The Inner Room

But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Mat 6:6)

In a previous post, we looked at Jesus’ command of secret prayer to an invisible God. We are to avoid doing our religious practices to be seen of men.

The inner room, this geographical location, should be a location not to be seen of men (6:5). The contrast is compared to standing and praying in the synagogue (among gathered people) or on the street corner.

The inner room should be a place of privacy (go & close the door). The Greek term is used in various forms in the New Testament (Mat 6:6; 24:26; Luk 12:3, 24) and in the LXX (Exo 8:3; Jud 3:24; 15:1; 16:12; 2 Chr 18:24; Pro 20:21; 24:4; 26:22). It is translated in the NASB, bedroom (Exo 8:3; Jud 15:1), cool room (Jud 3:24; probably a bathroom), inner room (Jud 16:18; 2 Chr 18:24; Mat 6:6; 24:26; Luk 12:3), inner part (Pro 20:21), rooms (Pro 24:4), innermost part (Pro 26:28), and storeroom (Luk 12:24). The inner room is a place for keeping valuables or an interior room in a home (BDAG). In other words, it is not to be a frequented location.

We are to shut your door. The verb carries the idea of locking or barring the door. Once you enter this retired place – pray to your Father. In other words, pray. Praying is the business of the hour and the prayers do not have to be lengthy. People suppose that the longer one prays, the more “spiritual” that person. However, this is not always the case.

Lengthy, repetitious praying does not cause God to hear us. This is incorrect and is illustrated from Mat 6:9-11 in our NASB. Six requests are in the model prayer with a thankful conclusion. Six categories of need are prayed in approximately 68 words and 30 seconds! Surely, every believer can get private to pray for 30 seconds?

1.    Praying for the sanctification of God’s Name takes 10 words. 

2.    Praying for the coming of God’s kingdom takes 3 words. 

3.    Praying for God’s will to be accomplished takes 11 words. 

4.    Praying for our daily food takes 7 words. 

5.    Praying for forgiveness takes 12 words. 

6.    Praying for deliverance from evil takes 12 words. 

7.    Praying a thankful closing takes 13 words.

Our Lord is not a reluctant prayer-answering Lord. He already knows our need. To be rewarded with answered prayer is not an exercise in sweat in order to get His ear. I am the Lord that answers prayer (1 Pet 3:12).

— for the exhortation at our midweek prayer meeting, see sermonaudio.

Thought from Isaiah 63:15-64:12

“Did you notice the telling similarity of wording in 63:14 (‘your mansion of holiness and beauty’) and 64:11 (‘our house of holiness and beauty’)? The former is the Lord’s heavenly habitation, and the latter the early house where he promised to live among his people (cf., Exod. 25:8). The former is inviolable in holiness and beauty; the latter, given into the charge of his earthly people, is caught up int he disaster caused by their sin (cf., Ps. 74:4-7). In the divine intention the earthly was meant to be the replica of the heavenly (cf., Exod. 25:40). The truth remains the same today: the Lord’s earthly people are themselves the temple in which he lives by his Spirit (I Cor. 3:16), the locus and display of his holiness and beauty. Well may we mourn that our sinfulness, divisiveness, our failure in biblical distinctiveness, and our manifest lack of holiness have marred the image. Who, looking at today’s church — denominational or local — can see the likeness of Jesus? And this is not a matter only of denominational failure, thought that is all too plain. The Bible knows nothing of our ‘denominationalism’, and if Isaiah’s wording prompts us to put our hand to reform and renovation then its proper focus is the local church to which we each belong. When we look at the merest sliver of a crescent, then we don’t say, ‘Oh, there’s part of the moon’. We say, ‘Look, there’s the moon.’ In the same way each local church, however small, or in the eyes of onlookers, insignificant — is meant to be a mirror and image of the whole, an earthly replica of the heavenly reality where Christ is all. We should be able to look at the fellowships to which we belong and say, ‘There is the Church’, bearing the two outstanding marks of holiness and beauty; obeying the command, ‘Be holy because I am holy’ (Lev. 19:3), and display the beauty of Jesus in all its gatherings, relationships, and individual characters.” (Motyer, Alec. Isaiah by the Day,306.)

Life of Emptiness

“The serpent lied, and we got taken in. Now, despite the overwhelming evidence that we live amidst overflowing abundance — abundant food, clothes, warmth, friends, things — we always feel it’s not quite enough. We sense it’s running out, it’s insufficient. We live for the Next Thing.

There is an Indian parable about this. A guru had a disciple and was so pleased with the man’s spiritual progress that he left him on his own. The man lived in a little mud hut. He lived simply, begging for his food. Each morning, after his devotions, the disciple washed his loin cloth and hung it out to dry. One day, he came back to discover the loincloth torn and eaten by rats. He begged the villagers for another, and they gave it to him. But the rats ate that one, too. So he got himself a cat. That took care of the rats, but now when he begged for food he had to beg for milk for his cat as well. “This won’t do,” he thought. “I’ll get a cow.” So he got a cow and found he had to beg now for fodder. So he decided to till and plant the ground around his hut. But soon he found no time for contemplation, so he hired servants to tend his farm. But overseeing the labors became a chore, so he married to have a white to help him. After time, the disciple became the wealthiest man in the village.

The guru was traveling by there and stopped in. He was shocked to see that where once stood a simple mud hut there now loomed a palace surrounded by a vast estate, worked by many servants. “What is the meaning of this?” He asked his disciple.

“You won’t believe this, sir,” the man replied. “Butt there was no other way I could keep my loincloth.”” (“Trapped in the Cult of the Next Thing,” Christianity Today. September 6, 1999)

Vanity of Vanities … says the Preacher.

Praying in an Inner Room

But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Mat 6:6)

The context of Matthew 6:6 is an illustration of the truth of not practicing one’s righteousness to be noticed (Mat 6:1). The areas of illustrated danger are in the devotional practices of giving (6:2-4), public praying (6:5-6), repetitious, lengthy praying (6:7-15), and fasting (6:16-18). People typically see long prayers, giving, and religious fasting as signs of “spirituality.”

Jesus is not saying that all praying is to be “secret.” It is self-evident that our Lord Jesus 1) retired for prayer, 2) prayed in the presence of the disciples and the multitudes, 3) prayed while walking, and 4) prayed in communion; that is, silent or non-vocalized praying.

Jesus is saying to be aware of our subtle, deceitful desire for man’s “notice.” The prevention to this perversity of our nature is to outwork our basic devotional practices in secret. We are not to parade our religious observances to gain admiration, notice, credibility, honor, or attention of men.

There is a segment to our praying that is “secret.” We pray secretly to a secret or invisible God. Invisible to men, praying to the invisible God. This type of righteousness practiced brings reward — the reward of our prayer answered.

— for the exhortation at our midweek prayer meeting, see sermonaudio.

Strengthening Grace

“Grace doesn’t necessarily take away our weaknesses and burdens. Instead it enables us to endure despite them.”

Scripture & Praying

“Desires blown by meditation [in the Scriptures] are the sparks that set prayer in a light flame.” (Samuel Lee)

The Sin of Rejecting Christ Jesus

And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. (1 Peter 2:4–8)

"In Ps. 117 LXX the rejected stone has become the chief cornerstone of God’s building program. ... Even in the psalm, the chief cornerstone rejected by “the builders” is closely associated with salvation, implying that to reject the stone is to jeopardize one’s salvation. Alluding to the later Greek versions of Isa. 8:14, Peter further describes the stone in relation to those who reject it as a stone of stumbling (προσκόμματος, proskommatos) and a rock of temptation to sin (σκανδάλου, skandalou, 2:8).4 Ironically, Peter himself (the rock) was accused by Jesus of being a skandalon when Peter rebuked Jesus and attempted to deflect him from his predicted road to rejection and death (Matt. 16:23). Peter had become an occasion for Jesus to sin, a temptation that Jesus vigorously overcame by his sharp rebuke of Peter’s thought. Here in 1 Pet. 2:8 Peter claims that Christ the cornerstone presents an opportunity either for trust or for rejection. Moreover, rejection of Christ is not an amoral decision; it is itself an instance of sin. This is a message that our religiously pluralistic society today finds just as offensive as did first-century polytheistic society. To reject Christ is to stumble and sin. (ed., bold added) Peter quotes only the portion of Isa. 8 that refers to those who reject and stumble, but that passage also refers to the rock as a refuge for those who trust (Isa. 8:13–14 LXX): “Sanctify the Lord himself; and he himself will be your fear. If you trust in him, he will become your sanctuary, and you will not encounter him as a stumbling caused by a stone, nor as a fall caused by a rock” (NETS). Isaiah is speaking of those who do trust in the Lord. Peter uses the prophet’s words to reflect on those who do not. By implication, those who have not trusted in the Lord have not “sanctified” him, and therefore they have indeed encountered him as a stone and rock over which they have fallen.

As Marshall (1991: 73) summarizes, the quotation of Isa. 28:16 LXX and Ps. 117:22 LXX (118:22 Eng.) functions in Peter’s argument first to explain that the unbelief of those who reject Christ was already predicted in the OT prophecies; therefore, the rejection of Christ by friends and neighbors should not cause Christians surprise or doubt in their own faith. (ed., bold added)Second, Peter has clearly presented Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation, by which all will be judged. When people reject him, they do it to their own peril." (Jobes, K. H. 1 Peter (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament). Baker Academic, 153-154)

Living Stones

And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. (1 Peter 2:4–8)

"The image of living stones being built into a spiritual house whose cornerstone is Christ also speaks of the unity, significance, and purpose of all believers, concepts essential for Christian self-understanding. The primary attribute of a temple in first-century thought was its holiness. Just as God’s presence sanctified the temple of Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit sanctifies the Christian community, setting it apart as God’s own. The unity of the temple is derived from God’s presence, the one Cornerstone, and a unity of purpose. There is one single temple into which all believers are built. The Christian church is not primarily a social organization but the new temple where the transformed lives of believers are offered as sacrifice to the glory of God. The imagery of the living stones being built into a single unit implies that the significance and purpose of the individual Christian cannot be realized apart from community with other believers. Coming to Christ means coming into relationship with others, not only in one’s own generation but also by being united with believers of every generation, who likewise have been built into God’s grand building project. The structure will be completed only when the scaffolding of human history comes down and the kingdom of Christ is revealed in all its glory." (Jobes, K. H. 1 Peter (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament). Baker Academic, 149)

Deal Tenderly

"The rule of humility and love will be - Deal tenderly with others - severely with ourselves. Our Master's pattern illustrates the rule, and sheds light on every step of our path." (Bridges, Ecclesiastes, 173.)

Do Not Say ...

Do not say, "Why is it that the former days were better than these?" for it is not from wisdom that you ask about this. (Ecc 7:10)

"Verse 10 is even more crushing, as befits an answer to nostalgia, which is an enervating and self-indulgent mood. To sigh for ‘the good old days’ is (we may reflect) doubly unrealistic: a substitute not only for action but for proper thought, since it almost invariably overlooks the evils that took a different form or vexed a different section of society in other times. (Kidner, The Message of Ecclesiastes, 67)

It has been said that “the good old days” are the combination of a bad memory and a good imagination, and often this is true. … The Victorian essayist Hilaire Belloc wrote, “While you are dreaming of the future or regretting the past, the present, which is all you have, slips from you and is gone.” (Wiersbe, Be Satisfied, 88)

Do Not Say ...

Do not say, "Why is it that the former days were better than these?" for it is not from wisdom that you ask about this. (Ecc 7:10)

"After all – ‘it is folly to cry out of the badness of the times, when there is so much more reason to complain of the badness of our hearts (if men’s hearts were better, the times would be mended); and when there is such reason to be thankful that they are not worse; but that even in the worst times we enjoy many mercies, that help to make them, not only tolerable, but comfortable.’" (Charles Bridges, Ecclesiastes, 150)

Spiritual Mindedness

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. (Rom 8:6)

"Wherefore, the “minding of the Spirit” is the actual exercise of the mind as renewed by the Holy Ghost, as furnished with a principle of spiritual life and light, in its conception of spiritual things and the setting of its affections [inclinations] on them, as finding that relish and savour in them wherewith it is pleased and satisfied. ... “To be spiritually minded;” that is, to have the mind changed and renewed by a principle of spiritual life and light, so as to be continually acted and influenced thereby unto thoughts and meditations of spiritual things, from the affections cleaving unto them with delight and satisfaction. ...

It will therefore be no small advantage unto us to have our souls and consciences always affected with and in due subjection unto the power of this truth,—namely, that “to be spiritually minded is life and peace;” whence it will follow, that whatever we may think otherwise, if we are not so, we have neither of them, neither life nor peace. It will, I say, be of use unto us if we are affected with the power of it; for many greatly deceive themselves in hearing the word. They admit of sacred truths in their understanding, and assent unto them, but take not in the power of them on their consciences, nor strictly judge of their state and condition by them, which proves their ruin; for hereby they seem to themselves to believe that whereof in truth they believe not one syllable as they ought. They hear it, they understand it in the notion of it, they assent unto it, at least they do not contradict it, yea, they commend it oftentimes and approve of it, but yet they believe it not; for if they did, they would judge themselves by it, and reckon on it that it will be with them at the last day according as things are determined therein. ...

When there is in any a love of earthly things that is predominant, whence a person may be rightly denominated to be earthly minded, he is not, nor can be, spiritually minded at all; he hath no interest in the frame of heart and spirit intended thereby. And thus it is evidently with the greatest part of them who are called Christians in the world, let them pretend what they will to the contrary." (John Owen, Of Spiritual Mindedness, vol. 7, 270-273)