Pastor Dave Dummit closed out our series called "The Read Letters" today talking about What Jesus Really Said About Prayer. In Matthew 6:5-18, Jesus is calling out the religious hypocrites of the day, the Pharisees. They would put on public displays of religious acts in order to draw attention to themselves. Essentially they wanted to appear superior to those around them. But Jesus sees right through this and gives them and us guidelines for prayer—make them real.
1. Pray Sincerely
The Pharisees were trying to position themselves as spiritual giants to all those around them. So they would pray out loud and in public. Promoting and glorifying themselves through these seemingly pious acts. But Jesus knew exactly what they were doing and encourages us to pray to God—not for man to see or hear, but for God to see and hear.
Pastor Dave encouraged us to not put on a show for other people. Not only do we not have to use flowery language to impress other people, but we don’t have to use it for God, either. Jesus says in this passage we should talk to God like he’s our dad, a really, really good one. We can be real and honest.
Pastor Dave continued, some of the best prayers he's ever heard were two words long: Lord, help me. I’m sorry. I surrender. I’m yours. Love you. Thank you.
2. Do Not Use Meaningless Repetition
In the time when Jesus was sharing this message, the Jewish people had tons of prayers already composed for tons of situations. They had a prayer for everything. And the intention of this, in the beginning, was a noble one—they literally wanted to bring everything to God. But the problem here that often creeps in is that anything we do on a regular basis, without much thought, is in danger of becoming a "go through the motions empty ritual." This is why Jesus is encouraging real sincere prayers. He's telling us that the only way to really learn to pray, is to actually pray.
3. Practice Praying
To be able to pray meaningfully, we need to have an intimate relationship with God. When Jesus gives us the Lord's Prayer, it's not a prayer to recite over and over in empty repetition but rather a model for prayer. In other words, Jesus is modeling for us the type of prayer that God is looking for.
Pastor Dave closed by reciting the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13):
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today 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 the evil one.
