It is commonplace to hear people say things like, "Our thoughts and prayers are with you." Have you ever been told that? What do people mean when they say that? More importantly, do people mean what Jesus meant when they reference prayer? The more I read the Bible, the more I listen to God's Word, the more I question how much praying the way that Jesus commands here is done. Let's read the Bible together to see if we see the same thing this morning, and then let's pray to ask the Holy Spirit to help us see what He wants us to see.
Notice the way that chapter 6 begins, Beware. How many lessons on prayer have you heard start with Beware? We spend so much time urging prayer, but what about warning about prayer? What is it about prayer that we need to beware of? And, of all the things that you could guess we would get right just by doing it, it would be prayer, right? Something is better than nothing, right? Wrong! The fact that the Lord is teaching us to pray should show us how far we have fallen from him and just how pervasive sin is. Not even prayer is safe from the perversion of sin.
Prayer is one of those areas where self can take center stage. Don't believe me, try to pray without saying, "I." At the center of sin is self: self-worship, being in awe of self. If we aren't careful, we can even turn the purpose and plan of God into an enterprise of self. Think about how self-centered and concerned we are. We aren't saying that self is of no concern, but sin puts self at the center, and self can never be central if we are true worshipers of God.
The Christian faith never begins with man nor man's pursuit of God. The Christian faith starts with God and tells the incredible story of his pursuit of us. We are pursuing a God who is pursuing us - this is the beauty of Christianity. We are always the benefactors, he forever the benevolent, kind, and loving God; we the recipients of his love, He the giver of love. Don't you love him? You know why you love him? He loved you first.
When I was born, I was an unexpected child, not an uh-oh baby, but a surprise. I was not a surprise to God, he had loved me since before he laid the foundations of the earth, and he has loved you too for that long.
Don't misunderstand. Is our faith about us? Sure, but never with us at the center. Our faith is never just about us. This is the confession that has marked Christianity. The fact that a benevolent God would create and then come and die for his creatures is the subject of our awe-filled reflection - we can't get over the gospel nor should we.
In the very beginning of Christian reflection on Scripture, the early church set out a Creed not to replace our Bible but to teach us how the read our Bible. In 325 and later in 381 the Nicene Creed was the fruit of Christian reflection, and there was a certain phrase that captivated the framers, it is a gospel phrase - pro nobis and it means for our sake. Listen to it:
For us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was
incarnate by the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, and was made man;
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried,
and on the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and
ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father.
It is amazing how learning something so great done for you tends to make you forget about yourself. The gospel leaves us saying, "For me?" And God says to us, with nail pierced hands, "Yes!" If such a thought leaves us thinking anything other than "How great is our God," then we have never known him.
I wonder if these high thoughts of God are the way that you pray? I love the words of Chrysostom here:
When you pray, it is as if you were entering into a palace - not a palace on earth, but far more awesome, a place in heaven, When you enter there, you do so with complete attentiveness and fitting respect. For in the houses of kings al turmoil is set aside, and silence reigns. Yet here you are being joined by choirs of angels. You are in communion with archangels and singing with the seraphim, who sing with great awe their spiritual hymns and sacred songs to God, the Lord of all. So when you are praying, mingle with these voices, patterning yourself according to their mystical order, It is not to human beings that you are praying but to God, who is present everywhere, who hears even before you speak and who knows already the secret of the heart. If you pray to this One, you shall receive a great reward. "For your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly." (The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 19.3)
Jesus is pretty clear; there are two ways to pray, the right way and the wrong way, so really just one way to pray.
1. The Wrong Way to Pray
Two components: Centered on Self, Minimal Reward
Remember, Jesus is warning us about our attitude of worship. Hypocrisy, those stage actors, those who like to put on a show, may fool a crowd but God sees the heart. God sees that the heart of a hypocrite is consumed with self and as a result has themselves as the consolation prize.
The problem the hypocrite has when they pray is the blindness they have by their greatness, so they do what they do to be seen by others. We may not have gone to the lengths that Jesus is saying here, but how many times have we done something noble just to be seen and heard so that people would think better of us?
I can't think of anyone who is more vulnerable than this than a man in my position - a preacher. People often want me to pray for them. I am glad to do it. Sometimes after I pray people say "thank you," or they say "what an amazing prayer," or, "I love the way you pray." I know people are being kind, but God forbid that I ever pray to receive the praise of men. You may enjoy my praying, but I pray that I enjoy praying more than I enjoy you approving of my praying.
The hypocrite is too easily impressed, but we who know the glory of God and are amazed by him know better.
Jesus says, don't be like them Here is the right way to pray.
2. The Right Way to Pray
Two components: Centered on Christ, Great Reward
Come in awe of a transcendent God whose image you are made in. Not an image that you have made, but One in whose image you are made in. Be overwhelmed by the presence of God. Prayer is worship, not self-worship but the worship of the God of Scripture. Psalm 86:11 says, Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.
That is exactly what Jesus has come to do, to take our wandering hearts and bind them to himself. Jesus has come to unite our hearts with his. What did he say? Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. How is he able to say that? Because he has united himself with us in the Incarnation. Without ceasing to be what he was, he became what he was not and has united our hearts to his in the ministry of redemption through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus, we were incapable of praying, but now that Jesus has come and accomplished redemption through the Cross, we can experience God like never before. No wonder he teaches us to pray. He is inviting us to do what has never been done before - enjoy the presence of God through the ministry of the Son through the Spirit.
And so, we pray the right way, in the path that he has blazed for us.