Hope Church LV Sermons
The Real Thing :: pray this way
Well, there is a specific question that every person on the planet wrestles with. I dare say, if we went across the room and ask every person, you've probably wrestled with this question this morning. Because of our humanity, it's just a question that looms inside of our heart and mind consistently. We ask this question when we think about who we want to live. We ask this question when we think about what should we wear? How should we lead our family? What should we say? What should we not say? What should we do? What should we not do? What should we support? What should we not support? In almost every facet of our life? There is one specific question that we ask all the time, and here's the question. Depending on the circumstance, if I do this, what will the people around me think? It happens all the time. In almost every aspect of our life as we are making decisions, we are always aware of how that decision will affect the way that we appear to other people. Now, to ask that question is not evil. It's not bad, but here's where it becomes dangerous. It becomes dangerous when impressing people becomes the consuming passion of our life. But here's what happens in that instance. We begin to do whatever we need to do to come across the way we want to come across, even if that means that our lives are a show. And we go to our job, and because we want to come across a certain way, we put on an act. We go to our family, and because we want to appear in a certain way, we put on an act, and this happens all the time we come to a place like church, and because we want to come across a certain way, we put on a show. And this weekend, we're in part four of a series we've simply entitled "The Real Thing." And here's the truth that we've talked about, that regardless of what you are portraying in the area of money, or relationships, or attitude, or motive, even though you can fool the people around you, you can't fool God. And he sees straight through all the fluff, and all the show, and the masks that we put on on a daily basis. And he knows the truth about our life, and he knows the truth about our faith. If you're visiting with us, we are studying straight through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, and currently we're studying in Matthew chapter 6 in a six-part series called "The Real Thing." And Jesus is talking about this tension, this tendency we have, that because we want to come across a certain way, we will put on an act, and he's telling us in every area of our life what it means to be authentic versus what it means to be counterfeit. And in Matthew chapter 6, he's really pinpointed three areas, and giving us three examples of ways it is very easy to put on a show, in the area of giving, in the area of praying, and in the area of fasting. And right now in this series, we're talking about the arena of prayer, and several weeks ago, Mike kind of kicked us off in talking about prayer, and I want to read the text that we looked at several weeks ago from Matthew chapter 6 verses 5 through 8. So if you have your Bible this morning, would you turn to Matthew chapter 6, and I want to read for us and just kind of review what we talked about a couple weeks ago in those verses. If you don't have a Bible this morning, we're going to put it on the screen for you so that you can follow along. So look with me in Matthew chapter 6, starting in verse 5. When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corner so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your father who is in secret, and your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him. Now there are some descriptions in those verses that to us seem outlandish. I don't think anyone in the room this morning is struggling with the desire to go down to pebble and eastern and stand on the corner and pray. But believe it or not, in the culture, in the audience, Jesus is speaking to. There were some leaders called the Pharisees, Jesus refers to them as hypocrites, and that's exactly what they did. They would find a prominent place in the city, and they would go there, and they would pray these loud, lengthy prayers. And they desired for people to see them and look at them and say, "Wow, those religious leaders have this thing figured out." That's what prayer is supposed to look like, that's the real thing. And Jesus in this sermon says, "That's not at all what authentic praying is supposed to look like." And there's a word in that for us that we talked about a couple weeks ago, but that we need to be aware of, because all of us have a tendency to want to impress people by the way that we pray. Every person in the room. And Jesus says here, in verses 5-2-8, "Listen, if you want to experience prayer the way I desire for you to experience it, you've got to get past the people who are looking. You have to get past the people who are listening. You have to get past the big words, past your location, past how long it is, past how loud you're talking, and truly experience the essence of what I desire for you to do when you approach God in prayer." And in verse 9-13, Jesus is going to introduce to us what is most commonly known as the Lord's Prayer. Some people call it the disciples' prayer, others call it the model prayer, but most of us know it as the Lord's Prayer. And before we read that this morning, I want to clarify something, because there are a lot of different teaching about why Jesus gave us verses 9-13. Some people would say that He gave us this prayer to show us exactly what we're to say to God and repeat consistently on a daily basis. Maybe that's the way you learned about the Lord's Prayer. For me, that's what I was taught. Now, I didn't learn about the Lord's Prayer in a church or in a Bible study. I actually learned the Lord's Prayer playing sports. As I grew up, I was involved in numerous athletics, and I could always guarantee on two things before the competition started. Our coach was going to give us a pep talk, and the coach was going to say, "All right, everybody, put your hand on the person's shoulder beside you, and let's repeat the Lord's Prayer." Maybe that happened for you. And I remember time after time after time after time, me and all of my teammates would repeat the Lord's Prayer not having a clue what we were saying or what we were indicating, because nothing before the prayer had to do with God and nothing after the prayer had to do with God. But for us, it was almost a rite of passage or a good luck charm, if you will, just to give our respect to God, hoping that we would win the game. Maybe you've experienced something like that. Now, there's nothing wrong with repeating the Lord's Prayer. I just don't believe Jesus gave us this prayer to repeat it day after day consistently. I'm of the conviction he gave us this prayer as a model, as a way that we could shape the things that we commune with God about. And he's showing us in essence when you approach God, here are the things that need to shape what's on your heart. So with that in mind, understanding the verses 9 through 13 are a model for us. Let's read this prayer this morning. Verse 9 says, "Pray then in this way, our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors, and do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever." Amen. Now, we're going to take this weekend and next weekend, and we're going to unpack this prayer. And specifically this morning, we're going to look at verse 9 and verse 10. And from these verses, I want to give you two realities that I believe for us as Jesus followers should shape the way that we pray and serve as a model for us as all of us seek to know God through the vehicle of prayer. Here's the first one, the first thing that should shape us as we seek to pray authentically the way Jesus desires for us to. First of all, authentic prayer is centered in the character of God. If we're going to pray the way that Jesus desires for us to, it's going to be centered in who God is. I have people all the time who say, Travis, I would love to pray, but I don't know where to start. Well, here's where you start. You start with God. You start by censoring your prayer around who God is. Now, something that is very important if we're going to do this, the way Jesus desires for us to, is we need to have an accurate perspective on who God is, because our understanding of God will shape everything about our relationship with Him. It will affect our worship. It will affect our time and His word. It will affect the way that we communicate with God is all dependent on how we perceive Him in our understanding of Him. A.W. Tozer said it this way. What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. What was consuming your mind as your mind and heart as we sang this morning, as we prayed together this morning, is you think about God. That's the most important thing about you. Why? Because it will shape everything about your relationship with Him. Jesus starts this prayer in verse 9 by giving us three aspects of God's character. Three things that we should center our communion with God around. And I want to give those to you this morning because He doesn't start with how we feel that day. He doesn't start with our emotion. He doesn't start by what we think. He says, in essence, if you're really going to see things the way I do, you need to spend moments dwelling on my character. Because then your perspective will change. And before you get to your list, you need to gain my perspective. Because I guarantee you, when you dwell on my character and gain my perspective, it will change the things you want to ask me for. It will change the things you want to lay before me. So I want to walk through verse 9 and give us these three aspects of God's character that Jesus lays out in verse 9. First of all, He says, our Father. The first aspect is that God is our Father. Now, for a lot of us, we've heard that before. We know that to be true. We say it all the time, but you must understand, once again, the audience that Jesus was speaking to, this message was radical. Because you see, where they knew Him as Lord, or God, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, or Creator, there was nobody in the crowd that they thinking they could address God as Father. And Jesus, through the first two words of this prayer, shatters some stereotypes. Because in two words, He communicates to His audience that, yes, God is approachable, and two, you can approach Him as your Dad, as your Father. You see, it was not consistent that they would use relational terms to refer to God. But Jesus says here, listen, He's not some far off being who checks in every thousand years. You can approach God, and you can approach Him as your Father. J.I. Packard said it this way in his book, Knowing God. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much He makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as His Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls His worship and prayer and His whole outlook on life, it means that He does not understand Christianity very well at all. The first aspect of God's character that Jesus tells us in this text is that God is our Father. So every years ago, I was out of the country working on a mission opportunity, and we had a chance to dialogue with some college students during the day and invite them to an event that night where we would talk about the gospel. And I remember one specific student we got to connect with, he came to our evening event, and we just began to talk about the gospel. And we talked for several hours, and as we were talking, we kind of came to the end, and I said, how does that message affect you? He said, Travis, this is revolutionary. Because I've spent my whole life trying to pursue God, but I was always taught that I had to approach God through another human being. And that I couldn't talk to Him myself. He said, Travis, I now understand that God is approachable, and He is approachable as my Father. Now I know for some of us, when I say the term father or dad, you have some bad images in your mind. Because maybe your relationship with your dad was or is very, very unhealthy. Maybe that was your fault, maybe that was his fault, I don't know, but I want you to hear me this morning. Do not evaluate your heavenly Father by what your earthly Father is like. Because you see, God is not just the reflection of a dad, he is the perfection of a dad, and everything that a father is supposed to be, God is. He is the absolute perfection of a father, and regardless of what your relationship with your earthly Father is like, you have a Father in Heaven who loves you, and who supports you, and who believes in you, and who wants the best for you, and who will not walk out on you, or abuse you, or take from your life to make his life better. He is behind you, believing in you, backing you this morning, and as we approach God as a church, we can approach Him as our Father. And that's good news this morning, and that is very important, as we approach a time of communing with God through prayer, that it is anchored in the reality that God is our dad. And we can approach him as such. But Jesus goes on to give us a second aspect of God's character. He says our Father, who is in Heaven. The second aspect of God's character is that God is in Heaven. And here's the picture in this language. The picture is that God is all together different from us. He's not like we are at all. When we pray, we're not just praying to a bigger version of ourselves. God is all together different than we are, and here's what that means. That means that our weaknesses, they aren't his weaknesses. Our limitations aren't his limitations. Our power is not his power. Our love is not his love. He is all together different than we are. And when we approach Him, we need to approach Him as such, as being all together different. A heavenly being who is all powerful, all knowing, and all understanding. This week I was reading in a book called The Attributes of God by E.W. Tozer. And he has an exercise in there that I kind of wrestled with, do I want to do it this morning, and I think I do. And I want to read something for you, but it's just kind of a mind exercise to maybe kind of get your mind around. And we talk about that God is all together different than us. What does that mean? So follow along as I read this this morning on the screen. Think about the past. Think your hometown out of existence. Think back to when there wasn't anything here, but Indians. Then go back and think all those Indians away. Go back before that and think away the North American continent. And then think away all the earth of ours. And then let's go back and think that there are no planets and no stars dotting the clear sky. They all have vanished away and there is no Milky Way, no anything. Go to the throne of God and think away the angels. The seraphim and the cherubim that sing worship before the throne of God. Then think all the way until there is no creation. Not an angel waves its wings, not a bird flies in the sky, there's no sky to fly in. Not a tree grows on a mountain, there's no mountain for a tree to grow on. But God lives and loves alone. The ancient of days, world without end, to the vanishing point back as far as the human mind can go, there you have. God. Do you feel small yet? As I read that I feel pretty small. And here's what that means. That means all the moments that I'm confused, he's not. All the moments when I'm resting, he's not. All the moments when I'm messing up, he's not, he's eternal. He exists outside the parameters of time. He has seen everything, he knows everything yet. He is still our God who is in heaven. Isaiah puts it this way in Isaiah 55. God says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways, my ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." You see, he is our dad, he is our heavenly father, but he is also all together different than us. And as we base our prayers in his character, those are two of the primary ones Jesus gives here in verse 9, but there's a third this morning that Jesus gives. It says, "Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name." Now this statement puts several ideas together, first of all the word hallowed. That means to be revered. That means to be treated in a unique way. Then you have the word name, and that's not referring to a label or a title that is referring to character, to nature. And the characteristic of God that we read over and over and over and over again in the Scriptures is that God is holy. And I believe that is the third aspect of God's character that Jesus is communicating here. That we are to have a reverence, an adoration for who God is because he is holy. That means he is the absolute standard of perfection. That means everything he does is right, everything he thinks is perfect, everything he feels is pure, everything he creates is beautiful. Everything he says is wise, and everything he hears he understands. And as we spend moments communing with God, here's what we need to have. We need to have a moment like Isaiah did in Isaiah chapter 6 where he just stood before the Lord and said, "Holy, holy, holy." And we just wrap our minds around the bigness, the greatness, the wonder and awe that we should have in the context of God being exactly who he is. A holy, righteous and perfect God. Let me ask you a question that was very challenging for me. When it comes to your time, communing with God through prayer, have you lost the wonder of who God is? Are there moments as you're spending time with God in prayer that you're just in awe of his majesty, his righteousness, his bigness, his greatness? His greatness, his holiness. Because it's very easy just to blow by all that stuff and not ground our praying in who God is and just rush straight to the things that we think are important. But Jesus doesn't do that. He gives us verse 9 to show us that authentic praying is centered in the character of God. And that's a model that we are to follow. And so you see these three characteristics and you're like, how does this fit together? How does this all kind of come together? He's my dad, but he's altogether different than me, and he is the standard of perfection. William Barclay said it this way, "We must never use the word father in regard to God cheaply, easily, and sentimentally. God is not an easygoing parent who tolerantly shuts his eyes to all sins and faults and mistakes. This God whom we can call father is the God whom we must still approach with reverence and adoration and awe and wonder. God is our Father in heaven and in God there is love and holiness combined." I hope this reality kind of sets you back a little bit when you go to spend time with God. When you go just to approach human prayer, I hope the reality of who God is sets you back a little bit. And we can begin to just have those moments as we fixate our heart on God to say, Lord, I just want to focus on who you are first because I know I need to settle my heart on that before I do anything else. But I believe in verse 9, Jesus is teaching us that authentic prayer is centered around who God is. But there's a second reality in verse 10 that I want to share with you this morning. Verse 10 simply says this, "Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Here's the second reality I believe Jesus gives us to help shape the way that we pray. Authentic prayer aligns our heart with God's activity. Authentic praying the way Jesus desires for us to pray aligns our heart with God's activity. We must first settle in our hearts on who he is, on his character, gain an understanding of what he's like and his perspective. And then we need to align our heart with his activity. We need to spend time praying about his plan and his purpose. And as that happens, guess what takes place? We begin to change. And what's on God's heart begins to be what's on our heart. And the things that he cares about, we begin to care about. You see, for a lot of my life, I thought prayer was a vehicle in which I approach God to change his mind. I'm glad none of you guys struggle with that. Listen to this quote by Henry Blackaby. Prayer is not designed to change God. It's designed to change us. Prayer is not calling God in to bless our activities. Rather, prayer takes us into God's presence, shows us his will, and prepares us to obey him. And it's very important that before we get to our list of stuff, that we think are so vital and so huge that we align our hearts with God's global activity. It puts things in perspective. It changes the things that we label as urgent or necessary or vital when we get the big picture in mind. And as we do that, as we pray about God's plans and purposes, we need to pray in faith that God can do anything and God can change anybody. We're to pray that the church would shine as the light of the world. We're to pray that the gospel would spread across the globe. We're to pray that nations would seek after God and be saved. We're to pray that Jesus would come quickly. And I want to give you two reasons that I believe aligning our heart with God's activity is so vital that we're going to finish up this morning. Two reasons that verse 10 is so important that it's a part of our communion with God that we align our heart because, first of all, it's a big deal because my heart and your heart naturally drifts to only care about me. It's a big deal that there are moments in my day where I align my heart with God's mission and God's activity because naturally, I only care about myself. And naturally, you only care about yourself. We don't have to try. We don't have to have a strategy. If it's all up to us, we will be our number one priority. But you see in the front part of verse 10, Jesus says, here's what I want you to pray about. Your meaning God's kingdom come. And when we dwell on that, here's what we realize very, very quickly. It's a lot bigger than us. When I think about the nations like Thailand and places like South Africa and Egypt and Honduras and China and all over the globe that God is in the process of drawing humanity back to him. And humanity back to himself of inviting them into an intimate love relationship with God. And it's a global mission that has been going on since the beginning of time. I begin to feel very, very insignificant and realize, man, it's a lot bigger than just me. And we all need those moments in our day. Because left to ourselves, guess what will happen? Even our prayers become centered around our little kingdom. And the things we pray for, even though we have the best of intentions and we use the right words and we have the right heart attitude, everything we do is really all centered around us. And it is vital that we move past that as we commune with God. We align our heart with his activity and realize it's bigger than me. It's bigger than the list of stuff I have right now in my journal that says, man, God, I need this and I need this and I need you to do this. And this would really help and this would be great. It's bigger than me. I need to be praying for his kingdom, his rule and his reign to come on the earth. And to flood souls and flood neighborhoods and flood cities and flood nations. God, would your kingdom come? Because that's what's most important. And even though our natural tendency is to think that we should only care about us. Jesus gives us the front part of verse 10 to remind us, it's bigger than just us. It's bigger than an individual. It's bigger than a church. It's bigger than a city. It's bigger than a nation. It's about the global kingdom of God that is being established all over the globe. And that's one very important reason. It is vital for us as we commune with God and censure in on his character that we align our hearts with his activity. Here's the second reason. The second reason aligning our hearts is so important is because my heart naturally drifts to want my plan over God's plan. Look at the last part of verse 10. He says, "Your will be done, God, on earth as it is in heaven." We all naturally fool ourselves into thinking that what God desires for us is too hard. It's too long. It's too much. It's too heavy. It's too complicated. And what we figured out is really the best thing for our lives. We all struggle with that. But when I stop to align my heart with God's activity and pray, God, not my will, but your will. What you want, your plan, God let that flesh itself out. Here's what happens. I begin to realize that what he wants for me is ultimately what's best. And it takes a while to kind of get my heart around that because that's tough. But as I spend time just communicating, God, your will, what you want from my family, what you want from my church, what you want from my city, God, what you want from the people around me at my job. God, your will, may your will come and it be seen as it is in heaven because in heaven the only will that's being performed is God's will. And Lord, may you carry that to the earth and I'm just pleading with you, God, would that happen? And it takes the attention off of us. John MacArthur said it this way. When we pray, thy will be done. We are praying first of all that God's will become our own will. Second, we are praying that his will prevail over all the earth as it does in heaven. And as God supernaturally changes us through the vehicle of prayers, we just plead for his will and his plan and his direction. We ultimately realize, even though it's frustrating sometimes, even though it always doesn't make sense, even though it takes a lifetime to figure out what he desires for our life is ultimately what's best. And this morning, I want to tell you a couple of specific things that God's will being done in your life will include. First of all, it will include you and me being conformed to the likeness of the Son of God. In every instance, when we pray, God, your will be done. We are praying, God, would you conform me? Would you mold me? Would you shape me to look more like your son Jesus? May he press his life out through me on a moment by moment, day by day basis. And another part of his will being done means our life bringing him glory. That you operating in such a way that your light and life to the people around you and your life is offering up glory and honor and praise to the Son of God. That's built into this and we need that on a daily basis. As we commune with God, we must start with who he is and ground our perspective in what God is like and then move to a place where we pray about the mission. We pray about God's plan and God's purpose and we align our heart with the things that are on his heart. And the things he cares about, we begin to care about as he supernaturally changes us through the vehicle of prayer. And when we can land those two pieces, those two components, when those shape the way that we pray, then and only then, are we ready to lay our requests to God? What you'll notice is the list really shrinks because we take those moments to let verse 9 and verse 10 shape the way that we pray. Because in essence, here's what verse 9 and 10 are communicating. God, I want to know you. I want to understand you. I want to connect with you and God. I want to know what's on your heart. I want to know what you care about, Lord. And would you make those things the things that I care about as well? And have you found yourself, even when it comes to the way that you pray, trying to please the people around you? And wearing a mask and not being authentic by the way that you commune with God. Or are you realizing this morning the whole new way God is calling us to pray? Not in such a way that cares about the people around us, but that is centering our heart and our mind in who God is and being concerned with the mission. More than anything else. I hope for us as a church that our praying is authentic. And that when God looks down at us and we are just pouring out our heart that He sees the real thing. Let's pray this morning. The invitation today is really simple. God is inviting us as His children to come and stand in awe of who He is. Maybe that's not something you've been doing on a regular basis. Maybe that's not normal for you, but you see this morning as Jesus gives us these realities to shape the way that we pray. That's a big part of it. And this morning maybe for you is just a time where you can just stand in awe of your Father who is in heaven and who is holy. Maybe for you this morning you need to be concerned about something other than yourself. We have a great opportunity this week to do that by praying for our teams going to Thailand and Albania. Or maybe you're here today and as you sit there you're like Travis, I don't want to talk about prayer because I don't even have a relationship with God. But you realize this morning that God's approachable. That you can commune with Him, you can come to Him, and He wants to embrace you in a relationship. He's done everything that needs to be done in order for that to happen. You see we all had this huge issue called sin, but He sent His Son to the earth to pay for that sin to give us another chance. And He says if we'll put our faith in the fact that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave and offers us life today. He will rescue us, He will save us, and He will bring us into a relationship with Himself. Last night we had somebody walk to the back and say I need to give my life to Jesus before I do anything else. Maybe that's you this morning. We have some prayer volunteers and pastors around the sides of the room and they'd love to talk to you. They would love to share with you how you can walk into this new relationship with God. For the rest of us we're going to have a few moments just to respond. I don't know how God is speaking to you, what He is opening up your eyes to. But we're going to sing a song that's just kind of a chance to stand in awe of Him. And whatever aspect of His character you want to worship, whatever component of Him you just want to say God I love you, God I worship you, God I lift you up. I want you to do that this morning. If you just need to sit there you just need to begin to pray and just repent for just the life of prayerlessness. God we're listening to you this morning. May this truly be a time to respond to your Word and what you're revealing to us. We worship you as a holy God, our Heavenly Father, who is great. We pray these things in your name.