Shut the Door

Introduction

Recap: We’re working our way slowly through the sermon the mount. We are asking ourselves this question - What does it mean to be the people of God? What does it look like to be a part of God’s kingdom? Jesus has been laying it out for us. He started by telling us what type of people we ought to be. Now he’s moved into telling us what types of things we ought to do. Last week we talked about our motivation. We challenged ourselves to ask the question - “What’s my motivation?” Tonight I want to go a little deeper into part of the passage we looked at last week.

Opening Story/Illustration: I can remember as a kid, my parents being pastors, they often had to talk about important things with people. And when they have to talk about important things, they often needed to talk about them in private. So they would go to a private room and shut the door so that they could talk with them in private. A lot of important things often happen behind shut doors. When you shut the door, it means that some people are in on the conversation and some people are left out - think about it - we often hear people complaining about our politicians - because they make deals behind shut doors and we believe that the people should be included. When you see a big event - many times the planning for that event happened behind a closed door. A lot of what you see in public happens because someone did something in private.

Transition to the Text: Jesus in our passage talks about how we should do some things in secret. He talks about giving, fasting, and prayer. Tonight I want to talk about prayer and I want to take Jesus’ words and make them a metaphor for how we should conduct our prayer lives.

Scripture:

Matthew 6:5–6 ESV

5 “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. 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.

Main Idea: Tonight I want us to walk away thinking about one statement Jesus makes here - “Shut the door.”

When I say shut the door I’m not really talking about a physical doorI’m talking about the need for all of us to come aside and spend alone time with God.Illustration - Just like a married couple or good friends need time alone to develop a deeper relationship, you and I need time alone with God to develop and deepen our relationship with Him. In order for this to happen, there are thing we must shut out. There are things that coming aside and spending time with Jesus will help to shut out of our lives.

When I say shut the door I’m not really talking about a physical door

I’m talking about the need for all of us to come aside and spend alone time with God.

Illustration - Just like a married couple or good friends need time alone to develop a deeper relationship, you and I need time alone with God to develop and deepen our relationship with Him. In order for this to happen, there are thing we must shut out.

There are things that coming aside and spending time with Jesus will help to shut out of our lives.

I’m going to be

Points

Shut the door on pride and hypocrisy

You’ve heard the argument before - I can’t go to Church because it’s so full of hypocrites.Jesus tells us here that when we pray we, “Must not be like the hypocrites.”The hypocrite in this context is like an actorAn actor isn’t really who he says he is - He plays or performs for the crowd. Jesus says this group loves to pridefully flaunt their prayer life. They want others to see how “spiritual” they are.Jesus is saying - when you pray it’s not about playing to the crowd or performing. It’s not about trying to be something that you are not.We throw stones at hypocrites - the truth is though, we can all be one if we aren’t careful.We want to be likedWe want people to think we are a good personWe can, sometimes, unknowingly - just because of Human nature - start to play to the crowd — to live our lives to please others.

You’ve heard the argument before - I can’t go to Church because it’s so full of hypocrites.

Jesus tells us here that when we pray we, “Must not be like the hypocrites.”

The hypocrite in this context is like an actor

An actor isn’t really who he says he is - He plays or performs for the crowd.

Jesus says this group loves to pridefully flaunt their prayer life. They want others to see how “spiritual” they are.

Jesus is saying - when you pray it’s not about playing to the crowd or performing. It’s not about trying to be something that you are not.

We throw stones at hypocrites - the truth is though, we can all be one if we aren’t careful.

We talked about it quite a bit last week - But the remedy to playing to the crowd is to get alone with Jesus when there is no crowd.

Too many of us are worried about what people see - when we need to be more worried about what Jesus sees.

llustration - I love watching HGTV - one of my favorite shows is Flip or Flop. I love watching these guys flip houses. Often they will discover a problem that the previous owner just tried to gloss over. When that happens they have more work to do - because they didn’t do it right the first time. They often have to tear out lots of stuff and spend lots of energy, time, and money - all because it wasn’t done right. Your private life in that secret place with God - is the foundation of your life. When you ignore that and instead try and gloss it over - cracks are going to start to show and you’re going to have to spend your energy glossing them over. It’s more work, it’s more energy, and it’s more costly than if you had done it right - build your life from the inside out.

illustration - I love watching HGTV - one of my favorite shows is Flip or Flop. I love watching these guys flip houses. Often they will discover a problem that the previous owner just tried to gloss over. When that happens they have more work to do - because they didn’t do it right the first time. They often have to tear out lots of stuff and spend lots of energy, time, and money - all because it wasn’t done right.

Your private life in that secret place with God - is the foundation of your life.

When you ignore that and instead try and gloss it over - cracks are going to start to show and you’re going to have to spend your energy glossing them over.

It’s more work, it’s more energy, and it’s more costly than if you had done it right - build your life from the inside out.

How do you guard against hypocrisy? Shut the door. Spend time with Jesus.

Shut the door on distractions

In this context we can be distracted by the need to please others and perform. - but there are many more distractions in life that we also need to shut the door on!

We have more distractions these days than ever before.

What’s your biggest distraction that keeps you from Prayer?

The Cell phone

The computer

The TV

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Everyone wants our attention and they want it now

But we must discipline ourselves - to SHUT THE DOOR and spend time alone with Jesus.

By saying yes to Jesus you are by definition going to have to say no to something else.

You only get 24hrs in a day - If you pray for 30min - that’s 30min that can’t go to something else.

And there are plenty of other things that want to take priority in your life!

We can get very distracted by life and we miss out on God’s purpose

We have our plan and our way of doing it

We have a job and life and we just get so busy

Illustration - There’s a famous story about Susanna Wesley - If you don’t know who she is, she was the mother of the famous preachers John Wesley and Charles Wesley - They are responsible for seeing Millions of people come to know Jesus. When Susanna was young, she promised the Lord that for every hour she spent in entertainment, she would give to Him in prayer and in the Word. Taking care of the house and raising 10 kids made this commitment nearly impossible to fulfill. She had no time for entertainment or long hours in prayer! She worked the gardens, milked the cow, schooled the children and managed the entire house herself. So, she decided to instead give the Lord two hours a day in prayer!She struggled to find a secret place to get away with Him. So she advised her children that when they saw her with her apron over her head, that meant she was in prayer and couldn’t be disturbed. She was devoted to her walk with Christ, praying for her children no matter how hard life was.For her - Pulling that apron over her head was her way of shutting the door on the distractions of life!

Illustration - There’s a famous story about Susanna Wesley - If you don’t know who she is, she was the mother of the famous preachers John Wesley and Charles Wesley - They are responsible for seeing Millions of people come to know Jesus.

When Susanna was young, she promised the Lord that for every hour she spent in entertainment, she would give to Him in prayer and in the Word.

Taking care of the house and raising 10 kids made this commitment nearly impossible to fulfill.

She had no time for entertainment or long hours in prayer!

She worked the gardens, milked the cow, schooled the children and managed the entire house herself.

So, she decided to instead give the Lord two hours a day in prayer!

She struggled to find a secret place to get away with Him.

So she advised her children that when they saw her with her apron over her head, that meant she was in prayer and couldn’t be disturbed.

She was devoted to her walk with Christ, praying for her children no matter how hard life was.

For her - Pulling that apron over her head was her way of shutting the door on the distractions of life!

What distractions do you need to shut the door on?

Shut the door on Sin and Idolatry

Shut the door to sin and idolatry Again, the context here is that pleasing others and looking good for others - it becomes an idol. Jesus says to shut the door on this! It’s very difficult to “cheat on God” when you are spending quality time with him behind the shut door.It’s difficult for sin to stay in our lives for very long if we are really having a good meeting time with God on a regular basis! In modern world we think of idols and we think - I don’t worship idols. We think of voodoo and statues, etc. But the truth is an idol is anything in your life that you put before God.The need to please others, your spouse, your family, your job, school, your plans, sports, technology, and more.Where do you spend your time, energy, and money? Where do your thoughts go when you are alone? One author says - Our hearts are idol factories - we so easily begin to worship other things and put other things in the place of God. What’s the solution to this - Shut the door

Again, the context here is that pleasing others and looking good for others - it becomes an idol.

Jesus says to shut the door on this!

It’s very difficult to “cheat on God” when you are spending quality time with him behind the shut door.

It’s difficult for sin to stay in our lives for very long if we are really having a good meeting time with God on a regular basis!

In modern world we think of idols and we think - I don’t worship idols. We think of voodoo and statues, etc. But the truth is an idol is anything in your life that you put before God.

The need to please others, your spouse, your family, your job, school, your plans, sports, technology, and more.

Where do you spend your time, energy, and money? Where do your thoughts go when you are alone?

One author says - Our hearts are idol factories - we so easily begin to worship other things and put other things in the place of God.

What’s the solution to this - Shut the door

When you start shutting the door and getting alone with Jesus on a regular basis, one of two things will happen - You will change or you will refuse to change and you won’t keep up the habit of prayer much longer.

Conculsion

Jesus is calling us to himself. He wants you and me to spend time with him each day. He’s there. He wants us to be present with him. What do you need to shut the door on? This week, get alone with Jesus. Find the time to be with him in prayer. Get a place to meet him and I guarantee you he will show up.

Some of you your commute to work or school

Some of you just need to try and get up a few min earlier or go to bed a few min later and get in some time with Jesus.

Some of you need to put down the phone or the social media for a few min and steal away with Jesus instead.

Shut the door.

Tonight, I want us to pray and spend some time with Jesus. Could you find you a spot to “shut the door” for a few min?