PART 2
Before you read the rest of this part of the series, read the scripture in Matthew 6:1-14. Find other translations and read them. Look up the greek words on Biblehub. More importantly, read the surrounding chapter of the book. Anything you or I could write about this passage of scripture will never be scripture, right? We’re simply adding our two cents. It will never have impact in our lives like the original text. So read it for yourself and allow the Spirit of God to do His thing. Otherwise, you’re abusing the commentary, the Scripture, and your heart by withholding yourself from the Source and putting the run-off in its place. It’s like drinking coffee in place of every meal. Eventually your body will flip out and implode on itself.
In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus gives the disciples the model of prayer. But before He show us what prayer is, He tells us what prayer isn’t.
Verse 5 - “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.”
We can figure that Jesus is talking about groups like the Pharisees in this verse. But regardless, we can derive that public prayer had become popular. This will be a little off-topic, but hear me out on this:
If you’re a Christian who has ever battled pride, you can think of somebody you’ve met who has been extraordinarily skilled at something. And chances are good that they didn’t have to work nearly as hard on that skill as you and I would have needed to in order to become as skilled as they are. There’s no denying that they have been blessed with a talent. I see this in the field of music more than anywhere else. I have met people who seem to have been bred for playing a given instrument. My college room mate is one my closest friends and brothers in Christ - and I suspect that he secretly had lip surgery to shape his mouth for playing bass trombone. One of my other groom’s men is currently completing his graduate degree in vocal performance; his talent turns heads everywhere he goes. My fiancée, a flautist, has perfect pitch (Google that one) that is nearly perfectly accurate. Seriously, it’s a like super power.
But think about what a great responsibility has any Christian with such talent. The same God that gave the sun the ability to provide us with energy for the duration of His use of our little planet and plotted the very gravitational pulls of every orbit of everything our solar system and in the galaxy (and every other galaxy) in such a way that earth is not frozen or scorched has placed mind-boggling abilities in the hands of sinners with the privilege of using them for Him. Imagine the temptation; you can choose fame by your own ability or obedience in the laying down of your ability to point the fame back to God. Unfortunately, the former is so easy to do. I see it in my life and in the lives of others. I can only imagine how I look in the sight of God when I’m in the spotlight, ignoring that it’s by His mercy and grace that I have any ability at all. It’s as if someone saved me from a burning building in my sleep and, in an interview with the local news station, I neglected to mention it.
If you’ve been given the gift and ministry of prayer (and there are people who have been given the ministry of prayer), why would the same temptation not exist? How easy would it be in the time of Jesus to go out before a crowd of people show off how educated, how relevant, how well-versed you are with a big, ornate prayer?
Jesus corrects them (and us):
Verse 6 - “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.”
Jesus brings us back to what’s simple. When you compare it with what Jesus is speaking against, the Savior’s words are profoundly simple. And do you realize how paramount his correction is? Jesus, God in the flesh, is telling his own creation that He would rather be famous in private than the creation be famous in public.
“…pray to your Father who is in secret” Why is Jesus saying that the Father is in secret? Surely it has something to do with how close the Lord wants to be us. Is most intimacy not out of public sight? God has given me and my fiancée the gift of sound communication in spite of my stuttering; It’s because of Him that we have such a healthy relationship. But if I needed to tell her something important, how indirect would it be to take her to the mall and sing an aria to her through a megaphone? What would that say about the intimacy of our relationship? Alternatively, what if I sent her a text from across the room with life-changing news in the stead of talking to her personally?
Jesus is not only showing us how intimate our relationship with our Creator can be, but how intimate He wants it to be. He wants me to be close to Him and He wants me to be direct with Him.
If you’ve been given the gift and ministry of prayer (and there are people who have been given the ministry of prayer), why would the same temptation not exist? How easy would it be in the time of Jesus to go out before a crowd of people show off how educated, how relevant, how well-versed you are with a big, ornate prayer?
Jesus corrects them (and us):
Verse 6 - “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.”
Jesus brings us back to what’s simple. When you compare it with what Jesus is speaking against, the Savior’s words are profoundly simple. And do you realize how paramount his correction is? Jesus, God in the flesh, is telling his own creation that He would rather be famous in private than the creation be famous in public.
“…pray to your Father who is in secret” Why is Jesus saying that the Father is in secret? Surely it has something to do with how close the Lord wants to be us. Is most intimacy not out of public sight? God has given me and my fiancée the gift of sound communication in spite of my stuttering; It’s because of Him that we have such a healthy relationship. But if I needed to tell her something important, how indirect would it be to take her to the mall and sing an aria to her through a megaphone? What would that say about the intimacy of our relationship? Alternatively, what if I sent her a text from across the room with life-changing news in the stead of talking to her personally?
Jesus is not only showing us how intimate our relationship with our Creator can be, but how intimate He wants it to be. He wants me to be close to Him and He wants me to be direct with Him.
Verse 7 - “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
“…as the Gentiles do” - Sometimes I wish, when I got saved, an angel appeared and handed me a dictionary with must-know terms for reading the Bible (and maybe some walk-through pamphlets for the book of Revelation. Geez.) I don’t mean to demean my audience - but if you don’t know what a “gentile” is, it’s okay. I didn’t. For the sake of keeping this post on-topic, I’ll explain here.
“…as the Gentiles do” - Sometimes I wish, when I got saved, an angel appeared and handed me a dictionary with must-know terms for reading the Bible (and maybe some walk-through pamphlets for the book of Revelation. Geez.) I don’t mean to demean my audience - but if you don’t know what a “gentile” is, it’s okay. I didn’t. For the sake of keeping this post on-topic, I’ll explain here.
Don’t be mistaken - Jesus’s death was for who ever calls upon His name, regardless of whether they’re a Jew or a gentile (Isaiah 42:1, Acts 11:18, and practically anything written by the Apostle Paul). The greek word for “gentile” there is ἐθνικοὶ (ethnikoi). It can also mean “heathen” or “pagan”. The disciples understood what Jesus was saying better than most of us can. They probably (and I don’t want to try to mind-read into the text) took it as “…do not heap up empty phrases as [people who do not know God] do”.
“…do not heap up empty phrases” - Scripture tells us that Jesus died for our sins and that His death was sufficient to satisfy the wrath of God that we earned (Colossians 1:22, 1 Peter 1:19, Ephesians 2:8-9, and just read the book of Romans). We can sum it up (and we often do) by simply saying “Jesus is enough”. And because the believer is in Christ, Christ is also in the believer (John 15:5-7). The believer also has been given the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). In short, we have God with us already. We don’t need to lure Him in with ornate words. This is just my input: wouldn’t that be demeaning to God? He’s already paid for our transgressions against Him and done everything to show and tell us that He wants to be close to us and know us more intimately and personally than we can imagine. Why else would we, as His church, be called the ‘bride’ of Christ (Ephesians 5)? If a husband has a healthy relationship with his wife, would they ever need to speak as if they had to win each other’s attention?
Take the analogy of me and my own soon-to-be bride; it would be weird enough if she suddenly started speaking to me in an attempt to poetic. But if this is only how she spoke to me, I don’t know how we would ever actually communicate. Could she expect a personal and meaningful reaction from me? And if this is how a person prays, then where is the real substance of his or her relationship with God? I already love my fiancée - she doesn’t have to win me over with smooth talk, nor did she ever need to smooth talk me. Throughout the time we spent getting to know each other, I was content with getting to know the real her. She never had to put up a façade. Why would I expect a façade to work with the God who “knows what [I] need before [I] pray”?
“…do not heap up empty phrases” - Scripture tells us that Jesus died for our sins and that His death was sufficient to satisfy the wrath of God that we earned (Colossians 1:22, 1 Peter 1:19, Ephesians 2:8-9, and just read the book of Romans). We can sum it up (and we often do) by simply saying “Jesus is enough”. And because the believer is in Christ, Christ is also in the believer (John 15:5-7). The believer also has been given the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). In short, we have God with us already. We don’t need to lure Him in with ornate words. This is just my input: wouldn’t that be demeaning to God? He’s already paid for our transgressions against Him and done everything to show and tell us that He wants to be close to us and know us more intimately and personally than we can imagine. Why else would we, as His church, be called the ‘bride’ of Christ (Ephesians 5)? If a husband has a healthy relationship with his wife, would they ever need to speak as if they had to win each other’s attention?
Take the analogy of me and my own soon-to-be bride; it would be weird enough if she suddenly started speaking to me in an attempt to poetic. But if this is only how she spoke to me, I don’t know how we would ever actually communicate. Could she expect a personal and meaningful reaction from me? And if this is how a person prays, then where is the real substance of his or her relationship with God? I already love my fiancée - she doesn’t have to win me over with smooth talk, nor did she ever need to smooth talk me. Throughout the time we spent getting to know each other, I was content with getting to know the real her. She never had to put up a façade. Why would I expect a façade to work with the God who “knows what [I] need before [I] pray”?
and finally…
“Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
I don’t think there’s a worth-while analogy that works for this - so I’ll just explain why I love this verse and maybe you’ll agree.
I love that I don’t need to explain anything to God. He already knows. Adrian Rogers once asked “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God?”. Why would anyone need to explain anything to God for Him to understand? And an even better question: Why does God want me to pray when He already knows what I’m going to say?”. Is there anything else you need from this passage to be able to safely and confidently know that God simply wants to be close to you?
I know I have readers in Eastern Europe, so I apologize to you if this is strictly a Western concept, but I’ve heard it put like this: think of someone with whom you often exchange the words “I love you”. You probably know that, when you see them, you’ll end up saying “I love you”. You already know that you love each other and it’s probably not new information. Yet you still desire to hear those words - but it’s the intimacy you want, not the words.
Prayer is such a simple concept. You might explain it to a child as “speaking with God”. But the more I pray, the more I realize just how true that is. As we get farther into this series, I’m hoping and praying that both you and I would be humbly transformed. And not by my work in writing or your work in reading, but by the Spirit working in us to conform us to the image of Christ. The next part of the series will be about the first handful of the model prayer: “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name”. Read the rest of the prayer (or even the whole book) in the light of those first two lines.
I love that I don’t need to explain anything to God. He already knows. Adrian Rogers once asked “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God?”. Why would anyone need to explain anything to God for Him to understand? And an even better question: Why does God want me to pray when He already knows what I’m going to say?”. Is there anything else you need from this passage to be able to safely and confidently know that God simply wants to be close to you?
I know I have readers in Eastern Europe, so I apologize to you if this is strictly a Western concept, but I’ve heard it put like this: think of someone with whom you often exchange the words “I love you”. You probably know that, when you see them, you’ll end up saying “I love you”. You already know that you love each other and it’s probably not new information. Yet you still desire to hear those words - but it’s the intimacy you want, not the words.
Prayer is such a simple concept. You might explain it to a child as “speaking with God”. But the more I pray, the more I realize just how true that is. As we get farther into this series, I’m hoping and praying that both you and I would be humbly transformed. And not by my work in writing or your work in reading, but by the Spirit working in us to conform us to the image of Christ. The next part of the series will be about the first handful of the model prayer: “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name”. Read the rest of the prayer (or even the whole book) in the light of those first two lines.
[END OF PART 2 OF SERIES]
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