Preached in Markham Baptist Church, July 25, 2004.

Matthew 6:5-8

A SEASON OF PRAYER:
Part 2 - A PATTERN FOR PRAYER

In this passage we have some important words about prayer.  And I believe that before we can address these words Jesus wants us to hear one foundational truth.   It is so important, that if we do not understand this one foundational truth, all the other wonderful things that Jesus teaches here will be lost on us, or will be distorted.  

The foundational truth that we supports all that Jesus is saying here is that “God cares about you.”  God cares about us.  This is the foundation to everything that Jesus is saying here.  Indeed it is the message that God has been trying to make clear to humanity from the beginning of time.  It is the truth that God is for us and not against us.

It is the message that he tries to make clear through His prophets, that His heart yearns for us, longs for us, desires the best and highest for us, is broken when we choose to focus our attention on something fleeting and superficial.

God cares about us. And when Jesus, God in the flesh, comes to earth He makes that amazing statement that we looked at last week.  It is such a beautiful sentence that it should run tingles up and down your spine every time you hear it. He said, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.” (John 15:16). He is saying in effect, “I picked you out.  I like to have you with me and am disappointed when you do not feel the same way. I have chosen you.” 

I have chosen you knowing who you are, knowing completely and totally who are and I’m not sorry that I did.

And we look at ourselves with all our faults and all the trouble that we know we have caused Him and we ask, “Why? Why would you choose me?  I can understand you choosing someone else but why me?” And the answer always comes back, “God cares about you.”

And in our passage this morning I believe that that fact is the foundation of what Jesus is saying to us about prayer.  

God cares about you.  Perhaps the greatest indication of this fact in this passage is that Jesus instructs us to call God “Our Father in heaven”.  Here Jesus permits us, no commands us to approach God with the word "Father".  Again and again in three short verses, - verse 6, “When you pray go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father…  Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”  And then again in verse 8 “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Jesus commands us to address God as our Father!  This is an astounding miracle.  For here we are coming into the presence of the Creator of the world and we don’t have to address Him with any fancy names, no long titles, flaunting His position and status.  Only, “Our Father.” 

No Old Testament saint ever dared to address God as their “Father.” 

Yet here Jesus commands us to address God as our Father.  And don’t be confused this has nothing to do with maleness, or male superiority, but rather speaks of wonder.  The wonder of the fact that through faith in Jesus Christ we have been released from the guilt and curse of sin and are now called children of God.

It speaks of the wonder of being renewed through faith in Jesus Christ – given a new birth, a new life.  The old parent of sin who used to rule our lives has lost his claim on our lives as we have now been adopted into God’s family.

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”  The Spirit himself testifies with your spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:15,16)

The word “Father” does not speak of maleness – it speaks of wonder and it speaks of warmth!

The warmth of God’s care for us as His children.  O how He cares about us, loves you and me.  As a parent loves a child so God cares for us.

O the warmth those words bring to our souls!  To know that at the heart of this universe there is not some impersonal power, or some ruthless police man but a God who is gracious and kind and loving and who invites us to approach Him with the words, “our Father.”  Why?  Because God cares for us. 

This is the foundational truth that we must take in before we think of what Jesus says here about prayer. 

But having taken it in, do you see the impact this will have on our prayers and our understanding of prayer?

Jesus is saying here, “God cares about you and because he cares about you he wants you to pray to him, be in communication with him, confide in him, delight in him, depend on him, come to him with all “requests prayers intercession and thanksgiving for everyone.” (I Timothy 2:1)

God cares about you and wants you to pray to Him.  I don’t think we remember that often enough.  The ruler of the universe wants to speak to us.  Do you know what I do when David Smith our Chair of Deacons calls me and leaves a message saying he wants to speak to me?  I call him right back!  He is the Chair of the Deacons Board after all! And what do we do when the ruler of the universe says He wants to speak to us?  We say, “Well I’ll speak to Him tomorrow, maybe.”

But this makes prayer sound more like something I have to do, a duty.  So what did I do when the Mayor of Markham called here the other day?  I got on the phone right away – not because it was a duty but because it was a privilege.  And that’s what prayer is.  God, our heavenly Father, wants to speak to you – He wants you to hear from you.   That fact alone should bring us all to place where we call God on the prayer phone.  God wants to speak to us. Why?  Because God cares about us.

Not only this, but God wants your undivided attention.   Jesus is saying that our attitude in prayer should be such that God gets our undivided attention.  Think how you feel when you have the undivided attention of someone you care about.  When they aren’t preoccupied with their own feelings or with what’s going on around them. Well, God cares about you and He loves it when you shut out the world and you speak to Him.

That’s the idea behind verse 5.  Jesus says the hypocrites were praying so that their attention wasn’t on God but on what others thought of them.  He says,  “They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men”.  They were parading their piety by praying on the street corner as they were rushing to the synagogues.  They wanted the people to know that they were so filled with spirituality that they just could not wait to get to the synagogue to pray and so they fell down on their knees right on the street corner and began to pray.  If they waited till they got to the synagogue they would burst with holiness. 

And Jesus says, do not be like them. You, my followers, know that God cares about you, you do not need to win the applause and praise of humanity.  God cares about you.   So give Him your undivided attention. Shut out the world.

Also, He says, shut out self. Shut out self-adulation and self-preoccupation and self-absorption.  That’s what Jesus means when He says in verse 6, “Go into your room close the door and pray to your father.”  That’s what He means about a secret place.  He wants you to shut out everyone and everything, especially self. 

Martin Lloyd Jones points out, “There is no value in my entering into the secret chamber and locking the door if the whole time I am full of self and thinking about myself and am priding myself on my prayer.  I might as well be standing on the street corner.”¹ 

Of course this does not mean that we should never ask God to help us, to lead us, to give to us what we need.  No, that’s not what is being said.  What is being addressed is attitudes.  And Jesus says you don’t need to come to God with selfish pride because God cares for you. He loves you.  He will look after you, so lose the selfish pride and open your heart entirely and only to God.

And if we aren’t sure if we are praying unselfishly then ask God.  Speak to Him honestly and say to Him, "God I don’t know if my motives are pure here.  I don’t know if what I am seeking is my will – if I am praying with impure motives make it plain to me and I will pray according to your will for I want your will to be done above mine."   And because God cares about you He will show you how to pray - He will make it plain to you. 

Because God cares for us He calls us to prayer, He wants our undivided attention.  Jesus continues and He says in verse 7, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” 

I don’t believe that Jesus is talking about the value of short prayers or long prayers.  What He is saying is that because God cares for us we don’t need to worry about the form of our prayers.  Do not pray mechanically, going through each bead on the rosary day after day, going through each step we’ve seen outlined in some tract or read in some book. Don’t worry about the form of your prayers – God cares about you so pray from the heart.

I remember as a young man worrying about whether it was better if I prayed to God on my knees or sitting in a chair.  If I was sitting in the chair I would say to myself, my prayers are being heard because I was sitting and not kneeling.  So I got down on my knees.  But then when I was kneeling I was full of pride and congratulating myself with my own humility.  So I got back up in the chair.  But when I got in the chair I said, I should be kneeling.   I remember that I didn’t get much praying done!

Here’s a great poem I came across that shows the silliness of worrying about the forms in prayer.

“The proper way for man to pray,” said Deacon Lemuel Keyes,

“The only proper attitude is down upon one’s knees.”

“Nay, I should say the way to pray,” said Reverend Doctor Wise,

“Is standing straight with outstretched arms with rapt and upturned eyes.”

“Oh no, no, no,” said Elder Snow, “such posture is too proud.

A man should pray with eyes fast-closed and head contritely bowed.”

“It seems to me his hands should be austerely clasped in front, with both thumbs pointing to the ground.” Said Reverend Doctor Blunt.

“Last year I fell in Hodgkin’s well, headfirst," said Cyril Brown,

“With both my heels a-stickin’ up, my head a-pointin’ down.  And I done prayed right then and there, best prayer I ever said, the prayin’est prayer I ever prayed, a-standin’ on my head.”²

Form doesn’t matter.  How we pray doesn’t matter.  Where we are doesn’t matter.  When we pray doesn’t matter.  The grammar and theological soundness of our prayers doesn’t matter.

So many people say to me,  “I can’t pray in public.”  That’s fine.  Not all of us are comfortable in front of people.  That’s fine – that’s fine as long as you are not saying to me, “I am afraid of what people will think, because my praying isnt’ beautifully constructed and theologically sound.”

Pray from your heart says Jesus.

Again Martin Lloyd Jones gives a helpful word here about praying in public.  “Far from desiring people to thank us for our so-called beautiful prayers, we should rather be troubled when they do so!  Public prayer should be such that the people who are praying silently and the one who is uttering the words should be no longer conscious of each other, but should be carried on the wings of prayer into the very presence of God.” ³

To be sure, it is good to realize that it is a great responsibility to lead in prayer and to bring to the throne of grace the prayers of the people – but do not let that hinder you, confine you, or restrain you.  Pray from your heart.

Don’t be caught up with the form of prayer. Why? Because God cares about you and loves it when you speak to Him from your heart.

Well here is the last way that God’s gracious love for us affects our prayers.  Because God cares for us we know that our prayers are heard. 

This is the implication of verse 8. Jesus says, “Do not be like them for our Father knows what you need before you ask him.” 

Our God is a God who hears our prayers.  He is our loving heavenly Father who hears our prayers.   You parents, do you remember the first nights, the first months, the first years of being a parent so that when you went to bed you could sleep through anything except, except the cry of your child?  The slightest noise in your child’s room was enough to shake you out of the deepest of sleeps.  So it is with God our Father.  He hears our prayers.  

And do you remember you parents how you were able to distinguish the cries of your child?  You knew from the pitch and the intensity of cry just what your child needed, whether it be another class of water, or a cry of pain from illness.  You knew what your child needed and you were able to answer the need.  So our loving heavenly Father.

But this verse speaks of something beyond that, doesn’t it?  Jesus says that before you ask for it, your Father knows what you need.  It speaks of foreknowledge.  And many people use this verse as an excuse not to pray.  If God knows what I need before I pray for it then why pray?  I think that God does indeed give us far more than we ever pray for. 

But this verse instead of keeping us from prayer should drive us to prayer!  For what Jesus is saying is that our God is a loving heavenly Father who is ready and able to answer our prayers.

I don’t do the shopping in our house.  Janet does all the shopping and she does a masterful job, always on the look out for deals and bargains and reads the flyers with an eagle eye.  I can tell you that nothing frustrates her more than to have a store advertise a special and then to arrive at the store and discover that they don’t have it in stock! Not that they are sold out, but that they never even stocked the item in the first place! 

Jesus says God our heavenly Father cares about you and is able to answer your prayers because His warehouse is full.  He is ready to answer your prayers because He knows what you need even before you ask Him!  Not because of the form of your prayers but because He is a loving heavenly Father who cares about you and knows what you need even before you ask Him. 

So, my friends, “let us approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Why?  Because God cares about you!

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - July 2004