The Priority in Prayer

5 “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. 6 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.

7 “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. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

hallowed be your name.

ILLUST - Did you ever notice that the way a person approaches you can oftentimes be a clue as to what they may want from you?

Honey, you look so handsome

Hey Friend, you remember that time when I ______ for you?

Dad, guess what? I didn’t punch my brother!

In this passage, Jesus describes three ways by which people approach God in prayer:

Prideful religious

Religious pagan

Humble child

*The priority in prayer is to submit your heart to your Sovereign Father*

When we pray:

We come with a humble heart before God and for God. (5-6)

(Before God)

5 “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.

Pharisees would pray not only at synagogues but also during festivals, etc., which would be in the streets and in the public square.

Pharisees were highly religious and seen as holy

(Why is it that the “holiest” one in the room is the one asked to pray? Why does the pastor need to pray for everything by default?)

They would pray loud and proud so all could hear how godly they were from their prayers.

(ESV)

10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

(ESV)

14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Startling fact: being more religious did not help the Pharisee’s prayer get answered - in fact, it might be said that the Pharisees self-serving devotion to the religious law and not the Lawgiver Himself may have been what made his prayer ineffective.

Could it be the

(for God)

Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 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.

Jesus is not saying that God can only hear you from the bathroom. (Though with six kids you may see how that could be a real possibility).

Jesus is not telling us to go into the secret place for God’s benefit but for ours.

Hypocrites reward = public applaud

Praying in secret reward = God (Father is in secret)

What we do in secret is secretly who we are.

*How often do you pray in secret?*

Not at the dinner table

Not before the big game

Not during Life Group when there is the awkward “Pray as you feel led”

But when no on is watching, when you aren’t told to, etc.

What we do in secret is secretly who we are.

The Priority in prayer is humility with God-centerdness

opposite: hypocrisy with self-centeredness

The Priority in prayer is humility with God-centerdness

* opposite: hypocrisy with self-centeredness

If we are less apt to give or pray in secret we have, perhaps, only revealed the true motivation of our heart.

* opposite: hypocrisy with self-centeredness

* If we are less apt to give or pray in secret we have, perhaps, only revealed the true motivation of our heart.

“The person who prays more in public than in private reveals that he is less interested in God’s approval than in human praise. Not piety but a reputation for piety is his concern. Far better to deal radically with this hypocrisy and pray in a private ‘room.’”

(D. A. Carson, /Matthew, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary/, p.199

* “The person who prays more in public than in private reveals that he is less interested in God’s approval than in human praise. Not piety but a reputation for piety is his concern. Far better to deal radically with this hypocrisy and pray in a private ‘room.’” (D. A. Carson, /Matthew, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary/, p.199

My goal is not to guilt you into praying more. My goal is

We trust in God’s heart and not our efforts. (7-8)

(I almost used: We trust God’s heart and we don’t test His patience)

7 “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.

“Heap up empty words” in some translations is ‘babbling’

It’s the idea that if we pray loud enough, long enough, in the right place or the right way that God will

Most religions incorporate a process for prayer to manipulate the hand of god.

ILLUST - Kids nagging - when has that ever worked? Yet every child gives it a go. “Dad, can I have. . , Dad, can we go. . .” As if there is some magic number that if they ask 47 times the answer will change to “Yes.” The very fact that you keep asking predetermines I answer, “No”

Elijah and Prophets of Baal:

(ESV)

28 And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 29 And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

Isn’t this how we approach God sometimes?

We feel as though we are not getting an answer, or not getting the answer fast enough, or not getting the answer we want and we begin to get frustrated God is not simply blessing the plans we made so we begin to attempt to manipulate God with our efforts.

Or we simply pray mindlessly — out of habit - this is just as bad because it is meaningless — it is offering something meaningless to God and hopes it will move Him.

A mindless request seeks a transaction not a relationship

**Think about your last prayer - last night before bed, this morning over coffee, before the sermon. What did you say? Do you remember? How intense was it? How routine? Were you seeking a completion of a duty, a transaction, or a relationship?**

This reveals a pagan idea in our hearts that seeks God more for his power that his presence.

But the real problem, Jesus says, is that the assumption (among the Gentiles) seems to be that God is naturally hostile toward you, and that these techniques in prayer make him feel more disposed to you.

J. D. Greear, “Prayer to God, Your Sovereign Father: ,” in J. D. Greear Sermon Archive (Durham, NC: The Summit Church, 2017), .

ILLUST - Kids nagging - when has that ever worked? Yet every child gives it a go. “Dad, can I have. . , Dad, can we go. . .” The very fact that you keep asking predetermines I answer, “No”

No,

This

Note: we’re not talking about persistence. Jesus applauds and even calls for persistence in prayer. What we have here is presumption and manipulation.

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

This does not means that we do not ask God,

(ESV)

2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

The idea here is TRUST. We are to trust God’s heart in our prayer not our efforts or manipulations in the way we pray.

The first way trusts in the Person instead of a religious process.

Mueller had over fifty thousand specific recorded answers to prayers in his journals, thirty thousand of which he said were answered the same day or the same hour that he prayed them. Think of it: that’s five hundred definite answers to prayer each year—more than one per day—every single day for sixty years! God funneled over half a billion dollars (in today’s dollars) through his hands in answer to prayer.

(Taken from article by Donald Whitney on Crossway’s blog: https://www.crossway.org/articles/what-george-mueller-can-teach-us-about-prayer/

When we ask, we do so knowing God is already fully aware of our needs and we trust his heart to give us what is good.

TEST for your heart: Would you be satisfied in your prayer life if God answered every prayer with a “No, but I’ll be right there?”

No,

After describing two of the wrong ways to approach God in prayer, Jesus then gives the model for how we are to approach God in prayer:

9 Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

We recognize our Father. (9)

“The ‘our’ of prayer” - John Piper

In heaven, hallowed be your name

When we pray, we are praying TO THE ONE WHO CREATED THE UNIVERSE:

There is NO prayer He cannot answer!

This understanding should thrust us into worship.

[Jesus’s sample prayer starts from a position of worship:“Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name.” Worship has a way of changing our perspective, not because God changes, but because he, in fact, does not. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And when we worship God in prayer, declaring

who he is, based on his Word, we are reminded he is faithful. Everything he has ever been he will continue to be. And as we get a glimpse of his glory, his majesty, his strength, his sovereignty, our angle on our own temporal circumstances is realigned with the truth and put into a proper perspective.]

**The better we worship, the better we will pray**

Our Father

In giving his disciples a model by which to pray, Jesus told us to address God as “Father.”

The significance of this title for God is lost on us today.

In all the Old Testament He is referred to as Father only 15 times. And none of those 15 times are the people of God ever told to pray to God as Father. When God is referred to as Father, it is usually as an analogy as opposed to a personal reality:

(ESV)

13 As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

(ESV)

10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

In the four gospels alone, God is referred to as Father 165 different times.

You know what’s cool? Out of those 165 times, there’s only one time—I think it’s , that’s the only time—164 other times when God is mentioned as Father, it is in the context of Jesus talking specifically to His disciples.

(ESV)

41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

(ESV)

27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

Jesus had God as his Father - that makes sense,

If you could visibly see God as your Father, what would you ask Him? If you were sitting across from the table from Him, driving in the car with Him next to you, sitting on His lap - what would you ask Him?

but in this passage he makes the statement in teaching his disciples how to pray that God is the Father of everyone who follows Jesus.

God as Father means:

He knows you and understands you

(ESV)

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

3 You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

4 Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

He loves you

(ESV)

19 We love because he first loved us.

He gives you a family and a name

(ESV)

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

He protects you

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

(ESV)

1 God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

He forgives you

19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

(ESV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He provides for you

(ESV)

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

He is all these thing toward you even if your earthly father was not.

HE needs to be your standard of fatherhood, not your earthly father.

** Jesus is a paradigm shift **

Jesus does not point a way to God - He IS THE way to God

Jesus makes it possible for you to call God Father.

Approaching God in prayer with the understanding that God is both the Sovereign Creator of the universe AND our Father is the foundation of ALL TRUE prayer and must be our priority in prayer.

Unless you are app

Jesus says only other two options would be a religious approach that seeks only personal reward or pagan approach that seeks to utilize the power of God devoid of any real relationship with God.

HEAR ME: If you have never accepted the gospel - you’ve never had that first prayer where you confess you are a sinner and trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior then none of this applies to you. The best you can do is babble

Conclusion

*The priority in prayer is to submit your heart to your Sovereign Father*

Apply the Truths:

The best way to apply these truths is to spend time meditating on both the greatness of God and the closeness of God.

Greatness - we find ourselves in awe and wonder and are moved to a place of humility

“Unfortunately, many modern Christians find it difficult to delight in the privilege of addressing the Sovereign of the universe as ‘Father’ because they have lost the heritage that emphasizes God’s transcendence.” - (D. A. Carson, /Matthew, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary/, p.203

Closeness - we come with simplicity and expectation

When you can grasp the truth that in prayer you come before the Sovereign Creator of the universe who can do all things and has placed you in particular times and places that you might ask for His power and promises on behalf of someone around you, as well as the truth that THIS God is your Father who you can run to with your needs, your hurts, and your problems, then prayer will become less of a religious duty and more of a rich delight.

I won’t be able to stop you from praying! You will not be able to find a secret place because rooms of the church will be full.