Shut The Door

Being Discipled by Something

I was so convicted last week hearing Pastor Louie's sermon as he talked about how all of us are being discipled by something — primarily the algorithm. Did anybody's screen time go down after that talk? I hope mine did. I was too afraid to check it.

But what a convicting thought: all of us are being discipled by something. There's an algorithm the world is recommending for you. Even if you're off social media, there's something feeding you, something forming you. And what we ended on last week was that primarily what God is recommending for us is God. We want to take God up on the offer to enjoy God.

So today we're going to talk about how we do that. How do we take God up on his offer? We're going to see it in Matthew 6:6, when Jesus says:

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.

Prayer Constantly Interrupted

There are few conversations more frustrating than trying to talk to a parent who's watching their kids at the playground. Or take it up a notch — try a phone call with a parent who's got their kids at Costco.

"So, tell me about yourself. Tell me about your life." One second — get back here right now. "Okay, one more time. What was that like for you?" Do not eat that wood chip. "Sorry. Where were we? Oh, that's right, your parents split — I'm so sorry." Put your clothes on, man.

And God bless the parents — I'm one of them. We genuinely mean it; we're trying to have a conversation. But if that's the only conversation you have with that parent, you leave thinking, "I don't even know if I want to be in this conversation. Neither of us are having fun. I'd rather just see you when we can actually talk."

I wonder if that's what our prayer life can be like. Talking with the Lord, constantly interrupted. "One second, Lord. Wait — what was that news headline? Did anyone text me last night? Sorry. Okay, Matthew 6…"

Shut the Door

When Jesus told his disciples this — before there were even phones and social media — he said, 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. Seven and a half hours of sleep will work every now and then. Maybe what Jesus has for us is better inside a shut door than what we could find outside an open door.

The temptation — if you're like me — is that we think we're meant to be all-seeing and all-knowing, all-responding, all-commenting. But there's only One who is all-seeing and all-knowing, and that's God. And even the One who is all-seeing still requires us to wait on him. 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.

The world recommends you leave the door open to be seen. God is recommending you shut the door and see God.

Two Things a Shut Door Does

When you shut a door, two things happen:

1. It keeps things out. What I'm doing in this room is more important than what's going on outside of it. I'll shut the door so no one interrupts my encounter with the Almighty.
2. It keeps you in. This may be the more important thing Jesus is talking about.

Takeaway 1: Be Intentionally Unreachable to Be Strategically Accessible

Jesus lived a life that was intentionally unreachable to be strategically accessible. He had rhythms of closing the door.

Mark 1:35 — Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place. And there he was praying.

Some of you hate that verse. 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 said, It's more important for me to go away from you people who need something from me, because I want something from God.

Luke 5:15–16 — The news about Jesus spread even more, and large crowds would come together to hear him and be healed of their sicknesses. Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.

Few things are as important as healing the sick. And yet, when he was one of the only ones who could do it, Jesus still said it was more important to go away and seek his Father in private. Your work is important, but it is not the only thing that's important. The most important thing is prioritizing solitary places where you can encounter the living God.

• Mark 6:12 — Jesus went out to the mountain and spent all night in prayer. Some decisions are so significant they require losing sleep to pray.
• Mark 6:46 — After he said goodbye to them, he went away to the mountain to pray. There's some company we need to say goodbye to in order to meet with the Lord.
• Luke 9:18 — While he was praying in private, his disciples were with him. Sometimes it's possible to be in private with the Lord even when surrounded by people.
• John 6:15 — When Jesus realized they were about to make him king by force, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

What a word for our day. The city wanted to make Jesus king, and yet Jesus said, My goal isn't to meet your expectations. My goal is to please my Father. So I'll say no to a bigger platform, no to a bigger following, no to more popularity, no to being seen — because I'm living on my Father's timeline.

What would it look like if we, as a church, took Jesus up on this? If we stopped buying into anything and everything that might get us more visibility, and said, They're seeking me, but I'm seeking God — and right now my seeking God keeps me from saying yes to their seeking me.

The Pattern Throughout Scripture

It wasn't just Jesus. You see this through significant people all through Scripture:

• Isaac spent all night wrestling in prayer with God.
• Moses spent 40 days and nights on the mountain before he received the Word of God.
• David was a shepherd in the fields writing psalms before he was a king.
• Elijah, prophet of power, was brought to loneliness in a cave seeking God's presence.
• Daniel, bold in a foreign nation, had a rhythm of prayer three times a day — even in Babylon.
• Peter spent years learning to pray, and was found seeking the Lord on a roof when he received the vision of Jews and Gentiles united.
• Paul, known for his wisdom, spent years in a desert seeking the Lord after his conversion.
• John received Revelation on the back end of exile to the island of Patmos, alone, seeking God.

The problem in our day is:

• 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 prayer 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 if you want to see God, you'll find him on the other side of a shut door.

As Leonard Ravenhill said: Lovers love to be alone, 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?

The Second Reason to Shut the Door: To Stay In

The second reason to shut the door isn't just to keep things out — it's to stay in. I think this is primarily Jesus' heart in this text. Let's read the context, Matthew 6:1–18:

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…

Whenever you give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do… 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 and on street corners to be seen by people… But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret…

Whenever you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites… But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting isn't obvious to others, but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Takeaway 2: Be Willingly Unseen to Prioritize Seeing God

Primarily this passage is not about giving, fasting, and praying — though it is that. It's really about verse 1: Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.

Then he gives three examples of people doing really good things for really wrong reasons. Because the right thing done for the wrong reason is the wrong thing.

Notice: Jesus' primary rebuke isn't that they're praying or fasting. It's that they're doing something meant to be done to God and for God — but doing it to be seen by people. They want to appear holy, but really they want to please people.

It's like early in my marriage. My wife came to an extended-family birthday celebration, and she didn't know it was custom in our family that whenever you wrote a loved one a card, you'd read it aloud. She'd written me a letter in our first year of marriage. My grandmommy, bless her, says, "Well, read it to us, Mary!" And I said, "Let's not read that one, Grandommy. Nothing crazy in there — I'm just not ready for that one yet."

Why? Because that letter was written from her to me. The purpose wasn't to say something to everyone on my behalf; it was to encourage me. In the same way, when you give, fast, and pray, the goal is to please God, to know God.

The Actor's Mask

What Jesus says is: when you're doing these things to be seen by people, you're a hypocrite. He says it in every section — hypocrite when you give like that, hypocrite when you pray like that, hypocrite when you fast like that.

In the original, "hypocrite" was first used to describe an actor — someone in the theater. Jesus says: That's what you're doing. You're a performer. You're a pretender. You're putting on a show. You want us to think you love God, but really you love what people think about you.

Whatever happened to being quietly awesome? What happened to quiet integrity? To praying for someone without telling anyone? To doing something amazing and posting it nowhere? In our day it is rarer and rarer to have quiet integrity.

Doing It to Be Seen

The second thing he points out: you're doing it to be seen. To be applauded by people, to be seen by people, so that your fasting is obvious to people.

It's exactly what he tells the Pharisees in Matthew 23:5–6 — they do everything to be seen by others; they love the place of honor at banquets, the front seats in synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called rabbi. You've got your cool clothes, the nice seats, the honor at banquets, the fancy job titles. That's not worship. Your heart in all of this is simply to be seen.

This isn't only a social media problem — Jesus said this 2,000 years ago. But social media exacerbates it. It can subtly raise a society of Christians who desire to be seen by others more than we desire to see God:

• More desire to preach a good message than to enjoy the good Word.
• More desire to be in front of people than alone with Jesus.
• More 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; more about what people think of us than what they think of God.

When popularity becomes our primary pursuit, we'll say anything, commend anyone, do whatever's necessary, and post whatever the algorithm rewards — all to grow a following. We can even maintain "integrity" by saying what is mostly true but leaving out the whole truth. We'll live with one eye toward heaven and one eye toward earth — and in the end, neither will be fully pleased.

So Jesus says: don't live like that. Quit being a hypocrite.

The Warning of Pride and Popularity

John Newton — pastor and author of Amazing Grace — was asked by a young man entering ministry for advice. He wrote a letter titled On the Difficulties Attending the Ministry, warning of two things: pride and popularity.

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 we're saying yes to Genesis 11 all over again — building our own little Babels, not with brick and mortar, but with subscriptions and follows, views and likes. And maybe, like the people in this text, we even brand it with Jesus. But ultimately it's to make our name great.

That's why, in Tim Keller's last message before he died, his final point was: Forget about your reputation. He quoted Jeremiah 45:5 — "Do you seek great things for thyself? Seek them not."

"You Have Already Received Your Reward"

Why not? Because, Jesus says, you've already gotten your reward. It's a scary word in the Greek — as if someone comes and shows them the receipt.

Imagine someone coming to Jesus saying, "I lived faithfully. I fasted, I prayed, I gave. I'm ready for my eternal inheritance." And Jesus produces a receipt and shows them: You already got what you wanted. You did it for the people — they saw it, they clapped, they followed, they liked and loved you. You were paid in full.

Jesus says, don't be like them. There's a better way. Do it not to be seen by them, but to be seen by God — and when your Father sees, you'll get the reward. And the reward is him.

When you give… let it be in secret. When you pray… go into your private room, shut the door… to your Father who is in secret. When you fast… so that it isn't obvious to others, but to your Father who is in secret.

Quiet Integrity in Our Church

I'm encouraged because our church is made of people like this. Last week at Love Atlanta, our Cumberland staff team served at a ministry in Marietta called Table on Delk — which cares for unseen and undervalued women and their kids, speaking life over them and giving them a place to stay and food to eat.

While we were there, our team ran into Rebecca Williams, who's part of our church. She said, "Oh yeah, I've been at Table on Delk." "That's amazing — so you serve there like once every eight years?" "No, no. I've been serving roughly once a week for the last eight years."

How did we not know about this? I knew about my friend's CrossFit schedule — why didn't I know about this? Because she wasn't letting her left hand know what her right hand was doing. She was giving, praying, and serving in secret, all unto the Lord.

We do hold this in tension with Matthew 5:16 — "Let your works be seen by all that they may glorify your Father in heaven." The issue is motive. It's not wrong to be popular or to be seen — it's wrong if those are your primary goals. When's the last time you did anything for eight years and told no one?

Faithful, Unseen Lives

It makes me think of Oswald Chambers. We'd never have known My Utmost for His Highest — one of the bestselling devotionals in church history — because he was relatively unknown his whole life. Only after he died did his wife gather his sermon notes and writings into that devotional. He plowed faithfully, unseen, and after he died the Lord magnified his ministry.

Or Robert Murray M'Cheyne, a pastor who died at 29. Faithfully praying for his people and preaching, he was unknown until a friend, so encouraged by his life, wrote a biography that blew up. Now he's one of the most quoted pastors today. One quote marked his life:

What a man is on his knees before God, that he is — and nothing more.

Be someone who pursues God for God's sake, content to be unseen, knowing that God sees you.

The Reward: The Father Who Sees

He closes: Your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Your Father sees. Your Father sees. Your Father sees.

Did you notice how many times the word Father appears in this text? Ten times. What's he saying? It's better to be seen by God than to be seen by people. Live to please your Father. There is no reward like knowing God.

When you know him, it changes why and how you do things. It shifts us:

• From "I hope they like me" to "I hope they love him."
• From "What did they think of how I did?" to "What are they thinking about God now?"
• From "Did I do a good job?" to "Was I faithful?"

When God is our goal, what's in the closet is better than anything outside it:

• Why pray? Because I want to know and enjoy God.
• Why fast? Because I want to feast on God.
• Why give? Because I want to worship God.
• Why preach? To please God.
• Why work? Because I want to display God.
• Why breathe? Because I want to be consumed with God.
• Why post? Because I want to turn eyes to see God.
• Why love others? Because I want to imitate God.

My goal is to say with David in Psalm 27:4 — One thing I ask of the 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.

Jesus Did This Perfectly

No one did this better than Jesus. In John 8:29 he says, I always do what pleases my Father. And you can trace his life with eyes toward heaven:

• Sometimes pleasing his Father meant saying no when people crowned him king, and getting alone in the desert.
• Other times it meant riding into a city to the shouts of praise.
• Sometimes it meant preaching to thousands.
• Other times it meant silently healing someone in a room with three people.

At times pleasing his Father led him to be seen; at times it 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 endured it.

Underneath the pleasure of his Father, he could withstand the displeasure of crowds. Underneath the words "This is my Son, whom I love, with whom I'm well pleased," he could endure the scorn and chaos of his day, taking on your sin and mine — so that you and I could enter into that same pleasure.

Because Jesus experienced the displeasure of the Father on our behalf, we can experience the pleasure of the Father on his behalf.

Shut the Door and Step In

So wake up today with a song of heaven over you — the love of a Father and the smile of a King — knowing who you are and whose you are. When that's your soundtrack and your motive, you won't be worried about pleasing other people. Why? I've already got the eternal pleasure I need, and it can't be taken away. So now my goal is to live to please him.

If you want more of the pleasure of your Father — to know that he's happy with you, that he likes you, that he smiles over you, to know what it is to be his son or daughter — that comes on the other side of shutting the door, stepping in, and taking God up on the offer of God.

I don't have FOMO. I've got JOMO — the joy of missing out. There's nowhere I'd rather be than here with him. I don't know what's happening on the other side of that closed door, but I know what's happening inside it. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than anywhere else.

So by God's grace and the power of his Spirit, I'm closing the door. Do Not Disturb. And I'm stepping in and saying, God, I want God. And I want us to be a church who wants God. Because we know God sees us, we're okay when no one else does.