Talking To God

by Jeff Strite
Matthew 6:5-6:15

(Preacher) "Our Father who art in heaven..."

"YES?" (voice off stage with booming bass and reverb)

"(pause)Our Father who art in heaven..."

"YES? WHAT DO YOU WANT JEFF?"

"Who is this?"

"WHO DO YOU THINK IT IS?

"Well, not too many people I know sound like this!"

"I SHOULD HOPE NOT"

"Come on now, who is this really?"

"THIS IS YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN JEFF."

"Right... come on now, who are you?"

"THIS IS GOD... DO YOU WANT ME TO PROVE IT?"

"No, no, no, that’s all right, I’ll take your word for it... but why have started talking to me now? You’ve never done is before."

"BUT YOU CALLED ME."

"Called you? I was just praying."

"WELL, HERE I AM, WHY DID YOU CALL?"

"I didn’t mean anything by it. I was, you know, just saying my prayer for the day."

"GOOD, GO RIGHT ON."

"Hallowed be thy name..."

"WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THAT?"

"By what?"

"BY ’HALLOWED BE THY NAME.’"

"It means... it means... I don’t know what it means. It’s just part of the prayer. What does it mean?"

"IT MEANS ’HONORED, HOLY, WONDERFUL.’"

"Thank you Lord. "thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’"

"DO YOU REALLY MEAN THAT?

"Sure, why not?"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?"

"Doing? Not much, I guess. I just think it would be great if you got control of everything down here, like you have up there."

"HAVE I GOT CONTROL OF YOU?"

"Well, I am the preacher here, I go to church 2 to 3 times a week, I visit people all the time, I have Bible studies a couple times a
week.."

"THAT’S NOT WHAT I ASKED YOU. WHAT ABOUT THOSE BAD HABITS OF YOURS THAT YOU KNOW ARE IN DIRECT CONFLICT WITH MY WILL IN YOUR LIFE?"

"But Lord, I’m just as good as most of the people in the church!"

"EXCUSE ME. I THOUGHT YOU WERE PRAYING FOR MY WILL TO BE DONE. IF THAT IS TO HAPPEN, IT WILL HAVE TO START WITH THE ONES WHO ARE PRAYING FOR IT. LIKE YOU, FOR EXAMPLE."

"Oh, all right... I guess I do have some hang-ups... now that you mention it. You could probably name several other problems."

"GOOD. NOW WE’RE GETTING SOMEWHERE. WE’LL WORK TOGETHER, YOU AND I. SOME TREMENDOUS VICTORIES CAN BE WON. I’M PROUD OF YOU."

"Look Lord, I need to finish up here. This is taking a lot longer than it usually does. ’Give us this day our daily bread...’"

"YOU NEED TO CUT OUT THE BREAD. YOU’RE OVERWEIGHT AS IT IS."

"Hey, what is this, criticize me day?"

"PRAYING IS A DANGEROUS THING. YOU COULD WIND UP CHANGED YOU KNOW. THAT’S WHAT I’M TRYING TO GET ACROSS TO YOU. YOU CALLED ME, AND HERE I AM. IT’S TOO LATE TO STOP NOW... KEEP ON PRAYING. I’M INTERESTED IN THE NEXT PART OF YOUR PRAYER (PAUSE)... WELL, GO ON."

"I’m afraid."

"AFRAID? OF WHAT?"

"I know what you’ll say."

"TRY ME AND SEE."

"And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors..."

"WHAT ABOUT-----?"

"See, I knew it! I knew you would bring them up! Why, Lord, you know the lies that have been told about me, and they continue until this very day. I have lost friends because of them, not to mention what has been done to my reputation. I know it was wrong to swear to get even with them, but ..."

"FORGIVE THEM. THEN I WILL FORGIVE YOU. THEN THE HATE AND SIN WILL BE THEIR PROBLEM AND NOT YOURS. YOU WILL HAVE SETTLED THE MATTER IN YOUR HEART AND BEFORE MY THRONE."

(petulant) "But Lord, I can’t forgive them."

"THEN, I CAN’T FORGIVE YOU.

(pause)"Oh, you’re right. You always are. MORE than I want revenge on them, I want to be right with you. Alright, alright, I forgive them. I want to walk the right road in life. I’m tired of always feeling miserable. Now that I think about it, no one can cause me to feel miserable without my permission. But, please help me Lord, to let my actions do the talking in showing forgiveness. I am really going to need your help, your grace and your Spirit."

"THERE NOW! WONDERFUL! HOW DO YOU FEEL?"

"Hmmm. Well, not bad. Not bad at all. In fact, I feel pretty good! You know, I don’t think I’ll have to go to bed uptight tonight for the first time in a long time. May be I won’t be so tired from now on because I’m not getting enough rest."

"YOU’RE NOT THROUGH WITH YOUR PRAYER. GO ON.

"Oh! Alright. ’And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"

"GOOD! GOOD! I’LL DO THAT. JUST DON’T PUT YOURSELF IN A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN BE TEMPTED."

"I don’t understand."

"SURE YOU DO. YOU HAVE DONE IT A LOT OF TIMES. YOU GET CAUGHT IN A BAD SITUATION. YOU GET INTO TROUBLE AND THEN YOU COME RUNNING TO ME, ’LORD, HELP ME OUT OF THIS MESS, AND I PROMISE YOU I’LL NEVER DO IT AGAIN.’ YOU REMEMBER SOME OF THOSE BARGAINS YOU TRIED TO MAKE WITH ME, DON’T YOU?

"Yes, and good grief, I’m ashamed, Lord, I really am."

"WHICH BARGAIN ARE YOU REMEMBERING?"

"Oh, come on, Lord... give me a break! I’m sorry, Lord. I really am."

"GO AHEAD AND FINISH YOUR PRAYER."

"For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and Glory, forever and ever."

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BRING ME GLORY? WHAT WOULD REALLY MAKE ME HAPPY?"

"No, but I’d like to know. I want to please you. I can see what a real mess I’ve made out of my life. And I can see how great it would really be if I was truly one of your followers."

"YOU JUST ANSWERED MY QUESTION."

"I did?"

"YES. THE THING THAT WOULD REALLY BRING ME GLORY IS TO HAVE PEOPLE LIKE YOU TRULY LOVE ME. AND I SEE THAT HAPPENING BETWEEN US, NOW THAT SOME OF THOSE OLD SINFUL ATTITUDES ARE EXPOSED AND OUT OF THE WAY... WELL, THERE’S NO TELLING WHAT WE CAN DO TOGETHER."

"Lord, let’s see what we can make of me, OK?"

"YES, LET’S JUST SEE.

"Amen"

APPLY: What you have just observed was an experience that many Christians would give anything to be part of - God speaking personally to them.
A powerful prayer life is an elusive goal for many who feel that they just don’t have the flowery language or verbal skills to pray like others they have heard. So when they do pray, they are apologetic, intimidated and timid.

Prayer is worship.. and worship wasn’t meant to be that way
* Paul wrote Timothy "I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer I Tim. 2:3.
* Hebrews tells us that Jesus died and rose from the dead so that we could have boldness in approaching the throne room of God.
And yet, many feel as if their prayers don’t make it through the ceiling.
Jesus’ answer to this is that you need to know that there are 3 pitfalls that will undermine your prayer life and then you need to know - solutions to those pitfalls.

I. Pitfall #1 = Praying the Prayer of the hypocrite
Matthew 6:5-6 "When you pray don’t be like the hypocrite..."
Was Jesus condemning public prayer? (go to your closet…). NO. What He meant was that, for the Christian, private prayer should be the norm. But then, so should public prayer.
· Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer."
· Justin Martyr commenting on weekly worship said that each Sunday the church gathered for teaching, fellowship, communion and… prayer.
· Jesus’ prayer during the last supper (John 17) was public.

NO, I think Jesus was less concerned with the form of our prayers (whether they were private or public) than He was with their substance.

The setting for the text we’re reading this morning was a time when the pious would stop everything, put on their prayer shawls (Elaborate) and also put on a show. The hypocrisy of the Pharisees (that Jesus was addressing) was that they prayed for the benefit of the wrong people for the wrong reason.

Preachers and others have too often fallen into a similar trap by trying to preach through their prayers.

ILLUSTRATION: When Lyndon Baines Johnson was President, he had several guests in for a meal at the family room of the White House. LBJ had given the honor of giving grace to journalist Bill Moyers (an ex-Baptist minister). As Moyers began to softly say grace, LBJ - who could not understand what was being said - interrupted Moyers "Speak up man." Without looking up and barely stopping in mid-sentence, Bill Moyers replied "I wasn’t talking to you."

Solution to the trap of hypocrisy is this:
1. Spend great amounts of time alone with God
2. Prayer should begin with acknowledging who He is (out of 66 word prayer, 24 are devoted to who God is, and 28 to what we need - our ratio should be similar).

II. Pitfall #2 = Praying the Prayer of the Pagan
"Do not keep on babbling like the pagans" (vs7)
Sociologists have noted that the more comfortable we are with others, the less we have a need to talk.

ILLUS: I had a revealing experience with my nephew as we drove together to Coldwater, Michigan.
"How’s school?"
"Fine," he replied.
"Ready to play basketball?"
"Yep."
"Hungry?"
"No."
“Thirsty?"
"No."
It became apparent that he just didn’t feel like talking. But he wasn’t being rude or harsh. He felt comfortable just riding along quietly with me. So, I just quit talking... eventually he began to open up.

“Be still and know that I am God” we’re told in the Psalms.
Example of a child in your lap - the most precious moments are when they want to do nothing more than sit there with their arms around your neck saying nothing. That’s how we should visualize our time with God.

III. Pitfall #3 = Praying the Prayer of the Prejudiced
This is perhaps the most critical issue to deal with in our prayers. Jesus mentioned it 3 times before his discussion of prayer and once or twice after. It was so significant that He not only included the matter in His model prayer but also added a little paragraph afterwards… just in case you missed its impact:
"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" (Matt. 6:12) is what He tells us in the prayer itself. Then He follows up with:
"For if you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you... But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matt. 6: 14-15)

Why would this be so important to Jesus?
ILLUSTRATION: Woman in Illinois began ministering to children from divorced families, attempting to heal their wounds and pain. One of the illustrations that she had them do was this: Take water in Mason canning jar (about 1/2 full) and explain that this water represents the substance of your life. The lady counselor had the children squirt little vials of food coloring into the water in accordance with their pain, anger & hurts.
Some would squirt in only a couple drops, others would almost violently put in as much as they could. In the end, the water was black from the spread of the food coloring.
It was black because no light could get through.
What is God? Light. And He also can not penetrate a heart that is clouded with hatred, anger, and pain. What is needed is to pour out forgiveness for others so that our hearts can be once again pure and clear before God’s eyes (pour in bleach - it will take about a minute for the cloudiness to clear).

(while the bleach is doing its action on the food coloring, divert the audiences’ attention by telling the Bible story of the man who was forgiven great debt and yet refused to overlook the much smaller debt of another... The master told the unforgiving man that his entire debt had been restored. Significance: this type of short sighted attitude endangers our salvation).

Return their attention to the glass, now clear of the darkness of the food coloring and elaborate on the power of Jesus to forgive all of our sins and clean up the darkness of our souls.

IV. Do you want a powerful prayer life?

1. Learn to forgive
2. Be still in God’s presence
3. And pray to God often and personally