P.E.W.S. of the Church: ‘P’ is for Prayer

Sermon Title: The P.E.W.S. of the Church – ‘P’ is for Prayer and Participation

Good News Statement: God encourages us to Pray in Reverence

Preached: Sunday, August 08, 2021 at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NIV): Matthew 6:5-15 – Today’s scripture reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6 verses 5 thru 15. Listen to what the LORD is saying:

Prayer

⁵ “And when you pray, 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. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

 

Introduction:

While researching what is means to pray, I came across several…interesting prayers that people have lifted up to God. A middle aged man lifted up this prayer, “Dear God, thanks for making me funny. Especially since you didn’t give me much else to work with.” A young man prayed, “Dear God, please give me more money or take away my expensive taste.” A mother of two prayed, “Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the messy state my house is in, the courage to start cleaning, and the wisdom to not let it get this way again.” Others prayed, “Dear Lord, I know you put ignorant, annoying people in my life for a reason, but did you have to put so many, I’m just asking.” And collectively, millennials pray, “Thank you God for giving us Facebook. Otherwise, I’d have to call 674 people every day to tell them I just went to the gym or I just went to the store.”

Prayer is often misconstrued because we think that we cannot pray; we haven’t been taught how to pray; we think we are praying wrong; we think prayer only happens when it is done aloud for others to hear. Because of this, we sometimes miss the meaning and powerfulness that prayer has in our lives. If we are not careful, someday we will be giving praise to Facebook instead of giving praise to God. So what does it mean to pray? How can we better perfect what we have been doing our whole life?

Over the course of this month, together, we are going to explore what it means for a church to have P.E.W.S.—Prayer, Evangelism, Worship, and Service–and what it means to offer those P.E.W.S. so others have a place to sit down when they walk through these doors.  Today, we are going to explore the words of Matthew and ask ourselves, “How can we be participants of prayer?” as God teaches us how to pray for motivation, transformation, and for the willingness to learn. In the words of Henry Nouwen, “Prayer is the most concrete way to make our home in God.”

Opening Prayer:

            Let Us Pray…Dear Lord, Jesus, we humble ourselves in prayer of praise and adoration to You. Together, we are seeking a deeper meaning of what it means to pray: to pray for others, for strangers, for loved ones and friends; and to pray those who are hurting, needing comfort, and experiencing grief because of a loss. We also seek to know what it means to pray for ourselves—for motivation, transformation, and the ability to learn through your Word and Spirit. Help us to know how to pray. I pray that my words fall to the ground so that your words will flourish in our hearts. In your name we pray, Amen.

 

Body:

Prayer, as Henry Nouwen defines, “is the most concrete way to make our home in God.” Our home in God is what gives us the will and empowerment to live a life that rejoices in continual prayer and to give thanks in all circumstances. Our home in God allows the function of prayer not to influence God, “but rather to change the nature of the one who prays” (Soren Kierkegaard). The one who prays is the one who prays for the neighbor, the stranger, for one’s family, for one’s friends, for one’s community, and for one’s self. The one who prays is the one who seeks change—change from the heart. “Prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy,” as is stated by St. Therese. (St. Therese of Lisieux)

How many of you pray once a week? Once a day? Several times a day? In public? How many of us are afraid to pray because we don’t know how? How many of us know that we can pray more than what we are already doing? (I should see everyone’s hand up!) How many of us want to make our home in God—a home that welcomes others? The words of Matthew can help us better understand one of the main P.E.W.S. of the church. Prayer is communication with God: prayer is not judgmental; prayer is not selective; and prayer is not going away any time fast. Prayer is a gift from God that offers motivation, transformation, and the willingness to learn—three key aspects that help nourish, grow, and sustain the church. Let’s get into the text.

The Apostle Matthew, in his Gospel, introduces us to one of the most sacred and profound prayers that we are called to pray. Jesus in, Matthew, challenges not only his disciples to pray in the name of the Father, but he challenges, rather urges, us, all, to pray in the name of the Father in the privacy of our hearts. But before that, we must recognize that prayer is motivational and transformational.

In Matthew 6:5-6, Jesus reminds us that as a set time of prayer arrived, pious Jews would stop what they were doing and prayed. This could be done discreetly, or it could be done with pretentious display. Some people were sure to find themselves in a place where they would be noticed. Could you imagine stopping in the middle of the frozen food aisle at Walmart and praying? Or what about praying while you were pumping gas or waiting in line at a drive-thru or at a street corner? Jews, when the time called, stopped what they were doing and prayed. In those cases, the inner motivation for offering public prayer was public recognition, which has not value with God.

So in contrast, Jesus directs his disciples, when they pray, to go to their “inner room.” Since most people did not have separate or private quarters in their homes during the time of Jesus, the meaning of Jesus’ advice is most likely a metaphor for what Michael Wilkins defines as the “inner heart.” The focus, Wilkins shares, is on the “intimacy of communion with God in one’s heart,” which is at the center of all prayer, which is at the center of having a home in God. Whether prayer happens to be given publicly or privately, Jesus is challenge us to think about the motivation of our prayer. Is our prayer constructed on public recognition? Or is our prayer constructed on the motivations of the inner heart? What motivates you to pray?

Continuing with Matthew chapter 6, verses 7-8 teaches us that Jesus wants us to change, to be transformed. As Romans 12:2 reminds us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds…” Of course, Paul is writing after the time of Jesus; however, what Paul shares is related to how Jesus wants us to prayer. Jesus wants us to pray with transformation in our heart. As verse 7 articulates, “Do not keep babbling like pagans.” It is often said that pagans would “babble” to get God’s attention and to manipulate him through ritual prayer. They wanted to get what they foolishly wanted, instead of what they needed. What they didn’t realize is that God, the Father, is aware at all times of his children’s needs even before they ask.

Jesus warns his disciples “Do not be like them, the babbling pagans, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). Jesus is asking all of us, while we pray, to seek transformation that focuses on the inner heart and not what the world around us is babbling about. Focus on what is needed to change the home of God so that God’s power will reign forever. Pray by means of transformation that Christ’s church will always have pews available for God’s children. Prayer is much about changing us as it is about changing our character, our will, and our values, even while we seek God’s presence in our own lives.

Prayer is transformative. When we truly pray to the divine, the Word of God becomes a rippling effect in our hearts that makes us realize that prayer is not about length; instead it is about feeling, conviction, promise, reconciliation, restoration, resurrection, and sanctification. The feeling of prayer makes prayer personal and transforming. The conviction of prayer leads to a profound belief and meaning to what is being said; the promise of prayer reassures us that hope is found when the prayer prays for itself; prayer is an act of reconciliation that releases us from the bondage of stasis; the resurrection of prayer is experienced when prayer is viewed as a sacred gift given by God for God’s creation; and the sanctification of prayer embraces the willingness of being a witness to the restorative power of Christ as we learn to be transformed by the power, honor, and glory of God the Father. Through prayer, we are motivated by our inner heart to be transformed for ourselves and for others.

Matthew concludes this section on prayer by reciting the words of what we call today “The Lord’s Prayer,” or as it is also commonly known “The Disciple’s Prayer.”  The prayer begins by invoking God, “Our Father in heaven…” The term for “Father” is “Abba,” a name used by children for their earthly father denotes warmth and intimacy in the security of a loving father’s care. The way Jesus uses “my Father” to address his heavenly Father is exceptional because Jesus is the unique Son. But by calling his disciples to share in the kingdom of heaven, they now have entered into a relationship with his Father. Moreover, God is “our Father,” expressing the relationship we have with one another as disciples.

The petition, “Hallowed be your name,” or “Let your name be made holy” signifies that God’s name is sanctified or set apart as holy among all people and in all action, that he will be treated with the highest honor. To hallow God’s name means simply to hold it in reverence—hence, to hold him in reverence, to honor, to glorify, and to exalt him. This is the essence of the first three of the Ten Commandments: “You shall have no other god before me;” “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything;” and “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.” Through prayer, we must learn to participate in the holiness and sanctification of how we address God.

The second petition, “your kingdom come” expresses “the hope of God’s people throughout all of history,” as Wilkins notes. God’s kingdom symbolizes not only the Kingdom of Heaven but also the kingdom here on earth that was established by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. As Wilkins further highlights, “Now that Jesus has inaugurated the kingdom of heaven, his disciples live with anticipation for the coming of the Messiah here on earth.” Similar to how we are called to anticipate the coming of Christ. As we pray “your kingdom come,” we align ourselves with Jesus’s own practice of prayer and join his kingdom movement and seek God’s power. We are called to learn to pray with anticipation of God’s kingdom.

The third petition, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” is linked with the previous petition. Wherever the kingdom of heaven exists, God’s will is present. The term for will “Thelma” in Greek (qelma), which indicates God’s purpose (Ephesians 1:11) and desire (Luke 13:34). But as here, the term can express God’s will of command, as in the Psalmist’s exclamation, “I desire to do your will; your law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8). Those who carry out the Father’s will in Jesus’ ministry become his disciples and display the reality of the kingdom of heaven as they remain faithful to that will for their lives. We are reminded of God’s will when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39-42). We must learn to pray in the will, the Thelma, of God.

The fourth petition focuses on the disciple’s sustenance: “Give us today our daily bread.” “Bread” is a metaphor used to refer to all of our needs, both physical and spiritual. As disciples, we are to rely on God for all of our needs: for what is needed to continue to sustain the kingdom of God here on earth; for what is needed to sustain the life of the church; and for what is needed to sustain our heart as well as the hearts of those around us with the love and acceptance of Jesus Christ. Lord, give us today our daily bread so that we can learn to pray in so such a way that focuses on our needs, which we can share with our neighbors.

The fifth petition addresses the disciple’s debt of sin: “Forgive us our debts or trespasses, as we also have forgiven our debtors or forgiven those who have trespassed against us.” Sin, harmatia, in Greek, creates an obligation or debt to God that we cannot possibly repay. To remove our sin takes more than hitting like on Facebook. It takes work. It takes prayer. It takes obedience. It takes knowledge. We must forgive are neighbors, but before we do that, we must forgive ourselves. As disciples, we are to forgive those who have wronged us so that we may maintain a joyful experience of salvation. Doing so serves as evidence that a person, according to Wilkins, “has truly been forgiven his or her debt of sin.” We must learn to pray for forgiveness in our hearts.

The final petition addresses our battle with evil forces: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” This petition is similar to a standardized Jewish morning or evening prayer: “Bring me not into the power of sin, And not into the power of guilt, And not into the power of temptation, And not into the power of anything shameful.” But bring me into the love of God’s protection. Matthew 26:41 reminds us, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation…” Jesus teaches his disciples that we must rely on God not only for physical sustenance and forgiveness of sins, but also for moral triumph and spiritual victory in all of  our spiritual battles. We must learn to rely on God, who through prayer, can help us conquer our sins.

Notice, that Matthew’s rendition of The Lord’s Prayer does not end with a doxology, a notion to give God praise. It does not say, “For thine is the kingdom, the power, and glory forever.” Instead Matthew concludes by asking God to remove our temptations. Prayer, yes is to give God praise; but it is also a sacred act that stems from our hearts—the very thing that God hears and listens to. Furthermore, Jesus concludes his instruction on prayer by reiterating the emphasis on forgiving others. Salvation does not rest on human merit but on the grace and mercy of God. The church does not rest on the works of God alone; the church is the people. And through our prayers, we can find forgiveness, we can speak from our hearts, we can be fulfilled with our daily bread, and we can certainly find a way to keep our pews filled with room for others.

Conclusion:

            Soren Kierkegaard once observed: “A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening.” Are you listening to what you pray, to how you pray, and to why you pray? Are you seeking motivations while you pray? Are you experiencing change in the midst of prayer? Are your prayers said publically or privately? Are you praying to remove ignorant and annoying people in your life or for a clean house or for more money or for more likes on Facebook? Whatever you decide to pray for is between you and God. However, whenever you pray, I challenge you to pray from your heart so that what you pray for resembles a home in God.

Closing Prayer:

             Let us Pray… Lord, help us to pray from our heart. Help us to listen for what you want us to pray for. Help us to use prayer to build your church and kingdom here on earth. And, Lord, help us to find motivation and transformation in our prayers as we either pray alone or in the presence of others. Lord, all honor and glory is yours, now and forever. Amen.

 

Benediction:

Let us Pray together, saying the words that Christ taught us, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.  In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, go in prayer and serve the Lord. Amen, Amen, Amen.