The Foundation of Prayer
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Intro: We all have moments when we are at our best. It may be that you are a morning person and you are at your best after at the break of dawn, as the coffee aroma is still fresh.
Or if you are a night owl, you are at your best when everyone else is in bed.
Maybe you are at your best when the sun is fully shining mid-afternoon.
Martyn Lloyd Jones made this comment: “Man is never greater than when he is in communion and contact with God”
In other words---we are at our best when we are in sincere prayer
Since prayer is such a vital part of our spiritual lives—it’s worth slowing down and taking two weeks.
This week we are looking at the Foundation;
next week we will look at the Framework that Jesus gives disciples on how to pray.
On Example:
D.A. Carson has pointed out that we primarily learn how to pray in 2 ways.
One is from the teaching of scripture. As we study the Bible more, we hopefully become better at prayer. Our pray is more in line with what God wants us to pray for.
Second, we learn to pray by example. We end up praying like the people we hear pray, pray with. Whether it’s our parents, believing friends or leaders in the church.
And that was certainly true in Jesus’s day. There were some rotten examples. Let’s recall that this comes as part of the warning Jesus gives (6:1)
*So as we look at the foundation, the first things to beware of is where there are cracks
FRACTURES IN PRAYER
FRACTURES IN PRAYER
Prayer hypocrisy (v5)
Here, a very similar issue is taken up that we saw with charitable giving and fasting—it can be done merely to show off one’s spirituality
In Jewish culture, the synagogue was the most public place of prayer There were also 3 set times a day to pray (morning, mid-day, and evening); so you could catch someone potentially stopping on a street corner to pray
But this is an obvious fracture in the true prayer the Lord wants from us;
The first fracture is this: self-interest. Prayer becomes a means of self-interest, or self promotion.
—Maybe the words chosen, the eloquence, cadence
Apply: Now I don’t think this means we avoid all public praying.
But we do need to check our motives for self when we pray publicly.
—Do we “dress up” our public prayers to for the single purpose of sounding good in front of others?
—Is there a discrepancy with how we pray in front of others, compared to how we would pray when alone?
—Do we hunt for just the right spiritual or theological wording so that we sound theologically mature and biblical?
If that’s the case…we need to consider the words of Jesus....
Pagan idolatry (v7)
“Heap up empty phrases” and being heard “for many words”
This fracture can illustrated well in the prophets of Baal
And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.
The cultural practice in the Greco-Roman world was to call out numerous “gods” hoping to get the attention of one.
Sometimes real words were not even used—but nonsense syllables…..which is just plain nonsense really
This pagan prayer It was also an attempt to manipulate the god to get the answer they they wanted
This fracture of pagan prayer can go by another name: —pragmatism.
Pagan prayer has the flavor of being pragmatic, programatic.
And the frightening thing is—we as Americans usually like that.....We don’t like things that are slow, seem inefficient.
Last month ATT&T contracted a crew came through our neighborhood laying fiberoptic cable. After hitting the water line in 3 different places, it was an apparent success.
It’s also a reminder that the world we live in is always moving faster, more efficient, more on demand.
If we expect prayer to work like that, it’s nothing more than the same pagan idolatry that people gave into.
Apply--
**I think sometimes why we don’t stick at prayer enough is we just to see the fruit.
We want results, and now
I can’t wait!
When how often do we hear in the Psalms—wait on the Lord.
Now if I said, you pray like a pagan—you pray like a Wiccan. Most would be highly offended. But that is exactly what Jesus does here?
Pagan prayer is pragmatic; there is no real dependency, no real trust….and certainly no relationship with God.
Apply: So the main fractures of prayer all involve self, and self-interest.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Oh how dark our hearts can be…..that we can turn something so good and twist it into something of self.
Apply: So if you are a disciple who prays, just remember that praying can be a dangerous thing--
It can turn into an ugly avenue for hypocrisy, and self-interest..
THE FOUNDATION OF PRAYER
THE FOUNDATION OF PRAYER
The first thing that may seem obvious is that Jesus assumed that disciples pray
Matthew Henry: “You may as soon find a living man that does not breathe, as a living Christian who does not pray”
In other words, prayer is essential to our life as breathing.
When it comes to the foundation, there are two “walls” to stay with the metaphor. One wall is practical—what we actually do
Last year I took part in a pastors cohort that was that had an exclusive emphasis on prayer. One pastor who was connected to that ministry shared his own experience about getting really fired up about prayer—and had the godly resolve to devote an entire year of sermons to prayer. He preached to his congregation about the importance of prayer, Sunday after Sunday, for an entire year.
Guess what happened after that year. Revival broke out? Masses came to faith and were sent on mission?
No— this pastor stated he could not discern that the year’s worth of sermons moved the needle much in the church’s culture of prayer.
Why? Became just listening is never enough
(Jas 1:22)
So the first foundational wall is practical:
**Give priority to private payer (v6)
Hypocrites rarely pray in private; that’s the point the Jesus is making. So he encourages a prayer life that is largely unseen—hidden in the “prayer closet”
Now we need to keep in mind that the people Jesus was speaking to: their average home did not look like ours.
They were not looking at 2-3 thousand square feet, and trying to pick from a half dozen wardrobe closets. The average home in Galilee at the time of Jesus had one, maybe two rooms….
—The technical term used here is for a storage room that was found in a farmhouse
In principle, find a secluded place where your prayer can be hidden.
Another takeaway is that praying happens when we intentionally take time to pray
Set time, set place, quiet, solitude, no distraction
If we are not intentional and deliberate, prayer will not happen.
You may say—my closet is not big enough. Too many clothes it is; using it tor a baby’s pack and play.
I get it—with 6 people, and several furry other creatures in our home…we push our square footage to the max. I have a desk in a room that has the wash and dryer right behind me.
Ok—so maybe no “closest”
Let’s look at the prayer life of Jesus; we don’t see him tucking into a closest, but we see principles at work:
First, he found the place
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
Second, Jesus set the time
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Third, Jesus made it a habit/rhythm
Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.
CSB—understand the present tense of the verb to communicate ongoing, progressive action
Apply--At the risk of it sounding overly simplistic and reductionistic—this is how prayer will practically happen. Find the place, schedule the time, and stick to it.
This lays the practical foundation
Apply: If you are a newer believer, make sure this foundation is laid well.
The second foundational wall is doctrinal
As Jesus gets at the heart of laying the true foundation of prayer—he draws our attention to two things that motivate right prayer.....
1) Your Father sees (6b)
He is the all-seeing God. In theology falls under his omnipresence—His eyes are everywhere!
He sees every time we bow our head, knees, close our eyes—cry out in Joy or Pain.
This is staggering when we think God also has his eyes on billions of other people, and billions of galaxies
Your Father knows (v8)
He is the all-Knowing God! In theology, this falls under God’s omniscience.
An awe-inspiring thing is said about God and his responsiveness to his people
Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
This can only be true with an all-seeing, All Knowing God who acts for his people out of his love
Apply: So maybe the starting question in my prayer life—is my vision of God big enough?
**Do I actually believe (by faith) that the God who created the billions of galaxies…actually cares; condescends, stoops in divine humility to hear.
Conclusion—
So then, why does God command prayer? If God sees all, and knows all, why spend the energy on prayer?
“Man is at his best when he is in communion and contact with God” (Lloyd-Jones)
God wants us to be at our best
Prayer is communion. Prayer is fellowship. That’s the heart of true prayer. That’s the true foundation.
So if your prayer life has lost the edge; if your prayer life is not at all where it needs to be; if you’ve not been at your best…go back to the foundation;
Remember the Foundation:
Prayer is communion with God the Father
Prayer is not mere box checking;
It’s not just a “discipline” or habit to improve ourselves
Prayer is the merciful, amazing, gracious, blood bought gift of drawing near.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.