“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites…”
Summary: Knowing Jesus provides us with reasons to trust what he tells us. Knowing how to pray also requires knowing how not to pray.
Part of my quest to know God better is to learn how to pray. Jesus himself answers this question in his Sermon on the Mount. He explicitly tells me how and where to pray. He also tells me how not to pray. So what have I done almost my entire life? I have done what Jesus told me not to do and not done what he told me to do.
Hmmm… Why does he even put up with me?
So what have I done wrong? Jesus gives us two examples of the wrong way to pray. He says:
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” (Matthew 6:5)
And he adds:
“And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.” (Matthew 6: 7)
The Christian equivalent of a synagogue is a church. It is a place where we gather together to worship God. We also come to church so our children can learn about God. It is a safe place to share our faith and talk about what we believe.
And we pray.
Growing up in the Lutheran church, I experienced a very formalized form of prayer. The prayers had been written down centuries earlier by church leaders who used them to create the liturgy used in the church today. We would read from the approved prayers, often together.
From a child’s perspective, such prayer is a bit like trying to ride a bike with training wheels on. The training wheels keep you from falling over, but they also keep you from really being able to ride. Riding a bicycle requires leaning into the corners. If you have never tried riding with training wheels on, it is an experience! The first corner you lean into also is your first crash on the bike.
In the same way, formal prayers help keep a person “upright,” but when I would try praying by myself I felt lost. You might even say it felt like a “crash.” Even the Lord’s Prayer, elegant and beautiful, becomes emptied of its meaning if it is simply repeated over and over like the pagan’s “many words.”
Jesus points out that our prayers are not really about telling God what we need. He says, “… your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6: 8) There is something else going on.
The rest of this series will be about how Jesus wants us to pray and why we should do what he tells us. Part of the “why” is that Jesus is God. He is also our Creator and King, and a lot of other things, some of which we’ve talked about and many not yet mentioned.
Jesus is our key to heaven. He is also concerned about us and how we live in this life. He doesn’t want us to hurt our souls, but rather to live godly lives that honor our Creator and keep on the path that he designed us for.
Application: Prayer requires more than just ‘punching the clock.’ We have to be ready and willing to participate.
Food for Thought: How do you answer someone who says, “If God already knows what I need, why should I bother praying?”
It is not simply about getting what we want. It is about a relationship with our Creator. It is not so
much about getting the pennies from the hand of the Master as it is about the hand of the Master Himself. Yes, God is our provider, He is also the “lover of our soul.” We need more than what He provides. We need Him.
This may be why Jesus taught us to “Our Father” as opposed to “Our Provider.”
or … “Our God…”
Well said, Rich. We need to acknowledge God, our need for God, and our dependence on God.
My answer is because He wants a relationship with you.
Yes He already knows what we need or want, but I feel as if He wants to hear it from us so that we are on the same page when the answer is given.
Like it reads in the Bible, if I ask for a fish and He gives me a rock, I think we are on two different pages. My take on it anyway
Thanks John!
Being on the “same page” with our Maker is incredibly important. Nicely said!
Exactly Rich!
10-15-2022, How do you answer someone who says, “If God already knows what I need, why should I bother praying?”
Merriam-Webster defines prayer as:
An address (such as a petition) to God in word or thought.
A solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship.
Prayer does not mean going to daddy and asking for the car keys, or a couple bucks for the movie. Prayer is the one word reserved for spending time with God. If we speak to another person about prayer, they do not ask what do you mean, everyone automatically knows you are speaking of spending time with, talking with God, whether they admit to knowing personally knowing God or not.
We are confined to physical bodies, restricted to a physical world, and constantly distracted by the temporary physical things around us. Our creator God is omnipresent, we exist in Him, He is all-knowing, and visible only as He is seen in the lives of others, and most often heard only as He convicts the world of their sins. For some reason He desires to spend time with His created beings, but will only do so to the degree we come to Him of our own free will.
I believe our highest form of prayer could be time we dedicate to God alone. Time when we turn, separate ourselves from this physical world, and spiritually turn to our God. Time we open ourselves to our creator and simply enjoy the reality of time with our Lord. We can speak to Him, seek His counsel or simply open our hearts to what He wishes to say to us. It is a time of refreshing, and growth which is only going to be understood and appreciated for its true value when we as Jesus did when He often separated Himself from all the world and spent time with our Father.
This is what I would tell them.
Ron,
Time “dedicated to God alone” is a unique way of acknowledging our Creator. I think he likes that! 🙂