What Do We Need?
Notes
Transcript
What Do We Need?
What Do We Need?
Introduce the Text
Read the Text
Preach the Text
Introduce
Introduce
Read
Read
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. 7 “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. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Preach
Preach
Outline
Outline
Introduction
Exegete
What Do We Need?
A.) Why We Pray
B.) What Prayer Accomplishes
Introduction
Introduction
As we begin with this text this morning it is important to keep in mind some of the things as last week, especially the first couple verses concerning the hypocrites receiving their reward. Remember, their reward is not the same as what the Father offers. Theirs was money, power, recognition, and praise. What God rewards us with is himself; his faithfulness, peace, joy, love, sustenance, satisfaction. We are also rewarded with humility, brokenness, patience, and maturing in our faith. We see here in these verses, that God rewards us by answering our prayers according to what He knows we need, not what we want or what we think we need.
Exegete
Exegete
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.
That they genuinely believe that what they are doing is pleasing to God. Through their long prayers and eloquent words God hears them and is pleased.
That the hypocrites believed that God was like them. And it is because they believed that God was like them, they also believed that God was glorified through their merits and dirty works (Isaiah 64:6, Psalm 50:16-21)
One of the verses that we looked at in our introduction to the Bible study this past week was Psalm 50:21. In the verses leading up to that point God is pointing out the wickedness of those who used God’s law and statutes to satisfy themselves and justify their own sin. God ends this little section by saying:
21 These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
All this time later, and we see the same thing. Theses hypocrites believe that God is like them and so they have all the freedom to do as the please.
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.
Jesus telling them to pray in secret is very much like his own prayer life when he would slip away to pray.
When Jesus tells them to pray in private, this does not mean that this is the only way we are to pray. If this was the case, we would never pray in Church or as a family. What Jesus is telling us here is not to let our prayers be a result of pride, but of love and devotion. Our prayers are not to draw attention to ourselves, but to give honor and glory to God.
When we do this, when we pray out of the sincere love and reverence of God, he rewards us with things only he can give.
7 “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.
When they would pray they would pray just for the sake of praying. It was their belief that the more words they spoke the more meaningful their prayer was.
8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Jesus changes things here. It was the belief that God dwelt in the center of the temple. The Holy of Holies is what this place was called. For them, God was far off and thought to even be hidden. When Solomon was praying for the dedication of the temple he prayed:
27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
As soon as the temple was built and dedicated to the Lord Solomon knew, by the wisdom that God had given him that it was not possible for the glory of God to be contained there. The Temple was a symbol of the Covenant made with Abraham and was a sign to God’s people that he would dwell with them and that his name would be known in Israel. Solomon prayed this prayer before all of Israel. Fast forward to the time of Jesus and whether it was tradition, the belief that God was like them, or just being ignorant to God’s glory, many held this idea that God was a God far off and that in order for him to hear their prayers they needed to pray loud and and say the same thing over and over again, but when Jesus begins to address understanding of prayer he says, “ Your Father who sees in secret will reward you” and, “Your Father in heaven already knows what you need before you ask”. When he begins the Lord’s prayer he begins with Father.
Father (Abba) is word of endearment.
What Do We Need?
What Do We Need?
So the question now needs to be asked, “If God knows what we need; if our Father in heaven knows what we need, why pray?”
A.) Why We Pray
A.) Why We Pray
The simple answer is to know God.
We pray to know God. Yes God is close and personal, but the problem is that we do not know God. Just because we come to church and call ourselves Christians does not mean that we have this natural or innate ability to know God. We come to the knowledge of God by reading his word and by prayer.
Duke and mm’s
We learn to pray by praying and reading Scripture. We know God through Scripture and prayer, we learn to read Scripture by reading and praying, and we learn to pray by reading and praying.
The phrase if it looks like a duck… or even being a southerner.
By knowing the nature of who God is it leads to trust.
When we pray we are to be humble, yet bold
The pharisee and the tax collector
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
This gives us a look into the hypocritical way the pharisees prayer.
This is an imperative statement, not a question.
Yes, Jesus calls us friend, and yes we have a Heavenly Father, but that does not excuse to make prayer anything other than holy.
B. What Prayer Accomplishes
B. What Prayer Accomplishes
The Persistent widow
1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Her demands were Justice. Persistence in prayer is not about things, but about knowing God and receiving the things that only God can give.
Persistent prayer, and being well versed in Scripture leads to knowing God so that when life happens we can trust in God.
When loved ones die unexpectedly
When we lose our jobs
when we are faced with life...