Avoiding Hypocrisy- How to Pray Part 1
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Introduction
Introduction
Good Morning Church....
As always…it’s a privilege...
You may notice a slight change to the passage from what was advertised last week. We will be covering all of this passage but the Lord directed me into splitting this into two separate sermons. All that means is you get one more week of the prayer series. Be excited!
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I think some context is important for us today....our main passage which is found in Matthew 6 doesn’t paint the full picture of what was happening....what a blessing it is that God gives us four Gospel accounts that allows the picture to be made complete.
In Luke 11, we see this variation of the section found in Matthew…it’s shorter and doesn’t have as much detail but it’s covering the same subject matter....
Regardless of it missing some of the points Matthew is making, it’s point is all the same.......where I feel the biggest difference is…is at the beginning.....it gives us clarity to why Jesus was approaching this topic to begin with.
1 He was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
Did you catch that?
This was not a moment where Jesus just decided to fly off the deep in in another round of teaching.....BUT, it was a moment where the disciples realized something....we don’t know how to do this.
Now....pride…lets talk about it....pride will often tell us…play it cool, you got this, you may not know how to do this but it can’t be that hard, fake it til you make it. It will tell us, you don’t have to admit you can’t and need help.
Particularly for us men…
Directions
The reality is and the example we see here...
As believers, we must seek the Lord’s guidance as we grow in our relationship with Him.
As believers, we must seek the Lord’s guidance as we grow in our relationship with Him.
Just like the disciples, are we asking God....help me to learn to read your Word, Help me understand what it says, help me to know how to pray… God gives us a direction in these things and if we aren’t growing by coming to church…being involved in Bible study, spending time praying but also knowing what does scripture say about it....we are missing out.
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And as we pray, God I need to know how to do this....God will answer that prayer....it may be by presenting you with resources, it may be by having you read parts of Scripture and the Holy Spirit speaking to you through the text and it will just click or giving you people in your life to assist and help.
Any way it happens, when we pray for that…when we ask, seek and knock…God will not with hold His wisdom in those areas to us.
Are you calling upon Him to show you how to do the things he asks of us?
And are you asking, seeking and knocking…then being quiet and still to hear him?
10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Often times when we reach out to the Lord, we keep talking, we keep asking and we never stop to wait for the response and then we miss it.
Just like the disciples, as we approach prayer or any other topic God wants us to know....we need to be willing to go to Him for the direction we need.
Please stand...
5 “Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.
Pray
Prayer is an interesting thing when you think about it.
There are lines of thought that say when we pray, we are talking to God and asking for things He already has figured out. And on the opposite end, asking God to do things that maybe He wasn’t or isn’t going to. Scripture in different places supports both of those ideas.
God is absolutely sovereign.....but yet, even in that sovereignty He calls upon us to come to Him in prayer for guidance, provision, mercy, forgiveness..the list goes on and on. It’s relationship driven.
Matthew, vols. 1-4 (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary) (Chapter 34: Praying without Hypocrisy (6:5–8))
None of us can comprehend exactly how prayer functions within the infinite mind and plan of God.
Matthew, vols. 1-4 (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary) (Chapter 34: Praying without Hypocrisy (6:5–8))
Prayer is nothing more than tuning in to God’s will.
Matthew, vols. 1-4 (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary) (Chapter 34: Praying without Hypocrisy (6:5–8))
God simply commands us to obey the principles of prayer that His Word gives.
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Regardless of how it works.....it works. And as we trust in God that He is faithful to what He tells us…our prayers exhibit that trust of Him.
And we push away the types of prayer that is counterintuitive of what God says.
And that is exactly what Jesus is attempting to demonstrate in our passage today.
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At this point...
There was this idea of true righteousness and false righteousness. True righteousness obviously seeks after God and what He teaches us. False righteousness will appear right, but skews the truth. It only is righteous in it’s appearance.
True righteousness reflects Jesus. False righteousness is only righteous in how it looks.
True righteousness reflects Jesus. False righteousness is only righteous in how it looks.
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There was no other people group on this planet, particularly at this moment in our text, that prioritized prayer like the Jews. It was a holy standard for them. God literally spoke directly with many of the O.T. saints. Abraham, Moses, Joshua.... The Jewish people had been set apart from all other nations and had a direct line to the almighty.
If there was a people that should know everything about prayer and how to do it…it was the Jews....and yet, they had no clue.
Why?
Because, they had allowed their earthly tradition, disguised as Godly mandates, to corrupt their prayer habits. And because of that they had no clue on how to pray the way God wanted them to.
We discussed this idea in our study of Colossians…Paul was battling against this similar issue.
We cannot allow our wants, likes, opinions or traditions to take the place of God’s direction in Scripture to us.
We cannot allow our wants, likes, opinions or traditions to take the place of God’s direction in Scripture to us.
We can even sit here today and say how could they do that....but church, the evangelical church today does similar things all the time. And the biggest one the Jews were dealing with were rituals.
Just doing things the same way over and over because it was easier that way and not as much thought had to be put into it. They would just recite prepackaged prayers and pre set forms of worship without much thought behind it. They had ritualistic prayers, prescribed prayers for objects and occasions, limited prayer to certain times and occasions and even elevating the length of the prayer…the longer the more effective. And even repetitious prayer that had no meaning behind it.
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We must avoid this with all our being. Because it’s anti biblical and anti God…because when we do it…we lose sight of God’s amazing, wonderful, blessing which is His Word.
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And so, in Matthew 6 verse 5 Jesus begins calling out these forms of prayer....and really this form of worship since prayer is worship. And don’t forget…He is responding to this because wisdom was sought after.
Of all of the faults that had crept into the Jewish culture regarding their prayer life…probably the worst was the desire to want to be seen while they did it.
That’s exactly where Jesus is going in verse 5 as He declares, whenever you pray…DON’T be like the hypocrites..
We cannot make ourselves the main focus in prayer. God should be the focus of each of our prayers.
We cannot make ourselves the main focus in prayer. God should be the focus of each of our prayers.
If our prayers are focusing completely and solely on us....in an attempt to elevate us or for selfish purposes they are hypocritical.
That’s the point Jesus is making here.
The Pharisees and scribes were going around praying....hoping they would be seen.... so that all the attention would be on them and how wonderful and pious they were. It was an effort to say look at me.
Greek Alert
hypokrites- heep-o-creet-ees
The original intention of this word was in the acting world. It referred to someone who pretended or played a role.
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So, when Jesus calls out the Pharisees here, he meant every word of it....they were pretending to be righteous in an effort to make it about them…and they were using prayer as their instrument.
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This wasn’t the first time He calls them out over this either. In chapter 5, verse 20.
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.
Wow…when you put this together…what he is stating here is if you are pretending to believe…if you are seeking out your own glory and selfish ambitions disguised as worship to God…you will not be heaven bound.
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We may see being a hypocrite as a bad thing…but we must understand that biblically speaking…it’s on the list of one of the worst things to call someone or be called…it is not a word to be used flippantly.
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I want to make sure we all understand this…praying at the synagogue, on the street corner was not wrong…going back to our first week…it’s about motive.
side note…standing is a position of prayer scripture commends. and it was particularly prevalent amongst the Jews.
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Our prayers to God can be done anywhere but they must be done to glorify Him.
Our prayers to God can be done anywhere but they must be done to glorify Him.
When we pray with the wrong motives…either to condemn someone else or to elevate ourselves, we are missing out on the blessings of God and there is no spiritual reward in that.
That is why Jesus says.....they have their reward because what they have sought out they have already gotten.
Marshmellow Video
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Just like the kids in this video…there is a need for instant satisfaction even though waiting would have brought about more reward. The Pharisees not only wanted instant satisfaction they wanted a temporary satisfaction…they wanted pats on the back....where for us our reward is not here..
12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
When Jesus said that early on in the sermon on the mount, he had just finished the beatitudes…the list that shows us the blessings from God.
For context, the verse just before this one is talking about being blessed when people insult and persecute you for following Christ.
As we seek to follow Him, it will go against every earthly desire we have…that often seems like the natural thing to do.
And we may say…well I’m an awesome pray-er. I want people to know how amazing I am. But, we will miss the point of prayer when that is our focus..we miss the blessing of prayer....and ultimately, our reward is not found in Heaven.
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Jesus then goes on telling them to go into private situation to pray and that is where you will find your reward.
What is Jesus talking about here?
You may be thinking, well you just said it’s actually ok to stand on the street and pray.
What Jesus is doing here is making as big a contrast as he can to prove a point. Our primary focus when we pray should be on God, not showing off.
So, that’s why Jesus takes one extreme and matches it with another....
Our desire should be to make Jesus the focal point of our prayers. And if we struggle with showing off, then public prayer might not be the best thing for us to do…we might just have to seek out a private room, closet, whatever to meet with God without the distraction.
Seek to limit the distractions when you pray.
Seek to limit the distractions when you pray.
That is why we have adopted this method of folding our hands, closing our eyes, bowing our heads…those aren’t biblical commands for prayer…but they can help limit distractions.
So, sometimes it means going somewhere secluded.
Alone time
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And Jesus’ point about the Father seeing in secret....No, this doesn’t mean he isn’t there when we pray in public…remember this is all about motivation.
His point is not as much about location as it is about our attitude when we pray.
When you think about it…most of our prayer life will be in secret…done privately.
Jesus was an amazing example of that to us. He often withdrew to pray.
So, when we see this moment where He says pray to the Father who is in secret…He’s talking about how God will commune with us. Whether it’s in public or private, when done with the right attitude it will literally seclude us one on one with God. True prayer is intimate.
When we reach that point…that’s when we see the reward because then God “sees” the intent of our heart. BTW, he already knew it.
Now Jesus does not give direction to what that reward is....but I would guess…as we seek out God with genuine love and acceptance of Him…it’s clear the gift of salvation is ours and our reward is Heaven.
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Part of our prayer life and how we pray is in structure but also in it’s content. And that’s where Jesus directs us in these final two verses.
The content of our prayers says a lot about our relationship with the Lord.
The content of our prayers says a lot about our relationship with the Lord.
And next week, we will see why Jesus is sharing this…to prepare our hearts for what should the content of our prayers look like.
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One of the things that I mentioned earlier started taking root in the prayer lives of the Jews was repetitious prayers. This practice was borrowed from many pagan religions.
The word used here…some translations may say meaningless chatter or repetition, empty phrases. I personally like the way the CSB phrases…do not babble.
The Greek word here battalogeo. And the idea with it is thoughtless chatter. Much like when a child is learning to talk and they are just babbling or speaking gibberish. There is no coherency to it.
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Now, there were repetitious hypocrites but even for some, they used this mode in private too.
What was happening through this practice and why Jesus points it out..no true communion with God was taking place. Little thought was being paid attention to in the words in an attempt to connect with God.
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It’s equivalent to when we ask people how they are doing…it just comes out… often times we don’t even wait for the response.
Jesus was issuing this warning....don’t do this. Don’t recite these elaborate canned prayers to impress or out of habit.
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I think it’s equally important to remind ourselves, in case any of you are freaking out right now, not all repetition is bad. Jesus was not forbidding it.
It all comes back to intention.
It’s about our honest, relational motivation in our prayers that God desires. Even if they are repetitious…if we are doing them with all our mind, heart and soul as we commune with the Lord....we praise and glorify Him.
But if we are just rattling it off…squeezing it in because we won’t make time for it....it’s meaningless.
Meal time prayers
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And Jesus ends this section by telling us that our Father knows our requests even before we ask them.
Martin Luther says
“By our praying … we are instructing ourselves more than we are him.” -Martin Luther
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God knows....that’s His sovereignty....we could go through life without ever uttering a word and He would know every one of our needs.
But we have a God who loves us and wants a relationship with us.
I love this verse in Zephaniah that shows what our all sovereign God desires when it comes to us....
17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
The book of Zephaniah is one of warning of the coming wrath of God and a call to repentance but wrapped up in that is God’s amazing love for the people. Us.
And so....even in our prayers God wants us to be in communion with Him…properly. Because of how amazing that is.
God is glorified when we come to Him with our prayers.
God is glorified when we come to Him with our prayers.
But we still must make sure they are with the right attitude and for the right reasons.....if not, they really aren’t for God anyway.
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Closing
Closing
So, as we close our time…
Jesus has shown us in how we pray…what to avoid. If you are someone that struggles with pride and loves attention…maybe being up front isn’t for you. But that doesn’t mean you don’t pray…you don’t worship. Jesus directs us in that.
Prayer is too vital to avoid, to do it haphazardly or with the wrong attitude.
We must seek to do it in an effort to commune with our Lord.
I literally pray that we all are seeking the Lord throughout our week, our days... in prayer.
If you aren’t…start…make a prayer plan if you need to…but do it…and as we have been reminded the last two weeks and will continue to be told…the right motives have to be there.
If you don’t know where to start in setting up an active and vibrant prayer life for yourself, let me know. I would love to help any way I can.
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All these things Jesus taught was because He loved God so much and loved us so much…He wanted us to know.
So we could be living our lives in such a way to prepare us for our best life…which is to come.
If anyone ever tells you, you are living your best life now....they must think you are headed straight for hell because your best life will be in Heaven. God’s gift of salvation and our reward.
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If you have never heard this before....God loves you and He delights in you as one of His children.
Gospel
28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Salvation is not through a creed, a church, a ritual, a pastor, a priest, or any other such human means—but through Jesus Christ, who said, Come to Me. To come is to believe to the point of submitting to His lordship.
Our God is sovereign and through that sovereignty, He loves us, He knows us and He hears us and He answers us.
Transition to prayer/reflection