Secret and Simple Prayer

Matthew - Masterclass • Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

0 ratings

· 1 view

Jesus again counsels against showy outward spiritual-ness and instead teaches secret and simple prayer with the Father. God wants us to talk to Him, and he rewards us for doing so. Jesus leads us into true and intimate relationship with our Creator. Pray like this.

Notes

Transcript

Mandatory Fun

Our original plan for this weekend was to go up to camp, a bit of sledding, a bit of board games… then we realized it was going to be sub-zero temps… and I’m a wuss when it comes to cold.

So, new plan, board games at home. But at home kids like to go off and do their own thing. So here’s the plan.

What we call “Mandatory Fun!”

You will come play a board game as a family and YOU WILL LIKE IT!

We’re talking about prayer today. Well, Jesus is talking about prayer, we are listening. Sometimes that’s my feeling on prayer. Mandatory fun. I should like it, maybe… and I know I’m supposed to do it… but it can feel like a chore or a hoop I’m supposed to jump through.

Recap

Jesus is countering this very-human tendency to be religious. To be “spiritual.” To impress and amaze others with how very spiritual we are.

First with our amazing giving. “Look at me, I’m giving to the poor. Doo doo do doo!”

Then with prayer.

This whole chapter could be called “deconstructing spirituality.” Again and again, it isn’t about all this externally focused show… it is simple and true.

It is secret and personal.

When You Pray...

Matthew 6:5 ESV

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Hypocritical Prayers

Remember how Jesus is using “hypocrisy.” It isn’t necessarily lying or dishonest… it’s for show. It’s purpose is for others to see.

So this really covers a lot.

Impressing others with how Spiritual you are

This was 100% me as a teenager. In prayer or public “spiritual” speaking. My secret goal was to impress everyone. And so I learned the right words to say. If I can string together some words like:

“hedge” of protection

I pray over that… and into it… and through it… and around it...

in the Name of Jesus…

Or pray in all the Hebrew names of God.

It isn’t that any of those isn’t true or that they can’t be incredibly meaningful… but my heart was “to be seen by others.”

And I was. And whatever reward there was to get… I have already received it.

Praying in Church?

How about what we did together here earlier? Praying in front of the congregation. Someone could come up with “hypocrisy,” to be seen by others. That’s possible.

But that isn’t where my heart is, I don’t think that’s where most of you are. Even if there’s a glimmer of that temptation in there, it isn’t all of it or even most of it.

Instead, why do we do this? Why do I ask you to?

It invites others to pray with you, to lift you up in prayer.

Sometimes God answers us through the sharing. Someone hears our prayer and God moves their Spirit to respond. I love it when that happens. Someone prays for a car… and God moves someone to donate their car.

Is Jesus teaching against that?

Did Jesus teach never pray in public?

Of course, that’s ludicrous. He’s doing it right then and there, he’s about to teach a prayer. Isn’t that “praying for others to see?”

He prays at the grave of his friend, Lazarus, and straight up says:

John 11:41–42 ESV

So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”

So it isn’t that we never pray in public. Jesus modeled differently for us. There are times to pray in front of others, not for the purpose of adulation, of being thought “super spiritual...” but for their good. To bless others. To invite them to bless you.

He asks the disciples in the Garden to stay up with him, pray with him, that was so they could support and bless Him when He needed it. Heartbreaking that he was left alone in that.

But I do think Jesus is saying this:

There is something special here.

There are benefits to praying alone that you will never discover if you only pray in public.

Matthew 6:6 ESV

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.

Listen to how specific he is. As specific as “don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.” Not hyperbole here, buy not a magic formula either. It’s tremendously specific.

Go into your room. Shut the door, even. This is something that is going to be just between you and your Father. Keep it secret. There’s something there.

What if I don’t have a room? Just like all the pictures of righteousness in chapter 5, Jesus is giving a picture of what it looks like in practice, not a new law to follow. Jesus didn’t have a room… and yet, he practiced secret prayer.

Jesus didn’t just teach this. He did it, he modeled it. If anyone could have skipped “prayers” it was Jesus. He already had the incredible intimacy with God.

The Bible doesn’t give us a detailed play by play of everyday of Jesus’ ministry. I wish we had that. The daily diary. Better yet, the livestream footage. Yes, please. We don’t have that.

But dozens of times we see Jesus getting alone, in secret to pray. There is something profound here.

Mark 1:35–36 ESV

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him,

Oh… okay, only in the morning?

No, at night when needed. In the Garden of Gethsemane, all night before he chooses his 12 apostles.

Constantly and consistently, Jesus is getting away to pray.

What does he say when he gets there?

What do I say when I pray?

Matthew 6:7 ESV

“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.

This is the sneakiest thing in prayer. The “many words” prayers.

It is SO tempting to think that the “right words” will move God. The right formula, the right phrases. If we aren’t careful, we kind of model that with impressive sounding prayers in church.

Now, does that mean we have a word limit when we talk to God?

Matthew 6:8 ESV

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Them, being the hypocrites.

They are using words, and lots of them, to impress.

What about pouring your heart out before God, telling Him everything that’s on your heart, even if He knows it all and has heard it all and even you’ve said it all before 1000x. Not what Jesus is talking about here.

You have someone talking and telling you a story you already know… maybe they told you 10 times before. Or, and I love this, they are telling a story back to you that you told them?

God invites that, loves that, that is intimate and He knows exactly how we process, verbally or otherwise.

My wife is a verbal processor. If something is on her heart and she is sharing it with me again and again… it is love to listen and hear and receive and just be with her in it.

(I don’t always get that right, by the way, but God always gets love “right.”

And here’s the key, is that “like them” (aka, the hypocrites)? Is it for show? Absolutely NOT!

And so it all comes to this next phrase. The

Matthew 6:9a (ESV)

Pray then like this...

Say 10 Our Fathers. Work your way through the rotary. Either as a form of punishment (gross) or a hope that repetition will accomplish something.

That is magical thinking, it is shamanism, and it is exactly what Jesus is trying to counter here. The irony of praying the “Our Father” by rote blows my mind!

Or, to use Jesus’ other words here, “heaping up empty phrases.” If you say it so much the words become noise… the very best words become empty phrases.

Like saying “prayer” over and over again. “Prayer. Pray-er. Praier. Prayer prayer prayer prayer. It’s starts to not even sound like a real word anymore. That’s called Semantic satiation.

It doesn’t have to be that way!

It doesn’t mean there isn’t incredible value in studying, memorizing, even practicing Jesus prayer here.

But meaningfully, thoughtfully, devotionally, prayerfully.

Dallas Willard speaks of walks through each of these phrases in his own prayer life… and getting stuck a phrase at a time.

And we are going to walk through these a phrase at a time. Taking our time. Because Jesus simple words come out of a profound relationship with God.

God Wants You to Pray

Pray in secret… to your Father who is in secret… and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Kruptos, which is secret… but also where we get our word “cryptic.” It is mysterious, it is “unknown and maybe not able to be made known.”

We could even say: “Pray in mystery… to your Father who is mystery… and your Father who sees the mystery will reward you.”

And that’s true… but God is revealing Himself to you, and He loves to do it in prayer, in time together, in Logos, the Word, the ongoing self-revelation of God, so it a mystery being unfolded, in process. That’s what you are entering into in prayer.

People talk about “oh, I should pray more...” like it’s a chore. You know you’re supposed to do it, like taking vitamins in the morning, but the pills are huge and hard to swallow, and have kind of gross aftertaste… and sometimes feel like they stuck right there in the esophagus or something, and you’re swallowing all day.

What’s that phrase? “A hard pill to swallow.”

What if we took that SUPER literally. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Why would He do that?

Why do you reward anyone?

I give my kids rewards when they get good grades. We have whole system in play. This much for As, this much for Bs… C’s get NOTHING!

Why? I want to incentivize good grades. Kids have trouble translating long term good to short term effort. Honestly, humans have trouble with that… I help my kids with that. Cash money today, great educational foundation for life. Win win.

What would is say if I paid my kids to talk to me?

That if I have their best interests in mind… this is something good for them. And what else? That I WANT to talk to them!

Isn’t that crazy! I don’t think we can actually wrap our minds around how crazy that really is.

If I got a phone call tomorrow. Unrecognized number. “Hello, this is Dustin Mackintosh.” Sounds weird, right? That’s how I answer when I don’t know who it is.

“Hey, this is Elon Musk.” “Bill Gates.” “Jeff Bezos.” Pick your favorite billionaire.

Okay… prank call? “No, this is really Elon. So… how’s your day?”

“What are you calling about?” “Oh… I just want to talk. Catch up. Hear about your life. Share about my life.” “I… have so many questions.”

… and he calls the next day. Gives me his private cell phone number. We start talking 2, 3 times a day. Where is this going? Rides on the helicopter, on the boat, private islands.

Do you need a kidney or something? Why is this happening?

And then he starts rewarding me for each conversation we have.

We are talking about the most powerful being in the Universe. Beyond the Universe. More about this next week. But a phrase like “God” kind of fools you, it lulls you into complacency, because we throw it around like “tree” or “mountain” or “star.”

This is YHWH, Maker and Creator of Earth, Alpha and Omega...

And He wants to talk with you! What the what!?!?!!

Oh, okay, I guess. If I have to. Ludicrous. Our vision is so small, we are so blinded… and our prayer life is so impoverished compared to what Jesus models and the Father invites. And so, his disciples lean in.

In Luke’s telling of the story, Jesus teaches these same words in response to their prompt: “Lord, teach us to pray.”

and that is what we are doing. Jesus teaches us the spiritual disciplines - ways to grow in “Life With God.” The good life, the abundant life.

He taught us about giving, giving regularly, and in secret… and the Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

And here He is, teaching us to pray. To talk to and with Our Father who is in heaven.

Prayer. Keep it Secret. Keep it Simple. Keep it Consistent.

So, first in our series within a series. Jesus Masterclass on life, special series on “teach us to pray.” What’s his first lesson for us?

Keep it Secret. Keep it Simple.

And keep it Consistent.

Again, like giving, Jesus doesn’t say how often… but he absolutely expects that it is an integral part of your life. “when you pray...”

And the model he sets is daily, regularly, continually, again and again. When occasion arises and as a daily discipline. He gets up early to pray when that is what is needed. He stays up at night when that is what is needed.

Pray. Keep it Secret. Keep it Simple. Keep it Consistent.

Some of you don’t know how to do this. What do I say? What do I do?

So, I’ll give you an exercise. In fact, it isn’t me, it’s Jesus. He said “pray like this:”

So… pray like this.

Get alone. In your room. Shut your door if you have a door. Don’t tell anyone you are starting this practice, it isn’t about the accolades or the “credit” for doing something spiritual. This is just you and God.

Close your eyes if it helps you concentrate. Open them if it helps you stay awake… or if it helps you break out of the “this is spiritual theater” kind of mindset.

Situate your body any way such that you aren’t thinking of your body. Ooh… this position hurts my back. Okay, switch it up. There’s no formula here. Prayer pose!

And pray the words of Jesus.

Use the words of Scripture, phrase by phrase. Bring them to God, ponder them in your heart. Take 2 minutes or 20… walk through it.

We will spend the next several weeks unpacking the profundity here. Leaning into Jesus words, and seeking to understand all we can.

But more than anything, this isn’t a “thing to know” but a “thing to live.” It’s an invitation to be. To be with God in prayer.

Matthew 6:9–15 ESV

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.