Our Sovereign On Prayer

[pom2014]

“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. 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.
- Matthew 6:5-6

Do you do this?

If not, why?

 

[lforrest]

I actually go by what he said. Not what the men say.

King said don't pray in public, what do they teach? Pray wherever you like.
King says don't give alms in public, what do they say? Give often anywhere and take a tax write off.
King says divorce ONLY if there is adultery, what do they say? I'll annul anything just to make you happy.
King says NO remarriage while your spouse lives, what do they say? It'll be 200-500 dollars for the great hall to have your reception.
King says if you live by the sword you will die by the sword, what do they say? Praise the lord and pass the ammunition.
King says forgive or you cannot be forgiven, what do they say? Hate the sinners, until you find out that they are sinners too, then they want forgiveness.
King says harm children and you should drown yourself, what do they say? Move the clerics around so no one knows they touched any child.

The list goes ON and ON and ON.

So who is going to take a stand and be the fruit inspector and say these trees all are bad?

If WE do not, then we are complicit. And we are as rotten as they.

Support their rebellion to the King and YOU become a rebel. I will not do that.

Some of these things you mentioned in another topic are misunderstood from Matthew 6.

Matthew 6:1“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.



Jesus was not creating arbitrary rules, but was telling us to be mindful of our motivations. He is concerned with spirit and truth.

Better rules to follow are:

Don't pray to give the appearance of righteousness. With that rule you're free to practice Matthew 18,18-20
Don't give alms to be thought of as altruistic. The IRS could care less about what you give in charitable donations, so long as you pay what is owed. But mum's the word to everyone else.

 

[pom2014]

There is NO misunderstanding. Jesus is NOT saying, of well you can do it if your heart is in the right place.

This is NOT about your heart. It is about mankind seeing what you do and rewarding it with praise. THAT IS ALL YOU WILL GET. Nothing from God.

He is saying to YOU NOT to do it. It doesn't matter what you are doing it for, he said do it in secret. You know Jesus, King, Lord, he said it "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray".

And before you pull out the four year old excuse of well Jesus did it so can I bleh!

This is not about Jesus, whom is God and is not a respecter of men or their thoughts and praise. this is about US, mere mortals. We do as told. Because the King said that we will be rewarded for it. The reward of praise by men is USELESS. Unless you really are doing it to show your piety and that is why you will stubbornly say I'll do as I bloody please POM you're wrong!

This is SUCH a trifle thing asked by The King. Really a small thing. Like not praying in public is going to kill you or make you lose status with God.

 

[BlackManINC]

Edit

 

[lforrest]

The context of this speach from Jesus is to address the behaviour of the pharisees and warn others of the same.

It has everything to do with the heart. Otherwise Jesus was contradicting other teachings.

 

[HammerStone]

There are numerous examples of Jesus praying in public like he did before the 4,000 or even in front of the Pharisees and Sadducees. If you're maintaining that the number of people you may pray in front of is limited to any specific number or situation, then you're missing the legalistic point in all of this.

 

[pom2014]

I've already addressed these two very standard and kneejerk responses to people hades bent of continuing to do as they please.

1. It doesn't matter what your heart says, the command is clearly made to NOT INVITE comparison to hypocrites at all. Full stop, Don't do it lest humans see your piety think that's awesome, good for them!

Guess what? Their praise is the ONLY reward you will see. Now if that is simply all your desire, please continue. But do not make a fuss when you reach the Kingdom and you're looking for something and you do not get it.
The King let you know you GET NOTHING.

2. It really is very silly to act like a four year old and play the "other kid did it and so can I card". Jesus walked on the water, do you? He healed the blind, have you? What's wrong don't you need to keep up with Jesus? I mean clearly it is a contest, right?

So spurious in logic.

WE are told go do that secretly. There is no addendum or sub-paragraph. The scripture is not written like this:

“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. 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.

*-Unless of course you are doing it for a bloody good reason or because you wish to act just like Jesus.

Nowhere does it say any such amendment to the verse.

Not even afterward does he say, you know that bit about prayer I said in Matthew, well you know if you feel it just go with it. In fact throw your hands in the air and roll around on the floor and act like your are having a grand mal if you desire. And if you want to be JUST LIKE ME, well you can do that too. Don't pay a mind to what I said before, I had a little too much water that day, wink wink, nudge nudge.

I understand that you'd like to act upon your feelings at the drop of a hat, but people are watching you. And if for one moment they think to themselves, that's great they are being so faithful to God, WHAM! That is it. That is what you get. badge for being pious person from a human. Good on you. But it is not what the King said.

Now here comes the big question then. Taking away the already espoused thought that well it is what is in your heart that matters, what do you gain from praying out in public?

What is your profit from it?

 

[HammerStone]

Right, but if you construct what is in effect a law to avoid a law, then you're committing legalism to avoid legalism.

What is your profit from it?

The same thing that was the result of the prayer in Acts 4:24 or Mark 8:6, when the occasion warrants. Maybe a handful, maybe 10, maybe 100, maybe 1000, or more believers united in heart and spirit because the Holy Spirit is sweeping through whomever at that appointed time overflowing with grace, mercy, love and power of God! That is my profit, and that is part of every believer's most precious and pristine profit. It's mine, only because it was first the Lord's and he bequeathed it to me not in death, but in the raising to life of Christ. It may also be the providence of God to see the heart of a new believer strengthened by the prayer of another brother or sister who happened to witness the event. There are countless ways that it's profitable.

And we have numerous illustrations, not only of our Savior in the gospels, but Peter, Paul and others in Acts and beyond. We also have tremendous insight into what Jesus meant in with this passage in Luke 18:9-14 with the prayer of the Pharisee and the publican, who by the way, managed to violate your construct of not praying in any public.

To make this about a number of people or a setting is entirely legalism, just as much as to offer public prayer for the sole purpose of sounding holy or wise is sinful.

 

[aspen]

Limiting prayer is never a good idea.