Text: Matthew 6:5-13. Let’s see what God will teach us today!
5 "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 men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 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. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 "This, then, is how you should pray: " `Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'
Now let’s look again at verses 5-6:
5 "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 men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 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 distinguishes here between prayer that has a “public profile” and prayer that does not. This could be misunderstood – is he saying we must only pray in private?
That does not make sense, for Scripture is full of corporate worship and prayer! So let’s look again at the text and see what Jesus is saying to us.
Notice these key words: “hypocrites” and “to be seen by men”. Jesus is showing us a picture of hypocritical prayer, of prayer that seeks the praises of those around us. He is not saying that we must not pray IN public, but that we must not pray FOR the public!
WHY?
One reason is that when we pray FOR the public, those around us become our audience; they become our focus instead of God. When we pray with “the public” in mind, we begin thinking about what people think about us (e.g. do we look or sound silly to them?) We can fall into the trap of seeking the praise – or at least the acceptance – of those around us. This kind of praying is misdirected and hypocritical!
The only reward we will receive for this kind of praying is the recognition from those around us – recognition that we are “religious” (or that we think we are! J)
But when we pray alone, and when we pray in secret, there is no-one to distract us or influence our prayers – only God. There is no-one to impress – only God. There is no need for hypocrisy: the people-pressures are gone and the people-focus is gone. We find ourselves OUT of the presence of man – and IN the presence of GOD!
Folks, this is an awesome place! It is the presence of God Almighty! This is the place where Jesus urges us to go! This is a place where God rewards!
Let’s read on to verses 7-8:
7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
As we find ourselves alone with God, this can be an awkward moment – how do we behave in the presence of God Almighty? Do we have to assume a “religious” manner like priests we have seen and heard? It is hard enough to impress people, but how on earth do we impress GOD?!
Jesus tells us – my paraphrase – don’t try to impress him!
He says ‘do not keep on babbling’ – this is for pagans, for those who have no real relationship with God! We are not strangers to God; we are his children! God does not want us to “go religious on him” with long, formal prayers – he knows what we mean!
When we pray: “Father, I’m worried about my work”, we don’t have to explain all the details as if he were some stranger – he actually understands the situation better than we do!
So here’s a thought – if he knows what we need even without us asking, why does he want us to go to our rooms, close the door and ‘let our words be few’?
It is because HE WANTS US IN HIS PRESENCE!
- It is not because he can’t hear us when we’re all praying together!
- It is not that God is busy and wants us to ‘keep it short’!
It is that God desires our company – much more than our words! He is our FATHER in heaven – he is a RELATIONAL God!
So let me give you a title for this message: it is “The Reward of His Presence.” When we draw aside to pray alone, God rewards us almost immediately – and this reward is his presence.
For me, this is the greatest reward of prayer. In one sense its sounds so simple – even obvious; yet in another, it is so profound – that we can choose to draw aside from the crowd and be alone – and be welcomed into the presence of GOD ALMIGHTY!
When the awe of this sinks in, it is abominable to think that people have “dumbed-down” the greatest connection we can ever make – and the greatest relationship we can ever build – into some kind of religious ritual or exercise!!
Think about it: Prayer is presented by some as a cold, hard discipline, a religious ritual. The longer you pray, the more often you pray, the more eloquently you pray, the more spiritual you are considered!
IF WE THINK LIKE THIS, WE HAVE LOST THE PLOT!!
The Pharisees proved this theory to be totally incorrect. They were “prayers of note” – yet, these men who prayed long, often and impressively, could not recognize who Jesus was – nor could they understand his message!
This view of prayer as a religious ritual is a lie that keeps many people from entering into God’s presence – for two reasons:
1. We can think we are “not spiritual enough” to enjoy the presence of God.
2. We can think that prayer is only a ritual/discipline, and not expect to enjoy God’s presence.
So Jesus tells us: Don’t be misled by the “religious gurus”! Don’t think prayer is about looking religious - or about impressing other religious people - or about impressing God - or about eloquent prayers - or about how long and how often you pray!
PRAYER IS ABOUT YOU CONNECTING WITH GOD!
Let me “bring this home” for a moment. Ever listened to an “informational prayer”? They go on at great length to explain the situation to God – as if they know more about it than he does (or perhaps they are using their prayer to communicate their significant knowledge and insight with those around them?)
Or perhaps you’ve heard a “theological prayer”? Their prayers are “teaching moments”! They quote lots of Scriptures and clarify the theological basis for their prayer – as if God needs to see that they are praying correctly (or perhaps they do it for us so that we may gain from their knowledge?) J
These folks can intimidate us, leaving us feeling inadequate to enter into God presence in private. LET’S GET SET FREE FROM THIS!!!
Now please hear me: Please don’t be afraid to pray detailed prayers, and please don’t be afraid to pray Scripture; but please do be aware that we can “lose the plot” about what prayer is really all about and become modern-day Pharisees, religious prayers who connect more with the crowd than with God!
I think I need to say this too though: it does take some discipline to stop and pray! I think this is largely because our lives are too crowded and too noisy!
- Some of us are too busy – we try to do more things than there is actually time to do.
- Some of us are hardly ever alone.
- Some of us are hardly ever quiet.
Looking at Jesus words and at our lives, I conclude that the disciplines of prayer are:
- to make time
- to get alone
- to get quiet
In other words:
- postpone your plans for half an hour or start your day earlier. Make some time.
- Go into your room or find a private place. Get alone.
- Switch off the TV. Switch off the music. Switch off your phone. Get things quiet!
Now pray! No need to be clever, theological or religious – just pray!
OK, so you do these things. Here you are, in God’s presence. Now what? Not sure where to start? Well, Jesus gives you a GREAT prayer in our text! “Father in heaven…”
But why not just be silent? Remember, this is not a religious ritual; this is you “visiting” your heavenly Father! You don’t have to fill the air with nervous chatter – just “visit”!
When we get this right, we enter into the greatest space ever – it’s “you and God”, no-one else.
· You and GOD ALMIGHTY, creator of heaven and earth!
· You and FATHER GOD – YOUR heavenly Father!
· And – get this – HE WANTS TO SPEND TIME WITH YOU!
WHAT AN AMAZING PRIVILEGE!!! THIS HAS TO BE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT THING WE CAN EVER DO!!!
And we dumb it down to a religious ritual – SHAME ON US!!!
Three quick testimonies to encourage you: two from Scripture and one personal:
Moses knew the presence of God – and came to value it supremely. In Exodus 33:15, we read that Moses said this to God: “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here”!
King David knew and loved the presence of God. In Psalm 16:11 he wrote: “you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
I am SO with these guys! My first experience of doing what Jesus tells us to do was amazing! (I didn’t actually know the Scripture at that stage, I did it right by “accident”!) I went to my room and closed the door. I lay flat on my back on my bed, put my faith in Jesus and surrendered my life to God. God met me in my simple faith and made his presence powerfully known to me – my whole body felt different: I KNEW I was in his presence!! The next time I prayed, I did the same thing again – it was all I knew – and God touched me again!
Those times really grew my faith – times of simply being in my Father’s presence. I KNEW God was real, and I KNEW God was interested in me! His presence was AMAZING! I joined a youth group and met some other “presence junkies” – and we used to have the most amazing times in prayer, just knowing the presence of God!
Just so you know, I don’t often pray flat on my back anymore – at my age, I tend to fall asleep! J And I don’t always feel God’s presence tangibly… I tell you this story simply because it’s a picture of “getting alone with God in simple faith” – and of his delight to bless us as we do so!
I hope these words have helped “demystify” and “de-religiousify” the presence of God for you! I trust that you can see, from Scripture, that God wants YOU to draw aside in prayer – and enjoy HIS PRESENCE – the most awesome experience!
So I urge you – take time this week to take some time out… to draw aside into a private place… to pray a simple, authentic prayer… and to enjoy the presence of God.
You will be SO glad you did!
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