Title: Pray
6 When you pray, go into your closet, close the door, and pray to your Father who is hiding. Then your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
7 When you pray, do not repeat empty words like the Gentiles. They think that you have to talk a lot to be heard.
8 Therefore do not imitate them. God your Father knows what you need before you ask.
There are several words in the Bible that Jesus taught “about” prayer. “Pray in faith” or “Seek first his kingdom and righteousness” or “words about prayer” like these in the Bible.
Then, when we pray this prayer, we should offer it most earnestly with all our heart and sincerity. But what about our reality? The Lord's Prayer is, in my opinion, the most insincere prayer.
It is even often used to indicate the end of a sequence. At the end of a worship service, or at the end of a sports day, social gathering, or picnic, we often say, “I will end with the Lord's Prayer” without thinking much.
Our church also closes the service with the Lord's Prayer. The reason probably means, “Let’s pray the precious and important prayer that the Lord taught us with all our heart and finish the worship service.” However, I would like to take a look at whether we are really following the meaning enough.
Then, why do we, on many occasions, offer this important Lord's Prayer that the Lord Himself taught us in such a disrespectful way? What could be the cause? Let's calmly find the cause.
The problem seems to be that we know too well. I memorized it because it was so important. I used it a lot because it's so important. As a result, I got wet with inertia.
I didn't at first, but at first I was so moved that I prayed earnestly. Since it was the prayer that our Lord Himself taught me, I prayed with all my heart and sincerity, and as I continued to do so, I became so used to it, and I began to memorize it. that has become wet with
It is now possible to “memorize” as many times as you want, straight from your head to your mouth, without putting it in your heart. But prayer without heart, can you call it prayer? The expression “I will memorize the Lord’s Prayer” is often used, isn’t it really different between memorizing and praying?
Then, why did the Lord teach us the Lord's Prayer? The reason is found in today's text (Matthew 6) verses 5-8. If we want to understand the content and meaning of the Lord's Prayer, we need to understand this text first.
In verse 5, there are people who like to stand in the synagogue (church) and on the street to pray, but the Lord says, “You should not do that.” Because the purpose of that prayer is to boast of oneself. “I am a devout person who strives to pray like this… .” It is hypocrisy to pray to show off that
It seems that Jesus preferred sincere prayer to fluent prayer. So you gave me this example.
A Pharisee prays aloud in the temple. "God! I am different from other people. It's different with that serie. I fast twice a week and pay my tithing full. Thank you for giving me the faith to do this… .”
Hearing this, the tax collector beats his chest and prays. “Lord! I am a sinner.”
The Lord gave the example of these two men and said that a tax collector is more righteous than a Pharisee.
The Lord says these words in verse 6 of today's text. “When you pray, go into your closet, close the door, and pray to your Father who is hiding.”
“Do not be conscious of this or that, and be alone with God in silence.” That's a word. There are a few things to note here. This is where the Lord describes God as “hidden”.
If we take this expression literally, it can be misinterpreted as a God who hides and watches over us, waiting for something wrong to be revealed, like a paparazzi, looking for a reason to seize the moment and rebuke it.
However, the meaning of these words must be the God who cannot be grasped by the eyes of the material world, the God who cannot be felt and cannot be seen without the eyes of the spirit and the clear mind.
Then (if God is such a hidden person), we too will need to hide from the things we see. So that the two of us can meet secretly with God alone.
What is important is ‘meeting’. Wouldn't a conversation be possible only after meeting with God? A conversation without meeting would be a monologue, not a conversation.
I am very sorry, but I believe that most of the prayers we Christians offer these days are not prayers, but monologues. Because talking on your own without a serious encounter with the subject cannot be a conversation.
So the Lord has told us to go into the closet, close the door, and pray to your Father who is hiding.
I think of the religious life as 'dating'. A date with God.
When it comes to dating your lover, there are many things you need. It takes some money, and it takes time. You also need a suitable place. However, all of that will be optional, not mandatory. The most important thing will be your heart for each other.
In verse 7, the Lord continues. “When you pray, do not repeat empty words like the Gentiles. They think that you have to talk a lot to be heard.”
If you listen to these words at first glance, you may feel as if Jesus had a certain prejudice against all Gentiles.
Jesus who says these things is not like Jesus who treated the Samaritan woman warmly and solved her problems fundamentally.
Also, as the parable of the good Samaritan describes, sometimes you feel that you are out of touch with the Lord who said that Gentiles can be more pious, warmer, and more human than Jews.
However, these words of Jesus had in mind the prayer of a magical nature that was prevalent in the world at that time.
What is witchcraft? Witchcraft is the repeated use of divine language to appease and obtain something from a powerful divine being, or to quell his wrath.
So the purpose of witchcraft is to persuade a divine being. In fact, it seems that many people in our Korean church understand prayer that way.
They try to persuade God to get something they want from God. “God, please hear this prayer. I believe you will hear me.” Begging and begging, he is trying to convince God.
If that is the purpose of prayer, you will have to speak constantly. But in a strict sense, it's more of a witchcraft than a prayer. Again, speaking unilaterally without listening is monologue, not dialogue.
Prayer is a spiritual conversation with God. For that conversation, the Lord gave a brief summary of the important content of the conversation, and that is the Lord's Prayer.
As I said earlier, there are many words in the Bible that the Lord emphasized on the ‘position or priority of prayer’. However, this is the only Lord's Prayer that the Lord directly taught the content of prayer, saying, “Pray like this.”
In that sense, when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we should pray more earnestly than any other prayer. It is the most exemplary prayer that the Lord Himself taught.
The Lord taught us to pray well, to do it right, and to teach the Lord's Prayer. At the same time, when we pray, He summarized two things we should be careful about, and even instructed us to “don’t do that.”
Nevertheless, how much heartache will our Lord be if we offer our Lord's Prayer in the most insincere way?
Therefore, I hope that you will not memorize the Lord's Prayer in the future. I want you to pray with deep sincerity.
I have already memorized them all, but every time I pray the Lord's Prayer, I want you to memorize the meaning one by one, put it in your heart, and pray with sincerity.
And I hope you don't say the Lord's Prayer too soon. I wish I could do it while keeping the meaning calmly in my heart, but it's hard to keep in mind because it's too fast. How about praying a little slowly while savoring the contents? . I feel like that.
Even in its structure, the Lord's Prayer contains a deep meaning that encompasses the central ideas of the Old and New Testaments.
The Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments have the same structure, and the Ten Commandments have two parts. Commandments 1-4 are the commandments about our relationship with God, and commandments 5-10 are about the relationship between people.
The same goes for the Lord's Prayer. The first part is a prayer for a right relationship with God, and the second part is a prayer for various things about human relationships that we need to live in reality.
It means to look up to heaven and live without shame, and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is the central idea of the Bible. The very structure of the Lord's Prayer teaches us a profound lesson.
Therefore, the Lord's Prayer is the only prayer that the Lord Himself taught, but also because of the depth of its content, it should not be memorized without meaning.
The Lord's Prayer is the prayer that must be offered with sincerity and depth of heart than any other prayer.
Today, I gave a talk about the background of the Lord's Prayer. This is an introduction to the Lord's Prayer. Next time, I will also share a message about the content of the Lord's Prayer itself.