MOTIVATE

This last week I received a phone call from Baltimore, and the caller ID said M&T Bank Stadium. I answered the phone and the person introduced themselves as Mr. Bisciotti. I was suspicious, and asked “THE Steve Bisciotti, owner of the Baltimore Ravens?” He laughed and replied, “Yes, last time I checked.”

I was still uncertain and played along: “So, am I getting drafted by the Ravens? Because I’ll need to be honest: my back hurts thinking about getting tackled, but I can probably run fast if I know I’m being chased.” Mr. Bisciotti laughed harder this time: “No, no. Nothing like that. Actually, I heard from one of my employees that you visited our stadium recently. And he gave a positive reference for you that I was curious if you had time to meet for coffee.”

At this point, I was confused. How? Why? This doesn’t make sense to have someone as important and influential as Mr. Bisciotti wanting to have a conversation, and perhaps a friendship w/ me…

Ok this account did NOT happen. But some of you were curious; maybe even jealous. “How did pdb get that connection? Why couldn’t I get a phone call or invitation to something like that?!?”

And that’s the point of my fable. You see, each of us have an invitation to speak and share our life with someone much wealthier than a sports industry owner or successful entrepreneur / and much more worthy than one with professional titles and personal accomplishments.

Instead, we have the opportunity to speak with the Creator who made mountains and moves them.

We have the privilege to call God, “Father” and know that he hears our prayers.

We have the freedom to reach out to Jesus anytime, anywhere, for any reason with the confidence that God cares and has our good in mind.

Yet, as many would line up and jump at the chance to speak with Mr. Bisciotti, the same neglect time in prayer to our Father in heaven.

We have the opportunity to speak with the Creator who made and moves mountains. Yet, as many would line up at the chance to speak with a famous person, neglect time in prayer to our Father in heaven. We have freedom to reach out to Jesus anytime, anywhere, for any reason.

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Today I want to encourage talking with God, and equip us with tools to grow in our faith.

EXAMINE   Talking To God (Matthew 6)

Many Christians feel uncomfortable with spiritual disciplines like prayer, giving, or even fasting. These seem like for elite Christians. However, Jesus makes it clear that these 3 disciplines should be regular routines & rhythms of our life.

MT 6 is in middle of SOM. I’ve preached on what is known as the “Lord’s Prayer” in 2015; so this will merely be an overview.[1] This is really the disciple’s prayer; Lord’s Prayer = John 17.

• Luke’s Gospel placed the prayer in context of disciples asking Jesus to teach them how to pray (LK 11:1).
• Jesus didn’t say “Here’s a prayer,” nor did disciples ask for a prayer formula. They genuinely wanted to understand how to pray meaningfully and effectively.
  • Prayer is more than a providential lucky charm or prescribed formula (AKA Say 5x the “Our Father” prayer).
  • Prayer is personal communication with our Sovereign God – who already knows what we need; which means that prayer is not about getting our desires met but deepening our relationship.  
• SOM includes 3 disciplines: giving, praying, and fasting.
  • Each offer the promise of a reward (6:4, 6, 18; contrast 6:1). Therefore, we should pay attention and pursue these spiritual practices.
  • Each come with a warning (6:1; 5, 15).
    • When someone warns you, it means they care about you. If your friends never caution or challenge, or even rebuke you, then you have a a group that isn’t really reliable or truly trustworthy. But Jesus is.
    • These spiritual practices can be done in a way that is self-deceiving, and inoculate you from salvation. We receive shots for a small dosage of a virus so our body creates immunity and resistance from a virus that would overtake our life. Likewise, people can be inoculated to the gospel consuming us by being content with small dosages – little Bible verses (taken out of context) – little promises (w/o the warnings). Therefore, Jesus wants us to beware of the vaccine of superficial or shallow faith, for it will do more harm than help in your spiritual journey.

Give to help others not to highlight yourself.

¹ “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. ² “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

• First spiritual practice Jesus exhorts is giving, which is interesting on its own.
• Jesus talks about money/giving more than most topics; almost 1/6 of teachings
• “WHEN you give” not “IF you give”
• Our giving reflects the posture of our heart toward God.
• Jesus uses humor/exaggeration about trumpets & giving
• Jesus’ criticism was not about frequency but sincerity of disciplines; calling them hypocrites (υpοκριtης), people wearing masks to cover identity and to augment or amplify public voice, but only to play a part for the audience. Likewise, the Pharisees loved to self-promote on street corners so others would notice.
• not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing implies unselfishness & generosity; yet it is more blessed to give than receive; it’s a sacrifice that leads to satisfaction.
• Father will reward you implies our motivation is Vertical not horizontal. The reward is not specified – could be earthly provision of need (6:11) or spiritual (6:30) or heavenly (6:20).

>> Give regularly as in a flourishing partnership
>> Give intentionally with a percentage; more than an unintentional whatever…[2]
>> Give more than your finances. Others/church needs you as the offering…

Pray to strengthen your faith not to satisfy your greed.  
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. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶ 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. 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. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ⁹ Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. ¹⁰ Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread, ¹² and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM, AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY, FOREVER, AMEN. ¹⁴ For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, ¹⁵ but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

• Jesus repeats the warning about hypocritical prayer, exemplified by Gentile religions heaping up empty babble:
  • Pharisee prideful refrains – thanking God for superiority (Lk 18:11);
    promoting visible deeds (Mt 23:23); burdening people with judgments w/o personal responsibility/accountability (Mt 23:24-46)…  
  • Prophets of Baal (1Kings 18:20-39)
  • Artemis worshipers shouting deafeningly & disorderly (Acts 19)
  • Religions performed with rote repetition     
• Father knows what you need before you ask him If we didn’t pray and things just developed/faded, we’d never consider God. So, we pray to know God answers and is develop our faith. Our prayers don’t change God but they change us.   
• Jesus describes God as our Father 8x in 6:1-15; and 44x in Matthew’s Gospel.[3] Therefore, prayer is not like learning algebra, trying to decipher code, solve a problem, and master a subject. Instead, prayer is like a learning a language so you can speak to a friend. And this is why we pray – to develop our relationship.  
  • Viewing God = Father implies 2 perspectives
    1) Authority. As the Son obeyed the Father, so it is our honor and duty to obey the Father’s commands.
    2) Affection. As the Father loves the Son, so God loves us by grace through faith. God’s affection for us is not based on performance but our position in Christ.
• The Prayer overview:
  • God-focused confessions: 1) God’s name be hallowed/reverenced;
    2) God’s kingdom present/pursued; 3) God’s will be accomplished/obeyed.
  • Need-based requests: 1) Provision of bread (material needs); 2) Pardon for sin (spiritual needs); 3) Protection from evil (circumstantial needs – guidance).

>> PRAY = Praise Repent Ask Yield
>> Pray with open eyes on Scripture; Lord’s Prayer… Psalms / Paul’s prayers
>> Pray with a list or church directory

Fast to feed your hunger for eternal priorities not temporary passions.
¹⁶ “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

• Again, Jesus repeats the warning about hypocritical fasting.
• Biblical fasting is giving up something in creation to focus on the Creator; refraining from an activity (food or other) to reinvest that time for seeking God; it’s subtracting to add. In two words, fasting in the Bible was for the purpose of repentance and dependence.[4] You can have an absolute or partial fast, but either must be intentional.

This week I picked up van from shop, which had autobody work on bumper and rear fender. Another issue arose as I drove, which was the “low fuel” alert was on. Now, I know my wife… but it’s not normally empty! So, I refueled asap, but after restarting van it still registered on E and alert was on. Hmm… obviously an issue requiring diagnostics & repair. YET, this is a reminder that our life dashboard frequently showing E, which we can choose to refuel with prayer and fasting, or we can drive on the fumes of past experiences. But eventually your life will sputter and come to a standstill.

>> Read the Bible verses about fasting in footnote 4.
>> Fast this week for one day from something for some time.

APPLY/TAKEAWAY

Regardless of the famed golfer’s personal life, Tiger Woods is synonymous to world-renown golf with 15 professional major championships and a record-tying 82 PGA tour victories. He holds the records for both the most consecutive weeks (281) and total weeks (683) at World No.1 golfer.

Yet, a popular documentary about his life tells the backstory. Tiger’s father Earl started teaching him golf at the age of 2, and immersed his son’s entire life in golf. Now, Earl wasn’t the perfect father, but he took every opportunity to be present in his son’s life.

The documentary has a scene with Earl… and he’s speechless and shedding tears, saying, “You’ll have to excuse me, but I get a little emotional about my son.” And what we know about Tiger is that what motivated him was his father’s loving leadership toward golf and in life. In fact, when Earl died, Tiger almost quit golf to attempt becoming a Navy Seal, as his father was in the military. Tiger was lost without experiencing the love of his father.
LIKEWISE, when God the Father looks at us, He says, “You’ll have to excuse me, I get emotional about my children” and the love of our Heavenly Father never dies.

[1] https://growinggodlygenerations.com/2015/07/23/praying-with-jesus/

[2] Consider this article: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/5-lies-christans-tell-money/

[3] References to God as Father in Matthew: 44x; Mark 3x; Luke 16x; John 121x for a total of 184x.

[4] Scripture references various purposes for fasting: renewal & revival (1 Sam 7; Jonah 3:5-10; Joel 2:12-13),  spiritual growth (1Ki 19:2-18), grief (1 Sam 31:13; 2 Sam 1:12; 12:16), protection & deliverance (Es 4:16), direction (Ez 8:21-23; Ac 9:9-19), physical health (Dan 1:12-20), correct injustice & overcome sin (Isa 58), repentance & kingdom advance (Mt 3:4); to overcome struggles or sin (Mt 17:20-21). In 2 words: 1) Repentance, 2) Dependence.