When You Pray, Matthew 6:5-8
Introduction
In 1992 I had the privilege of visiting South Korea. I was leading a ministry team that was challenging Koreans to get involved in world mission. We visited many churches. And whatever the Koreans learnt from our team, I can tell you that we probably learnt much more from the Koreans. We learnt to eat delicious, spicy, Korean food! But more than that... we learnt unforgettable lessons in prayer.
Almost wherever we went Korean Christians were praying. Many churches had a morning prayer meeting, from 5-6am, Monday to Friday. Most churches had a Friday night all-night prayer meeting, every Friday. And many Korean Christians regularly visited what they called prayer mountains. These were big hills and mountains where you could go in a small cave or cabin for hours of private prayer.
You therefore may not be so surprised to hear that committed Christians made up around 25% of the South Korean population. Remember God’s promise in 2nd Chronicles 7:14... “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
I am convinced we would see greater things in our land and in our lives if we prayed more. Lord, teach us to pray!!!
Transition
Last week we looked at Jesus’ teaching about how his followers would be givers, fasters and pray-ers. Yes, Jesus expects his followers to be pray-ers. So...
1. When you pray, pray because it is Expected
Matthew 6:5, 6 & 7, Jesus says, When you pray... When you pray... When (not if) you pray...
Jesus teaches that God expects us to pray.
And this is in itself nothing new...
In Jeremiah 33:3, God says, “Call to me and I will answer you”.
In 1st Thessalonians 5:17, we are taught, “Pray continually”.
In both Old and New Testaments, the message is the same. God says, ‘Talk to me. Keep talking to me.’
2. When you pray, pray in a way not Excluded
Jesus says it’s possible to get prayer wrong!
Jesus talks about two types of people who pray. Both pray wrongly!
The first man is what Jesus calls a hypocrite, v5. This is Jesus’ description of a very religious person, a Pharisee. This man’s main motivation in prayer is looking good. He uses prayer to gain respect. He’s not really speaking to God. He’s speaking to those around him. He’s not really interested in God’s reputation and glory. He’s interested in his own glory and reputation. Jesus says NO to this kind of prayer. He excludes it.
The thing is, many Christians are the opposite of the Pharisees! Many Christians are rather afraid of praying out loud in front of others! Why’s that? I’ll tell you why it took me a long time to be brave enough to pray out loud: I didn’t want to sound silly in front of others! But, friends, what I didn’t realise at the time was that my not praying out loud was a very similar problem to the Pharisees who loved to pray out loud. You see the Pharisees were worried about what other people thought when they loved to pray out loud; and I was worried about what people thought when I was too scared to pray out loud!!! You see, we need to learn to focus on God in prayer, and not on others.
The second man is what Jesus calls a pagan, v7. In other words, he is not a Jew, and doesn’t know Israel’s God. This man prays by babbling on and on and on! He thinks he as to make as much noise and use as many words as possible for God to hear him! He thinks that if he says the right words enough times something is bound to happen! He treats God like a machine. Put the right things in and hopefully the right thing will come out.
This man reminds us of those guys, those pagan prophets, who stood on mount Carmel with Elijah. They were calling out to their Baal, their god. They were jumping up and down and dancing all day long. They were shouting out to him. They shouted louder and louder. They slashed themselves and made themselves bleed, to get Baal’s attention. “But”, the Bible says, “there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention”!!!
These people were not really interested in knowing God. And Jesus says NO to this kind of prayer. He excludes it. Not that we shouldn’t pray loudly or passionately! But that we shouldn’t pray as if we were praying to a capricious, whimsical, little god who is impressed with noise and special words.
How easily we can become automatic in our prayers. How easy for some of us to have our quiet time, say our prayer and feel we’ve done our bit, but all without really connecting with God... when God wants more than just our words.
3. When you pray, pray in a way that is Excellent.
Right in the middle of these two negative examples, Jesus shows a more excellent way to pray. He says, v6, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen”.
You see, the excellent way to pray has two aspects. First, it is private prayer. It’s that secret relationship with God that you have. You make time in your busy life to get alone with God.
Do you make time in your busy life to get alone with God? Yes, it’s difficult! And believe me, today I stand before you as one who is learning how to pray; one who has to fight with himself and his workload to get alone with God.
You’ve probably heard of John and Charles Wesley’s mother Suzannah. She had 18 children to care for. As a busy mother her only way to get alone with God was to throw her apron over her head and pray wherever she was: in the kitchen or laundry or somewhere in the house. All the children knew that if their mother’s head was covered with her apron, it was prayer time for her and they weren’t allowed to make a sound until she had finished. Getting alone with God is difficult but it is possible!
Secondly, the excellent way to pray is to pray relationally. Jesus said, pray to your Father... This is relational prayer.
You’re not talking to an impersonal force.
You’re not talking to an angry and unpredictable tyrant.
If you’re a Christian, you’re talking to your Father. You’re talking to a God that loves you so much that he gave his only Son to die on the cross for your sins, so you could spend eternity with him. You’re not coming to him simply armed with a shopping list of blessings you want. You’re coming to pour out your heart to him, like a child to a Father. Like a child who knows that there is safety and security and help in his Daddy.
Conclusion
Jesus says, ‘Pray!’ Talk to your heavenly Father.
Don’t be man-focussed like the Pharisee. Be God-focussed.
Don’t babble-on automatically like the pagan. Be relational with God.
Jesus says there are rich rewards for those who meet with God in the private place of prayer.
And so... how should we respond to Jesus’ words? I offer 5 steps to take to a better prayer life...
Application
1. Make the decision. Decide to set aside some time to pray each day. The deeper prayer life starts with this decision to draw nearer to God in prayer.
2. Find the best prayer place. Bedroom? Living room? Kitchen? Garden? Garden shed? The park? Remember Hannah Wesley’s apron! You can find the private place of prayer! For me, when I can, it’s out in the fields, forests or on beaches! But seeing as I can’t do that here so easily, I improvise and find our living room a good place for prayer when no-one’s around.
3. Find the best prayer time. If you are not a morning person, try lunch break or the evening. Of course, the aim is be regularly talking to God throughout the day (1 Thess 5:17). But we need those times locked away privately...
4. Start small: maybe 5 minutes. Try to gradually spend more time. I find that often if I say, Right, I have 15-20 minutes now that I can pray.... next time I look at the clock it’s gone way past quarter of an hour. If you start off thinking you’ve got to be on your knees for an hour, you may be too disheartened to even begin to try. Start small. Build it up.
5. Talk to your Father. Don’t come with special words as if God only understands the King James version of the Bible! Imagine him to be the perfect loving Father that he is. Speak to him as a son or daughter would to a loving Dad.
I wonder what incredible changes we’d see in our lives and in our land, if we really learnt what it means to be men and women of prayer.
