Sermon: Rooted in the Sermon on the Mount – Why Pray – Mt 6.5–8 (1/18/26)
Introduction
Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 6.
Today we continue our study of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount.
Focus...
Our focus today, and in fact for three Sundays in a row, is what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount about PRAYER...
But honestly...
Aren't you tired of praying!
And the only thing more tiring than praying is listening to a sermon designed to make you feel guilty about not praying.
Let's begin with the TOP TEN REASONS PRAYER IS A BAD IDEA...
God already knows everything.
God has already decided what he is going to do.
Because God has promised to act, repeatedly asking him to do the same thing seems unnecessary.
A loving and all-knowing Father shouldn’t need nagging or reminding.
Talking to an invisible God feels childish or imaginary.
Prayer is often abused as a tool to impress others.
I've already prayed about my needs once, I don't see the point in praying again.
I've prayed for things before that never happened.
Plenty of people don’t pray at all, and their lives seem to turn out just fine.
Prayer feels passive in a world that rewards initiative, effort, and self-reliance.
Every one of those reasons makes sense...
Until Jesus begins to speak...
Scripture
Matthew 6.5 | Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. (CSB)
Whenever
This implies that Christians will be praying!
Not be like the hypocrites...
You can pray and do so hypocritically.
Not all prayer is good prayer.
Hypocrite...
Jesus is not merely condemning dishonesty.
He is condemning RELIGIOUS PERFORMANCE.
The people are praying badly because they are praying theatrically.
In the next two Sundays, we will learn from Jesus and his model prayer the proper way to pray.
Reward
God rewards proper prayer.
Matthew 6.6 | But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (CSB)
Private room, shut your door...
Not that you cannot pray in public.
We see public prayers throughout the Bible.
But there is value in getting alone...
Secret
As opposed to public in verse 5...
Our prayers are...
For the Lord...
About the Lord...
To the Lord...
Matthew 6.7 | When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. (CSB)
Babble
Meaningless repetition...
Many words...
Meaningless prayers...
How are we most likely to be guilty of this?
Going through the motions when asking the Lord to bless the food...
Matthew 6.8 | Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. (CSB)
This brings us back to our ten reasons prayer is a bad idea...
If God Already Knows, WHY PRAY?
This will serve as an introduction to what we will learn the next two Sundays as we do a deep dive on the Lord's prayer (Model Prayer) in Matthew 6.9–15.
Prayer is a good idea!
Let me see if I can convince you!
I. Because God commands his people to pray.
Jesus did not say, IF YOU PRAY but WHEN YOU PRAY...
Matthew 6.5 | Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. (CSB)
The Bible reinforces this expectation...
Matthew 7.7 | Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. (CSB)
1 Thessalonians 5.17 | pray constantly, (CSB)
Obedience is NEVER CONTINGENT on our understanding of why.
Why do elementary schools do fire drills...
Not because the school is on fire...
But because one day it might be and if it is, you already need to know what to do!
If you don't pray when you don't NEED to pray...
You won't be able to pray when you do NEED to pray.
You won't know how to pray...
You won't have developed the prayer muscles needed to pray...
You won't have the skill and discipline to pray...
You won't have fostered the relationship you need to pray well...
II. Because Jesus prayed and modeled prayer.
If anyone ever had the right to not pray because God already knows, it is Jesus.
Yet, the gospel shows him praying constantly.
Luke 5.16 | Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed. (CSB)
Matthew 26.39 | Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (CSB)
Jesus didn't pray because he lacked information or even that he needed God's power.
He prayed because prayer is a relationship.
He prayed because prayer is how you express and model dependence.
III. Because God has chosen to answer prayer as a means of accomplishing his will.
God has chosen to work through the prayers of his people.
James 5.16 | Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. (CSB)
A farmer can believe with certainty that God gives the harvest.
But if he never plants seed, he shouldn’t expect grain.
IV. Because God graciously rewards the act of praying.
Matthew 6.6 | But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (CSB)
Prayer is never wasted even when the answer is no.
Prayer is never wasted even when we are not asking God to do something.
Hebrews 11.6 | Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (CSB)
V. Because prayer cultivates real fellowship with a personal Father.
I hear people asking why we should bother praying if God already knows everything we are going through...
Perhaps the best way to answer that is to turn the question around.
If you think it is pointless to pray because God already knows, imagine how by that same reasoning, it should be even more pointless for him to have to listen to you say things he already knows!
Since he already knows, our prayers must just seem like a bunch of unnecessary whining.
But he still asks us and demands for us to pray...
Why does he love us to pray even though he does not gain any new information through the process?
RELATIONSHIP!
Romans 8.15 | For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” (CSB)
When your kids ran into a room crying with a bloody nose...
Even if you already new exactly what happened...
What did you say?
Tell me what happened...
Why?
It was about the relationship.
VI. Because prayer retrains my heart to rely on God, not myself.
Every time you pray, you are admitting something:
“I am not enough. I cannot control this. I need help.”
That is why prayer feels unnatural to proud hearts.
It confronts our ILLUSION OF INDEPENDENCE.
If you never pray, it is not because you are strong.
It is because you have learned to cope without God.
Prayer reorients us back to trust.
VII. Because prayer reorders my desires around God’s priorities.
Psalm 37.4 | Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. (CSB)
VIII. Because prayer is how believers wage war in the spiritual realm.
Ephesians 6.17 | Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. (CSB)
Ephesians 6.18 | Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. (CSB)
We are all in a spiritual battle...
In a battle against deception...
In a battle against the strategies of the evil one...
In a battle against spiritual forces...
IX. Because prayer helps and encourages others.
Ephesians 6.19 | Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. (CSB)
Colossians 1.9 | For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, (CSB)
The account of Moses praying over his troops in Exodus 17.8–13...
Who needs you to be praying over them while they are in the battle?
Maybe people who don't know they need you to pray...
Maybe people who will never know you are praying...
My role as your pastor...
Your role...
X. Because prayer is the best way to first confess Christ as Lord.
Romans 10.9 | If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (CSB)
GOSPEL
Conclusion
Guided prayer...
Philippians 4.6 | Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (CSB)
Philippians 4.7 | And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (CSB)