THE MISUSE OF PRAYER
Let me ask you a question: ‘Do you think it is possible to misuse prayer?’ I mean is it possible for us to pray in such a way that we are actually abusing the privilege which is ours through prayer? I think we misuse prayer far more often than we think or would like to think. This morning I want to touch on the two passages which we read and from them show you how we can misuse prayer.
THE PRAYER OF JABEZ
1 Chronicles 4.9-10 contains the prayer of Jabez. A few years ago a Christian author called Bruce Wilkinson wrote a book with that title and it became an instant best seller. Some of you may have even read it. When I read the book, and listened to Christians discuss it, I was immediately uneasy with it. The gist of the book was that we too could ask God to bless and enlarge our territory and that if we were righteous God would answer positively. Many people bought into the ‘health and wealth’ premise of the book without realising that was what they were doing. Let me explain why. The prayer itself is a classical Jewish prayer in which the presence and protection of God is desired and requested. Jabez’s prayer was in fact a direct response to God because of his name (‘I bore him in pain’). The context of the prayer is that his name meant one thing but he desired that under God his life would in fact be the opposite. The prayer of Jabez is in fact similar to us praying ‘lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil’ when we pray the Lord’s Prayer.
Secondly I believe the context makes it clear that the prayer was specific to Jabez and not a general prayer (and promise) to all believers for all time. I think the reason a lot of Christians bought into the prayer of Jabez was a desire for blessing from God (nothing wrong with that) but that the methodology they applied was wrong – because the premise and the motive were both wrong. Let me explain a little further. I think that taking the prayer of Jabez and applying it as a general promise/prayer to all believers was actually to lift it out its context – as one of my lecturers use to say ‘a text taken out of context becomes a pretext.’ Meaning that it becomes the pretext for teaching something which it was never meant to teach. So how is this a misuse of prayer? Well, I believe we misuse prayer when we pray to ask God for His presence and blessing in order that our ‘territory might be extended.’ The motive is wrong. The motive is personal gain. I believe that praying the prayer of Jabez out of context is actually to misuse prayer because the motive is wrong. Listen to these words from James 4.3 and I Samuel 16.7. God told Samuel that it was a man’s heart that He examined when it came to anointing (blessing) him. According to James the purpose in asking and the purpose to which the answer will be put is of prime importance to God. In other words ‘What is my heart’s desiring in prayer?’ ‘Why is my heart desiring this in prayer?’ ‘To what purpose will I put it?’ Those are three very important questions to answer when we come to pray. They will, at the very least, flag up wrong motives in prayer and move us away from misusing prayer.
TWO MEN AT PRAYER – LUKE 18.9-14.
I think another misuse of prayer is revealed in this parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Verses 9-10 set the scene and the context for the parable. In verse 9 the reason for the parable is revealed – ‘those who thought themselves righteous.’ We can misuse prayer if we use it as a means of displaying our piety before others. The scene is the Temple, a place of both public and private prayer. The danger in such a setting is to pray for the benefit of others and not to actually focus on God. Let us look at the rest of the parable and see what it teaches us about the misuse of prayer.
The Pharisee
In verses 11-12 we have the prayer of the Pharisee. His prayer is summed up in the words of Jesus ‘he prayed about himself.’ There is the key to the misuse of prayer her – the focus was not on God but on himself. Friends I want you to listen carefully to what I am about to say here. Every word the Pharisee prayed about himself was true. His prayer was not unknown amongst the Pharisees – let me read to you a prayer from a Pharisee (IVP Commentary on Luke page 289). The Pharisee was a man dedicated to upholding and living by the teaching of the Law. In fact he went beyond the Law in both fasting and tithing. His prayer focused on what he abstained from and what he engaged in. The reality of his prayer was that it was a time spent contemplating himself and not engaging with God. He may have looked to God but he was actually focused on himself. There was no sense of sin, no sign of humility and he saw no need for the mercy or grace of God. His concern was not that God was present but who else was watching. He was more concerned with his status before men than his standing before God.
Friends before we jump on some high horse and proclaim that we would never be like that in prayer ask yourself; ‘Have I ever been at prayer and begun to think of how sinful someone else has been? Have you ever found pride entering your heart as you pray? Have you ever, with a certain satisfaction on your soul, prayed thanking God for saving you?’ Have you ever found yourself praying for the benefit of other people’s ears and not the ear of God? Have you ever found yourself kneeling in prayer and wondering what other people are thinking about you? Is there not a little bit of this Pharisee in us all at times of prayer?
The Tax Collector – verse 13.
What a contrast to the Pharisee. Jesus’ listeners would have expected to find a Pharisee in the Temple praying but not the Tax Collector. Tax Collectors were the social outcasts of the day. Hated by their own people for working for the Romans. Despised because they general overtaxed the people and kept some back for themselves. I want you to note that what this man said about himself was also true. But look closely at what he says – read verse 13. He places himself in a special category – he calls himself ‘the sinner’ not just ‘a sinner.’ What this man said of himself is in fact true of all mankind. There is nothing this man can do but throw himself on the grace and mercy of God. The prayer of the Tax Collector, like that of the Pharisee, revealed his heart. Listen to what Christ Jesus says in verse 14 READ. Once more we are reminded that it is what comes from our hearts in prayer which is examined by God.
Both of these men’s words were true. Both of these men lifted their voices to God in prayer but only one of them did so for the right reasons – namely the need of God’s grace and mercy. You see it is what comes out of our hearts that God examines in prayer. The selfish heart of the Pharisee was reflected in the words of his prayer. The repentant heart of the Tax Collector was also revealed in the words of his prayer. What about you? What do your words of prayer reveal about your heart?
Friends to finish let me point out the main misuse of prayer which I believe these two passages speak of – wrong attitude of my heart. Prayer is misused whenever my heart is not right before God. Prayer is misused whenever the motive for my prayer is not the glory of God and the extension of His kingdom in the lives of others and in my life. Prayer is misused when my heart is more concerned about what others think and hear than what God knows about my heart. Prayer is misused when I forget before whom I stand in prayer.
Friends I think this morning there is only one simple application for us all. When we come to prayer we should do so with the warning of James 4.3 ringing in our hearts – read. Let us come to prayer with the right motives and seeking answers for the right reasons.
Amen.
