So I recently read an article, I was reading a book, or glancing through a book by Timothy Keller
! on prayer, and it refers to this statistic about spiritual tourism. And what this article
! talks about is it's from the UN of tourism, the UN tourism which is a branch of the UN.
They did a research on how many people travel for spiritual experiences, and the statistic
came back saying around 170 million, over 170 million people travel, travel the world
for how these experiences, and most of these people are from Western countries. And they
travel most of the time to Asia Pacific region. Now if you're anything like me, I'm not the
greatest at geography, I have to look up where this is, where this area is. And this area
is in the area of India, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Nepal, and the countries that surround
that area on the map. And the thing is, over 60% of these people who travel for these experiences,
they do it because they want to go meditating, they want to meditate at an ashram, they want
to practice yoga, they want to go to these places to have an experience. This is a lot of people.
This is more than the population of Canada. This is a lot of people who travel every year.
And it's interesting, because you would think when you look around, you would think that our culture is
becoming more and more secular. But it's actually becoming more and more deeply religious. They
just wouldn't call it religious. They would call it something else. Similarly, within Christianity,
we are rightfully told that we need to pray. You read it in the Bible, we need to pray.
But interestingly, the books that are written about prayer, the new and best way that you can pray,
are the most purchased books within Christianity. Every year, there's new books on how we should
pray, how we should have the right posture of prayer. And these books are constantly purchased.
And the same goes with Christian retreats. These retreats promise that if you go here,
you'll have an experience with God, you'll have a deeper experience with God, or you may learn
something that would help you in your Christian walk. Most of the time, these retreats circle around prayer.
But interestingly, a common thing that you hear within Christianity is that many people are either not
praying, they either don't know how to pray, or they're unsatisfied with their prayer life.
See, there's clearly a deep logging worldwide to connect with some kind of higher power or God.
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, which is best recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, which we're going to look at,
addresses this topic of prayer. He addresses the topic of prayer. And he does this within a section that's focused
on the motive behind giving, praying, fasting. Fasting is when you abstain from something to focus more on God.
Or a section relying on false securities. So like health, power, money, and those kind of things.
But we don't have the time to focus on everything in this chapter. We're just going to hone in on the section on prayer.
And we're going to look at it. But the principles laid out here in this brief section,
what can apply to all the topics that I just mentioned about giving, about fasting, about relying on false securities.
So if you can turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6, verses 5 to 15, that would be very helpful.
If you have it on your phone, look it up, because it's very helpful to have it in front of you,
because you can see what's going on. And you can also glance at the rest of the chapter,
because you can see how it applies to all the areas. Now this section, the prayer section, can easily be
summarized in one sentence. A heart of praise leads to gospel change. But the thing is, this can be
incredibly difficult to follow through on. So we're going to look at this section in three ways.
Motive of prayer, act of prayer, and outcome of prayer. And again, that's motive of prayer,
prayer, act of prayer, outcome of prayer. It's a motive of prayer. Look with me at verses 5 to 8.
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. 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. See, in this section, in this section,
there's two people that we see here, the hypocrite and the Gentile. So we're going to focus on the first
one first, the hypocrite. What's a hypocrite? Well, according to the dictionary, it's a person whose
actions, feelings, or actual behavior contradict the moral standards. Virtues or belief may publicly
state or expect others to follow. The origin of the word, as it's said in the dictionary, comes from
the Greek word, hypocrites, which is, you take the C out and you put a K instead, which means stage actor
or a mask wearer, which I think is a better definition. For Jewish people to stand and pray in a synagogue
or at a street corner would have been a normal thing. A synagogue is the Jewish place of worship.
A street corner, what Jesus is talking about here, he's referring to just public places.
For us, it could be saying grace at a restaurant. It may seem weird, but they did most of their
praying out loud. It was a very common thing. That anything, when they pray, it would be out loud.
It wouldn't be this thing where you go off to a room to pray. It would just be out loud most of the time.
Everything in daily life, they would thank God for. So what's the problem?
Isn't that a good thing? The pray at the place of worship or in your daily life.
But you have to notice again what Jesus says in 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. See, motive is everything.
And this is what Jesus is going in at, is the motive behind praying. In a murder case, I watch a lot of
murder mysteries on TV. What they mostly focus on is the motive of the murder. Why did the person
murder this person? If you find the motive, it's easier to prove someone is guilty. And then it'll
also show if the crime was deliberate or an act of passion. It's easy to look at religious leaders
and point the finger at them. The Pharisees of Jesus' time practiced an outward religion. A Pharisee is a
religious teacher. But their hearts were far from God. They would heap up the law of Moses,
or daily rituals on people, but they would not follow them themselves. In our day, we could look
around and we could look online and point fingers at pastors. Those who have preached one way to do
something, but they live a completely different life. And when they're caught, the fall is huge.
But Jesus, we have to remember, is preaching the Sermon on the Mount to his disciples. He's not
preaching this to religious leaders. He's preaching it to everyday people. So what is he doing?
He wants to show that when you pray in public, he wants to know. He's trying to get this out of us
to think about this. Are you praying to be heard for the eloquent words you're saying or how long
your prayer is? Are you praying to be seen that you are a committed follower of him? Or are you
praying to God because you want a relationship with him? This is what Jesus is trying to get at. He's
trying to get at the motive behind the prayer itself. This is what the hypocrite does. They want to
be seen. They want to be seen by how religious they are. In one sense, it's easy to pray in public
in times where we're supposed to, when we're around others. When we say grace, it's easy to pray.
When we're in a Bible study, it's easy to pray. But what Jesus is talking about here,
and verse 6 shows this, when he says, 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.
The question is, what is your heart doing? Is it praying? Are you praying to be seen? Or are you
praying to have a relationship with the Lord? When he says sees in secret or is in secret,
the thing is, he's not saying you cannot pray in public. Jesus prayed in public all the time.
But it's what the motive is behind the prayer. When you pray, are you praying for a reward?
What's the reward? Is it a deeper, lasting relationship with the father? Or is it temporary
praise by others? Look at the character in this section, the Gentile, the other character.
We're going to look at verses 7 and 8.
And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they'll
be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before
you ask him. To a Jewish person, a Gentile will be someone who is not ethnically Jewish,
one who is of a different race. Jesus is saying here, though, a Gentile is someone who is not a
disciple of his, one who hasn't committed their life to him. When a city sports team does well
and makes it to the final matches, people who have never been supporters of the team or never
really been watching it, they jump on the bandwagon. And they become supporters because of the hype
surrounding it. And if the team loses quickly, they disappear and are not present for the next season
unless the team makes it again to the finals. They are not true followers of the team.
The diehard fan who sticks with them through the bad seasons are the true follower of the team.
See, God the Father is often treated like this. When things go well, it's easy to commit.
But when things don't go well, it's easy to leave. Prayer is similar. It's hard to pray when things
aren't going well. We tend to heap up empty phrases, hoping we'll be heard. See, when he refers to the
Gentiles here who heap up the empty phrases, he's referring to those who go to pagan temples and
repeat the word constantly, constantly, constantly. In a sense, they badger God, the God of the temple,
to be heard. God wants some sincere prayer, not just many words. He knows what you need before you
ask him, as Jesus says here. So is this saying, then, should we not pray if God already knows what
we want or what we need? No. What's being said here is that God wants sincere prayer. But how do we pray,
then? That's the ultimate question we have to ask. Well, Jesus answers this in the next section.
Look with me at verses 9 to 12. So how do we pray? Pray then like this, Jesus says,
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done as it is in heaven.
I'm so used to saying the liturgy one. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
This is likely the most well-known part of scripture worldwide. And that's with Christians and non-Christians.
I should have gone around, I was thinking about this when I was writing this sermon,
I should have gone around asking people, do you know a part of the Lord's Prayer? Do you even know
what the Lord's Prayer is? I've done a couple non-Christian funerals, and all of them said to me,
we don't want anything religious. But then they asked for the Lord's Prayer. And then when I said the
Lord's Prayer during the funeral, everyone in the room, or most, knew what the Lord's Prayer was and
said it. They would say it with everybody else. Obviously, to a non-Christian, this holds no
significance. It's something that's just said in a moment of grief, a liturgy that holds no meaning.
But to a Christian, the significance of the Lord's Prayer is massive.
It's something that can bring comfort, just like Psalm 23 does. It's also something we can say
in community together. We say it here every Sunday, the Lord's Prayer, before we leave. We say the Lord's
Prayer together. But it's also something that gives a framework on how to pray. Jesus lays this out here.
And it's very important for us to look at it.
It helps us in seasons. It's a guide in seasons when we're lost for words.
When we feel like we're going through something that's too hard, and we have no idea what to say.
This gives the framework
on how we should pray.
But it also gives the framework, when seasons are going well,
on how we should pray.
Because it's easy for our eyes
and our hearts to go astray,
as one of the songs said.
So let's look at it.
See, it opens with an address.
Our Father in Heaven.
Like any conversation,
you must first address the person
you're talking to.
You can't just walk up beside someone
and start talking. They'll have no idea if you're
even talking to them, unless you're giving them eye contact.
See, you have to
open the, you have to address who you're talking to.
And the address is to the Heavenly Father.
Notice how Jesus says,
Our Father.
It's not a distant God,
but a Father.
It's one of deep intimacy,
of closeness.
This is the only God
that you could attribute this to,
of deep intimacy and closeness.
Notice in the first group.
See, the Lord's Prayer
has the address,
and then it has six petitions.
After it.
And you can list these petitions
in two groups,
in two segments.
So the first set of,
the first group of petitions,
they're directed towards God.
Hallowed be your name.
To hallow something
is to show a deep reverence.
Because God is completely holy,
we must treat him
with deep, deep reverence.
The first petition
is worship.
Before anything else,
God is worshipped
for who he is.
He is not worshipped
for what he does.
He is worshipped
for who he is.
For his holiness.
His perfect.
There is,
everything about God
is pure and holy.
Perfect.
And we are called
to worship him for that
before anything else.
Your kingdom come.
Prayer for continual
advancements of his kingdom.
Societal,
personal,
creational.
What this means
is that we are to pray
that more and more people
would become followers
of Jesus.
Would experience
his kingdom.
And for society
and our personal lives
and for the environment
to look more like
God's kingdom
until Jesus returns.
God's kingdom
is a big theme
in the gospel of Matthew.
You see it in
chapter 4,
verse 17.
Jesus said this,
from that time
Jesus began to preach
saying,
repent,
for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.
This idea
of that God's kingdom
is eminent
is a huge theme
in the gospel.
And it's a huge theme
through the whole Bible.
That Jesus could return
at any time
and we are to pray
for his kingdom to come.
Right now,
on earth,
within things
that we interact with,
then also for him
to return
and for the new kingdom
to come.
The new heaven
and the new earth.
Your kingdom come.
And then he continues on.
Your will be done
on earth
as it is in heaven.
God's will
as it has been revealed
in scripture.
And what is that?
For those who don't know him
to come to a saving faith
through Jesus Christ,
his son.
And for those
who do know him
to become more
like his son
and follow him
to be committed
followers of Jesus
to give up their lives
and serve him
out of deep love for him.
See,
these petitions
have everything
to do with God.
For God
to be more
and more glorified
and for us
to be less and less
inward focused
on ourselves.
Notice how
the next section
of petitions
are directed
towards basic
personal needs
and communal needs.
give us
our daily bread.
Very simple prayer.
This is
to give
the mindset
of daily dependence
on God
and to teach us
not to take it
for granted.
For us
in our western world,
this feels
extremely remote.
We have
grocery stores
and food banks
everywhere.
It's actually
very hard
to truly go hungry.
This gives
the illusion
of self-sufficiency.
most of us
need to pray
for God
to teach us
to not take it
for granted
and to be
more generous.
That we are
to pray,
give us
our daily bread.
We have
so much of it,
we are called
to bless others.
Many in the world
have no idea
when or where
their next meal
is coming from
and how they're
going to feed
their children.
For them,
this prayer
would be way more
pressing
and on their minds.
And then he continues,
and forgive us
our debts
as we have also
forgiven our debtors.
Interestingly,
this is the only
part of this prayer
that Jesus
singles out
and talks about
immediately after
this section
of the prayer.
He ends it
talking about it
and we're going
to look at it
in a moment.
But in the meantime,
debt means sin.
See,
when we sin,
before we know God,
before we've
committed ourselves
to Jesus,
when we sin,
we owe God
for that.
And that is the
whole gospel
there in a nutshell,
that Jesus came
to pay that debt.
That is what
debt means here.
And lead us
not into temptation,
but deliver us
from evil.
We are to ask God
to not allow
situations that
lead us to temptation.
God never tempts us,
but he allows
situations where
temptations can happen.
If he didn't,
he would be a tyrant
over our lives
and free will
wouldn't exist.
Now,
the Lord's Prayer,
as I've just gone
through very quickly,
the Lord's Prayer
that can be made
to fit any situation,
it's a very profound
thing,
what Jesus gives here
to his disciples
and those listening.
It's an amazing compass
for our prayer lives
and the focus
is never on ourselves,
truly.
Did you notice
how everything
is in the plural?
But the focus
is on God,
and mostly
on others.
The whole prayer
is written in plural.
It's a prayer
of community
rather than
an act of deep devotion.
We are to pray
to God,
to worship him,
to ask for his will
to happen,
and for him
to bless others
as well as ourselves.
It's an act
of prayer
within a community.
But look with me
at the last section.
Look with me
at what Jesus does here
after he gives
this idea
of prayer,
how he shows them.
Look with me
at verses 14 and 15.
For if you forgive
others their trespasses,
your heavenly Father
will also forgive you.
But if you do not
forgive others
their trespasses,
neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses.
This is a stark warning,
and it's a warning
because it shows
how a disciple's heart
can be not truly changed.
To be a follower of Jesus
is to be living
radically different
the way our hearts
tend to lead.
We are called
to forgive.
See,
when we are wronged,
when someone commits
something against us,
we instantly want revenge.
But Jesus commands us
to forgive.
Now,
I want to acknowledge
that there is people
sitting here in the room,
or there could be
someone listening online,
who's had horrible things
done to them
by somebody
or many people.
And this idea
of forgiveness
can feel unfathomable.
And for me
to be up here
saying to forgive
could be unsettling.
I want to acknowledge that.
Because forgiveness
is something
that is extremely hard
to do
on our own.
So how do we address this?
How do we address this
for those sitting in the room
and for us as well?
How do we forgive?
Did you notice
how many times
Jesus says,
your father,
our father,
in this?
He says it six times
within this section
focused on prayer.
But in the whole chapter
of chapter six,
it's said eleven times.
See,
this is a very important thing.
When things are repeated
in the Bible,
we need to take note of it.
Because that means
there's a deep meaning
behind it.
Jesus is saying
our standing
with the father
is the same as his.
But how does this happen?
It happens
when we look
to the cross.
When Jesus
went to the cross,
for you
and for me,
he took our place
and gave us
a standing
with the father.
When you put your faith
and trust in Jesus,
you become a follower
of fellow heirs
and inheritors
of righteousness
with him.
When this is truly
fully grasped,
our hearts begin
to change
through the work
of the spirit.
It's not out
of our own doing
that we can forgive
or our hearts change.
See,
through this,
through the cross,
we can look
at this
and see
how a heart
of praise
leads to gospel
change.
See,
only through the gospel
can forgiveness
truly happen.
And forgiveness
doesn't mean
reconciliation
with the person.
It doesn't mean
you have to have
a relationship
with the person.
That's not what
forgiveness is.
Forgiveness
is allowing you
to let go
and for the gospel
to continually
change you
deeper and deeper
into a child
of God.
That is what
forgiveness is about.
Forgiveness
is not about
making a new
relationship
with that person.
It's about
what God
can do
with you
and through you
as you forgive
through the work
of his spirit.
Only through praise
and adoration
in our prayer lives
can we be disciples
of Jesus.
And it starts
with looking
at the cross.
Looking at
the great sacrifice
Jesus did for us,
for you
and for me,
and how much
we have been forgiven
through grace alone.
That is where
change happens.
And that is where
the praise happens.
And that is when
gospel change happens.
And that is when
we can say
the Lord's Prayer
not as an act
of just monotonous
liturgy,
but as an act
of deep devotion
and community
and communal prayer.
This deep longing
to connect
with a higher power
that's worldwide,
it's a worldwide longing,
is only satisfied
in the one
true living God.
God.
It's only satisfied
in that.
People flock
around the world
to have a religious
experience,
a spiritual experience.
But we see here,
Jesus lists it out,
what is a true
religious experience.
And that is a relationship
with the Father,
praising him,
asking for his will,
for his kingdom to come,
praising him for the cross,
telling people
about the cross,
spreading that message,
that Jesus came
into the world
to save sinners.
Thank you.