Our Father
Matthew 6:9-13,
I think everybody would agree that this is the most famous prayer ever prayed. It is a prayer that is heard across the world every day by thousands upon thousands. Perhaps nowhere is the universal church more unified or in agreement as when they come to this matter of praying the Lord's Prayer. It is the prayer that almost every Christian has prayed at different points in their lives and I think everybody would agree that it is the greatest of prayers. And Jesus wanted us to shape our prayers. It doesn't mean we have to pray this prayer word for word, but he does want us to shape our prayers by this prayer. Look what he says, “Pray in this manner or in this way.”
Now in one sense it's a very simple prayer, not that long. But it has a clear structure to it, six petitions. They're petitions. It consists of six petitions, no question. The first petition is the most important one, “Hallowed be your name.” God wants his name to be hallowed. God is more concerned about his name being hallowed, glorified than anything else. Even Jesus when he came to earth, that was his great reason for coming, ultimately to glorify his father in heaven. But these petitions, they cover all of life, much like the Ten Commandments. They start off with God and then there's a second table, if you will, a focus on God first and then second on man. There's a human element to both the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer.
But I simply want to focus on one word, the most important word. What is that? Father. Father. If you had lived during the days of Jesus and heard someone call God their father, you would have been shocked. You would have been shocked. You would be hard pressed to find anyone, (I think just one person maybe Elijah), anyone else in the Bible, the Old Testament Bible, who addresses God as father. Not David, not Abraham, across the board none of the patriarchs address God as father. But just like grace, remember what it says about grace when John talks about Jesus, “When Jesus came, grace came.”
Grace was in the Old Testament, but it certainly wasn't like it was in the New Testament. It's a flood tide of grace when Jesus comes. And when Jesus came praying to the Father it became something of a flood tide. It comes off his lips, just in the gospels, 165 times. You go to any of the epistles. Paul generally always begins with the Father, ends with the Father. He focuses on the triune God, but he always starts with the Father, ends with the Father, and then sprinkled through his epistles, his letters, he often brings the Father back into focus. In the book of Romans for example, eight times he mentions the Father. In the book of Ephesians, nine times he mentions the Father. And so both Jesus and the Apostle Paul couldn't stop talking to the Father or about the Father. And as Christians, we should habitually, frequently, regularly pray to the Father.
And there's two big biblical concepts that should go in heart and mind when we think about the Father when we pray. What are they? His authority and his intimacy. Those two things, authority and intimacy. The Father carries with it authority, even human fathers. This is why we have the fifth commandment, “Honor your father and mother.” But this is no ordinary Father. He's our divine Father and he's in heaven. Every other earthly father is on earth. This is the Father who's in heaven. He's in a class all by himself, high and lifted up. There's no one like him. He's the almighty God and Father. Paul refers to him in Ephesians 1:17, “The Father of glory.” “The Father of glory.” When we come to the throne of grace we must never lose sight of the fact that he is a God of transcendence, holy, holy, holy Father.
But neither do we want to lose sight of the near and dear intimacy, we are children. That's an intimate term, father and children. Remember what John says, “Behold what manner of love that we should be called the children or the sons of God.” And the concept of father draws attention to his kindness, his attentiveness, his gentleness, his mercy, his love. There's no one who cares for us like our heavenly Father. And here in the Lord's Prayer we learn how much he cares. He gives us three broad strokes here. Three, constant, caring, never-ceasing activities. What are they? He forgives our sin. That's daily, hourly, second by second.
Whenever you ask for forgiveness of sin, you can count on your heavenly Father forgiving you. He gives us our daily bread, that's daily bread. How many of you have ever gone a day without bread? He has been faithful, showing his care and love by giving us our daily bread. And then third, he protects us from the evil one. I don't think we'll ever, this side of heaven, know how many times our souls were in danger; how many times the devil came after us, but we were protected by our Heavenly Father. He cares for us. It's an extensive care, it's comprehensive care, it's 24/7 care; he cares for all of his children.
Here's something that Dr. Packer said. I think Dr. Ferguson says something similar in his book on sonship. But this is what Dr. Packer says with regard to our adoption into God's family:
“Pray then like this, ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”
I think everybody would agree that this is the most famous prayer ever prayed. It is a prayer that is heard across the world every day by thousands upon thousands. Perhaps nowhere is the universal church more unified or in agreement as when they come to this matter of praying the Lord's Prayer. It is the prayer that almost every Christian has prayed at different points in their lives and I think everybody would agree that it is the greatest of prayers. And Jesus wanted us to shape our prayers. It doesn't mean we have to pray this prayer word for word, but he does want us to shape our prayers by this prayer. Look what he says, “Pray in this manner or in this way.”
Now in one sense it's a very simple prayer, not that long. But it has a clear structure to it, six petitions. They're petitions. It consists of six petitions, no question. The first petition is the most important one, “Hallowed be your name.” God wants his name to be hallowed. God is more concerned about his name being hallowed, glorified than anything else. Even Jesus when he came to earth, that was his great reason for coming, ultimately to glorify his father in heaven. But these petitions, they cover all of life, much like the Ten Commandments. They start off with God and then there's a second table, if you will, a focus on God first and then second on man. There's a human element to both the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer.
But I simply want to focus on one word, the most important word. What is that? Father. Father. If you had lived during the days of Jesus and heard someone call God their father, you would have been shocked. You would have been shocked. You would be hard pressed to find anyone, (I think just one person maybe Elijah), anyone else in the Bible, the Old Testament Bible, who addresses God as father. Not David, not Abraham, across the board none of the patriarchs address God as father. But just like grace, remember what it says about grace when John talks about Jesus, “When Jesus came, grace came.”
Grace was in the Old Testament, but it certainly wasn't like it was in the New Testament. It's a flood tide of grace when Jesus comes. And when Jesus came praying to the Father it became something of a flood tide. It comes off his lips, just in the gospels, 165 times. You go to any of the epistles. Paul generally always begins with the Father, ends with the Father. He focuses on the triune God, but he always starts with the Father, ends with the Father, and then sprinkled through his epistles, his letters, he often brings the Father back into focus. In the book of Romans for example, eight times he mentions the Father. In the book of Ephesians, nine times he mentions the Father. And so both Jesus and the Apostle Paul couldn't stop talking to the Father or about the Father. And as Christians, we should habitually, frequently, regularly pray to the Father.
And there's two big biblical concepts that should go in heart and mind when we think about the Father when we pray. What are they? His authority and his intimacy. Those two things, authority and intimacy. The Father carries with it authority, even human fathers. This is why we have the fifth commandment, “Honor your father and mother.” But this is no ordinary Father. He's our divine Father and he's in heaven. Every other earthly father is on earth. This is the Father who's in heaven. He's in a class all by himself, high and lifted up. There's no one like him. He's the almighty God and Father. Paul refers to him in Ephesians 1:17, “The Father of glory.” “The Father of glory.” When we come to the throne of grace we must never lose sight of the fact that he is a God of transcendence, holy, holy, holy Father.
But neither do we want to lose sight of the near and dear intimacy, we are children. That's an intimate term, father and children. Remember what John says, “Behold what manner of love that we should be called the children or the sons of God.” And the concept of father draws attention to his kindness, his attentiveness, his gentleness, his mercy, his love. There's no one who cares for us like our heavenly Father. And here in the Lord's Prayer we learn how much he cares. He gives us three broad strokes here. Three, constant, caring, never-ceasing activities. What are they? He forgives our sin. That's daily, hourly, second by second.
Whenever you ask for forgiveness of sin, you can count on your heavenly Father forgiving you. He gives us our daily bread, that's daily bread. How many of you have ever gone a day without bread? He has been faithful, showing his care and love by giving us our daily bread. And then third, he protects us from the evil one. I don't think we'll ever, this side of heaven, know how many times our souls were in danger; how many times the devil came after us, but we were protected by our Heavenly Father. He cares for us. It's an extensive care, it's comprehensive care, it's 24/7 care; he cares for all of his children.
Here's something that Dr. Packer said. I think Dr. Ferguson says something similar in his book on sonship. But this is what Dr. Packer says with regard to our adoption into God's family:
"If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he or she makes of the thought of being God's child and having God as his father. If this is not the thought that prompts, controls his worship and prayers and the whole of his life, it means he does not understand Christianity very well at all."
That's Dr. Packer. The concept of adoption, it's called the greatest, the highest of all privileges we have as Christians. We are the children of God. And just like our children growing up, I'm sure all of us growing up in our own families, we weren't the best of children. We got ourselves in trouble, but even on the worst of days, we can always be assured if you grew up in a Christian home or even had parents with a lot of common grace, you never questioned if they loved you. And that's true of our Father. He never ever stops loving us. No matter how bad a day you've had, how weak you are, how shabby your prayers are, this Father delights in us and loves us. So it's good to remind ourselves of that when we come to pray to our father, that we are his chosen ones, we are his adopted children.
Posted in Pastor Devotional