The Lord’s Prayer: Posture

Matthew 6. 5-8

Introduction 

Ok we’re 12 days into the new decade. Who made at least one New Year’s resolution? Who has already given up on at least one resolution? Be honest, you’re in the Lord’s house. You don’t need to go far to be reminded of New Year’s resolutions. All of the Planet Fitness parking lots are full, the grocery store produce sections are empty and every TV commercial and Facebook ad is selling, “New year, new you.”

There’s obviously nothing wrong with making New Year’s resolutions so long as they don’t control your life. But sometimes those plans can distract us from what we need most, even if it’s a Bible reading plan. Plans can be distracting when they become ends within themselves. Losing 10 pounds is a fine resolution when the goal is a happier and healthier lifestyle. Losing weight is a problem when it becomes the obsession of your life – the only thing you talk about and think about. This is true of all resolutions; plans are fine when they’re part of the journey, but they are not the destination.

While everyone’s making plans for the New Year, I want to offer you a prayer. The first question of the Westminster Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” The answer, “To glorify God and enjoy him forever.” We are enabled to glorify God and enjoy him by the salvation that he offers through the Gospel of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And after God saves us he gives us means of grace to help us glorify and enjoy him. We are submitting to one of those means of grace right now, the preaching of the Word. We will enjoy another after the sermon, Holy Communion. A third means of grace is prayer.

We’re going to spend the next 8 weeks studying through the Lord’s Prayer together from Matthew 6. This is the most important prayer in the history of the world. This is literally how Jesus instructed us to pray (Matt 6.9). And for 2,000 years Christians have recited this prayer together. Your destination, your goal for this year and decade must be to glorify God and enjoy him forever. One of the ways you do that is through prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is how Jesus taught us to pray.

We will jump into the actual prayer next week, but this week we will begin with vss 5-8 and Jesus’ preamble to the prayer. It’s important to note that as Jesus is teaching us to pray he’s not so concerned about the method as he is the mentality. Which means whether you recite the Lord’s Prayer word-for-word, or use the structure with your own words isn’t the point. The point is your posture. And so Jesus gives us a bit of a spiritual chiropractic adjustment here. He warns of two wrong postures before he loving gives the correct posture in verses 9-13.

Prayer Ought Not Be Theatrical

First Jesus tells us that prayer out not be theatrical. Look again at 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. In the 1st century Greco-Roman culture the hypocrites, ὑποκριταί, were play actors. Today is Bethany’s birthday. Last year for her birthday we saw Aladdin at the Detroit Opera House. The entire play was good, but the Genie stole the show. The actor who played Genie was brilliant, but he was just that, acting. He’s not really a genie; he was play-acting.

We’ve become used to the English word hypocrite meaning insincerity. But this is where the word originates. And Jesus is applying this word to Jews who would put on a show of prayer. They would stand in the synagogue or at the street corner and make sure that everyone heard their pious prayers. But none of it was genuine. It was all theatrical, hypocrisy. Another way to say it is, don’t pray to impress others.

Why is this wrong? Jesus says in verse 5, truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. That word truly is the Greek word ἀμὴν. You’ll notice that in the ESV the Lord’s Prayer doesn’t end with amen, but it actually begins with it. Jesus is saying amen here. It’s true that they’ve already received their reward. Their reward is the acclaim they receive from others.

How often are we guilty of this sin? Whether at church, or in a flock, we focus more on what others might think of our prayers than actually talking to God. This can be particularly enticing to pastors, elders, and teachers who often pray publicly. Sometimes it’s not even the words we say that we wish to attract attention. Maybe it’s when you’re eating in public, at a restaurant or at work, and you make a scene about praying before you eat. Obviously it’s good to thank God for his provision, but it becomes sin when we’re more concerned that people know we’re praying than we are about what we’re actually doing. If so, that’s our reward.

But that’s not the reward prayer is meant to bring. That’s what Christ is saying in 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. The reward of prayer is access to the God of creation. Prayer’s reward is intimacy with the king of the universe. And so Jesus isn’t saying that genuine prayer is exclusively secret, but secret prayer reveals what’s in your heart. When it’s just you and God, and there’s no pretense, no play-acting, no theatrics, that’s as honest as it gets. Jesus says don’t pray theatrically.

Prayer Ought Not Be Thoughtless

Not only does Jesus warn against theatrical prayer, but he also warns against thoughtless prayer. If the first warning was against praying to impress others, this warning is against praying to impress God. 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. Jesus now contrasts the empty prayer of the Jews with the empty prayer of the Gentiles. Whether it was the Romans, the Greeks, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, or any other pagan religion, they all had chants and recitations that they would use as prayers. Think about the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18.16-45). Jesus says that this is wrong because it’s thoughtless.

The nations think they’re being heard for their many words, but they’re deceiving themselves. They’re participating in religious ritual without reason. But not only is it thoughtless, it’s also pointless. Look at verse 8, do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. It’s pointless because God knows exactly what you need. Mindless chanting assumes that you can make God do something by mere utterance of words. Like saying, “abracadabra,” you’re magically making God to move. It implies that prayer is for God and not for you.

Jesus says the antithesis is true. Pray is not primarily for God. God the Father knows what you need before you ask. That means prayer is primarily for you. It’s a means of grace to shape your heart. Prayer will not shape your heart if you don’t know what you’re saying.

This is where we need to do some honest self-evaluation and not merely fall into self-righteous judgmentalism. It’s easy for a church with our history to look at our Roman Catholic neighbors or others in High-Church traditions like Anglicans or Lutherans and condemn them for reciting prayers, even the Lord’s Prayer, mindlessly. And it’s easy to look at our Pentecostal neighbors who speak in tongues and condemn them for thoughtless prayer. But if we were honest, we fall into the same thing. Just because our prayers use Low Church language doesn’t mean they can’t be thoughtless. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve slipped into the same autopilot script for prayer. Jesus says don’t pray thoughtlessly. 

Prayer Must Be Centered In The Gospel

If Jesus doesn’t want out prayers to be theatrical or thoughtless, what does he want? The answer is what he gives us in the Lord’s Prayer. Now again, I’m not saying that Jesus wants us to only recite the Lord’s Prayer, but I’m also saying it’s not wrong to simply recite the Lord’s Prayer. No prayer has been prayed more by Christians in the last 2,000 years. After Jesus tells them what not to do, verse 9 begins his response with these words, pray then like this. This prayer that we’re going to study over the next two months is Jesus Christ’s answer to the request: Lord, teach us to pray (Luke 11.1a). The point is that Jesus is both the model and the means of genuine prayer.

Jesus gives the model for genuine prayer as he prays this specific prayer. As the sinless man, Jesus produces the sinless prayer. And everything that we work through over these weeks will be a guide for how a Christian, a follower of Christ, should pray. Adoration, submission, confession, petition, and aspiration are all essential elements of God-glorifying prayer.

That’s all well and good for Jesus because he’s God in the flesh, but it’s not enough for us sinners. The model that Christ gives us is only effective because Jesus himself is our means. You see, everything that Jesus teaches his disciples in the gospels, the Lord’s Prayer included, is all on the road to the cross. The only reason we can offer adoration, submission, confession, petition, and aspiration to God the Father is through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Son. Ultimately the answer isn’t theatrics or thoughtlessness, the answer is the Gospel.

If you’re not a Christian, learning how to pray will be of no benefit to you if you do not repent of your sin and trust in Christ to save you. Your greatest need is the forgiveness of your sins and Jesus will save you. Turn from your sin and trust in him today. Once you are a Christian, you need prayer as a means of grace. And while God is patient with our shortcomings, he also expects us to obey him on his terms. And so my invitation for you over the next two months is if you want to pray how Jesus commands, join us as we study the Lord’s Prayer!

Conclusion

Here’s the secret that feels distant every January 1st, God loves you even with that extra 10 pounds. Resolutions aren’t wrong, but if you really want to get the most out of this next decade then why not do what God made you to do? What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. One of the ways that we glorify and enjoy God is through prayer. How do we pray? Not theatrically or thoughtlessly, but Jesus said pray then like this:

Our Father 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 lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.