How would you define prayer? It’s an action, certainly, but what is its outcome? What is the product of this? And what is distinct about Christian prayer? Some may say that it’s communion with God and also communicating with God, as we address our Father in a personal way. But what does Jesus say? And what’s your prayer life like?
(A)Prayer in secret reveals our relationship with the Father (Matt 6:5-8)
From Matthew 6:5-8, we read that Jesus doesn’t want his disciples to be hypocrites when they pray. They are not to pray to be seen (Matt 6:5). As we’ve seen last week, praying to be seen is a great tragedy because that in itself is the reward already. They are also not to pray as the Gentiles do (Matt 6:7). God’s people are not to pray as if they do not know God, heaping up empty praises. In praying this way, they’re practicing a spirituality that is generic and they are praying in a way that is neither prayer, nor is it addressed to God.
Thus, how are we to pray? Our prayer should be addressed to God and firstly, we are to pray in secret (Matt 6:6). Jesus is warning against performing religion. In private prayer, we can speak to Him in truth, where He watches us. As we’ve also said last week, we are to be careful against thinking that Christianity is private religion.
The Anglican bishop William Temple once wrote that "Religion is what you do with your solitude." In other words, what we do when we are by ourselves, the inmost thoughts of our minds, the attraction of our imagination - where our inner life runs to - that's where our God truly is. Where does your mind go to when you have nothing to do? What does your heart long for? As we go to God in secret, it exposes our true relationship with Him.
At this point, we’d like to make a point about our phones. Do you lose your solitude because you are so eager to connect and see and be a part of this world that it takes us away from God? It is good to do both a phone audit and also detox! Where is your time with the Lord? Do you have anything to say to God?
Our prayer in secret reveals our relationship to God. It is also possible for us to have such a crowded relationship with God that we don’t know what He wants. Our lives can be so full of ourselves and others’ desire, and we find ourselves unable to unplug from it. How is your relationship with God? If you were to spend time in solitude with Him, would you have that two-way communion with God? Do you have anything to say to Him? If there isn’t, perhaps we need to go deeper into God’s word. The reward of God Himself is what the Christian seeks! He is, after all, the one who knows what we truly need.
Jesus Himself modelled such intentionality. In Mark 1:35, Jesus sought God too, and chose to do it early in the morning to a desolate place. He picked a secret time and secret place. We also read of something similar in Mark 6:31-32, where Jesus also took time out. Similarly, in Luke 6:12, Jesus went to the mountain and prayed all night. This is the second person of the Trinity, and yet, He got up, and devoted so much time in prayer. And Jesus did it because He wants to! He desires to commune with God.
Are our lives too busy for secret time with the Lord? Are we too busy for His word?
(B) Prayer values God’s glory over all — His name, reign and aims (Matt 6:9-10)
Jesus then, teaches them how to pray, and He introduces the “Lord’s prayer” with these words, “pray then like this” (Matt 6:9a). This is in contrast to the prayer of the Gentiles in the verses before.
There are 6 petitions in the Lord’s prayer, and each could operate as a header. We will see that the first 3 petitions have to do with God and the last 3 have to do with us. This is a prayer that informs us about what is important. Thus, one way to pray the Lord’s prayer is to use each header as the framework, and then expand the thoughts in our own words.
The first three petitions prize God’s glory above everything else (Matt 6:9-10). These are worded in the imperative mode, thus, they are not requests but are stating commands. In these, we want the world to see God for who He is, that He will be revered and respected and His wisdom permeate the world.
What kind of person prays like this? We won’t pray like this until we believe that the world designed by God is best run by God. We won’t pray this prayer unless we are convinced that God is good, and He is wise, generous, fair, full of majesty, and a world ruled by this God is genuinely better than anything else.
The world as we know it, is a world of chaos. A world left to sinful human beings is one that leads to destruction, and we are not naturally wired to cooperate with one another. Left to ourselves, we wouldn’t pray this way, unless we really believe that justice, equity and peace according to God’s reign is a good thing.
His kingdom has been inaugurated, but has not been constructed. It has come, but has not yet fully come. We do not see His full reign. Thus, we desire that God be honoured and His agenda be followed. These petitions and asks are about revering, respecting God as God. This is to be the first thing that Christians pray, to be prayed in secret when no one knows.
Tonight, what will you pray for? Do you have an expansive, growing view of God, and see Him as wonderful? Psalm 16:11 tells us that at God’s right hand are pleasures forevermore. It means that we’ll never exhaust the riches of God’s character! We will keep discovering more and more of Him.
(C) Prayer seeks growth in godliness – provision, purity and peace with God and man (Matt 6:11-13)
The next three petitions in Matthew 6:11-13 are not godward, but are petitions for our needs. Firstly, there’s a prayer for daily bread, our daily sustenance (Matt 6:11). Though our Father knows what we need before we ask, yet Jesus still teaches us to pray. In this petition, there is an encounter with the divine in the tedium of the daily work! As we head to work, pray and ask for His sustenance to get through the day. He provides enough for each day.
Next, Jesus also tells us to petition God to forgive our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors (Matt 6:12). This is a confession of sin, and it seems to be a regular prayer request, since it follows the earlier one about bread. We need to regularly confess our sins. Now, this is not self-flagellation. Rather, we hold 1 John 1:9 too. This act of spiritual humility is what it means to be poor in spirit and ask for forgiveness. When we ask God to forgive our sins, it should rightly cause us to think about the debts against us.
Some may also read this verse and wonder if the “as” indicates that forgiveness is conditional and causal. This is not the case! Rather, it is connective, like “and”. We know from other parts of Scripture that forgiveness is not conditional.
Lastly, Jesus prays that we will not be led into temptation but be delivered from evil (Matt 6:13). We are in constant need of deliverance from our own sin and temptation. We are the danger to ourselves.
What kind of life is this? It’s not a life of advancement, earthly glory and wealth. It is not a life of glamour and fame. It is not one where we pray for a life of comfort, to be free from difficulties. It is a life of contentment and sufficiency, a life of trust in God and peace in our lives. It is a life where we know that God is present in our relationships. It is marked by a pursuit of God that is wholehearted and not distracted by other pursuits. Is this what you want out of life? We won’t pray this way unless we want these things. We won’t pray this way unless we prize God Himself.
Jesus also supplements the teaching with motivation (Matt 6:14-15). These verses warn us about the danger of missing out on forgiveness. We cannot pray these things in the Lord’s prayer, and not have our relationships reflect the gospel. This is why Jesus says these things in Matthew 6:14-15.
We realise that forgiveness is not just saying “it’s not a big deal”. Neither is it overlooking someone else’s hurt. It is a deeper reality. The late Timothy Keller states that there are three parts to forgiving another. Firstly, we identify with the one who offends us, recognising that the other person is not a caricature and we are not better than them. Next, we inwardly choose to absorb the cost. We do not seek to exact revenge and neither do we demand restitution. Finally, we also will their good.
Forgiveness is also not excusing sin and whitewashing the crime. It is also not suspending judgment and being condescending. It is also not abandoning justice altogether. If we do not see what Christ did for us, we’d have missed the gospel altogether. Thus, what is God saying to you about your life and godliness – is there something He wants you to change?
And at the end of this study on prayer, what is your (secret) prayer life like and what does it reflect about your relationship with God your Father? How do you view God Himself – and how can we pray differently as a result of this teaching?