Embracing the Unseen: Prayer and Spiritual Authenticity

"SE we're learning together from the most influential teaching in the history of the human race whatever you think about it the sermon of the mount Jesus the greatest teacher who says that what is insurmountable in this world are not the problems and challenges and difficulties they exist but they are temporary they will one day be redeemed uh it is God and His presence and his kingdom in our midst which is unseen that matters the most and we get to align our lives with it and right now we're looking Matthew 6 about how we're tempted to think who I am is what other people think about me and so Jesus brings this great uh tool of Liber ation of Freedom actually you could do things in secret and he talks about three particular activities uh giving alms later fasting right now we're talking about prayer but if you do them in order for other people to look at you and be impressed by you then you got your reward and you're that much more addicted to it but if you do it in secret you can get a little bit free now these are three particular uh activities that especially in Jesus day when religious devotion was highly esteemed could easily lend them elves to uh things that people would do to impress other people in our day uh lots of other areas involve these kind of activities like my work or how smart do I look to other people or how talented do I look to other people so this gift of secrecy is something that I hope you'll be exploring in lots of different areas of your life but I do want to look now at his comments in particular about prayer um he says in chapter 6: 5 and when you pray do not be like the Hypocrites now this gets inside of all of us all of life including prayer can become a performance to perform means I try to pretend to be something that I'm not and I remember years ago when I first started working at a church there was a woman prayer group at her home and when she would pray she would get this real Pious voice dear Jesus I and then her kid came in and slammed the door if you slam that door one more time I'm going to pray you dear Jesus I love you and it was quite clear there was a kind of performance issue going on where who she was when she was praying particularly in front of other people or thinking about God watching was quite different than when she was just being her and so the invitation here is to move out of the performance realm out of hypocrisy which afflicts us all when you pray don't be like the aites they love to pray standing in the synagogues on the street corners to be seen by others truly I tell you they have received their rewarded ful but when you pray go into your room close the door and pray to your father who is unseen then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you and what I want to particularly focus on today is that language your father who is unseen or secret the word in the text the Greek word is cryptos we get our word cryptic Kryptonite hidden uh that's the word that's used in both places uh the father is unseen and he sees what is unseen now I want to share a few scriptures with you today to get this distinction real clear in our minds because it is Central to the reality of the Kingdom uh this recurs in these verses in chapter 6 when Jesus talks about giving he says then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you or later on in fasting when you fast just let it be obvious to your father who is unseen and your father who sees what is done in secret in crypto in uh in the realm of the Unseen now a few other passages that talk about this Romans chapter 1 for since the creation of the world's God's invisible qualities is eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen or Romans 11:3 by faith we understand that the Universe was formed at God's command so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible and this is true for God but it's also true for you there is a visible side to you and there is an invisible secret unseen thing it is spiritual it is personal it involves your agency your will and it's what's most important and actually um everything that exists I made Swedish pancakes recently for some people that I love that began with an idea with a choice that was unseen Let There Be pancakes let there be light always when you look around at anything that human beings make what is seen begins with what is unseen in prayer now we are entering into the realm of the Unseen human beings 1 Samuel 16:7 look at the outward appearance we look at what is seen God looks at the heart what's the heart well that's the Unseen dimension of you that matters the most um 1 Corinthians chapter uh 4: 16-18 therefore we don't lose heart outwardly we're wasting away inwardly we being renewed day by day therefore we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen for what is seen and and so you get this string outward wasting seen temporary inward renewed unseen Eternal and then prayer now we enter into that secret unseen realm that matters the most for is often a struggle for us particularly in our day I think because uh we have a harder time than people ever have before believing in the reality of the Unseen but wise people have always understood and is particularly true in scripture um that that which we see was made by that which we do not see particularly God who is unseen so now I want to invite you to pray and when we come to God and pray it's particularly important that we begin with what matters most to us because our souls are pretty fragile things and they just cannot sustain it if I try to be praying about stuff that honestly I just don't care about a lot so here we go I going to invite you now to enter into the secret place and Jesus talks about a room could be a room inside uh I came outside it's early in the morning because in prayer I want to be with God and when I'm with another person often being with their body is good creation is to God something of what bodies are to you and me it is part of how God manifests his will his presence his goodness his Beauty and Jesus would often go outside to pray so uh you might do that but but we do this now in secret when my wife Nancy was a little girl she has such a fierce sense of um Independence autonomy agency she loved to be someplace where nobody knew where she was just be kind of a thr well that's the secret place then now and then I set God before me I asked a 5-year-old friend of mine not too long ago what's bigger the whole universe or God he said God so now prayer is different than worry because in prayer I'm addressing somebody and in worry I'm not so set God before your mind right now our father our heavenly father and then bring to God whatever you're concerned about maybe it's money let God know maybe it's your work tell them maybe it's a family member deep concern over over a child or a spouse where that feels like it's Fallen apart or doesn't exist um friend that you're really concerned for somebody that you have a really hard time getting along with just bring that to God brother Lawrence talks about how in order to live with God's presence it is necessary for us to turn all our cares over to him maybe you feel like a failure you're carrying guilt or regret over something you did yesterday tell him maybe honestly where your mind goes seems kind of superficial you know my appearance or am I successful enough is God's not surprised by that so just let him know now thank God for listening take a moment to see as you have been uh bringing these concerns for God is there any action you feel called to take any thought that God might have sent your way any decision to make any step to take and commit to doing that and now then let's invite God heavenly father would you be with us as we walk through the rest of this day help me to to listen for you in the sound of the birds look for you in the beauty of the earth and especially in your image in each person that I" [00:00:21]