Matt. 6:5-6

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Josh
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Matt. 6:5-6

Post by Josh »

Matthew 6:5 and 6 seem to imply that when we pray, it should be in secret, instead of in public view in order to be appreciated by men.

That's not how Christians generally do it. We tell someone "I'll pray for you" or "I'm praying for you". Online, we respond to a post with "Praying." Generally the more pious one wants to be perceived, the more he will make sure everyone knows he is praying—and not necessarily with ill motives.

How do you interpret this scripture and apply it to your life?
Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
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lesterb
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Re: Matt. 6:5-6

Post by lesterb »

Josh wrote:Matthew 6:5 and 6 seem to imply that when we pray, it should be in secret, instead of in public view in order to be appreciated by men.

That's not how Christians generally do it. We tell someone "I'll pray for you" or "I'm praying for you". Online, we respond to a post with "Praying." Generally the more pious one wants to be perceived, the more he will make sure everyone knows he is praying—and not necessarily with ill motives.

How do you interpret this scripture and apply it to your life?
Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
I would consider this passage to be another example of "Hebrew Hyperbole". In other words, Jesus is making a point, like he did when he told people to pluck out their eye or cut off their hand. The point? Don't use prayer to leave a good impression.
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Re: Matt. 6:5-6

Post by KingdomBuilder »

How do you interpret this scripture and apply it to your life?
I often wonder where the line is to be drawn. Does a church setting make it fine to pray "publicly"? What about meals in public restaurants?

Is it more about the condition of the heart?
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Re: Matt. 6:5-6

Post by RZehr »

We know that in Acts the Christians prayed corporately.
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Re: Matt. 6:5-6

Post by Bootstrap »

To me, the focus matters.

Is the focus on lovingly lifting up the other person to God, and letting them know you will be doing so? That is an act of encouragement and love. Is the focus on telling the other person about you and your prayers? That is an act of pride.

So depending on the situation, I prefer something like, "I'm so sorry. I know God is there for you, even if you can't feel his presence just now. I'll be praying for you."
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Re: Matt. 6:5-6

Post by KingdomBuilder »

RZehr wrote:We know that in Acts the Christians prayed corporately.
I think corporate prayer among brethren is good. There are cases, though, were it seems like people are just strutting their speaking abilities. Maybe it's wrong of me to have thought this, but I have thought it.
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Josh
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Re: Matt. 6:5-6

Post by Josh »

lesterb wrote:I would consider this passage to be another example of "Hebrew Hyperbole". In other words, Jesus is making a point, like he did when he told people to pluck out their eye or cut off their hand. The point? Don't use prayer to leave a good impression.
How come we don't approach Matthew 5:31 & 32 this way? (Some Christians do, but in my experience that approach leads to finding ways out of obeying any of the Sermon on the Mount at all, except when convenient.)
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ken_sylvania
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Re: Matt. 6:5-6

Post by ken_sylvania »

Josh wrote:
lesterb wrote:I would consider this passage to be another example of "Hebrew Hyperbole". In other words, Jesus is making a point, like he did when he told people to pluck out their eye or cut off their hand. The point? Don't use prayer to leave a good impression.
How come we don't approach Matthew 5:31 & 32 this way? (Some Christians do, but in my experience that approach leads to finding ways out of obeying any of the Sermon on the Mount at all, except when convenient.)
Maybe because Jesus and the early church demonstrated by example that it is OK to pray outside the closet?
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Re: Matt. 6:5-6

Post by Sudsy »

I have sometimes wondered if much of our 'corporate praying' is at all like it was meant to be. Where do we find a leader 'leading us in prayer', in the sense that this person will pray out loud and we will listen and amen silently or audibly to what is being said. I can't find anywere in the NT were someone 'lead out in prayer' in this way. If we were to share with each other common requests and concerns to pray and then individually prayed unto God for these things, then the whole issue of praying to be heard by man would go away. Perhaps we have created a habit of how to pray corporately and being in one accord as requiring a leader to do the praying and I have wondered if this habit is actually scriptural.

This also goes along with the fasting thread. Jesus said not to fast in a way that our looks give us away that we are fasting. So how is the ash on the forehead reflect this point of obedience ? I don't see that it does.

In Matthew 6, Jesus was talking about Christian practise to be seen by others. I think this goes beyond prayer and fasting and can be other areas that we appear to be doing things unto God yet we are doing them for our own or our groups recognition. God looks upon the heart. One of Jesus main themes.

I wouldn't argue that we are wrong to have someone lead us in prayer but I have heard prayers that I could not say 'amen' to and others that smacked of self righteous words. People that lead in prayer using old english 'thee' and thou' and 'thus' kind of wordings often made me suspect of who was the main person being addressed. In my past, I developed a public prayer lingo that got me attention and praise as someone very spiritual. In my heart I knew that was not the case but I still enjoyed the attention. I try to avoid any corportate leading out in prayer now as I am very convicted of how I was speaking more for man's approval than God's approval.

Well, I guess this chapter has some very interesting challenges if just taken literally as a source of obedience, doesn't it ?
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ken_sylvania
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Re: Matt. 6:5-6

Post by ken_sylvania »

Josh wrote: That's not how Christians generally do it. We tell someone "I'll pray for you" or "I'm praying for you".
It's interesting to see how often Paul writes about praying for those to whom he is writing.
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