©1999 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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5/9/99
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Prayer Truth And Error Pt. 2
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5/9/99 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.
And given our energetic discussion
at the end of our time together
I'm all the more convinced of it.
I have spent considerable time this past week
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 so as not to offend anyone.
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 am 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 loved me
and He wanted me to know that love.
I did not submit to Him easily.
In fact, I fought with 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 was real,
and second,. that as my Creator He had 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 possible.
I watched an Adrian Plass video this past week.
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 -
1. 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.
2. 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's done for God! See his
devotion. See his 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.
Ex. 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.
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:
Matt. 6:5 ¶ "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.
Matt. 6:6 "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 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
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.