Sermon of Sunday 9 May 2010 Praying the Bible Way Matthew 6.1-13

Matthew 6.1-13

Tony Campolo is a preacher from a rough background in New York.
Once a posh lady tried to tell him off for the bad grammar he used in a prayer.
Quick as a flash came his reply: ‘Lady, I wasn’t talking to you.’
Much as I am in favour of correct English
I have to say Campolo got it right
The heart of prayer is not about being good at public prayer
getting your words right, saying the right prayers;
it is about talking personally to God the Father.

That’s the issue which goes right through our reading today:
is your religion rooted in a relationship with God the Father
or is it all for show?

To whom do you pray?

Jesus is not saying in Matthew 6
that we can never pray in public or let people know we are fasting
or never reveal how much we have given in the offering.
The Bible has plenty of examples of public prayer.
Jesus himself prayed publicly:
when he was about to feed the 5000 he took bread and publicly gave thanks.

The question is, who are we talking to? For whom are we doing this?
Whose commendation do we crave?

Are we craving to be seen and praise by other people for being religious
or is it enough to have the personal joy
of being in touch with the heavenly Father?
Is our faith just about a religious veneer
or is it about a relationship with God the Father through Jesus?

Are we hypocrites?
People who put on an act, good show in order to impress others
or are we people whose main aim is to have the approval of God?

People sometimes kindly say to me
that they have found the prayers in a service helpful
and that’s good to know.
I have often found that it is when we pray in a service
that then God really sorts things out:
we deal with our bitterness, we offload our worries and burdens
we get a sense that God is near, that we are forgiven.

I will also say two other things about worship together:
when it ‘goes well’, when we go home sensing that God was close
whether in sermon or singing or prayers or anything else
you may be sure that people were praying privately for that time of worship.

And those times when it doesn’t go so well -
when maybe we go home grumpy, thinking ‘I got nothing out of that”
then sadly it may well be the case that there was not much private prayer
under girding the time together.
And the simple test of that
is not how much did other people pray for that service
which is a question we cannot answer, nor should even ask
But of course the question we should ask is
How much did I pray privately for that service?
Or did I just come in, prayer less and unprepared
and expect other people to bless me?

Often it is as we hear the prayers of others that we can realise
that there is a God, that he is real.
One of the early indicators to me that God was real
was to hear someone at our youth group weekend.,
He prayed in a simple trusting way
which showed me two things:
one that this chap knew Jesus personally
and by contrast I did not know God at all.
I might have known some things about him
but I did not at that time know God as my friend did.

To whom do you pray? Who is in your spiritual focus as you pray?
Yourself? Other people? God the Father?

Here’s another useful question from this passage.

Where do you pray?
Have you a private place for prayer
somewhere where it is just you and God and no-one else is watching?

The key to effective prayer together is of course
that we have real time with God privately.
It was not my friend’s intention that as he poured out his heart to God
that he was going to impress me and convince me that God was real.
God used a life in relationship with him
a son talking to his heavenly Father
a son who undoubtedly had spent much time in private prayer
to challenge my needy spiritual state.

We don’t have to be too literalistic about what Jesus says here
about going into your room and closing the door.
Private prayer can happen in more places
than in your own room with the door closed.
Many people don’t have that luxury of a private space
where they can close the door.
But you can be creative in your daily life
and find door closing opportunities in all sorts of ways.

If you drive a lot on your own, for example
do you always have to have the radio on.
When you do stuff around the house or garden
do you always have to have to be listening to the radio or your IPod?
Do you have to have the latest news, or continuous music or sporting results?
To press the off button can be the equivalent of closing the door.
Time in a supermarket queue, or a traffic jam
could well be the moment to wait
and step out of the traffic and draw close to God.

How do you pray?

This is the crunch question
Jesus says we (v7) are not to babble with many words
It is a conversation with your Father.
your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Again this does not prohibit all repetition:
some of the Psalms repeat a phrase about God
his steadfast love endures for ever
But Jesus is targeting mindless, mechanical repetition, mantras
where we reckon the longer we pray and pray the same formula
the more likely we are to get what we want.

We live in a culture where people have been taught to 'say prayers'
and therefore rattle them off
as if the mere saying of the words produces a result
but that's not prayer, that's not talking with God
that was the problem with the pagans in Jesus' time
who tragically thought they would be heard for their much speaking.

Real prayer is when we hand over to God
and praise and thank him for what he does for us
or say sorry to him for what we should not have done
knowing that we cannot do better without him
or ask him please for what we cannot do by ourselves
or even just spend time being with him, enjoying his love

In this regard we need to be discerning
about some of the circular e mails that people forward,
seeking prayer for some worthy cause.
I get a bit suspicious about some that beg me, nearly command me
to forward the request to six other people.
If God moves in your heart as you read those requests by all means respond
but if you get a sense as I sometimes do
of a prayer bondage rather than a prayer burden
then I suggest you should feel free to delete.
Answers to prayer do not depend on the volume of e mails or Facebook hits
but a deeper movement of the Holy Spirit in people’s hearts.

Most of all, we need to handle the Lord’s Prayer correctly.
Jesus said (9) 'This, then, is how you should pray:'
which is not quite the same as what you should pray
The Lord’s Prayer is a pattern not a prescription.
Your personal prayer time or a service like this
does not become invalid if the Lord’s Prayer is not said.
What matters so much more
is that the great themes and concerns of this prayer of Jesus
are reflected in our prayers.
It helps us to check out what we are praying
to see if we have the same balance as Jesus shows here
between seeking God’s will before sharing our desires

John Stott has written this about the Lord’s Prayer:
He suggests that we 'are constantly under pressure
to conform to the self-centeredness of secular culture.
When that happens we become concerned about our own little name
(liking to see it embossed on our notepaper
or hitting the headlines in the press, and defending it when it is attacked),
about our own little empire
(bossing, "influencing" and manipulating people to boost our tego),
and about our own silly little will
(always wanting our own way and getting upset when it is frustrated).
But in the Christian counter-culture
our top priority concern is not our name, kingdom and will, but God's. ….'

Stott points out that in the second half of the Lord's Prayer,
we stop talking about ‘your’ and start using ‘our’ and ‘us’
as we turn from God's affairs to our own.
‘Having expressed our burning concern for his glory,
we now express our humble dependence on his grace.’
God is heavenly Father as well as great King.'

Some people only pray about their own needs
and never stop to ask what does God want in his will and his kingdom.
But others go to the other extreme and are too afraid to ask God for anything.
And that is equally wrong.

Of course God is not a slot machine to deliver all our requests automatically
but he is a loving heavenly Father
and it is entirely right to follow the rhythm
of the second part of the pattern prayer of Jesus
and confidently and humbly ask our Father for what we need
having first submitted to him as he truly is.

As Stott writes:
'since God is "our Father in heaven" and loves us with a father's love,
he is concerned for the total welfare of his children
and wants us to bring our needs trustingly to him,
our need of food and of forgiveness and of deliverance from evil.'

I remember trying to encourage someone who found it hard to sleep at night through pain
to pray for relief.

The immediate question then was: 'Are we allowed to pray for things for ourselves?'

This person had been brought up to believe that you could only ask for other people not for yourself.

If I can sum up what I want you to be confident of today, it is this:
in whatever way you pray, and in whatever place
do not be fearful and uptight.
You are talking to God as your heavenly Father
and that is the relationship where we should be most secure and confident.

For some of us that is relatively easy
because we were blessed with fathers who loved us
and gave us security and confidence.
I know for others it is more difficult.
Maybe your father was absent from most of your life.
Maybe he was there and was cruel and horrible
and so to think of God as Father is a very negative thing.

We all need to understand
even those of us with good fathers
that God the heavenly Father is the best father of all.
All earthly fathers have their flaws and failings.
I can say that I am a flawed father.
But I can also say from what the Bible tells us
and from what I have been privileged to experience over 40 years
that God the heavenly father is perfect in love and forgiveness and restoration
and it is good to draw near him at any time
and how stupid we are to neglect him
and to focus in on ourselves or on other people’s view of us as we pray
or to get hung up on getting the words right.

Come to God the Father in prayer.
Talk to him, no-one else.
Tell him how great and good he is.
Thank him for his love in Jesus.
Submit to his plan for your life, it will be better.
Tell him about your sins.
Tell him about your struggles.
Tell him about your needs
and enjoy being with him
and the gifts he will give you.

Hymn 255

Prayer is the soul's supreme desire

James Montgomery, 1771-1854
adapted Jubilate Hymns

Prayer is the soul's supreme desire
expressed in thought or word;
the burning of a hidden fire,
a longing for the Lord.

Prayer is the simplest sound we teach
when children learn God's name;
and yet it is the noblest speech
that human lips can frame.

Prayer is the secret battleground
where victories are won;
by prayer the will of God is found
and work for him begun.

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
the Christian's native air,
his watchword at the gates of death;
he enters heaven with prayer.

Prayer is the Church's glorious song,
her task and joy supreme;
we name our Lord in every tongue,
and praise is all our theme.

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour
serving the Lord
Be joyful in hope, patient in suffering, faithful in prayer