Shut The Door - Jonathan Pickens

0:20 hearing Pastor Louie's sermon as he talked about how all of us are being discipled by something, primarily the algorithm. Anybody's screen time go down after the talk last week? I hope mine did. I was too afraid to check it. But what a convicting thought that all of us are being discipled by something, that there's an algorithm that the world is recommending for you, even if you're off of social media. There's something that you're being fed by, something that you're being formed by. And what we ended on last week was that primarily what God is recommending for us is God. And we wanna take up God on the offer to enjoy God. And so today what we're gonna talk about is how do we do that? How do we take God up on his offer to take the recommendation of God?

1:14 And we're gonna see that in Matthew 6, verse six, when Jesus says this, but when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door and pray to your father who is in secret. And your father who sees in secret will reward you. If you want God, he's often found on the other side of a closed door. Shut the door, go in and seek your father. There are few conversations more frustrating to be in than trying to talk to a parent who's been tasked to watch their kids at the playground. If you want to take it up a notch, you can try a phone call with a parent who's got their kids at Costco. So, do you ever try to have a serious conversation with a parent who's watching their kids? You're like, so tell me about yourself.

2:11 Tell me about your life. You're like, one second. Get back here right now. So, one more time. Oh, man, that sounds so hard. What was that like for you? Do not eat that wood chip. Okay, sorry. Where were we? Oh, that's right. Your parents, they split. Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry. Could you tell me? Put your clothes on. man there's this zone as a parent you're just trying to have this conversation and god bless the parents i'm one of them i am the person who has those conversations and we mean it we're trying to have a conversation but if that's the only conversation you have with that parent i'm leaving like i don't even know if i want to be in this conversation neither of us are having fun right now i'd rather just see you when we can actually talk and even though there's a genuine and desire to have a conversation, the outcome's not great. And I wonder if at times that's what our prayer life can be like.

3:07 Talking with the Lord, constantly interrupted. Talking with the Lord. One second, let me, what was there? Where were we? Wait, wait, wait, what was that news headline? Did anyone text me last night? Sorry, we were, okay, Matthew 6. and I wonder if Jesus in telling his disciples this before there were even phones in social media we're going to shut that door He's telling them, go into your room and shut the door. One of the holiest things you can do is put your phone on do not disturb at times and sit with the Lord. The email can wait. The text message can wait. The show can wait.

3:59 Seven and a half hours of sleep will work every now and then. maybe what Jesus has for us is better inside of a shut door than what we could find outside of an open door. And maybe what he wants us to do is refrain from the recommendation of the world to open the door to be seen. And what God is recommending today is to close the door to see God.

4:24 Because if you're like me, the temptation can be, we're meant to be all seeing. Do you hear about that? Do you see about that? All knowing. all responding, all commenting. But there's only one who's all seeing and all knowing, and that's God. And even the one who's all seeing and all knowing still requires us to wait on him every now and then. And if it's okay to wait on God, maybe it's okay if people have to wait on you every now and then for the right reason. And so what if we took God up on the offer to shut the door, trusting that God is often seen on the other side of a closed door. The world recommends that you leave the door open to be seen. God is recommending that you shut the door and see God. That's exactly what he's talking about in Matthew 6.

5:18 We just said it. When you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, pray to your father who's in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. Two things happen when you shut a door. The first thing that happens is when you shut the door, it keeps things out. But the second thing that happens when you shut the door is that it also keeps you in, which may be the more important thing that Jesus is talking about. But the first thing that he's saying here is keeping things out, that what I'm doing in this room is more important than what's going on outside of it. So I'm going to shut the door to hinder anyone from interrupting my encounter with the Almighty. Jesus lived a life like this. He lived a life that was intentionally unreachable to be strategically accessible. And that's my encouragement for us this morning. It's your first takeaway if you're taking notes.

6:12 Be intentionally unreachable to be strategically accessible. Jesus had rhythms of closing the door. Think about Mark 1 35. You'll see these on the screen. We'll go through a lot of them. Mark 1 35, very early in the morning, while it was still dark. Some of y'all hate that verse. He got up, went out and made his way to a deserted place. And there he was praying. praying. Simon and his companions searched for him, and when they found him, they said, everyone is looking for you. Everyone was looking for Jesus, and yet Jesus somehow said, it's more important for me to go to a deserted place away from you people who need something from me because I want something from God. Luke 5, 15 through 16, but the news about Jesus spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him to be healed of their sicknesses.

7:17 Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed. Few things are as important as healing the sick. And yet with work, as important as miraculously healing the sick when he was one of the only ones who could do it. With work that was this important, he still said, it's more important that I go away and deny people who are seeking me to be healed so that I can seek my Father in private. Your work is important, but it is not the only thing in your life that's important. In fact, there's something that's most important and it's prioritizing solitary places where you can encounter the living God in private. Mark 6, 12, during those days, Jesus went out to the mountain to pray and he spent all night long in prayer to God.

8:12 There are some decisions so significant, some moments so severe that it requires losing sleep to pray. Mark 6, 46, after he said goodbye to them. Our introverts love that one. He went away to the mountain to pray. There's some company that we need to say goodbye to in order to meet with the Lord. Luke 9, 18, while he was praying in private and his disciples were with him. There are times where it's possible to be in private with the Lord, even when you're surrounded by people. John 6, 15, listen to this. When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. What a word for our day.

9:06 The city that Jesus was in wanted to make Jesus their king. And yet Jesus says, my goal isn't to meet your expectations and do what pleases you. My goal is to do what pleases my father. So I'm gonna say no to a bigger platform, no to a bigger following, no to more popularity, no to being seen because I'm living on the timeline of my father. What would it look like if as a church, we took Jesus up on what he is asking us to do and not buying into anything and everything that might get us more visibility by anyone. and we said, they're seeking me, but I'm seeking God. And right now my seeking God hinders me from saying yes to their seeking me. But it wasn't just Jesus who lived a life like this. You see this through significant people all throughout the scriptures. Think about the patriarch, Isaac. He spent all night wrestling in prayer with God. Moses, he spent 40 days and 40 nights on the mountain before he received the word of God, the 10 commandments.

10:09 David, we know him as a king and leader of a kingdom, yet before all of that, he was a shepherd in the fields, writing Psalms and prayer. Elijah, known as the prophet of power, and yet he was brought to a place of loneliness and isolation in a cave, seeking the presence of the Lord. Daniel, known for his boldness in a foreign nation, and yet he had a rhythm of prayer. He would pray three times a day, every day, even in Babylon. Peter spent years with Jesus learning to pray. And yet even in his years with Jesus, after that, he's found seeking the Lord on a roof in solitude where he's given a vision of Jews and Gentiles being united. Paul, known for his colossal wisdom and intellect. And yet he spent years before writing these letters in a desert seeking the Lord after his conversion.

11:02 John, known for his revelation that he writes, the last book of the Bible came on the back end of exile to the island called Patmos, alone seeking God. Because the problem is in our day, we want a word from God like Moses without 40 days on a mountain. We want the kingdom of David without the prayers of a shepherd. We want the power of Elijah without the cave of solitude. We want the boldness of Daniel without the rhythm of praying three times a day. We want the authority of Peter without seeking God on a roof. We want the wisdom of Paul without years of silent seeking. We want the revelation of John without the exile to Patmos. But the problem is if you want to see God, you will find him on the other side of a shut door. Because Leonard Ravenhill says is true. Lovers love to be alone.

11:56 and the high peaks of the soul are reached in solitude. So be intentionally unreachable to be strategically accessible. What doors do we need to close in order to seek the Lord? But the second reason that you shut the door isn't just to keep people or keep things out. The second reason that you would shut the door is to stay in. And I think that this is primarily Jesus' heart in explaining this text and encouraging his disciples to shut the door. And so to do that, I wanna read the context of what he's writing together in Matthew 6, verses one through 18. We'll start with verse one here.

12:42 Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward with your father in heaven. So, whenever you give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets to be applauded by people. But truly, I tell you, they have their reward. But when you give to the poor, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites because they love to pray standing in synagogues on the street corner to be seen by people. But truly I tell you, they've received their reward.

13:37 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, that's our word, and pray to your father who's in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you. When you pray, don't babble like the Gentiles since they imagine they'll be heard for their many words. Don't be like them because your father knows the things that you need before you ask him. Therefore, when you pray, you should pray like this. Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. Do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don't forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.

14:32 But whenever you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly, I tell you, they have their reward. But when you fast, put oil in your head and wash your face so that your fasting isn't obvious to others, but to your Father who's in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Second takeaway is this, be willingly unseen to prioritize seeing God.

15:05 Because primarily this passage is not about giving, fasting, and praying, though it is that. But this passage is really about verse one here. be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. And then he gives three different examples of people doing really good things for really wrong reasons because the right thing done for the wrong reason is the wrong thing.

15:35 And so you'll notice that Jesus' primary rebuke of them isn't that they're praying or isn't that they're fasting. It's that they're doing something that is meant to be done to God and for God, to be seen by people. So they're wanting to appear holy, but in reality, they're wanting to please people. They're wanting to act like they're showing off to God in a relationship with God, but really they're showing off to people. It's kind of like when my wife and I got married early on. I remember she came to our extended family birthday celebration. We were celebrating some people's birthdays and she didn't know. that whenever you wrote a loved one a card, it was custom in our family that you would read said card aloud. And so she had written me a letter in our first year of marriage and given me a birthday present. And my grandmommy, bless her, speaks up and says, well, read it to us, Mary.

16:30 I say, let's not read that one, grandmommy. Not quite ready for that one. Nothing crazy in there, but I'm just not ready for grandmommy to read that one yet. Why? Because that was written from her to me. And the purpose was not to say something to everyone on behalf of me. The purpose was to encourage me. And in the same way, when you give, when you fast, and when you pray, the goal is to please God. The goal is to know God. And here we are in this text. And what Jesus is saying is when you're doing these things, it's not about God. You're doing it to be seen by people. And so what's he do? Well, what you would naturally do. He calls each of them a hypocrite.

17:20 So in every section, he says, you're a hypocrite. When you give like that, you're a hypocrite. When you pray like that, you're a hypocrite. when you fast like that. There's a structure that he's following here. And in their originals, that word hypocrite was first used to describe someone who was an actor, someone who was in theater. So you would go to the theater and you would see a hypocrite, an actor. And Jesus says, that's what you're doing. You're a performer. You're a pretender. You're putting on a show. You're acting better than you are. You want us to think you love God, but really you love what people think about you. That's what this passage is about. So Jesus says, shut the door so that not just to keep things out, but shut the door to protect you from pandering to people. Whatever happened to being quietly awesome? What happened to quiet integrity?

18:13 What happened to praying somewhere without telling somebody that you were praying for them? What happened to doing something amazing and posting it nowhere? What happened to working out and not posting it anywhere? In our day, it is rarer and rarer to have quiet integrity. And Jesus is putting on the religious leaders of this day, absolutely blasting them. And he's saying, you're hypocrites. When you act like this, why are they hypocrites? Second thing he points out in each of these sections, you're doing it to be seen. Did you see that? To be applauded by people, to be seen by people so that their fasting is obvious to people. The goal of this text, he's saying, your heart is to be seen by people, not to see God. It's exactly what he tells the Pharisees in Matthew 23, five through six. They do everything to be seen by others.

19:07 They enlarge their phylacteries and links in their tassels. They love the place of honor at banquets, the front seats and synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces and to be called rabbi by people. He's absolutely blasting religious leaders. What he's saying is, you're doing it to be seen by other people. You got your cool clothes. You like the nice seats. You got your honor at the banquet. You got your fancy job titles. No, no, what he's saying is, that's not at all worship. Your heart in all of this is simply to be seen. And listen, this isn't a social media problem. Jesus is doing this 2000 years ago. But at the same time, this is a problem that social media exacerbates exacerbates and makes increases. It's because oftentimes social media can subtly raise a society of Christians that desires to be seen by others more than we desire to see God.

20:03 Seems to be a desire to preach a good message more than enjoy the good word. More of a desire to be in front of other people than alone with Jesus. There's more of a desire to be elevated before men than on our knees before God. We can care more about our job titles than the state of our people. We can care more about what our people think about us than what our people think about God. And the problem when popularity and being seen becomes our primary pursuit is that our goal will be to say anything and commend anyone and do whatever is necessary and post what the algorithm rewards, all to maintain and grow a following. And we can attempt to maintain our integrity by saying what is mostly true, believing out the whole truth. what is mostly right, but not completely right. We will live with one eye towards heaven and one eye towards earth, but in the end, neither will be fully pleased.

20:58 And so Jesus says, don't live like that. Quit being a hypocrite. Don't live to be seen by other people. And the danger in our day is who's warning about this? It seems that popularity being seen, not that popularity is wrong, it's not, but the pursuit of it can be. That's what he's talking about here. Jesus is giving a warning of events pursuing being seen, living a lifestyle for that reason. And who else warns about this? John Newton, pastor, author of Amazing Grace. As an older man, he was reached out to by a young man who had heard of him as a pastor. And this young man says, hey, I'm entering into ministry. Could you give me some advice and encouragement heading in? And John Newton responds and writes him a letter that's entitled, On the Difficulties Attending the Ministry. And in it, he warns of two things, pride and popularity.

21:54 Listen to what he says. There will be almost the same connection between popularity and pride as between fire and gunpowder. They cannot meet without an explosion, at least not unless the gunpowder is kept very damp. So unless the Lord is constantly moistening our hearts by the influences of His Spirit, popularity will soon set us in a blaze. If hardship has taken out many, popularity has taken out more. It's possible that we're saying yes to Genesis 11 all over again and building our own little babbles, but not with brick and mortar. This time we do it with subscriptions and follows, views and likes. And maybe we're even like the people in this text and we'll brand it with Jesus, but ultimately it's to have our name be great.

22:49 That's why when Tim Keller gave his last message before he died, the final point And his final message was this, forget about your reputation. Then he quotes Jeremiah 45, five and says, do you seek great things for thyself? Seek them not. Why? Jesus tells them, you've already gotten your reward. See that? All of them. It's a scary word in the Greek.

23:20 It's as if someone comes and shows them the receipt. It's like someone comes to Jesus and says, I lived a life faithful to you. I fasted, I prayed, I gave. I'm ready for my internal inheritance. And then Jesus goes, he gets a receipt and he shows them. You already got what you were wanting.

23:40 You were doing it for the people. They saw it, they clapped for you. You were doing it to be seen. They started following you. You were doing it to be liked and loved. You are liked and loved. You were paid. they've received their reward in full. Jesus says, don't be like them. There's a better way. What you can do is not do it to be seen by them. That's what the world recommends. But what Jesus is recommending is shut the door and do it to be seen by God. And when your father sees, you'll get the reward and the reward is him. That's what he says. Look at this. But when you give, give to the poor. Don't let your left hand know what your right hand's doing so that your giving may be in secret. But when you pray, go into your private room, shut the door, pray to your father who's in secret. But when you fast, put oil on your head, wash your face so that your fasting isn't obvious to others, but to your father who is in secret. And I'm so encouraged because our church is made up of people who are like this. Just this last week at Love Atlanta, our staff team at Cumberland got to go serve at an amazing ministry in Marietta called Table on Delk.

24:55 This ministry serves unseen and undervalued women in our society and largely just cares for them, their kids, speaks life over them, encourages them, gives them a place to stay and food to eat. And as we were there and in the process of going, our team encountered Rebecca Williams, who's part of our church. She's amazing, probably over there serving in Bloom right now. And as we were talking with her, she says, oh yeah, I've been to Table and Duck. I said, really? That's amazing. Tell me about it. Yeah, I've been there for the last eight years.

25:29 Wow, that's amazing. So you serve like once every eight years? She's like, no, no, I've been serving roughly once a week for the last eight years. Then she proceeds to tell us about this ministry. How did you find out about it? Oh, my community group, remember those? Way back in the day, they introduced us. I fell in love with the ladies and I've been going back and serving weekly since. How did we not know about this? I knew about my friend's CrossFit activity. Why didn't I know about this? Because she's not letting her left hand what her right hand's doing, because she's giving, praying, and serving in secret. And in the end, what she's doing is, it's to the Lord. I just revealed her secret. But there's also Matthew 5, 16, which says, let your works be made known to all that they may glorify your Father in heaven.

26:30 And so we wanna hold it in contrast here, that what he's concerned about is motive. It's not wrong to be popular. It's not wrong to be seen. It's wrong if those are your primary goals. And so what he's saying is these three things are in particular aimed at pleasing God. And when you make them about pleasing people, you're in the wrong. And so we wanna be people who are like Rebecca, who silently served. When's the last time you did anything for eight years and told no one?

26:57 And yet here she is serving week after week. I wanna be someone like that. It makes me think of Oswald Chambers. many of us know his devotion, my utmost for his highest. We would have had no idea what that was because as a pastor, he was relatively unknown for his whole life until after he died, his wife took his sermons notes, his study, and much of what he'd written and put them together in a devotional. And that's one of the best-selling devotionals in the history of the church. When as a pastor who was alive, faithfully plowing, unseen and unnoticed. And after he died, the Lord magnified his ministry. It's like Robert Murray McShane, a Puritan pastor who died at the age of 29. And yet in his life, faithfully praying for his people, faithfully preaching sermons.

27:53 After he died, he had a close friend who was so encouraged by his life that he wrote a biography about him. The biography blew up and now he's one of the most quoted pastors in our day today. And one of the quotes that marked his life is this, what a man is on his knees before God, that he is and nothing more. Be someone who pursues God for God's sake and are content to be unseen, knowing that God sees you.

28:24 And what's the reward? He closes with this, your father who sees in secret will reward you. Your father sees. Your father sees. Your father sees. And in fact, the emphasis of this text, I don't know if you noticed how many times the word father is used. 10 different times. Father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father, father. 10 times. Thank you. What's he saying?

29:08 It's better to be seen by God than to be seen by people. Live to please your father. There's no reward like knowing God. And when you know him, it will change why you do things and how you do things. it will shift things and shift us from asking the question,

29:35 man, I hope they like me too. Wow, I hope they love him. It will move us from asking, what did they think about how I did? To then turning and saying, what are they thinking about God now? It will move us from saying, did they love Jesus more after our conversation? and then going into, what are they thinking about God now? Maybe you'll think to yourself, gosh, I messed up a couple of times. Verse saying, no, no, what the Lord impressed on me has been offloaded.

30:16 It'll move us from asking, did I do a good job? Two, was I faithful? When God is our goal, it changes why we do things and how we do things. What this text is saying is what's in the closet is better than anything else that could be outside of it. Why would you pray? Because I wanna know and enjoy God. Why would you fast? Because I wanna feast on God. Why would we give? Because I wanna worship God. Why would I preach? I'm preaching to please God. Why would I work? Because I wanna display God. Why would I breathe? because I wanna be consumed with God. Why would I post? Because I wanna turn eyes to see God. Why would we love others? Because I wanna imitate God. My goal is to say with David in Psalm 27, four, one thing I ask of you, Lord, this only do I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

31:22 I wanna take God up on the offer of God and God is often found on the other side of a closed door. So by God's grace and the power of his spirit, I'm closing the door, do not disturb, and stepping in and I say, God, I want God. And I want us to be a church who wants God. And because we know God sees us, we're okay when no one else does.

31:52 Because when you've got the pleasure of the Lord, woke up love today, you don't need to go fight for someone else's smile. No one did this better than Jesus. In John 8, 29, Jesus says, I always do what pleases my father. And because that's true, you can trace Jesus' life, eyes towards heaven. And at times, pleasing his father meant saying no when people crowned him as king and getting alone in the desert. And at other times, pleasing his father meant riding into a city to the shouts of praise of people. At times, pleasing his father meant standing up and preaching to hundreds and thousands. And at other times, pleasing his father meant silently healing someone in a room with three people.

32:52 At times, pleasing his father led him to be seen, but at times, pleasing his father led him to be unseen. That was irrelevant. The goal was pleasing his father. And ultimately, it was pleasing his father that sent him to a cross who for the joy set before him, he endured it. And underneath the pleasure of his father, he could withstand the displeasure of crowds. And he, underneath the words, this is my son whom I love with whom I'm well pleased, could endure the scorn and the chaos of his day, taking on your sin and my sin so that you and I could enter into that same pleasure. and know what it means because Jesus experienced the displeasure of the Father on our behalf. We can experience the pleasure of the Father on his behalf and wake up today with a song of heaven over us, with the love of a father and the smile of a king, knowing who we are and who we belong to.

34:02 And when that's your soundtrack, when that's your motive, when that's your recommendation, it will move you to live a life that's not worried about pleasing other people. Why? I've already got pleasure that I need. Eternal pleasure that can't be taken away. And so now my goal is to live to please him. And if you're interested in how you can take up more of the pleasure of your father, to know what it is when it says that he's happy with you, to know what it is that he likes you, to know what he is that he smiles over you, to know what it is to be his son or his daughter that's gonna come on the other side of shutting the door and stepping in and taking God up on the offer of God, knowing I don't have FOMO. I got JOMO. The joy of missing out. There's nowhere else I'd rather be than here with him.

34:58 I don't know what's going on on the other side of that closed door, but I know what's going on inside of this closed door and I'd rather be with him in his courts than anywhere else. I'd rather be a door holder in the house of my God than anywhere else. And so I'm taking up God on his recommendation of himself and I'm gonna shut the door to encounter the living.