(Audio and Text)
Title: Where to Pray
As we delve deeper into the Sermon on the Mount, we have now turned a corner and arrived at one of the pinnacle teachings of Jesus…for it is here that Christ begins to tell us how we ought to pray. Jesus deals with this topic in great detail over the course of 10 verses. In the first section, he tell us how to prepare to get ready to pray, and then in the second section he tells us what to pray. To make sure that we are just as thorough in learning as Jesus was in teaching, I want to take two weeks to cover this material. Today we will be looking at the preparation by asking a series of questions of ourselves that are brought out in Jesus’ teaching. Next week we will look at what we are to pray.
(read 6:5-7)
- Where is Your Reward?
This first challenging question takes us back to what we looked at last week, when we talked about the Secret Santa example and the point was that the quality of the gift, the quality of the reward is directly tied to who the gift giver is.
And, much like last week we see the mistake of the hypocrite repeated. They are praying for a reward that is from man. This reward is immediate, and like the reward of being recognized for charitable works that we looked at last week, these hypocrites are now praying openly in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that everyone can see and hear them. The obvious implication here is that their prayer is not for the ears of God, that God may reward their faithfulness, but rather that their prayer is for the ears of man, that man may praise their piety.
POINT: Where you pray can say a lot about who you are praying for.
II. Where is Your Body?
This second point speaks literally to the question of where do you physically go to pray. Now, I’m not talking about praying before a meal at a restaurant, praying corporately within the Church, or saying a quick prayer as your flight gets ready for take off. I’m talking about your devotion time, your quiet time. I’m talking about that intimate time that you set aside several days each week to spend specific, concentrated, intense and focused time in prayer. Where do you go for such a time as this?
Jesus tells us where the hypocrites go. They go to the synagogue. And that may not be so bad in and of itself. I’ve had several great prayers in this very room, but here’s the catch…none of you where here. It was me, and My Lord. But the hypocrites go to the synagogue and stand and pray. The distinction is that they are in eye and earshot of as many people as they can be. They are praying to be seen praying, just like when they give their charitable gifts they are sounding a trumpet to call attention to themselves.
Jesus tells us to do the exact opposite. To go into our closet to find our Lord who is in our “secret place.” What a peculiar choice of words here.
The greek word here is kryptos (kruup-tos) which translates as “hidden, concealed, or secret.”
It is a private place that we go to to meet our Lord. It is exclusively between He and us. No one else is supposed to be there, to hear these prayers, so see them being spoken.
POINT: Where you pray can say a lot about who you are praying to.
- Where is Your Focus?
The last thing that Jesus challenges us with is our focus. When we are praying to we pray “like the heathens do, with vain repetitions?” Most likely, this was a reference to the Roman and Greek practice of Mantra, which is a repeating prayer of a few lines over and over again to work one into a state of near hypnosis. At this point the actual words are not nearly as important as the experience. Many Far Eastern religions that are practiced today by billions of people still incorporate Mantra into their prayer and worship.
Jesus outright rejects this notion completely, and if we look ahead briefly to verse 8, we get a glimpse as to why. There, Jesus reminds us of our Father’s knowledge of all things, even before we make request of them.
So Jesus point here is that words do matter, and here’s how:
- Many words does not necessarily make good prayer.
- Mantra is a waste of time and a vain practice.
- Therefore, we need to be focused and prepared when we pray.
When I was in college, the worst place on the planet for me to pray was in my dorm room. I was an RA, so my phone could ring at any moment, my work pager could go off at any time. Any resident or friend could stop by and knock on my door. There was a TV, a playstation, the internet, a huge window that overlooked the quad. There were countless distractions that at anytime could cause my focus to suffer.
Why?
It wasn’t a prayer closet. It wasn’t secluded. It wasn’t cut off.
But my car was. And I often to “prayer drives” so that my focus was on God as my mind and body were away from all the distractions. I also did prayer walks. I also found nooks and crannies all over campus that were secret, set aside, secluded, for the purpose of focusing.
POINT: Where you pray can say a lot about how focused you want to be during your prayer.
Close:
I hope that this has helped you. I hope that this “checklist” is something you can and will use to get your heart, mind, and body in the right posture before praying. Next week we will look at what we are to do once we are ready to pray.