Privacy

Rev. David G Bostick
09-20-09

Introduction

In the preface to a small book called, The Lord's Tale by Andrew Murray, the author gives us a clear picture of the responsibility we have to get alone for communication with God. That's what Jesus is talking about in the Sermon on the Mount when He talks about prayer. Listen to Murray's words...

"I am convinced that one chief cause why some do not grow more in grace is that they do not take time to hold converse with the Lord in secret. Spiritual, divine truth does not thus become our possession at once.
    Although I understand what I read, although I consent heartily to it, although I receive it, it may speedily fade away and be forgotten, unless by private meditation I give it time to become fixed and rooted in me, to become united and identified with me.
    Christians, give yourselves, give your Lord time to transfer His heavenly thoughts to your inner, spiritual life. When you have read a portion, set yourself in silence before God. Take time to remain before Him until He has made His word living and powerful in your souls. Then does it become the life and the power of your life. (Murray)

His words, "...give it time to become fixed and rooted in me,... sound just like the key verse for the Sermon on the Mount which is found in:

Matthew 7:24 (NASB)
  Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Perhaps a portion of the action Jesus calls us to in this key verse is time alone with Him in secret; in private prayer.

It is helping us to understand and put into action the things that Jesus taught that would make it possible for us to fix our lives on the solid rock foundation of Jesus' Word.

We started looking at Jesus' teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount last week. There is a portion of a quote from Robert Mulholland's book, Invitation to a Journey that we looked at last week that I want us to keep in mind as we continue learning from Jesus about prayer.

"Thanksgiving is the deep inner posture of joyful release of our life and being to God in absolute trust, without demands, without conditions, without reservations." (Mulholland, 91)

Privacy in Prayer

1. An Obvious Emphasis
2. The Intentions of the Heart
3. The Care of the Father
4. The Intimacy of Relationship
5. The Attitude of Thanksgiving

Our Text

Our text for today is found in...

Matthew 6:1-6 (NASB)
  [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.
  [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 honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
  [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.
  [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.

An Obvious Emphasis

First we need to pay attention to the emphasis of these verses. As you read the six verses of our text you will notice there is a double emphasis. In fact, we will see that there are several aspects to this double emphasis.

1. The first is on privacy, both in prayer and in giving, and even in fasting as we saw in (Matthew 6:16). But, in our text for today, especially in prayer.
2. The second emphasis is on rewards. Usually we think of rewards as something we receive but Jesus' emphasis was a looking toward the future.

Look at the emphasis here in our text.

• Verse 1 ~ Concerning practicing righteousness Jesus warns us to be private about it and He talks about the associated rewards.
• Verse 2-4 ~ Jesus warns us about privacy in giving to the poor and the associated rewards in the future.
• Verse 5-6 ~ Jesus talks about privacy in our praying and again, the associated reward from our Father in heaven.

The Intentions of the Heart

Jesus does not just give us the do's and don'ts of prayer and giving. He teaches us to look at the intentions of the heart.

For example in the verses of our text today Jesus uses several phrases that show the intentions of the heart:
 
   In verse 1 - "to be noticed by men".
 
   In verse 2 - "so that they may be honored by men".
 
   In verse 5 - "to be seen by men".
 
The intention of the heart revealed here shows us the concern we have about what others think of us. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing, unless it becomes the controlling force of our life. When I care more about what others think than what God thinks and wants in my life I am in trouble.

We saw another example of this in the Sermon on the Mount, in
Mt. 6:16, where Jesus is talking about fasting to be noticed by men instead of fasting for the right reason.

One more example is found in...

Matthew 23:5-7 (NASB)
  [5] "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
  [6] "They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues,
  [7] and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.

  I guess the bottom line is this: The opinions of others have very little merit in our lives when compared to the opinion of God. Jesus wants us to know that God should be the top priority in our daily lives. Any intention of the heart that strays from this truth is outside of the will of God.

The Care of the Father

Another important factor in these verses is an emphasis on the Heavenly Father. For example, in verses 4 and 6, Jesus said, "...your Father who sees what is done in secrete will reward you."

This speaks of the care of the heavenly father. I believe His reward comes in two aspects of His care for us.

1. When we pray, allowing His will into our lives, we have the reward of knowing that the Creator of the universe and all of His power and resources are focused on bringing about what is best for each of us personally.
2. The second speaks of a more tangible reward. It speaks of God's care in His eternal rewards to those who hear His words and act on them.

There are other passages that show the care of our Heavenly Father.

• For example, Mt. 6:18, speaks of His reward in connection with private fasting.
• Heb. 4 shows that God sees everything.
  Hebrews 4:12-13 (NASB)
    [12] For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
    [13] And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
     We make a mistake if we think this verse applies to God as a heavy taskmaster who is always watching for us to mess up. That is not the overall picture of the God portrayed in the Bible.
     He watches over us because He cares for us and our welfare. Does He watch so He can reprimand and discipline for our good? Certainly, like any good parent does in the normal course of the love, protection, and care for their child.
• One more example I want to point out is found in a passage we read last week in our discussion of The Quality of Prayer. It is found in Jeremiah 17. Again, think of this passage, not just with the thought of God's judgment, but also with the knowledge of His care and concern for you and I each day on this earth.
  Jeremiah 17:10 (NASB)
    [10] "I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.

The Intimacy of Relationship

The last aspect of this double emphasis on prayer by our Lord is my favorite. It is an emphasis on our intimate relationship with God.

Our Lord's words, "...when you pray go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret..." are a clear indication that He desires private intimacy in His relationship with us.

There is a word in that sentence that is very important. It is the word door. This is important because of the way it is used here. Notice that Jesus said when you enter your room that you are to close your door, not the door.

If He had said, the door instead of your door, we would get the idea that He is talking about any door. Say the door to a house or to an office. But when the word your, instead of the, is used, it makes it more personal.

It would indicate the door to your office not just any door to any office in any building. It would indicate the door to your home, not just any home in the neighborhood. I want to propose that Jesus is not talking about a physical door, but a mental one. He is talking about the door to our heart. Scripture shows this to be a common metaphor.

I think all of us are familiar with Revelation 3:20 (NASB)
[20] 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.' Jesus never stood at my front door knocking and waiting to come in when I answered the door. But He has knocked at the door of my heart. This is a mental/spiritual experience, not a physical one.

I think this is probably what Jesus had in mind when He said, "...when you pray go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret..." We are to close our mind and heart to all the distractions of life, and spend time with our Creator.

Perhaps we will seek the solitude of a lonely place or a physical room where we can be free from outside distractions. For some, this solitude may come in the midst the busyness of the activities of every day living. All of us are different, but all of us must find this solitude so we can be alone with God.

There are other passages that talk about this kind of intimacy with God. For example in...

John 10:7-10 (NASB)
   [7] So Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
   [8] "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
   [9] "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
   [10] "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

If you have not read, Invitation to a Journey, by Robert Mulholland, I highly recommend it. I want to read another important quote from him concerning prayer.

"Prayer seems to be Paul's term for the deep inner posture of one's being toward God in open receptivity and pliable responsiveness. It is the term he uses when he exhorts us to 'pray constantly' (1Thess 5:17 RSV) to 'continue steadfastly in prayer' (Col 4:2 RSV), to 'be constant in prayer' (Rom 12:12 RSV). Praying without ceasing obviously presumes an inner posture of being for its fulfillment, a posture that undergirds all the activities and relationships of life. With this term Paul seems to call us not to isolated actions but to a habitual orientation of our being toward God at the deepest levels. This is an inner discipline of life which, in every circumstance, leads the heart to 'swing like the needle, to the polestar of the soul.'" (Mulholland, 90)

It is impossible to have this posture of prayer when we are focused on what others think of us as we pray. Privacy in prayer might refer to this posture of prayer being a habitual orientation of our being toward God instead of toward self or the notice of others and their opinions of us.

The Attitude of Thanksgiving

If I were to put down what I feel to be the very most important things that I have learned about prayer, both in study and practical experience, this would be it.

There are three attributes of prayer that are repeated in the scriptures. For example in:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NASB)
   [16] Rejoice always;
   [17] pray without ceasing;
   [18] in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

This passage shows us these three important attributes of prayer.

1. The emphasis of prayer is to "rejoice always".
2. The posture of prayer is to "pray without ceasing".
3. The attitude of prayer is thanksgiving, "in everything give thanks".

This passage is not the only one where we find these three attributes of prayer. The same three are found in:

Hebrews 13:15-16 (NASB)
   [15] Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
   [16] And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

1. The word praise shows the emphasis of prayer which is rejoicing.
2. The word continually gives us the posture of prayer.
3. The word thanks shows us the attitude of prayer.

There are several Scripture passages that show us this attitude of prayer.

Colossians 4:2 (NASB)
   [2] Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;

Philippians 4:6 (NASB)
   [6] Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Revelation 4:9-10 (NASB)
   [9] And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,
   [10] the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne...

The Scriptures are very clear. In private, with an emphasis of rejoicing, a posture of consistency, and an attitude of thanksgiving, we are to communicate with God. That is what prayer is all about. This is the overwhelming picture portrayed in the Scriptures.

Over the 38 years since I gave my life to Christ, I have learned this kind of constant prayer in thanksgiving. I find myself throughout the day thanking God for everything in my life. However, it is a habit I have worked hard to establish in my daily life.

Prayer is a breath of thanks everywhere we are and everywhere we go. Prayer is offered in every situation and in every circumstance. Thanks should be the attitude of every prayer we pray.

I wonder if, for our closing prayer, each of us could go into our inner room for just a moment, close our door, and pray silently to God before we go? Please stand. Dear Lord, right now I enter into my inner room and shut my door... Amen!

Works Cited Section