Pray in Secret
Kingdom People: The Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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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. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
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1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 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.
Exegetical Outline:
Practicing Righteousness (6:1-24)
Main Heading (1): Don’t lose your reward!!
When you give (2-4)
<<PAGE?>>
When you pray (5-15)
Negative example (5)
Hypocrites love showing off their prayers in order to be seen - Don’t do it!
The only reward they get is being seen by men
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Positive example (6)
YOU keep your prayer the closest secret you can
Go into your room
Close your door
Pray to your Father who is in secret
Then your Father who sees in secret will reward you
Negative example (7-8)
Pagans (Gentiles) babble on and on, thinking this is necessary / effective to make God listen
Implies that repetitive prayers are pagan & express a pagan notion of God
Don’t do it! because your Father is not like that - He knows before you ask
Positive example (9-13)
YOU pray like this (9-13) - The Lord’s Prayer
1st of several messages on prayer - not only place Jesus addresses prayer, but here we have the heart of His teaching on prayer & one of 2 places where Jesus taught his disciples how to pray - other is , different context, shorter version of the Lord’s Prayer
God-centered
He is our Father
May His name be set apart as holy
May His Kingdom come
May His will be done
Humble requests
For daily needs
For forgiveness
For protection / help
For rescue
Support (14-15) - Why we should pray like this: Because He will forgive us if we have forgiven others
When you fast (16-18)
Summary 1 (19-20) - Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also
The nature of prayer ()
Summary 2 (21-23) - If your eye is functioning your whole body will be light
Summary 3 (24-25) - You cannot serve God and mammon
Theme of the Text: Prayer
Thrust of the Text: Do not pray in order to be seen by others or you will lose your reward. Instead, pray in secret and your Father will reward you.
Central Proposition of the Text: Pray without hypocrisy
Purpose of the Sermon: To encourage our people to pray with faith and without hypocrisy
Theme of the Sermon: Prayer
Thrust of the Sermon: Real prayer is not to one another, but to God
Central Proposition of the Sermon: Kingdom People pray without hypocrisy
Question: How should Christians pray like Christ?
Question: How should Christians pray like Christ?
The nature of prayer ()
Homiletical Outline:
Introduction
The nature of prayer ()
The typical situation in 1st c Judaism - Standing prayer, multiple times per day, using specific Bible passages every day. Posture - standing, palms up
Relate to 6:1 - STRUCTURE:
Relate to 6:1 -
principle in v1 -
vv2-18 - 3 pillars of Jewish piety - giving to the needy, prayer, fasting.
vv19-24 - 3 summaries - (all about who we serve and what we value - treasures on earth or heaven)
Last week, giving. This wk, prayer.
QUOTE: True righteousness that springs from a desire for God to be glorified can only come from a heart that has been born again by faith in Jesus. But there’s another kind of righteousness - a false righteousness - that’s motivated by a desire for our own glory. And so, Jesus calls us to beware. Don’t lose the reward, he says!
QUOTE: True righteousness that springs from a desire for God to be glorified can only come from a heart that has been born again by faith in Jesus. But there’s another kind of righteousness - a false righteousness - that’s motivated by a desire for our own glory. And so, Jesus calls us to beware. Don’t lose the reward, he says!
Structure - vv5-6 mirrors the structure in 2-4, 16-18
“When you do this, do not do it this way like the hypocrites”
“In order to be praised/seen by others”
“Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.”
“But when you do this, do it this way and your Father who is in secret will reward you.”
Verses 7-15 form the centerpiece of the whole sermon. We will take 3 weeks to cover the Lord’s Prayer, starting next week.
There is a right and wrong motive for doing the right thing. If you do something for human praise, that’s all you get - you cannot serve two masters
“Your Father” - Of the 16 times Jesus refers to God as Father in the SM, 10 times are her in this section in chapter 6.
Fatherhood of God is therefore central to the center of the center of the center of the SM
Fatherhood of God -
Fatherhood of God -
All humans are image-bearers (), but not all humans are God’s children (, )
As we turn now to verses 5-6, we examine the question:
We are by nature children of wrath ()
By faith in Jesus Christ, we are adopted as children & co-heirs with Jesus ()
By faith in Christ, we become children of the line of promise, children of Abraham and sons of God (, , , )
See also , , , ,
Grudem: “Adoption follows conversion and is an outcome of saving faith,” “Adoption is distinct from justification”
We are able to pray “Our Father” not because we are humans, but because we are adopted heirs. Our Father is the King
This makes us all brothers and sisters (, ; , ; , ; , ,
Privileges of God being Father - inheritance,
Central Proposition of the Sermon: Kingdom People pray without hypocrisy
Question: How does Jesus call us to pray?
Org: Like last week, four main points: The principle, the problem, the practice, and the promise.
I. The Principle (review from v1)
I. The Principle (review from v1)
Let your light shine before men so that they see your good works & glorify your Father who is in heaven
Beware of practicing your righteousness before men in order to be seen, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven
Negative principle - counterpart to 5:13-16
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Remember that LIGHT = GOSPEL that makes sense of our “good works” so that ppl will look at us and say, “Look what Jesus Christ has done.” The alternative is a lost opportunity
Beware of practicing your righteousness before men in order to be seen, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven
Motivation matters - Kingdom people are called to glorify God () in all things. You cannot intend to glorify God and yourself at the same time ()
God does not desire us to seek “pure altruism” but rather to seek the reward of His pleasure
II. The Problem - Prayerless Praying (v5)
II. The Problem - Prayerless Praying (v5)
<<READ v5>>
Prayer is meant to be communication with God, in order to have fellowship with Him
Word study: Pray
You have probably heard a simple definition of prayer as “simply talking to God.” Captures most important part: TO GOD. Prayer is communication with God. But it’s more than that.
Bible has many words that we collect under the title of “praying.”
Petition, supplication, praise, thanksgiving
The basic verb in the New Testament that we have here in is a Greek word, προσευχομαι, in this case the form is προσευχησθε, here’s a word study:
“I Pray” = “Proseuchomai” = to call upon God for the fulfillment of a need or hope
“I Pray” = “Proseuchomai” = to call upon God for the fulfillment of a need or hope
Primary texts:
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
mat 26.36-
Often used in the LXX / Greek translation of OT to render words asking God to do what only He can do
- Hannah pleading w/ the Lord to give her a son (Samuel)
Pleading - Elisha & the Shunammite’s son ()
33 So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord.
- Solomon - what only God can do
19 Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, 20 that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. 21 And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
To pray is certainly talking to God. But it’s not just talking to anybody. To pray is to come before the King of Creation, the maker of all things. To pray is to address yourself to the One who can unmake you with a word, just as He made you with one. To pray is simply speaking to the One whose simple speaking causes entire nations to rise and fall.
So the very first thing we have to get right is who, exactly, we should be praying to.
The second thing we should take note of is the content of prayer. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the primary function of prayer is the expression of right relationship between God and His people. Relationship is at the center. To commune with God is to approach the One who is at once your Maker, Judge, King, and Savior, Helper, and Friend.
Too often, Christians forget that God doesn’t stop being Judge just because He is also Friend.
If we pray as though He is only our Friend, but not our Judge, then we will speak to Him as though we have no need for His holiness at work in us. If we pray as though He is only Judge and not Friend, we will speak as though He is distant, dreadful, disinterested.
To pray to God is to speak with God, and that means it is communication like no other, because God is like no other. To express right relationship with our Maker, God’s People come to Him as creatures, made in His image, redeemed by His mighty hand from sin and death, protected by His power, beloved as children, and completely, utterly, absolutely, entirely dependent upon His provision.
Different from speaking to anyone else.
Say to yourself: “I
So to pray to God is to bring yourself and your requests to Him. Because He is the King who cares for you.
Remind yourself: “I have an audience with the King of kings, and the Lord of lords listens to me every time. Don’t have to make an appointment!”
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
Now let’s look at what happens when prayer gets sabotaged by hypocrisy.
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.
Once again, a “hypocrite” is someone who’s wearing a mask. The part they’re playing is that of someone who is devoted to God, who is relying on God, who knows they are dependent on God. And so they make their requests to God.
But that’s actually not why the hypocrite is praying.
You’ll remember last week, as we considered the problem of selfish generosity, the hypocrite gives and makes sure everyone knows it, because he’s not giving for God’s glory but for his own.
When the hypocrite prays, his goal is to be noticed, but not by God. True prayer is intended to be heard, but this is a person who wants to be what? Seen. That’s right. Seen by others.
To lead prayer in the synagogue was an honor bestowed on people who were seen as spiritual leaders. The hypocrite wants everyone else to think they’re the spiritual elite.
And it wasn’t a normal thing to pray on the corners of the streets, but there were scheduled times every day when Jews were expected to stop whatever they were doing to pray, and wouldn’t you know it, the hypocrite just happened to find himself on that busy thoroughfare yet again today at just the right time to have to stop and pray in front of everyone.
And Jesus says “Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”
This might be an even more sobering warning than the one we looked at last week. When a hypocrite prays in order to be seen, he gets exactly what he was after from others, and nothing from God.
Because the hypocrite wasn’t really praying to God. He was pretending to submit requests to God in order to get a reward in the form of prestige. His problem was prayerless praying.
His problem was prayerless praying.
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!’ 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.”
Prayed about himself. Prayed to exalt himself. Not really prayer at all
The warning: They have received the only response their prayer is going to get.
Thus, the hypocrite is not actually praying at all.
The warning: They have received the only response their prayer is going to get.
Implication: If you pray to be seen, don’t expect to be heard. Expect God to say “You didn’t really want whatever you asked for.”
Think about the tragedy of that. If you pray for a son to be healed, do it for God’s glory to shine. Don’t do it to look religious. If you pray for relief from suffering, go to your Creator and Savior and ask Him to help you, but don’t do it in order to be seen and praised for the depth of your faith.
NOTE: YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A HYPOCRITE TO PRAY LIKE ONE. And this is why Jesus is calling you and me to something different.
III. The Practice - Private Praying (v6)
III. The Practice - Private Praying (v6)
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.
For most of Jesus’s audience, there was only one room in the house where you could be sure you had privacy - the store room. It was in some ways the least spiritual part of the house. But that’s what made it the perfect place for redeemed former hypocrites to pray. Hypocrisy sabotages prayer, so the way to sabotage hypocrisy is to pray in private. When you pray in the store room, your prayer is a secret. No one can glorify you for that. Except the One who sees what is in secret.
The text says “Pray to your Father who is in secret,” because God the Father Himself dwells in a high and holy place.
15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
To be in the holy place is to be separated from all that is not holy. Private prayer has only one audience.
The prescription for prayerless praying is to seek your Father in secret.
And that brings us to perhaps the most important part of the entire text. Your Father.
Pennington: “Lord’s Prayer - the center of the center of the center of the Sermon on the Mount.” Of the 16 times Jesus refers to God as Father in the SM, 10 times are her in this section in chapter 6.
“Your Father” - Of the 16 times Jesus refers to God as Father in the SM, 10 times are her in this section in chapter 6.
Fatherhood of God is therefore central to the center of the center of the center of the SM
I mentioned before that when we pray to God, we aren’t just talking to anybody. We’re talking to God. But Jesus calls us into a relationship with God that we cannot have apart from Him.
It’s fashionable to think that all humans are God’s children, but the Scriptures tell us something else. By nature, we are all made in His Image. By nature, we are all His creatures.
But by nature, we are not His children. By nature, we are children of Adam and therefore children of wrath. Children of rebellion. Children of destruction. Alienated from God and without hope in the world. That’s why we needed salvation in the first place - because we were not His children.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
1 pt 2.10
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
eph 2.1-
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
mat 5.
Jesus says, “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.”
He is your Father if you have received Christ as your Savior. He is your Father if you are a co-heir with Christ.
And that changes prayer forever.
Notice how Jesus models prayer - throughout the Gospels, seeks privacy precisely because He wants to speak to His Father. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus says His soul is sorrowful even unto death, there is only One person He wants to speak to. His Father.
You & I ==> Call upon Him as LOVING Father * ASIDE: Archetype, prototype of fatherhood. He was Father in eternity past, before He created any of us. Our fathers were meant to reflect His Fatherhood, and some were more faithful than others. God as Father gives life, inheritance, provision of every need, because of His LOVE.
APPLY:
So how do we apply the practice of private praying?
Does not mean no corporate praying - Note first v9 - “Our Father” - You can pray privately together - if your goal is not to show off, but to gather in the presence of God. In the book of Acts, we see example after example of corporate prayer.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
In , when Peter and John were arrested for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Church gathered together to pray for boldness to remain faithful.
Does not mean no corporate praying - Note first v9 - “Our Father” - You can pray privately together -
In , when Herod has James killed & Peter imprisoned, v5 says
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
And when Peter is released,
12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
Just as in last week’s case of giving in secret, the key difference between the false righteousness of the hypocrite and the greater righteousness that Jesus models and calls us to is motivation.
Christ’s Kingdom purpose in you and me is that our light would shine before men so that they would see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven. If you or if we pray in secret, without the intention of being seen and glorified, but instead with the motivation that God be glorified, then you are promised something very important. Here we return once again to the promise:
IV. The Promise - How God rewards real prayer (v6)
IV. The Promise - How God rewards real prayer (v6)
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.
Verse 6 ends with the same familiar promise we saw last week: Your Father who sees in secret will reward you. The rewards promised to us are eternal rewards. They’re treasures stored up in heaven. From the rest of the New Testament we learn that the treasures are first of all relational - the eternal joy of our Father in His presence and the eternal communion we will have with all the fellow believers - the living stones - that make up God’s Kingdom - and the awe and amazement as we look and see how God built His Kingdom through undeserving people like us.
Verse 6 ends with the same familiar promise we saw last week: Your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Just like we saw last week, the rewards promised to us are eternal rewards. They’re treasures stored up in heaven. From the rest of the New Testament we learn that the treasures are first of all relational - the eternal joy of our Father in His presence and the eternal communion we will have with all the fellow believers - the living stones - that make up God’s Kingdom - and the awe and amazement as we look and see how God built His Kingdom through undeserving people like us.
But there’s another more immediate reward for God-glorifying, unselfish prayer. Answers from your Father in the here-and-now.
When Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, Luke’s Gospel tells us
lk 22.
39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
39 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,
lk 22:42-
Immediately, the Father answered the Son’s prayers. Not with a change of plans, but with an angel sent to strengthen Him. And verse 44 says “And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly.” And then He rose and did His Father’s will.
Jesus was strengthened in prayer to pray more fervently.
In , which I mentioned before, the early Church prayed for boldness to preach the Gospel in spite of persecution. And God immediately answered with a demonstration of His power - the whole building shook - and the disciples went out with boldness.
George Mueller, the evangelist and missionary who cared for thousands of orphans in 19th century England, and established over a hundred schools for the poor, never made his financial needs known, except to God in his own prayers. Yet the Lord provided.
The missionary George Mueller
George Mueller, the evangelist and missionary who cared for thousands of orphans in 19th century England, and established over a hundred schools for the poor, never made his financial needs known, except to God in his own prayers. Yet the Lord provided.
In fact, in his prayer journals, he recorded over fifty thousand answers to prayer over a sixty year period.
Of those 50,000 answered prayers, over 30,000 of them were answered within a single day.
I find that many Christians struggle to pray because they don’t realize just how powerful prayer is.
And so, here is your calling this week and mine:
Pray in secret so that God will get the glory. Pray in faith because your Father is the one who is listening. Pray without ceasing so that you can see His hand at work in your life.
And remember this: Your Father sees.