Sunday, September 2, 2018

The Lord’s Prayer: First Steps

Today, we start a series of sermons on prayer. I’m guessing that my saying that made some of you think, ‘Oh no! Not that!’ And you think that because you’re expecting that what I have to say is going to make you feel guilty. After all, you’re no prayer warrior. Just working at a little consistency is enough of a challenge. To expect more is to expect too much.

Let’s take a moment to deal with that.


I think that one reason that some of the saints feel this way is because of an assumption: prayer is something we have to do. Seeing it as a requirement, or even as a demand, simply sets us up for a sense of failure. After all, what aspect of following Jesus are we able to do well? Our sin affects everything that we do, and that includes our prayers. So, of course, if prayer is this requirement, this demand that we have to meet, then a sense of failure is in our future.

But I think that there is a better way of understanding prayer. Instead of thinking of prayer as something that we have to do, we can think of it as something that we get to do. It is not a demand but a blessing. It is a blessing of the Gospel.

There are many good things that come to a person once he believes the Gospel. Jesus forgives his sins. The Spirit walks through life with him. God becomes his father. And one very clear trait of this father is that He loves to hear and respond to the prayers of His children. Isn’t that what Jesus was getting at when He said,

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7.11

As you understand better - or maybe I should say, believe better - who is listening when you pray, it will become clearer to your heart that prayer, discussing life with your loving father, is no obligation that you have to do. It is a blessing that you get to do.

One of my goals for this series on the Lord’s Prayer is for you to grasp more of the beauty and wonder of prayer. As that happens, your worship of God and your enjoyment of God will deepen in ways that will surprise you.

Having cleared away some of the obstacles, we’re ready to consider Jesus’ teaching on prayer. Listen to what He says,

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6.5-6

So, let’s start where we usually start, with a definition. What is prayer? Prayer is talking with God. Now, you’re going to say, ‘Well, duh.’ And yet, aren’t there times when it doesn’t feel like you’re actually talking to another person? Aren’t there times when prayer just feels like some religious ritual? And then, when you pray in a group, have you never found yourself more concerned with what the others in the group think about your prayer instead of what your Father thinks about it? Prayer is talking with God, but there are times when it doesn’t feel like it.

The solution for this is the same as it is for other problems. Believe the Gospel. Believe the part of the Gospel that says that prayer is talking to God. It’s when you believe that, when you believe that you are talking to the person who has pledged Himself to be your God, to love you as a father, that you will pray with a certain eagerness. That’s when you will look forward to times of prayer with your Father. And that’s when you will sometimes pray with the honest bluntness of the psalmists.

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? Psalm 13.1

Prayer is talking to God, to your God. It’s talking to someone who wants to hear what you really think.

Let’s move on. Jesus teaches about prayer by making a comparison. He tells us,

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.

One thing that this means is that there is a right way and a wrong way to pray. To help us with this, Jesus has presented us with a model prayer, what we have called ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. We’ll be spending a good bit of time working our way through that prayer this fall. In doing this, He is saying, ‘This is how you are to pray, not like those phonies’.

Now, does this mean that our prayers will be heard only if we do it the right way? Does God first evaluate our prayers before He decides to listen to them? Do they have to pass some test? What does it mean that there is a right way and a wrong way to pray?

Let’s go back to what Jesus was talking about. He was pointing out people who were hypocrites. What they were doing wasn’t actually prayer at all. The audience that they were most interested in wasn’t God. It was other people. Jesus pointed out their hypocrisy so that we would actually pray to God. He wants us to enjoy the blessings of discussing life with our Father. Praying in the right way isn’t about passing some test. It’s about our experiencing all the benefits of prayer.

Here’s one particular aspect of praying the right way. Listen again to Jesus as He describes the wrong way to pray.

…they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. Matthew 6.5

These pretenders had a reward in mind when they would pray. The reward that they were eager to receive was being noticed by the people around them. They wanted to be seen and thought of as so very pious. That’s what they aimed at and that’s what they got. But what good was that?

Jesus teaches His disciples to note these phonies and learn from them. Don’t do it that way. Don’t aim at that reward. It’s not worth it.

But then, He instructs us in the right way to pray.

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6.6

Jesus makes two contrasts here. First, He points to the phonies who pray to be noticed by lots of people, and He instructs His disciples to pray where no one will see you. That’s one contrast.

Here’s the other. Don’t choose their kind of reward. No, rather, pursue a different reward, a better reward. Choose to aim for the reward that the Father will give to you.

Isn’t it interesting that Jesus doesn’t say, ‘Pray selflessly. Pray just to give. Don’t think about getting anything’? No. Rather, He teaches us to pray in such a way that we get something. We get a reward.

Let’s spend some time on this topic of rewards. It is something that we don’t hear much about these days. Many Christians are completely unaware that God promises rewards. And then, there are the others who are very confused about it and have lots of questions. But if you think about it, it isn’t all that complex. God rewards His saints.

Here’s one place where He describes that quite clearly.

And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. Deuteronomy 28.1-6

What is this? It’s Yahweh telling His people that He will reward them if they obey Him. It’s not complicated.

But there are still some questions. Here are a few.

Do we earn these rewards by our obedience? Well, to earn rewards from God you’d have to obey perfectly. And that is something that none of us can do. It’s just that when it comes to obeying His commands, part of the mix is repentance and faith.

Let me explain. We work at obedience. We fail in some way. The Spirit points that out to us. We repent of that sin and come again to the Father through Jesus for forgiveness and for change, the change of doing better at obedience. Our Father is gracious and forgives. We then return to working at obedience. God notices what we do. He notices His children working at obedience according to the Gospel, that is, with repentance and faith - and He rewards us.

This is why Zechariah and Elizabeth were described as being

righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. Luke 1.6

They were not perfect. But they did work at obedience with repentance and faith. That’s why they could be called righteous and blameless when it came to His commands. God rewards such working at obedience.

When you see it this way, it becomes clear that we do not earn any reward. His reward is a gift. It’s a matter of grace.

Another question. Does God reward us now or just later? God will hand out many rewards in the age to come. But He does that in the here and now also. The rewards that God promised Israel in what I read earlier, were enjoyed in this life. So, when Jesus assures us that the Father who sees in secret will reward us, that includes what happens now. I think that’s a game changer. It explains why some Christians understand life better, enjoy great peace even in the midst of great troubles, are bold even in the face of major opposition, have a growing store of wisdom and on and on. They have been diligently working at obedience, with repentance and faith. God sees what they are doing, and He rewards them now.

Another question. Will all Christians get rewards? No. In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul teaches about pastors who have been called to build up their churches on the foundation of the Gospel. Listen to what he has to say about them.

…each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. 1 Corinthians 3.13-15

Some pastors will be faithful, doing a good job building up their churches. Their work will pass God’s evaluation. As a result, they will be rewarded. But there will be others who will do a bad job of it. Their work will not pass God’s test. They will suffer loss. There will be no reward for them.

What is true of pastors is also true of lay Christians. Some will be rewarded for their faithful efforts at obedience, while others, failing to diligently work at that, will not. Not all Christians will be rewarded.

Here’s the point. How you live really matters. Work at obedience, with repentance and faith. If you do that God will reward you.

But now, let’s take all of that and return to Jesus’ teaching on prayer and its reward. Remember how He said,

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

So, a question. What is the reward that the Father will give to those who pray in the right way?

The reward is getting more of God. That, after all, is what prayer is actually about.

That will make complete sense if you are clear about the goal of the Gospel. Growing up, I was told that the goal of the Gospel was for me to make it into heaven. That’s why Jesus has come. Now, it’s true that because Jesus has come I will find myself in heaven and then, after that, in the new heavens and new earth. But that’s not what the Gospel is actually about. The goal of the Gospel is not for a bunch of people to make it into heaven. The goal of the Gospel is the restoration of all things. The goal of the Gospel is to fix all of life.

Let’s go back to the Garden of Eden. What was it like before everything fell apart? It was Adam and Eve exercising dominion over creation. It was their being engaged in satisfying work, doing what they did for the glory of God. It was their enjoying walks with God and each other in the cool of the day, discussing the events of the day, gaining insight from God’s wisdom, seeing more of His beauty, enjoying a greater sense of His goodness. It was going to bed every night tired but very happy, completely gratified by what happened that day. That’s what life in the Garden was all about. And it was wonderful.

Jesus has come to restore all of that. That’s the main goal of the Gospel. And at the heart of life in the restored Garden will be experiencing God in greater and greater degrees, gaining increasing insight from His wisdom, seeing more of His beauty, enjoying a greater sense of His goodness. That is why Jesus has come. That is what He is now in the process of bringing about for His saints.

So, when you pray, if you are wise, that is the reward that you are aiming at. Getting more of God, starting now.

But what if that actually isn’t what you are aiming at in your prayers? How do you fix that? The answer is clear. You pray for it. And that makes sense when you remember that it’s a matter of grace. Everything is a matter of grace.

And as the Spirit, bit by bit, makes changes in your soul so that you gain more and more of that reward in this life, you will find that your prayers will also change. You will still have requests to make, but you will see your needs in a different light. You will see that trying to gain happiness in the here and now will no longer be so important. Instead, as you make your requests, you will present them with an eye to the restoration of all things so that, once again, our lives will be about the praise and enjoyment of God. That is what we are to pray for and that is to be the reward that we are to be aiming at. And, as we do that, that is the reward that we will get.

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