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May 26, 2024

Performance vs. Hiddenness

Performance vs. Hiddenness

Passage: Matthew 6:5-8

Speaker: Andrew Kerhoulas

Series: Practice the Presence - Prayer

Keywords: father, pray, reward, secret, hypocrites

Our final focus in our sermon series on prayer shifts to the Lord's Prayer. Right out of the gate, Jesus shows us how not to pray. Jesus reveals how a certain sin can lurk subterranean in our prayers, one that is so mainstream in our culture today: performance. But thankfully Jesus includes the antidote to our performative hearts, namely hiddenness, or speaking with our Father in secret.

Readings & Scriptures

PRE SERVICE TEXT: Matthew 6:5-6
“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.

PREPARATION: Based on Psalm 46:1; 18:31; 32:7
LEADER: God, our Rock, our refuge and strength, our hiding place,

ALL: We come to you as we truly are, not as who we think we should be.

LEADER:: After another busy week,
out of our relentless desire for meaning, love, and joy,
out of our desire to be renewed,
at the center of our being.

ALL: We are here for You.

LEADER: By your Spirit bless us with an awareness of your presence, eternal King.

ALL: Amen.

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH/CREEDAL STATEMENT/SCRIPTURE READING:

LEADER: Let’s pray in the way Jesus taught us to pray.

ALL: Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.

CENTRAL TEXT: Matthew 6:5-8
“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.

CONFESSION OF SIN: Adapted from The Worship Sourcebook
ALL: Lord, we have rebelled against your rule and reign in more ways than we can count.
We have denied and refused you in private and in public. We have betrayed you by keeping
our distance from you and others. We have mocked you by pretending we are not yours. We
have performed instead of participating in your kingdom. In your mercy, forgive us. Welcome
us into your strong, forgiving arms, Father, and hide us in your Son. Amen.

ABSOLUTION OF PARDON: Based on Colossian 3:15
LEADER: Take comfort in the assurance that even those things that we have hidden are not
beyond God’s forgiving love. God the Father, who knows us completely bestows pardon and peace.
For as the Apostle Paul wrote, “You have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

ALL: Amen.

BENEDICTION: based on Hebrews 13:20-21
LEADER: May the God of peace,
who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great shepherd of the sheep,
by the blood of the eternal covenant,
make you complete in everything good
so that you may do God’s will,
working among us that which is pleasing in God’s sight,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever!

POST SERVICE: Matthew 6:5-6
“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.

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • 1 Kings 18:20-40
  • Psalm 27:5
  • Psalm 32:7, 10
  • Psalm 61:3
  • Psalm 81:6-10
  • Psalm 126
  • Psalm 143:9 
  • Mark 9:2-8
  • John 12:24
  • Colossians 2:14; 3:3
  • 1 Timothy 2:1-3

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Social media is not the only place we feel we need to perform these days. Discussion: Where and with whom do you feel the need to be impressive? Do you ever feel this way at church? How about when you pray? 
  2. What is Jesus’ antidote to the performance trap? What’s difficult or challenging about the remedy? 
  3. Think about the gospel—Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection—and how it applies to your own life. What happens to the record of your sins—your performance—when you place your faith in Jesus? 
  4. Jesus did everything for us to make a hidden life beautiful and possible. Read Colossians 3:1-4 and then get specific about ways it can apply to your online and offline habits. What would happen if you lost the mask with God and with others this week?

ILLUSTRATIONS:  

 

 

QUOTES: 

  •  All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. William Shakespeare
  • The dirty little secret about churches and other Christian communities is that it's full of mean-spirited people who talk about grace but would never consider extending it to others. And that leads to people who live with a fake exterior and a desperate interior. Russel Moore 
  • When shame works on our brain it keeps us from appropriately interpreting the past and looking forward in hope. Curt Thompson
  • We have internalized the belief that our deepest happiness will come from being who others think we ought to be rather than from living the way God views us. David Benner
  • The more I make my life, my well-being, my enlightenment, and my success primary, the farther I step from reality. Thus the hell-bound do not travel downward; they travel inward, cocooning themselves behind a mass of vanity, personal rights, religiosity, and defensiveness. Obsession with self is the defining mark of a disintegrating soul. Jeff Cook

BOOKS / DOCS