So last week as we kicked off Matthew 6 and I told you that these next three weeks or so are really going to get fun as we dive into Jesus’ words here in this chapter and here is why. He gets very practical, and in some ways really gives us a ‘how to’ lesson on some important things like prayer which we are going to really dive into this week, and materialism and giving next week, and finally the week after we will look at the challenges of worrying about tomorrow and how to work through that, so this is pretty interesting, and I’m so thankful for the chance to talk to you today about prayer because it is so important to me on a personal level. Prayer is such a big deal and really helps stay connected to God. Prayer is an essential part of our relationship with God and there are some really important things to remember about prayer that we will really get into as Jesus teaches us how to pray today. I think when it comes to prayer sometimes we over complicate it and make it something it just shouldn’t be which we will talk about in a minute. Frankly I think we do this with our studying of the Bible and our spiritual journey in general. Remember Jesus didn’t make things all that complicated right? He just told us to “love God and love others” and we can figure the rest out from there. It isn’t complicated. It’s clear. It is simple…which is a relief for us humans right? So as we jump into this study today I want to look at some things on the front end that I think may help really simplify both your prayer life and how you study scripture and I will start with a massively complex tip for studying the Bible! I joked some last week with you all but I want to point out a couple of important things as you study God’s word. Here’s your big tip on studying the Bible from me to you today…
Bible Studying Tips From Sam-Any time you see a statement where Jesus says this is why He came to this Earth…PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THAT! This is God telling you why He came to this Earth and what He is up too! So places like this in John 10:10 are very important…
John 10:10 “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. NIV
We even saw Jesus use this type of statement in the Sermon on the Mount earlier in Chapter 5…
Matthew 5:17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them. NLT
So these are huge statements that we must focus, and wrap our hearts and minds around because Jesus is telling us why He came to this earth. The coolest thing is in many ways as you look at just those two statements they tie together really well, because Jesus completes the Scriptures I can actually have life to the full. I can live a different, complete, and free life! Which is probably a whole other sermon for another day. So when God in skin says this is why I have come, we listen! But there is another very important phrase that Jesus uses that we will really get into today. And it’s another very simple, very clear thought…
Bible Studying Tips From Sam-Any time you see a statement where Jesus makes a statement saying this is how we should do something…PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THAT, AND DO THAT! I know this is really challenging theological stuff, but I believe it to be this clear and we will see it as we study prayer today. Jesus says…
Matthew 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray….” NIV
Huge moments, and what a gift that Jesus would clearly layout for us how to do something…my advice to you…when Jesus says “this, then is how you should,” please DO THAT! How awesome is it that Jesus takes the time to literally walks us through how to pray and today we are really going to walk through this line by line…but before we do I want to talk about some things that we kind of do to prayer that would have nothing to do with what Jesus says it should be.
I think the beauty of prayer is how personal and intimate it is supposed to be. I think for me the most important thing we need to remember when we pray is to simply be ourselves. We can talk to God because Jesus came and took care of the sin problem for us…we can be in an intimate and real relationship with God which means that we can talk to God as we would talk to a friend. This is supposed to be your own personal relationship right? This is a Father talking to a son or daughter. This is two friends talking about good times, bad times, and all those times in between. This means we don’t have to pretend everything is ok with God, we can pour out all of who we are. We talked last week about how challenging it is to be real with people both inside and outside of the church. It isn’t easy to just be ourselves with people…but we are absolutely able to and supposed to be with God! I mean He already knows your thoughts and your feelings so in a way that should really make it easier to just be you. This is so huge and so many really refuse to believe it is this simple and pure. Just relax and engage the friendship with your Lord Jesus. I think some of the tension points for me with people and prayer come from them thinking a couple of things that just aren’t true when it comes to prayer.
Lie 1 About Prayer – I can’t pray because pray it is so complicated, and I don’t know all the rules. So many people over complicate prayer, thinking they have to say certain things, or stand certain ways, or have more spiritual knowledge than they have, or be in a specific place…but again this is to be personal, this is between you and our Heavenly Father who loves us…and already knows what is going on inside us. It isn’t as complicated as we make it as we will see today.
Lie 2 About Prayer – I can’t pray because I’m not holy enough. I really struggle with this because it completely undermines what your prayer life should and can be because of all that Jesus did for us on the Cross. I deal with this a lot, where people come to me thinking that because I’m a Pastor, and I have a microphone strapped to my head on Sundays’ that somehow my prayers carry more weight or that I have a direct line to God that they do not…and it just isn’t true and believing so is totally undermining the enormity of Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross. Because of all Jesus is and has done, you and I get to walk, and talk with God each and every day of our lives! You don’t have to go to the priest and then have the priest go to God for you as they did in Old Testament times…because of Jesus we are free, and able to be in an intimate relationship with God.
Listen you can and should pray. God will listen. And today we are going to look at Jesus telling us how you and I should pray. What an amazing gift. So last week we started Matthew 6 with Jesus really talking to us about the importance of us getting real. We aren’t going to be fake, we need to be real…
Matthew 6:1 “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. 2 “When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure — ‘playactors’ I call them — treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. 3 When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. 4 Just do it — quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out. MSG
What is really interesting is that Jesus moves right out of that, into prayer. He starts this way…
Matthew 6:5 “And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?”
So what is Jesus saying here? Once again, just like we saw last week, Jesus wants us to be real. Just be yourself! Like I said earlier we might as well be ourselves because our all-knowing God, who created us already knows everything about us anyway right? I mean, not trying to scare you but He knows your thoughts and motives, even that secret stuff that nobody else will ever know…oh yeah, that too. So we might be able to fake people out and look good to others but that isn’t going to work with God, so we might as well just be true to who we are in prayer. Check out this same verse in the NIV…
Matthew 6:5 “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.” NIV
I love this. So what is their reward for making a show out of their prayer life? Their reward for looking and acting holier than they really are is the satisfaction that everyone around them thinks they are holier than they actually are. We talked a lot about the fake Christian things last week, but don’t you just think to yourself. What a reward here! Way to go! That is so shallow, and near sighted isn’t it? I mean what an empty reward of today! We want our rewards to be eternal rewards for living as we really are. So just as we hit last week, I say it again here as we jump into our prayer lives just be yourself. Alright let’s keep going because what we see next is so important and I bring it up a lot here!
Matthew 6:6 “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.”
Now this is awesome…Jesus couldn’t be any clearer here could he? Go be alone with God. Go someplace where you won’t be tempted to fake it. Just do your best to be yourself. How huge is this? Over the years in our Christian circles we have complicated prayer so much. Jesus is saying, just be yourself…get alone…and allow God in and something special happens. Do you know what that is?
“The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.”
Whoa! Wait just a minute here…the focus will shift from me to God? I thought prayer was all about me and my needs that need to be met? Jesus is saying that when we can be alone with God, engaging Him just as ourselves the focus will shift from us to GOD. Then we will begin to sense his grace. Wow! This is so huge! Life is different when we can get the focus off of ourselves and onto God…yet that is pretty rare in our culture today. This is a different way to pray and relate to God than what many of us are used to right? I mean for most of us, prayer is what we do when we need God to come through for us. It’s not really a time to focus outward…yet Jesus says as we get alone and spend time with God the focus shifts…and it’s a big time shift off of us and onto God. That is very different than my prayer life only about what God can do for me…isn’t it? I think those are at least the most common prayers, right? We pray when we need something from God. I know for me personally, my prayer life is absolutely on point when tough things are happening in my life. I am so much more focused on God when I’m in moments of crisis or when I really need Him to come through for me. How about you? Isn’t it interesting that we can blow God off 95% of the time, but when we need something, or when we are in trouble…how quickly we can remember to pray? Jesus is saying that prayer is our time to focus on God, not us. I think that is a much different way of looking at prayer than most of us are used to. We are used to focusing our prayer lives around ourselves…and yes, you absolutely should pray for things you need or want, but no your focus should not be on you, it should be on God. It’s in that moment that we can begin to sense God’s grace. Honestly I think the biggest challenge for me and many others in this room is just slowing down long enough to find some time to be alone with God. Maybe that is where it starts for you today. We must carve out time and space in our busy lives to get alone with God. Let’s keep going here…
Matthew 6:7 “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”
Well this just takes us right back to how simple prayer should be verses how difficult and complicated we try to make it right? Time and time again, we hear all through the Bible, “stop faking it and engage me just as you are!” Why, would God want you to be yourself and engage Him? Because he made you, created you, and loves you. He is proud of you. You are His beautiful creation. So why would he want you to try to be different than the person He created you to be. God wants the real you. Here’s the same verse in the Message version…
“The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.”
Can we take a timeout here…Are you tracking with me? Is Jesus saying prayer is difficult? Is Jesus saying that only certain people can pray? Is Jesus telling you that you need to be any different than who you are to pray? NO! God knows your struggles. He knows your pain. He knows your joy and He knows what you need better than you do! Be transparent, be yourself. Pray it all to Him…let it all out. After Jesus takes the time to teach us the importance of being ourselves. The importance of focusing on God and being true to who we are…Jesus actually shows us how to pray…and he uses that statement that we want to pay attention to! This is such an awesome gift…
Matthew 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.11 Give us today our daily bread.12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.13 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.’
This is so good! Jesus starts off with such a worshipful statement where we see Him talking to His dad about how awesome He, the God of the Universe truly is and then He goes right for it. He says that in the end God I’d love to see you soon…but your will be done. I think that is a huge statement. I know there are many times in my life when I’m praying hard for something I really want or in my mind it’s something that I really need to see happen, it’s so urgent to me and I want it so desperately. It’s in those moments that it’s not easy to take that to God and then get to a place where I can say to God in the end…you do what’s best. Your will be done. It isn’t always easy to tell God you know what I give this over to you, and you do what you want with it. Especially when it’s something that you really, really want. Remember Jesus told us that God knows what we need better than we do, remember that? Turning something over to God and laying it at His feet and saying God your will be done is an act of faith, and surrender which we know is needed to follow Jesus from our time in Matthew 5. Believe, pray with faith, but in the end know…it’s in His hands. His will be done…but let’s keep going here today because what He says next on how we should pray is interesting.
Matthew 6:11 Give us today our daily bread. NIV
Hey God, thanks for taking care of me, and giving me just what I need. In the Message version that same verse reads “Keep us alive with three square meals.” Hmm, I can’t say I pray this way all that often how about you? Really, we should pray thanks for keeping me alive? Can’t see too many of us here in the United States of America being thankful for just having enough! I’m more thankful for the big screen TV and the 300 channels than I am for God giving me just enough. I’m just trying to “cram” my family into my 4000 square foot home, and I’m struggling because my DVR can only record 2 shows at once…why on earth would I be thankful for God giving me just enough to live? This is a very telling statement for me, and most of us here in our culture really. We have so much that we have forgotten to be thankful, we have lost gratitude and thanksgiving because we live with so many extra’s that we can lose sight of the fact that they are extra, and we can feel almost like we deserve it! Jesus tells us to be thankful for 3 square meals a day. Next he talks of forgiveness…which we know is so important for us.
Matthew 6:12 “Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.” MSG
Jesus says that we should pray this way. That the Lord will forgive us, and keep on forgiving us. This isn’t something to just breeze by here today. Because when I hear that, it’s almost like Jesus thinks we are imperfect people who have sinned and will continue to sin. This is so big! Jesus is talking of grace and forgiveness here, reminding us that we needed it, and will continue to need it because we are imperfect people in desperate need of a Savior. We will need forgiveness. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He also says, Lord help us to keep forgiving others. Why would that be? Well as we have gone over this week after week here at MRG…it’s because forgiven people like us…forgive people. Alright, let’s see how Jesus finishes this prayer, because I really want you to see something here…
Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ NIV
Jesus closes out this prayer talking about our need for God to protect us and guide us through this world…because we actually do have an enemy. We need God’s guidance and protection. Look at this same verse in the Message version because it really gives us something I want to talk here today.
Matthew 6:13 Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. You’re in charge! You can do anything you want! You’re ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes.
So as I was studying this passage this week and preparing this message I just kept thinking about this. Jesus says we need God’s help to keep us safe from 2 things did you pick up on that? Those two things are ourselves and the devil. We need to talk about this because when it comes to our enemy the devil I get it right? But what does Jesus mean I need to ask God to protect me from…me? Well, I want you to see this. Our humanness can get in the way of our walk with God. Jesus is saying pray for protection from this flesh of yours…from the cravings, the thoughts, the impulses, the temptations that can pull you from one thing to the next. I know many Christian’s do not want to talk about or bring this stuff up in any way but we all have a tension in this. We all have pulls and temptations and a sin nature that we need God’s Holy Spirit to guide us away from…and I think it’s massively important for us to talk about it. It’s our fleshly desires…and I think it’s very important to realize that, we need this kind of help from God. As I studied this particular point, I just kept thinking of Paul and something he says in His letter to the Romans, check this out…
Romans 7:15 I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. 16 I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 But I can’t help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things. 18 I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. 19 When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. 20 But if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it. 21 It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. NLT
This is the tension all of us feel. Paul was an Apostle…He wrote most of the New Testament for us and He struggled with this tension and so will we. Jesus says don’t just pray for protection from your enemy, but also pray for protection from this pull that we all feel from ourselves…I think that is important to look at and talk about, and intentionally be praying about in our own personal walk. Because whether we will admit it out loud or not (especially at church)…we all deal with it at some level. You are not alone in feeling that tension, or being tempted to sin. Ask God into it!
So Jesus ends this prayer and then says something really important at the end of this section we are studying today…
Matthew 6:14 “In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part. MSG
So we are right back to what seems to be the greater theme of the early parts of Matthew 6…we need to be real. Our actions and our words better line up. I have always said I think this is one of the most eye opening statements in scripture. Jesus literally saying there is a connection between what God does and what we do makes sense but to think that if I refuse to forgive others God won’t forgive me…that should really hit your heart today. The reality is that forgiven people forgive people…and Jesus is showing us just how important it is here for us to be real, and to allow our actions to line up with our faith…otherwise all of this is a gigantic waste of time.
Prayer is so important…and I was so excited to talk to you about this particular subject because prayer can change your life and the beauty of prayer is that it doesn’t have to be complicated. It is simple. It is about being yourself and asking God into all aspects of your life and it is open to all of us because of what Jesus did for you and for me on The Cross and it’s my prayer and desire that our lives become lives shaped and guided through prayer…that prayer will be more than just something we do before we eat, but a part of who we are because it ties us so closely to our God in Heaven who loves us and wants to walk through life with us. It’s personal. It’s real…and it’s there for all of us and if you haven’t before I would encourage you to start today…it’s a different way to live.