Word of Salvation – Vol.47 No.5 – February 2002

 

Genuine Prayer

 

Sermon by Rev J Haverland on Matthew 6:5-15

Scripture Readings: Daniel 9:1-19

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Many of us find it difficult to pray.  We know we should pray, that we should do that regularly and that our lives ought to be marked by constant prayer.  Yet we are often frustrated in prayer.  We feel that our prayers are inadequate, that we don’t pray enough, that we are easily distracted and that we can’t find the right words.  I’m sure this reflects the feelings and experiences of many of us here today.

For that reason it is good to take this opportunity to consider this subject.  And if we want to learn more about prayer, who better to teach us than the Lord Jesus Himself.  No one was closer to the Father than He was and no one knew more about prayer than He did.

In these words recorded for us in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus assumes that we will be praying – “When you pray.”  A Christian who doesn’t pray much would be like a husband or wife who didn’t say much to their partner.  What sort of a marriage would that be?  In the same way what sort of relationship do you have if you seldom talk to God?  Yet this is what prayer is: it is talking to God; it is a believer’s communication with his heavenly Father; it is contact between the creature and the Creator.

As Jesus looked at the prayers of the Jews and the Gentiles He warned his disciples of two dangers:

1.  The danger of hypocrisy, and…
2.  The danger of empty words.

In each case He tells us how we should pray.

First of all then,

THE DANGER OF HYPOCRISY (vs 5)

The Jews had developed set times for prayer.  They would pray at 9 am, noon and 3 pm.  During those times of prayer they were to pray the “Shemoneh Esreh”, the 18 Benedictions.  These prayers were part of the worship of the synagogue and were led by a male member of the synagogue.  But these prayers were also part of the daily routine of the Jews.  At those times of the day they were to stop what they were doing and turn towards the temple and go through these prayers.

Some of the Jews would arrange it so that they were in some obvious place at those times of the day.  Like they might be on a busy street corner or in the market place.  There they would stop for prayer so everyone could see them.  They weren’t really interested in praying to God but rather in being seen by men.  That was their motive.  They wanted to be in the limelight, to be on show.  They wanted the silent applause of others; they wanted to make a good impression.

Jesus says, “They have received their reward in full.”  They have had all the reward they are going to get; they have had the praise of men.  That’s what they wanted and that’s what they got.  So Jesus condemns prayer that is done for show, for the impression we make.

Jesus is not against public prayer.  We are commanded to pray publicly.  The Apostle Paul urges that “requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone”, and he commands this in public worship (1Tim.2:1, cf 1Cor.14:14-16).  Nor was Jesus against set times of prayer.  Prayer should be a habit and it is good to have a regular routine in our prayers as a discipline against laziness.

Nor was Jesus against standing for prayer.  That was a common Jewish posture for prayer, but we also read of people kneeling for prayer.  You can also pray while you are sitting or walking.  Posture is not the most important thing.  One rabbi was asked about the proper position for prayer.  In response he said that he had once fallen down a well and that the best praying he ever did was while he was standing on his head!

So how does Jesus want us to pray?  (Read verse 6)  From this we can see that personal prayer ought to be private prayer.

We have already noted that Jesus was not against public prayer, but when you pray personally then pray privately.  “Go into your room and close the door.”  The word used for ‘room’ was the word for a storeroom or a secret room where treasures were kept.  It was the only room with a door.  Jesus is emphasising the need for privacy so as to avoid the temptation to pray for show, for the impression you might make on others.

Of course you can pray anywhere.  You can pray on the bus, walking round the block, driving your car, standing in your kitchen.  And we should pray anywhere and everywhere.  Our lives should be filled with prayer.

But it is also good to pray alone, without distractions, away from noise and clamour.  Sometimes there is so much external interference that it is hard to concentrate on the message we want to send.  So get away from the TV and the stereo and the phone and other people and concentrate on praying to God.  Personal prayer should be private.

From Jesus’ words in verse 6 we can also see that personal prayer is a privilege.  Prayer is the privilege of talking to our Father.  We have the opportunity of coming into His presence.  We are allowed to communicate with Him, and we want to do that.  “My heart says of you, ‘Seek His face!’  Your face, Lord, will I seek.” (Ps 27:8).  Such prayer is the privilege of the believer, of the Christian, of the child of God.  Only believers can approach God like this and draw near to Him.  Having dealt with the danger of hypocrisy in prayer Jesus goes on to deal with another danger.

Secondly,

THE DANGER OF EMPTY PHRASES (vs 7)

The first example was taken from the Jews.  This second one is taken from the Gentiles.  The first example dealt with a misuse of the purpose of prayer – directing prayer to the glory of self rather than the glory of God.  The second example deals with the nature of prayer.  Prayer is not just the recitation of words and phrases but is a genuine approach to God.

The pagan Gentiles had a superstitious view of prayer.  They thought they could convince the gods to do what they wanted by their flow of words.  The word Jesus uses (battalogeo) appears only here in the Bible and in ancient literature.  Wycliffe translated it as ‘babbling’ and the New English Bible and New International Version use this word.

These pagans thought that the more they said the more likely they were to be heard.  They thought they could manipulate the gods by their prayers; like the prophets of Baal who danced around the altar on Mt Carmel.  So Jesus is talking about their meaningless repetition, their heaping up of empty phrases, their magic formulas.

Jesus is not against length in prayers.  Children sometimes think of the prayer of intercession in the service as the “long prayer”.  Now there is nothing wrong with long prayers.  The gospel writers tell us that on some occasions Jesus prayed all night.  There are also many examples of long prayers in the Bible, like Psalm 119 and Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the temple (1Kings 8) and Daniel’s prayer (Dan 9).

Nor is Jesus condemning repetition.  In the Garden of Gethsemane He prayed three times that God might let the cup pass from Him.  Paul prayed three times that God would remove the thorn in his flesh.  And the parable of the persistent widow teaches us that we ought always to pray and not give up.

So, Jesus is not against length or repetition.  What He condemns is vain repetition, empty phrases, words without meaning, length for its own sake.  We are all inclined to slip into clichés or formal phrases – to use the same words over and over.  These words of Jesus encourage you to think about what you are praying.

It’s not the quantity of our words that is important, but their quality.  God is not impressed by the number of words or their volume.  He is not interested in the statistics of prayer.  What counts is that our prayers are sincere and earnest.

Let’s now look at a few applications that we should note out of this.  How should we pray?  What should mark our prayers?

The first application to note is that our prayers should be fervent.  That is, they should be sincere, genuine, and thoughtful.  Remember that you are in a conversation with God.  What counts is the attitude of your heart.  Your prayers need to be straightforward, earnest, authentic and personal.

This is more important than having a special structure or form to our prayers.  Better to be speaking from the heart and be all over the place than that we have a beautifully structured prayer that is cold and formal.

Having said this there is some value in form.  This is a second application.  Jesus gave His disciples this example of prayer, usually known as “The Lord’s Prayer”.  It is an example of the content of our prayers (i.e., what you should pray – Lk.11:2), but it is also a model for prayer (i.e., how you should pray).

Let’s briefly notice its structure as that is useful for our prayers.  It begins with a recognition of who God is and of His majesty.  “Our Father, who art in heaven.”  That is followed by three petitions or requests that have to do with God: His name, His kingdom and His will.   “Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” Then follow three petitions that relate to us.  We pray for our daily needs, for the forgiveness of our sins, and for protection against sin and the enemy.

The general structure of the Lord’s Prayer gives us a good pattern to follow.  Praise for God followed by petitions relating to God and then for ourselves.

Another way to pray is to use the prayers of the Bible, especially the Psalms.  They have been the prayer book and song book of the church for three thousand years.  They are inspired by the Holy Spirit Himself, and they, too, can be a great aid in prayer.  Take a psalm, read it, meditate on it, and then use it as your prayer to God.

But you can do this with any passage of Scriptures.  One of the best prompts for prayer is read a passage and then pray about it.  If it talks about trust, pray for trust.  If it gives an example of how someone fell into sin, pray to be kept from that temptation.  If it expresses a praise and adoration of God, use that as a basis for your prayers.  Remember that in all this we are praying to our Father in heaven.  Here, too, is an application for us in our prayers.

How you pray is directed by your view of God.  What you pray is shaped by your understanding of God.  Your prayer life as a Christian is determined by your knowledge of God.

God is our Father who has loved us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.  You can go to Him as a son and daughter of your Father in Heaven.  If you have the right view of God, then your prayers will be sincere, not hypocritical.  They will be thoughtful, not mechanical.  They will express a true communion with your heavenly Father rather than being meaningless repetitions of the same phrases.

As we seek to pray more fervently to our heavenly Father, we need to continue to look to the Lord Jesus Himself, through whom we pray.

Here is our prayer:

O thou by whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way,
The path of prayer thyself hast trod;
Lord teach us how to pray.  (Psalter Hymnal No 434)

Amen.