Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

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.

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?

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...

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.

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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 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.

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.

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.

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..