrase, “As we also have forgiven our debtors.”

This creates a problem and a solution — the problem is that we can’t pray this prayer every day with any sort of inner integrity if we are withholding forgiveness from someone else.

Forgiveness is the releasing of a debt. In this case, forgiveness is the releasing of a moral debt that someone else has incurred due to an offense against you. Don’t confuse forgiveness with reconciliation (which is the repairing of a relationship) because reconciliation requires two people. One who commits an offense, but then humbly confess wrong, admit wrong, and seek forgiveness and the other who acknowledges the wrong, and releases the other person of that wrong and is willing to work at regaining the trust that is necessary for a functioning relationship.

3. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. I don’t particularly love this translation of that phrase because it almost makes it sound as if the Father might try to lead us into temptation if we’re not praying that he won’t. I think the NLT gets closer to what Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray, “And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.”

James 1:13–15 ESV

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

If you remember, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness temptation immediately after his baptism. And he was led into the Garden temptation before his crucifixion.

The trials and test we enter into are God ordained and they are for the purpose of testing our allegiance to Christ and His Kingdom.

And the goal in them as it was with Jesus is that we would be able to resist the evil one with accurate portraits of God’s goodness. Jesus answered all of Satan’s temptations with Scripture from Deuteronomy (man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.) In the Garden Jesus prayed that He would not have to endure the cross, but ultimately Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done.”

The goal of testing is to come out of it with a renewed sense of trust and resolve in the faithfulness and steadfast love of God.

So whatever you’re experiencing that feels unbearably difficult and trying, you must know, there is a spiritual battle that is happening all around us and if we have no habits formed to resist, we’ve already lost that battle.

And just in case we thought that the words of Jesus about forgiveness were not strong enough, he ends this paragraph with a little footnote:

Matthew 6:14–15 ESV

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

You can look at this passage two ways, one way is to look at it as if Jesus is saying, “Your salvation depends on your ability to forgive others” and in one sense that seems to be what he’s saying. And if this were the only bit of Scripture we had about how a person becomes a Christian, I would have to agree.

But it’s not the only Scripture about salvation, so what I think Jesus is saying is that the person who is unwilling to forgive cannot possibly be a Christian. Because the Cross of Jesus Christ became the once and for all cycle breaker. Forgiveness reached a new height on the Cross, for God was willing to send His Son to be the substitute for sinners. And Jesus was willing to lay down His life to show the world just how merciful and forgiving God was really like.

So obviously, a person who refused to forgive another person hadn’t yet experienced the full weight of their own sinfulness, and hadn’t yet acknowledged that they don’t deserve to be forgiven for if they had, they would be quick to release any person they had come in contact with that wronged them.

Pastor Jason, you don’t know the stuff I’ve been through. You don’t know the way I’ve been treated. You’re absolutely right and I’m so sorry what you’ve gone through. But the worse the offense, the closer we get to seeing the depths of grace and forgiveness that God willingly pours out on us when he forgave the vilest offender.

Pastor Ajai Lall

“I believe that Jesus wants each of his followers to be Christian extremists, but of a different type. Not one who uses explosions or violence, but someone who shows an extreme love and compassion to enemies and prays for those who persecute us. If I don’t have a heart of forgiveness, I am lost. When my wife and I started our ministry thirty-five years ago, we wanted to be among people who have never heard about Jesus Christ. I had prayed to be in a situation that’s challenging, where there’s not enough vision of evangelizing and where baptisms happen only rarely. So we started in a difficult area of central India, one where less than 1% of the inhabitants are Christians. We wanted to preach and demonstrate Jesus’ love and forgiveness.”

“Through those years, more than twenty-five hundred churches have been planted through the ministry of CICM, which now oversees a full-time staff of more than eleven hundred people serving more than five hundred thousand believers who are worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ all over India and the surrounding countries. We have also started three regional centers in strategic areas, each offering full-time training to workers reaching out to the most unreached people groups. These church planters regularly risk their lives among terrorists and other violent extremists, where evangelists have been killed but people have not yet heard of Jesus.”

“India has the world’s fastest-growing number of people. We add one “Australia” to our population every year. With such a great task, and so many open doors even through the persecution, how could we not develop the kind of churches that multiply?”

Ferguson, Dave. Hero Maker: Five Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders (Exponential Series) (p. 173). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Ferguson, Dave. Hero Maker: Five Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders (Exponential Series) (pp. 172-173). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

“One of our preachers was tied up, and his attackers made him watch as they raped his wife. Some while later, this pastor told me about their most recent baptisms, which included the people who had brutalized them. This pastor and his wife had visited their attackers, prayed for them, and forgiven them. Only the love of Christ could motivate their actions.”

Ferguson, Dave. Hero Maker: Five Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders (Exponential Series) (pp. 173-174). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Ferguson, Dave. Hero Maker: Five Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders (Exponential Series) (p. 172). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.