“Becoming Like Christ”

“Because Being Like Me Just Aint Gonna Cut It”

Becoming like Christ means we need to pray like Christ

Pastor Matt.  November 13, 2005

Intro

Jesus was a person of prayer:

For example:

Prior to going into His ministry, He spent 40 days by Himself in the desert, without food or water.  What was He doing?  He was spending time with God.  He was praying.

Often at the end of His days, He took time to get by Himself and pray (Mark 6:46)

As He was being baptized, He prayed (Luke 3:21-22)

He prayed before making the major decision to call his disciples (Luke 6:12-13)

When Jesus needed to do great things he took time to pray: 

The feeding of the four thousand (Matthew 15:36),

The feeding of the five thousand (John 6:11);

Prior to His walking on walking He had spent the night in prayer (Matthew 12:23-33);

Jesus prayed and Lazarus (His good friend) rose from the dead (John 11:41-42);

He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, when he knew He was going to go through an incredibly difficult time. (Matthew 26:36-46)

When He was on the cross, He took time to pray (even pray for us) (Luke 23:46)

People brought little children to Him and what did he do?  He put His hands on them and prayed for them.  (Matthew 19:13)

Mark 1:21-28.  Jesus casts out a demon

Mark 1:29-34.  From sun up till sun down, He took care of people.

Mark 1:35-39.  Despite having the worlds busiest schedule, he found time to pray. 

Jesus took time to pray.  Prayer was a part of His everyday routine.  More than that, It was part of His life.  It was essential like air is to the body.

If we are going to be more and more like Jesus, we need to pray like He did.

The disciples saw the importance of prayer and wanted to know how to pray as Jesus prayed.

(remember that in OT days direct communication was not the norm.  People had to go through the prophets) 

With Jesus began a new Era.  An Era where people would be able to speak directly to/ communicate with God, just as Jesus did.

The disciples had the same question.  If I am going to be more like Jesus, than I better learn to pray like He prayed. 

Turn to Matthew 6:5-15 and read it

(It is more important to know why Jesus taught what He did than to repeat what He said word for word. 

(It is kind of funny how people say The Lord’s prayer but they never really pray it.

So, How are we to pray like Jesus?

We are going to look at this passage in Matthew and highlight some of what it teaches us about how to pray like Jesus prayed.  (we don’t have time to mention all of it)

1. When we pray we need to Communicate with our Father

-         The hypocrites were not communicating with God, they were putting the spot-liht on themselves

o       Being a Christian is never about putting the spot light on ourselves.  Everything we do is about Jesus

o       We love Jesus and respect Him so much that we are nothing in comparison to Him

§        Example:  A team owner gets in the spotlight instead of the star of the team

Matthew 6:6.  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.

o       Why do people go into a room and close the door behind them?

§        It provides privacy and intimacy

-         Remember, God wants an intimate relationship with you.

-         Remember, intimacy is the key ingredient to becoming more like Jesus

o       Example: try spending alone time with a person who speaks with an accent

o       Example:  ever notice the TV preachers and their staff all act the same?

Mark 14:35-36.    ³⁵Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. ³⁶"Abba,^[a] Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will."

-         In Jesus’ most difficult hour, He cries out to the person who is most intimate to Him (as we do when we are going through deep pain, we reach out to those we are intimately close to).

o       Jesus Cries out to his Abba Father

§        Saying Abba is like when a child speaks “dada” 

·        Said with total trust and confidence and yet simple and pure love

Matthew 6:9.  Our Father in heaven,
Remember that when you pray, pray to your Father

Some of you need to take some time and talk to your daddy

-         This means any type of communication with God (write, sing, think, etc.)

2. When we pray, we need to put faith in our Father

Matthew 6:10.  your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

-         His will is to be done, not ours

o       this means giving it to God and trusting in Him

-         This means casting our cares on Him

Philippians 4:6-7.  ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

-         “Lord this is your problem, I’m leaving it with you”

-         This is especially true when there is a problem to big for us to handle so we lay it at his feet and tell him to deal with it

Let His will be done.  Remember that Jesus was a slave to God’s will. He did nothing unless God told Him to.

You may say, “I don’t have faith for that.”

Romans 10:17.  Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

If your faith is weak, spend time in the word and see how God has already proved Himself faithful since the beginning of time.

3. When we pray, we need to ask our Father for some things.

Often this is the only type of praying we are any good at.

“Lord give me stuff!”

Matthew 6:11.  Give us today our daily bread.

In other words: Lord help me with what I need. 

I ask but I don’t always get.  Why is that?

1 John 5:14-15.  ¹⁴This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

John 14:14.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

“in Jesus' name.”

It is not:

-         A password that gets you to God

-         Secret/ code word to get prayers answered

-         CB sign off

To "speak" in someone's name is to stand in his place as if you are that person.

It is to ask for things that He wants you to ask for.  Jesus will give you permission to ask the Father for some things. 

This means not just asking.  It means asking yourself, is this something God wants me to ask for?

Remember, “your will be done”

Last but not least,

4. When we pray, we need to take Confess our sins

Matthew 6:12.  Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Psalm 51:1-

 ¹ Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  ² Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  ³ For I know my tansgressions, and my sin is always before me.  ⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.  (I sinned, you know it, I know it

¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Sin separates us from our intimacy with God

We can pretend to be more like Jesus but if we can’t get close to Him we can never really become like Him.

Good News:

1 John 1:9.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.