THIS, THEN, IS HOW YOU SHOULD PRAY
Matthew 6:5-13
Prayer, the act of communicating with God. It's so precious of a commodity but it's likely we don't engage in it as often as we should. But there's a right way to pray and there's a wrong way to pray. In our passage today, we'll see how Jesus explains the difference.
1) This, then, is how you should not pray.
Matt. 6:5-8, "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 men. I tell you the truth, 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."
In the previous passage, Jesus addresses how we should do our acts of generosity. He explained we shouldn't do them to be seen; to be recognized. However, we found that Jesus wasn't condemning public generosity altogether. He said in chapter five that we need to let our light shine before men. One way we do that is by doing acts of kindness and generosity.
The difference is we don't do it for self-seeking purposes, we do it for God and the person we're helping. Hypocritical giving is about getting noticed or rewarded. We see the same principle here. As Jesus highlights hypocritical givers, here he highlights hypocritical prayers. And for the same reason-doing it to be seen and praised for it.
And since Jesus used the word 'hypocrite' to describe the religious leaders in other passages it's most likely he's referring to them. In Jesus calling them hypocrites he's saying their motives were not pure; their hearts weren't in it. If no one could see them they would not be praying with such passion.
"They love to pray in the synagogues and street corners". Although it doesn't say so here, it's highly likely that their private prayers were nothing like their public ones. It might be questionable whether they prayed in private at all. But, when they were being watched, they were ready to perform. In fact, the Greek word Jesus uses here has the connotation of an actor-someone who portrays themselves as someone else.
But more than that-hypocrite means someone who is arrogant and hard of heart; utterly devoid of sincerity and genuineness. Therefore, these religious leaders portray themselves as someone who is sincere and genuine in their prayers but in reality are the opposite.
And that's what Jesus is addressing-the fact that their prayers are performances rather than sincere expressions before God. The religious leaders probably rehearsed their prayers before going out. These public prayers were no doubt articulate and well versed. They were dramatic and theatrical.
And as we see in vs. 7, they were also long winded. It's debatable whether they really gave any thought to the things they were actually praying for. Their focus was on their performance; how well they spoke and acted for the crowd. They weren't focused on God as their audience.
And they looked to impress the people with their babbling. The commoners would be impressed with their religiosity and scriptural quotes. The crowd would not be able to discern that their passion was manufactured. All the religious leaders cared about was that the people were impressed. Perhaps some even applauded after they were finished.
"They have received their reward in full." The reward they received was the people's accolades. The reward they would not receive was God's favor and blessing. I don't know what they prayed for but it was unlikely that it would've been granted.
John 9:31, "We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will."
When those who don't honor God pray for things, it's highly unlikely they will get favorable responses from God. God may have mercy and grant their prayers, but as a general rule, God does not favorably answer the prayer of those who don't follow him.
A big reason for that is because normally the prayer of the sinner is a selfish one. More often than not, the prayer of a sinner happens when they're in trouble or desperate. They want to stuff God in their back pocket and pull him out when they need something.
That's the attitude of the sinner's style of prayer. So it makes sense why God would not listen to sinners because if he did then they would be made to think that they were in God's favor and continue to think that their flimsy relationship with God was okay.
This doesn't mean God answers every prayer of the righteous. We can be following God but not get what we ask for. There are multiple reasons for this. It may not be the right time; it may not be in accordance with God's will-for whatever reason. It may be because he's got something better waiting for us that we're unaware of. So, as God may sometimes grant the prayer of a sinner, he sometimes does not grant the prayer of the righteous.
"Go to your room". In vs. six, Jesus is scolding us and telling us to go to our room. No, not really. Albert Barnes' commentary states that in the second story of a Jewish home there was a small room appropriated for secrecy and solitude where the pious Jew might offer his prayers, unseen by any but God.
This is the place commonly mentioned in the New Testament as the upper room, or the place for secret prayer." This is interesting given the fact that Jesus held his last Supper in the upper room. Maybe that's why Jesus' longest recorded prayer was in the upper room, the room of prayer (John 17).
Jesus isn't telling us to never pray in public; he prayed in public sometimes. Jesus is telling us to not be hypocritical or self-serving in our prayers. Jesus wants us to develop a private, personal prayer life. Most of our time in communication with God should be spent one-on-one.
Our prayers are going to be different in private than in public-we're going to be more transparent with God then we would be when we're around others but that doesn't mean when we pray publicaly we are to be any less real. When we pray, especially if it's in front of others, let's make sure our words are coming from our hearts and not simply our heads. If you don't believe it or feel it then don't say it.
"Do not keep on babbling". The KJV “Vain repetition”, NASB “meaningless repetition”. Babbling can also be rendered as chattering. When we use the term chatterbox we know it to refer to someone who talks to much. A babbler goes on and on about something. Jesus is warning us against doing this.
I think of the pagan prophets of Baal whom Elijah faced on Mount Carmel. They chanted over and over but nothing happened. Then, Elijah offered up one short prayer and fire came down from heaven. Don't think that repeating something over and over holds some magical value and by doing so your prayers will be heard. Don't think that the more you say the better you sound to God.
Ecc. 5:2, "Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few."
God already knows what's in your heart so you don't need to provide a lecture when you pray. We don't have to struggle to find the right words; just be real and sincere. Be respectful but speak from the heart. One of the ways we can offer canned, repetitive prayer is when we give thanks before a meal. God listens to our heart more than our words.
"A family was sitting around the dinner table one evening waiting for dad to get home from work. He finally came in after his unusually long, rough day. He sat down at the table and offered thanks for the food. As soon as he finished his prayer, he began to grumble and complain about how awful things were going at work. The boss was a jerk and the workers were lazy.
Then his wife brought in the food. Since he had come in so late, the food that was supposed to be cold was warm and the food that was supposed to be hot was cold. The main dish was overcooked and dried out. The bread was hard. And he made sure and pointed out what was wrong with everything.
After hearing the complaints, his youngest daughter asked, “Daddy, do you think God heard you when you prayed a few minutes ago?” “Of course He did sweetheart.” Then she asked, “Do you think He heard everything you said after that?” “Yes, God hears everything.” Finally, she asked him, “Which one do you think He believed?””
Genuine prayer involves the heart more than the tongue. Our prayers need to generate from our hearts more than our heads.
2) This, then, is how you should pray.
Jesus talking about repetition is interesting when you consider what follows. The Our Father is probably the most repeated prayer in the bible. We memorized it when we were kids and have repetitiously mumbled it ever since. Many people recite it without ever really thinking about what it is saying.
Matt. 6:9-13, “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. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’"
Notice in verse nine Jesus doesn't say this is what you should pray-but how you should pray. Not that there's anything wrong with saying this prayer but the problem is that for many people this has turned into the very thing Jesus just warned us about-praying empty words.
We see the first part deals with addressing God-your name, your kingdom, your will. Then the focus switches to ourselves-give us, forgive us, lead us, deliver us. Such as our prayers should be-focusing on God first and ourselves last. We should first be acknowledging what God is about and wanting God's purposes accomplished. But so often our prayers go directly into what we want; often times without any acknowledgment of what God wants or showing gratitude for what God has done.
"Father". Jesus wants us to be personal with God-he wants us to realize that God desires to have an intimate relationship with us. That's one of the things God wanted to show when he sent Jesus. Jesus had intimate, personal relationships with people and it represented how the Father wants to be with us. Father puts things in perspective; when we approach the throne of God in prayer we can do so knowing that we are a child approaching our Dad-and that makes the connection all the more special.
"Hallowed be your name". Hallowed means holy, honored, sacred. We acknowledge that God, not us, is the holy one and therefore has all wisdom and power. We are declaring that as his children we will honor the name of God in all that we do because we represent him on earth.
We remember, in humility, that God is in heaven and we are on earth. He is holy; we are not. Not that we have to be afraid of God when we pray but we need to remember that we are approaching a holy God. He wants us to be real before him like you see David doing in the psalms but respectful as well. He's not, 'the man upstairs' he's the heavenly Father whose name is holy.
"Your will be done". We pray that his will be done here like it is in heaven. In this we are identifying God as the king and we are desiring that his kingdom be established here. But we know that it starts with him reigning as king in our hearts. Therefore, in saying, 'your will be done', we are choosing to be obedient to the Father's will and to humbly submit in all he asks of us.
"Give us today our daily bread". Here we are asking that God supply our needs. We acknowledge that everything comes from God and we keep our requests humble. Not that we can't ask for things outside of daily necessities but it's easy to get caught up in giving God our long list of wants and desires. We need to be careful to not do that.
Our daily bread implies that we are not to worry about tomorrow's bread. Not that it's wrong to pray about something scheduled for next week, but we should keep our main focus on the here and now. Don't be consumed with how things are going to turn out next Friday-just concern yourself with your needs for today.
We can so easily ruin today's joy and overlook today's blessings and opportunities by worrying about tomorrow. It's a matter of trust. Can we keep it in today? When God gave the Israelites the bread from heaven, he told them to gather only enough for the day. If the Israelites took in more than the day's amount to save some for the next day, they woke up to rotten manna.
God did this to establish trust. We so want God to give us enough for today and tomorrow and not that he never does that but he wants our trust to be in him as the provider. Does this mean it's wrong to have a savings? Does this mean we should go to the store and buy only what we need for that day? No; it's wise to save and it's okay to get your groceries for the week.
The point is do we trust God to provide? Are our prayers such that we are thankful for what we have right now? Are we humble in our prayers? Not that we can't pray big but that doesn't mean pray greedily. Are we content with having our daily bread or are we demanding that God give us the whole loaf?
"Forgive us our debts". We know from Luke's version that this means sins. But it's an interesting term to use. In Matt. 18 we have the parable of the unmerciful servant. Two servants owed a debt. One owed the king millions of dollars and had his huge debt cancelled.
Then he proceeded to run into a fellow servant who owed him a few dollars and chose not to be merciful. After the first man was found out and punished, Jesus finished by saying, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart". So Jesus connected debts with sins.
In Luke 7 there's the story of Jesus at the Pharisee's home where the sinful woman came in and was weeping and drying Jesus' feet with her hair. The Pharisee didn't take to this very well and Jesus used an illustration of two people who owed a debt-one was a large sum the other much smaller. And both debts were cancelled. So he asked which one would love him more?
The Pharisee answered correctly with the one who owed the greater debt. Then Jesus pointed to the woman's acts of love and finished by telling her, "your sins are forgiven". When we sin we become indebted to God. And since our sins are more numerous than the sands of the shore we owe a debt we could never repay. So, we ask for mercy, grace and forgiveness.
However, there's a second part to that. "As we have also forgiven". Easy to say but very difficult to carry out. But it's possible if we want to. That's the key. If we're a Christian we can't say, "But I can't forgive. I've tried but I just can't do it." God would not tell us to forgive and not give us the ability to carry it out.
First we must realize just how willing we really are to forgive. If we're honest we might say that part of us is willing but the majority of us isn't. We know it's what we should do but we are stubborn or reluctant to carry it out. But perhaps you are willing but you find the bitter feelings are right there whenever the person is mentioned or thought of. What do we do?
Pray to see that person through the eyes of God. We only see the evil; we only see the offense and therefore we've identified the person by their crimes against us. But if we want to forgive we need to see them as a creation of God, a person that God loves and wants to see become born again.
He wants us to pray for that person. He wants us to channel our hatred to the one who was able to persuade the person to do horrible things-Satan. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil. Satan is our enemy-not people. People do evil things and should pay the consequences for their poor choices but as far as damning them to hell-that's not our place; nor should it be our wish.
It doesn't mean we should pretend that nothing ever happened; it doesn't mean that we need to rekindle the relationship but we are called to forgive; for our own benefit. When we forgive we become free-free from continuing to carry the burden of bitterness and sorrow. Free from hatred and anger.
We might not be able to altogether forget but when Satan tries to bring it back up again we can shut it down. Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. That's what we need to do with those horrible events of the past.
"And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one". James 1:13 states that God tempts no one to sin so it's not that we're asking God to not tempt us, we're praying as David did in Psalm 141:4, "Let my heart not be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies."
We're asking God to divert us when we're entering into a tempting situation. We're asking God to protect us and alert us. I'm sure there have been times when you were going to go somewhere or do something that on the surface seemed okay but there was something unsettling about it; something telling you that it was in your best interest not to go along with it. [stealing bottles].
When we ask God to lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil it means that we're expected to do two things: to not put ourselves into tempting situations and to not ignore God when he intervenes to lead us away from these situations.
So, when we pray, we do it sincerely and not for show. We don't count our words, we make our words count. We focus on God before ourselves. We recognize his holiness. We focus on his kingdom and his will. We thank him for providing for us and we trust him for our daily provisions. We thank him for his forgiveness and we respond by committing to forgive others. And we ask for his protection from Satan and to divert us from tempting situations. This, then, is how we should pray.
