A Proper Response

As I sit and ponder the sudden events that have radically altered our lives in the last week, I am reminded of this passage in the Revelation: “For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine . . .  and in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste” (18:8, 17 ESV). I am not suggesting that this is being fulfilled now. I don’t know, but it is eerily applicable to this hour. The “her” of the verse refers to “the great prostitute who is seated on many waters . . . the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:1, 18 ESV). This city, the identity of which has been the object of much speculation, certainly reflects our modern culture: “She glorified herself and lived in luxury . . . and in her heart she says, I sit as a queen” (18:7 ESV). Ah, but overnight nothing but uncertainty. 

One would think this plague would drive people to God. Sadly, we see apparently little concern for that, possibly due to the godless evolutionary views of our origin. Instead, lots of prideful bravado touts our strengths as Americans who can deal with anything and overcome. Oh, that God would open the eyes of the prideful to humble themselves and recognize their need for Him. Trials and hard providences should humble people.  

We are in such a plague as described in the Old Testament  and used by God to awaken His people. Churches are closed and trivial measures replace congregational worship on the Lord’s day. We have met the challenge with online streamed services, online giving (of course), and frivolous memes suggesting that now might be a good time to read your Bible, reach out to others, and “be the church” (whatever that means). The Lord has done this to awaken His sleeping church. “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:13). His people must leave the realm of darkness and walk in the light that they may glorify Him. 

Jeremiah exhorts: “Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness. But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive” (Jeremiah 13:16, 17). Where is brokenness over sin and the idolatries that have distracted believers, disrupted churches, and destroyed her power and influence over the culture? Where is repentance, pleadings after God in the night seasons with fasting and humbling before His awful majesty? On the positive side, however, Jesus promises: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32 ESV).

How Do We Pray? “Hallowed Be Your Name” (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4)

Praying is very difficult for most Christians; therefore, on two occasions Jesus gave a model prayer for the disciples to use as a template. This model prayer is made up of seven petitions, two groups of three and four respectively. The first three relate to the cause of God and His kingdom; the last four relate to the prayers’ daily concerns. The model teaches that one’s primary duty in praying is to die to self by giving the Lord the preeminence in all things. We cannot pray aright unless the glory of God is dominant in all our desires. Too many prayers are, rather, selfish concerns aimed at making one’s own life more comfortable.

We should be warned that when prayer becomes a stubborn insistence on one’s own way, God might answer such a foolish and selfish prayer but send judgment also. This He did with Israel: “He gave them what they asked but sent a wasting disease among them” (Psalm 106:15). Israel’s prayer gave no thought to the glory of God. Thus, we are instructed to cherish a deep sense of the ineffable (indescribable) holiness of God, and all our prayers should reflect a longing for honor of His holy name.

We must never ask God to bestow anything on us that would contradict His holiness. This fact is understood in the very first petition: “Hallowed be your name.” Hallowed is an old Middle English word that means “to set apart as being sacred.” It expresses the desire for God’s matchless name to be reverenced, adored, and glorified. The Greek word translated here is a passive imperative—a command to let something be. In other words, we are commanded to let God cause His name to be held in the utmost respect and honor and that His fame will spread abroad and be magnified. The use of the word name points to His reputation among men. “They that know your name [that is, your glorious reputation] will put their trust in you” (Psalm 9:10). The divine name puts before us all that God has revealed to us concerning Himself as in such names and titles as the Almighty, the Lord of hosts, Jehovah, our Father, and any other designation in which He has disclosed Himself to us. “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name” (Psalm 96:8).

The Puritan, Thomas Manton, wrote: “In this petition the glory of God is both desired and promised on our part; for every prayer is both an expression of a desire and also an implicit vow or solemn obligation that we take upon ourselves to prosecute [to act on] what we ask. Prayer is a preaching to ourselves in God’s hearing: we speak to God to warn ourselves, not for His information, but for our edification.” We mock God if we address Him in pious words but have no intention of striving with our might to live in harmony with all that His holy name implies. 

How Do You Pray? (Part 3)

In our preparation to explore again the model prayer that Jesus taught His disciples, we must be reminded that prayer is not twisting God’s arm—talking Him into something that He might not otherwise have considered. Also, prayer is not an attempt to change His mind. Neither must we think that in order to get a hearing we must be “good” by trying to clean up and get “worthy.” We must be holy, but that is God’s work, not ours.

Others seek to secure the aid of those thought to be spiritually more acceptable to God, particularly “saints” who have passed and have immediate access to God, to put a good word in for them. Sadly, these concepts of prayer are unbiblical and pagan.

The Bible teaches that prayer is communicating with God. Some do not pray because they are self-sufficient and see no reason to communicate with Him. However, we are not sufficient of ourselves; thus, we are completely at His mercy. We need Him. As Paul said, “God, who made the world and everything in it [needs nothing, but] gives to all life, breath, and all things . . . So [all] should seek the Lord . . . and find Him . . . for in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:24-28). Prayer is feeling after God by one who knows he is a beggar and prays as an expression of that dependency. John the Baptist reminds us, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven” (John 3:27).

Biblical praying is childlike reverence and trust in God as a Father. The Lord is loving, accepting, providing wise attendance over His children as a wise parent thoughtfully regards the needs and wants of His children.

Since Jesus made it clear that “your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8), why, then, should we pray? It is because God commands us to do so. “In this manner, therefore, pray [an imperative]” (Matthew 6:9). “Pray [an imperative] without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Jesus is our great example. “[He, the God-man] often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16).

Finally, we need to be reminded also of the value of our prayers, particularly as we approach the end of the age. Upon the revealing of the worthiness of the Lamb to open the seven-sealed scroll, Revelation 5 records the worship of the throne attendants: these “fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (v. 8). Our prayers are a great part of the worship of Heaven.

Again, the opening of the seventh seal reveals that the prayers of the saints will be involved in the judgment to fall on the world of the ungodly as Jesus subjects His enemies to the footstool of His feet (Revelation 8:1–5).

How Do You Pray? (Part 2)

Jesus warned the disciples to avoid two kinds of wrong praying. He first addressed the Jewish hypocrites who prayed not so much to be heard by Yahweh as to impress those who watched them pray (Matthew 6:5, 6). We covered that kind of praying last week. The second kind of praying to avoid was that of the Gentile pagans. These sought to get their gods’ attention by prayers uttered with many and oft-repeated empty phrases (Matthew 6:7, 8).

The fact that Jesus mentioned Gentiles in the Sermon on the Mount strongly argues that the kingdom of God was not exclusively for the Jews as is taught in dispensational theology. By introducing this warning, the Lord was not simply telling Jewish kingdom citizens not to pray like pagans. Gentiles would also be equal citizens in the kingdom, and they would likely be tempted to retain pagan practices in their Christian praying, which they were warned not to do.

Tragically, the prayer life of many Christians is more like that of the pagans than true followers of Jesus. They associate prayer with repeating certain phrases again and again without necessarily understanding. Pagan prayers are mantras (chants) offered by pagans with the hope that repeated phases would change their circumstances. Prayer wheels and prayers written on papers left on altars or sacred sites are thought to help attract the attention of the deity to one’s request. Pagans also believe their gods can be bullied into acting for them if pestered sufficiently.

True prayer is simply talking to God the Father in the authority of Jesus by the aid of the Spirit. Sadly, however, professing Christians often pray using paganesque mantras such as “Hail Marys” and such which are an abomination to God. Such mindless repetition often characterizes the saying of “grace” at meals, rattling off a few memorized words in a mere formal act. No real awareness is given to the fact that such thoughtless prayers are disrespectful of the King of the universe. Neither is such impertinent praying confined to mealtime. Mantras are often used in church to open or close the service or in prayer meetings.

The Lord’s Prayer, as recorded in verses 9–13, is abused in pagan fashion, being memorized and recited without the least conscious awareness of what is spoken, or of the Lord being addressed. We are not suggesting that one shouldn’t memorize the Lord’s Prayer but that it must not be prayed as a mere recitation of empty words.

Jesus argued that prayer does not inform the Father of one’s needs because the Father knows what is needed before He is asked. Rather, praying is seeking the Lord Himself and His will in a manner of humble surrender and submission, recognizing one’s utter poverty and dependence on God, who out of goodness and care provides abundantly.

How Do You Pray?

In Matthew 6:5 Jesus revealed what those who pray must first consider if they want their prayers to be heard and answered. Again, the Lord assumed that those He addressed were going to pray. He said, “When you pray,” not if you pray. From there, He proceeded to warn against two classes of people whose prayers will not be heard: the hypocrites who pray to be seen of others and the Gentiles who pray with excessive but empty words.

First, he addressed the hypocrites of His nation because of the face they presented to those around them of devotion and obedience to their covenant God while caring only for how they appeared to an observer. The Lord focused on their righteousness (or lack thereof) and what their righteousness (right living) must demonstrate—how they kept their covenant obligations (Matthew 5:20). Deuteronomy 10 defines these covenant expectations: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good” (vv. 12, 13).

Fearing the Lord is rightly understanding who Yahweh is in all His greatness as described in verse 14: “Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.” Obviously, no sinful human can fully grasp the magnitude of this awful truth and thus respond correctly to His awesome holiness in a way that even begins to acknowledge His majestic and glorious greatness. Yet, there must be a desire for God that fully consumes the whole of one’s existence. Fearing Him is to be fully consumed with Him.

Walking in His ways requires careful attention to His Word and responding in love, which is one’s grateful and humble response to God’s elective grace. “Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day” (v. 15). Yet conveys the powerful truth of God’s condescension and desire to relate to chosen creatures. One would think that those to whom He revealed such gracious accommodation would respond with great love and careful obedience.

Praying is communicating, a natural activity, connecting with Him in everything relating to that relationship. Sadly, those who could identify as those on whom God set His heart were not so characterized. Their praying was not motivated by the fear of God and their love for Him. Instead, they were bound to formal worship expressed in externals, devoid of any response to God. These hypocrites fulfilled their obligation to pray, not to engage their God, but to impress only those who watched them. Jesus saw this as self-rewarding and wholly inadequate to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Prayer Is Calling Upon the Father

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites” (Matthew 6:5). Praying is an essential discipline of the Christians life. It is not if you pray but when you pray.” The Lord’s concern here is how we pray when we pray. It is not a ritual performance requiring some special technique that must be learned.

There is no formal instruction in the Old Testament on praying because it is a rather natural activity and there are abundant examples to prove this. The first mention of prayer is in Genesis 4:26 where the ESV reads, “At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord.” Seth, who replaced Abel, had a son, Enosh (meaning a male or mankind; Isaiah 56:2), and at that time (probably Enosh’s birth) Seth began to call on the name of Yahweh. There is a problem here with English translations because there is no word for people in the Hebrew and the verb began is singular. The LXX reads, “He hoped [or, had faith] to call on the name of the Lord God.” The text teaches that Seth trusted God and began to call on Yahweh, the name of the true God. The implication is that Seth regarded Yahweh as a Father to whom he could pray.

Moses remarked, “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?” (Deuteronomy 4:7). When Paul wrote that the believers at Corinth should be separated from the world because the church there was the temple of the living God, he cited as proof a general quote compounding many passages in the Old Testament, the end of which reads, “I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:18).

Prayer is not intended to inform God, “for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (v. 8). Psalm 17:6 states, “I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God; incline your ear to me; hear my words.” This verse provides a clear explanation of prayer—childlike crying out to God, recognizing that one is wholly dependent on Him. Prayer is to be spontaneous, personal, motivated by need, and unconditioned by time or place. It defines the relationship a child has with his father. This is the foundation of Jesus’ instruction: “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” (Matthew 6:6). Do no miss the wonderful significance of these words, “your Father.” Those who have been born again and have “believed in His name” are given the right to be called “children of God” (John 1:12). These children are assured that they have the ear of their Father. “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6).

Take Heed

In the last article, we examined the danger of doing good out of a wrong motive. Jesus warned, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them” (Matthew 6:1). In this instance, the wrong motive for doing alms is self-promotion. As demonstrated, alms giving is a necessary and expected duty. Citing Psalm 112:9 to support his claim, Paul describes a believer as one who “having all sufficiency” “abounds in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). Psalm 112 reads, “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!” (v. 1). He is a blessed man because, among other things, “He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor” (v. 9). This is the very thing Jesus encourages kingdom citizens to pursue if practiced solely for the glory of God. “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Jesus began by warning His own to beware or, as the KJV reads, “take heed” of practicing one’s righteous acts before others. The warning intimates that there is a very great danger of erring at this point. Many are inclined to believe that the very act of giving alms to the poor, no matter what motivates the giver, would be seen by the Father as acceptable so long as the poor are helped. To the contrary, Jesus made it clear that the motive of the giver is critical to Divine approval. The issue is pride, and God hates that sin.

The Lord gave a parable about those who “trusted in themselves that they were righteous” while treating others with contempt (Luke 18:9). In the parable a Pharisee was contrasted to a “sinner”—a despised tax collector. The Pharisee pridefully boasted, “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get” (v. 12). However, the sinner was accepted because he prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” from a broken and humbled heart (v. 13). The Savior concluded, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (v. 14).

A great danger lurks in one’s doing whatever he will, especially good works, to promote himself for his own praise and glory. Such an one already has his reward and will have no recognition from the Father in heaven. Instead, with relentless self-examination, one must guard his own heart. He must be brutal against self-deception for “if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31). Instead, “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (1 Peter 5:5). The admiration of shallow-minded onlookers is nothing compared to the honor that the humble servant of Christ will receive on that day when “his horn is exalted in honor.” He will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant . . . enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).