The Attitude of Prayer

The Sovereignty of God and Why We Pray

Greetings guys and welcome back to our study. I am making this video, of course, for the men of Set Free. This is the second in three sermons that I am preparing on the subject of prayer. And because I'm going to be out of Set Free for the next few weeks, I'm going to be gone on vacation.

So this gives me the opportunity to teach in my absence and to be able to continue the lesson that we began several weeks ago. Several weeks ago we began with the question of if God is sovereign and he knows the future perfectly and has already determined what he is going to do, why then do we pray?

And I spent the first week dealing with the questions of God's sovereignty. Does he, in fact, know the future? Has he determined what he is going to do? Has he determined the end from the beginning? We determined that those things are true and we looked at them from scripture.

And then we answered the question, why do we pray? We pray because it is an act of worship. We pray because it is an avenue for spiritual growth. We pray because it is an opportunity for supplication, telling God what our needs are.

And we pray because it's a command from Almighty God. We are expected to pray and therefore we should pray. Then last time I began to talk about more getting deeper into the subject of prayer. I began to look at three main topics of prayer.

We said we were going to talk about the method of prayer and the attitude of prayer and the object of prayer. Now last week we've already looked at the method of prayer. And if you don't remember, I want to remind you that we went through in Luke chapter 11 and we looked at that version of the Lord's model prayer, Our Father Who Art in Heaven.

We looked at that version in Luke and we broke down several parts. We said this prayer is not meant to be repeated as much as it is meant to serve as a framework for prayer. And we said it's a little different than the one that's in Matthew chapter 6.

Luke 11 and Matthew 6 both contain the Lord's prayer, but they're slightly different versions because they were given at two different times. And that shows us something about the prayer. It shows us that the prayer was never intended to be repeated rigidly as it is in some churches, but rather it is meant to be used as a structure or a foundation for prayer.

These are the elements of prayer. And I said if you can remember the elements of prayer by the acronym A .C .T .S. A .C .T .S. stands for adoration. To do adoration means to adore something or to worship.

So prayer should include an adoration or a worship of God. We should not just jump right in and, hey God, how you doing? We need to understand we are talking to a holy God. Is he our Father in heaven?

Yes, but he hallowed be his name. And that is an important thing that we need to never forget. God is holy. And so adoration is recognizing who it is we're speaking to, adoring him, praising him. Oftentimes when I'm praying I will include a reminder to myself of God's attributes.

You, God, are holy and righteous and just and good. You are God who created all things by the word of your power and you uphold all things by that powerful word. And those are things that we see in the scriptures when people pray.

They are recounting and reciting the attributes of God. So the adoration, that's number one. The second is confession. When we pray we should confess. Jesus said forgive us of our debts, forgive us our trespasses, forgive us our sins.

And sometimes that means being honest and really opening up our heart. God knows already. God doesn't need our confession as it were like he were a detective trying to determine whether we've done wrong.

We know we've done wrong. God knows that we've done wrong. And so part of our responsibility is to confess because the Bible says if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of unrighteousness.

And part of confession is getting it to God and saying this is what I've done and receiving the forgiveness that's needed for our conscience. So adoration, confession, thanksgiving. We pray and we thank God for all that we have.

We say God you are the reason the heart beats in my chest. You are the reason why I'm able to get up in the morning and go to work. You are the reason why I'm not dead in the gutter. You're the reason why I'm not burning in hell right now.

You God are good to me and even if I'm struggling God you're still good. And so we consider the goodness of God and we thank him. And then finally supplication. Remember supplication simply means the act of making a request or supplicating is to go and lay before the king our needs.

Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses. Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from evil. These are these are words of supplication and it is an important part of prayer. But it shouldn't be the only thing that we do.

Oftentimes we jump right to our needs. God I need this. God I need that. God I want this. God I want that. When really the supplication is it's not even always necessary. We don't always go to God simply because we have need.

Sometimes we go to God simply to express to him our gratitude. And any one of these could be a prayer by itself. We could have a prayer that's all adoration. We could have a prayer that's all confession.

Go into the Psalms and read David's Psalm. We go to Psalm 51 where he confesses his sin with Bathsheba. He confesses the sin after having been called out by Nathan the prophet. That's a prayer of confession.

Thanksgiving. We just pray thank you God and give thanks for all that he has done. We could you can thank God every minute of every day and it would not be enough. And of course there are some prayers that are just Lord help me.

I'm desperate. I'm in need. So any one of these could be a prayer by itself. But this is also stands as sort of a model for prayer. And this was what we again. So we talked about last week. And so what I'm doing right now is I'm simply giving a little bit of an overview of what we talked about last week.

The Attitude of Prayer in Matthew 6

This week we are going to look at the attitude of prayer. We've looked at the method. But now we're going to take a step back and we're going to say what should be our attitude in prayer. And to do that we're going to go to Matthew chapter 6 and we're going to read quite a bit of text.

I'm not sure that we'll get to go over it all in the time that we have. But I'd like to at least read several passages of scripture. We're going to begin in chapter 6 verse 1 to build into the context.

Then we're going to read all the way down to verse 18. So we're going to read Matthew chapter 6. This is the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. This is the greatest sermon that has ever been preached.

Three chapters of Matthew's gospel is one statement after the next from the Lord Jesus Christ. Beginning with the Beatitudes. Ending with a reminder of building on the rock which is Jesus Christ. Some build on the rock and some build on shifting sand.

And those who are on the rock when the rains come it will stand. When the rains come with those who build on the sand it will fall. And so he leaves with this final push to say you should build on me.

He, Jesus, is the rock. But in the midst of this sermon which covers so many various topics we have the issue of prayer. And it begins, Jesus begins by talking about generosity. And we see this in chapter 6 verse 1.

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus when you give to the needy sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be praised by others.

Truly I say to you they have received their reward. But when you have give, excuse me, but when you give to the needy do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. So that your giving may be in secret and your Father who sees in secret may reward you.

And when you pray you must not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the street corners and that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you they have received their reward.

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. And when you pray do not heap up empty phrases like the Gentiles do for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Do not be like them for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 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 have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. When you fast do not look gloomy like the hypocrites for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.

Truly I say to you they have received their reward. But when you fast anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Let's pray. Father in heaven I thank you for this time to study your word and as I seek to give an understanding of it for all who will hear this video. I pray Lord that you will keep me from error and from cowardice.

I pray that I will give a good understanding of what your word has to tell us and I pray that in the next few minutes as we discuss the attitude of prayer that we would understand that prayer is an attitude.

Prayer is a desire from the heart to draw close to you. Please God help me as I preach. I need your Holy Spirit for if he does not go and teach Lord it's all in vain. I pray this in Jesus name and for his sake amen.

Prayer as Private Devotion, Not Public Performance

Okay so the attitude of prayer. When we look at Matthew chapter 6 we notice going right going into it right away that there is a warning about practicing righteousness before others and we understand why this warning is being applied by Jesus.

There were people in Jesus time who were known for being showmen with their religion. The Pharisees were known for doing their religious activity as a show unto men. In fact if we go into Matthew's gospel later Jesus actually condemns the Pharisees and the scribes and he calls them hypocrites.

A hypocrite comes from the Greek word which means an actor. Someone who does something while they are being watched. Someone who does something because they are on display. And so as we enter into chapter 6 as we enter into the midst of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is concerned about people who do their acts of righteousness as a show unto others.

He literally is calling out the hypocrites and his first example is giving. He says when you give to the needy sound no trumpet before you. Now this may sound kind of weird because none of us would sound a trumpet before us but during the time of Christ there were those who when they would go through the town would have someone blow a trumpet for their presence and they would call attention to the to the giving that they were doing.

We know that that doesn't really happen today but yet is there not still a sense in which there are many people who when they give something to the church they want to be recognized for giving it. They want their name placed on that item.

They want some kind of a billboard that says this was given in honor of this person or because of this person's generosity. Very common. And so Jesus is saying we ought not be concerned with giving as a show.

We should not give to receive the praise of others but when we give we should give in secret so that no one knows what we give and therefore it's impossible to do it as a show if no one knows what's happening.

You probably heard the phrase don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. That comes from Jesus and basically what he's saying is if you're handing money to the needy with your left hand don't be waving with your right hand to point at what's going on.

This hand and this hand if it's coming out of this hand this hand ought not be pointing over and it ought not to be causing attention. It should not be that you're telling this person that you're giving to that person.

A lot of people have a problem with this on social media. They'll give to poor people but they'll take a selfie of themselves while giving a poor person a meal or they'll take a selfie of themselves while they're giving a homeless person a dollar.

What shame is that because what good is there in broadcasting that act? One it's bringing shame on the person who is in a destitute situation but it's also trying to show yourself. It's the worst of virtue signaling.

Can't we see it all the time? So this is the lead in to the subject of prayer. You might say well I thought we're talking about prayer today. We are but notice that this subject of giving begins with a warning.

Do not practice your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. The same thing is said about prayer. Look 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.

Notice the same way that somebody might come up and give a poor person some money and take a snapshot of themselves a selfie. The same thing can be said about someone who is praying publicly. They are doing it to impress people.

They're doing it to get an audience with people. They want to be seen by others and as such they have received their reward because the act of people being impressed by them is exactly what they wanted.

Now I do want to make a note of something. This statement of Jesus does not forbid the act of corporate prayer. There is a place for public prayers in the church. We know this because Jesus prayed publicly and the disciples prayed publicly and there is a need among God's people when they gather to pray publicly.

In fact within the time of worship there are several prayers that happen. If you've ever been to our church maybe you have maybe you haven't. There is the prayer of invocation. That's before we begin worship.

We pray God please be among us. God please teach us from your word. God hear our worship. Hear our prayers. We're invoking you. We're calling upon you. We're asking you to be here. That's the prayer of invocation.

Later in the service there is the prayer of supplication where the pastor or one of the elders comes up and prays over the needs of the church. God this person is sick or this person needs a job or this person is having a rough time with emotions or this person's having a rough time with their family.

That's the time of prayer of supplication and then we have the prayer of when I pray before I preach. It's the prayer for the Holy Spirit to keep me from error and to give me the right words to stay and keep me from cowardice and give me the boldness and for the Spirit to be the teacher.

So there's the sermonic prayer, the prayer for the sermon. Then after the sermon there's the prayer that God would apply the work of the Spirit or the work of the word by the Spirit to the hearts of the people and then at the end of the service there is a prayer called the benediction.

The benediction is when we pray a blessing. Usually I lift my hands as a symbol of the shepherd of the church. I'm the pastor, I'm the undershepherd to Christ and I'm saying God be with you until we meet again.

That's a benediction, a prayer of blessing. There's also a prayer of consecration when we pray over the table. God please bless these elements, the bread and the cup because they represent your son and what he did on the cross.

And so all of these prayers are found in scripture. They're all founded on scriptural principles and there's nothing wrong with corporate prayer. There's nothing wrong with public prayer but what is wrong is when the attitude is I want to pray as a show.

I want to pray as to be seen. And I've heard this. People get up to pray and it's like they are putting on a show. They use language that they never ever used but they're using high and lofty language and they're trying to show off a extreme vocabulary and they're really hamming it up when they pray.

And I think that's where Jesus is saying here that you're praying to be a show. You're praying as a show unto others. You're not praying to God, you're praying for men. And in doing so your attitude is I want to impress these people with how many bible words I know.

I want to impress these people with how many scriptures I can quote in my prayer. And I'm not saying it's wrong to use biblical words. I'm not saying it's wrong to use scripture. Only you know your heart.

I mean I know people who pray very exquisite prayers and I know it's coming from a heart of genuine love for the Lord. They just happen to have a vocabulary and a biblical memory that allows them to say things that are amazing in their prayers and I love to hear it.

So I'm not saying those things are inherently wrong. I'm saying you will know in your heart of hearts because when you're praying it'll come in your mind wow look how many people are impressed with how I can pray.

So Jesus in response to this he says instead of that you ought to go into your room and shut the door and pray in secret. You see here's the thing there's nothing wrong with corporate prayer but if corporate prayer is not accompanied by private prayer then there's a problem because if all you ever do is pray when people are with you and if all you ever do is pray when people are watching and you don't pray when you're by yourself and you don't pray when you're in your closet at home if you don't have a time for personal prayer with God then your prayer with God in public is all for show.

See that's the that's the key Jesus is making. He's not saying it's an either or he's saying it's a both. You don't want to pray for men but they're going to be public prayers. It's going to happen but if you're not praying privately then your public prayer life is probably a sham.

You may have the most exquisite public prayer life but if your public prayer life is the only prayer life you have then it's probably a show. You are an actor playing a role rather than a person who's concerned with praying to God.

So that's the first attitude of prayer. The first attitude is looking at the subject of hypocrisy and I'm going to say this there's no one who has perfect prayer life. No one has no one is outside of the realm of hypocrisy that we all make mistakes.

We all have times when we're when we're puffed up and we're prideful. We all have those errors. I'm not saying it can't happen but I am saying that that's what we have to be on the lookout for. Are we becoming puffed up?

Are we becoming hypocritical? Because that's a dangerous direction and the next thing he says he says when you pray do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do. This is very important because oftentimes I hear people pray and they just repeat the same things over and over and they are it's almost like a chant and that's what is being described here because he says they heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do.

The gentiles the the non-Jewish people were known in their in their religions and their in their tribes and their clans were known for chants and they were known for for repetition. In fact I want to say something right now that and this is not meant to be offensive but I'll say this is why I take a big issue with modern day tongue speaking.

Now before you get offended just listen to what I'm about to say. Oftentimes when I hear people say that they are speaking in tongues what they are what you hear is a series of repetitious chants. Or something like that I know and I'm not making fun I'm just using that example and they say this is a heavenly language.

It's not a language it's it's disconnected monosyllabic noise. It's similar to what many pagans do when they chant when they chant over and over making noise into the air. Jesus said do not heap up empty phrases like the gentiles do.

So first of all that's telling us don't just repeat things over and over just to make your prayers longer. A long prayer doesn't make a good prayer. What's the greatest prayer in scripture outside of the Lord's prayer and the Lord's model prayer?

What is the greatest prayer in scripture? Well one might say it was Peter when he was on the the sea with Jesus when he was walking on the water and he began to fall and he said Lord help me. That was a prayer it was short it was to the point but it was meaningful and it was true and Peter reached for the only one who could help him the Lord.

Sometimes Lord help me. Think about the man the two men who went to the temple to pray one was a tax collector the other was a the other was a Pharisee. The Pharisee said Lord I thank thee that I'm not like other men.

That I don't do evil things and that I give a tithe of all my income and I do this and I do that and I'm not like the tax collector over there. What did the tax collector say? He stood afar off it says and he beat his chest and he said God have mercy on me a sinner.

Notice short prayer God have mercy on me and Jesus said it was that man not the Pharisee who had the long drawn out prayer but the that man who simply said Lord have mercy on me a sinner. He was the one who went home justified the other man was a hypocrite the other man prayed for a show the other man was prideful and and egotistical about what he had done but that man not that man he knew who he was he was broken before the Lord and the Bible says that man went home justified before the Lord.

So when we think about this idea of heaping phrases on on Jesus is saying don't just pray a lengthy prayer for the sake of length. Don't just pray empty phrases on top of empty phrases just to give a long prayer.

Now does that mean we can't have long prayers? No there are times when I pray long long prayers not because I'm heaping up empty phrases but because I have a lot to pray about. Martin Luther said this he said sometimes I'm so busy I have to pray for at least three hours just to get everything accomplished.

I have to start my day with three hours of prayer because I have so much to do and I know I've got to pray over everything. The Bible says pray without ceasing. So I'm not saying that we can't have longer prayers but what I am saying is we should not just be heaping up words after words after words to build up again the attitude is what?

We're making it something that it's not. Prayer is speaking to God and we're going to God to adore him to thank him to supplicate him to give him our confessions. Those things should not be things that we have to build.

They are already there. We shouldn't have to heap up empty phrases. We shouldn't have to make a show of it. Jesus said don't be like the Gentiles who think that they will be heard for their many words and understand this God knows what you need before you ask him to.

So when you pray understand God already knows what's going to come out of your mouth before it even comes out of your mouth and the Bible says the Holy Spirit prays for us. He who is within us prays for us because sometimes we don't even know what to pray we don't know what to say but the Holy Spirit is within us and he is praying for us.

Romans chapter 8 said with groanings too deep for words. Sometimes I don't know what to say sometimes I get down on my knees I put my face on my on my my bed because I sit on the edge of my bed I put my knees on the ground and I lay my face down and I say God I don't know what to say.

God I blew it. God I I've made a mistake. I've sinned against you or God I am in a situation I don't know whether to go left or go right. God I don't know whether to to help uh do this or to help do that.

I don't know whether to aid in this situation or aid in that situation. I don't know whether to do right or do left. I don't know what to do God and I just put my face down and I say Holy Spirit please take me before the throne.

Sometimes it's not about my words sometimes it's just about trusting that I have a a God who loves me and who lives within me and who will pray for me. Now since we went through last week and dealt with the Lord's prayer the model prayer I'm not going to spend any time on 9 through 15 because I really looked at that last week we broke down the Lord's model prayer and verses 14 and 15 we talked about last week needing to forgive others um is a necessity we we are called to forgive others that's what we pray for God to give us the strength to forgive others because sometimes that's hard to do but but I do want to look very quickly and end by looking at 16 through 18 because 16 through 18 deals with fasting and notice what he says about fasting.

Fasting and the Hidden Life Before God

The same thing he says about giving is the same thing he says about prayer and it's the same thing he says about fasting. Don't do these to show off. You don't give to show off. You don't pray to show off and you don't fast to show off.

Notice what he says he says when you fast do not look gloomy like the hypocrites for they just figure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others see that was something that the pharisees would do.

They would make themselves look bad because they were fasting and they wanted the whole world to know. Jesus said don't do that don't fast as a show. You say well what does this got to do with prayer.

I truly believe in my heart of hearts that fasting is the is one of the lost disciplines of modern Christianity. We don't fast anymore as as a as a discipline. Now some do but many don't and I think that this is one of those areas where again attitude and prayer matters.

Fasting. Here's what fasting is. If you don't know fasting is going without food for the purpose of devoting that time to to focusing on the things of God and being nourished by God and his word and his spirit rather than by food.

You see most of us could miss a meal and it's not that big of a deal. Most of us could miss two meals maybe even go a whole day without eating and it would not be that big of a deal. But when you begin to fast and you're missing meals purposefully you're saying I'm not going to eat breakfast today.

But instead of eating breakfast I'm going to read my bible and I'm going to pray. Now you begin to feel those hunger pains. I'm used to eating and I'm not eating. Lunchtime comes along. I'm going to I'm going to read my bible and I'm going to pray.

It would have taken me 30 minutes to eat my lunch. I'm going to spend 30 minutes reading my bible and praying. I'm not going to do it as a show. I'm not going to go show off but I'm going to take this time to devote to God and devote this time to my own time in the word you see that is an important spiritual discipline that we often overlook and yet notice what it says when you fast.

It doesn't say if you fast. It says when you fast. The expectation in the word of God is that we will fast. There's no command of how often or when or or whether or not we should do it for a season this season or whether we should do it every week or this or whatever.

It's not that it's when you fast don't make a show of it. When you fast don't make it be some kind of gesture to show people. Why. Because fasting accompanies prayer. And in the same way we don't want our prayers to be a show.

Our fasting should not be a show either. You know what. We don't want to do anything like that. We do it in secret so that it's between us and God. And that really lays the foundation for the attitude of prayer.

The same foundation for giving the same foundation for fasting is the same foundation for prayer. And the attitude is this that we need to first understand that when we do this it's not a show. How do we make it not a show.

Make it part of our private lives. If you do it in private then it can't be a show. So we focus on our private prayer life. And then if we do have a public prayer life at church or a public prayer life with our family or a public prayer life in a ministry that we're part of.

If we do have a public prayer life it's the outgrowth of our private prayer life. Do you have a private prayer life. Let me say this. The attitude that you have in prayer is often the result of whether or not you have time with God alone and keep this in mind.

The time that we spend in God alone is the is the is the soil that grows that that what grows out of that is our corporate worship. Our private worship gives birth to our corporate worship. If all we do is worship and pray for an hour on Sunday and the rest of the week there's no praying and the rest of the week there's no bible reading.

And the rest of the week there's no worship. There is a problem somewhere. So do you have a private prayer life. Because that's where the attitude the right attitude prayer the right attitude of prayer begins privately with God.

I hope today has been encouraging for you and I hope that you do have a private prayer life. We're going to end this lesson now but I want to remind you we have one more lesson in our series on prayer next week we're going to look at the object of prayer who it is that we are praying to and how our prayers should be trinitarian prayers.

And we'll look at that next time. Let's pray to end father in heaven. Thank you for allowing us to look at your word today I pray lord that you would apply the truths of what has been preached to the hearts of all those who are listening.

And that you would bless the word of God. And lord. We know that it will not return void. So let us be confident. And for those who are listening lord may they have a vibrant and active personal private prayer life.

And I pray this in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen.