Today we are going to start looking at prayer. Where do we begin? In our understanding of God there is a Creator who made heaven and earth. We have a Father in Heaven who loves and cares for us and through the life, work, death and resurrection of Christ the Believer can be drawn into a meaningful relationship with God. This is my premise.
There are those who prefer the comparative route of understanding religion, the idea that ‘all roads lead to Rome’ (universalism). I am not of that school as I believe that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world in Christ through the gift of faith. This does not mean that Christianity cannot have a meaningful dialogue with other religions.
Christianity can have dialogue because other religions also have their own particularity of beliefs and doing things differently. Precisely because we are different, we can discuss about God and the Infinite. It would be very boring if all humans held the same views, believed the same things, and agreed on everything. This way of living would not be much different to the Cyborgs in Dr Who, in which they all had the same agenda. This to me is the problem with comparative religion because they emphasize sameness to such an extent that religion becomes a spaghetti junction. I like spaghetti but not as a belief system.
So then we are talking about prayer with a Christian understanding to it. However, the Bible is clear that God has created all of us and anyone can call on God for help. Whether a person is a Christian or not they can call on the name of the Lord and be saved from their distresses. Prayer in its purity is universal but unfortunately because of the Fall our prayers can be ineffective because we ask for things from a selfish and greedy heart.
Our Lord Jesus in this part of the sermon as a spiritual surgeon teaches us about our attitudes to God, others and ourselves. What our Lord Jesus is going to say is going to hurt our pride, as he shows the ugliness that can be found in the human soul. As a masterful surgeon using the latest technology, he will cut through all the evil and makes us like diamonds gleaming in the light of the Son.
As before we will use the beatitudes as a mirror to understand this section of the Sermon on the mount.
Matthew 61
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
Before looking at the above verse I think it is good to have a definition of religion:
Definitions of religion
- A personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.
- The service and worship of God or the supernatural.
- Commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance.
(merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion#synonyms )
There are hundreds of definitions for religions, but the basic idea of a religion is what we can do for the divine object that we worship.
Jesus turns this idea on its head, and he shows us that there is nothing that we can do for God. Actually, God has done everything for us.
We sinned and ruined God’s creation which he Loved. To bring creation back into balance and to save us from Hell (Complete separations for God):
- God became a man to reach out to us
- God the Son died on the cross so that we could be saved
- God the Holy Spirit fills us with Himself
- God brings us into his eternal glory.
A proud and selfish person cannot accept these premises as he/she wants to reach heaven in his/her own power and volition. The big I replaces God, and he/ she is so arrogant that they reject this premise!
When we look at verse one, our Lord shows us that there is something in our character that wants to be in the Hot Seat; that we are the centre of attention.
Anyhow let us continue with our commentary
When we read this section, one has to remember that God sees our our attitudes and intentions and God knows us better that we know ourselves.
Verse One
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
So, then there is a universal rule that God taught us here. Why do we go to the church or another place of worship? What is the driver in our soul and wants us to be seen as perfect? If the driver in us is some form of pride in our own strength this is as rubbish in God’s eyes and we certainly wont, get any reward in the eschaton.
Verse Two
‘2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honoured by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.’
When a person gives to those in need, the question is; What is the motive?
Only God really understands the motives for giving. It may be that one gets street credibility ‘ah look at what a good fellow he is.’ Actually, the giving maybe for selfish reasons to get even more honour instead of giving through high intensions towards a needy human being.
Verses three four and five
‘3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.’ 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. Matthew 6:5
I think our Lord is saying that when we give, let us give as though God is watching us. We can do things on the quiet. God loves his creation and people. We ought to also love creation and our neighbour so that we are in line with his teachings.
Our relationship with God is not dependent on what others see. Our relationship is between our heavenly Father and us. It is the relationship that is important, anything extra is just baggage that needs to be thrown away.
Verses six and seven
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.
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.
So, God commands us not to be on show with our many words so that we can get ‘praise and gifts’.
Unfortunately, those who get gifts and praise a lot of the time have been done through evil motives. We see this in the news on a daily basis where some people would like a little help from the government. It is corruption but one can find corruption even in a church or another place of worship. I remember the story of Jesus driving out the money dealers and merchants from the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Some religious organisations are very rich and there could be a person at the top who rakes in all the money. It is also a danger for the local Church or other religious institution.
Verse Eight
‘8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.’
So then in the previous verses our Lord Jesus gave us a lot of pitfalls for us to fall into. We do not need to rake in:
- Dirty money and wealth
- Dirty gifts with dirty motives
- Dirty praise from selfish pride
- Dirty ambition and one pretends to be an angel of light but is an angel of greed
- Dirty glory by getting praise through a false image of oneself.
I’m sure that I have missed somethings out, but we need to do soul searching of our actions in Christ by the Holy Spirit.
Reflection
What our Lord taught here in these verses is about seeing into the dark recesses of our souls. Holy Communion is a time to weed out some of these corrupt attitudes that stains us. We need to consider prayerfully how we approach our heavenly Father. No one is perfect and perfection comes over time and into the eschaton. However, these teachings can gauge the morality of the society we live in at the macro and micro levels. How?
- In yourself
- In your local church
- In your local organizations
- In your workplace
- In your area
- In your political party
- In your local government
- In your national political parties
- In your national government
- In your international organizations.
Our Lords teachings are like a laser, and it cuts through to the marrow of the problem. So my friends, let us judge ourselves fairly and through prayer so that in Christ we become more holy and precious to our Trinitarian God daily.
Addendum
A lot of things I have mentioned show a lack of morality in our society. Unfortunately, people are looking out for their own interests at the cost of the neighbour. I am still reading the book Morality by the Late Jonathan Sacks. The more I read it, the more I realize how low our civilization has come. Let’s see if we can start to live as ambassadors of heaven and begin to bring God’s goodness back into this fallen world.
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