Walk with Christ - Pray

“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
Matthew 6:5-7

If you haven’t noticed so far in my blog, I’m fond of acrostics.  An acrostic is a series of lines or verses in which the first, last, or other particular letters when taken in order spell out a word, phrase, or motto.  Acrostic can also be defined as a Hebrew poem in which the lines or stanzas begin with the letters of the alphabet in regular order (as in Psalm 119 – sections are after the letters of the Hebrew alphabet).  This second definition is an “alphabetical acrostic” or abecedarian.  So, this writing technique can be first traced to the Bible.  Acrostic comes from the Greek language for ákros (top) and stíchos (verse).

An acrostic can also be used as a mnemonic which is a pattern of letters, ideas, or associations that assists in remembering something.  So far in my blog, we have used acrostics such as W.O.R.D., A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E.S., and A&W.  Probably the most famous acrostic was made in Greek.  ΙΧΘΥΣ (transliterated - Ichthys) is an acronym for "Iēsous Christos, Theou Yios, Sōtēr", which translates into English as "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior".  Ichthys is the Greek word for fish therefore a partial reason the fish is used to symbolize Jesus from the early days of Christianity to now.

In the next few blogs, I’m going to examine another acrostic that I picked up when I attended Hibernia Baptist Church in Florida.  I use it everyday as I strive to achieve one of my vision statements, “Walk with Christ.”

• F – Families  –  John 4:31-35
• L – Lost  –  Acts 1:8 & Matt. 28:19-20
• O – Offerings  –  Matt. 7:7,  Malachi 3:10 & Philippians 4:19
• C – Children, Youth, and Pre-School Ministries –  1 Tim. 4:12 & Matt. 19:14
• K – Kindred Spirit –  Acts 2:41-46 & Ephesians 4:3

But before we examine the F.L.O.C.K. acrostic, let’s study tonight’s passage in Matthew.  Jesus has started his ministry and has just called Peter, Andrew, James, and John as His first disciples.  Jesus then travels throughout Galilee teaching, preaching, and healing.  He draws quite a crowd.  Seeing them, he goes up a mountainside and sits down to teach.  This time in Jesus’ life is commonly called the “Sermon on the Mount.”  Our passage tonight is Jesus’ instruction on how to pray. 

Pray in the Greek is proseuchomai or supplicate, worship, or earnest wish.  The word literally gives the impression of interacting with the Lord by switching human wishes (ideas) for His wishes as He imparts faith ("divine persuasion").  Jesus starts out by saying that we should not pray like the hypocrites who want to be phainó or shed light upon myself, shine, or become visible (look at me).  During the time of Jesus, Jews prayed every day at 9:00, 12:00 and 3:00. At those times, they would stop, bow their heads, stretch out their hands with their palms facing up and pray.

The hypocrites cherish, regard with affection (phileó) the opportunity to become famous by men or to impress men.  Hypocrite in the Greek is hupokrités which is a pretender, a performer acting under a mask, a two-faced person, a person whose profession does not match their practice (e.g. says one thing but does another).  As Christians, Jesus requires our lives to be an open book and to be ourselves.  When we pray, we should be honest, transparent, true to ourselves, and seeking God’s wishes.  PRAY AUTHENICALLY.

Jesus further instructs when we pray, to pray in secret or kruptos which in the Greek is hidden, inward, concealed, or make private.  By asking us to go into our room (tameion – inner room, store room, secret chamber, closet), Jesus wants us to pray reverently, from our heart (inward parts), and silently (concealed).  God the Father sees our prayers or blepó which is behold, look, perceive, regard, take heed, watchful, or to see something physical, with spiritual results.  What He sees, He will reward, apodidómi (give back, pay back, render, return, restore).

Again, Jesus is dealing with the hypocrites that make a big show of praying to demonstrate just how much more spiritual they are when compared to us. They desperately wanted others to see them.  The hypocrites used what should be their private, personal prayers to God and put them on display so everyone would be amazed of their godliness and holiness. 

People have used this Matthew6:6 as a defensively position against public prayer.  However, we must make a distinct between our personal prayers and public prayers.  Examining Scripture, we can find in the Old Testament that public prayer was done: Solomon prayed publicly at the dedication of the temple (1Kings 8:22-23), Elijah prayed publicly on Mt. Carmel (1Kings 18:36-37), Ezra prayed before "a very large assembly of men, women, and children” (Ezra 10:1).  Furthermore, public prayer was also done in the New Testament: Christ prayed publicly before He raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:41-42), Christ gave thanks to God for providing food for the 5000 (John 6:11), Paul kneeled and prayed with the Ephesian elders before he left them (Acts 20:36).

In our personal prayer, we show our heart to God baring our soul, our struggles, our desperate need for him, and our thanks for our personal blessings.  However, in public prayer, we lead others to look on God, rely on God, thank God, praise God, worship God, and pray on the behalf of others.  Please remember the sin of Matthew 6:6 was the public display of private prayer.  PRAY PERSONALLY.

Finally, Jesus instructs us not to be like the pagans, ethnikos or standing outside God's covenant (salvation).  These people repeated their prayers incessantly or in the Greek, battalogeó which is to use meaningless repetition, blubber nonsensical repetitions, to chatter using empty (vain) words.  They didn’t mean or believe what they were saying.  They hoped by the constant repetition that their gods would take care of them.  The Greek word here is polulogia, voluminous words or a great quantity of words.  When we pray, do not grieve God by mindlessly saying the same thing over and over again.  We are to pray earnestly, pray genuinely from our heart, and pray silently, alone with God. PRAY FROM THE HEART.