ARE YOU PLAYING THE HYPOCRITE PART THREE

Matt 6:1-18

 

Martyn Lloyd Jones said “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.”

 

This is exactly what Jesus is trying to convey to the crowd. The hypocrite wants to be seen and heard and worshipped. Where the child of the Living God desires not to be seen, heard and worshipped by this present world. But seeks after the One in secret, who searches the heart and sees all things for His glory. See! We are never to pray like the hypocrite; but realize “Who God is, and What God is.” Before we ever think to utter words from our hearts to God, we need to realize who we are coming into the presence of. We should be reminding ourselves this truth “I am now entering into the audience chamber of that God.”

The almighty, absolute, and eternal God, “the God” who is over everything that is in heaven and on earth and throughout eternity. “I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things. "Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the LORD have created it. "Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'?” Isaiah 45:5-9

This is the God we are approaching.

 

The God, who providentially rules over everything and everyone. This is the one whom we shut the door of the world too. We are entering a place where God is majestic, powerful and a consuming fire in the truest sense. We are now entering into a place of pure and eternal perfection. A place that God said to Moses is holy “And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn." So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground." Exodus 3:3-5

 

It is through Christ we have been brought near to stand in His holy presence. It is though Christ and His shedding blood and the imputed righteousness of His Son that we are able to enter in this place. A place that the Scriptures said that Jesus did habitually and as often as He could, to communion with the Father.

 

In Luke 5:16 we read “..He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”

 

In Matthew 14:23 we read “And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.”

 

Luke 6:12 it says “…He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.”

 

In Mark 1:35 we read “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”

Prayer was the spiritual air that Jesus breathed every moment

of His life and we are to do the same.

 

There is no higher standard then what is before us this morning when it comes to the matter of prayer. Jesus says don’t be like the hypocrite, but be like this when you pray. (v9-v13)

 

Why would Jesus say this?

 

Answer: The hypocrite cannot pray this way, because it deflects all the focus of self, to the glorious great God we serve and love.

 

It focuses all our attention to

who God is and what God is

 

The Jealous One who deserves and desires our attention and praise and not the other way around. “…for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God,” Exo 34:14

 

Unfortunately the hypocrite is blinded to this realization; and he or she cannot pray this way…to do so, would be to expose their fakery. As the hypocrites approach prayer so do Christians at times.  One person said “Christians treat their prayer life like a sailor use their pumps….only when the ship leaks.” I truly believe the reason for this is…because we don’t realize who we are approaching when we pray in private and in the fellowship of others.

So Jesus says when you pray,

you pray like this. (v9-13)

Notice Jesus said “Pray like this, not what you should pray.” The Lord’s Prayer has been and remains the greatest prayer of the church and most repeated without understanding. Martin Luther said “The Lord’s Prayer is without a doubt the greatest prayer for the Christian church.” Though this prayer has been called the “Lord’s Prayer” for the past two thousand year. It would be as Kent Hughes said “foolish to change the title though the best title would be “the Disciples Prayer”. Why would Kent Hughes say that? Because it’s a prayer that a sinless Christ could never pray for Himself in its entirety. Jesus could never pray (v12-v13) because He is the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, who takes away our sins and trespasses.

 

What Jesus does here in this beautiful prayer is teach His disciples and those listening to Him on that hill, 

a pattern for prayer.

 

A pattern that is God-centered, God-focused, and God-honoring. Unfortunately in Western societies we have treated this prayer as some rote, mechanical, mantra that has some superstitious power to regenerate the lost. We figure, “if said enough” it will somehow have some magical power to change lives. But sadly, it is more often mindlessly repeated than genuinely prayed.

 

Is this a prayer that the world should be reciting whether

their a child of God or not? No! This prayer can only be said by the “true believer”, because only the true believers have access to His throne, by the Spirit. Apart from proclamation of the gospel with the sinners response of repentance and genuine faith in Christ. This prayer, to the unsaved masses, has no more value than reading the instruction manual in an Ikea box.

 

The Scripture is very clear on this issue. “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” Prov 28:9. God rejects their prayers….because He sees the heart. Why? They pray… but they eject God’s moral law, but also the Word of God in general, and any and every other doctrine, God has given to man. Isaiah penned this warning. “When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.” Isaiah 1:15. James wrote “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1:5-8

 

Prayers by empty souls, seeking after their hearts-desires, have no place at the throne of God. And the Bible says that “God is not obligated to hear their requests apart from brokenness over their sins and cosmic treason.” I will say, this is a prayer that the church holds dear to their hearts; because it’s for the child of God through His redeeming grace found in the Gospel. From beginning to end the focus is solely on God’s perfections, His adoration, worthiness and glory.

 

Every fiber of our being in Christ, focuses on Him and

His holy character and sovereignty over our lives.

 

One theologian said “It is the perfect pattern for the followers of Christ, and its depth cannot be exhausted by exposition. No matter how one advances in the matter of prayer, it remains the model and the challenge.”

 

J I Packer wrote, “This prayer is a pattern for all Christian praying; Jesus is teaching that prayer will be acceptable when, and only when, the attitudes, thoughts, and desires expressed fit this pattern. That is to say: Every prayer of ours should be a praying of the Lord’s Prayer in some shape or form. We never get beyond this prayer. Not only is it the Lord’s first lesson in praying, it is all the other lessons too.” So let’s approach this prayer in light of what we have already heard and see the beauty that this prayer brings for the child of God.

 

1. When You Are Praying Realize The 

Starting Place.

 

“Our Father in heaven” (v9)

 

You may be thinking the starting place is “Heaven” but you would be incorrect! The opening clause presents to us the Object of whom we are praying too. He isn’t someone’s Father; He is our Father, who is in heaven. It’s worth noting! A few years ago, a German scholar was doing research in New Testament literature and discovered that in the entire history of Judaism—in all existing books of the Old Testament and all existing books of extrabiblical Jewish writings dating from the beginning of Judaism until the tenth century A.D. in Italy—there is not a single reference of a Jewish person addressing God directly in the first person as Father.

 

How powerful and intimate is this opening now, when

you think of “Our Father in Heaven.”?

The Old Testament Jews knew God as the “Father of Israel, the nation, a chosen people.” Isaiah 63:16. They saw the Father as only as remote and distant Father. What Jesus says here changes all that.

 

The opening instructions point us in a vertical, intimate, communion with our heavenly Father. What Jesus is doing is getting our hearts pointing in the right direction. Because what this does is it directs us to our Father who is caring, intimate. Our Father who is transcendent, holy and separated from creation. What this does is that it’s reminding our hearts that we are approaching unapproachable Light through the privilege of the gospel to approach His throne.

 

It’s a perfect balance of fear and grace, shock and awe

of His beauty and power.

 

A balance of His love and mercy, as sinners are able to approach His glory. A beautiful picture of this is when David said these words. “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:1-4

 

When I ponder the vastness of your greatness and perfections, I’m humbled in adoration and reverence to you God. That you would consider me and care for me and desire to have fellowship with me though the intimate means of prayer. This is radical teaching before us CBC Family! Jesus says to his people, “When you pray, you say, ‘Our Father.’” He has given to us the right and privilege to come into the presence of the majesty of God. And we are to address Him as Father, because indeed He is our Father.

 

We read in Romans 8:14-15 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

 

The Apostle Paul said “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Gal 4:6

 

For the people listening to Jesus on this hill, this would have been revolutionary and out of this world. God the Father is never used in a intimate way in Old Testament, but now Jesus is telling us to begin our prayers with “Abba”

“Abba” is an Aramaic word for “father”; this was used by Jesus and Paul to address God in a relation of personal intimacy.

We read in Luke’s gospel. “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father (“Abba”), into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. “Abba” is better rendered “dearest Father” and when we do this we are uttering words that Jesus uttered. This is powerful and humbling because what Jesus does here it reveals the child of God’s relationship. Because we are sharing in the sonship relationship that the Father had with Jesus, Himself. John penned these words to encourage our hearts. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” 1 John 3:1

 

Paul wrote “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” Gal 3:26. When we pray we are trusting in our Father as we speak and cry out to Him. “Our Father” points us to the foundation of our intimacy we have in avenue of prayer. This isn’t some formula we us, it directs our heart too.. “Who God is, and what God is.”

 

“Our Father who is in heaven.”

 

“our dearest Father” this is to be our foundational awareness of all our prayers. Our prayers begin here ….and if they don’t they are worthless and no better than the hypocrite that claims to be close to God.

 

Knowing the intimate, close, relationship

we have with the Father, is in connection to the intimate, to the close relationship that Jesus has with the Father. This should cause our hearts to melt in adoration and joy to know how much He loves us.

 

I. Knowing that he is our Father removes and puts an end to fear, the fear the pagans habitually had for their deities. We are approaching the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, freely because of Christ.

2. Knowing that He is our Father settles any uncertainties we have in our heart and gives us hope, despite what we face on this earth.

 

3. Knowing that He is our Father removes the loneliness that we feel by being rejected by family, friends and others.

 

4. Knowing that He is our Father removes my selfishness as Jesus said we are to look to Him, He is “our Father” meaning plural, you are not His only child. We pray to God what is best for all, not just one.

 

5. Knowing He is our Father sets the foundation as our source of resources, He is the one we seek daily to supply our everyday needs.

 

This is the God whom we cry out “Our Father in Heaven”.

 

What is going through your mind right

now knowing this truth?

 

A W Tozer said “What comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

  

Do you realize that God is your Father? 

Do you address God as “My dearest Father”?

 

Prayer begins here! The intimate relationship that God has with His adopted sons and daughters. We are approaching a Father who is caring and intimate. We are approaching the Father who is transcendent and holy. And Jesus is telling us to approach, draw near, with the full assurance into this intimate privilege of “Abba adoration”. We have been purchase, adopted, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Though His Son, we have the blessing, the privilege, to cry out to Him in all His splendor. Not as some distant deity as the pagans seek after, but the Triune God who seeks His children for His glory and splendor.

 

Abba, my dearest Father 

who resides in Heaven”

 

Let that sink in as we stop here for today, as we unpack this powerful prayer that Jesus taught the disciples and those truly listening. Let what Jesus said to Mary after His resurrection melt your heart this morning. “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" John 20:17

When You Pray You Start Here……  

“Our Father in Heaven”