A Better Way to Pray

Matthew chapter 6, verse 5. This is the section

Matthew 6:5

where Jesus has given us some instructions on

how to pray. This is a passage that we've looked

at a lot. I know in my time of being here, we

look at it from time to time. But I think it's

good for us to kind of refresh ourselves. With

these words, sometimes maybe we get in a spot

where we just don't really know what to say.

But I think it's always good for us to go back

and look at the Lord's Prayer. Sometimes you

may encounter people and they may say, well,

I don't know how to pray. Well, it's not really

a right or wrong way to pray so long as your

prayer comes from the heart. There is certainly

a wrong way to pray, as we're about to see Jesus

say. But the real key to all of it, which is

the key to everything that we do, is what's our

heart? What's the heart in which we're doing

it with? And so it's not about the words we say

or how long it is or how short it is or any of

that kind of stuff. It's about the heart in which

we pray. But Jesus gives us the prayer, the model

prayer, the Lord's Prayer here in this passage.

Let's pray, and then we'll get started. God,

we come to you. We thank you for your good words.

I pray, dear Lord, that we would be a people

that would seek you and that we would pray to

you not just for our needs but also offer up

praise to you, dear Lord. And I thank you for

each one that's here tonight. I pray that you

would free us from the distractions and the worries

of the world and that in these few moments that

we would see your word, that your word would

speak to us and your Holy Spirit would speak

to us. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Matthew chapter 6, verse 5. And when thou

Matthew 6:5

prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites

are. Now let's stop there. Jesus says, when you

pray, don't pray like the hypocrites. Well, what

is a hypocrite? Well, a hypocrite, if you look

up the definition of that, that's somebody who's

essentially playing a role. It's somebody who's

wearing a mask. What you see is not really what

they are. And I think we need to be careful in

our life to make sure that we don't fall into

the trap of hypocrisy. Now maybe we say, oh,

I don't do that. And maybe we don't. I hope we

don't. But maybe sometimes we do. Maybe sometimes

we kind of play a role when we're in church or

we're around church folks. We kind of play a

role in the way that we act and the things that

we say and the things that we do. which is not

really genuine to who we are. Because maybe when

we go home, we act a total different way. You

come to church and you say, Oh, praise the Lord.

God is good. Let's follow the word of God. Praise

God. I love you, brother. It's a good day. And

then you get home, and then you start beating

on your wife. Well, that's kind of hypocritical.

It's kind of hypocritical to act one way like

you're something that you're really not. And

that's a trap of religion. Now that's one example,

but there's plenty of ways that if we think hard

enough, and probably don't have to think that

hard, that there are probably some days that

we come to church and maybe we look one way,

but maybe when we leave here there are some things

that aren't what they should be. And so it's

good if we recognize those things. Now we have

to say, okay, Lord, I see that. I see that in

my life. I don't want to be hypocritical. I don't

want to play a role. I don't want to try to make

myself look better when really there's all these

things that's in my life, flaws that are in my

life, things that are wrong with me. I don't

want to pretend, dear Lord. I just want to ask

you to help me, God. And Jesus says here, when

we pray, that we don't want to be like the hypocrites.

Now let's see what the hypocrites do. It says

that... For they love to pray standing in the

synagogues and in the corners on the streets,

that they may be seen of men. Now, I don't believe

that it's necessarily sinful to pray in public.

I think we see plenty of examples of that through

Scripture in the Old Testament and the New Testament,

that there are times that we see people, I think

we even see Jesus pray in public when he raises

Lazarus. So we see examples of people praying

in public, and I don't think that Jesus here

is just condemning all public prayer. Now, by

all means, if you read this passage and you feel

convicted that it is wrong to pray in public,

then by all means, you follow that conviction.

If you don't feel like that that's what God wants

you to do, I would never tell you to do something

against the conviction of the Lord. However,

I don't believe that Jesus is necessarily condemning

praying in public. What Jesus is really condemning

is the heart in which they pray in public. Okay,

they're praying on the street corner. They're

praying in the streets. Well, perhaps you've

done that too. It's a good chance, I'm going

to guess, that at some point in your life, maybe

you've encountered somebody on the street or

in the store. And they were going through something.

And maybe you say, can I pray for you? And if

you've never done that, maybe you need to consider

that. Man, that's a powerful thing. If somebody's

struggling, instead of saying, I'm going to be

praying for you, say, can I pray for you right

now? And maybe you've done that. I'm going to

guess that a lot of you probably have. And you

may have done that in public. I'm going to guess

that probably all of you have been to eat food

somewhere in public. And you probably stopped

and you probably said the blessing. Jesus prayed

in public whenever he fed the 5 ,000. And he

blessed the food before he served it. And so

I don't think Jesus is condemning the prayer

in public. He's condemning the heart in which

they are doing it. And what does he say? He says

they do it so that they will be seen by man.

So they know that if a friend comes by, then

that's going to seem pretty impressive. And so

maybe they see that friend coming down the street.

And instead of just praying when they want to

pray, they wait until that friend gets right

next to them. And then they say, Lord, I call

out. and the friend walking by says, boy, look

at that guy praying in the street. He is so holy.

And maybe we've been guilty of something similar.

Maybe there's a good work that we feel that we

need to do and maybe we do it and maybe it's

a good thing that we're doing. But maybe we're

guilty of waiting to do it until somebody's looking.

Waiting to do it so somebody knows that we've

done it. So that they can tell somebody else,

oh, did you see what he or she did? And word

can get back to you and you say, oh, stop it.

I don't want to hear it. But really, you do want

to hear it. Really, you do. You say, oh, I was

just doing what I was supposed to do. But really,

what you were doing is you were wanting that

praise. And maybe we're guilty of that sometimes.

Maybe you're not now. Maybe you have been in

the past. Maybe you're tempted to that regularly.

Maybe you'll be tempted to it tomorrow. Well,

that's what Jesus is talking about. He says,

look, don't. Don't do anything just to be seen

by people. What does he say moving forward? Verily

I say unto you, they have their reward. So if

what they want is the praise of men, if what

they want is for people to come by and say, look

at him or her saying that prayer, then that's

what they want, that's what they're going to

get. They're not going to get any blessing from

God. They're not really praying to God. They're

just... Praying to themselves, essentially. They're

praying for themselves. They're praying so that

they'll be seen. And Jesus says, there's their

reward. There's their blessing for their prayer.

Verse 6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into

thy closet. And when thou hast shut thy door,

pray to thy Father, which is in secret. And thy

Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee

openly. Okay, so Jesus gives a good command here,

and some are very convicted that Jesus is strictly

saying you should only pray in private. And again,

man, if you believe that's what this passage

is saying, then by all means, then that's how

your prayer life needs to be. Don't ever feel

under pressure to pray in public if you don't

feel like that's what we're supposed to do. But

I think Jesus is just making a point here. He's

making a contrast. Not only do you don't get

out in the street to make a big deal out about

what you're doing, But let your prayer life just

be between you and God. Because that's really

all that matters. When we pray, it's between

us and God. Or at least it should be. But these

hypocrites, they're playing this role. They're

really pretty evil people. These are some of

the same people probably that Jesus has in mind.

The same ones that wanted to nail him to a cross.

I mean, they're wearing the mask of religion

and godly people. But really, they're just hypocrites.

They don't care about the word of God. They only

care about themselves. And so Jesus says, look,

don't be like them. Don't be like them in any

area as far as that goes. But in this particular

context, Jesus says, don't be like them in their

prayer life. Because they're praying to be seen.

And when you pray, that's not what our prayer

life should be about. He continues on. Verse

7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions

as the heathens do, for they think they shall

be heard for their much speaking. Okay, so don't

use vain repetitions. Don't just say the same

phrases over and over like these kind of pre

-baked prayers that I'm just going to repeat

the same thing and same thing and pretty soon.

If we get in the habit of doing that, I think

our prayers are just, it just becomes habit.

We just do it. We just can recite the words without

there being any heart in them. And Jesus doesn't

want us to ever have a prayer life that falls

into that trap. So he says, do not use vain repetitions

as the heathens do, for they think thou shalt

be heard, for there are much speaking, or for

there are many words. That is to say, they say

all these long things, they just repeat the same

things over and over and over, and it's probably

long prayers that linger on forever and ever,

and they think that because they're saying all

these words that it must make them better. Well,

it doesn't matter how long or how short that

we pray. I don't think that that makes a bit

of difference. Now we can ramble on and we can

babble on and we can say all the right church

words, right? Sometimes we may do that. We think

we've got to use some special language or special

words that we never ever use anywhere else in

our life. But when we pray, we say all these

words because we think, well, this is how you

pray. Because we hear people maybe that's prayed

before us and they've used these specific words

and there's certain vocabulary that maybe we

just say, okay, well, I've got to use this vocabulary.

Now, I don't think there's anything wrong with

any particular word. But what we have to realize

is it's not about using certain words. It's not

about praying for a long time. Some people, I

can't pray good. Well, what is praying good?

Can you pray to God from your heart? Yeah, well,

you can pray good. If you can pray to God from

your heart and your prayer is, God, I love you.

Thank you for being good to us. Amen. Well, there

you go. That's a good prayer if that came from

your heart. But just rambling on forever and

ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and

ever. Now, maybe some people in the congregation

say, boy, that guy really knows how to pray.

Really? Well, he knows how to say a lot of words.

It'd take a long time, but we don't know anybody's

heart. Maybe that long prayer is straight from

the heart and praise the Lord. But Jesus in this

context says, hey, there are some who pray and

they pray really long prayers. But it's all just

for show. There ain't any substance to it. So

we don't want to fall into that trap. We don't

want to overthink our prayer life. I know sometimes

maybe we're tempted to do that. If we think,

oh, I'm going to have to pray in public. Or,

oh, what if I get called on? What am I going

to say? And maybe sometimes we're just overthinking

instead of just saying, what's on our heart?

Whatever that may be. However short that may

be. And that's what Jesus really wants from us,

is for a prayer life that comes from a good heart.

He says in verse 8, Be not ye therefore like

unto them, for your Father knoweth what things

ye have need of before ye ask. So we don't have

to say any fancy words or a lot of words for

God to make our case. It's not like God is a

judge sitting on the bench and we've got to try

to persuade him. to do what we want to do. Okay,

by the way, here's the thing. I need this person

to be healed, so I'm going to use these really

fancy words, and I'm going to pray for a long

time, and you're going to be in such awe of the

words that I am about to say, God, and how long

I'm going to pray. It is going to win you over

to answer my request. Well, God knows what we

need before we ask it, Jesus says. We're not

going to win God over. He's not going to say,

well, boy, I wasn't going to answer that prayer.

But man, he used some words there that not many

people use. So I'm going to answer that prayer.

That's not how God works. God knows what we need.

He just wants our heart to come to him and say,

God, man, here's what I need. Here's where I'm

struggling. God, I'm weak and I've failed and

I've sinned. God, forgive me. God, have mercy

on me. God, this person has done stuff to me

that's hard. I know I'm supposed to forgive them,

but God, I'm really having a hard time, so just

help me do that. Just whatever comes from your

heart. That's what God wants to hear. He already

knows what's there. He already knows what you

need. He just wants you to come to him. And so,

with that in mind, Jesus gives the following

instruction, which is why I'm reading from the

King James tonight. I suspect me, like many of

you, you probably learned the King James Version

of the Lord's Prayer growing up. And so, like

a lot of times, like when we say the Lord's Prayer,

like that's just the default version that comes

to our mind. And so that's why we're looking

at the King James tonight, because that'll be

the most familiar to us. Verse 9, Jesus says,

After this manner, therefore, pray ye, our Father

which art in heaven. hallowed be thy name thy

kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it

is in heaven give us this day our daily bread

and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors

and lead us not into temptation but deliver us

from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power

and the glory forever amen now what a beautiful

prayer now i think It's a beautiful thing for

us to pray that prayer, like just pray that specific

prayer. Jesus says, pray like this. I think we're

in pretty good shape if we pray this prayer.

I'm not saying our prayer life should be just

limited to these words, but even if it was, I

think we'd be doing pretty good. But the prayer

in and of itself is beautiful, but even if we

begin to look at it, it gives us a structure

for what our prayer life should look like. Okay,

what do we see in the first verse? Our Father

who art in heaven. Right? Okay, God is above.

He is above. We are below. It is God who has

created everything. Our Father which art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name. God is holy. He is holy

and he is worthy of our praise. So we are praying

to a holy God. We need to remember that when

we make our request. Now, we can talk to God

just like we would talk to a friend, but we need

to remember who we're talking to. We are talking

to the Lord God. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be

done. Okay? Whose will are we praying for? Whatever

it is that we ask for, we're praying for the

will of God to be done. We want the kingdom of

God to come. It's God's kingdom. We're working

to... Build the kingdom of God. We're working

to tell people about Jesus Christ so that they

can come into the kingdom. Jesus says the kingdom

of God has come near. And so when we pray, are

our prayers to build God's kingdom or are our

prayers something to build our kingdom? Jesus

says pray for the kingdom of God. Pray for the

will of God. Forgive us our debts. Okay. That's

another way of saying forgive us of our sins.

Well, that's pretty important. We probably sin

more than we care to sin. Probably sin every

day. Maybe not, but I think there's probably

a good chance we sin every day. So this is a

good thing. We need to continually bring our

sins before God and say, God, I've blown it.

I've sinned. I shouldn't have done this. I shouldn't

have said this thing. I shouldn't have acted

this way. So God, forgive me. But there's a second

part to that. Forgive us our debts. We forgive

our debtors. Okay. Well, that's good instruction.

That's a good reminder that we need to be forgiven.

And because God is willing to forgive us, then

we need to be willing to forgive others. Lead

us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Well, that should be our desire, to be delivered

from that evil, that on whatever path that God

leads us on, that we stay away from whatever

evil or whatever temptations. Now, temptations

may come. They don't come from God. The Scripture

tells us that. But when we talk about temptations,

or we can say being tested, kind of the same

idea there, sometimes God does allow us to be

tested. We see a good example of that in the

story of Job. God doesn't test us. He doesn't

tempt us himself. But sometimes God will allow

temptation in our life, and that's the only way

that our faith can truly be proved to be true.

is we have to be tested. We have to go through

the fire so that the impurities can come to the

surface. We have to take the test, and sometimes

we fail the test, and hopefully when we do, we

go back and study a little more and see God a

little more. So lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one. Okay. We're

constantly going to be under attack. But dear

Lord, help me just to focus on you and to stay

on your path that I don't go astray, that I don't

get in a situation where I'm going to be tempted,

and that I'll have the power to overcome the

tactics of the evil one. For thine is the kingdom

and the power and the glory forever. Amen. And

just that simple. Just that simple. In these

couple of little verses, Jesus says, this is

how you need to pray. You need to pray to God.

You need to seek God. You need to seek God's

will. You need to seek God's forgiveness. You

need to seek to forgive others. You need to try

to walk on the path of God. And you need to pray

that God will protect you, that the enemy doesn't

tempt you along the way. And Jesus says, this

is how you pray. But it all comes down to the

heart in which we pray. Because I believe we

could say these words, and if our heart wasn't

really in it, Maybe they're no better than the

words of the hypocrite. So when we pray, we want

to be a people who pray from a right heart. We

don't want to be a people who put on a mask,

who put on a show in front of everybody else,

who pretend to be something we're not, because

what we are are sinners in need of a Savior.

We are sinners in need of grace. We fail more

than we care to admit. We are weak, but God is

good, and God is strong, and God is gracious,

and God is merciful. And God is holy and He is

worthy of our prayers. He is worthy of our praise.

And so let us be those who are not ashamed to

pray to the Lord and go to the Lord. Let us not

ever feel like, man, I don't know the right words

to say. You say what's on your heart. Those are

the right words to say. No matter how eloquent

you are or how short the prayer is, if you pray

the words that are on your heart, those are the

words that God hears. If we're praying for show,

That's our reward. If we're praying for the recognition

of men, then congratulations. Men have praised

you. But if you're praying for God, then pray

from your heart. And that's a prayer that God

will hear. Let's pray. God, we thank you for

your word. I pray that you would help us not

to fall into the trap of hypocrisy. And maybe

we have done that, dear Lord. Maybe there's a

part of us that likes that. that likes for people

to know what we do, that likes for them to say,

oh, how good and beautiful that prayer was. But

dear Lord, let us not fall into that trap with

our prayer life or anything else that we desire

the applause of men. But to dear Lord, we'd just

be a people that would seek you, that would pray

to you from our heart, that we would know that

you are God, dear Lord, that we would just come

to you with all of our needs and all of our struggles.

and all of the praise that you are worthy of.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.