1st February 2026 - Brendan Hurley

Well, we're starting a new series on prayer,

and if you've got your Bibles in front of you,

that'd be fantastic. Today I want to tell you

about Gary. Gary woke up at 6am to the sound

of his alarm. He wanted to hit snooze, but he

knew he'd run out of time if he did. So he begrudgingly

swung himself out of bed. He had a shower. He

had a cup of coffee to kind of wake himself up.

He read some of the Bible, still yawning, still

wiping sleep from his eyes. And after thinking

a little bit about what he'd read, he decided

it was time to pray. But then a horrible thought

invaded Gary's mind. What's the point of getting

up early to pray? Gary wondered, am I just talking

to the ceiling? Is anyone actually listening?

Does this even make a difference? Gary couldn't

help thinking, do my prayers even do anything?

He especially thought that because there's some

things he'd been praying about for ages and nothing

seemed to happen. He was finding it really hard

to pray. Now, most of us at one time or another

have asked what Gary was asking. Does prayer

actually do anything? If you're a sceptic, you

might think, no, of course not. At best, maybe

it's just a psychological trick that kind of

gives you some comfort. But if you're a Christian,

I hope your answer is, yes, prayer does do things.

But it might be a struggle for you to want to

pray. Because it often doesn't feel like prayer

really does anything. It can look a little pointless

at times. So today I want to ask, is prayer actually

rewarding? Does it actually accomplish anything?

And over the course of this series, I want to

show you just how life -changing, beneficial

and rewarding prayer can be. And not because

it's some sort of psychological trick, you know,

you just wooed yourself into feeling better.

No, prayer is rewarding because of who we pray

to. When we pray, we're not just talking to anyone.

We're talking to our loving Heavenly Father,

the creator of the universe. When we pray, we're

relating to him. Our prayers are only powerful

They're only rewarding because he is powerful

and because he rewards them. And seeing this

can help you and I get out of our prayer ruts

when we fall into them. But if prayer is going

to be rewarding, well, we need to relate to God

in the right way, don't we? We need to have the

right approach to God. If you go to the gym,

which, you know, as you can tell, I do all the

time. If you don't use the machines properly,

it's not rewarding, is it? It actually can be

quite damaging, can't it? You can cause serious

injury. And it's the same with prayer. It's rewarding

if we do it properly. It can actually be harmful

to our hearts if we don't approach God the right

way. So today we're not just going to ask, does

prayer actually do anything, but also if it is

rewarding. And how do I pray in a way that brings

benefit to me? And here's the thing I hope you'll

see as we look at this little passage on prayer.

Here's the way to pray. Why you pray changes

what you get when you pray. I hope you can remember

that from today. Why you pray changes what you

get when you pray. Why you pray changes what

you get when you pray. See, what you get depends

on what reward you're actually seeking, what

benefit you're trying to get from prayer and

how you go about it. We're going to see two different

things as we look at our passage today. Two approaches

you can have with prayer. Don't pray to be seen

by others. That's what Jesus is telling us. Don't

pray to be seen by others. Pray to be seen by

your Father. Pray to be seen by your Heavenly

Father. So let's have a look at each of these.

Firstly, don't pray to be seen by others. Have

a look at what Jesus says. And when you pray,

do not be like the hypocrites. For they love

to pray standing in the synagogues and on the

street corners to be seen by others. Truly, I

tell you, they have received their reward in

full. So Jesus warns us about the wrong way to

pray here, to pray like the hypocrites. In our

day, a hypocrite is someone who says one thing

and does another. But in the Bible, a hypocrite

is a play actor, a mask wearer. Think of Mission

Impossible. Anyone like Mission Impossible? I

named my son Ethan. I mean, Ethan Hunt from Mission

Impossible. His middle name's James for James

Bond, so that we covered all the super spies.

Well, I don't know, not really. Maybe subconsciously.

Anyway. But think Mission Impossible. What happens

in Mission Impossible? They go on these impossible

missions, don't they, that no one can do. And

one of the sort of gimmicks that happens in Mission

Impossible all the time is they make these masks

that look perfect, just like the real person

themselves. And they put on this mask, they pretend

to be someone else for the sake of the mission.

Well, that's what hypocrisy is in the Bible.

It's putting on a mask so that you look like

someone else, so that you pretend to be someone

else. A hypocrite is someone who plays a part.

And the hypocrites in Jesus' day, they acted

pious. They were pretending to be pious to impress

a human audience so that other people would think,

oh, wow, aren't they pretty godly? Did you see?

Jesus says they love to pray. Not because they

get to be with God when they pray. They love

to pray standing in the synagogues and on the

street corners. To them, prayer is a show, a

performance that they can do. So others look

at them, praise them. It's the virtue signalling

of the ancient world. And this sort of hypocrisy

is easy for Christians to slip into today, isn't

it? It's easy at growth group or at a prayer

meeting. You know, I think I've shared this before.

I often struggle. I'm sitting there, I'm praying,

and people start going, mmm, amen. And I start

counting the mmms and amens. That one got five.

That must have been a good prayer. But at that

point, you're not really talking to God anymore,

are you? You're playing to the audience. Or say

you're praying up the front at church and you

fill your prayer with all sorts of Christian

jargon. Almighty and ever -living God, the potentate

of time, we beseech you to... And it's all about

looking deep and spiritual to everybody instead

of being genuine and authentic with God. It's

playing the part of the mature Christian instead

of seeking to actually be one. That's the problem,

isn't it? And what would the mature Christian

do? Well, they wouldn't care what others think

of them. They'd only care about what God thinks

of them. They'd have an audience of one. They'd

pray the same way if the room was full or empty.

The focus is on communing with God, not with

impressing other people. It's a bit like singing

to someone you really like in a karaoke bar.

Never thought I'd do that illustration. There's

two types of people in a karaoke bar. The one

who wants to impress the crowd. You know, they're

thinking, what song can I sing that I can really

nail so everyone's going to go, wow, can't they

sing? Or there's that person who's singing that

song for that special someone. Even if they don't

really nail it, they're trying to think what

song will convey to that special someone how

they feel. Even though the crowd's listening

in, it's not for them. It's for that special

someone. That's what Christian prayer is like.

We're praying to an audience of one. Sadly, if

our goal is human approval instead of God's,

there is a reward we will get. That's what Jesus

says, and it's not a good one. Did you see at

the end of verse 5, truly I tell you they've

received their reward in full. What's the reward

they'll receive? It's the human praise that they

crave. But it's in full. Because that's all they're

going to get. See, God's not impressed when we

approach him that way. We've treated him like

he's not there. He won't hear our prayers or

reward them. I love the way Don Carson puts it.

He says, could it be that the primary reason

we do not see more prayers answered is because

we're less concerned with bringing our requests

to God than with showing off before men? And

I'm not innocent of this either. I know I'm guilty

of trying to look righteous to others. I often

care too much about what others think of me.

And that's when I need to go to the death and

resurrection of Jesus all over again to help

me stop caring about people's opinions. To see

that I am justified in Jesus. I've been made

completely righteous by his death on the cross.

I don't need to go prove myself to anyone and

make people, you know, con them into thinking

I'm mature. I'm already righteous in God's sight.

Pretending is a delusion. Seeing reality is the

way to go. And when the death and resurrection

of Jesus informs my prayer life, it makes me

more secure and joyful. I stop caring about what

others think. Instead, I seek to have a rich,

genuine, authentic connection with God. So what's

it look like to pray like that? To have that

sort of connection with God? Well, that's our

second point for today. Pray. to be seen by your

Father. Pray to be seen by your Father. Have

a look at verse 6. But when you pray, go into

your room, close the door and pray to your Father

who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what

is done in secret will reward you. Jesus is saying,

go hide away and pray. But to do that takes faith,

doesn't it? Being alone with God where no one

can see your piety, it takes faith. You've got

to believe that God will actually reward that.

Praying to a God you can't see, you've got to

actually believe that it will be worth it, don't

you? Believing that God actually rewards our

prayers, you've got to believe that he's the

sort of God. Who does? It takes faith to pray

on your own and to keep praying on your own because

there's no visible benefit to doing it. It's

like when you go to the gym. Again, I told you

I don't go that often, but if you go to the gym,

you don't see the effects straight away, do you?

You feel a bit sore, but that's it. You don't

suddenly come out of the gym and go, wow, look

at my guns. They've grown so much. One session,

awesome. It just doesn't work like that. You

have to be consistent. You have to keep going

with it. And it's the same with prayer. Often

it doesn't seem to have any visible benefit.

Sometimes it doesn't even feel that great. But

it's worth doing. It's worth persisting with

it and prioritising it. And the key is to not

just pray, but to spend quality time with God,

being real and raw with him, pouring out your

heart's requests. That's depending on God, isn't

it? And we see... That God rewards that. We see

that in the end of verse 6. You know, he talks

about a reward. What's the reward? Is the reward

worth all the effort you put into it? I had a

friend who, when she was at school, she was in

the national swim team. She would get up at stupider

clock to swim. She spent countless hours training,

lap after lap after lap, watching what she ate,

giving up. a whole bunch of fun things because,

hey, you know, I want to be amazing at swimming.

Maybe one day I could go to the Olympics. Free

time, fun, no, I've got to swim. And she did

it for a while because she knew you only get

out what you put in. But eventually she went,

it ain't worth it. And for swimming, she's probably

right. Swimming's not bad, but... Physical training

is of some value, isn't it? Godliness is of value

in every way. There is a great reward to prayer,

a far better reward. It is so much worth it to

get up and consistently pray. And I get it, it's

not easy. When your calendar's full... You're

tired, you barely had a good night's sleep. You

just want to scroll on Facebook. And you don't

feel like praying. Oh, you know, like, I just

want to get on with my day. What will make you

pray? It's the confidence that being alone with

your father is worth it. That it truly is rewarding.

So let's think for a second. What is the reward

of prayer? What's the reward Jesus is talking

about? I reckon there'd be three things at least.

You get to enjoy God when you stop and take the

time to pray. You know, I love it when Laura

and I do that, when we stop and have some quality

time together. You know, that's what we need

to do with God just as much as anyone else in

our life. Stop and have quality time with him.

When people feel far away, when you feel like

there's distance in any relationship, it's probably

a part of it is you haven't had any quality time,

isn't it? And it's the same with our prayer life.

When God feels far away, a lot of it is we just

haven't taken the time to sit and be with him.

You get to enjoy God, the riches of praying to

him. It is an absolute joy. But not only that,

you become like God. Now, not that you're going

to become omniscient or all -powerful or anything

like that. But you actually, your heart changes

when you pray, doesn't it? It's like a wheel

alignment. You know, you've got to get the car

in and they align the wheels and sort it all

out, get it back to where it should be. That's

what prayer does for our hearts. It gets our

priorities aligned. It gets our guilt sorted.

It takes away our worries and calms them and

soothes our hearts. Prayer helps us to become

more other person centred and Christ -like. When

you spend time praying, having that quality time

with God, you become more like him. And finally,

you get help by God. See, we're asking God for

help when we pray. Prayer doesn't just change

us, it changes what happens. It doesn't change

God, he doesn't change. It doesn't change his

plan because his plan has been set before the

beginning of the world. But God incorporates

our prayers into his plan and he honours them

and blesses them just as he does other things

that we do. So when we ask God for help, It really

does change things. And here's the great thing

to know about prayer. You might think, oh, if

I pray, what's God going to do? I remember when

I was a kid, I was told there was three ways

that God would answer prayer. He'd either answer

with yes, no, or wait. But what I've learned

since getting a little older and reading more

of the Bible is that there's two ways that God

answers prayer, yes and better. Yes and better.

Because he's a good heavenly father. So he's

either going to answer my prayers with yes or

because he's all -knowing, all -powerful, all

-wise, he's going to do something better. I may

not always see it. I may not always like it.

But that's what God does when we pray. I remember

talking to someone about this a while ago. And

we were talking about what's the most powerful

weapon on the battlefield. And I asked them and

they said, oh, it's like the bazooka or the tank

or the, you know, I said it's the radio. Because

with a radio, you can call on all the reinforcements,

can't you? You can call in and suddenly the big,

you know, fighter planes are coming in, dropping

bombs, you know. And prayer is like that. When

we pray, we're saying to the God who runs the

universe, can you use the resources of the universe

to help me? That is an amazing thing, isn't it?

Prayer is worth it. It changes what happens.

But Brennan, how do you know prayer really does

this, that it really is this rewarding? You might

say to me, I've prayed many times and I've not

seen anything or felt a thing. Well, if you doubt

how rewarding prayer is, you can always look

at the cross. Because at the cross we see what

we already have, don't we? The curtain has been

torn in two. Remember, Jesus was forsaken by

God. The curtain is torn by two. We now have

access to God. We have a new relationship with

God to enjoy. Prayer is raw. I know it is. Jesus

thought it was so worth having that he died for

me to have access to God. And actually, think

of Romans 6. The old self has been crucified

with Christ. We've been changed. We've become

new people who are like Jesus. That's why Jesus

died. Prayer is so rewarding because it's through

that that we actually appropriate that blessing

and become more like Jesus. I know it is worth

it. Or think of Romans 8, 32. He who did not

spare his own son but gave him up for us all,

how will he not also with him graciously give

us all things? If God gave up his own son for

you, what help is there that he won't give to

you to make sure that you get to glory? He will

go to the greatest lengths to make sure you get

to glory. You can trust when you pray that he

will either answer it with yes or better, and

the cross proves it. See, the cross shows that

these blessings are already ours. Prayer is just

us appropriating them, making use of them. The

cross is like a glorious deposit in our spiritual

bank account. And prayer is our ATM card. It's

how we pull out and enjoy the blessings that

Christ has given us. So are you using your ATM

card? Are you accessing the blessings that are

yours in Jesus? Prayer is one of the major ways

in which we do that. All right, well, let's recap.

We asked today, does prayer actually do anything?

And if so, how do we get the most out of it?

And we saw that it's about genuinely seeking

God by faith. primarily privately, so that our

prayers won't be prostituted by what others think

of us. It's about enjoying God and being alone

with him, having that audience of one. We saw

two things, don't pray to be seen by others and

pray to be seen by your father. They're the two

ways to pray. And that leads to our big idea,

why you pray, your motivation, why you pray changes

what you get. when you pray. God's going to reward

and answer your prayers differently depending

on the motivation, the approach that you have

when you pray. So what's all this mean for us?

Well, let's draw some implications from all this.

Firstly, public prayer is important yet dangerous.

Jesus is not forbidding public prayer here. He

and the apostles prayed publicly. We're commanded

in 1 Timothy 2 to pray for our leaders and all

people so that the gospel can go out. We're commanded

to do that, to pray in church. That's why we

do it each week at church. And yet just because

we do it doesn't mean there's not a danger to

it. Jesus is highlighting the danger here of

public prayer to show off. to others, to seek

the approval of people instead of the approval

of God. We all face this danger when we're not

careful of what's going on in our hearts, don't

we? This is not saying don't pray at all publicly.

It's saying watch your heart, guard your heart.

Again, I love Don Carson. He says on this, two

tests. He says, do I love private prayer? more

than public prayer? Is my public prayer an overflow

of my private prayers? It's a great way to test

where your heart is at. I mean, I hope we be

a church that gets together to pray. for things

like the boiler room, for 357, in our growth

groups. I hope we get together for public prayer.

I hope we continue to pray publicly here on Sundays.

But one of the challenges here is that we guard

our hearts, that we truly seek to have an audience

of one when we pray. Secondly... Another implication,

who you are in private is the real you. I love

this quote from Robert Machain. He says, we can

all put on a good show. Sorry, I'm reading my

notes. What a man is on his knees before God,

that he is and nothing more. Isn't that powerful?

This one convicts me a lot. What a man is on

his knees before God, that he is and nothing

more. We can all put on a good show, but who

we are in private is the real you. Don't worry,

I'm not going to do this, but if I snuck under

your bed and listened to your prayers, that would

be a great way to actually see the state of your

heart. I'm not going to do it. I'm going to get

other leaders in church to do that. But you can

actually find out a lot about where your heart's

at by analysing your private prayers, can't you?

Are you prayerless? What's that tell you about

your heart? Are you praying sometimes? Well,

what's that tell you about your heart? Are you

praying joyfully and fervently and consistently?

What does that tell you about your heart? Look

at your private prayers to see where you're really

at. And then ask yourself, what am I going to

do about it? Is it time to do some of that heart

work with God? And then thirdly, third implication,

private prayer that's raw and real is incredibly

rewarding. Private prayer that is raw and real

is incredibly rewarding. Think back to Gary.

Does prayer do anything? Yes. You enjoy God when

you pray. It transforms you. God actually hears

and helps us when we pray. Even when it doesn't

feel that way, the cross assures us that our

prayers are worth praying. So pray raw and real

prayers, authentic prayers to God. And when you're

filled with doubt, look to the cross. All the

blessings are there in the cross. It is worth

the effort. The cross proves it. And then finally,

I want to leave you with this. If you're here

today and you're not yet a Christian, I want

to encourage you to say a prayer. What are you

going to do with this from today? I'd encourage

you to say a prayer. Get alone with God. You

don't have to do it here where we're all watching.

And just talk to him. You might want to say something

like this. Dear God, I'm not sure if you're there.

If you are, please reveal yourself to me. Show

me what you are like and help me to seek the

truth about you. Amen. It doesn't have to be

that. Just that's an idea of what you could pray.

But I want to ask you, do you want to keep? Living

in a world where you don't know that God's got

your back. Where you don't enjoy that relationship

with the creator of the universe. I love knowing

that God loves me. It is such a joy. When those

times in life are so hard and you just get hit

for six, to know that there is a God who cares

about you and is... listening to your prayers

and is using things for your good, gee, that

is a wonderful comfort even in the worst times,

isn't it? Don't you want that? If you're not

a Christian, pray that prayer and start seeking

whether God really is there. If you are a Christian,

well, what I want to say to you is when you doubt

that prayer is worth it, Can I leave you with

this? I encourage you to compare the pair. You

know, like those super ads where they compare

the pair? Well, here's what you need to do. Trace

out the future, just like the super ads. What

is the outcome? What is it going to look like

in the future if I don't pray? If this becomes

my pattern, what is it going to look like? That's

one outcome. My heart's going to go colder. Sin's

going to become more tempting. My joy is going

to reduce. But what if I do pray? Well, I'm going

to enjoy God far more. I'm going to become more

like Jesus. It's going to transform me in profound

and radical ways. And you know what? God is the

sort of God who will answer my prayers. It may

be yes, it may be better, but he will do something.

He will honour those prayers and bless them.

I know which of the two seems to be worth doing.

I think we all do. When you face with those doubts,

compare the pair. It makes it clear that prayer

is truly worth it. Let's pray now. Heavenly Father,

we thank you that prayer is rewarding, beneficial

and powerful. We thank you that you have blessed

us so abundantly through the death and resurrection

of the Lord Jesus. We thank you that you hear

our prayers, answer our prayers and do what is

best for us. through our prayers. Please, Father,

whether individually, whether corporately, make

us a people who love prayer. And we ask this

in Jesus' name. Amen.