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5 And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. ~ Matthew 6:5-7
Today, we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. As we study this sermon we must distinguish between our justification and our sanctification. Justification is a one time event and our sanctification is a life-long process. You will remember that our justification before God was solely garnered on our behalf by the Lord Jesus when He paid the penalty for our sin on His cross. Our sanctification is that process that we entered into after becoming justified before God by believing the death of the Lord Jesus garnered our rightness before God. Sanctification is a process whereby God is removing from the believer the wrong thinking of this world and replacing it with His culture through His Word and His Spirit. The goal the Lord Jesus had in saying what He said in our passage for today was to strip his hearers naked of any self-righteousness so they would be solely defined and motivated by the mercy of God.
In v.5 of today's passage we read, "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward."
Having previously taught about "charitable deeds," the Lord Jesus turned His hearers attention to the essential subject of prayer. He instructs us to avoid praying hypocritically which literally means to be "two-faced." The Lord Jesus admonishes us to pray to God in private without trying to impress others. The religious leaders of Israel were known to pray often while standing in the synagogues and standing out on the corner of the streets and praying loudly enough to be heard and seen by others. Essentially, they prayed not to God but to themselves and to others. Their goal was to impress others with their prayer life. The religious fail to remember that God knows our heart and our thoughts before we even make them known.
In v.6 of today's passage we read, "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."
Here again, the Lord Jesus confronted religious hypocrisy which is the greatest enemy to having a personal relationship with God. The real issue is that of inauthenticity. The shutting of one's door here underscores that prayer is a tool given to us by God which enables us to growing in personal intimacy with Him. We are to talk with God without any fanfare or any accompanying ears or distractions. They pray in such a way so that others will see and note their supposed superior righteousness. Sadly, the religious pray not to God but to others.
What sets Christianity apart from religion is that we are admonished to bring our honest and vulnerable hearts to God to be engaged with Him, especially when we pray. Religion teaches that we have to earn God's favor and maintain it. The Lord Jesus came to buy us completely back to God. With our complete purchase, we have been given a heart for Him. With the engagement of our heart, we will earnestly seek His heart thus experience authentic and personal and intimate relationship with Him. Essential to such intimacy is a heart that cries out to Him in search of His will for our lives.
In v.7 of today's passage we read, "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words."
The words "vain repetitions" are found only here in the Bible. It means to babble out many words without heart engagement. Religious prayers that are prayed are prayed pointlessly. Motive is the issue here once again. Shouting out repetitive words or phrases somehow makes people think they will be perceived as more holy than others or maybe more in tune with God. However, the Lord Jesus underscores just the opposite is true when we pray without our hearts engaged. Ultimately, the real issue is: Who is defining us? When we are being defined by God, when what He says determines our actions, it is then that we can be aligned to His will which is the ultimate purpose of prayer. Prayer is essentially giving our heart to God and receiving His in return.
