Grown-Up Prayers | Part 1

[Applause] [Music] hi everybody thanks for joining us today if this is your first time with us we certainly hope it is the first time of many times if you're part of the north point community church family i do have a quick question for you are you planning to volunteer with us this year um if so and i certainly hope so the place where you would make the biggest difference right now is in our preschool and elementary aged environments and here's why our goal is to make sunday morning a child's favorite time of the week and by joining one of our volunteer teams you will help us do just that and you will meet some fabulous people along the way some of which may become lifelong friends so if you're planning to serve or you're interested in finding out more please go to northpoint.org serve and we will get you started in the process and now let's go have church [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] i couldn't even show my face [Music] [Applause] [Music] you gave us [Applause] [Music] i know who i am because of who you are [Music] that grace is taking care of it oh jesus you're my victory oh jesus [Music] you give us [Music] who you are [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] has changed [Music] come to your the treasures of god so uh one day uh while jesus was praying um his inner circle of disciples were watching and listening to him pray not for the first time but on this occasion one of them finally mustered the courage to say or basically to ask what they've been wanting to ask for quite some time so when jesus was finished praying one of them approached him on behalf of the whole group and they said lord would you teach us how to pray after uh watching and listening to him pray they concluded that it's kind of funny they concluded that maybe they've been doing it wrong that they had been praying the wrong way even though they had been praying their entire lives they'd been brought up praying portions of the psalms combinations of some old testament writings they'd been taught to pray by their fathers and their mothers and their religious leaders so they were actually still praying the way they had been taught to pray as children reciting memorized prayers and then jesus came along and well if he was praying correctly if that's the way it was done they had a lot to learn and for reasons we will never know jesus actually waited to be asked and eventually they asked and when they asked they said lord we need you to teach us how to pray we want to pray the way that you pray now i would imagine um this is something you've never asked anyone to teach you how to do in fact if someone imagine this if someone after hearing you pray suggested that you should go learn how to pray because you weren't doing it right well you would be offended i mean hey you know that prayer that you prayed before dinner the other night that that's not how you do it i need to i need to sit you down and teach you how to pray and to that very point in about i don't know maybe 10 minutes from now jesus is actually going to tell us something about prayer that it might offend you but you won't be upset with jesus you'll be upset with me because i'll be the one telling you that according to jesus you aren't praying correctly so get ready because jesus is about to school all of us on prayer but we should actually be happy about that you should be happy about that because let's be really honest for a moment um very few of our prayers ever really get answered anyway right unless we count the prayers about things that were probably going to happen anyway turns out your car keys were exactly where you left them right um turns out you did in fact find a parking space um but so did several hundred other non-prayers they found parking spaces as well as it turns out your team did win um but they were expected to win and when they weren't expected to win well they didn't but when it comes to those other kinds of prayers if you ever pray for what you might consider a miracle something big something that if god doesn't come through it just won't come true occasionally occasionally you get a yes but sometimes let's just be honest you get you get nothing and perhaps it was a series of nothings that convince you that there's nothing to prayer that it's a waste of time that prayer well it just doesn't work and as we are about to discover you're right that kind of prayer the kinds of prayers that most of us pray don't work at least not the way we want it to anyway but in spite of that jesus prayed and he taught his followers to pray and most of us will continue to pray regardless of the outcome in some ways it's just reflexive right i mean i have an acquaintance um who used to be a pastor and now he's an atheist and we were having a conversation one time i said can i ask you a question i said and this isn't a gotcha question i'm just curious after being a christian and a pastor for most of your life do you ever accidentally pray like things aren't going well and they're sort of a you know to whom it may concern or god help me and he laughed he said yeah sometimes i i catch myself praying i think we all do anyway back to our story so jesus first century followers his first century followers they grew up praying but after watching jesus they realized there was something very different about his prayers it was it was like there was something going on between him and god that they weren't accustomed to um it wasn't just different it was more intimate it was less scripted there was more passion and intensity it was compelling and it it made them discontent with their own prayers so they finally said lord lord teach us to pray to which jesus may have thought i thought you would never ask and then in in typical jesus style instead of teaching them how to pray he tells them how not to pray now if you're not a religious person or not a fan of christians or christianity you're going to love this part in fact it it may be another reason why you should at least consider becoming a jesus follower because jesus begins by pointing out the hypocrisy of so many people who pray the wrong way in fact here's how he begins his lesson on how to pray here's what he says he says and when you pray again here's the don't do do not be like the hypocrites for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others and this is this is the part about jesus that you have to love he had no tolerance for pretenders he had no tolerance for pretension people who thought they were better than other people and the reason he didn't is because jesus knew men's hearts he knew what was in there in fact he knew they were not better than the people around them in fact they were often worse because they were hiding stuff they were hiding behind their elevated position and their pretension they're pretending besides he says truly i tell you those people they have their reward in full they have received their reward in full in other words god won't reward them because god isn't moved by or impressed with the perfect scripted public prayers of inauthentic people they wanted attention and they got it from the people watching but not from god their reward was the attention they received from the people who saw them pray and were impressed by their amazing prayers then he continues he says this he says but when you pray but when you pray and this raises several questions when do you pray and why do you pray and as we're going to find out in a minute this is an important question where do you pray these were the questions jesus was actually interested in and his disciples knew the answer to these questions well they were going to be different than their answers to those same questions and as it turns out god had not answered their prayers either in fact god had not answered their parents prayers just like us they prayed the same prayers over and over in many cases and they they got generally no response they were living in the shadow of rome just like their parents and their grandparents they knew their own tragic history in fact you may not know this but about 90 years earlier their own rulers in jerusalem had been so divided they actually invited rome to judea to help them solve their internal political conflict and the romans well they never left before the romans it was the greeks it was the persians the assyrians the babylonians if prayer moved god and if god cared for his nation for their nation clearly they were not praying correctly because things were not getting any better so maybe they were right maybe they were maybe they were doing it wrong now their religious leaders had a completely different take on why god didn't answer their prayers they assured the people that well no god does answer prayer but god can't hear your prayers because you're not holy enough you're not obedient enough it was their fault that god didn't answer their prayers and perhaps somebody has told you the same thing or some version of the same thing maybe somebody at some point said you need more faith and less sin more faith less sin before long in your case god was reduced to basically the equivalent of an instant cash machine and you found yourself scrambling to find the correct pin number to get from god what you wanted but then at the same time isn't this true at the same time you looked around and there were a whole lot of people who weren't praying anything and well they were doing just fine life seemed to just work out for them anyway back to jesus but when you pray he says but when you pray this is so interesting go into your room now again if i were to suggest to you that you can't just pray while you're driving to work walking the dog i'm sitting on the bus you may respond who are you to tell me when and where i can pray or you may say because of your religious tradition hey the way i was raised i don't really feel like i can pray correctly i don't feel like i can connect with god unless unless i'm in church so i want you to hear these words coming not from my lips i want you to hear these words coming from the lips of jesus because he's telling us something very very important something that i think we like his first century audience may have missed here's what he said but when you pray when you pray go into your room and close the door close the door why isolate myself why in my room not not at church not in traffic not just before a meal why is why is that even necessary i thought we could pray whatever we wanted to pray anywhere we wanted to pray and then later on he tells us why it's so important for you to find a place and to find a time and to isolate yourself from everything and everybody else around you so back to the question i asked just a minute ago when do you pray where do you pray jesus says that's important and he'll explain why in just a minute but first this this next part he says this he says when you pray go into your room and close the door and pray to your father who is unseen now this is where i would like to step out of the way and let jesus come in and elaborate on what he said here but he doesn't really need to because well his words are extraordinarily clear jesus instructs us to pray to god our unseen father jesus instructs us to pray to god not him not his mama not the saints not the falcons and not even the cowboys sorry i just could not resist but maybe i should have because this really is important jesus instructs us to address our prayers directly to god but he's even more specific than that jesus instructed them he instructs us to address our unseen god in relational terms he says i want you to pray to your father who is unseen our heavenly father our father in heaven and again maybe it was his casual conversational relational approach to prayer that had caught their attention to begin with gentlemen he was saying look i want you to find a place where you can have a private conversation with your heavenly father i want you to find a place where you can say what needs to be said and whatever tone you need to use whatever words you feel are appropriate i want you to pray in private so you're not distracted i want you to pray in private so you can pour out your heart and then your father your father who sees what is done in secret this is amazing according to jesus according to jesus god sees you praying alone with the door closed your heavenly father who sees what is done in secret will reward you there's that word again right reward secret prayer according to jesus is rewarded now remember at the beginning the religious folks who prayed publicly what was their reward well they were seen by the public those who pray in secret what is their reward what's our reward what's your reward you're seen you're seen by your father in heaven what if that's true what if god sees you pray what if you knew with certainty god saw and heard your prayers what would you pray if you absolutely were absolutely confident that god sees you when you're praying and he hears your prayers that's what jesus says then jesus gives us another not to but he shifts his attention away from their religious leaders to the romans and their pagan priests he says now here's something else not to do when you pray and when you pray do not keep on babbling like the pagans for they think they will be heard because of their many words um the greek term babbling actually sounds like babbling the greek term there is bata lagetto he says don't keep battling owing don't say the same thing over and over and over repetition doesn't move god length or style doesn't impress god he's not looking for the right word or even the right words in fact on another occasion jesus makes this point through a very interesting parable in fact he creates an entire parable to make this point it was directed at some of the professional prayers that he mentioned earlier men specifically who were confident in their own righteousness and just pretty much look down on everybody else and here's here's what he said in the parable he said one day a pharisee and a tax collector both went to pray in the temple and the pharisees prayer was eloquent but it was it was pretty much all about him he kept reminding god how good he was how good the pharisee was but the tax collector the tax collector's prayer was very different in fact it's interesting when jesus said the tax collector went up to pray because everyone in jesus audience would assume that god wouldn't even hear the prayer of a tax collector that god would ignore the prayer of a tax collector here's what he said but the tax collector stood at a distance that is he stood up against the wall he stood as far away as he could from the holy of holies there on the temple mount he stood at a distance and he would not even look up to heaven and he beat his breast and he said god have mercy on me a center not really a an academy award-winning prayer performance right have mercy on me a sinner amen but jesus in the parable gives the tax collector two thumbs up basically he was saying folks that's what i'm talking about we're like really have mercy on me a sinner is that even a prayer now in in my experience and this is just my experience in my experience the men whose prayers i found to be most impressive usually long and loud and dramatic the men in my experience who pray the most impressive prayers they often live less than impressive lives behind the scenes so so if you hesitate to pray because you don't know what to say this should be comforting what you say when you pray what you say when you pray is far less consequential than if you pray back to jesus he goes on he says and when you pray do not keep on babbling like the pagans for they think they will be heard because of their many words because of their many words then he says this do not be like them people who equate length with merit and then he says something really interesting four four now what jesus says next um what jesus says next actually explains why we don't need a lot of words or the correct words in fact what jesus says next kind of pulls the rug out from underneath why most of us even pray and i think he did this on purpose he said the reason you don't need to go on and on and on and on and on is because your father knows what you need before you ask him to say wait a minute will you okay he already knows yeah he already knows well if he already knows and what's the next question that comes out of our mouth if he already knows then why ask or why pray have you ever wondered that i think that that's exactly the question that jesus wanted them to ask i think he's got them right where he wants them he's got us right where he wants us this is the question he wants us to look up and ask well if god already knows me and if god knows what i need why in the world should i even pray it's why it's why the disciples wanted to be taught he just prayed so differently but we shouldn't be surprised that god already knows what we need right i mean if god is god if god is omniscient and all that shouldn't he know i mean if you have to inform god is that really even god and this this brings us to the tension jesus wants us to address he was so wise to stall he was so wise to begin with you want to know how to pray here's how not to pray because now we're confronted with the issue that many of us wrestle with when it comes to prayer right because many of us if we're honest many of us have reduced prayer to informing god about our needs our wants and our wishes or about the needs want and wishes of other people people we care about but mostly mostly ours but if god already knows why tell him if god already knows why inform him if god already knows why pray but again jesus prayed and jesus encouraged his followers to pray so what are we missing and i think it's at this point in the dialogue that the disciples stand back and realize okay we were right we have not been doing this correctly we haven't even been praying for the right reason perhaps that's why god doesn't answer our prayer he certainly had their attention i think he probably has ours maybe we've been doing it wrong maybe that's why you quit doing it at all and if you're still offended by the suggestion that perhaps you don't pray correctly then you're exactly where jesus wants you he's pretty much telling everybody in his audience and probably most of us that we don't know what we're doing so they're listening they're watching nobody in jesus audience moves and here's why they don't say anything they don't interrupt him because they've been around jesus long enough to know that he may actually teach them how to pray he may actually resolve this tension he's just deconstructed their entire prayer paradigm right would he reconstruct it or would he launch into a parable where they're trying to figure out which character in the parable is god and which character in the parable is me will he just leave us hanging because sometimes you know jesus would leave the question in the air and just walk off but fortunately for them and i think fortunately for us he speaks directly in to the tension that he's created this then this then he says is how you should pray you ask for it guys here it is our father in heaven our father in heaven not dear jesus your heavenly father your perfect heavenly father now this raises a really important question does this mean that god is male does this mean that god is masculine um what about heavenly mother what about heavenly being what about heavenly deity and you know what those are valid questions in fact jesus himself says that god is not a person jesus and another on another occasion said that god is actually spirit john who knew jesus intimately said no god is love but when we pray and this is so important and i really don't want you to get hung up over the terminology because jesus is telling us something so important jesus is inviting us into something more intimate than spirit or concept or being or deity or even ruler or judge he's inviting us into something relational personal non-formulaic in fact peter who knew jesus intimately who was standing was a part of this conversation maybe he's the one who even asked the question later peter would write cast your cares on him him being god cast your cares on him knowing knowing he cares for you it was intimate it was personal it's relational and jesus jesus i think is accommodating to our capacity so he says look the best way the best way for us mere mortals to approach understand and relate to an otherwise incomprehensible god whose image we bear but whose ways are oftentimes not our ways the best way to approach god is to approach him as a perfect father now for some of us that is not a problem at all for me that's just not a problem i am a father and i was raised by a really really good father for for me it's the perfect picture but your experience may be very very different in fact your experience may make this imagery or this terminology challenging and here's some good news your heavenly father knows that your heavenly father appreciates that your heavenly father is willing to enter into that tension with you so here's my advice just bring all that with you when you pray because if jesus is correct then i think he is to opt for any other image or to opt for any other concept other than heavenly father it may mean that you miss something perhaps it means you'll miss out on something he continues our father in heaven and then here's the part we oftentimes skip hallowed be your name his point is this that when we pray remember he says this is how you should pray when we pray we should pause and acknowledge who we are addressing the great god who has no equal no rival the uncreated creator who by the way has invited you to address him as father think about it infinite and intimate infinite and intimate when we pray we should pause right there we don't but we should heavenly father hallowed hallowed be your name what an honor it is to address you directly to know i'm known to know that i'm heard to know that you've considered me in relationship with you now let's be honest it's difficult to do that in traffic right this is why jesus began the way he did you want to know how to pray he says you got to get alone you got to get quiet you need to create some space to appreciate what's taking place don't just say your prayers don't just say your prayers here's the bottom line when we pause this is so important when we pause to reflect on who god is we gain a better understanding of who we are and why we're here we gain a better understanding of the relationship between the creator and the created this is this is the place in prayer where we re-center this is where we we regain our bearings this is where we remember the broader context of our lives our little lives that are well they're only made significant not because of what we accomplish or how long we live they're made significant because of whose image we bear and whose children we are and if you skip over or rush by that you will be tempted to skip over and rush by what follows in fact you'll resist what follows and what follows is why we pray what follows is the purpose of prayer it explains why you need a place and a time why you need to close your door or walk outside to get away from the things that distract you the pressures and the responsibilities that that leave us with the impression that this is all there is and that we are all that matters when we rush by addressing who god is basically prayer prayer reduces god to a good luck charm prayer becomes a reflex a sort of a last glance in the mirror before leaving home a wish me luck before a presentation or an exam if we if we don't begin by experiencing some sense of awe our father in heaven creator of all things great is your name skip that and what he says next will be lost on you it's why what follows rarely ever shows up in our prayers it's why our prayers i think are so predictable and oftentimes so ineffectual dear heavenly father thank you for this day now here's my list gotta run back to jesus and the disciples jesus teach us how to pray teach us how to pray like you prayed okay he says this then is how you should pray our father in heaven hallowed be your name got it love it so we won't pray show off prayers uh we won't keep repeating the same thing over and over as if god doesn't already know what we need we're gonna pray to god and not to you and we're going to address god as father so what's next is is this when we ask for stuff your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven wait your kingdom your will i mean what about my kingdom what about my will what about my family my job my lack of a job my health what about my fear what about my bills what about my daughter who won't talk to me i mean what about me to which i think jesus would smile and say i've already covered that for your father for your heavenly father knows what you need before you even ask oh yeah i already forgot that part so i don't need to start with all that jesus would say no you see when we pause to think about who we're addressing when we when we pause and acknowledge who we're talking to what else is there to say other than you first your agenda first your kingdom come my kingdom can wait this is what jesus was talking about in the sermon on the mount when he said seek first the kingdom of god his point is the point of prayer the point or the purpose of prayer is to align or realign ourselves with god's will with god's purpose the the purpose of prayer the purpose of prayer is to surrender our will not to impose it heavenly father be before i ask anything i want you to know that well i want i want what you want your will be done prayer is not about moving god but being moved by god it's not about convincing him to do our bidding but allowing him to get us to the place where we are willing to do his in fact this was the very thing the very thing we find jesus wrestling with in the garden of gethsemane right before he was arrested you're familiar with this story i'm sure father he prays i dread this i don't want to go through with this there's nothing about this i'm looking forward to yet remember this not my will but yours be done and here's something interesting do you know what hung in the balance of his willingness to submit to the agenda of his heavenly father more to the point do you know who hung in the balance you did i did we all did the world did jesus in this moment teaching his disciples to pray teaching us to pray jesus is inviting us to pray and to live as he prayed and to live as he lived submitted to the will of our heavenly father to be blunt and to be maybe a little personal according to jesus if we pray in it with any other posture then a posture of submission to his will his agenda we aren't doing it right this is why i like to pray on my knees when i can and my dad taught me this now in our culture we don't bow our need to anyone right i mean we're americans but jesus says you should bow out of gratitude out of gratitude that you can address your king as your father we should bow out of recognition that his will should be done even when it conflicts with ours and isn't it true we usually skip that part in prayer don't we and i'm like you i get this i've got my own little kingdom i've got my will for my life i have an agenda of my own and jesus assures us that our heavenly father knows all about our fragile temporary little kingdoms so we don't have to start there in fact we shouldn't start there heavenly father your agenda before mine your kingdom a kingdom of conscience a kingdom fueled by a new command a kingdom where what's best for people is what's best because they are your image bearers as well your kingdom come your will be done now how can i help and where am i possibly getting in the way your kingdom come your will be done on earth right here right now right here right now in my life in my family in my relationships with my resources and my community on earth as it is in heaven here's the thing this is his point until we get there until our wills are surrendered to his come on what's the point of continuing until our wills to the best of our knowledge our surrender to his aren't we just users consumers doesn't it basically reduce god to a cosmic vending machine an app i mean consider this if if you quit praying because god didn't answer your prayer as legitimate as your prayer was maybe the healing of a friend or a parent so you quit praying because god didn't answer your prayer and then you just gave up on god altogether what does that say about your view of god you you assumed unanswered prayer said something about god but really it says something about your view of god if there is a god god should answer my prayer god didn't answer my prayer my very legitimate prayer so clearly god doesn't answer prayer god doesn't care i'm not even sure god is there and you know what that's understandable it's understandable if god is simply a favor distributor if god is simply a divine healer waiting to be summoned or a lifeguard waiting to be called into action but what if jesus was correct what if what if god your what if god your heavenly father is more than that what if he's none of that what if his plan includes you but it's bigger than you includes you but doesn't center on you what if prayer doesn't begin with asking what if prayer begins with recognizing and submitting what if what if we're to begin by remembering who god is and who we aren't so his will takes precedent over ours to press this just a bit further the reason and i know this is personal and you might be right in the middle of a situation like this the reason you find yourself from time to time praying or trying to pray your way out of a situation that you well that you behaved your way into the reason you find yourself in that situation from time to time is because you don't begin your day this way you don't begin your prayers this way you don't begin surrender to your father's will so you and we and i we we get our unsurrendered selves into situations we can't get ourselves out of situations we would have avoided if we had begun the day and continued the day and a thy will be done posture right and then even when you find yourself in a mess that you created yourself how do you pray it's still about you right help me save me rescue me you know and does god hear those prayers i think so but here's the thing and here's jesus point your heavenly father would like to help you avoid those prayers and you avoid those prayers by beginning your day surrendered to his will this is why we pray so i have a suggestion between now and next time and next time we'll get to the us part that give us part the part that we usually begin with right but anyway between now and next time i want you to try praying this way the the jesus way alone undistracted informal short begin by addressing god as father take a moment to reflect on his greatness and his goodness to you his closeness the fact that he's infinite and yet intimate and then tell him that his deal his agenda his kingdom is going to be your priority all day long in fact use jesus words your kingdom come your will be done right now your kingdom come your will be done right now right here i am happy to participate and if that is a sticking point for you if you're not quite ready to say thy will be done in my life before you even know what his will is that is okay you just learned something so important so pause there and identify what's keeping you come on what's keeping you from praying thy will be done and i'll give you a clue it's usually fear fear of losing something fear of having to give something up fear of having to give somebody up fear of being left out but you know what discovering that is progress you've just identified where god wants to work in your life perhaps you've just identified think about this you've just identified where god is trying to rescue you from a god help me prayer later on if you can't honestly pray thy will be done in my life pay attention to that tension because that's why we pray so does prayer work well this kind of prayer always works it always works on us and ultimately it always works for us because it puts us in our place praying like jesus will determine the length of your prayers because the length of our prayers are often determined by the condition of our hearts think about this jesus prayed for maybe 20 seconds before giving lazarus back his life but he prayed all night before laying down his own and in both cases jesus already knew what god's will was but in one case he needed more time to get there and he did and of course we're glad that he did so this week this week when you pray pray like jesus instructed us to pray start with your heavenly father not you start with your heavenly father and declare his greatness and then surrender your will declare his greatness and then surrender your will and we will pick it up right there next time in part two of grown-up prayers before you go however three questions to get the conversation started or maybe to keep this conversation going question number one how did you learn to pray who taught you to pray was it modeled for you were you taught a specific prayer as a child question two have you ever attempted to pray your way out of a situation you behaved your way into and the answer is probably yes and the folks you're watching with they would love to hear that story whether you would love to tell them or not question number three what about now do you pray where do you pray when do you pray do you have any reservations about thy will be done in light of that last question i actually have asked our worship team to close with a specific song it's an old hymn um some of us grew up singing this song and i chose it specifically for one line in particular the hymn writer writes perfect submission all is at rest perfect submission all is at rest peace is found rest for our souls is found when we get to the place of saying thy will be done you know what i need before i ask but before i ask thy will be done let's pray together heavenly father thank you thank you thank you for preserving these powerful and relevant words so give us eyes to see give us ears that hear and give us the courage to follow through and father for the man or the woman the single the high school student who for them the idea of thy will be done scares them to death father i pray that they would stay there they would wrestle that to the ground and they would discover something about themselves but more importantly they would discover that you are the perfect heavenly father who can be trusted perfect submission all is at rest in jesus name amen blessed sure jesus is [Applause] [Music] glorified salvation [Music] purchased [Music] yes this is my storm this is my song praising my savior yes this is my story this is my song [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] filled with his goodness [Music] yes this is my story this is my song praising my savior this is my story [Music] this is savior hey hey [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: North Point Community Church

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Length: 46min 31sec (2791 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 07 2021