He Sees, He Hears, He Knows
Download MP3Good morning. My name is Caleb Chancey. I'm one of the lay elders here at Redeemer, and I'm really excited for y'all to be here today. Last week, we began a new series on the Lord's Prayer. And today we're gonna continue in that meditation together.
Caleb Chancey:Now each week, we're gonna begin our time with saying the Lord's prayer together. So we're about to do that. I'm going to lead us in a brief prayer, and then I'll cue y'all on when to start praying. We're saying temptation, or we're saying, sorry, trespasses. Don't screw up like I just did.
Caleb Chancey:It's gonna be okay. So let's go to the Lord together. Father, for us is great. We thank you for the time you've given us to be together as sisters and brothers. We ask that you dwell with us during this time, and that you would do the thing that only you can do.
Caleb Chancey:To declare forgiveness of sins and remind us all of your deep love for sinners. Lord, as we meditate on your scripture, we earnestly pray that you will continue to teach us to pray, saying, our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
Caleb Chancey:Amen. As Jeff pointed out last week, the Lord's Prayer is found in 2 different places in our bible. The first place is in the gospel of Luke, and the other place is in the gospel of Matthew. During our study today and the following weeks, we're mostly going to be looking at the passage in Matthew's gospel. You can go ahead and turn there if you'd like.
Caleb Chancey:It's Matthew chapter 6. Now in Matthew's gospel, the Lord's Prayer is taught right in the middle of a famous sermon that Jesus delivered that came to be known as the Sermon on the Mount. Now if it's been a while since you've read the Sermon on the Mount, let me give you kind of a 10,000 foot summary. Throughout the sermon, Jesus is contrasting 2 ways of living. Near the end of his sermon, he highlights this with stacking metaphor on metaphor on metaphor.
Caleb Chancey:He says, in the end, there's a person who enters by a narrow gate, and there's a person who enters by a wide gate. In the end, there is a person who is like a tree and produces good fruit. Then there's a tree that produces bad fruit. In the end, there's a man who builds his house on the rock and the man who builds his house on sand. Now Tim Keller confessed that for many years he believed these two paths were simply the way of Christ and the way of the world.
Caleb Chancey:But after studying the text for years, he was convicted that if you look at the sermon as a whole, you'll find that isn't the case at all. Jesus's sermon is not about the way of Christ versus the way of the non religious world. In those metaphors, Christ doesn't say, In the end, there's a tree that bears fruit and a tree that doesn't bear fruit. He doesn't say that in the end there's a house that a man builds and then a man who doesn't build a house. Both trees produce fruit, but one of them is poisonous.
Caleb Chancey:Both men build houses, but one of them will be destroyed. Both men walk through a gate, but one of them leads to destruction. Now Jesus' sermon feels like an echo of Proverbs: There's a way that seems right to a man, but in the end that way leads to death. Jesus ends his sermon with a warning that clues us in to who the second group is the second path. And these verses I'm about to read are very heavy, but we need to hear them today.
Caleb Chancey:Jesus says, Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. So if this second path, this many who will say, Lord, Lord, isn't the way of the world, who is who is he talking about in his sermon? You see, he's not contrasting people who pray and people who don't pray.
Caleb Chancey:People who give to the poor, people who don't give to the poor. Everyone in these metaphors and in his sermon claim to know the Lord and to be following the Lord. Everyone is following the law, and they're actually doing good and mighty works. Keller and other scholars were convicted by the text that Christ is actually contrasting the way of following him versus being religious. The religious person believes following Christ means doing the right thing, saying the right thing, acting the right way, being the right kind of person, having it all together.
Caleb Chancey:But as we read together earlier, For you will not delight in sacrifice or I would give it, and you will not be pleased by a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. Almost 20 years ago, when I started my epic journey of becoming a photographer, I was interning and I knew nothing. And my 3 mentors would often see me doing something, and they'd go, stop.
Caleb Chancey:Whether that's editing a photo in a really artsy way or, like, getting an angle on someone that's just, like, not flattering at all. They would go, stop. I just saved you 5 years. Because they knew things I didn't know, and they cared about me, so they gave me that warning. Well, today, we're gonna be looking at 2 warnings specifically that Christ gives us about prayer.
Caleb Chancey:Yet alongside the 2 warnings, Christ infuses 3 encouragements. Now we're going to be looking at the verses right before the Lord's Prayer today. That's right, week 2 on the series on the Lord's Prayer. We're not touching the Lord's Prayer yet. And I know that's like coming here thinking you're going to watch the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, but I'm showing you The Hobbit Trilogy instead.
Caleb Chancey:But instead, hopefully this sermon is helpful unlike those movies. Hobbit Slam Trilogy number 1. So let's look at the first few verses in our text. Matthew 6 beginning in verse 5. 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.
Caleb Chancey: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. What do we want to get out of prayer? What are we looking for?
Caleb Chancey:Why do we even do it? As Jeff pointed out last week, prayer is a gift. It's an invitation to respond to God. That response can sometimes be praises, sometimes questions, sometimes requests or tears, But it's all in response to who we believe God is. The hypocrite in this warning is not praying in response to God.
Caleb Chancey:Instead of a divine conversation, it's an ego driven monologue. He desires not to be seen by God, but to be seen by everyone around him. Now quickly, do these verses mean that we should never pray in public? That just to be safe, we should never pray over meals, pray over sick friends, pray a blessing over a newborn, or pray with our children before a trip? Of course not.
Caleb Chancey:And honestly, if we flip that switch and try to do that, we would be following that religious way. We would be saying, Lord, just give me a rule to follow and I'm going to respond to you. Lord, I've kept this law since my youth. There was nothing wrong with public prayer in both holy spaces and common spaces. Just a few verses before this warning, Jesus called us, his followers, the light of the world, a city on a hill.
Caleb Chancey:He said to let your light shine before men that they may see your works and glorify your Father in heaven. And Jesus, right after this instruction to when you pray, go into your room and shut the door, he's going to go and lead the most famous public prayer in all of history. So what's the problem? What's the warning? The action is not the problem.
Caleb Chancey:The hypocrite is not a hypocrite because he prays in public. The hypocrite is a hypocrite because he loves to pray in public. The city on the hill verses end with, That they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. The description of the hypocrite says, He prays so that he may be seen by others. Period.
Caleb Chancey:Full stop. The hypocrite can sometimes justify his actions by saying, Doesn't God just want to do the most good? And if I pray out loud, isn't that going to accomplish more good, as if I prayed by myself? I mean, if I do that devotional at the coffee shop, I mean, people might see me and they might start asking questions. And that girl I like might start asking me questions.
Caleb Chancey:And, Lord, I know so much about this scripture. I should definitely take over the conversation at home group because whenever I talk, people seem to be really impressed. I mean, encouraged. With this warning about the hypocrite, Jesus is asking us, when you pray, who do you want to be seen by? Whose approval are you looking for?
Caleb Chancey:Now our family loves to play video games. Follow me on this. Okay? And whenever we get a new game, it's really interesting to me to ask like, Hey, what perspective am I going to play in in this game? And what I mean by that is there's 2 common perspectives in a game.
Caleb Chancey:One of them is the first person view. It's what we see in life. We see everything out of our own eyes. We can't see our full body. We kind of see our hands.
Caleb Chancey:And you know, if you're playing a game that way, your perspective, you can't see everything. You can see your peripheral and things like that. If you want to see something far off in the distance, you got to get higher. It's limited. Well, that's one way of playing.
Caleb Chancey:It's usually meant for games that want to build intensity because of that limitation. Well then there's a common second view in games, and that's the 3rd person perspective. It's like a God like divine invisible camera that follows you around and you have control over it or you can circle it around. You can see the full player. You can actually see more than you could if you were first person perspective.
Caleb Chancey:You can see, Oh, there's mountains over that tree. That's actually where I'm going. That's where that's where I would need to go. But there's a third person view that or there's a third view that game makers don't use all the time. Rarely ever.
Caleb Chancey:And it's called the 2nd person view in a game. In this view, you can see your player fully. But you're viewing your player through the eyes of a secondary character that you can't control. You don't know where they're moving, you're just trying to keep up. The reason game makers don't use this is because it is confusing.
Caleb Chancey:It causes a lot of motion sickness with it because you're just trying to keep up with it. If you don't play games, you've probably experienced this before though, if you're the primary driver in your family and all of a sudden you're asked to sit in the far back seat. The reason you're getting car sick is you're actually wanting to control this view, but it's going where you wouldn't want it to go. So for everyone listening to this, in this room, who desire the approval of other people, which is to say to everyone in this room. Isn't that exhausting?
Caleb Chancey:To crave validation from everyone, and to never be fully satisfied, to keep up an appearance hoping other people will approve. Just to collapse at the end of your day, knowing you have to do this again tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. The scholar Jim Carey describes depression. He says, Depression is your avatar telling you, I'm tired of being the character you're trying to play. The hypocrite views his life through other limited flawed people's eyes, and he will do anything to make sure they love what they see.
Caleb Chancey:That's the warning. The first warning Jesus gives us. Don't be like that. But why shouldn't we be like that? And this is the encouragement.
Caleb Chancey:God sees you. He sees you, not because of your perfect acts, not because you're approved by others. He didn't poll the audience, asking who he should see. He chose you. And you're his child.
Caleb Chancey:And even as an imperfect father, I cannot express the joy I have in seeing my children. But God does not see as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. And when he sees you, his beloved child, he sees a fully redeemed heart. You are the one he loves.
Caleb Chancey:Do we believe this? Prayer invites us to lay down the burden we are carrying the burden of trying to earn our value, trying to make our own name. And we can rest in every prayer knowing that we've been given an immeasurable value, and that a name that nor height, nor depth nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from because that name that you've been given, that value that you've been given is sealed by the blood of Christ, the love of God, and the never ceasing work of the Spirit. God says you do not have to earn his eyes. He sees you.
Caleb Chancey:Lay down that burden. So that's the first warning and encouragement. Let's look at the second. This is from verse 7. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words.
Caleb Chancey:Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. When I was growing up, we didn't really watch Veggie Tales. I was told at one point that a talking vegetable doesn't go to heaven. Which I can't disagree with that logic. But instead, we were given these animated Bible stories that were produced by Focus on the Family, and they were not great.
Caleb Chancey:But even in their flawed state, because I watch those, whenever I read this of don't be like the Gentiles, heaping up empty phrases, I immediately in my heart go to the story of Elijah. So Elijah was a prophet in the Old Testament, a prophet of the Lord who lived during a corrupt king of Israel's reign. His name was Ahab. And here is God's Rotten Tomato review of Ahab. Ahab did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him.
Caleb Chancey:1 and a half stars. The same rating I gave The Hobbit Trilogy. Hobbit Trilogy slam number 2. I'm done with it. It's okay.
Caleb Chancey:Just Ahab began worshiping the god Baal instead of the god of Israel. So Elijah proclaimed that there would be no rain in the land until Elijah asked the Lord to give it. By the way, this is all coming from 1st Kings 16 through 18. If you haven't read it, or it's been a while, read it this week. 1st Kings 16 through 18.
Caleb Chancey:That's this story is shouting towards Christ. It is absolutely incredible. So 3 years pass with no rain in the land, and then the Lord finally tells Elijah to go to King Ahab, and the Lord will send rain. But Elijah does this in a really fun, kind of epic way. He tells Ahab to bring all of his prophets, hundreds of them, as well as all of Israel to Mount Carmel.
Caleb Chancey:Elijah said, I only am left a prophet of the Lord because Ahab had killed all of the other prophets. But Baal's prophets were 450 men. Let 2 bulls be given to us and let's build altars and let them choose 1 bull for themselves and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it And I will prepare the other bowl and lay it on the wood, and I'll put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your God. I will call upon the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.
Caleb Chancey:Ahab agrees. So the prophets of Baal took the ox he had given them, prepared it for the altar, then prayed to Baal. They prayed all morning. Oh, Baal, answer us. But nothing happened.
Caleb Chancey:Not so much as a whisper of breeze. Desperate, they jumped and stomped on the altar they had made. And by noon, Elijah had started making fun of them, taunting. Call a little louder. He is a God after all.
Caleb Chancey:Maybe he's off meditating somewhere or another, and maybe he's gotten involved in a special project. Maybe he's in the bathroom. Maybe he's on vacation. You don't suppose he overslept, you just need to wake him up. The prophets prayed louder and louder, cutting themselves with swords and knives, a ritual common to them until they were covered in blood.
Caleb Chancey:This went on well past noon. They used every religious trick and strategy they knew to make something happen on the altar. But nothing happened. Not so much as a whisper, not a flicker of response. Elijah builds his altar and prepares prepares his ox.
Caleb Chancey:But in addition, he one ups the prophets of Baal. He tells the people surrounding his altar, pour buckets and buckets of water on my altar. Precious water during a drought. They poured so much water on it, it covered the sacrifice. It covered the wood.
Caleb Chancey:It covered the stones. And as it started to cover the ground, Elijah digs a trench around his altar and it fills up the trench. Then he gathers all the children of Israel around him, and he says this prayer: O God, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make it known right now that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant. And I'm doing this under your orders. Answer me God.
Caleb Chancey:Answer me and reveal to this people that you are God, the true God, and that you're giving these people another chance at repentance. Immediately the fire of God fell and burned up the offering, the wood, the stones, the dirt, and even the water in the trench, all the people saw it happen. And they fell on their faces in odd worship, exclaiming, God is the true God. God is the true God. Back to Jesus's warning.
Caleb Chancey:And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. So what's the warning here? Should we never pray for a lengthy period of time? Just to be safe, should we get a timer next to us, so that we pray just the right amount, 7 minutes and 33 seconds? Of course not.
Caleb Chancey:Jesus is recorded in scripture spending hours in prayer with his father. Some of my favorite verses from the Apostle Paul are just run on sentences of prayers. And at one point in scripture, we're even commanded to pray without ceasing. Praying like a Gentile is not wrong because they speak many words. It's wrong because they believe they are given access to God because of their many words.
Caleb Chancey:That God will only hear many words. And when we act this way in prayer, we are not praying in spirit and in truth. We're not listening to who God says he is. When we pray, do we think that God doesn't want to hear us? Do we think he's just humoring us?
Caleb Chancey:Are we bothering him? Does he have something better to do? That's the other god. That's not our god. God is not ranking our prayers.
Caleb Chancey:God is not looking for the most clever, the most knowledgeable, the most eloquent prayers. The ones that are put just the right way. We know this because in scripture, simple honest prayers flow out from the pages. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Lord, if you will it, you can heal my child.
Caleb Chancey:Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Lord, remember me this day. Have you ever listened to a child pray? Does God rank the prayers of the mentally disabled?
Caleb Chancey:Does he listen and say, nice try, but not good enough? No. He hears us, whether our prayers are lengthy or brief, and we can pour out our hearts to the Lord for hours, or we can pray like Martin Luther described, brief, often, and intense. That's the second encouragement. Yes.
Caleb Chancey:The Lord sees us, but our God, our loving father hears us. We do not have to earn his eyes, and we do not have to earn his ears. He has given them to us. We do not have to pray like the Gentiles, using every religious trick and strategy we know to make something happen on the altar. Jesus gives us full access to our loving father because he laid himself on the altar.
Caleb Chancey:When we pray, do we believe this? I'm gonna go straight into the last encouragement, which is found in the last verse of our text today. For your father knows what you need before you ask him. Oftentimes when I study a verse for a while, pictures will come in my mind. And the first picture I saw, I dismissed.
Caleb Chancey:I thought of, is God just a divine waiter? And I'm just the regular in my favorite restaurant. And I come in and I don't have to say anything. I just can look at the waiter and he goes, 12 oysters and an ASO martini? And we share a laugh.
Caleb Chancey:That's not what we're talking about here. If you need a visual for this verse, think of this. Think of a child sprinting in the back door, not bothering to close it because she's hurt. And she may have hurt herself by scraping her knee. She may have had her heart broken.
Caleb Chancey:She may have been bullied. The age of the child doesn't matter whether you're in your twenties or thirties or forties. You just know that all you need at that moment is just be held. You just need your mom. And as your mom holds you, she strokes your hair and whispers in your ear.
Caleb Chancey:I know. I know. Jerusalem. Jerusalem. How often I have longed to gather you like a mother hen under my wings.
Caleb Chancey:For we do not have a high priest who is unacquainted with our grief or unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. God knows. And these encouragements, these encouragements, he sees you. He hears you. He knows you.
Caleb Chancey:To someone who is running from the Lord or someone who's trying to earn their salvation or earn God's ear, earn God's eyes, earn his love. These encouragements can come off as threats. Like he's sitting in heaven, writing everything down. He's watching you. He is he's listening to you.
Caleb Chancey:He wants you to earn him. Like a divine Santa Claus, that's just wanting you to just be good. Jesus actually models what these encouragements mean perfectly in another famous prayer. And this prayer is not when he is surrounded by followers on a mount. This is when he's alone in a garden the day before his crucifixion, Where he earnestly prays, father if there's any way this cup can pass from me, I don't want it.
Caleb Chancey:But Lord not my will but yours be done. In this garden, this prayer of Jesus, we actually don't get recorded a audible voice of God like we do at Jesus's baptism. And most of the time when we pray, we need to be honest. Fire doesn't immediately come down from heaven. These encouragements are not that God will always answer your prayers the exact way you want.
Caleb Chancey:Exactly when you want it. And that silence of God, that seeming silence of God, can sometimes be deafening. Yet even without that recorded audible voice of God in the garden, Christ had no doubt that his father saw him. He heard him. And that he knew.
Caleb Chancey:We can take encouragements from these warnings that when we are faced with silence of God, God is not waiting for you to try harder to earn his eyes, earn his ears, earn his love. And that's the reward of prayer that's referenced in verse 6. The reward of prayer is the presence of God. The reward of prayer is that we are continually reminded in our prayers when we go to the Lord that Christ has done everything for us. That we do not have to earn the affections of our Lord or the attention of our father.
Caleb Chancey:And if you're going through a season where all you have heard is the silence of God, or if you're going through a season where you are just in immense doubt, please hear these words. I see you. I hear you. I know you. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Caleb Chancey:Father, we are in awe. Help us. Thank you. Amen.
