12-08-13 Prayer Truth and Error Pt. 2

We spent our time last week

looking at two basic principles about prayer.

I began our time

by saying that the topic of prayer

has the potential of being

one of the most volatile doctrines I know of.

I have spent considerable time

thinking and praying about

both why that is

and how we can approach this topic

in a way that is both productive

and positive for us as a church.

The “why” part of it

is not as hard for me as the “how”.

On the surface

the topic of prayer seems like it would be one of the most benign

and friendly topics we could ever approach.

I mean,

the concept of prayer

and the importance of prayer

is among the most universally accepted concepts in human experience.

But there is a problem with this topic

that’s lurking just under the surface.

For, if we deal honestly with the concept of prayer,

it brings up all sorts of other

much more difficult

and sometimes much more explosive topics in the process.

When I was a child

there was a program on the radio in the mornings

called “Don McNiel’s Breakfast Club”.

We loved listening to it.

Don McNiel was the host

and he had all sorts of interesting guests

and comedy features

and music for an hour each morning.

And half way through the program

Don would switch the pace of his show

to a more quiet, meditative mood,

and with soft music playing in the background,

each morning he would say,

‟And now, each in his own words,

Each in his own way,

For a world united in peace,

Let us bow our heads and pray.”

And then there would be a few seconds

with just music playing

so that the listeners could do just that.

I liked that part of the program.

I liked the way it felt.

Even as a kid

it made me feel all warm and friendly inside.

And I believe that little piece of the program

was possibly an expression

of a very genuine faith in Christ

on the part of Don McNiel,

though I do recall

he was careful never to actually mention the name of Christ,

I suppose because he was being broadcast on a secular commercial radio station.

This past week

it occurred to me that

probably the only way we could

enter into a study of prayer

without it triggering a lot of other difficult issues

would be for me to stand up here and say,

“And now, each in his own words,

each in his own way,

for a world united in peace,

let us bow our heads and pray.”

And then end the series.

You see,

it is impossible to teach on prayer honestly

without having the study

bring to the surface

some very difficult issues.

Things like:

• Who is it I’m praying to?

• And what things do I have a right to say?

• And how do I know if He hears

or if He answers?

• And does He respond to everyone’s prayers in the same way?

• And does He respond to every one of my prayers in the same way?

• And then some other questions we really want the answer to, but don’t dare put into words, questions like how can I get God to do what I know really has to be done?

In other words,

it is impossible to get near the subject of prayer

without it also bringing up

our most deeply held beliefs

and hopes

and convictions

and confusions about God.

And so, before we go any farther with this topic

I need to state for you where I’m coming from

and why I’m doing what I’m doing.

I’m not a professional clergyman

motivated by a professional commitment

to help each person develop

a deeper sense of spirituality

within themselves

in the way that best blends with their own preferences.

I am a Christian.

That is all I am,

and it’s all I claim to be,

and it’s all I want to be.

In the fall of 1966,

at the age of 19,

God dragged me, kicking and screaming into His family

because He loves me

and He wants me to know that love.

I did not submit to Him easily.

In fact, I fought Him with everything I had.

I could have walked away from Him,

but in the end I knew I could only do that

by denying the two great,

terrifying realities He had shown me -

first, that He is real,

and second,. that as my Creator He has every right

to require my unqualified submission to Him

as a prerequisite for any further meaningful interaction between Him and me.

I share that with you

as we move back into this study of prayer

because it will help you to know

that the only thing I have to offer you

or want to offer you is Jesus Christ.

He is the only certain truth I know,

and the only answer I have to offer

to the real issues that trouble our lives.

I have no allegiance to any prepackaged religious system I’m trying to get you to buy into.

I have no professional aspirations

to form us into some great local church.

I have no illusions about

attempting to contribute to society

through a meaningful pastoral ministry.

All I want to do is to understand

who my God is

and how He relates to me

as accurately as possible,

and then to share with you what I’ve learned

as effectively as I can.

I watched an Adrian Plass video a number of years ago.

If you don’t know who he is

I can’t tell you how much you’re missing.

He’s a British Christian humorist.

But in the interview

his wife said something I powerfully identified with.

She said,

“You’d think God would do

a little better job

of equipping us

for the jobs He gives us.”

I’ve felt that way for years.

When I teach,

whether it’s on prayer

or anything else,

the only thing I can do

is to look at my own life

and my own struggle to understand

what it means for me

to relate to my God,

and then share what I’ve learned personally with you.

Honest interaction with God

is the most terrifying arena

a human being can ever enter into

because its implications are unending.

As long as God can be contained

within our religious systems

and techniques

and formulas we’re safe

because we are in control.

Once we mentally contain our God

within our religious system of preference

we can choose our level of involvement

with anything from a casual cultural nod toward the Almighty

all the way up to an all-consuming career of service to humanity

or becoming a professional minister or clergyman.

But the keys to all successful religious systems are twofold -

First, there must be a clearly outlined arena of religious activity that says:

“...the faithful adherent will do the following...”

And it does not matter what’s on that list.

The list can tell us the faithful Christian

attends church three times a week.

The list can tell us the faithful Christian

rolls around on the ground

and foams at the mouth.

The list can tell us the faithful Christian

sits in quiet meditation

and repeats certain prayers

over and over again.

The list can tell us the true believer

twists rattlesnakes around their neck.

The list can tell us the faithful follower

offers absolute and unquestioned obedience to the man or woman up front.

It doesn’t matter what the system contains.

The only crucial ingredient

is that the eyes of the followers

go to the system

in order to find out what success with God is

and how to achieve it.

And then second,

the successful religious system

subtly but powerfully leaves control of the God-man relationship in the hands of man.

In religion we set the rules and decide

the degree to which we get involved.

This way our ego receives the gratification

of being able to say, “See what I’ve done for God!”,

or even better, so that those around us will say,

“See what he or she’s done for God! See their devotion. See their faithfulness.”

Now the great dividing line

between true Christianity

and all religious systems is right at this point -

whereas in religion our eyes go to the system in order to understand success,

in true Christianity

our eyes go to the Person of Jesus Christ.

When I fought my first great battle with God

in the fall of 1966

I knew I was not wrestling with

whether I would join this group,

or whether I would join that group,

or whether I would accept this doctrinal system,

or whether I would accept that doctrinal system,

or whether I would follow this leader

or that leader.

I knew my issue was between me

and the Lord Jesus Christ.

HE was the One

asking for my life.

Now obviously as Christians

we do involve ourselves

with groups of other Christians,

and every one of those groups

offers us a structure

or a pattern for Christian living...

a system of some sort.

But it is essential that we never loose sight of the basics:

our submission is to the Person of Jesus Christ,

and our calling is not to approach Christ through the group,

but rather to approach the group through Christ.

In other words,

as God designed our walk with Him,

my responsibility is not to turn to the group in order to understand

what it means for me to be

a faithful follower of Christ,

but rather

my responsibility

is to submit to Christ and allow Him

to show me what it means

to be a faithful member of the group.

Now what has all of this got to do with prayer, anyway?

Well, perhaps more than we realize.

There may be no topic

that has the power to more powerfully

draw us into religious systems

and religious games

than does the topic of prayer.

Everything within our fleshly religious nature

makes us want to believe

that just the act of praying

is of some value to us.

It just seems so spiritual,

so holy,

so righteous.

It is a tremendous tool with which to gain status in the religious community.

If I were to tell you

that I got up at 4 A.M.

and spent three hours in prayer

for our time together this morning,

how would that affect

your attitude toward me?

In many church circles

if I’d made a comment like that

my perceived spiritual status would soar.

“My! What a man of God!”

That type of thing

is nothing more than pure flesh-based,

ego-gratifying religion at its worst...

not the prayer, of course,

but rather the kind of posturing that uses prayer

to gain status within the group.

It fascinates me to see the instructions

Christ gave us about prayer.

They are found in both Matthew

and in Luke.

In Matthew they are found in chapter 6,

beginning with verse 5.

And the very first thing He does

is to give us two specific instructions

about how NOT to pray.

Before He can give us guidance

on how we should pray

He knows He has to attack

a couple of deeply rooted

highly destructive errors

that always crop up in the world of religion.

The first one is dealt with in Matt. 6:5-6:

When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Now the Lord’s basic message there

is not complicated.

If I understand Him correctly

He is saying what I was trying to say last week,

that true Christian prayer

is simply a child of God entering into private communication between himself and his Lord.

And then Christ expands that truth

to tell us that whenever prayer

is used as a tool with which to gain

status

or prestige

or recognition from others it’s not true prayer,

it’s simply ego-driven religious posturing.

Certainly there are examples throughout Scripture

of Christians praying publicly.

We do that here every week.

But the men I’ve seen praying here

and the ones we see praying in Scripture are not doing it

in order to gain status in the group.

They are doing it as an act of service to their fellow Christians

in order to help us as a group

bring concerns we have as a group

before God.

In fact, I know with certainty

that frequently the men who lead us in prayer

fervently wish it was someone else

besides themselves up in front.

It wasn’t public prayer Christ was attacking.

Christ’s concern was with a religious spirit

that uses prayer as a tool

with which to gain status or recognition in the group.

Then Christ goes on to attack

the second most common lie surrounding prayer.

He says,

Matt. 6:7 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.

Matt. 6:8 "So do not be like them;

And here again the concept is obvious.

He is saying man-made religion

assumes that the act of praying

is of some value in itself.

That is what the pagans do.

They memorize prayers

and say them over and over and over again

in meaningless repetition,

believing that the act of praying itself

will in some way please God.

And the heart of this lie, of course,

is the same lie that gives birth to all religious activity -

it is the belief that there must be

something I can do

that will improve my standing with God.

And then, after clearing up two of the big lies,

Jesus leads us into the truth.

And the next phrase

may be the most critical comment about prayer

made anywhere in Scripture.

Jesus says,

...for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

We do not pray in order to alert God

to some need He was not aware of

until we brought it to His attention.

The purpose of prayer

is not to inform God of what needs to be done.

He already knows.

He knows far better than we ever will.

He knows what needs to be done in our lives,

He knows what needs to be done

in the lives of those we love,

He knows what needs to be done

in the world in which we live.

Which raises the great question -

if He already knows

then why do we have to pray?

And if He really cares

then why doesn’t He answer

whether we pray or not?

Why?

Because prior to our submission to Christ

the central foundation of our lives

was the belief that we could live our lives just fine without God.

And now, as Christians, the greatest single tool we will ever have

for affirming our submission to

and our dependance upon God

is prayer.

The central message in every honest prayer we pray is always the same:

“You are God,

and I need You desperately.”

Prayer,

more than anything else in our Christian lives

forces us to acknowledge that central truth again and again and again.

And right here is

what I believe to be the great error

we consistently make

in the world of prayer.

We approach prayer,

like we approach

nearly everything else in our lives,

as a means by which we can accomplish an end

or achieve a goal.

We pray so that God will do something

that we cannot do for ourselves.

Our focus is on the goal,

the result.

I believe GOD, on the other hand,

has given us prayer

and called us to prayer

primarily as a means by which

we continually reaffirm

the central truth of all existence,

that we are created beings

in desperate, daily dependance upon our Creator.

This is the heart

of what I see Christ saying

when He then goes on

to give practical examples

of the how to pray:

Matt. 6:9 "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

Matt. 6:10 ' Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

In other words,

YOU are GOD,

holy and just and righteous in every way,

and again this day I submit to Your rule in my life,

and Your will for my life.

And I can’t let this pass

without offering a practical little test

for the degree to which

we really mean that.

When we pray

do we bring our own private agenda

with which we evaluate

the worthiness of our God?

In other words,

is my praise of Him

or my submission to Him

dependent upon how He responds

to my requests?

And all I’m trying to say here is this:

if there is only one acceptable answer

to any prayer we pray

then we are not submitting to God,

we are attempting to use Him.

That is at the heart of why Jesus

begins His sample prayer

by saying, ‟Your will be done...”

I’ve shared with some of you in the past

how offended I was by the prayer

of a fellow Christian at a prayer meeting I attended

the first year Sandee and I were married.

At this meeting each person was invited

to offer a prayer request

for which the person on our right

would then pray.

My request was that God would quickly

open up an opportunity

for Sandee and me to move outside.

We didn’t want to live in Alaska,

and we needed to have the Lord show us the nice place He had for us somewhere else.

But when the fellow on my right prayed

he spent most of his time praying

that if it was God’s will for me to remain on here

that God would work in my heart

and give me a peace about staying.

From my perspective

that was NOT an acceptable prayer.

I had my agenda

by which I would evaluate

how well my God did with my request.

Your kingdom (Your rule, Your reign, Your sovereignty) come. Your will be done...

Then, from there the Lord continues His example

by talking about some of the most practical issues of our lives:

Matt. 6:11 ' Give us this day our daily bread.

Matt. 6:12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Matt. 6:13 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

In other words,

prayer is the means by which

we share the intimate details of our lives with our Heavenly Father

in the context of our reaffirming

our desperate need for Him

and our heart commitment to Him.

And next week

we’ll come back to the comments about prayer

Paul offers us in Philippians 4.