Matthew 6:5-15

What have you been talking to God about lately?  What’s He been telling you?  Prayer really is an act of faith isn’t it?  We believe in this ability to communicate with our Creator and yet so many of us have big questions and in some cases, big opinions about it. We ask things like…  

“Does it work?” 

“Is there a right way?” 

“Why don’t I seem to get an immediate response?” 

“‘Pray without ceasing’ sounds like a chore. Am I awful for thinking that?”

We’re reading the part where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray today.  There is so much depth here that this little 15 minute podcast isn’t adequate. If you’d like to delve deeper, check out Dennis Fuqua’s book, Living Prayer: The Lord’s Prayer Alive in You 

https://a.co/d/0jd1bbec

Transcript

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What have you been talking to God about lately? And what's He been telling you? Prayer really is an act of faith, isn't it? We believe in this ability to communicate with our Creator, which is amazing, and yet so many of us have big questions and sometimes big opinions about all of this. We may find ourselves thinking and saying things like does it actually work? Is there a right way? Why don't I always get that immediate response? I've read that I'm supposed to pray without ceasing. That kind of sounds like a chore. Am I an awful person for thinking that? On that encouraging note, welcome to Meet Me in the Word. I am so glad that you've joined in with us today. We're in Matthew chapter six verses five through fifteen. That's the part where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. While you're turning there, I'll ask you to please pray for Meet Me in the Word for this podcast and for myself, that this would continue in the way that God has intended for myself and for us as a whole. On that, let's pray. Jesus, thank you that you not only asked us to pray or instructed us to pray, but but you showed us how. You gave us a model, and you took time to teach your disciples and and also us. So God, we we want to be just right in line with what you intend for us. Lead us on. We ask this in your name. Amen. Alright, let's read this together Matthew chapter six, starting at verse five and going through verse fifteen. 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 others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 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. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. This then is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today 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 the evil one. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. Let's go ahead and pause for a moment and listen to what God has for us. You can pause this if you'd like. All right, let's make a few observations. What does Jesus say about prayer? It actually really flows in a nice linear fashion for us, and so we're going to start with those first couple of verses where Jesus is giving those do not instructions, right? Don't don't be like these people. And I've called it don't be like the braggers, right? Jesus calls them hypocrites. And we'll notice the theme uh not only in this week, but if you look at last week's um last week's devotion on on Matthew, uh don't be like the hypocrites, you know, when they're giving to the poor, don't be like the hypocrites when you're praying, don't be like the hypocrites when you're fasting, which will be next week. But whenever we use like a God practice, I'm gonna call it that. It's a it's a way that we connect with God. Whenever we use a God practice for personal glory, we shouldn't expect to receive any actual spiritual benefit. And Jesus is super clear about that. Don't pray like these people. They they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. And you can just kind of tell that that there was a dynamic there. There was kind of a vibe going on, you know what I mean, with these guys where where they were just kind of looking for some attention, maybe in the way that they were praying for people to admire them. And God's saying, Don't don't do that, right? And do do it this way. So don't be like the braggers when you when you pray. Instead, and this is really important, this part comes out in verse six, pray like you actually want God to listen to you. And like you want to listen to God, right? Isn't that what prayer should be? It's not really about anybody else who happens to hear or see or any of those sorts of things. Pray like you're actually trying to have this conversation with God and not this production for other people. And he goes on to say, like, go into your room, close the door, shut out the world, let the world do whatever the world's gonna do for a while. You just kind of carve out this space and this time to be alone with your Heavenly Father. And and then, you know, he he'll see you, he he knows what happens. You don't need to tell anybody about your prayer life. You don't need to tell people how long you pray, you don't you don't need to do any of those kinds of things, just go in and meet with God. So, what does teach uh Jesus teach us about prayer? Well, don't be like those braggers. And the second bit comes in seven and eight. Don't be like the babblers, right? Jesus then calls out the prayer practices of the pagans, the people who followed the gods of Rome and all that Rome had brought into its own empire. That was one of the characteristics of the Roman Empire, is they just kind of absorbed cultures and languages and people and religion and all those kinds of things. And in that was a lot of pagan worship. Jesus says, Don't follow their example either, right? Don't be a bragger, but don't be a babbler. Don't just carry on rambling as though you need to use all of these different words or repeat words or anything like that in order to get God's attention. You don't need to carry on as if God somehow values your your WPM, right? Your words per minute, or if for some reason you think that he's unintelligent. Instead, right, realize. Realize that God actually knows what you need before you ask. He's invested into you. Don't throw shade on that, right? That's what the the younger generation might say. I don't know, I'm maybe too old to make those references. But he he's he knows you. He knows what's going on in your life. In fact, I would suggest that God knows you better than you know you, right? And he cares for you. There's comfort, there's there's a really good truth in that. So again, don't be like the babblers. Instead, just realize who your heavenly father is and the way that your heavenly father looks at you and loves you and cares for you. When you go into your prayer closet, so to speak, just know that if you're struggling with words or how to make that request, he he already knows. He knows the depths of what's going on inside of you. So rest in that and then just come in and meet with them. And then Jesus gives his disciples that pattern and structure for prayer that is familiar to so many of us. You know, I'm just old enough that we actually did recite the Lord's Prayer, that's what we called it, in in school. And I it was really just in the early elementary years for me, and I remember it like even past uh grade four. That's the Canadian way of saying fourth grade. Uh, but I just I I do remember doing that, and then it it vanished uh out of out of my own experience in that setting. And the church that my wife and I are attending now, they actually incorporate this uh recitation, I think that's a good way to say that, uh, in their worship service every single week. And it's been kind of a really neat experience for us just to be able to be there and to recite it. But there's more to it than just something that's wrote or something that is uh that we just say, I think Jesus was actually teaching not a prayer to be said, but a way to pray, right? An approach to to coming into the Lord. And so he he really fleshes that out. Uh by the way, this is a much longer conversation, and I'm linking in this show's description uh to a book by uh a wonderful man named Dennis Fuque, who has really spent his life uh in prayer and teaching about it and leading others in it, and and he's really focused everything that he does around the Lord's teaching on prayer. So that's there for you if you want to delve into this in a deeper kind of a way. But I was thinking about what Jesus' teaching does for the attitude and the heart of the person praying, right? It begins with honoring and worshiping God for who he is, right? Our Father who is in heaven, let your name be holy, hallowed be your name, inviting God's authority into the world and as also in into our lives. Let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And then it moves into some more specific requests, things like asking for sustenance, daily bread, asking for forgiveness, right? Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, asking for deliverance from temptation or testing, and delivering us from the evil one, not you know, and and so there's that that desire to just be under God's protection and to live a life that's good. And while not every translation has it, including the one that I just read from, some of you were like, hey, where's the rest of it? Um, declaring to God what is God's, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. And and so all of that is is part of this. By the way, if you have a translation, well any modern translation, now there should at least be a footnote there that that just kind of clarifies why some translations have it and why some don't. It really has to do with when we saw it appearing in different manuscripts. It's not something that I would get uh too concerned about or worked up about it, but it's it's helpful for us. And then finally, it ends with really a stunning and kind of a harsh teaching, if you if you think about it. It's the weightiness of receiving and extending forgiveness there in 14 and 15. We're gonna just read those two verses again for us in case we already forgot them. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins. And if we've been hanging out in in church for any length of time, we're like, well, where's the grace in that? I thought we were just forgiven. But I think Jesus is showing us that that when we have received forgiveness, like when when we when we come to that and we ask for that, like it's supposed to continue on in our lives. Do we really understand grace if we've received forgiveness, but we're unable to mimic our Heavenly Father and to extend it to others? Does that really make any sense? And Jesus actually talks about this idea in in uh in other stories that he shares in the Gospels, uh, ones like the unmerciful servant. You can look at those as well, and we'll we'll get to some of them later on in our study in Matthew. But it is a deeply important thing, and it might be, for that reason, one of the hardest teachings of Scripture to act on. Again, in theory, not that it's easy, but it should be kind of almost this natural outflow. If we've been forgiven much, shouldn't it be easy to forgive? But the truth is, when somebody has wounded us deeply, it takes time to work through forgiveness. And it's a process that none of us should take lightly at all. I highly encourage you, if you've been wounded deeply and you know that you're supposed to forgive, but you're like, man, I just I'm not ready to do that. Talk to your pastor, talk to a trusted friend, somebody that genuinely cares about you, and work through the process of this. Forgiveness is a choice to let go of offense. It really doesn't have too much from our perspective. Now, from God's perspective, it's a different thing, but from our perspective, it doesn't have anything to do with like exonerating that person or excusing their behavior or somehow like stepping in the way of justice. This isn't about that. This is about us letting go of offense. And it helps us, in fact, it probably is the essential step in us moving towards our own wholeness and freedom. I believe that Jesus would very much like to meet you in that process. All right. Reflection for today is actually quite simple, and I'm gonna leave it in your court. So we're gonna uh end our time here in just a moment, but uh my request for you is to pray. This is all about prayer, so that's that's the reflection. Just go ahead and take time after we're done here to to just go ahead and pray. And I'd like you to take time to wade through Jesus' teaching. And as the Spirit reveals more in that, lift those things up to the Lord, right? As you're going through what he taught and and and you're asking for sustenance, like maybe that will bring something specific up for you, and and you want to make that more specific, but go ahead and do that. When you're asking for forgiveness, the spirit might reveal something to you where you you've done something you shouldn't have done, right? And and so if that comes up, confess it, receive forgiveness, move into health, into wholeness. So just let each aspect of what Jesus taught just kind of hang out with it for a little bit and ask the Lord to lead you in all of that. Let's go ahead and pray together, and then you can continue on uh on your own. Jesus, thank you for showing us how to pray. God, thank you that you not only taught your disciples, but you modeled it, Lord, that you uh so many times would would just pull away from the crowds and from the busyness of life and and retreat into a place of solitude in order just to talk to God. God, show us what that looks like in our own lives. And and Lord, for for any of us, Lord, who are just struggling with developing that habit and developing a meaningful prayer life, God give us give us the benefits of uh of consistency. Lord, show us what that looks like, lead us on. God, we're here to meet with you. Would you meet with us? Amen.