of introduction to the Lord's Prayer. On the one hand, not a lot of introduction needs to be made. It's so familiar to us, at least in its form. We do pray the Lord's Prayer weekly. I pray that you pray it more regularly in your own heart, day by day, as is intended to be a regular pattern. We are familiar with the larger catechism and its exposition of the Lord's Prayer, and we are, in the weeks to come, going to be relying heavily upon the larger catechism as it will first teach us what prayer is. We'll spend a week or two dealing with those preliminary questions prayer itself, who it is to, what we pray for, and then we will turn specifically to those six petitions that the larger catechism spends much time unpacking for us. And so that's somewhat the plan, considering the larger catechism in the weeks to come, eventually getting to the particular petitions found in the Lord's Prayer. This morning, I want us to deal with verses five through eight. 5-8 of Matthew chapter 6. I'm going to read those verses for us and just by way of full transparency, I'm using another pastor's resources here. Kevin Young has a book on the Lord's Prayer. I haven't read all of it, but the introduction part is very good, dealing with how not to pray. So I thought that would be a good introduction before we get to how to pray, how not to pray. And so that's what the Lord Himself deals with in these verses in Matthew 6, verses 5-8. So I'm going to read that for us this morning. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. So it's hard to overestimate or overstate, of course, the importance of the Lord's Prayer. It's been prayed now for thousands of years. And in fact, throughout church history, the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Ten Commandments have been those bedrock, foundational, if you want to call them creeds, but those foundational passages of Scripture that new converts are taught. and are expected to know in some way or another as they join the church. But the Lord's Prayer is found here, of course, in Matthew chapter 6, the famous Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus teaches and preaches to his people. But in this chapter, it was asked what's significant about chapter 6, aside from it being before chapter 7 and after chapter 5. What else do we find in chapter 6? What are at least the three foundational acts of piety that we find in chapter six? Okay, so hypocrisy is an overarching theme. We see it in many of the acts of piety. What other things? We have prayer, but what else do we have? Fasting, so fasting would be a common practice in the days of Jesus and is one of those things that is actually still expected for God's people even today. What's the third one that we find? Almsgiving. So these are the three foundational acts of piety found in the church in that day. Almsgiving, praying, and fasting. And of course, the combination of them, particularly prayer and fasting, often go together. But Jesus, here in Matthew, unlike in Mark, or in Luke, sorry, unlike in Luke, Jesus is concerned both with the what and the how of prayer. So in Luke, it's almost predominantly the what. They both deal with the what. But here, Matthew brings out the reality that Christ is also concerned both with what we pray, but also the manner in which we pray. that we are to pray for the right reasons from a heart that has been made right with God. And so all of those are dealt with in these three acts of piety. So when you give to the needy, what are you not to do when you give to those who are in need? You're not supposed to play the trumpet or the trombone and make it apparent. Hey guys, look at me. I'm giving to this person who's in need. It's not to be done to be seen by others. What about when we pray the same thing? We're not to do it merely to look good. We'll look more at that in a moment. And when you fast, what are you not to do? Look gaunt. So, to stretch out your face, to rub it with dirt, not to try and make it like you're more hungry than you actually are. Those are all things that are done for the appearance of them, not for the reasons that God would have us to do. And what we find here is that even in acts of religious piety or worship, Jesus is concerned about pride and vanity. That sometimes we think about pride and vanity as being maybe outside the church, doing those things which are obviously wrong, but here Jesus is dealing with the reality that even those who claim to be part of the people of God, even those that are doing things that God commands, in fact there is a special temptation a particular pitfall of falling into pride and vanity. As DeYoung says, he says, in fact, being religious is one of the chief ways in almost every culture that men and women find ways to nurture their pride and their vanity. that in fact religious worship, or the forms of it, have long been the way in which people puff themselves up. They assuage their own consciences, but also they show themselves to be pious for the sake of others, seeing that they are pious. So, Jesus is dealing with here the danger, even with religious practices, of pride and vanity. And so before we get again to the specifics of what to do when we pray, we first have to acknowledge and see that Jesus doesn't necessarily teach His disciples that they should pray. What does Jesus say in the passage? when you pray. It's expected. It's the very least that you could do as a Christian, as a follower of God. He assumes that they pray. They're asking how to pray. He understands prayer is not something only for the super spiritual. Prayer is not only for the pastor of the church, it's not merely for the religious leaders in their day, it's not only for those that are counted as super-Christians in church history, no. Prayer is for everyone who is a follower of God. So that includes the oldest of us among us this morning, as well as the youngest. That prayer is the life breath of a Christian. And so even for the youngest here, the children here, prayer is something that you can do. In fact, it's something that we should do, that we can pray. Even the words that we'll see in the Lord's prayer, they are very simple. They're very rich, but there are things that you can do and pray and follow along in our worship, but also at home. So prayer is for everyone. Prayer is expected. But of course, Jesus doesn't tell us some things perhaps we would want to know. How long should our prayers be? What time of day should we pray? He doesn't deal with those things. Now, we'll get to the Lord's Prayer itself in a few weeks, but first, the how. According to Jesus here in Matthew 6, there are two things He warns us against, two ways of praying that we are to avoid. You can almost say at all costs, don't do these things. And the first is that we are warned not to be like the hypocrites. So I'll read it again, Matthew 6, verses 5 and 6. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." So I'm going to ask, what is a hypocrite? What is a hypocrite? What sort of definitions come to your mind? Says one thing, does another. Good. Anybody else? Fleshing that out or other perhaps examples that come to mind? I think that's probably the most simple, straight to the point. The word itself, it comes from the Greek, play actor, and it speaks of the mask that they would put on, and there it's used, not in a negative way, per se, but just you're a person, but you're pretending to be another person, really, in public. And of course, we've taken that label, and it means to put a mask, play a part. And so when we speak of hypocrisy, it most often is used in the context of religion these days. You're a hypocrite. So it's a common accusation from unbelievers to believers. And what do they often mean by that? Say in the wrong sense, yeah. Okay Okay So it gets used as a political weapon probably rightly so in many cases the policy doesn't match their character or they Right Correct. Yeah. No, that makes sense. That's true. It definitely is used in politics. What I often think of is the accusation from unbelievers looking at a group of Christians, the church, and they say, well, those people are hypocrites. Why? What's their reason? Because what? Okay, well, that's often true. It's true that there are hypocrites in the church, but I think more so they mean, well, those people are sinners. But what are they doing? And there's a misunderstanding of what a true hypocrite is. Now, you're right, there are true hypocrites even in the church, as we see in the days of Christ. That is true, it's still true today. So there are real accusations, but there can also be false accusations. That a Christian, in their right profession, they're not saying that they are sinless. A Christian, truly so-called, is not saying that we are perfect or that we are better in our own selves than anybody else. A true Christian says, I am a sinner and I'm saved by grace and I believe God's word and I desire and I long to follow His commands, but I often fail and I must seek repentance. Of course, those are things that an unbeliever truly will not understand, is spiritually discerned. But from the outside in, that's often the accusation. But a hypocrite believes or professes to believe one thing. but actually lives in a completely different way. I think sometimes, and DeYoung brings this out, I think he's right, Christians sometimes think of hypocrites merely as people who do one thing but feel another. Perhaps you've heard somebody lament, well, if I were to do that thing, I don't really want to do it, even though it's the right thing to do, If I were to do it and not feel it, then that would be hypocrisy. That I would be being a hypocrite. Now what's wrong with that reasoning? Is it wrong or is it right? It's wrong. What would be an example? I have some, but what? Right, so in the matter of prayer. Many times we don't feel like praying. but it's a command, and prayer is often the means by which the Lord stirs our affections, stirs our hearts so that we do feel it. So just thinking in everyday life, if I don't feel like loving my wife by doing this or that thing, and so I say, well, I'd be a hypocrite if I were to do that, and not do it, would I be obeying the Lord? No. It's often the case that even when we don't feel something, but it's the right thing to do, we are still to do it. That's not hypocrisy. Any follow-up with that? Well, if you do things half-hearted, some people think, oh, that's a double-minded man. But if you're intent, does this mean that you're on the way to being a foolhardy? Correct. mm-hmm and then doesn't go yeah right Right, yep. So doing what's right, even when we don't feel like doing it, DeYoung calls maturity, true discipline. So you think of athletes, even when they wake up and they're sore and they're tired, they don't want to work out. But they do it because that's what's good and right. But in the act of doing it, then, of course, we're speaking physically, they do feel like doing it. It comes with its own reward in that sense. So, of course, in spiritual realities, we are to do those things, even when we don't feel like it, trusting by faith that this is what pleases the Lord, and then the Lord often and almost always brings those affections with it. So we can see clearly, Jesus has in mind from Matthew chapter one, Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. That's what's in view here. Not so much the feeling or the not feeling, but hypocrisy is professing one thing in public and living in a different way privately. So, hypocrites do those things. They don't really have a love for God. At all. Not just that it's waxing or waning. They don't really love the kingdom. They don't really love God's name and desire for it to be hallowed. They love to pray in the synagogues and in the street corners so that they will be seen by men. They may not have any regard for God at all. What they desire out of the act of praying is that they will be seen by others and be well thought of. There's a godly man. There's a godly woman. So, he says it very strongly here. The question then is, is Jesus saying it is wrong to pray out loud in public? No. Why not? I said, are we right? Yeah. Right. Exactly. We see proven biblical examples of public prayer. We've considered Daniel chapter 9. Was that public or not? But there are many biblical examples of public prayer. We see the pronouns even in the Lord's Prayer. It's plural. It's assumed that it would be prayed in the midst of others. We see in the New Testament church in Acts, the people often would gather together and pray in what we would call corporate prayer meetings. No, he's not doing away with public prayer at all. What he is warning against, of course, is merely being religious in public, really in no religion in private. The extent of your prayer life is merely the external prayers that you pray in front of other folks, from a heart that is not near to the Lord. As DeYoung says, our prayer life should be more than meets the eye. But there are occasions in which we should go into our closet and pray privately. And this is true of all, but especially religious leaders or pastors or elders or whatever terminology, but we have to be aware of professionalism of religion. We might be able to fool some people for an hour, a week, years, but we can never fool God. And so when we pray publicly and it's merely for the extent of being seen, well then that's the extent of it. You've received your reward. If you don't pray in faith from a heart near to God in communion, then there's no promise of Him hearing. He does not hear the prayer that is not of faith. So we must beware of these things. Now Jesus is saying, close your door, pray to be seen by God. What does that prayer require? To go into your closet, what does that require? Faith, very good. It requires faith. It really does force you to reckon with the reality. Does God really hear my prayer? The words that I'm saying or the words that I'm thinking in prayer, are they really doing anything, if you wanna put it that way? But does God really hear and it necessitates, does God really exist? Do I really have a relationship with God? Will God answer? We pray in secret truly is an act of faith. In fact, again, one of those most foundational acts of faith, the heartbeat, the breath of the Christian communion with God in prayer. And so this is set against just praying to be seen by man. So that's the first warning, hypocrisy, particularly here in matters of prayer. Secondly, he warns us not to be like the pagans. Like the Gentiles. Look at verse 7. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. He's here, I think, has in mind people who pray when they don't know God. Again, that is true in the days of Christ. These empty words that were heaped up, that the longer the prayer, the more words that were used, thought to be more access to God, that he'd be more likely to hear them, but their hearts are far from him. That's true then, but it's still true today, is it not? Still true today. We think of the pagans, what we would call the people outside of the covenant community. So think of so many of the common religions today. Hinduism, Sikh rituals, think of Muslim prayers, think of Jews and their empty repetitions. Think of so many manner of things. Buddhists and their use of prayer wheels. The Roman Catholic Church and the Rosary, just the mere mechanics of saying words, whether you have faith in the one you're praying to or not. Many folks are sincere, but of course many folks are not. But in the end, it doesn't really matter. They're not praying to the one true God in true faith through His Son. But prayer for so many religions is what? It is a ritual. It's something that you have to do three times a day. It's something that you have to do seven times a day. It's something you have to do facing the right direction. It's something you have to do in the right posture, whether that's on your knees or on your face or whatever it might be. But the thought is, and it is a pagan thought, It is an unbelieving thought that just the going through the motions will earn some favor. It will earn some standing before the one that we are praying to. And Jesus says very clearly, do not be like the pagans. It's meaningless, empty phrases. Why? Your father already knows what you need before you ask him. That's not how our God works, if you want to put it that way. It's not who He is. He's not appeased by just empty rituals. No, we're told repeatedly again in the Old Testament, God does look at the heart. These things are useless to appease His just anger when that is the case. But can you think of ways even today what we would call a biblical church, or if you want to use the term evangelical church or reformed church, what are ways today that this can still be an issue? Or is it not? Again, is our practice infallible? All right. Yeah. So again, all three of those categories, we can still see that. Almsgiving, prayer, and even fasting. Folks posted on their Instagram, their Facebook page, just to be seen. That's good. What about prayer specifically, though? In our own worship service, we pray the Lord's Prayer every week. I think that's a good practice. That's what we do. And then even the prayer of confession, I try to make it a point almost every week. What would I warn against? Mindlessly. Yeah, I think that's the main way. But even in a reformed, what we would call maybe liturgical church. What? Yeah. mm-hmm yeah We could try that. It is sort of a, not a hive mind, but it is a corporate endeavor. But we can endeavor to do that, I guess. But I think what you're getting at, which is helpful, is the need for preparation. That when we come to worship, and if we know that there is a danger of merely going through the motions, when we recite the same creed every week, or when we pray the same prayer every week, or whatever it might be, or when it's a new prayer. Then we're unfamiliar with the words, and so we're just trying to stay one word ahead so that we can pray it along with everybody. All of those things, we need to be careful to know that they must be done mindfully. They must be done from faith. And so preparation is helpful in both of those regards, whether it's a familiar prayer or a new prayer, that they should really be coming from our hearts with faith. and that they're not merely going through the motions, they're not empty words. They're not just spoken for its own sake. But we must make them familiar to us as much as we are able, but then say them with sincerity. Understanding and remembering, again, that we're not seeking to impress God. Not to impress God either with a prepared form of prayer or even with our apparent spontaneity. Again, He knows before we ask. We don't pray to change God's mind. We pray because He's commanded. He's ordained it as the means in which He will use. And so we do pray with faith and obedience. But again, that motivation there, the Lord knows before even you ask Him. Jesus hasn't even taught them what to pray for yet, but already we see how important it is to know who it is we are praying to. And as we go to the Lord and pray, we must remember His character, His attributes, those things which He has promised, those things which He has warned us against. We are praying to our Heavenly Father, A good father, a great father, a father who is near unto us that we have access to through his son and his son's work of redemption. So Jesus, even before we get to what to do, he warns us, don't be a hypocrite when you pray, don't be a pagan. And this leads, as he says, to one summarizing thought, that prayer in its most simple form, it is communion. Many people use the term prayer as not a recipe, it's a relationship. I think there's some truth to that, as trite as it might be. If we think of prayer as something that has to be elaborate, You know, if you have a favorite preacher or a favorite person in the church and you see the way that they pray, well, you can learn from that. There's many books about prayer and they can be a help to you. But the most important thing is that you pray, is that you pray with faith. In fact, Jesus helps us and he reminds us that even a simple prayer of faith is acceptable to the Lord. It's something that he receives through Christ by the power of the Spirit, the help of Christ also, his mediation. And so prayer is rightly seen as communion, as a relationship, and we should endeavor to grow in it as we grow in our sanctification, but we should not be discouraged in our prayer lives if we don't pray like that person over there. We don't pray like our favorite preacher online or whatever it might be. That simple obedience, simple faith, that is what pleases the Lord, a broken and contrite spirit that as you speak to the Lord with sincerity, with honesty, with love, well then all of those things, they'll grow as you read God's Word and as He speaks to you. and you receive his word and then you respond back to the Lord, then your vocabulary, your prayer vocabulary, it will grow. But that's not the goal in and of itself. The goal is communion with God, praying in the way that he has commanded, but also as we will see in the weeks to come, praying the things he has commanded. So we'll stop there. Any further comments or perhaps any questions this morning? Well, I look forward to our time together again as we will pick up the larger catechism beginning next week. Lord willing, I think you know the questions, but what is prayer? Who do we pray to? What does it mean to pray in the name of Christ? How does the Spirit help us to pray? For whom do we pray? Those are all sort of preliminary questions that I think will help us be oriented, and then we will get into the particular petitions of the Lord's Prayer in the times to come. But let's go ahead and conclude with prayer this morning.