The Practice of Secret Prayer

So we come to the head of the year. The thought has been, is there a particular text we’d like to draw attention to for the year? And sometimes, even as far back as October or November, my mind gets fixed on a verse and it doesn’t leave me and I think, I think that’s what I’m to preach. Other years, there’s nothing really comes to mind but you sort of pray and seek the Lord. And that’s what I did really in the last 10 days or so. There was nothing in my mind, nothing had come. And I brought it before the Lord and left it with him. And then probably, was it Monday or Tuesday? I just found my own mind dwelling upon this verse. And as I dwelt upon it more and more for myself again, I thought, Maybe that’s what I share with you for the year that is ahead.

So Matthew 6 verse 6 is the verse we’ll look at, but we’ll read here in the Sermon on the Mount from verse 1 of Matthew 6 and read through verse 15.

So our Lord is shattering assumptions, is reframing expectations, is blowing apart false foundations, as a certain religious life had developed and had really supplanted the true essence of what it was to believe and walk with God. And some of those matters may not have been wrong in and of themselves, but they had supplanted what really was also meant to be there, had become the main thing when it was not meant to be the main thing. He addresses, as we’ll see here, giving of alms and so on. It’s not that this is wrong, it is how it is done. So a good thing can be twisted, can be corrupted, and reformation is needed. And the Sermon on the Mount is a reformation sermon.

So let us read from verse 1 of chapter 6. Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them. Otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets. But they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

When ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye. Our Father, which 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. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Amen.

We’ll end the reading there at verse 15. I’ve had read in our hearing is the eternal word of the eternal God, which you would receive, believe, and obey. And the people of God said, amen.

Let’s pray. Lord, give help now. We jeopardize everything if we do not take heed how we hear. Lord Jesus wants us to be very intentional in how we hear the word. And we take that to heart. And so, even for me, as the preacher, help me to hear it, Lord, and not to miss the message. I believe, Lord, thou hast been speaking, and I trust then that this is a message for this people. We believe, Lord, that thou hast a hope and desire for every one of thy people. And some of those things are very specific and individual. And some of those things are very much for every one of thy people.

This morning we come to one of those things that you have for all of us. And I pray that everyone would sit up, that we would all hear and all respond as is necessary. I pray that this message would in some unusual way set the tone for the year ahead positively. So please, Lord, help man to get out of the way. Deliver us from the attacks of the enemy. Shut us in with thyself. Prepare us for the table ahead. Grant us, O God, a meeting with thee. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

There’s one matter that is greatly lacking, I think, in the church in general, it may be the matter of private prayer. For years now, at least for some years, there has been an increased emphasis on certain things that have been dropped or have been mishandled or not addressed or the church has not given herself to the way she should. One of those things has been the place and practice of praying together as a family. It seems like there is a generation that even though they grew up in the church, raised by Christian parents, they really did not have a habit of meeting as a family, of reading and praying as a family, and so there is an awareness that this is a good thing. There is an attempt then to try and recover it.

Efforts have been made, books have been written, and lots of things have been done. And I think there has been a moving of the needle, at the very least in awareness, and perhaps even in reality, in which there’s more of this going on than maybe there was 20, 30 years ago.

But there are still other areas where we drop the ball. Things that we neglect. And one of those things, I believe, is understanding the place of private prayer, the place of the Christian meeting with God, having a time with the Lord, just them and God. And as I thought about, I mean, there’s never, really never, Never a beginning of a year where I don’t think about everything this incoming year, and in great respect, hinges upon my own walk with God, and at the heart of my own walk with God is my own fellowship with God in private.

But as I said, for some reason, as I meditate on this, which I believe every single year I do this, but the text that my mind was drawn to, the encouragement and the motivation that my heart was drawing from God’s Word was hinging upon Matthew 6 verse 6. That this matters to the Lord Jesus Christ, the place of getting alone with God.

Our Lord’s concern recognizes that religion can be performed for public view. That the insincere can borrow the right public expressions. You see that in this passage, don’t you? God desires alms, but men have a way of distorting that. God desires prayer, but men have a way of distorting that.

They do it only in public because the motivation primarily is not answered prayer, the motivation is to be seen to be praying. And so it’s not even that they just do it on the streets, they do it in the street corner where there’s the best possible visibility. They do it in the synagogues where they know they can be identified as holy men, as is assessed by men. And our Lord, growing up in that environment, seeing that, is not trying to put away alms, not trying to put away public prayer, but he is putting his finger upon a distortion. And he is highlighting it and saying this is not of the essence of the believer’s life. To distort a good thing will not, as we would say, cut the mustard. It’s not going to meet the mark. It’s not what God looks for.

Most of you will know of the struggle of private prayer. My intent this morning is to help you understand how important it is that you navigate the year ahead with this as an essential part of your life. Now, it may already be, in which case, this is the coach, as it were, saying, keep going on. You’re doing great. But if it’s a problem, if there’s an absence, if there’s a neglect, if there’s a want, then this is the Lord drawing to your attention a crucial aspect, something that our Lord Jesus himself understood by personal experience, the value of meeting with the Father privately, beyond the view of any others.

We are good at manufacturing counterfeits and solving our conscience with those counterfeits, and that is a problem that our Lord will not let go unaddressed. You pray? Good. Do you pray along with God?

So this is what we’re thinking about, and I hope it lands, because in dealing with any absence of duty, it’s like some who pick up an instrument. They are sent to a teacher, and that teacher tends to be very rigorous, and sometimes that rigorous spirit does not seem to gel with the personality of the child, whereas others thrive under that kind of regimented instruction.

And there is a danger then when addressing something that is paired with, not exclusively, but certainly paired with, married with, an aspect of duty that some don’t do well with it even being pointed out. I hope that’s not the case. Our Lord points it out. He has a mixed audience, and he has a concern. He has a concern that everyone is clear about what it is to walk with God.

He addresses many things. Read chapter 5, 6, and 7 for yourself. What the Lord would have for us here in this moment is the matter of private prayer. And again, it’s not to whip you. It is to shed a light in the path for you. It is to encourage you. This is what he wants. You want what He wants, don’t you? I don’t need to sell this. The Lord said this. It sells itself. The Christian says, let it be so, Lord.

So the practice of secret prayer. We’ll see just three simple heads, the requirement of it, the reception of it, and the reward. So we’re going to see these simple ideas. There’s a requirement, a reception, and a reward.

It begins here in verse 6 with a requirement. Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet. Christ assumes that this is something that the people of God will do. When thou prayest. You see it everywhere. Christians pray.

But there has to be this aspect. When they pray, it is also seen in the expression of being in private. Prayer, of course, is not optional. There’s no saying that you can live the Christian life and prayer is something that we can take or leave. It is seen as an essential aspect. It’s seen as a non-negotiable. It is something that exists in the life of the church and in the life of every Christian.

But it can be distorted is what we’ve been saying and what our Lord is addressing. And so here He is helping us understand that when you pray, when you do this thing that you know is the right thing to do, here is how to go about it.

So in this requirement, note first the place that Christ appoints. Enter into thy closet. Does that mean He’s binding to one type of place? The word closet just means an inner room, a private place. So as he’s saying, you must have some private place.

And you think about whatever that is, however it looks, what’s the requirement? How is it to be furnished? What size is it to be? And you start to think about all these aspects that are really irrelevant. It might be in a corner of the home somewhere. It might be in a chair. It might be at a study or on your porch or in your car. It might be on a walk. It might be that during that walk there’s a little place where you sit and you know that you’ll not be disturbed.

The point is that the Lord says there is to be prayer, and the prayer is to take place privately. He is encouraging us then to say to ourselves, you have this place and you seal it off. Whatever this space is used for other times, now in this moment is being used to converse with God.

So I’m not here to tell you where that should be. I’m not here to tell you what is best. I could tell you all sorts of strange and wonderful places where I have gotten a little bit of isolation and quietness just to get alone with the Lord, just to find, just to know that I’ll not be distracted.

So I don’t really care. I don’t believe the Lord cares where it is, what the closet looks like, how large it may be. How small? But there is a place. The sense is there’s a place. Do you have a place? You say, there’s my closet. It’s right there in the driver’s seat of my car. And I go off. I’ve done this. You drive off into a place where you’re not gonna be disturbed. And there you cry out to God.

It can be a certain place that’s busy at all other times except for a little window. I have spoken to many and historically has been the case for many that this is really the only way that it works for them. It is that they rise earlier than others and they find that time and that place because no one else is around.

The point is that when Christ urges prayer for His people, He brings in this visual, doesn’t He? Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, your private space, a place of isolation, a place of seclusion, a place that you say, as ordinary as it may be, it becomes, as it were, holy ground, at this time each day.

Christ appoints a place, so you are to pick it. You can even choose the posture ahead of time. There’s a place, and that’s the posture. What’s the posture? Why does it matter? It doesn’t really matter. That’s what I’m saying, but you say, I have to get up early. If I get up early, then I’m a little more tired. I think I’ve shared this once or twice before. There’s definitely been times in my life where I intentionally stay standing because if I stay standing, I am diminishing the odds that I will fall asleep. So, in the weariness of the body, being aware of that weariness, you just, you stay standing. You think the Lord’s worried about that? No. No. No, because right there, in that place, you’re meeting with Him.

The place Christ appoints, the door Christ requires, shut thy door. Why does he emphasize this? It’s not just a place, but a shutting out. Why does this matter? Well, he’s practical. He knows the human frame. He knows the world we occupy. He knows the thousand diversions that lead the soul away from God. And so he says, part of your prayer should be in the environment in which you shut out everything that causes distraction or functions as a diversion. You shut the door.

Again, you only have to, and I’m not going to do this, but you go through the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus and you will see that the times in which we are learning of Him, praying alone, there are no doors. I can’t think of any at least. You may be able to. You can correct me. But I can’t think of those times where he and his ministry, you can see him getting alone with the Father, that there’s ever a door to shut. He went up into a mountain to pray all night unto God. I don’t think there were any doors on that mountain. Went into the Garden of Gethsemane, there were no doors.

So it’s not saying there has to be an actual door on hinges that closes and can be locked or whatever. The point is a sense of isolation, a sense of awareness from the distractions, from the demands, from the duties, from the other calls upon your life. It is privacy. It is quiet. It is the removal of interruptions. And it communicates something that’s happening within the soul as well, a shutting out of everything else, a bolting of the door of the mind so that the regular cares are put out of this moment.

Are these things pressing upon you? Yes. Are these things that must be done? Yes. Is that client calling requiring you to go and do something? Yes. All of these things are going on. That list of things to do is there and it’s pressing, but you have a moment where you shut the door to that. You don’t let it invade this particular moment of the day. You’re bolting the door.

And we will fail to truly meet with God if we do not understand then the practical aspect our Lord is encouraging here, that there’s a door to shut. There’s a world to keep out. There are legitimate things that need to be set aside and pushed out and said, you’re out there.

And again, you see it in his ministry. As busy as he was, he conducts his ministry and then he disappears to pray. He’s fed the 5,000, he’s been busy all day, exhausted with it, he sends his disciples away, and then he goes up to pray. Get alone.

Judas knew where to find him in the darkness of that moment of his betrayal. He knew where to find him because when he was in that location, when he was in that area, it says that he oft resorted thither. The Lord learned that Gethsemane was quiet at certain hours, and these were hours where others would not be meandering through the olive groves, and so He knew at a certain time it becomes quiet, and so often He could go there and pray, and He would take His disciples, and that was the closet in the busyness of His ministry.

Shut the door. Shut thy door. The TV, the computer, the phone, the things that threaten to prevent a true closet experience. I’m not going to take time to detail ways and suggest ways that you can prevent the thing that hinders you or distracts you. You know. You can figure it out for yourself. You can figure out how to shut it out. I have to shut that out. What does that mean? How does that look? What are the practical steps I can take so that I can get to that place?

But even when I’m in that place, I find my mind is all over the place. And maybe it’s because, again, it could be the phone. I think that in our day in which we live, that is very much A device that sucks in the distraction, causes everyone to feel like there’s something else to look at, something else to respond to, and maybe it needs to be set aside, put out, turned off, whatever.

The demands of the family are real, but they’re not an excuse. The Lord expects this. Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet. This is what’s necessary. Do what is necessary. Take a walk, go somewhere, find peace, find an environment. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be you and God.

Maybe you say to yourself, well, I’m unworthy. I hope by now you understand that that argument of unworthiness is misplaced because God calls the unworthy. His fellowship with all the sons of Adam are to unworthy people. We are not of ourselves worthy of this fellowship, and yet He calls us to Himself. He doesn’t say to us, the gospel is not, this is not what we believe, that you wash yourself, you make yourself better, and then you come to God. The sick don’t stay away. They go to the physician.

And so if your soul is sick and there’s some spiritual problem and you say, I’m not worthy to come, no, that’s exactly where you need to be. You’re avoiding the place of healing, of recovery, of revival.

But also the aim Christ demands. It’s not only the place He appoints, the door He requires, but the aim He demands. Pray to thy Father which is in secret. This is the objective. When you get into your closet, when you shut its door, the objective isn’t just to turn up, it is to pray to thy Father which is in secret. The direction of your communication there is Godward. You’re not talking into the air. You’re not wasting your time. It’s not a figment of your imagination. There’s something real that goes on when someone intentionally enters into a place, shuts out the distractions, and says, I’m here to meet with God.

That God has this characteristic of showing up when we make an appointment with Him. Think of that, how humbling that is. God shows up when we make an appointment with Him. We are not told specifically it must be at this time and so on and so forth. There is a breadth given to us here. Certainly Scripture leans into directions for prayer in terms of periods of the day. But setting that aside, recognizing the own complexities of our world and our life in which we may have to adjust things here and there to make things work, the openness here, the breadth of it just saying, that place, shutting out the cares, when you do that and you begin to pray, God will be there. This was the aim. You’re meeting with God. This is why it’s so key, it is a place of personal address before a personal God.

Our Lord Jesus, again to underline it, by His own experience had this enjoyment. This was what added wind to His sails, kept Him going forward in His ministry, kept Him encouraged against all oppression. And every time he would make that place and meet with his father there alone that he enjoyed, when I show up there to pray, he shows up to hear me. And so he’s passing on the wisdom. He’s sharing the encouragement. He’s saying this is essential to Christian life.

Our catechism defines prayer very helpfully as an offering up of our desires unto God in the name of Christ by the help of His Spirit with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies. And so when you’re getting into this place at whatever time and you shut the door and you pray to your Father, what is the objective? It is offering up desires unto God. Doing so in the name or through the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ by not the power of your own rhetoric or your own wisdom of how to articulate prayer and make it persuasive before God, but by the help of the Holy Spirit, confessing sins, acknowledging His mercies.

That’s what you’re doing. And you shout out the world to do that. Offer up your desires in the name of Christ by the help of the Spirit, confessing your sins and acknowledging His mercies.

And our Lord, He is encouraging this. He is saying this is how to go about it. It’s not that praying in the synagogue is wrong. It’s not that He’s saying ban prayers from the synagogue. No, that’s not the point. He’s saying that If you are to be someone who is truly identified as genuine, permeating your life will be this aspect. It couldn’t be more clear. This is not one of those areas in which the tradition of the church or the wisdom of the ages has passed on something and said this is a good thing even though there’s no Scripture that says do it this way specifically or something.

There are things we do, many things we do, that are considered good practice, that we don’t have explicit, the Word is not said, it must be done this way at this time, whatever. Many things, I’m not going to list them now. But private prayer is not one of those things. Our Lord lays it out. This is what you will do as a disciple.

So this is the aim, to meet with God. I’m going to come back to that a little later. But that, in essence, is the requirement.

But also, then, the reception. The reception. Pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret. You’re coming to your Father. That’s the first thing. The Father you approach. I think at times some believers are afflicted with a thought about God that makes them feel so distant and far away. But this is not the mindset. You’re not coming to pray to think about how distant God is and He is out of my reach.

Now, in saying that, it does not mean we come carelessly like we’re coming to meet with a best friend. It’s not the same. Dealing with God, so let’s not be careless about it or minimize the posture of reverence that should be within the heart. But at the same time, the posture of reverence is not to be so expressed in such a way as we feel like God’s way out there and can’t be reached. It is by Father. You’re approaching your Father. He is better than any earthly father. He is more considerate, more compassionate, more merciful, more loving, more benevolent than anyone you can ever imagine. And you have the opportunity to meet with Him privately, to have a one-on-one meeting with your Father in heaven.

So no, you’re not just strolling into the presence of someone in a familiar way, and I mean in the sense that you almost disparaging or in a form of contempt, not recognizing His grandeur and glory. But Christ has pardoned you so that you can enjoy a relationship with God and call Him Father.

This, of course, is emphasized when he gives a model for praying, isn’t it, in verse 9? After this, manner, therefore pray. Use this kind of approach. This is the way you come, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. There’s the balance, isn’t there? The hallowing of his name, the incomprehensibility of his person, and yet his nobility. He is my Father. He is our Father.

And so we come able to pray in that way, approaching one who is your Father. Yes, this is all because of Christ. Through Him the guilty is pardoned, the rebel is adopted. Through Him, Paul writes in Ephesians 2 at 18, we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. There’s the goal of the gospel. The objective of reconciliation of pardon of your sins is access by the Spirit to the same Father. Not a Father for the Jews and a Father for the Gentiles, a Father for Americans and a Father for whatever other nation you care to mention. No, we all have a Father we can come and approach. No one has a monopoly on who’s the most powerful God. We come to the one true living God, and He is our God.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, we take the merit of Christ, we handle by faith the finished work of Jesus Christ, and we come on to the Father. And the Lord Jesus is encouraging this. In His obedience to the Father, He has reconciled you to the Father. He is as immediate as it were, sees the issue, sees the thing that divides. And He takes all the responsibility. He says, I’m going to reconcile these parties. I’m going to make it happen. And He has the power and the ability and the will to do it.

And so He takes our nature and He comes into this world and He lives out in obedience and He dies upon the cross and He rises from the dead. And then He looks and He says, well, here it is then. Here it is. The sinner is reconciled to God, and He can call him Father.

This is it, isn’t it? He goes through all of this, His sufferings on the cross, the agony of Calvary, the piercing of His hands and feet, the crown of thorns, the bleeding and the suffering of the Lamb of God, so that on the other side of the tomb, he can look and see there the sinner has a ground to stand on to be acceptable and reconciled to God, say our Father.

We then come, don’t we? Recognizing that all our Lord Jesus did was to make verse 6 possible. Thou, when thou prayest, you have no right to enter in. You have no approach before the Father. When you pray, see, this is the whole thing, isn’t it? Christ purchases fellowship. A genuine relationship. So that the one you approach is your father. You’re received as a son.

This is why when we pray, we conscientiously, deliberately, we put our hand into Christ’s hand by faith. It’s why when you pray, it is good to dwell upon Calvary. It’s good to dwell upon the shed blood. It’s good to dwell upon the finished work. It’s good to remember the ground upon which you approach God. You are placing your hand into Christ as you come before the Father. You are effectively by faith placing your hand in his so that he may lead you in before the very throne of God. You’re saying, here’s how I approach, here’s my answer to my sin.

As the father you approach, there is also the eye that sees, the father which seeth in secret. Of course, he’s contrasting this with the practice of the hypocrite in the alms and prayers, isn’t he? They do what they do to be seen of men. They want there, verse 2, the glory of men. That’s what they want, the glory of men, the credibility of men, the recognition of men in what they do.

Again, it doesn’t mean, by the way, I think I mentioned this relatively recently, it’s not always wrong to give a gift to someone or give to something and be known for the one that actually gave it. The Lord’s not saying at no point and ever should you ever allow yourself to give something and someone know that it came from you. That’s not the point. That’s leaping to a conclusion that was never intended.

The point is in the underlying motive. When these hypocrites, when they give, the goal, the whole aim is that people would see them give. It isn’t even to benefit that which they’re giving to. It’s to be seen as someone who gives alms. That’s the objective.

And it’s the same with prayer. Their whole objective is to be seen to pray. And they function then as those that show they have no real belief in God whatsoever, because the Father sees in secret place. He sees where no one else sees. Pray to the Father which is in secret, where no one else can see, and He is there.

They look, these others want visibility. They stand in the corner to be seen, but the child of God does not pray only to be seen of men. Yes, He will pray at times and be seen of men. The Christian at times will pray and be seen of men. You will pray with your children and be seen of men. Right? So you’re not eliminating the public prayer. That would be a ludicrous conclusion. It is that the only reason you’re doing this is that someone sees you doing it and it’s not God.

And Jesus says, no, I won’t wash. It’s not what you’re called to. So we think about the fact that he can see, of course, it’s frightening to the unbeliever. And he sees it. If you’re here this morning and not in Christ, and he sees it, he sees the sin, he sees all of it. He sees the internal dialogue. Not just now, but at all times. He sees all that goes on within that heart of yours, he sees it.

But to the child of God, there is not so much distress about this. There is a comfort. He sees it. My father sees. You go about your work and you deal with your duties and you continue on with the things you have to do every day. But yet, before anyone ever saw you engage in your duty, you were there alone, pouring out your heart, broken, shedding tears like the psalmist, your bed wet with the tears that you have shed. And you’ve unburdened your heart.

And you may wonder, does anyone care? And Jesus says, oh, yes, there’s one who cares. He sees. Your tears are in a bottle. He sympathizes. The Savior sympathizes. And all that sorrow and shattered hopes and dreams poured out in prayer and lamentation and heartfelt brokenness, He sees it.

There are things going to happen in 2026 and the world’s not meant to see or know about it. Are there things that happen in your life and you should talk to people about it? Sure. Are there things that happen in your life and that business is between you and God? Yes. And you wonder, what am I going to do? I need to process this. I need help with this. I am feeling crushed by the weight of this. And Jesus says, here’s what I did. I went into my closet and shut the door. And I prayed to my Father, which seeth in secret. He’s encouraging you to do the same thing. He’s saying, do this. He will see it.

You may tell the world, you may have the sympathy of everyone you know, but all how we learn, how the years tell us, how little man can do. And there are specific scenarios in which God tailors events in your life and you wonder why, and one of the answers to that why is this. I need you to know there are things that happen and there’s no answer for it except in me. Highlighting that and double underline and illuminating it in your conscience so that you learn. I will tailor things and you will learn that there are things I want you to recognize that only God can help you with and anything else is a sham and a false substitute.

Our Lord is facing the cross, bearing the weight of sin of his people, he’s bearing a weight that we can’t begin to enter into in any conceivable way, in any meaningful way. But not as my soul troubled. And how did he get relief? How did he carry on? He went into the closet and he shut the door. He encouraged some disciples, three of them, to be within earshot so that they might learn something. They fell asleep. But he wasn’t doing it to be seen of them, so he carries on. He was doing it because he needed to. The eye that sees, sees the tears, feels the beating heart, recognizes the concern—he sees.

So this is how you’re received then. You have a father who sees. That’s how you’re received. You shut the door, entering into this closet, shutting the door, making this time for what? Because there’s a father there who loves you more than anyone else. And he sees. He sees every detail, every pang, every concern, every heartfelt cry, every unspoken burden. He sees it.

And we get into the place of prayer and we learn afresh that God is there and He’s taking notice, which sometimes can be hard to do in the busyness of life. I think that’s how some Christians spiral. It’s because they don’t do this and so they’re so infrequent in this that they really fall into an ongoing despair, a deep despair thinking God doesn’t see, God doesn’t know, God doesn’t care, there’s no answer for me, there’s nowhere to turn. You’ve gotten there because you have neglected the one thing. The Lord says do this, enter into the closet, shut the door, make it known and learn afresh. God is your Father and He sees. He sees it, takes note of everything.

Every single year I stand here, the first Sunday of the year, I know in my head that there are things going to happen in the next 12 months that I could never foresee, couldn’t account for. I know that, but I don’t know the particulars. And so at the head of every year, I can also look back over the 12 months, and I can look across this congregation, and I can see the things that happened in the last 12 months that neither you nor I had any idea was going to transpire. The 12 months ahead are exactly the same, and they may be worse.

And Jesus is saying at the start of the year, he’s saying, listen, listen to me, my child. When thou prayest, enter into the closet and shut the door. And pray to your father who sees in secret. He sees what goes on.

And then the reward, the reward for it. He shall reward thee openly. Thy father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. The word, the language of this verb carries a sense of repayment, to give back, to render what is due, to return what is due. So what’s the reward? What is the Lord saying here? What’s the motivating principle? Is it answer to prayer? Like the thing you ask for, you will receive, or whatever. Is that what it is? What’s going on? What does he mean? I think this can be twisted very quickly.

Our posture, I think, when we live our Christian lives is really in the spirit of the language of Luke 17 verse 10. When Jesus says, so likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do. So we tend to circumvent reward language. And we get a little bit scared of what is meant by it. And we almost say, look, I don’t even need to know what it is. I don’t need to know what it is, because I’ll just do it. It’s my duty to do as a servant. And whatever the reward is, well, I’ll receive it in due course.

And in one sense, that’s not a bad approach, because the only problem with it is it misses the motivation. Because this is said in order to motivate. But how? What does it mean? He will reward. He shall reward thee openly.

Good fathers do this, don’t they? They have certain expressions that show that they delight in the sincere and the obedient child. And there’s a sense in which you might say, well, the Lord is promising to crown his own handiwork because by his Spirit, our love, joy, peace, all the fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit. So he is crowning his own handiwork. And that’s true.

But what is this reward, this open reward? I’ll begin with the one that is less what I think is meant in the context. And that is the immediate reward in the soul. I don’t think this is the context. But I don’t think we’re going too far astray to infer it or to bring it and highlight it. The immediate reward in the soul.

When thou prayest, it is not simply that you are carrying out duty, that you’re checking a box. It is that there is a reward that comes in the very act itself. There is a reward in meeting with God. There is a sweetness of communion. There is a strengthening. There is a settling. There is a relief. There is a joy. There is a comfort. There is a reorientation. There is a bringing of the soul back into alignment.

Sometimes the reward is tears. Sometimes the reward is brokenness. Sometimes the reward is that you are brought to see your sin more clearly. Sometimes the reward is that you are humbled. Sometimes the reward is that you are lifted. Sometimes the reward is that you have a renewed awareness that God is near, that God is real, that God is good.

There are times where you go into the closet and you feel cold, and you feel distracted, and you feel like you can’t pray. And you still go. And you still shut the door. And you still set yourself before God. And sometimes the reward is that you feel nothing in the moment, but you come out and you realize, I was helped. I was preserved. I was kept. I didn’t fall apart.

So there is an immediate reward, and I think that is a legitimate thing to acknowledge. But I don’t think this is the main emphasis in the context. The main emphasis in the context, I believe, is that there is an open reward in contrast to the hypocrite who has his reward now.

They do it to be seen of men. And Jesus says, they have their reward. That’s it. That’s all they get. They wanted the praise of men. They got it. They wanted the recognition. They got it. They wanted the glory of men. They got it. They have their reward. And there is no reward from God. There’s no reward from the Father, because they weren’t doing it for the Father. They weren’t doing it unto God. They were doing it unto men.

But the child of God who goes into the closet, shuts the door, prays to the Father in secret, the Father sees in secret and will reward openly. The contrast is clear. The hypocrite has his reward now. The Christian has his reward then.

Now, what is that reward? It is not a reward in the sense of wages. It is not that God is indebted. It is not that you put God in your debt. It is not that God owes you something because you prayed. It is not that prayer is a work that earns something from God. We are not talking about merit. We are talking about grace.

But it is reward language. God is pleased to show His pleasure. God is pleased to reveal His approval. God is pleased to manifest His delight in the sincere, humble, believing child. And He will do that openly.

Now, it may be in this life. It may be that God openly answers prayer. It may be that God openly intervenes. It may be that God openly provides. It may be that God openly delivers. There are things that you prayed for in secret, and later on, God answers openly and others can see it. And you know, I prayed about that. That was a burden in my closet. And God answered. And it’s open.

But I think the ultimate open reward is the reward of the last day. It is the reward when God will openly acknowledge His people. It is the reward when Christ will openly confess His people before His Father and the holy angels. It is the reward when the secrets are revealed.

And this is striking, isn’t it? Because the very point is secrecy. You go into the secret place. You shut the door. You pray in secret. You do not want the eyes of men. You do not want the praise of men. You want God. And God says, the very thing you hid, I will bring into the open. Not to shame you. Not to embarrass you. Not to expose you as a hypocrite. But to honor what was sincere.

And so there is something in this that should stir us. It should stir us away from living for man. It should stir us away from performing for an audience. It should stir us away from being content with the reward of being seen. Because the reward of being seen is so cheap. It’s so shallow. It’s so temporary.

And Jesus is saying, don’t settle for that. Don’t settle for the praise of men. Don’t settle for the smile of man. Don’t settle for the nod of man. Don’t settle for that. Because if you live for that, you get it and that’s it. That is your reward.

But if you live for God, if you seek God, if you meet with God in secret, if you pray to your Father in secret, your Father sees and your Father will reward openly.

So in this, there is a call to examine motive. Why do you do what you do? Why do you pray? Why do you go to church? Why do you read the Bible? Why do you give? Why do you serve? Why do you do any of it? Is it for God, or is it for man? Because the two are not the same. And Jesus says you can do the right things with the wrong motive.

And one of the places where motive is most exposed is the closet. Because in the closet, you don’t have the audience. In the closet, you don’t have the praise. In the closet, you don’t have the recognition. In the closet, you have God. And you have you.

And so the closet reveals much. It reveals what we believe. It reveals what we love. It reveals what we fear. It reveals what we desire. It reveals what we seek.

And so, if you want to know where you are spiritually, ask yourself, what’s my closet life like? Not the public life. Not the outward. Not what people see. The closet life.

Now, some of you may say, well, I don’t have it. I don’t have it. I don’t have a closet life. It’s sporadic. It’s inconsistent. It’s weak. It’s absent. It’s neglected.

Well, if that’s the case, then you have to hear Jesus. Jesus is not giving you a suggestion. He’s not saying, here’s an optional extra. He’s saying, this is what disciples do. Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet. He assumes it. He expects it. It is part of the Christian life.

And so if you don’t have it, you need to repent of that neglect. Not in a hopeless way. Not in a despairing way. But in a believing way. You need to say, Lord, I’ve neglected this. Forgive me. And help me. And then you need to do what is necessary. You need to pick a place. You need to shut the door. You need to make it happen.

And you may say, I don’t have time. And Jesus would say, you do. Because you have time for what you want time for. We all do. We make time for what we value.

And you may say, I don’t know how. And Jesus would say, you do. Because you’re not being asked to be eloquent. You’re being asked to be sincere. You’re being asked to meet with your Father.

And you may say, I don’t feel it. And Jesus would say, do it anyway. Because the Christian life is not lived on feeling alone. It is lived on faith. And faith obeys.

And you may say, I’m distracted. And Jesus would say, shut the door. Because that’s what the door is about. Shut out the distractions. Shut out the diversions. Shut out the things that steal your mind and steal your heart and steal your attention.

And you may say, I’m weary. And Jesus would say, come. Because the weary need the closet. The weary need the Father. The weary need communion. The weary need the strengthening that comes from meeting with God.

So this is where we are. At the head of the year. And I’m not standing here as someone who is saying, I have mastered this. I’m standing here as someone who says, this is essential. And if we lose this, we lose everything.

If we lose private prayer, we will not sustain family prayer. If we lose private prayer, public prayer becomes performance. If we lose private prayer, ministry becomes mechanical. If we lose private prayer, our walk with God becomes hollow.

So at the head of the year, hear the voice of Christ. Hear the wisdom of Christ. Hear the love of Christ. He’s not trying to burden you. He’s trying to bless you. He’s not trying to crush you. He’s trying to preserve you. He’s not trying to rob you. He’s trying to give you Himself.

Enter into thy closet. Shut thy door. Pray to thy Father which is in secret. And thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Let’s pray.

Lord, thou knowest the weakness of our hearts. Thou knowest, Lord, how easily we are distracted. Thou knowest, Lord, how easily we are pulled away. Thou knowest, Lord, how often we neglect the very thing that we most need. And so we pray, Lord, for thy mercy. Forgive us, Lord, for the neglect of prayer. Forgive us, Lord, for the neglect of meeting with thee. Forgive us, Lord, for being content with public religion and the eyes of men.

Lord, bring us back. Bring us into the closet. Teach us again what it is to shut the door. Teach us again what it is to pray to our Father. And Lord, reward thy people, not because we deserve it, but because thou art good. Because thou art gracious. Because thou delightest in showing mercy. Because thou art a Father who loves His children.

Help us, Lord, at the start of this year to set the tone. Help us, Lord, to build habits that will preserve us. Help us, Lord, to be men and women of prayer. Help us, Lord, to seek thy face.

And for those here who are not in Christ, Lord, we pray that thou wouldst show them the terror of being seen by God without a Savior. Lord, awaken them. Convict them. Draw them. Bring them to Christ. That they too may call thee Father.

We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.