Word of Salvation – April 2018

 

Thankful Praying

By Rev. John Westendorp

Text: Matthew 6:9-13 [with Lord’s Day 45 (Q/A 116)]

 

Theme: Prayer, as unique to a Christian disciple, is a thankful act of necessity.

 

Introd:  When I was growing up, a local Ladies’ Guild had as their motto: Ora et labora.

You may be aware that this was a common motto and slogan in the Middle Ages.

Today there is even a board-game called Ora-et-labora.
Each player is supposedly the head of a monastery.
You acquire land, construct buildings and engage in a variety of business ventures.

Ora et labora is Latin for: Pray and work!  These two belong together – inseparably.

Pray and work!  That makes sense.
We do our work prayerfully… in dependence on our heavenly Father.
            We recognise that connection by surrounding our daily work with our prayers.
            We pray for work when unemployed.  We pray about our work when employed.

But reverse is also true – don’t just pray and sit back and do nothing.
            We work at the things we pray about.  We pray about evangelism – but we witness too.
            We pray for our church – but we also involve ourselves in its ministries.
Ora et labora… pray and work… work at your prayers… and pray in your work.

At the time of the Reformation many teaching manuals (Catechisms) were produced.
It’s telling that they usually bracket together the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer.
Both have to do with our response to God’s saving work.  This is how we now work for God.
We do good by obeying the Ten Commandments.  We do good by speaking to God in prayer.

Ora et labora.  Christian disciples pray to the Lord and they work for the Lord.
In fact our prayers are one of the most important good works that Christians can perform.

A]        PRAYER – A CHRISTIAN ACT.

1. We all realise that prayer is extremely common – so common we hardly need to talk about it.

Prayer is not so rare that we have to ask: What’s this thing called prayer all about?

Millions pray.
Hindus… they pray by the thousand as they gather to dip in the sacred River Ganges.
Muslims… five times a day at set hours they pray towards Mecca (even when travelling).
Praying is part of being religious.  And most people are religious.

Even unbelievers pray.
Think of soldiers in time of war… when life is under threat (the saying: No atheists in foxholes).
Or think of crisis situations in movies… and in daily life… people pray; even if only an ‘Oh God…!

In times of crisis some people even recite the Lord’s Prayer.
Okay… maybe as nothing more than some ritual… like a magical incantation.
But nevertheless that is understood by them as prayer to God.

2. However this morning we are only interested in the prayers of Christians.

We’re not really interested in prayer as a general religious phenomenon.

Matthew 6 leads us to ask quite specifically: why did Jesus teach Christians to pray?
How does Christian discipleship and praying fit together?

So this morning we’re not going to deal with some intriguing questions you may have:
Whether God expects unbelievers to pray… or whether He even listens to their prayers.
We’re not going to speculate about those things.  We’ll simply put those issues to the side.

Think about that a moment: Prayer would have to be a universal human experience, wouldn’t it?
But we’re going to bypass all of that… and focus only on one kind of prayer:
Prayer that is prayed by followers of Jesus… prayer from Christian disciples.

It seems to me that that is also the Bible’s emphasis.
I cannot remember Scripture ever spending much time on the prayers of unbelievers.
I can think of a few occasions where it is simply mentioned in passing.

At other times Scripture is quite scathing of the prayer of other religions.
            Elijah mocks the prayers of the Baal priests.
            He urges them to pray louder because maybe their god has gone off on holidays.
Isaiah and the Psalms make fun of those who pray to images of wood.
            Dumb idols that do not have ears to hear.
            Only the prayers of God’s people are taken seriously: So why do Christians pray…?

3. From a Biblical viewpoint – the answer is obvious.

Jesus gave the Lord’s Prayer – not to be recited as a kind of magical formula.
It’s a model… a structure… it’s not the precise words necessarily.
Notice how we read this in Matthew’s account:
            It doesn’t say: Pray these words…!  But rather: ‘This is how you should pray…!
            IOW: This is to be a pattern for our praying.
And in this model prayer a relationship is coming to expression.

We could look at this in either of two ways:  First in terms of Christian discipleship.
Matthew 6 is part of the Sermon on the Mount.
            And the Sermon on the Mount is the mandate for a Christian disciple.
            This is how a follower of Jesus should live.  And that lifestyle includes prayer.

Or we could look at it another way:  notice how this model prayer begins with ‘Father’.
‘Our Father in heaven…!’
God is the Father of those adopted by Him in Christ.
The Christian disciple is at the same time a child of her heavenly Father.
            So in prayer we come as children to talk to our heavenly Father.
            That father/child relationship comes to expression every time you pray.

I am intrigued at this point by the story of Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8.
That man is obviously in a bad way.  Peter has discerned that his heart is not right with God.
            And he warns him that he and his money will perish.
            He then urges Simon to pray to the Lord for forgiveness for his wrong attitude.

That’s not a difficult thing Peter urges him to do.
But Simon cannot do it.  Instead he asks Peter to pray for him.  Why?
            Because Simon does not have the kind of relationship to God that prayer requires.
            If your heart is not right before God…
            If you don’t know Him as the One who pardons us through Jesus…
                        then true prayer is going to be a problem for you.

I am disturbed that often Christians today get sucked into mystical views of prayer.
I read something a while back on Celtic Spirituality and Celtic prayers.
I found it very New Age-ish.  Mystical prayers are all the go in some circles.
But they usually bypass the Lord Jesus Christ.
            And only He – by His Spirit – can bring our prayers before the Father.
            Biblical prayer arises out of personal relationship with God through Jesus His Son.

Do you see why this morning we are not interested in prayer in a general and universal sense?

Our text in Matthew introduces a very narrow focus on the prayers that Christians need to pray.

B]        PRAYER – A THANKFUL ACT.

1. There is another important reason why I’m making an issue of this.

The difference is not only that Christian prayer arises out of a relationship with God through Jesus.

Christian’s prayer is always our response of gratitude – gratitude for God’s grace and love in Christ.
Maybe that’s so obvious it hardly needs saying.
It may even seem like I’m repeating myself.
            Previously I said: Prayer for the Christian is the expression of a relationship.
            Now: Prayer is the expression of our thankfulness to God for His saving work.
            Is that really all that different?

Let’s look at it from the angle of so much praying in the world today.
The thousands of Hindu prayers by the River Ganges… what motivates those prayers?
The tens of thousands praying towards Mecca (the birthplace of Islam)… what motivates it?
What motivates nearly all praying apart from truly Christian prayer?

In most world religions prayer is usually seen as a way of earning God’s favour.
It is part of a ‘salvation by works’ mentality.
            You have to pray five times a day if God is to be pleased with you.
            You have to go on a special prayer-pilgrimage to some holy shrine.
                        Only in that way will God smile upon you.

Pray often and pray fervently…!  That’s sure to get you some ‘brownie points’ in God’s record book.
But we Christians avoid that sort of motivation like the plague.
And we need to pull ourselves up whenever we feel ourselves going down that road.

Jesus deals with that in the lead-up to the Lord’s Prayer here in Matthew 6.

He slams those who want to use prayer as something to score brownie points.
Because that’s how the Pharisees used prayer: praying long prayers aloud on street corners.
In that way they tried to impress people – and hopefully God – with their piety.

2. Your praying does not make you a Christian disciple. Your prayers don’t make you God’s child.

You already are a Christian disciple.  You already are a child of your Heavenly Father.

And your thankfulness for that drives you to prayer.

The Heidelberg Catechism expresses this beautifully:
It says: Prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us.
So the whole thrust of Christian praying is thankfulness.

Does that mean then that all our prayers are to be thanksgiving prayers?
Does it mean we can never ask for things in prayer?  Of course not!
All we are saying is that our primary motivation for prayer is thankfulness.

There’s a good illustration of that in Psalm 50 that we read earlier.
There is a prayer in that Psalm for God to deliver the psalmist from trouble.
But note the setting.  It’s a psalm that from the 1^st verse highlights God’s power and glory.

Then vs.14 sets the scene – there is thankfulness for who God is.
            Sacrifice thank offerings to God…!
            And only then in vs.15 do we have the prayer for help… but it begins with an ‘and’.
            Sacrifice thank offerings to God AND call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you.

So all our praying ought to take place in that context of thankfulness to God.
            Even when we cry out in our time of need!
            We do that while being thankful for who God is and for what He has already done for us.

In fact that’s the Bible’s overall perspective on good works.
All the good things we do… including our prayers… arise out of a thankful heart.
So you need to ask yourself today:     Why do I pray?
                                                            Why do I do that individually and in family devotions?

Is it because you somehow think that this will keep God on your side?
Is it because you think you somehow make things right with God by your prayers?
If it is any other motive than thankfulness then you need to reassess your praying.

3. One of our problems here of course is that real gratitude is often missing.

Our prayer life slackens because we’re not as grateful as we ought to be.

In fact it’s downright difficult to pray when you are not thankful to God.

Peter Marshal was a preacher in the US and chaplain to the US senate.
His story is told in the book/film “A man called Peter”.
There’s a lovely story of the family sitting down to dinner one night.
Rev. Peter sits down and lifts the lid on the pot then says to his wife, Kathryn:
            Turkey hash!  You’d better give thinks for the meal tonight, Kathryn.
            The Lord knows I’m not thankful for turkey hash and I can’t fool Him.

The answer to our prayerlessness is to turn our eyes again and again to Jesus.
To think of His suffering and death for us… and the victory He won for us.
Then our thankfulness for God’s saving work in Christ will grow.
And we will want to express that thankfulness to the Lord in our prayers.

That brings us to something about followers of Jesus that often puzzles unbelievers.
This: That thanksgiving is so much a part and parcel of our lives.
That even in times of crisis and hardship gratitude is still there.
And that we can keep praying to our heavenly Father even in times of great adversity.
Gospel thankfulness keeps on expressing itself in prayer.

C]        PRAYER – A NECESSARY ACT.

1. This leaves us with one little problem.

I’ve said that the only real valid motivation for true prayer is thankfulness.

But if all our praying is really just an expression of thankfulness
then there’s surely no compulsion for us to pray as there is in other faiths.
            People who believe they are saved by their works do a lot of praying.
            And the more they desire to win God’s favour the more intensely they will pray.

If your salvation depended on your praying that would be a great incentive to pray much..!
If God looks favourably at us because of time spent on our knees… that compels us to pray.

However, we believe that it has all been done for us by Jesus;
            That He has done the work of saving us for 100 percent;
            That we cannot add the teeniest bit to it by our prayers.
            Doesn’t that detract from the urgency of our prayers?

That would seem to be a real danger.  Maybe that’s why Christians aren’t always so diligent in prayer.
Many seem to have the idea that we can easily manage without it.
So there is often much prayerlessness in the lives of Christian disciples.

Prayer is necessary in other religions… their salvation depends on it.
But for us as Christians… it’s merely a way in which we express our thanks to God.

2. But that’s where Scripture surprises us.

It drives home the necessity of prayer… that it is absolutely essential and not an optional extra.

If we are disciples of Jesus then you and I must never treat prayer as something we can take or leave.

Prayer is essential – and for two reasons.
First of all because we need prayer.  God doesn’t need it but we do!

Some folk struggle with that.
We believe God is sovereign… He has already decided everything that will happen.
If that’s so then prayer doesn’t seem all that necessary, does it?

Okay, of course there is still room for some prayer.
            God is sovereign… but we will still want to thank Him.
            God is sovereign… but we will still want to pray prayers of adoration.
            But all of that isn’t essential for us, is it?

And as for prayers in which we ask for things… and prayer in which we intercede for others…?
Everything has been planned and ordained by God from before creation.
So why should prayer be necessary?  Why something that is essential?

Well God has also decreed and planned that He will bless us in answer to our prayers.
Even our praying is taken up in His great master blueprint.
That’s why Jesus can say: Ask and it will be given to you… seek and you will find!
That’s why James can accuse his readers: “You do not have because you do not ask.”

3. But a second and more important reason why prayer is essential is because God requires it.

Think again of those words of the Catechism:
Prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires of us.  That sounds odd.
Thankfulness… when required of us, hardly sounds like real thankfulness.
            Isn’t that like telling a child to thank grandma for that birthday gift?
            And the child doesn’t want to… but you insist… and so it does so, but very reluctantly.

Okay: God doesn’t need our prayers.
But the point is that God loves to hear His children when they pray.
He delights in our prayers… no matter how feeble our words.
He relishes our thanksgiving and our requests…
            because He loves to see that Father/child relationship coming to expression.

And that’s why God requires it.  Not as a cold-calculating demand.
But as the urging of a Father who loves to hear from His kids.

That’s why there are so many Biblical injunctions to pray.
We read it in Ephesians 6: “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers…!”
Or there’s 1Thessalonians 5 “Pray without ceasing…!”
And I could easily list another dozen exhortations to pray.
Because that is what our heavenly Father expects from us.

So the bottom line is that we must do it.  And I’ll be honest: that’s often a problem for me.
I find it relatively easy to do a Bible study on prayer.
It’s not too hard for me to speak about it and preach on it… it’s much harder to be faithful in it.
You may have read books on the subject… that’s easy, it’s much harder being diligent in prayer.

The crunch is that if you are a disciple of Jesus… His follower… you will pray and you must pray.
Like the early church in Acts 2:42 one of things we must devote ourselves to is prayer.
Let’s be a praying people. We need it… and God wants it.                                                   .Amen