"Pray"

Well, good morning.

I do have one other quick announcement

that I heard from Chris Hill this morning.

Next Saturday is our Rake and Run event,

which is youth group and others are helping to rake people's lawns.

Now, you may have noticed in the last week,

all the leaves from all the trees fell onto the ground,

except for the oak tree in my backyard,

which is still holding back half of it for November or December.

So it's holding back.

But if you have a lawn and would like help getting it raked,

or if you have a neighbor who has a lawn

and they would use help being raked,

if you could please contact Chris Hill.

His contact information, this announcement's been in the weekly email.

It's on the website as well.

I just wanted to mention that

because he still has space in his slots for more people.

So contact him to see whether that will work into the plans,

but they would love to serve more than what they have signed up for right now.

All right.

Well, this morning, I have a desire,

and that is to renew your and my prayer lives.

Whenever we talk about prayer, it's easy to just feel guilty, right?

It's kind of like, how's your diet going?

How's your prayer life going?

It's always going to be guilt-inducing whenever we talk about it.

And it's easy for us to fall into seeing prayer as a duty and not a delight.

But in fact, prayer is a gift,

and I hope to renew that joy that God intends for us to have in prayer this morning.

Why am I talking about this?

Well, because this is what Jesus is talking about this morning in the Sermon on the Mount.

We're in a series going through Matthew chapters 5 through 7,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

and Jesus is proclaiming the kingdom that he is bringing,

the distinctive nature of the kingdom that he will bring as he is coming into the world.

And as we've seen over and over again,

one of the major things is that it is marked not by external conformity,

but by heart transformation.

And what we see in chapter 6 of Matthew is one of three…

we see three spiritual disciplines,

and if you want to hear more about that,

Pastor Nick preached a great sermon that was a bit of an overview of this whole section

about the way that spiritual disciplines are God's gifts

to train our hearts to be active in pursuing his kingdom in the right ways.

And Jesus assumes that when we pray, when we give, when we fast,

that we're doing these things,

and he wants to instruct us on how to do it.

Not like the first century Jews,

not like the non-Jewish people of the first century,

but distinctively praying as followers of Jesus.

So that's what we're going to look at this morning.

If you want to turn in your pew Bible,

we're going to be on page 761.

We're going to be looking at Matthew 6, verses 5 through 15,

Matthew 6:5–15

and we're going to be looking at the question,

what does Jesus have to say to us about prayer this morning?

Let's go ahead and read the passage,

and then we'll pray and ask God for his help in understanding it.

Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 5.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites,

for they love to stand and pray in the synagogue and at the street corners,

that they may be seen by others.

Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

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.

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.

Do not be like them,

for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Pray then like this.

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For if you forgive others their trespasses,

your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others their trespasses,

neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

This is God's Word.

Will you pray with me?

Lord, thank you for this word.

We thank you that in your, Lord, infinite wisdom,

you have given us instruction on how it is that we might pray to you.

And Lord, we need this.

I need this this morning.

Lord, by your Holy Spirit,

teach our hearts to delight in your ways.

Teach our minds to think after your thoughts.

Teach our will and our hands to do what you have called us to do.

Lord, we pray that we might know you more

in the grace that you've shown us in the gospel this morning.

May we sit under your word this morning, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Kingdom prayer frees us from our self-centered hearts

to live a God-centered life.

So we're going to look at this in two sections.

They're not balanced in length.

The first section is verses 5 and 6

about how kingdom prayer frees us from self-centered religion

to communion with God.

And verses 7 through 15,

kingdom prayer frees us from self-reliant religion

to trusting God.

So let's see how this plays out

and what it is that Jesus has to tell us this morning about prayer.

Starting then in verses 5 and 6,

how kingdom prayer frees us from self-centered religion.

Jesus starts by saying in verse 5,

when you pray, you must not be.

So he's starting with a negative example.

He says you must not be like the hypocrites.

And if you remember from last week,

Pastor Nick talked about how hypocrites in Greek culture

were those who were actors who wore a mask.

And so they put on an external thing

to play a role that didn't match the internal reality

of their being in their heart.

And this created a dissonance.

And Jesus says don't be like these people

who are disintegrated between their outside and their inside.

He goes on to explain what does this look like for them.

For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues

and at the street corners that they may be seen by others.

And here Jesus hones in and focuses on the heart issue

that he really wants to get at in this first point about prayer,

that they may be seen by others.

Right?

Jesus isn't saying they shouldn't be praying in the synagogues.

He isn't saying that they shouldn't be praying on the street corners.

He isn't saying that you shouldn't be standing while you pray.

What he is saying is if you are praying to be seen by others,

this is the problem.

This is not a benign visibility where I want to live my life before others

so they can see God's gracious work in me.

This is a thirst and a hunger for the praise and acclaim of others.

This is a desire for us to improve our reputation

so that people will think,

oh, he's a great spiritual man or woman.

Look at the way he prays.

It's possible that some in the first century in the Jewish community

would time their day and their travels

so that they might find themselves on the right street corner

to be seen by the maximum number of people

when their time for prayer would come about during the day,

calculating so that they might be seen by the most number of people

as they pray or to make sure they get the right seat in the synagogue

so when they stand up, everyone says,

oh, yes, brother so-and-so is praying again today.

What a great prayer he is.

Friends, there can be such a danger, isn't it,

in us just wanting to look spiritual

rather than being spiritual

because when we look spiritual,

when we think other people think of us as spiritual people,

it helps us.

We feel secure.

We feel important.

We feel worthwhile in the religious community around us.

But in doing so,

we take something that God intended for us to be towards him

and we turn it towards others.

And we do it for our own selfish ego boost.

And Jesus does warn us.

He says,

if you do that,

you will have your reward.

Because we all know this is true, right?

We all know it's easy,

even in a church,

even in a good church,

even in a Bible church,

even in a humble church,

it's so easy for us to fall into this looking good before others

and other people are going to give us praise for it,

for our performance.

But Jesus says we are not to pray like this.

This is a misguided application

of the principle and the practice of prayer.

He says,

instead,

we should be seeking communion

with our Father

who sees

not in this assembly,

but who sees in secret.

He says,

go to your room.

And it's fun.

Do a little word nerdery into this.

Your room is probably

a storehouse

in the middle of a first century home

that had no windows

so that no one could see in

and was often the place

where the treasures of the household

would be kept

because they'd be most protected

and you couldn't break the window

to reach in and steal them.

I think there's richness

in that imagery of

this is the room to go in

where no one can see you

but God Himself.

Just a side note.

Jesus is not precluding public prayer.

Obviously, we just did it.

We'll do it again.

Right?

He's not saying that we shouldn't do this.

Jesus Himself prayed in public

when He fed the 5,000

before He raised Lazarus from the dead.

And the epistles seem to indicate

in 1 Timothy 2

and in 1 Corinthians 11

that in the assembly

people are praying before others.

So it's not a complete condemnation

of public prayer.

But again, it's the heart attitude.

When you pray,

and the instruction here is to say,

do the practice of closet prayer

so that you learn

that prayer is about communion with God.

So that even when you're praying

with others around,

you're not looking at them,

but you are looking at God.

He is to be our focus.

And friends,

what a great and wonderful

and beautiful invitation this is.

That God invites us

to actually talk to Him.

Think about how distinctive that is

from religions of the world.

How many people feel

are invited by their God

to come and have communion with Him

in a secret room.

And friends,

we need to be careful too

that this communion

isn't a baptized version

of what's running around

in our world today

of simply mindfulness.

Now I want to be careful here.

Mindfulness done properly

can be a helpful technique.

It helps us recognize

how our bodily positioning

and rhythms can affect

how we are in the world.

It can help us grow

in self-awareness

of the things it causes.

But so often,

mindfulness in our world

has replaced communion with God.

And mindfulness

can so easily be

emptying ourselves,

but ultimately,

it's actually still focused on us.

I want to be at peace.

I want to feel peace.

I want to lay aside my anxieties.

And ultimately,

it's about us.

But when God invites us to prayer,

He says,

we are to go into prayer

so that we can look to Him

and have communion with Him.

And if some of the techniques

of bodily position

or quieting your mind,

if that's helpful

in getting you there,

that's great.

But make sure that God

is the end of it

and the goal of it

and the center of it,

that you might have fellowship

with Him.

And recognize that

in all of this passage,

have you noticed

how many times

Jesus reminds us

that it's not just to God,

the transcendent God

who is the creator

of all the world,

but God, our Father,

who sees in secret.

Ten times in 18 verses,

Jesus calls God,

our Father.

He is a Father

who delights

when we turn to Him,

when we run to Him

to tell Him about our day,

when we call on Him

in an emergency,

because we need to hear His voice

and we need to hear His instruction

and we need to know His embrace

and His comfort.

He delights when we come to Him

with a single-minded devotion,

love, and dependence.

He delights when we know

that He is always there,

that He always loves,

that He always hears,

that He always sees.

this is the Heavenly Father

that Jesus knows

and calls us

to be in prayer with.

Some of us haven't had

human fathers like that,

and it's hard to imagine God

being like that.

But let the Scriptures

transform not only your thoughts,

but your emotional pathways

to see that God is a God

who loves you

and delights for you

to come to Him

in communion.

So do you see then

this pattern,

how it frees us

from the performing,

self-centered,

religious prayer

that so often

we fall into?

Right?

At a church like Trinity,

we might fall into

a danger of preaching

rather than praying.

Have you ever noticed that?

Sometimes we want to say

so much about God

that we're not talking

to Him in our prayers.

Something for us

to grow in.

Sometimes,

here at Trinity,

we're too self-conscious

about being theologically

correct and precise,

and some of us feel like,

oh, I can't pray at all

in this church.

Oh my gosh, no.

I might say something wrong.

Do you see how both of those

are still very self-centered prayer?

They're not looking to God

who is our Heavenly Father

who invites us.

And if we stumble,

and if our theology

isn't always right,

we can gently encourage

one another towards the truth,

but let us have freedom

in prayer in this.

What does it look like

to go into your closet?

Some of you are really busy people.

You never get five minutes

to yourself,

it feels like,

during your day.

What does it look like?

Maybe it's prayer along the way.

Maybe it's praying in the car

as you're running errands.

Maybe it's prayer before bed

or when you wake up

in the morning.

And look, there's no form.

You can walk.

You can kneel.

You can sit.

You can stand.

You can do it anywhere.

You can do it anywhere.

And you know what?

If you need to,

the church is open

from nine to four every day.

Come here if you want to come

and just sit in the quiet

and pray if you have

that freedom of time.

You can speak your prayers.

You can think your prayers.

You can write your prayers.

You can sing your prayers.

You can turn them

into spoken word poems.

Do whatever you want to to pray.

God gives us great freedom

and form and place

because He wants us to come

into communion with Him.

So this is the first thing

Jesus teaches us.

Don't fall into self-centered

religious prayer,

but let it be a pursuing

of communion with God

as we pray.

Jesus then goes on,

and if you're noticing,

Pastor Nick mentioned

this last week,

there's this pattern

verses three and four is one

and then verses five and six is one

and then we'll see

verses 16 and 18.

It's almost a formulaic pattern.

Verse seven,

Jesus breaks out of it completely.

He's like,

oh, I have more to say to you

about prayer than just this pattern.

So here we go.

He says,

kingdom prayer frees us

from self-reliant religion.

To trust God.

So,

he's already said,

don't be like the Jewish people

who do it to be seen by others.

That's their fault.

That's their heart condition.

It's not just because they're Jewish.

It's because their heart is wrong,

right?

And now he goes after the Gentiles.

And the Gentiles here

don't mean their ethnic identity.

It means people who don't know God.

People who worship other gods

who are atheists.

People who just don't know God at all.

And he says,

what do they do?

Look with me in verse seven.

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.

Empty phrases is a fascinating word.

It's only used once,

not only here in the Bible,

but throughout all of antiquity.

This is the only time

this word has ever been used.

So we have lots of translations.

Some say babbling.

Some say vain repetition.

Some say,

as the ESV,

heap up empty phrases.

Another says thoughtless repetition.

At the core of it,

what's the problem?

Again,

the form is not the key,

but it's the heart

that's the key.

That they will be heard

for their many words.

Artie France just mentions

that prayer in the non-Jewish world

in the first century

was often characterized

particularly by formal invocations

and magical incantations

in which the correct repetition

counts rather than the worshiper's

attitude or intention.

This seems to be at the heart

of what Jesus is warning us against.

And we might talk about other religions

and how other religions pray,

but I want to focus in

on how we as the church,

broadly speaking,

has fallen into some

of these patterns ourselves.

Right?

And I want to be careful

because there is a joy in learning.

I have experienced great joy

in learning from brothers and sisters

from different theological traditions,

from different parts of the world,

different cultures.

So I want to be careful to say

there's lots for us to learn

from one another about how to pray.

But here are two strands

that I could see

that maybe we would fall into

around here that might be dangerous.

One is because we live

in a predominantly Catholic,

I don't typically pick this out,

but the praying of the rosary

is problematic

in light of Jesus' teachings here.

Okay?

If you don't know,

the rosary is a necklace

and there's a process

that you go through

and you pray through things.

And there are ways in which

it could be a helpful tool.

But in the midst of it,

there's a repetition

three times

and then ten times,

multiple times,

of Hail Mary,

full of grace.

Right?

And apart from the theological

misdirection of prayer

that is a serious problem

because we're not called ever

to pray to Mary,

there's also this pattern

of repetition

that seems to be

a heaping up

of saying the same thing

over and over and over again.

The official Catholic website says,

repetition is to help us

to calm your head.

But when I look at this pattern,

I think,

really?

Three times?

Ten times?

Over and over again?

This is how everyone

ought to pray

all the time?

How easy is this

to start to feel like

it's mechanical

or magical

and formulaic?

So that's on one end

of the spectrum.

There's another kind

of problem with prayer.

This comes more

from the Pentecostal

charismatic end

of the church

where there's a deep rejection

of all liturgy,

of all formal...

But there is,

at times,

what creeps in

is this kind

of magical thinking.

If we pray

the name of Jesus

in just the right way,

there is power

and we're going to repeat it

over and over again.

And in that,

we're going to see

God moved

and the world changed.

And friends,

I have to tell you,

the kind of repetition

that I hear

sounds a lot like

what Jesus

is concerned about here.

because remember,

what is He concerned

about the most?

That God will hear us

because of our many words.

Friends,

is this the God

of the Bible?

Right?

This is a fundamental

misunderstanding of prayer

because it's a misunderstanding

of who God is.

God doesn't need us

to come to Him

in a particular form

or a particular way.

He is not impressed

or moved by the volume

or the repetition

of how many times

we pray for something.

Verse 8 is so central here.

God knows what you need.

Is God going to be moved

because you say,

hey God,

I have this need

that you don't know about.

What does He not know about?

God,

I have this thing

that I deeply care about.

Can you please do something?

As if He didn't already

care about you

and the situation

you're praying about.

God knows these things.

Don't believe

that you're going to move God

to do something

He doesn't want to do

because of how you pray.

We're not informing God

or convincing Him

by how we pray.

God is a good

and a loving

and a heavenly Father

and He delights in us

as we come to Him.

Every parent knows this.

We know the needs

of our kids

and sometimes

when they come

and ask for it,

it gives us great joy

to respond

in a particular way

in that moment.

But our provision

is not contingent

upon them asking

and our love for them

is not contingent

on how they ask.

God is a good Father.

And because this is true,

it means

some liturgical prayer

can be great.

It can be really useful.

I've been really helped

by reading

and sometimes

even actually

just praying the words

of historical prayers.

The Valley of Vision

is a great book

that's a book

of Puritan prayers

or Every Moment Holy

that you may have seen

that's prayer

in everyday life.

These are helpful tools

when we use them

to tune our heart

and to go to God,

not because we think

He's going to hear us

by how we do it,

but because these help us

in our prayer to God.

And it's okay for us

to pray for a long time.

Martin Luther used to get up

and pray for three hours.

Now, he was a monk,

so maybe he had a little

latent Catholicism in that.

But even so,

he, you know,

it's okay for us

to pray for a long time

as long as we don't think,

well, I'm going to be

more spiritual

and people are going to think

I'm a greater person

because I pray longer

or God's going to hear me more

because I pray longer.

Those are the things

that Jesus is saying.

Don't fall into these traps

because when we do that,

prayer gets misguided,

misdirected.

Rather than having communion

with God, our Father,

it becomes something else.

And so having warned us

about all these things,

Jesus gives us a form.

He gives us a model prayer

that we can repeat verbatim

or we can use it as a model

to think about how we pray.

It's called the Lord's Prayer.

You heard me

when I read it earlier

and it seems that it was

picked up early in the church

and used repetitively

or regularly in gatherings

of corporate worship.

Some of you may wonder,

what about the ending?

For thine is the kingdom

and the glory

and the power forever and ever.

Amen.

That I grew up learning

when I was a kid

in the church that I grew up in.

Well, the church added that

maybe from a verse in,

sorry, I didn't put it in my notes.

I can't remember.

Second Chronicles,

First Chronicles,

something or other.

They pulled this phrase

from somewhere else

and added it on to the end

in the form that the church used

outside of the Scriptures.

It's okay that we did that.

It makes it a rich prayer, right?

It's scriptural.

But it's not here.

It's not what Jesus taught

in Matthew 6.

He gives us this form to pray.

Now, you're all looking

at your clocks and thinking,

oh my gosh,

is He going to preach

through all of this now?

It's already 1115.

So, here's the good news.

We're going to come back to this.

We're going to preach this week.

We're going to have

a Thanksgiving service,

testimony service next week.

We're going to preach

one more time on fasting.

Then we're going to go into Advent.

And on January 5th,

we're going to come back

to the Lord's Prayer.

And we're going to preach through it

line by line

through January and February.

So, we're going to do this deep dive.

So, I'm going to do it

at a really high level

for the next few minutes.

What does Jesus teach us

in this model of prayer?

The first thing is

He starts with a God-centered focus.

Our Father who is in heaven,

hallowed,

that is,

make holy

or set apart

your name

is great

and beautiful.

Jesus says,

when we pray,

let's start by looking at God,

the personal

and transcendent God

who invites us

as a heavenly Father

to come to Him

because He is benevolent

and gracious.

And then,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done

on earth

as it is in heaven.

Our focus is not,

God, this is what I need

and this is what I want

and this is how I want you

to act in the world.

But God,

what do you want in this world?

What do you,

what is your plan?

What is your will?

How is your kingdom

going to come to this earth?

Not my kingdom coming to heaven,

but your kingdom coming to earth.

We start with a God-centered expression

because we want to orient our hearts

towards Him.

And then from that,

Jesus says,

and then having fixed our eyes on Him,

then we can say,

give us this day

our daily bread.

God, provide for our everyday needs.

You know them all.

You are the one who provides

all that we have.

Lord, we are reminding ourselves

and reminding you,

God, you will provide.

Give us this day

our daily bread.

But recognize that

as He talks about His needs,

He doesn't go on about

my car that needs repaired

and Aunt Josie's,

you know,

corns on her toe.

Look, it's fine to pray

for all of those things.

But recognize that for Jesus,

in this prayer,

there's one line about

give us this day

our daily bread.

And then He goes on.

And the other needs

that He asks for

are actually more

spiritually oriented.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive others.

And deliver us from temptation.

Right?

Lead us not in temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Keep our spiritual lives

from being destroyed

by sin,

by Satan.

Lord, help us

to remember

and to live in

the grace in which

we now stand in Jesus

that is the grace

of Your forgiveness

of our sin.

I want to say something

really briefly

about verses 14 and 15.

And again,

we'll come back to this

probably much more in depth.

But I don't believe

Jesus is making

our forgiveness

from God

conditional.

That would seem

to be contrary

to say Ephesians 1.7

where it says

the forgiveness of sins

is a gift of grace,

not because we have

deserved it

or done anything

to earn it.

But I think instead,

maybe Ephesians 4.32

is a key,

that we are to forgive

as the Lord

has forgiven us.

Jesus is calling us

to remember

our salvation

and the forgiveness

that God has given us

and then to be forgiving

towards others

because that is true.

And there is a warning

in there,

which is,

if we aren't forgiving

of other people,

do we really know

God's forgiveness?

But it's not a condition.

God only forgives me

as much as

I forgive others.

Jesus ends His teaching here

saying,

this is the most important thing.

This is the central.

This is the core, right?

It's bringing us back

to the gospel again.

Do you see how

prayer flows

from the gospel?

Because in the gospel,

what do we confess?

That a grace-filled God

in love

has initiated

towards us

with a plan

of salvation.

He sent

Jesus His Son

to rescue us

when we were lost

in sin,

far from Him,

enemies of Him,

rejecting Him

in our foolish pride

that thinks

we can control God,

in our foolish plans

of self-delivering

that by success

or by doing

the right things

we might actually

be acceptable to Him.

We had rejected God

in all of these things,

but God initiated

towards us

to say,

no,

that is not the way,

but I am sending

you the way.

Jesus has come

to save us

from our sin

in grace,

giving us

what we don't deserve,

the forgiveness

of our sin

through Jesus' death

for us,

the renewal

of our personal

relationship

with God our Father

so that we can

enter into Him,

a high priest,

Jesus,

who now sits

in the heavenly realms

so that when we

approach a God

of all glory

and honor

and holiness,

He doesn't cast us

away because of

our sinfulness,

but covers us

with the righteousness

of Christ

so that we can

actually approach

God the Father

through Jesus

and be received

and accepted

and heard.

The gospel tells us

that we have

a new spiritual life

where the Spirit

of God dwells

within us,

and this Spirit

will help us pray

heart-oriented prayers

to God

that are right.

This is the kingdom

that Jesus

is bringing,

a kingdom of those

who pray

to God their Father

because they know

that He

is a good

and loving Father

who delights

when they come

to Him

in need.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus,

we thank You.

We thank You

for all that You

have done for us

so that we can even

do what we're doing

right now,

coming to You

in prayer.

Lord,

we pray,

we pray that

as we meditate

on this passage

that You would

renew us,

renew us

in our understanding

of what a good

Father You,

we have

in our God.

Renew us

in our desire

to come

to Him.

Renew us,

Lord,

in our sense

of utter dependence

and in our delight

in bringing our needs.

Lord,

renew us

in our worship

of our God,

our Father,

through Jesus.

Oh, Lord,

we pray these things

in Jesus' name.

Amen.