Think Before You Pray #1

What does righteous prayer look like? What is it that your heart should aspire after when you are on your knees before God? That's the question.

That is the question. We're so glad you've joined us on the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm Bill Wright, and today Don continues the series titled, Lord Teach Us to Pray. So Don, could you explain the title of today's message, Think Before You Pray?

What are you getting at? Well Bill, our tendency is to be self-centered in prayer, and my friend, I imagine you know what I'm talking about. You want your needs met, and you want them met now, and so you pray that way. And we're all tempted in that direction to use prayer as a means of smoothing out life for ourselves. But my friend, prayer isn't meant to be a spiritual vending machine like that.

It is an act of worship. And as we pray, we need to stop and remember who God is and who it is that we are praying to. God is holy.

God is worthy of worship, and that should be the first preoccupation of our mind as we go to him in prayer. And that's what Jesus teaches us in the pattern that we're going to see from Matthew 6 today. Open your Bible with me as we now turn to God's Word on the Truth Pulpit. Thanks Don, and there's much more to learn from Matthew chapter 6 as our teacher continues this incredible series on prayer.

So let's join Don as he continues teaching God's people God's Word here on the Truth Pulpit. Here in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, Jesus gives a masterful explanation of what the implications of repentance are. He started his public ministry in Matthew 4.17, a summary statement of his opening salvo in his preaching. When Matthew records him as saying, Jesus began to preach and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then in Matthew chapter 5 verse 3, Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This phrase, a kingdom of heaven, linking repentance to everything that follows in these next three chapters. And as you look at the broad sweep of what Jesus says in this wonderful sermon, what he is saying is that when someone has truly repented of his sins and put his faith in Christ, increasing practical righteousness will be the mark of his life. Same kind of message that the Apostle John gave in 1 John, particularly in chapter 3.

I think it would be fair to say that righteousness is the dominant theme in the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon presupposes a repentant heart and simply shows what the life is that flows from that new heart. When God saved you, when he saves anyone, truly saves them by the power of his spirit, he gives that person a new heart and that new heart desires to conform itself to the person of Christ. We understand that there is a progressive element to that sanctification, that there is an element of growth, but right from the very start, the seed is planted in the heart of the person that says, now I want to be righteous, now I want to become like my Savior. In a positive sense, that person desires to conform himself to the person of Christ and be like him in his character.

In a negative sense, the true Christian wants to avoid sin in every form. It's all about living out practical righteousness, drawing closer to the God who saved him and having your character conform to his likeness. This is basic, and you would expect something basic as Jesus opens up his public ministry and explains the significance of what the kingdom of heaven is at hand is.

I want you to see very briefly how dominant this theme of righteousness is throughout this sermon. Starting in Matthew chapter 5 verse 6, Jesus says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they, and the language is emphatic, they and they alone will be satisfied. Verse 20 in the same chapter, Jesus says to these disciples, for I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Chapter 6 verse 1, here talking about the daily practice of righteousness in the spiritual disciplines, Jesus says, beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them, otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

In chapter 6 verse 33, Jesus kind of pulls it all together. In terms of how this righteousness is to be the priority of your life, he says, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Righteousness being the key theme at every key juncture of the passage as Jesus transfers from one section to another, he is always emphasizing this theme of righteousness.

This is what's to be true of all of you who name the name of Christ. The surpassing authority of this sermon, the surpassing invasive and pervasive nature of what it means for every aspect of your life is absolutely breathtaking. That theme and the broad scope of it is reinforced as you understand the broad sections of the Sermon on the Mount.

In the first 12 verses, Matthew 5 through 12, I realize that's not actually 12, but it lets the number correspond. In the first 12 verses of this chapter, Jesus deals with righteousness in your inward character. Verses 13 through 16, he deals with your righteousness in relationship to the world around you. In verses 17 through 48, righteousness is expressed in a heartfelt obedience to the law of God. In chapter 6, it's righteousness in daily spiritual life. And in chapter 7, it's righteousness in relationship to future judgment. So in your character, in your relationships in the world, in your obedience to the law of God, in your daily spiritual life and as you contemplate the coming future judgment at the seed of Christ, righteousness, righteousness, righteousness, righteousness is the theme. A theme that includes proper theological understanding but is not limited by it. A theology and an understanding of Scripture that transforms you. Head knowledge is not enough.

It's not enough. And so as we come now to Matthew chapter 6 with that little bit of context set in your mind, and we come to this familiar passage beginning in verse 9 commonly known as the Lord's Prayer. Some people balk at that name because Jesus himself couldn't have prayed every element of this prayer.

Jesus had no sin to confess, for example. But it's the prayer that the Lord taught to his disciples. That's why it's called the Lord's Prayer. As we come to this prayer, what you have to see and understand to really get the full impact of it is that this prayer is part of a greater context of the righteous life that should belong to those who are in Christ. Jesus had been dealing with prayer some in verses 5 through 8.

Look at verse 5 with me in chapter 6. He says when you pray, he introduces this whole element of your prayer life. And if you're like most of us, certainly if you're like me, when you start to wed the themes of righteousness to your prayer life and the surpassing greatness of what prayer should be with what your actual practice of it is, you come with a measure of fear and trembling.

You feel conviction on it because you realize that your prayer life falls short. Jesus understood that, and Jesus gives us this teaching to help us pray in a way that would be worthy of the righteousness of God himself. In those verses 5 through 8, just summarizing very briefly, Jesus told his disciples, don't pray like the Pharisees do. Don't pray like these people who stand out on street corners and do all of their praying so it calls attention to themselves.

He says don't do that. Don't pray like those hypocrites who simply want the praise of men. He says when it comes to your personal righteousness, when it comes to the way that you live out the spiritual disciplines, he says forget about what the praise of men is. You just be righteous in your own prayer closet before God and trust him to reward you.

He goes on in verses 7 and 8 and he says, also he says don't pray like Gentiles do. These people who just mindlessly repeat the same words over and over, thinking that the sheer volume of their prayers can somehow move the finger of omnipotence to grant their request. Many words are not the key to good prayer.

Let me say that again, and let me tell you why I emphasize it. I think the tendency is among evangelicals, among well-intended Christians, but who aren't really thinking all the way through what they need to be thinking about. When it comes to improving your prayer life, they'll start by saying you need to pray more. It's a good thing to pray longer, but that's not where you start. If you're praying badly, it doesn't help to pray twice as long.

No, what you want to do, if you are serious about your walk with Christ, if you're serious about living out a righteous life in the presence of God, you don't want to start your thinking saying I've got to pray longer. You want to say I need to pray better, and Jesus teaches us that. That's why he gives us this prayer beginning in verse 9. He looks at his disciples and he says the Pharisees and the Gentiles, they pray that way. He comes to you today if you're here in Christ, and he says no, by sharp contrast, you pray this way.

You pray differently because you belong to the kingdom of God. Let's read the passage, just verses 9 through 13, very quickly to get it in our minds and to start to embrace the teaching that the Lord has for us here. He says in verse 9, he says, Pray then in this way, since you're not supposed to pray like Pharisees and Gentiles, then pray this way. He says, Our Father who is in heaven, how it would 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 also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen. Now, having in mind the fact that the whole sermon, the broad sermon, deals with a matter of righteousness, chapter 6 dealing with righteousness in the spiritual disciplines in the more narrow sense, you can see where the context fits with this prayer as he deals with the specific element of prayer. There's a whole context to what Jesus is saying here. He didn't just start talking about prayer out of thin air. And so, this is the righteous way to pray, and this righteous praying is part of the overall righteous life of a true Christian. What does righteous prayer look like? What is it that your heart should aspire after when you are on your knees before God? That's the question.

That is the question. Now, let me start with a couple of well-known general observations before we get into the meat of what I have to say today. Notice how the first half of this prayer is entirely devoted to the interests of God himself. Father, let your name be magnified. Let your will be done, your kingdom come. The supremacy of God in the universe, the greatness of his exalted character, means that his priorities should be your first concern in prayer. As the pattern of your life, as the mark toward which you continually should be heading in your prayer life, the priorities of God's kingdom and the exaltation of his name should ever be first on your lips.

That alone would be conviction enough to carry us for a week or two, probably. The second half of this prayer is oriented toward human needs. Our daily bread, our need for forgiveness, our need for spiritual protection from temptation, all of those vital issues to living out daily life. Physical provision, spiritual provision, without it we could not be sustained for even a moment. And yet Jesus teaches us to put that in second place. Even the necessities of your life are subordinated to the greater supremacy of the magnification of the name of God and the furtherance of his purposes.

That's where you start when you think about praying. Jesus teaches us to express our needs only after, get this, only after you have squarely put the glory of God first in your affections. We need this teaching to change us. We need this to transform us on our knees, and it will if you embrace it. The sad truth of us is most of us are far too concerned with what we want and with what we have to say in prayer.

And that's got to change, beloved. That's not righteous. That's not right that God would give us the gift of prayer and that we would take that and twist it as a means to accomplish everything that we want to the exclusion of a concentration on who he is and the magnification of his name.

That's not right. That is not righteous. Martin Lloyd-Jones said this in this connection. He said, quote, We tend to be so self-centered in our prayers that when we drop on our knees before God, we think only about ourselves and our troubles and perplexities.

We start talking about them at once, and of course, nothing happens. That is not the way to approach God. We must pause before we speak in prayer, end quote. Stated differently, you need to think before you open your mouth in prayer. You need to stop yourself, take your right hand as you're getting ready to pray, and simply put it over your lips and hold it there until you have thought through who it is you're speaking to.

Jesus' pattern for prayer teaches us to be much more thoughtful, purposeful, and God-centered in our praying even when, and get this, this is where I really want you to understand this, that God-centered approach even when you are under the press of circumstances that threaten to undo you, especially then, especially when the fire is hot at your feet, especially when the threat is great to your well-being. That is when you most stop and honor God for the inherent worth of his great character. I want to show you an illustration of what I'm talking about from the Old Testament. Turn back to the book of Isaiah in chapter 36 and 37.

We'll only be here very briefly, but hopefully long enough to make the point. Isaiah 36 and 37. In these chapters, King Hezekiah, the godly king of Judah at that time, was under a serious threat. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, had been invading countries that surrounded Judah, and the countries had been falling like dominoes before his tyrannical hand.

As we come into this particular section, cities in Judah had also fallen. The threat to the kingdom was great, and now Sennacherib, through his representatives, were at the walls of Jerusalem demanding surrender, demanding capitulation. And here these representatives were of Sennacherib, the representatives of mighty Assyria, who had so recently had a string of unchallenged military conquests, and Hezekiah's trembling inside the walls of the city without the power to respond to them in a military fashion.

I want you to see the threats from this powerful nation that were bearing down upon his mind. In chapter 36 verse 18, Assyria's representatives say to the people of the land, they say, beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying the Lord will deliver us. Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?

Where are the gods of Sevarphium? And when have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand that the Lord would deliver Jerusalem from my hand? In chapter 37 verse 11, they say, with a report that's to be given to Hezekiah, behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely.

So will you be spared? Here's this king, godly king, responsible for the protection of his nation without adequate resources to respond to the threat that is before him. And the powerful argument that is being laid at his feet is, is that you're in the same position as all the kings that have gone before you that I've already conquered. They cried out to their god, and I conquered them. One right after another. They fell like dominoes before me. And you're just next on the list.

What's going to be any different about you? Come out and surrender, and let's put an end to this. Enormous propaganda pressure upon Hezekiah.

And from all appearances, national survival was at stake. Hezekiah under tremendous threat. And here's what I want you to see. Chapter 37 verse 15. Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.

You have made heaven and earth. Notice, beloved, how he starts out. He does not start out whining about his problems, even though his problems were great. He sets all of it aside in his mind. He pushes it all out of the way to focus, even for a short while, on the greatness of the character of God. Verse 17. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. Only now does he begin to bring his request before him. Incline your ears and listen to all the words of Sennacherib who sent them to reproach the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands. They have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone, so they have destroyed him. Now comes his request.

Only now comes his real request. Verse 20. Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God. Verse 36.

Skipping over a lot of important details, obviously. You see how God responded to that prayer of Hezekiah. And proved the majesty of his name to Sennacherib and all of Assyria when the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185 in the camp of the Assyrians.

And when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead. And the supremacy of God had been vindicated in response to a prayer that put him first. That exalted his name before the request ever crossed Hezekiah's lips. That's how, beloved, a righteous man prays under pressure. The character of God controls his praying, not the press of immediate circumstances.

It would have been easy for Hezekiah to run in and say, Oh Lord, you've got to help us now! And just bypass the majesty of the one to whom he was speaking. You can't pray that way, beloved. You have to acknowledge the grandeur of who you're speaking to first. If you die while you're expressing his praise, that's okay.

Because you would die with heart affections set with the priorities where they need to be. And so you, as a righteous man, as a righteous woman, how do you pray righteously? You subordinate your concerns to the glory and character of God. That's what Jesus is teaching us here. Now with that said, in principle, I understand, that's not that hard to understand. In principle, the spiritual battle for you and for me is to fight this and make that happen in a reality in our own prayer life.

You face the same temptation I do. You want to use prayer to manipulate your circumstances so things go the way you want them to go. When you start out praying that way, that's not right. Beloved, I say it in love, I say it as one chastened by this very passage.

But that's not right. The righteous man gives priority to the exaltation of God. The next time you prepare for prayer, we hope you'll remember what you've learned in today's message, Think Before You Pray. Pastor Don Green will have more edifying teaching from Scripture as he continues our series titled, Lord Teaches to Pray. That's next time on The Truth Pulpit. But right now, here again is Don with a special invitation. Well friend, if you are anywhere near the Cincinnati area and you don't have a good church home, I invite you to visit us at Truth Community Church. I'm in the pulpit almost every Sunday and we have a loving congregation that would simply be thrilled to meet you and welcome you to our body.

We are striving to manifest the principles that you heard taught today. Why not come and see us? Bill will help you find us on our website. Just visit thetruthpulpit.com for directions and service times. That's thetruthpulpit.com where you can also learn more about this ministry. I'm Bill Wright inviting you to join us again next time as Don Green continues teaching God's people God's word here on The Truth Pulpit.