Sermon on the Mount - Part 14

 Today I want to look at verses 5-13 of chapter 6, once again focusing on who Jesus was speaking to, and on the context of the entire message. 

Matthew 6:5-13 

(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. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. (6)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.
(7)“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. (8)Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (9)Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
(10)Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
(11)Give us this day our daily bread,
(12)and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
(13)And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."

In seeking to restore our relationship with God, it is only natural that Jesus would speak about prayer. I wonder how many in His audience identified with the hypocrites, those who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at street corners. They have that prayerful voice, say just the right words, and do it to be noticed not by God, but by others. Just as with those who practice their righteousness to be seen by others, they have received their reward. Not a blessing from God, just the praise of men. Jesus tells us that prayer is more than flowery language spoken in public. It is more than the amount of words, in fact, if we look at His model, it is not very wordy at all.

A few comments on prayer as Jesus illustrates it here:

• We are encouraged to pray alone and in secret. Not that this is the only way to pray. We see Jesus giving thanks in some instances, but we also see Him withdrawing to a private place to pray to His Father. If the only time we pray is in public or before meals, that seems to be a problem. If we are not spending time in prayer alone, we are missing an important part of prayer.
• Jesus speaks this prayer in 5 verses. I think we would do well to give heed to the elements He includes: Praise, Humility, Request (but only for our needs, not a Christmas Wish List.), Forgiveness (but only as we forgive others), closing with a desire to not be tempted and delivered from evil. 
• This is not an endorsement of ONLY praying this prayer, or ONLY praying short prayers. A God who is limitless in ability and resources can listen to any and all prayer at any and all times. God is not too busy with larger world issues to deal with your thoughts and concerns. In fact, I believe He welcomes them.
• The forgiveness section haunts me. Do we realize that when we do recite this prayer, we are asking God to forgive us as we forgive others? That we are saying, "Lord, if there are those whom I can't forgive, then do not forgive me." 

I do not believe that Jesus was setting a formula for prayer, nor was He even necessarily giving us something to be memorized and recited. Not that we can't memorize and recite it, as this is always a good practice with Scripture when used correctly. I believe He was showing us that a prayer relationship with God is a matter of personal communication, and not something to be formulized or used to elevate our status with either God or other people.

Edited 2/7/2022