Praying Well
Matthew 6:5-8
In case you were wondering...I pray all the time
-I pray privately...at nearly
every church service...at most meetings...
and
at every extended-family meal...
--a conservative estimate
would be that I own 15-20 books
dedicated solely to
the subject of prayer
-still, after 33 years as a
Christ-follower, I feel like a beginner when
it comes to praying...like I
should still be in prayer kindergarten
That’s when Jesus comes along says more about prayer in a few
short verses than all those
books combined
Read Matthew 6:1, 5-8
Let me remind you...just as with the rest of this series in the Sermon
on the Mount, don’t think Jesus
is trying to give us a nice, 5-point
outline about how to improve our
prayer lives
-there’s nothing “self-help”
about the Sermon on the Mount...and
while Jesus’ teaching is
simple, it’s certainly nothing “nice” or
“convenient” about it
And we need to include v. 1 here
because it not only applies to giving
and fasting, but also to praying
-of course, Jesus’ words
aren’t limited to these three examples...
they are ones His listeners
were familiar with and ones we can
understand quite well
Jesus is describing people who are rather religious, but who practice
their religion on a
stage...perhaps trying to impress God, but more
likely trying to impress other people
(and specifically, other religious
people)
In [Re] Understanding Prayer,
in his life when his prayers
were definitely just an act...a stage show
This first one is to be spoken with a British accent... [I can’t do
that!]
“Oh most Holy One of the Cherubim and Seraphim, wouldst Thou lend Thine
ear. Thine wonders shine forth in a
dazzling array of splendor. Just as Thou
hast answered our prayers with the miraculous rain, hear us now and moisten the
dryness of our hearts with Thine dew of divine life.”
Now before you think I’m criticizing or making fun of someone who
prays like that, Dr. Garland
(our pastor during seminary) would pray
like that...and few people were
as sincere, non-showy, and as close
to God as he was...that language
wasn’t to impress anyone—it was
an expression of his
awe/reverence while in the presence of God
“Dear Lord, be with us now in these moments because we know, Lord, that
where two or three are gathered in Your name, there You are in their midst,
Lord. Just help me to let go and let
God. May I love the sinner but hate the
sin. Help me to get right so I don’t get
left. I mean, I’ve got to stand for
something or I’ll fall for anything. I
know You love me just as I am, but too much to leave me there. Bring a fresh move of Your Spirit so all
believers can stand in the gap as You raise up a new generation. Yes, Lord, Your pain is definitely my
gain. In His name. Amen.”
Understand...neither
prayers or phrases are necessarily
wrong...in fact, I’m sure I’ve
prayed prayers just like those
at times...at issue isn’t the words, but
but what is (and isn’t) behind
those words...at issue is when we use
prayer
for something was never meant to be, like...
-trying to sound all
spiritually mature
-trying to perform for an
audience
-trying to appear better than
others
-trying to conceal our
emptiness with a prayer that is little more
than a religious bluff...a
bluff that may fool everyone here today
except the very One who actually counts
And it’s all of this mess that Jesus tackles head-on...
-He first points to our sinful
motives...read v. 5 [The Message]
--this is the fault of the
Pharisee in the parable we read earlier in
Luke 18...he has no
desire to have an intimate conversation
with God...he simply wants
to elevate himself and to humiliate
the tax collector at the
same time...and his so-called prayer
effectively allows him to
kill the proverbial 2 birds with 1 rock
-Jesus’ solution—like all of His
solutions—is radical
--do your praying in
private...read v. 6 [The Message]
---and do it so that your
motives get turned back right-side-up
--Jesus isn’t condemning all
public prayer, of course, because He
Himself
prayed publicly
---but He is well aware
that prayer, like any religious act, has
the dangerous
potential of becoming little more than a
show...and that
sucks the life right out of it
--Jesus, instead, is saying
that if you are ever the least bit
concerned about how your
prayer is making you appear in the
eyes of others...then
it’s time to take your prayer into the closet
until you’ve allowed God
to straighten out the warped purposes
you’ve adopted for your
prayers
---and that applies to
even the most “routine” prayers...for
meals, the
offering, closing a church committee meeting
J. M. Boice may be
exaggerating a little to make a point, but he is still spot on à I believe that not one prayer in a hundred
of those that fill our churches on a Sunday morning is actually made to
Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are made to men or to the praying one
himself, and that includes the prayers of preachers as well as those of the
members of the congregation.
Whenever you and I step behind this pulpit, there is the ever-present
temptation to use this
microphone to make our prayers heard by
those
in the back...rather than to speak inaudibly to the One who
does not need a sound system to
hear us and know us
The truth is, we might be able to use flowery language and a religious
tone-of-voice to fake our way to
a puffed-up spirituality in the eyes of
other people...but we’re not
fooling God, that’s for sure
-Jesus is saying that the
first thought of prayer should drive us to
want to be alone with
God...not to look for a stage on which to
perform our prayer
--the late Roman Catholic
priest, Henri Nouwen, wrote à The
desire for solitude is often the
first sign of prayer.
--Jesus’ own prayer
practice confirms that...Mark 1:35 à Very
early in the morning, while it was
still dark, Jesus got up, left
the house and went off to a
solitary place, where He prayed.
---in fact, that
place was so “solitary” that the very next
verse tells us
that the disciples had to search for Him
because, in their words, “Everyone is looking for you!”
---so even early in
His ministry, when Jesus could have
attracted more
followers, He had no desire whatsoever
to try to
impress people with His religion
The second big issue Jesus identifies is found in v. 8 [Read]
-there are a couple of problems
lurking here...
--the first should be familiar
to you by now: praying long prayers
simply to try to impress
people
---if you pray publicly
at all, you’ve probably been tempted here
---it’s odd, but I seem
to struggle with this more during hospital
visits than at any
other time...I mean, I’m afraid a mere 30-
second-long prayer is going to sound like I
don’t care...or
that I’m in a hurry...so
to avoid that, I sometimes ramble on,
spouting the usual, obligatory
clichés
----it’s not
that I’m insincere...it’s just that I sometimes
stretch
out the prayer simply for dramatic effect
The other problem is what Jesus is dealing with directly...and is also
the point of the parable of the
“persistent widow” found in Luke 18
-simply put: mere, hollow repetition of a prayer has no
influence on
God...you cannot wear Him
down and persuade Him to give you
what you need/want...you
can’t impress Him with your devotion
--the lesson of the
parable is that God is absolutely nothing
like
that unjust, wicked
judge...God gives freely from His grace...
and there’s nothing
we can do—even begging for hours from
our knees—that could
ever improve our standing in His eyes
---who we are and
what we have are all because of God’s
grace working
through our faith...and that’s only possible
because of
Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross
----we
mustn’t ever lose sight of that!
Read Matthew 6:7-8 [The Message]
Listen to the wisdom of John
Climacus written nearly 1400 years ago à Let all
[complexity] be absent from your prayer.
A single word was enough for the [tax collector] and the prodigal son to
receive God's pardon. ... Do not try to find exactly the right words for your
prayer: how many times does the simple and monotonous stuttering of children
draw the attention of their father! Do
not launch into long discourses, for if you do, your mind will be [wearied and
distracted] trying to find just the right words. The [tax collector’s] short
sentence moved God to mercy. A single
word full of faith saved the thief.
We Christians often get so hung up on the details of prayer that we
miss its true purpose and
essence...intimacy with God
-and we make it far more
complicated than it should be simply
because we often practice our prayer when
others are listening in
-perhaps we should learn
something from our prayer meetings...
and from Kathleen Norris’ description
of a Sunday morning
worship service in a small,
Presbyterian church in
There’s a time
after the sermon and before the Lord’s Prayer, in which people are asked to
speak of any particular joys...or concerns they want the congregation to
address in communal prayer...and throughout the week. This is a vital part of our worship. People speak in great detail about their
needs...we wince, we squirm, we sigh...and it’s good for us. It reminds us to be still and listen and
share in the joys and sorrows of others.
One particular
morning, we learned of the death of Bill O’Rourke. Bill was not a part of our church family, but
as a community member and brother in Christ, we all grieved at the news. We knew, however, that our young, new pastor
did not know Bill...and when he began to offer the prayer, one of Bill’s oldest
and best friends spoke up: “You know, Bill paid me the first fifty cents I ever made, back in
1930.”
Our pastor nodded,
but quickly opened his mouth to pray...but before the first word was spoken,
someone else in the congregation remarked, “Yeah, and I bet you still have it!” The entire church laughed for a good, long
time. Almost in a suspended animation,
there were brief, tender-hearted stories about Bill’s influence on individuals
and the community.
When we finally
allowed our pastor to say, “Let us pray...” we were ready. [In fact,] We had
been praying all along
We had been ourselves before God.
Hmmm...We had been ourselves before God...I have this strange
suspicion that’s what God calls “praying well”