Bent into Shape – His Person
4/8/18
Matthew 6:9
Sunday AM
Have you ever seen someone lose it? You know… get so absolutely bent out of shape they can hardly see straight. The phrase bent out of shape is an idiom for getting so angry you lose all sense of decorum/restraint. When I think of someone losing it this badly, I’m reminded of a hilarious scene from the show Malchom in the Middle!
If that’s bent out of shape, then what does it mean to be bent into shape? Over the next few weeks, I want us to consider what it means to be molded/formed into person God has called us to be. In the Sermon on the Mount, we learn from Jesus that getting bent into shape begins w/ prayer. And in just some 56 words, Jesus taught us to pray. (Recite LP)
So what exactly is prayer? The simple answer is prayer is talking/listening w/ God. It’s personal communication and conversation w/ the Creator. But in all honesty, such a simple answer (while correct) can often be misleading.
As we get started, let’s begin by talking about what prayer isn’t. Prayer isn’t projecting your wishes/whims/will on God expecting Him to yield His sovereignty to your desires. It’s not asking God to alter His plans to satisfy your plans or expecting Him to do things He is unwilling/incapable of doing.
Prayer is far too important to be predicated on what we think, want, and desire; and yet this is our struggle. We get frustrated w/ God when He doesn’t do as we want/think He should. We’re appalled/even hostile when He doesn’t attend to what’s vital to us.
My heart broke when a Newnan teen died of complications from the flu. Her grieving dad said:
I believed in God until this and that’s honest. I woke up and prayed every AM – and now I’d like to have gloves and meet Him to pop Him in the mouth. There’s no way you take a child who’s willing to give anything to anybody. You don’t take children like that. If there’s a God, where is He?
While I hurt for this man in His loss – I can also appreciate His sentiments. Meg/I pray every day for the healing of our son, and after 10 yrs of praying, God hasn’t seen fit to heal him yet. Why? I don’t know! But I can assure you we won’t stop asking, seeking, knocking, and hoping.
The power of prayer isn’t in how much we pray but in how much our prayers are in alignment w/ God’s will/Word. Nee
While there’s no one definition that satisfies, I think prayer involves our personal pursuit of God to align our lives w/ His heart/will in anticipation of Him releasing His power/provision in our lives.
Where do we begin? I think this is the question the disciple’s asked Jesus so long ago. How do we pray?
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. 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 b/c 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. Matthew 6:9-13
Like most of the aspects of their religious lives, praying too had been corrupted by the rabbinic tradition so that prayers like the Shema (Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one) and the Shemoneh esray had become ritualized/prescribed – and the result was people would recite them in public b/c they thought it was spiritual, but in actuality it was an affront to God b/c it missed the point – prayer is about communing w/ God – not putting on a show.
Scary – many Christian traditions have done the same thing w/ this prayer – and they’ve misunderstood that what God’s desire is our relationship and not for us to recite rote prayers.
Knowing their dilemma, Jesus said – use this prayer as a pattern to connect w/ God and not as a substitute. Use it to get face-to-face/bent into shape… and here’s how you start.
This then is how you pray… Our Father in heaven…
pray (proseuchomai) pro = facing toward – refers to one who seeks the face of God. euchomai = to utter aloud. So to pray is to speak face-to-face w/ God.
W/out question, prayer is the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when, upon his knees, he comes face to face w/ God. Jones
Have you ever stopped to think about who you’re addressing when you pray? He is OUR Father in heaven. For if we get these (4) words correct, then we’re likely to get bent into shape; but if we miss it, then our spiritual life will likely get bent out of shape.
I He is OUR Father
Father – Greek (pater) – meaning provider/protector – Jesus spoke in Aramaic (abba) where we get the idea of DADDY!
This was a radical idea. The word ‘our’ is significant b/c up until this time, there were few references in the O.T. to God as Father – but in one fell swoop Jesus’ invites His followers to pray/relate w/ God as they’d relate to a loving earthly father – personally/intimately.
This invocation places us at once in the center of the wonderful revelation that the Son came to make His Father our Father too. Andrew Murray
Meaning – not only did Jesus come to atone for our sin and rescue us from the condemnation – He also came to show us how to have an personal, intimate relationship w/ God.
And this is where prayer starts – it begins in personal relationship w/ the living God who wants us to know Him, commune w/ Him, and follow His lead. It begins w/ seeing God as OUR Father inviting us to have no reservation/fear in approaching Him – b/c He’s eager to relate to us.
Think about it… The Creator wants to meet and engage w/ you face-to-face so that you can know/experience His love.
But there’s more. Yes, God wants to have an intimate relationship w/ us, but He also doesn’t want us to become too casual either. He wants us to be intimate, but also respectful and reverent too.
Lest we become too familiar/casual w/ our Father, Jesus reminds us that He’s also the infinite, Almighty by telling us to prayer – Our Father in HEAVEN.
II He is Our Father in HEAVEN
When we pray, we’re not just entering into the presence of our daddy who loves us, we’re entering into the presence of the one/only Creator of life; the one true God who’s worthy of our awe/respect.
All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless… It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in… Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; b/c of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:22-26
Isaiah’s helping us to see the awesome, sovereign Almighty. He’s helping us to have some perspective of the majesty and authority of God.
Think about it… the all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful Creator has invited us into His presence for relationship. That’s crazy to consider.
In this prayer, Jesus is inviting us to keep a healthy tension b/w intimacy/awe – personal/powerful – meekness/majesty – teaching us that we must do the same. We should never be afraid to enter into His presence, and yet we must never forget in whose presence we are entering.
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hb. 4:16
Imagine this scenario: My family goes to DQ where my children ask for ice cream. How are they going to speak to me? Are they going to say, “Thou eminent/wise pastor of FBC PTC – wouldest thou grant to thy offspring the required currency so we mightest purchase from one quick service establishment a savory frozen dairy concoction to tickle the taste buds of our tender mouths?” Of course not… and yet this is the way some people pray. No, my children are going to say, “Hey dad, can we have some money for an ice cream?” They’re going to respectfully yet personally speak to me knowing I want to love/bless them as I’m capable of doing. This is how Jesus is inviting us to seek the Father.
So in this phrase – Our Father in heaven – Jesus is inviting us to begin getting bent into shape by reverently, yet personally entering into our Sovereign Daddy’s presence to know His heart, seek His will, and experience His blessings.
